Love, Peace and Happpiness

My cousin had his second precious baby boy a couple of months ago. One of the first things his Aunt gave him was one of my onesies. Here you see Baby M in his "Love, Peace and Happiness" onesie. I love this onesie and Baby M is one of a small handful of kiddos out there with one. I know at some point I will make some more onesies, not only for Baby C but for anyone else who may want one....though I still do have a healthy number left...if anyone is interested in a one of a kind hand-painted creation for their love bug.

Calgon Take Me Away

So...I don't think I've ever really complained about having too much going on ...on this blog. Please, don't get me wrong...it's nice to have things going on...but Baby Mama is feeling a little overwhelmed these days...I have a lot going on...

1. Only 28 days or so of summer left ...i.e. before the new season of School Programs begin at the museum.

2. I have 16 paintings to finish by the first Thursday of September for my show.

3. I have 5 nursery paintings I have to finish preferably before our move.

4. We're moving...and that means I have to pack and hire movers

5. Friday I have deadline #2 for the book I am working on and must finish scanning images

6. The house must remain in tip top showing quality neatness at all times since it is on the market

...I'm sure there is more...but these are enough to make anyone feel a little stressed right?

Thanks for letting me vent. I promise tomorrow will be a little more cheerful.

Meanwhile in the Florida Room

I've been busy but have not taken any pictures today...so I blogged on The Florida Room tonight instead. Go ahead and take a look... its my official Week 24 report.

Have a good one!!

Book Color Sketches

I'm nearly done with the color sketches for a book I am working on

for some people. I did all the color pencil work and I am going to be getting started with the watercolor sketches tomorrow. I think I am going to like the pencil work more. We'll see... as soon as I am done with these, it will be time to finish up Quinn's monogram.

Hope you're having a nice Monday.

Q is for Quinn Part Deux

Some of you may recall the story I told a month or so ago about my JLM friend Austin who said she would give me her crib mattress...and I in return said, well...thanks BUT let me do something for Quinn (her little girl).

Today I finally made it to the Art Store and got canvas and have sketched out Quinn's monogram.

I think it's going to look really good. Below the canvas you can see the color sketch with Austin approved.

While at the store I also bought some canvas so I can start sketching out some of the Pies for my show at Books & Books in September. The paints are coming out my friends...and I hope you'll enjoy seeing the progress.

Hope you had a nice weekend!!!

Thursday Threads

Hoorah its Thursday! That means tomorrow is Friday!...unfortunately we are not going to have a bright and sunny weekend in Miami.
It's summer, which means that we get storms on a regular basis...but tomorrow we are getting our first Tropical Storm of the season, Bonnie.
Bonnie and her 50 mph winds, heavy rain and possible flooding are going to find their way to Miami sometime tomorrow.

Today however it was a beautiful day...and in with only a week until August, the summer is coming to a close quickly. So it's time to enjoy what remains of the summer. Hope the weekend looks sunnier from your corner.

10 in 10

10 years seems like such a long time...but this year I should be attending my 10 year college reunion. 10 years go by quickly... So tonight I think about some of the things that I'd like to accomplish in 10 years... 10 goals for 10 years...


Two healthy, happy cute kids...

Maintaining happiness with my family
Staying fit (getting fit post pregoness)

A lovable Golden...I wish I could make Maggie live forever, she's the best...

It'd be nice if I could have some more children's books under my belt...some more art shows...

A wall of books somewhere in my home...aren't they pretty?

An in-house studio with chalkboard wall & cork board wall...

A comfortable home for our family (it'd be nice if we could always be in Coral Gables)

A creative and functional playroom for our kids

A big beautiful organized closet...

...I think the majority of mine are home and family focused because I'm moving and I'm prego...

How about you? Any accomplishments you'd like to check-off 10 years from now?

How Big am I?

OK...I was with two women today who are 5 weeks behind me...and they are TINY!!! ...is something wrong with me? I look like Bethenny Frankel did on her honeymoon (I think she was like 30 weeks) and I am 24 weeks...

Am I having a giant? Am I immense? Is this normal? ...someone in my family said, "You're getting fat" last night.

Oh dear...

Monday Monday

Hello Monday!

What a weekend. I did a great job getting a sunburn on Saturday (my skin is still hot to the touch...ouch)...and yesterday I went fabric hunting for the new house. I found a great fabric for the chairs in my office that will get reupholstered. Next I need to find a fabric for our new headboard.

This weekend the bump started visibly jolting...now every time I feel a kick, you can also see it. Very weird, but VERY cool.

