Elsa Mora

DISCOVER ARTHUR SIMO.

Dear friend:
Today I am extremely honored to introduce someone very special to you...but let me start the story from the beginning:

Not so long ago I ended up at some Etsy shop that was new to me. As soon as I saw the pictures in it my heart had a little inusual palpitation as it happens when you discover something different. I immediately got the little bug or curiosity so I started exploring and reading everything. The store had 5 paintings for sell at the time. It didn't take me more than a few seconds to decide what I did next: I bought all the 5 listed pieces! I just had to do it and the reason why I did it has a name: Arthur Simo.

Who is Arthur Simo? Arthur Simo is a teenager who will turn 16 in July 22 and he is Autistic just like my son Diego. To me he is one of the most authentic folk, or naive Artists that I have ever seen, he taught himself how to paint and discovering his art is something that I am so grateful about. Reading the explanations about his paintings made me fall in love with his extraordinary imaginary world.

Now let's take a look at some of his creations. You will also see the explanations of his paintings in his own words. He explains the meanings of his paintings to his Mom and she writes down the words exactly as he says them.

This painting is about an ant and her baby were walking in the woods looking for the witch doctor to get some medication for her daughter that is sick. She drank dirty water and probably her tummy is hurting. On the way to the witch doctor a giant bee attacked her and pick her up by the shoulders and put them inside a bee hive. They are in trouble, who will save them.

This painting is about lots of statues protecting a city. This is the most powerful city because nobody is able to get close to the statues. Besides of surrounding the entire city, they all are stock with arrows. They will never run out of them, making the city very powerful. The entire army will shoot lots of arrows up on top of the statues and they will have the best strategy to get the victory.

This painting is about the only carousel that will let you flight a car. People are coming from everywhere in big lines, they want the ultimate ride, it feels free flying up the sky. Unless you try it, you will never know how it feels like crusing on a car up the sky.

This painting is about an old and unusual fish, scape from the deep ocean floor, a crack was done after an opening on the underground volcano. After reaching the surface, the light damage his skin giving him pain, so he went down deep. All other fishes around him wondering on this strange visitor, but suddenly he encounter a huge fish, he was going into his territory and he was getting ready to fight.

This painting is about Earth falling apart and from now on different Earth pieces will be on space and each one will be a different planet. It happens when lots of meteorites blew up the moon and those moon pieces stroke Earth. It was a big hit and Earth end up in pieces.

Here you can see a little video of Arthur introducing himself and showing one of his paintings dedicated to Shakira, he loves her.

And this is another little video where Arthur is explaining one of his paintings.

I can't even tell you how proud I am to be a collector of Arthur Simo's art. So far I own 16 of his paintings and having them in our home is a daily source of inspiration as an Artist and as the Mother of a wonderful Autistic child. Now Arthur's Mom is my cibernetic friend and it turns out that she is Cuban just like me, WHAT A COINCIDENCE! So Arthur is is bilingual. Arthur gives me so much hope about Diego's future. One day when I visit my Mom in Florida I want Diego and Arthur to meet in person, I can't wait to tell him what a wonderful Artist I think he is!

And if you want to leave a comment for Arthur here, I encourage you to do it since he will be able to read them!

GO ARTHUR GO!!!!
Elsita :)

(LINK TO ARTHUR'S STORE ON ETSY!)

THERE HE IS AGAIN!!! :o :)

One thing that I looove about the city where I live (Los Angeles, CA) is the great characters that you find on the streets. I have a whole list of these characters that I am looking forward to seeing whenever I am out but there is one in particular that has won my heart (don't worry Billy!) and I have named him The Brush Helmet Head. This is a guy who rides a motorcycle but I have never seen his face because he wears this huge helmet with a black hard plastic brush attached to the top of it. I know that he wants his black brush to look dramatic and super cool but the truth is that this decorative element looks sooo funny. I know a similar guy who wears what we could call the real deal helmet brush (which is made out of long black feathers) he has a super motorcycle and the whole thing looks like from a movie but this one guy that I love rides a fragile-looking motorcycle that makes a funny noise, he is extremely skinny and also he wears huge sandals and short pants. His head looks extra large with the helmet on and all I can say is that when I see him my world gets illuminated like when a kid is watching his favorite cartoon on TV.
Here I drew more or less how he looks. When I saw him I wanted to scream: Hey Mister Helmet! It's me your greatest admirer!! But of course I didn't do it :) It is more fun to be a secret admirer : o

