A,B,C...

This September I have the great honor of showing in the gallery at Books & Books in Coral Gables again.

My show last year was a hodgepodge of my work, things I had been working on all year...but no real theme.

This year I have decided to do a "Miami A.B.C..." series of paintings.

Let me tell you that some letters are easier than others to come up with an image for (think A for Alligator and X for????) I've put out a RFL (Request for Letters) on twitter...and now I am putting it out on here and Facebook.

So...here are the letters I am having issues with...or am not 100% on...

N, W, X, Y , Z....

Let me know if you have any ideas!

Sketches for Baby Slesnick

For years I have been painting for nurseries. Finally, I have a nursery of my own to paint for!

Terribly exciting.

Last night I drummed up these sketches of what could potentially go in Baby S's nursery. I think the yellow background would look so pretty against a kelly green wall. Pink letters if we have a Cas, light blue letters if we have a Wolfie. The elephants would be a nice compliment to the fabric we are planning on using...and I would probably do a number of different animal panels to accompany them...as well as treasured prints.

My mom is also giving us a horse print she bought in Spain while she was pregnant with me. It's lovely and really goes well with the "chic circus" theme we have going so far.

Thank you all for your thoughts so far on everything from the names to the nursery conceptual plans.

A Special Room Just for You

Cas/Wolfie are going to have a very pretty room you know. This pretty room will also be fun, full of children's books I have collected over the years, my old stuffed animals and I am determined to at one paint give this child a chalkboard wall.

As for decor... there are some pieces of furniture that we already know will go into the nursery---a great red dresser, and a bookcase from Potterybarn which will be painted red to match the dresser.
We also have been offered a very pretty fabric called, "Kenya" by my mom, a.k.a. Coco. So when you have those two elements...you are left with the question...what bedding to get...and what to paint the walls? As you know from my art and my wardrobe, I love color. So what about yellow gingham bedding and kelly green walls like on this teacup? Or maybe light blue walls...girls can live in blue rooms...I did.

Anyhow---thoughts....let me know what you think.

What's in a Name?

My mom did not want to name me Cecilia, as that is her name...but my father apparently was insistent...hence you have me, Cecilia, today.
No, my mom wanted to name me either....
Mariana or Fernanda
...the irony, my cousin Fernanda (born 8 months after I was) named her daughter, Mariana.

So here we are now, 4 months prego and on the verge of finding out what sweet little treasure is growing inside of me as I write.
Names...names... well luckily we have those selected.

...but there were a lot of GREAT names on the list that did not make the cut....I thought it would be fun to share those with you.

Girls
Anastasia Sofia
Charlotte Anne
Sabrina Anne
Carla Sofia
Felicity Anne
Francesca Sofia
Cecilia Lucrecia
and my favorite... Sofia Carolina

Boys
Donald David IV

...that's it...we LOVE our boy name and never had to go through the exercise of "what will we name him" other than the pros and cons of the only name listed above.

...so you are wondering...what are we going to name our baby? Well, both names are family names...and we love them.

Cecilia Anne or Sebastian Wolf

Since I am a Cecilia, if we have a girl, we'd more than likely call her Cas...until we find another fun nickname...
and I feel like Sebastian would end up being called Wolfie by me a lot...with sprinkles of Sebas here and there.
We'll see.

The Countdown Begins...

17 days. That's how long I have to wait until I know what Baby Sles is. The anticipation is killing me...but I know that it like everything in life, is going to be worth the wait.

I have to say there are a few things in life that really bug me...

1. When people pronounce my nickname, "CEECEE" instead of "Cehcee"...its spelled Ceci, not Ceecee or Cici people!

2. Running late.

3. Martyrs (and not in the religious sense).

4. When people question WHY I want to know the sex of the baby.

Let's focus on #4 on my list.

I want to know the sex of the baby (rather we want to know the sex of the baby) for a good number of reasons....

1. It's our baby.

2. Science lets us.

3. It's going to be a surprise when we find out at the sonogram too!

4. I like to plan.

5. I like to be efficient.

6. Last time I checked, the miracle of life is happening inside of me...not you.

Ok...so 17 days to go! Hope you had a great weekend.

Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Cecilia Sacasa...my true inspiration. Look at her! How can you not want to live up to this fashion icon!? ...how can you NOT want to raid her closet everyday?
Someone posted these two pictures, I'd never seen before of my mom on Facebook of all places. The gentleman in the picture is her cousin.
The really nice and flattering thing is that people say I look like her. ...but I don't think I'm nearly as lovely as she is.
Anyhow, I couldn't help but share them.
Hope you're having a nice week. I know I am.

Over on Dubonics...

In college my dear friend Sara would come up with the greatest abbreviations for words. Soon...we started to notice those words being used in pop culture.
ex. Prego (originally a Sara phrase)

Years later a friend at work, Dave would stop by on a daily basis and ask me to help him come up with a new word for something common.
ex. Burger - someone who needs to eat a burger because they are so thin.

Dave and I decided that our list needed to be formalized, and hence the Dubonics Dictionary was born.
Over the past year or so, I'm lucky if the dictionary gets a new word or phrase added to it once a month. Today was the first time in over a month that I added something new.
Straight Mate and Queer Peer...to find out their definitions, pop over to Dubonics and don't forget to look through the other words that are bound to color your world a lovely shade of Dubonics.

Lots of Stripes

First of all I want to thank the lovely Ms. Pearce for a few things....

