Elsa Mora

Good-Bye Ring...

And Good morning my friend :)
Today I want to share something with you that is going to sound a little sad: I lost the engagement ring that Bill gave me in 2002 in a lovely lunch at some Japanese restaurant near his old office. I don't know if I will ever see it again. The ring has been missing for a couple of months now. I thought that I was going to find it but I am not sure about that anymore. It is possible that Diego or Natalie took it from my closet. I have never seen two kids more attracted to jewelry than Natalie and Diego.

I have gone through a whole rainbow of feelings since I realized that my ring was missing: First I was sad, then I was mad at myself, then hopeful (because I thought that I was going to find it) then later I felt so sorry about Bill who gave me something so special and in the end I felt really guilty because I thought that I should have placed it in a safer place. Fortunately I tend to be my own therapist so I gave myself a couple of free private sessions to recover from this loss and now I can finally say that I am fine.

I spent lots of time thinking about how we turn objects into meaningful things, at the point that loosing them makes us experience emotional pain. Objects are just objects but what makes them meaningful is US. An object is as special as we think it is and what we think about objects is always connected to human feelings, memories, dreams, legacy... etc, the meaning is basically something that we build in our mind. I have a dear friend who lost all her personal objects in a fire. I remember having a conversation where she said that immediately after the fire she experienced an unexpected liberating feeling. She realized that the most important thing that she had was herself and her memories and both of them were intact after the fire.

Now that I lost my engagement ring I realize that more than the ring the most important thing is Bill and I as a couple and how we stay together and strong in the difficult times and in the happy times. So today I want to say good-bye engagement ring, wherever you are right now you should know that I will always keep a special place for you...in my mind :)

I hope that there is some virtual place out there in the universe for all the special lost objects. If you ever lost something special maybe it will find its way to that virtual place and together with my ring they will be happy knowing that we still love and remember them for what they meant to us.

Now I wish you a wonderful Friday, a wonderful weekend and I will see you on Monday!
Elsita :)

My Hidden Identity!!! :0

It is amazing how sometimes you don't really know who you are...unless you ask Wikipedia! You know how Wikipedia has all the answers to your questions so I asked Wikipedia about the word Elsita (which is my nickname as you know) because I wanted to know more about myself AND IMAGINE HOW EXCITED I GOT WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT I AM A MOTH!!!!! Seriously!! The proof is right here! Did you see it? It clearly says: Elsita is a genus of moth in the family Arctiidae.
Yay!!!! HOW FUN IS THAT? I can't wait to meet my new Arctiidae family, where have they been for all these years? Down here you can see an illustration about how our first meeting is going to look like. You can see me on the left and then on the right are my new relatives (or a very small representation of them because wikipedia tells me that the Arctiidae is a large and diverse family of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world and with 6000 Neotropical species). Now I have to say that that's a little scary, I hope that they don't visit me all at the same time. Anyway, on the positive side and looking at the illustration I think that I am going to get alone so well with the one with both arms up, the one looking straight at the camera. He must be my oldest brother! Hi there brother!!

Now I literaly have to fly, that's the best thing about being a moth!!
But I will fly back tomorrow!
Have a great day!
Elsita :)

Part 1: Winner of the buttons and part 2: UNEXPECTED SURPRISE from Friday!!!

PART 1:
And the winner of the little buttons is Amy Karol!!! Yay Amy!!!! Congratulations!! !This time I asked Natalie to open the book in order to find out who the winner was and she went directly to page 138! Thank you Natalie and thank you sooo much to each one of you for participating in this game!!! There will be more coming!

PART 2:
SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!!!!
Oh my friends! I have something wonderful to share with you about my birthday on Friday! Remember how I told you that Bill and I were going to have our special dinner at night at my favorite restaurant? Well, what I didn’t know is that a SURPRISE PARTY was waiting for me at the place!!!! I could not believe it!!! Bill invited four couples, each one of them is special and unique and I just love them so much!. They all have very busy lives and putting everybody together in the same room was like a miracle. Imagine how I felt! I could not stop smiling, I was sooo happy!

This is the second most special birthday that I ever had in my life. In order to understand why this SURPRISE party meant so much for me I need to go a little back in time. Growing up in Cuba I never had a birthday party, not when I was one or two or three… and I never got presents because we just couldn’t afford it. As a little girl my birthday was never a special day so I grew up that way and it felt like the most normal thing ever. Birthday parties are a celebration of life and I imagine that because we had a hard life then we didn’t have a lot to celebrate. I became a teenager: 13, 14, and then 15!