I don't know when he is going to show up again but I am looking forward to it!!
Now I should go but I will be back tomorrow!
Bye-Bye!
Elsita :)

Anthony Minghella Passes Away at 54.

Dear friends,
Today is such a sad day for Bill and I. Anthony Minghella has just passed away at age 54. We are still trying to process such an unexpected news. This man was an amazing Artist, he was a terrific father, husband, son and a wonderful human being. When Bill and I got married in our very low-key ceremony Anthony was one of our 4 friends who attended the event. Bill worked with him as a Producer in two of his most beautiful movies: The Talented Mister Ripley and Cold Mountain. Anthony was the very first Film Director that I had the privilege to met when I first moved to the USA and he had such a big impact in me. He realized that my English was limited, I had a hard time communicating my ideas but he always made me feel so special, he used to call me Wonderful Elsita and he gave me big hugs. During the filming of Cold Mountain in Romania I observed him work for hours and I will never forget how sensitive and positive he was all the time with each member of the crew.

It is really hard to think about the fact that we won't see Anthony anymore. My heart is right now with his family. Today they are experiencing one of the most painful days of their lives. The phone hasn't stopped ringing, so many people cared about him, we are all shocked by the news of his death. I want to dedicate this post to him and say: Wonderful Anthony, thank you so much for everything, you are one of the most special people that I ever met and you will always have an important place in our hearts. WE LOVE YOU.
Elsita and Bill.

Here is Anthony with his sweet signature smile the day when Bill and I got married.

Anthony working with Nicole Kidman in one of the locations of Cold Mountain.

This is Caroline, Anthony's wife who has always been one of his biggest supporters.

These are Anthony's parents, they appear in the movie Cold Mountain for a second, that's what a sweet son he was. Anthony always found a way to include his parents in each one of his movies. (The girl behind them is me).

On the right you see Max Minghella (Anthony's son) and Miro all dressed up as young soldiers in one of the sets of Cold Mountain. Max is now a professional Actor, he has appeared in different movies, Anthony was very proud of him.

I took this photo of Anthony in 2002 and this is the way I want to remember him; positive, energetic and always celebrating life.

Dita :)

When I finished this painting I thought: Mm, for some reason this little girl reminds me of Dita Von Teese. That's why I named her Dita (cute name :). Then I went to Wikipedia since I wanted to learn more about the real Dita and it turns out that she is a really interesting woman.

We need to read the whole information about her to understand why she is so interesting but here are some facts about her:
*She was born Heather Renée Sweet on September 28, 1972.
*She is a burlesque artist, model and actress.
*Von Teese is well known for her fascination with 1940s cinema and classic retro style.
*She stands at only 5'3" and weighs 105 pounds.
*Through the wearing of a corset for many years, she had reduced her natural waistline to 22 inches, and can be laced down as far as 16 and a half inches. (Can you believe it?!)
*She was classically trained as a ballet dancer from an early age, and danced solo at age thirteen for a local ballet company.
*She currently resides in Hollywood and she is a collector of vintage china, particularly eggcups and tea sets.
*In 2006 she filled for divorce from Marilyn Manson and left their house empty-handed. Von Teese is not seeking spousal support and seems to have no interest in his assets.

Women like Dita Von Teese are so fascinating to me. She has reinvented herself from head to toes including her name. We are all born in a certain way, like a blank canvas and then somehow we "personalize" that canvas to look the way we are looking right now. That personalization happens over the years and involves sooo many aspects of our personality.

I remember reading something about personal reinvention and about how by reinventing ourselves (even in our imagination) we find some kind of liberation since many times we are not exactly the person that we see in the mirror. And I think that this is such an interesting idea. I remember that when I was about 17 or 18 the way I looked was very important to me (like it is for every teenager). Then as I became older I lost interest in myself. Well, life gets more complicated, many other things start filling up all those places in your brain and you forget a little bit about your body. Of course you want to look nice and everything but it becomes harder for us to recover that strong connection that we should have with our bodies.

I am glad that all these ideas came to my mind after painting "Dita". I think that I will keep thinking about this but more importantly I will try to do something about recovering the connection with my body. I think that I need to take myself for a walk more often, I should be more wise about what I eat and I should make an appointment with the Dentist. I do believe that treating our bodies with love and consideration will make us happier.

Have a great day!
And take care of yourself!
Elsita :)

Last Oscars Report (And Something Else :)

And today I want to start this last report with my favorite Oscar speech this year by Marketa Irglova, the most natural girl at the event that night (she had no makeup at all, no high heals and the sweetest smile that you can imagine). But before her speech let's read this important detail from Wikipedia:

When Markéta Irglová was awarded the Award for Best Original Song with Glen Hansard for "Falling Slowly" at the 80th Academy Awards ceremony, her acceptance speech after Hansard's was pre-empted by the orchestra's music cue to leave the stage. In an unprecedented move, host Jon Stewart invited her back on stage to deliver her acceptance speech following the commercial break.

Thank you sooo much Jon Stewart for doing this YOU ROCK! And here is the speech:

Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along the way. Thank you.

HOPE AT THE END OF THE DAY CONNECTS US ALL, NO MATTER HOW DIFFERENT WE ARE.
...FAIR PLAY TO THOSE WHO DARE TO DREAM AND DON'T GIVE UP.

You said it Marketa! Thank you so much for reminding this to us!

Now amiga and amigo one of those days when you feel like watching something inspirational, not pretentious, full of heart and feelings then stop by your local movie rental store and ask for ONCE. I watched this movie because of Bill. He said: Elsa I have this treasure that you must see. I watched it in our cabin at night while the kids were sleeping. Once is so real and simple, it looks like a documentary and by by the end of it I was in tears (of joy) and appreciation for the little jewel that this movie is.

Also if you want to add some unique music to your collection, the kind that will put you in a sensitive and creative mood all you need is this link. I already have my copy (we are talking about the music from the movie ONCE). Now if you get it I recommend you to go straight to tack #2 (If You Want Me) and then track#4 (When Your Mind's Made Up) I keep playing these two songs over and over, they blow me away!.

After the Oscars ceremony when people started going out I had the pleasure of giving Glen Hansard a BIG hug while Marketa was talking with their fans. He was just SO REAL AND WONDERFUL, take a look at his autogragh and see how much love he has to give to other people. You will find that love in their movie as well as in their music.

And now my friend that our OSCAR report series has reached its end I would love to add a little something to this post:

We all know that in the end every award is a human creation to recognize something remarkable that has been done. It always feels great to win awards because they give people confidence in what they do and the confirmation of how talented they are. Now, my favorite awards are those than happen in real life in the most subtle ways. I have been dying to tell you that I have gotten the most amazing award ever from my little man (Diego). Most of the time before he goes to sleep I rock him in the rocking chair in the darkness of his room for a few minutes. We have a little game where I say some simple words and he repeats them with me almost whispering. In the last days I have been teaching him how to say Natalie and he is the cutest little thing, he says something like Lalalie. Well the other night out of the blue instead of Lalalie and in his whispering little voice he slowly said Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, THREE TIMES!!!!! I had to contain myself not to ruin this magic moment, I wanted to scream but instead I just cried in silence. In that moment I really felt what is like to win an OSCAR, honestly, I felt so proud and happy and emotional, I just wanted to thank everyone for everything. I felt like a real winner, just listening to those three little words that define who I am for Diego. Those awards are the ones that really matter in the end of the day for everyone including the most famous stars. We are all human and we all find the biggest joy in the rewards that come from loving someone else.