1. keeping my treasure chest sparkly

2. Saying such nice things about my blog.

I will say that the end of last week was a lot of fun. I got to attend the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation's annual conference which this year was held in Ft. Meyer's, so a mini-road trip was made. Rather than taking boring I-75 across the state, we took the Tamiami Trail and got to see a ton of alligators, drove through the Miccosukee Indian Village and also got to visit the smallest self standing post office! Lots of fun.

It was also fantastic that the awards reception was held at the beautiful Edison and Ford Winter Estates. I will say, that D hit the nail on the head when he said the aesthetic of Mr. Edison's home was far more appropriate for Florida than Mr. Ford's home...which looked like it belonged on a lake in Michigan. The great thing about being there with preservationists, was learning about the nightly haunting on the grounds. We even saw pictures! Very cool...but creepy.

BTW- I wore the best dress, thanks to my lovely friend Sheffield and her chic online store, http://www.,back-in-style.com/ ... she bought this dress by mistake and gave it to me a happy swap from me...I had a Bob Mackie shirt dress I no longer needed in my life.

The trip was short, just over night. But the next day on our way home (across boring I-75) we stopped at the famed Miromar Outlets...home to one of three Vineyard Vines Outlets in the country...so naturally that was our one and only stop at the mall. Due to the pregoness, I only walked out with a sash, and a darker shade of leather VV flip flops (I wear the ones I got last year while visiting Singleton in the Kitchen in Georgetown ALL the time!)...but D walked out with fab Florida Gator swim trunks and a blue polo. Love VV.

The rest of the weekend at home consisted of a baby shower (story of my life this past year) and the cleaning out of my closet...shoes edition. Any size 9's out there?

Now...here we are...week 15! I can't believe I'm 15 weeks into y pregoness. Only three short weeks (that's what U am telling myself) until we know what Baby S is. Hoorah!! ....then we can register.

Oh Jane...

There are a few things in life that I adore.

My treasures (jewels, bags and shoes)

My art supplies

My books

...I don't read as much as I would want to, but I love to read.

Through a fellow blogger, I discovered this delightful website that illustrates wonderful moments out of Pride and Prejudice.

The site is run by Studio Robin and is worth exploring.

Happy Jane hunting!

Week 14 Begins...as I Slowly Grow

So week 14 is here. Some books say I have been in my second trimester for a week...others say its now...whatever...I feel great! I am growing and my regular clothes are shrinking.

Here are some sketches from the past two days. Yesterday I had my first board meeting for the Florida Film Institute, so I had to look my best...even tried a new hair style.

Today was the Annual Junior League of Miami meeting, so with head shots for the directory, a marketplace and loads of friends who were seeing "le bump" for the first time, I really needed to look as cute as I could. The best part of the marketplace was Kristin Pearce and her dazzling treasures! I happened to be wearing some already...so as I was talking to her, people kept coming up to me and asking me about them. It was great...love KP! Even added a little something to my collection this evening. Her website will have its shopping capabilities up really soon which I am looking forward to for all of you out of town who can't get to her trunk shows, etc.

It was so fun to have people come up and tell me I look great...not going to lie, made me glow a little more than the baby already is.

Hope your week is going great! Tomorrow is already hump day! Hoorah!!

What a Weekend!

What a nice weekend! Full of family and friends....which meant a lot of fun outfits, that I actually took the time to draw today.

Saturday we went to an interactive lunch at the Biltmore Hotel with celebrity chef, Michelle Bernstein of Michy's Restaurant. The lunch was an appetizer of shrimp on toast and then the main course was duck a l'orange with a green salad followed by a rasberry cheesecake. Saturday was also my brother-in-law's 40+____ birthday. We went out to great local bar Bougainvilleas

A big group of friends were a part of the night and it was a lot of fun...with lots of water for moi.

Today of course was Mother's Day. After church with the clan everyone headed here for our traditional brunch made by D. 10 people were with us this year...next year there will be 11 of us. It was so nice and moving to get cards from the family. After brunch I went on a typical treasure hunt with my mom. We hit the Gap in Coconut Grove and headed upstairs to the second floor...somewhere we'd never been, but will go many more times from now on...the second floor is home to the children's and maternity department. So many cute things and tons of great things on sale! I have a new friend in Gap Maternity.

All in all, it was a nice weekend...and am ready for another week...going into week 14!

Fantastic Friday!

Well Happy Friday! Another week has gone by and I got creative with my "normal" wardrobe and mixed it up a bit with maternity.

The best was a surprise gift in the mail from my friend and fellow art aficionado, Mary Michael. She sent me a belated birthday gift a silver ring with a C on it and a the cutest dogeared necklace for the pregoness, of a sterling silver bunny on a pink thread.

I also got some great ideas for paintings for the September show. Once I finish with commissions this month I will begin painting for the show.

Anyhow its been a nice week, and I am a little more prego than I was this time last week. Always exciting!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The end of another month brings the beginning of another one...obviously...however, May always feels like such an exciting month. Proms, graduations, the beginning of summer.
This May brings all of those things for many people, for me it brings memories of those things...and the present excitement of the beginning of my second trimester!
It also means that the Books and Books show is months away and I must get cracking...so...

I am taking suggestions for paintings.

I have been productive though. I organized my main closet so that it is all maternity friendly-- I met and started sketches for baby Miles (the cutest little blonde).


So in order to keep productivity going--- I'm taking suggestions for the show.