Here is a look at what I wore today. A very comfortable dress I inherited from a friend and some new Gap "City Flats" in the beige...I honestly highly recommend them, very comfortable....and a look at the fabric I found for my chairs.

Very well...I hope the rest of your Monday is lovely.

Thursday Threads

So technically these are not my Thursday Threads...there are my threads from yesterday...Wednesdays Wardrobe...

Today, I'm wearing OB 23 week visit friendly clothes...i.e. nothing too heavy (every ounce counts) and something that will be easily moved for heartbeat hearing.
So...not sketch worthy...but all is well with Baby Cas. She is good!

I'd like to give a special thank you to my friend Kristin from
Summer in Newport for being my rock super star... and I'd like to wish Happy Birthday to Beth from
Social Climbers !!

Joyeux Bastille!

Joyeux Bastille mes amis!

Aujord-hui nous mange frommage...croissants...et il y a beacoup du vin!

You could say I am a francofile...but see my maiden name is Dubon...I'm part French. So, this entitles me to celebrate Bastille Day with the best of them.

Every year we gather our francophile and wanna be francophile friends and have a Bastille Day dinner. On the menu...entrecote, pommes frites, frommage, vin and of course eclairs! I even wear bleu, blanc et rouge (blue, white and red)...all day.

So Chin Chin et Salut!

Vive la France!

* this is a picture of my friend and Elisabeth and me in Paris, Summer 1991. We were 13 with one full year of French under our belts. We're eating crepes on the Champs Elysee...this was the night I was introduced to Nutella!

Tuesday Threads

I really like my ensemble today...and I have had to put my big canvases away in storage...so no painting for me this week...that means I am relying on my trusty sketch book.

I'm meeting with people about tomorrow about the book I am working on for them. I'll get the green light on which version they liked and will do 2 color sketches for them to decide on...basically for them to

decide on the medium.

Yesterday I mentioned some drawings that were inspired by Singleton in the Kitchen. Here is a page out of my sketchbook dedicated to those.

Hope you're having a nice week so far...tomorrow we celebrate Bastille Day at Chez cSd...the D is not just for D, but Dubon...and Dubon dubon est tres bon!

Cupcakes...

In my first art show...at a REAL gallery (summer 2008) I had a painting of a cupcake. It was one of the 22 pieces I did for that show. Today that painting of a cupcake lives at Misha's Cupcakes in Coral Gables.

If you are in the Miami area, and want a TO DIE FOR...sweet as sweet can be, dense as dense can be vanilla cupcake...go to Misha's. It's one of my favorite things in the world this vanilla cupcake of hers. She makes other great flavours such as a mocha and Oreo...but my fave is the vanilla.

Anyhow---point is I love a good cupcake. Who doesn't right? Even before the cupcake craze hit ( I blame Magnolia Bakery in NYC)...we all grew up on cupcakes. Now there are boutique cupcake stores everywhere... my favorites in Miami are, Misha's Cupcakes , Butter Cream (who make a TO DIE FOR red velvet cupcake, a lovely guava and a great chocolate) and I have to say I am a sucker for the Cold Stone ice cream cupcakes...they may not count...but they are good!

Although I have decided to paint the Pies for my show at Books and Books in Coral Gables in September (opening on Friday September 3rd if you are in town)...I think I need to do some more mini cupcakes, for fun! I had also sketched some cookies inspired by Singleton in the Kitchen last summer which I must tend too as well...

Any other baked goods you'd like me to tackle?

...as for the picture...it's the Magnolia Bakery T-Shirt. I want one...no I NEED one...so if any of you are in NYC and feel the need to get one for your fave prego artist... I'll take one in a L (I will fit into a L again won't I?...I would say M...but the website says they run small).

Ok, let me know about the baked goods...maybe I'll sketch some up and post them tomorrow.

Over at The Florida Room...

So I thought I would invite you all to take a look at the latest entry on The Florida Room .

"A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words"

Hope you're having a great weekend...we're getting ready to have some friends over for the World Cup final...

VAMOS FURIA ROJA!!!!

Done and Done

Thank you everyone for your input!

Picture #1 is me earlier today...and Picture #2 is with my cut...

As you can see I went with a trim and the sweeping bang. I'm happy with the result...what I think I am going to do is let is grow for the rest of my pregoness and then pull a Katie and donate my hair again.

Have a fantastic Friday night!!

Decisions...decision...

Two years ago I cut about 8 inches of hair off and donated it to Pantene Locks. I had a cute bob with bangs, and LOVED the look! It was great and easy...