Now I am leaving you with a BIG BIG HUG because I am SOOO HAPPY, I JUST WON MY OSCAR and it has been placed in a very special corner in my heart!!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

ELSITA :) (Mommy is my real name!!!)

Oscars Report! (PART THREE: Someone special)

Diablo Cody (the girl in the picture below) will be seen over and over in the next months on the Internet, in every fashion magazine, on TV, in The New York Times and everywhere. She is the Writer behind Juno, the Little Miss Sunshine film of this last Oscar edition. Diablo which means Devil in Spanish is one of the most fascinating people around and her real name is Brook Busey-Hunt. Now let me tell you why she is special.

Let's take a look at the last words that she said in tears during the acceptance of her Oscar: ...and most of all, I want to thank my family for loving me EXACTLY THE WAY I AM.
How many times do people love other people exactly the way they are? REALLY, I MEAN LITTERALY LOVING WITH NOT JUDGEMENT. Not a long time ago Diablo was a stripper, then later a blogger (she still blogs) and someone trying to find herself in life. She's a smart, creative woman and her sign is Gemini. I have a personal fascination with the sign Gemini that's why last year I made the illustration below dedicated to it:

Gemini represents one of the most complex aspects of human nature which is the need to find who we are is our landscape of multiple personalities. Somehow we all have this Gemini element present in our systems but people like Diablo Cody have it in a deeper level.
Here are some of the things that she has done in her life:

*She attended a Roman Catholic school.
*She graduated from the University of Iowa with a media studies degree.
*While at the University of Iowa, Cody was a DJ at KRUI-FM (89.7 FM)
*Her first jobs were doing secretarial work at a Chicago law firm and later proofreading copy for advertisements that played on Twin Cities radio stations.
*She started blogging.
*Cody signed up for amateur night at a Minneapolis strip club called the Skyway Lounge.
*She eventually quit her day job and took up stripping full-time.
*Cody also spent time working peep shows at Sex World, a Minneapolis adult novelty and DVD store.
*Eventually she became disillusioned with stripping and switched to phone sex before eventually returning to stripping.
*Cody soon made a retreat to more traditional employment in journalism, and a budding writing career stimulated by her skin trade days.
*While still stripping, Cody began writing for City Pages, an alternative Twin Cities weekly newspaper.
*Cody debuted as Entertainment Weekly magazine's newest Backpage columnist.
*At the age of 24, Cody wrote her memoir Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper.
*After completion of her book, Cody was encouraged to write her first screenplay.
*Within months she wrote Juno... and the rest is history.

Some time ago I made this other illustration called Cactus Girl dedicated to all the girls who needed to grow thorns in their skin in order to survive the desert of obstacles that they had to go through before they found themselves. Diablo Cody could be the girl in this illustration. She was one of the most genuinely happy winners on Sunday and she had all the reasons in the world for it. Before her success Diablo Cody experienced in her own skin the pain of not being in the right place in life, that's why her award tasted even sweeter than it tasted for other people because she has finally found herself in the rewards that her creative work is giving her. And here is when I would like to say that Diablo has all my respect as a woman and as an Artist and I give her a well deserved 10. This girl has NEVER EVER stopped being herself and expressing her very personal nature in the way that she needed to do it at every given moment in her life. She is and will be the target of a lot of people who will always find reasons to criticize and judge her but I won't be in that group, instead I want to say: Diablo, I also love you exactly THE WAY YOU ARE. In the end you have made of yourself the best person that you can be and that's why you deserve to enjoy your success. Go Diablo Go!!!

Have great day!
And I will be back tomorrow with more!
Elsita :)

And here you can listen to an interview with Diablo Cody.(Thank you so much Denise for letting me know about this interview!)

Oscars Report! (PART TWO)

AND HERE IT IS!!!!! The most SPECTACULAR Oscar photo ever of Bill and Elsita!!!! The only unfortunate thing is that couple filling up 99% of the picture. I cannot understand why some couples just want to steal all the attention from other couples!!! These two people (no idea who they are) decided to stand there and be the center of attention for several minutes. There is nothing to do about it, these things happen all the time :o

YAY!!!!!!! Let's give a 10 to the Indiana Jones man!!!!! I already told you the story about how I meet Harrison Ford for the first time. This man has all my admiration and respect and love for being sooo real. His partner Calista Flockhart is always polite and formal. I have never talked with her in order to get the feeling of how she is but she seems to be a great person. Thank you Calista for loving your man! And thank you Harrison for loving her back! Viva el amor!!!

Harrison Ford and I had one thing in common the night of the Oscars: we desperetely needed a glass of water! Before we all got to see each other Harrison and Calista and Bill and I walked to the same place looking for a glass of water right after we got to the second floor of the theatre. Harrison arrived two seconds before I did and got his water but when I asked for the same thing I was told that they weren't still open :o Thank you Mister Waiter, there is always the restroom where water is found in unlimited quantities! But before the restroom we shaked hands with Harrison Ford and his girl, they were looking really happy together! :)

So, after I found the source of water and came back to the big room we went to our sits and got ready for the fun spectacle. Tara Taraaaa!!! Everything started and in my opinion our host Jon Stewart was really funny. He made everyone laugh so much!

And here is when all the unexpected things start happening to some members of the audience and I am going to tell you one of them: An old man who seemed to be one of the members of the academy, sitting a few feet away from us needed to go out for a sec and on his way back he fell down and broke his front head. In less than a second two paramedics arrived with a wheelchair in order to take him away but he said NO WAY! They really tried to convince him about leaving the place but he was firm and said the word NO several times, the paramedics then realized that he wasn't going to move at all so they left promising to come back if he felt like leaving. Now the old man's companion (this beautiful girl who was probably his granddaughter) took good care of his wound and he stopped bleeding, in the end the cut was really tiny. He enjoyed the rest of the event and we were all happy for him!!! Great job old man, just because you're old it doesn't mean that they have to carry you away in a wheelchair as if you were a criminal!

Now two words about the girl up here in the picture: Cameron Diaz. She is such a GREAT dancer! When we were waiting for the show there was some energetic music playing and she was the only one in the whole place dancing, she could not resist the music and just looking at her made you want to dance too. And here I have the explanation to this: she has some Cuban blood since her father Emilio Diaz is a second generation Cuban-American. It is a very latino thing to move your body whenever there is music playing and I was happy to see that some of the musical cells from Emilio Diaz were passed to his beautiful daugher! let's give her a 10 for good dancer and for best smile too!

Now what happens during the commercial brakes? EVERYTHING HAPPENS! You get to know your neighbor; people get up and talk with each other. The stars get to say hi to their friends and hug each other and have little talks. Some people go to the restrooms. MANY people eat their snacks and MANY others feel like they are going to faint because they didn't bring anything to eat. The host makes the best jokes of the night. Little girls that come with their parents fall sleep or want to go home. People read the book that they always print for the event. Girls admire other girl's dresses... you won't believe it but many of my favorite dresses were not exactly from the stars but from other girls and I realized that most of them were vintage pieces found probably at thrift stores. Some of them were REALLY special, there was one in particular that I can still see clearly in my mind! The color was this antique pink, it's really hard to see a beautiful dress with this color that's why I was so impressed.

Now talking about the stars; these were some of my favorite dresses:

Amazing color, very subtle and smart.

So simple and elegant and fluid.

The work with the roses was AMAZING.

A work of art, sophisticated and perfect.

This one has to be seen in person, the picture doesn't make justice to it. The embroidery work was sooo beautiful!

Best shape, so feminine.