In the Latino culture turning 15 for a girl is an important event and even the poorest families try to put together a party or something small for the birthday girl but I just knew that we were not going to be able to afford it and I was absolutely fine with it. And here is the story of what happened next:

The day when I turned 15 I just went to school as every normal day and I even forgot to tell my friends that it was my birthday. We had our Math class, then Spanish class, everything was completely normal and then OUT OF THE BLUE EVERYBODY GOT UP AND STARTED SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. I was absolutely in shock! I didn’t know what to do other than cry. But that was only the beginning! Immediately after the happy birthday song and in a perfect coordination my classmates moved the tables and the chairs around and created a big circle in the classroom, then like pure magic there was salsa music and a big cake, I didn’t have time to process what was going on, it really took me like 15 minutes to understand that they had put a surprise birthday party together for me. What the teachers and my classmates didn’t know is that that was my very fist birthday party ever since I was born. I can’t even describe you the huge impact that this celebration had in my life. All the love that I got from my friends and teachers that day turned into a special fuel that gave me enough energy to go through my teenage years.

Having my second surprise birthday party 22 years later after my first one, under completely different circumstances was something so meaningful. I was telling Bill the other day that right now I am going through one of the most difficult times in my life because everyday is a challenge. But on the other hand I find myself surrounded of so much love and this makes a whole difference, all this wonderful energy gives me the impulse to get up everyday and do my best as a mother, as a wife and as a creative person. I feel like the luckiest girl ever and all I want is to give all that love back in every possible way, being this blog one of them. I want to say thank YOU for all the beautiful birthday wishes in my Friday post and THANK YOU for taking the time to visit this place because it means the world to me.

THANK YOU to my beautiful friends for coming to the dinner celebration and a very special THANK YOU for my dear friend MARGIE because what you did for my birthday was something that I will absolutely treasure forever!!! Much love from the bottom of my heart to everyone!

Elsita :)

May 9 is nice :)

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy biiiirthday Elsiiiiitaaaa!
Haaaappy birthday to you!
Yay!!!!!!!
37 my friend!
But I feel like I am somewhere between 17 and 23, not less and not more!
I say: It is not the way you look but the way you feel!!!!
Young forever!!!!!

An old neighbor of mine from the time when I lived in Cuba used to say: Oh, if I were just 60! How many things I would do! He was over 90 by the time he said that. Every year on my birthday I remember him because he was someone who celebrated life every single day and I have been trying to learn that lesson from him.

And going to the gift department: I drew these fancy dogs as a self-present because they make me smile! These doggies are all over 10 years old but they still feel like puppies! But the best present eeeever today is that my super busy husband is taking the day off from work to spend time with me!!!!. HOW COOL IS THAT? Thank you Billy!!! When he told me that yesterday I started literally jumping like Natalie does when she is happy. And then tonight Bill and I will have a special dinner at my favorite restaurant not far from our home. I am sure that today is going to be one of those perfect days where everybody is happy.

Have a wonderful day my friend and I wish all the Mothers on planet earth a beautiful Mother's day on Sunday!!!
See you on Monday!!!!
Elsita :)

Emotional World :)

I magine the emotional world as a box containing an invisible landscape. Each one of our landscapes has an unique flora and fauna because every human being is different. Now, there is one thing that we all need in order to stay alive and that it oxygen. If we close the door to our emotional world we will get limited amounts of oxygen and breathing will become hard and our invisible flora and fauna will suffer a lot. But if we open that door and share our little landscape with other people we will instantly feel better. I am always looking for ways to keep the door to my emotional world open and I do this specially through my art. Having this blog has been also one of the best sources of oxygen in my life. Many of us are afraid of sharing our feelings with other people because we don’t want to become too fragile or vulnerable but the truth is that there are lots of great human beings out there in the world who are sensitive and who have a lot to give to you. I do the best I can in order to keep my fears away from my self-expression. Keeping everything for myself won’t make me a better person anyway. Now if we feel shy or prefer privacy we just need to be creative; sometimes with a little bit of creativity we can say the most difficult things. And as long as we keep expressing ourselves we will never run out of oxygen.
Let's keep breathing!!
And see you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Little gift:
I will be sending a tiny card with the illustration that you see up there and the text of this post on the back of the card to 5 of my blogger friends. If you want one of them just let me know here with a comment and then send me an e-mail with your address :)

Dress is Almost Finished!!!