...today I have the longest length of hair I've ever had...and prego hormones are definitely adding to that. I am tired of my hair though and am cutting it tomorrow.

I don't know what I want to do yet though...

Part of me wants to lop it all off and go drastic...but then again I like the versatility of my length. So...what do to?

Option #1- this uber short bob

Option #2- the Katie Holmes bob with sweeping bangs

Option #3- my hairstyle after I got married, long with sweeping bangs

So what do you think? If I go with option #3, I'll cut about 3 inches off...

You have until 5pm on Friday to let me know what you think.

Mad Men

Who doesn't love Mad Men?

Who doesn't love a little Roger Sterling / Joanie lovin'?

How about Don D?

I'm so excited about the new season starting in a couple of weeks. I went onto the AMC website and saw the Mad Men Yourself feature has improved with more clothes, scenes...etc.


I was SO happy when one of the outfits was PREGO! YAY! So...here I am Mad Men- me... solo by the pool in my blue ensemble...and in my pink ensemble with the boys.


So any other Mad Men fans out there looking forward to the new season??

Sketches for Book

I'm working on the illustrations for a book for an undisclosed party.

For some reason I can't get my picture to scan right...

my apologies...

I have 3 drafts of drawings which the party will decide on this Friday, and then we move into the color sketches.

I'll keep you posted.

DC Recap

Reason 8698 why I am glad we were in DC last week and not this week...the heat! The oppressive heat!

Anyhow--- I wanted to share with you some highlights from the whirlwind of a trip. DC is not the kind of town you can squeeze into 72 hours, even if you are there on business.

The first picture is of our Nation's Capitol Building from behind as we made our way from Senator Lemieux's office to Representative Ros-Lehtinen's office.

The next picture is of part of our group with the Rep. herself. She's really a lovely woman, so easy to talk to and it certainly doesn't hurt that she knows and likes my in-laws very much. I got a pat on the belly and a kiss on the cheek on my way out.

This was the sum of Day 1...visits on the Hill and then dinner with the team...followed by sleep and a mini-chorus line rehearsal from inside my womb.

The next day was one LONG meeting with our exhibits designers. Fortunately we ended a little early and got to romp a little in Silver Spring before heading to dinner...(note: romping in Silver Spring, NOT nearly as fun as romping in Georgetown for instance). The highlight of Day 2, seeing Auntie J, a.ka. Singleton in the Kitchen after dinner..for second dinner... which consisted of the ever famous (and delicious) Brueger's Bagels, Herby Turkey and some cupcakes...yum! Here's Auntie J with Cas, don't they look cute?

Day 3 was a crazy chaotic walk-a-thon! We started off by losing part of our group as they didn't make it onto the train fast enough...then off to the National Archives, Spy Museum, lunch at Zola at the Spy Museum...Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Smithsonian American History Museum and a short walk through the Annual Folk Life Festival on the Mall before heading to Regan.

The pictures below are from Day 3... the first picture is of some huge gorgeous chunks of citrine, Cas' birthstone (should she come on time...if she's early and comes in
October she gets the opal). I'm not the biggest fan of citrine, but we can find a pretty yellow one I'm sure...or bring a huge chunk into her life.

The next picture is of a much prettier stone... the famous, Hope Diamond. Lovely isn't it? They are working on a new setting for it, that is why it is out of its current setting. The stand it is on rotates...and there was quite a crowd around the diamond when we first got there. I like the little boy across the case from me...just waiting to stare at it like the rest of us are. Lovely...


Then there is a lovely shot of the Washington Monument taken from the museum side of the mall...and then finally a snapshot of me with it in the background as we are walking through the Folk Life Festival.

Anyhow--- I do love DC. It's such a great city. I could live there happily. I'm actually sad that J is leaving in about a
month...I'm hoping work will lead her back there, as visiting her is fun in the first place, but visiting her there has been exceptionally fun!

Other than this...I am 2/3 done with some sketches I am sending off before Friday for a commissioned book project. When I am done with those I will share.

In the meantime...have a great Tuesday! Hope you had a lovely holiday weekend.

Happy 4th of July Weekend

"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope."

- Winston Churchill

Home Sweet Home

After a whirlwind trip to DC...I'm home again. I really wish we had stayed an additional day to explore more museums as a team with a better less hectic pace...but oh well, c'est la vie. Although that would have been nice, I'm happy to be home with Maggie and D again. Even Cas is happy to be home as I can feel her kickin' up a storm :) .

I'll have pictures to share soon...and I will also show you my progress on my commission which I have to have scanned and IN by July 9.