Beautiful and glamorous.

Spectacular and dramatic. It looked really amazing in motion.

And in this last picture you can see Alberto Iglesias (who got an Oscar nomination as I said before for the music that he created for The Kite Runner) and his beautiful girlfriend Cristina. She used to be a ballerina and now she goes to Film School, one day she might get her own Oscar!. And here is a nice detail: the dress that she is wearing is from Penelope Cruz! Doesn't she look beautiful! Let's give a 10 to Penelope Cruz for best friend! And another 10 to Cristina for most beautiful guest!!!

And now I have to say HASTA LUEGO!
But I will be back with more!
See you tomorrow!!!!!
Elsita :)

Oscars Report! (Today: INTRODUCTION)

Hello my friend!!!!!
And here I am with my Oscars report!!! (Part One)
As always there is so much to talk about that's why (if you don't mind) I will deliver all the information in more than one post :)

HERE IT GOES:
For Bill and I the Oscars started on Saturday night (just the night before the actual event) when we had dinner with our friends Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo and their sweet daughter at this great Japanese restaurant called Katsuya. I could not resist showing you the business card from this place, which is sooo beautiful. Not many times we find cards like this one. Take a look:

It was Francesca’s idea to go to Katsuya, she has a great taste for restaurants! The whole place is new and it looks amazing, the decoration is very modern with Japanese accents everywhere.
That night was so special! We talked with Dante and Francesca about their experience working with Tim Burton in Sweeney Todd. Everything in our conversation about Tim Burton was positive. They think that he is a true Artist and their chemistry working together was beautiful. They also said that Johnny Depp is the sweetest guy ever which is something that I hear all the time. As I mentioned before Dante Ferretti was the Art Director for Sweeney Todd and Francesca was the Set Decorator. They always work together as a team and together they were nominated for the Oscars this year! So to make the story short I am sooo happy to say that they won their awards!!! (This is the ninth Academy Award nomination for Dante and the seventh for Francesca, can you believe it?) It was just perfect and Bill and I were sooo excited jumping in our sits!! After the ceremony I got to do something that I had promised myself to do if Dante and Francesca won the awards: I lifted the two statues three times with my hands as if they were weights to see how they felt and THEY ARE SOOO HEAVY!!! It was my first Oscars workout ever :)

Up here you can see two pictures taken by Bill at the restaurant and in third tiny one there is Francesca and Dante accepting their awards! GONGRATULATIONS ITALIA!!!!!
**************************************************************

GETTING READY:
OK, Oscars day: I had my appointment for makeup at 10:00 AM which was so early! We left the house at 4:00 PM but that was the only time when this place had some space for someone non-famous like this client called Ilsa, Elisa or Alisa (that's me, they couldn't get my name straight) so I said that's completely OK with me. The owner of this salon (a real character with the most perfect eyebrows that I have ever seen in a man!) is supposed to be a well-known makeup Artist. Someone else introduced me to him the day before while he was working with another client. He looked at me for a half second and since I didn't look like a star he loudly called one of his Assistants in training and asked him to take care of me. Let me tell you this: the whole thing was sooo funny!! His Assistant was the nicest person in the place, he setup the appointment for me and next day there I was. I could have done the makeup thing myself but I have been sooo curious to see how a real Artist does it (in this case an Artist in training :o). I wanted to experience the whole thing in person and I am glad that I did it. Our young man was great! I can say that the process was like painting on canvas (there was even an airbrush involved plus many other little tools that I have never seen before!). He enjoyed his work and it was nice seeing the transformation little by little. It took about an hour and a half to complete the job. I gave him a big THANK YOU, a deserved tip and then I went back home and that's when I put my dress on and took some pictures for you.

(Interesting detail: For a Makeup Artist in training you pay $150 and for a famous makeup Artist with perfect eyebrows you pay from $400 to I don't know how much. I am sooo glad that I went with the first option!)