Good morning amigas y amigos!!! I just wanted to let you know that I am a few details away from finishing the dress!! Last night I tried it on in order to show it to Bill and he was very happy about it, he thinks that it is pretty :) I care a lot about Bill's opinion because he has a good taste and he is honest. When it is finally finished I have to find a way to take good pictures of it for you. I am so excited! I can't wait to share it with you!!!! And by the way, yesterday I gave Bill a gold medal because he did something soooo sweet: He went to Bed Bath And Beyond and got some beautiful and cozy blankets and towels for the house!!! Isn't he a great husband??!!!
Go Billy Go!!!!!

See you very soon!

It is hard to believe that 2007 is almost gone! But I am very excited about 2008. Bill and are going to drive to some beautiful place soon with the children in order to spend a few days over there before the beginning of 2008. This will be a nice opportunity for us to do nothing other than play and have fun and relax. I will miss you my friend! But I can't wait to tell you that once I am back I will be sharing something great with you that has to do with a trip to New York City with Bill in January!!!!! Now I send you big hug! Have a great Holiday, have fun and see you soon!!!!
Elsita :)

The Outfit Is Ready.

Well my friends yesterday I went to Anthropologie and got myself an outfit for the Golden Globes. You will be surprised to see how this skirt and this top make such a nice and dressy combination. I promise you that these two pieces look so much better in person!! In fact I would never bought them online if I had to choose from the pictures. But I tried them on in person after some exploration with other options and we had an instant chemistry. I like to buy something only if I fall in love with it. Let's say that I don't marry an outfit if I know that our relationship just won't work in the future. I love getting things that I can keep for many years to come so I can reinvent them over and over. The night of this event will be cold so my number one idea was to find something warm enough. The last time that I went to the Golden Globes I remember being so miserable because of my light dress but I have learned from that experience and this year I want to be happy and nice at the same time. I still don't know about the shoes but I will find something later. I am also thinking about some color accent, a nice purse maybe; I have a nice collection of vintage purses that I find at flea markets and they are so beautiful. I should take pictures of them. And now I will tell you a little gossip. The best part of these events is that at the parties before you leave they give you these bags full of goodies from different brands promoting their products. Raise your hand if you don't enjoy getting a bag full of treasures!!!! Well, the gossip is that even the big stars LOVE to grab their bags and if it is possible they take two!!! The last time I saw this super duper star very worry because she was leaving early and she wanted her bag. There are many funny stories in Hollywood about these things, a lot of people make fun of them but for sure no one leaves without the goodies!!!! And now I am going to do a couple of things with the kiddies! (That's how I call Natalie and Diego)
See you very soon and have a wonderful Saturday!
Elsita :)

Busy Day Today.

Today was sooo busy! Here you can see a picture of me that I asked Darrel to take. I wanted to have a little photo with the show before it closes (this Saturday). I had to go early to the gallery to meet with a large group of people (all women) from the Los Angeles County Museum. We had a great time, they came to see the show and they asked me many questions. I tried to answer them the best I could. (My spoken English is even worst than my written English).
Then a little later Bill, Natalie and I had a date for lunch. I decided not to take Natalie to school today since she was demanding a lot of atention, she REALLY needed especial time with us so we made it happen and it was beautiful. Then I had to go to the supermarket since we needed sooo many things. Later I had to spend time in my studio doing some work and listing the last little drawings.
My friend Debra who lives between Cuba and America came to visit us yesterday and she left this morning. We took her for dinner last night with a couple of great friends and had a wonderful time. But in the end I feel great because I have been wearing my lucky yellow coat today as you can see in the picture! Yellow makes me happy, I think that this is one of the best colors for the spirit. Now I have to cook something nice !
See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Mixed Review for Elsita!!!

I have news for you! I got a mixed review about my show in the Los Angeles Times newspaper! Celebration day for me today!!! Mixed meaning a little positive and a little negative at the same time. Oh don’t worry about the negative part; as an Artist I always expect this and it is not bad at all. I think that it is healthy when someone says something not-so-positive about what you do because it makes you think. I only have to correct one detail: the women in the piece with the dress are not Latin American only but from all over the world. Other than that here is the review for your consideration: