Silvie+Maryl | Upgrading Minds, Transforming Lives

When I open my March 2112 Elle Decor and saw the feature on Jackie Astier I turned to my husband and said “babe, I just found my decor twin flame.” She is also a fashion stylist (I can tell by her aesthetics) and now she is my number one FAVORITE, interior Goddess. I mean, when I read the things she said and is into, I felt like she was totally channeling ME, and her and needed to obviously be friends….she was totally reading my mind. Jackie’s style is rocking my world ULTRA hard and I LOVE IT. That Damien Hirst art piece totally works anywhere.

This brass coffee table she found on Ebay is soooooooooo up my alley, and will always look sexy ANYWHERE. love the texture combo and color palette. ultra sexy and sophisticate it. She described her style as Paris in the 70′s….um… that’s me and me too. Velvet pillows, tufted chesterfield sofa upholstered in velvet with some Ikat splashes…. LORD !!! (as my eyes go extra wide open and about to pop out) So sexy!

Go big or go home. Everything is this room is love at first sigh and days after. How glorious is that dining table? Those brass pedestals for the dining table are calling my name. What? Yes brass pedestals, I do hear you! I have a personal love for brass and lacquered anything. Lacquered walls…..is my ultimate fave.  That velvet blue….plush. I can pass on those tree branches…they look a bit “blah.” She said it took 10 coats of lacquered paint to get the walls like that. ME WANT!!!

She scored not just one, but TWO of those fabulous brass coffee tables! I just want to sit on that sofa with my Ipad and Pinterest my way through the afternoon =) WAIT. Did you noticed the ultra AMAZING high gloss lacquered ceilings?? Hold up. It shines like a new car because it actually was sprayed  with automotive paint! Wow. Yes please, I’ll take two.

Above, in the first picture: I’m obsessed with the Karl Springer cocktail tables which I told my husband that I will make an inspired version of that for our bedroom nightstands one day. That room is so sexified, i just love everything about it.

The Brass/gold love continues. I get it. It never went out of style in my world. That lacquered black and brass cabinet is so SEXY. Did I mention that to me, sexy is an attitude? Is a state of mind, something you ooze form the inside out. A feeling and personal expression. This cabinet is oozing it. And those chairs are too. If you feel it inside, you can see it outside.

Saved the best for last. Absolutely went THRILL-EFIED (a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure ) for this room. Literally, I had an adrenaline rush, all over my body, then I had an out of body experience. That’s normal for me when I’m dealing with three things: beautiful food photography, glamorous decor, and dancing to favorite music. This palette is so lovely and attractive for me in so many ways. I wish the rug was faux, but I’m not going to deny its beauty. The custom velvet head board: sexy. The brass lamp: sexy classic. The coffee table ULTRA sexy. I’m not into danish furniture at all, but this settee totally works. The ONLY thing I would change in this room is: the chandelier. I would of gone with a sexy+glorious, brass Sciolari Chandelier. Jackie is an interior Goddess, hands down AMAZING.

By the way, I’m on Pinterest now!! Follow me for more visual inspiration!

Images via Jackie Astier

Today was day 1 of the Silvie+Maryl food shoot for our upcoming nutrition book. It was also my first official debut as a food photographer. HURRAY!!! I felt like I found yet another new calling for me. I just LOVED IT. I told my husband I need to have my own little studio set up next to the kitchen so I can do it ALL the time, when ever I want. I mean the whole set up was amazing!! My husband set me up with the monitor, 5D cannon with L series lens, window diffusion, etc….. I had 2 tables filled with table tops of all kinds, colors and sizes, linens of all colors that Maryl and I gravitated towards (we shopped together for that), the bulk being dark-blue-ish and purple-ish tones. It was soooo much fun…another dream come true. Living what you love…for reals. It was also even better then the real thing because Maryl was my second in command and she rocked it. We laugh so much together.

I have been wanting to introduce some of my favorite food photographers out there. They inspower me so much…so, here is one of them (drum roll): the lovely Helen Dujuradi. Although I gravitate even more to darker, navy blue-blackish and intense contrast images, I think Helen’s color combos are a lighter delight and very feminine in a sexy way. Almost whimsical.

Produce is always so sexy, beautiful and colorful to shoot. I feel like they are such super models and at the same time I truly value and LOVE what they do for our health and well being. The Vegetable Kingdom is the whole package. “Will you merry me beets?” I’ve had this vision of one day doing a photo shoot with Maryl with a gown made of curly kale. One day.

Maryl and realized that we have no green or yellow linens today. I guess we are not into it. But I like in this picture how fresh the green looks and how radiant the red pops out. Radish: You are TOO sexy….

My obsession with the color purple continues…the force is strong with that one. That was our theme is today shoot. I think that I’m moving from a darker purple attraction in this lilac love up above.

I mean…are those the most beautiful radish creations ever? Such a pretty combo! What woman doesn’t love light green and pink? Thanks Helen for capturing so much beauty!

This picture above I just want to dive into. I know exactly what that tastes like.  I actually make that dish as a delicious snack, in tomato heirloom season. OMG…soooo amazing! By the way, I don’t do tomatoes, unless they are ORGANIC  heirlooms…that’s right, I’m not kidding. Once you go ORGANIC heirlooms….you don’t go back. I emphasize the organic because, conventional heirlooms can’t fool me. Someone did that to me once. She said the heirlooms were organic, and when I tasted them…..conventional all the way. When you have such a clean diet and palette, and you only buy organic, you can tell right away when something is NOT organic. BIG difference…HUGE.

Photography by Helen Dujardi

Maryl and I were recipe testing all day today and prepping food for the photo shoot. Our food shoot extravaganza for our upcoming book begins tomorrow.  I almost didn’t blog today ’cause I’m SUPER exhausted! But I thought of the daily challenge (that I put on myself…I’m very aware of that) and I said to myself, “Silvie, we have to do this…WE CAN DO IT!”  I also wanted to say that I  will blog very minimal amounts this week, for obvious reasons. There is way too much to do, and so little time. It’s all great though…lots of AMAZING Silvie+Maryl holistic goodies coming soon. Happy Monday!

Photograph by Silvie Celiz

This is from a shoot for Haper’s Bazaar Feb 2012, by one of my top five favorite food photographers Ditte Isager. I don’t know if the issue is out yet. Ryan Korban is a young super upcoming designer who also happens to be one of top five favorite designers EVER! I guess he decorated model Julia Stegner’s New York city apartment, and that’s the reason for the spread on Harper’s Bazaar. I LOVE everything about this look…I mean EVERYTHING. Specially the lighting and the abstract art. The hopefully fake animals are beautiful too. (for the love of plant-based foods….please lord, let them be fake!) …….for the love of Hermes Birkins…let them be faux! For the love of BRASS & CHROME, let them eat dark green salads!! =) Night blogging = Silvie’s accessing jokes and humor in a part of her mind that I know for a fact Maryl will totally get.

ZEBRA PRINT!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost bought today a zebra print rectangular pillow and then I didn’t because it had a dual ivory/grey color in the middle and I thought that it might make it look a bit cheap. and then I was like “Silvie, I thought we decided on zebra bench, cheetah pillow.” What? You know you talk to your self too. Idea: I’m gonna do gold borders to my black dinning table in my kitchen..inspired by this coffee table up top. Me likey very much.

I find the combination of purple and pink flowers very attractive, like a moth to a flame. I almost went Janet Jackson that’s the way love goes on all of you…almost. I might try that in my living room…the purple hydrangeas are already there, all I need is the pink. Actually, I did do that before in my home office and I loved it..I REMEMBER!!! AHA! I knew it seemed familiarly attractive. Korban…I did it first! Great minds think alike… now if he could just upgrade his mind a bit and use faux animal stuff he would be my number one fave of all time… but the animal cruelty is a bit of a problem… I still admire and LOVE his overall vision, style, color scheme and aesthetics. Breaking out in song: “we are the world, we are the children, we are the ones who make a betta place so let’s star given… Ok, I honestly don’t know where that came from…

Images by: Ditte Isager

I’m on full food photographer mode. I think I’m a bit more obsessed with food photography then interior/decor photography. Food+Decor=LOVE=Silvie’s world, party on, excellent…  I think I shopped all table top possible today. All I need is linens and wood planks in different colors which my sweet and talented husband is making for me this weekend. This book is true labor of family love.  Maryl has been editing text all week (as you all are learning about my grammar skills by reading my personal blog….not my bag) and we are gearing up for next weeks recipe testing and food shoot state of mind (enter: “Eye of the Tiger” song in my mind….).  Bring it!! I’m also excited to sometime soon feature some my favorite food photographers. To me, they are truly a huge doze of inspowerment and major spirit candy… Inner delish-ness.

For a while now I have been super attracted to the color purple, which, as you all know I’m sprinkling all over my home in decor accesories (except for the kitchen…hmmm..interesting….what does that mean?…..I must explore my mind for the answer), and as you all can see it’s totally trickling into my food photography color tear. “I can’t help it…It’s so beautiful.

By the way, I have noticed…I’m an end of the day blogger! This Mon-Fri blogging challenge (except for holidays and vacations) has been very interesting, in that I’m learning new things about my self, such as: I’m a night blogger, I love food photography more then decor photography, I’m officially obsessed with the color of purple (all hues), I’m more into color then I thought, I don’t have any purple in my wardrobe…at All..need to fix that, and I should probably do more images and less text before Maryl reads and flips over at all of my awesome grammar. Quite frankly (shrugging my shoulders) it is what it is, and I gotta keep on moving…… Breaking into song: no body gonna bre-ka my style, no body gonna hold me down OH NO, I gotta Keep on MoVIng…  =D

What song is currently on my mind as I write the end of this post?  I’ll just sing it: “She’s a night blogger…”….. I wish you could hear it as I sing it. I just made it up.

Images by: Petrina Tinslay

Starting to prep for recipe testing and food-shoot phase of our upcoming book: Silvie+Maryl’s ___________ . Can’t reveal the name yet, but it’s a book on how to transition into a plant-based diet in a super practical, conscious, knowledgeable, and NOURISHING way. We are soooooooo excited to share this with all the wonderful beings out there who are ready to make the jump into a sexy, holistic, thriving, delicious, nourishing, regenerating, and healing diet that puts you in an empowered state of mind…and of course making you look A-MA-ZING too! That’s a given. For us, it’s really beyond mind and body. You’ll see.

I will be art directing, food styling, and shooting most of the food photo shoot, so it’s a bit overwhelming but also SUPER FUN because food photography is one of my favorites EVER! (Second to interior design/decoration, of course).  I’ve been wanting to do a food photo shoot for a while now, so I’m super stoked.  I’m also looking forward to recipe testing (measuring? who dat?) with Maryl because we are such intuitive nutri-chefs. We create meals on the spot without measurements or recipes. It’s creative, in-tuning, as well as meditative. I don’t like to follow recipes because I’m so into molecular composition and quality ingredients (quality to us means: easy to digest, absorb, excrete) that if they are not up to my nourishing standards…forget it.

The next few days for me: food shopping, shopping for food shoot…shopping, shopping and the occasional “let’s make this ourselves.” Any chance I get to make it myself, I’m in. I have to stay focused because when I’m out shopping, my family calls me “caperucita roja”, which means Little Red Riding Hood in Spanish…Yes, it’s true, I usually sidetrack to home decor. But I need new drapes for my bedroom! (Which I’m making myself, thank-you-very-much). Maryl is gonna have to be my First A.D. to keep me on track.

In case you are wondering about the LOVELY artwork in this post, they are by the beautiful, empowered and very talented miss Enslee. I LOVE all her artwork!!! L-O-V-E IT. It’s definitely inspowering for me. The one at the top is obviously (in my eyes) Maryl and I. Wonder who is who? Totally reminds me of us! And the second one is me, tomorrow.  Obviously.