I never took the dress off after the pictures because it was really comfortable to wear. At 3:30 PM the limousine arrived but we left the house at 4:00. Now the surreal part begins!!!! After a few minutes we found ourselves in this area where there were only limousines around. Hundreds of these black cars looking all the same. I would love to see how the streets looked from an helicopter (there were a couple of helicopter flying around) all the streets near the theater were closed but people were everywhere on the sidewalks asking the limousine drivers to roll down the windows, which they are not allowed to do for security reasons :o You can see the most interesting characters on the sidewalks. Many are curious people trying to get a glance of the celebrities but there is this group of funny characters performing and showing the most creative and funny signs. There was also a small group of crazy people doing crazy things like trying to get into the limousines by asking the drivers to give them a ride. They were mostly paparazzi. The security guys were always trying to keep them away from the streets.

After all this process that took about an hour we arrived in front of the Kodak Theatre where we got out of our car and walked toward a big tent. In this very moment we heard a huge ovation dedicated to the man getting out from the car in front of us and here is a picture of him and the autograph that I later asked him to sign for Deborah who is my friend Margie's daughter:

Colin Farrell, he has the reputation of being a bad boy but I have to tell you: he was so nice and natural, plus he took his Mom to the Oscars with him. How sweet is that? In the picture below we see how they looked together :) After the event was finished, when we were waiting for our cars, he ordered some hot chocolate as well as Bill and they had a little conversation, he was very friendly. When I asked him to sign the autograph he did it with a smile. We like you Colin!!!! Let's give him a 10!

Now it comes the time when we go through the metal detector so you must show your golden ticket. Here is mine:

Several days before the event you get a little book with the rules for the event. For some reason I like to read all these things from the beginning to the end. Take a look at it:

After we went through the metal detectors we had to wait in order to walk on the red carpet that is behind the real red carpet and I have a SPECTACULAR photo of Bill and I from that very moment but I will show it to you tomorrow. That photo is too important, it deserves a whole new post. Please come back tomorrow and I will be here with that photo and more details from the event!!!! There is still A LOT more to say!
Now back to real life, I have a loooong list of things to do!!!
Have a wonderful day!
Elsita :)

Aretha and Stevie! :)

Today I am sooo extremely excited because I have something wooooonderful to share with you!!!!!!! Last night I meet ARETHA FRANKLIN and STEVIE WONDER in person!!!!! Doesn't that sound like I am out of my mind? Isn’t that WONDERFUL????!!!!!! If you have a minute I will tell you the whole story so here it goes:

OK, yesterday, Valentine’ Day, we had our family time, family lunch, flowers, chocolate, just beautiful and fun…then I had to run and get ready because Bill had told me before that we were going to attend some fancy event and that was going to be my Valentine’s big present (I could not imagine that this present was going to be one of the most amazing ones that I have ever gotten from Bill but let’s keep going... So I got ready and a few minutes later we arrived in the beautiful place!!!!

Ok what event was this?
Answer:
The 39th NAACP Image Award. Let me start saying that behind this award there is an organization that will celebrate its 100th aniversary next year and we are talking about NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) which is the oldest, largest and strongest national civil rights organization in the Unites States.

Bill was involved in the making of Talk To Me a wonderful movie inspired by a true story and this was one of the movies recognized last night (the Director Kasi Lemmons won the award!!!!)

Oh my God, I don’t even know how to start telling you what I experienced last night. Let me start somewhere so I am going to ask you this: have you ever experienced listening to a particular kind of music, a song, that goes from your ears to your heart and then directly to your soul? …then somehow that music stays with you forever and when you listen to it again on the radio or a CD your whole body wakes up and makes you fly away in your imagination?… Well, that happens to me once in a while with a group of singers for whom I have a special place in my soul. One of them is Aretha Franklin. Not in a million years could I even imagine that I was going to see her in person. Well last night (and making a great effort since it is so hard for her to walk) Aretha came to the event because a great part of the night was dedicated to her legacy. And guess where she sat? Just in front of Bill and I!!!! This event was live on TV. She was wearing a huge black cape and an exuberant white dress and there we were behind her royal presence. I got to touch her cape and say I love you Aretha. She was amazing and calm and greatful for all the love given to her last night. It was beautiful, they played some clips from the past and she enjoyed seeing herself in the old times. At some point she walked up to the stage and said some beautiful words leaving us in a beautiful state of mind.

But then while the show kept going Aretha’s sit was occupied by the next star of the night: STEVE WONDER! What can I say?????! I grew up with his music, his voice is part of my system and you can find it in my blood under the form of microscopic musical signs . This man is someone so special. Here is something from the book that they printed for the event: ..."Stevie Wonder is beloved for his monumental talent, his compassion for humanity and his desire to challenge injustice. His participation in the 1985 “We Are The World” fund-raiser for hunger in Africa was a music industry milestone (remember that?) while his involvement to put an end to apartheid in south Africa is legendary".

Did you know that in 1983 Stevie Wonder spearheaded the realization of “Marthin Luther King Day” as a national holyday? Isn't this amazing?! In his speech last night he said one of the deepest words that I have heard around this election-time in America. Here you can see the video that starts with something sweet. Now, immediately after Janet Jackson appears look behind Steve Wonder and you will see Bill applauding! Janet Jackson by the way was looking stunning and I just realized that she and my daughter Natalie share the same birth date! (May 16th!)

Now to finish this post I must say this: What's the point of meeting someone like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder in person? What did a learn from it? And the answer would be this: when we think about remarkable people that have done remarkable things we see huge untouchable celebrities, we see their pictures everywhere and their names become like brands so little by little we lose the perspective of how human they are because in our minds they become almost like objects or some sort of non-human version of what a real person is. Well, in my very personal experience seeing someone like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder in person showed me that they are as human as we are, they breath, they move and they also have their own limitations... It is inspiring seeing that in order to do something remarkable you don't have to come from another planet, you only have to be human and follow your passions the way they did :)

See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Love Is In The Air! :)

I find myself asking this question in my mind all the time: Is Diego going to be able to fall in love with someone else in the future? Well, I HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR YOU TODAY!!!! I am so happy to announce that Diego is officially in love with one of the sweetest girls that I have ever meet!!!! Who is she? She is one of his Therapists. She is a cute blond girl in her twenties that he sees twice a week. She was the first person that inspired Diego to say Hi. He likes all his therapists (6 in total) but this girl is someone special to him. From the beginning I realized that when I mentioned her name at home he seemed to be aware of whom I was talking about. Then in every session you could see the spark in his eyes, he enjoyed every minute of his time with her but today we witnessed what we consider his first declaration of love and here is what happened.

By the end of the therapy the normal routine is that we all put our shoes on (we have to take them off for the session) and then we say Bye-Bye and leave the place. Well, today Diego decided that he wanted to stay a little longer… his heart didn’t let him go immediately. The girl was sitting on the floor in front of him saying OK Diego, now we say Bye-Bye but instead of going with Mommy he just stayed there in front of her like when someone just discovers the most amazing wonder in the whole world. He looked at her with the most beautiful expression that I have seen in Diego’s face then he started playing with her blond hair for three long minutes. He looked at me like saying: see Mommy? Isn’t she beautiful? The Therapist was as surprised as I was and she was sooo happy, I could see how special she felt. This was definitely a magic moment. In those three minutes he became a different person, without words he said the most amazing things that I have ever “heard” him say about someone else. Today I realized that love is deeply present in every human being who has a heart and it has the most unexpected ways to surprise us. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, love is part of human nature and it is always with us no matter what!

Now I am going to finish this post with an idea that an old friend of mine said to me once: Love NEVER dies or goes away, love is everywhere (like the air) waiting for us to let it in, all we have to do is keep the door to our heart open.

Viva Diego!!!!
And Viva el AMOR!!!!!
Elsita :)