Dearest PMStylers...this week we are showing Mom's the love! My Mom, Lo (that's short for...well, she won't let me tell you because she hates her real name) is my biggest-proudest, cheerleader, and I thought this week, thanks to Mother's Day, I would introduce you to her if you don't already know her. For starters, this is my all-time favorite photo of Mom because I have never seen her more organically, unreservedly, joyfully, happy...
My Mom has this hysterical tag line for herself: "I'm an old gal, with a real 'Today' personality!". Lo is er, 70-something (won't let me tell you how old she is either), she has had short spunky hair for as long as I can remember, she's always worn Chanel, and always had the most gifted eye for decorating and dressing.
I was in a ton of plays when I was little and everyone always looked to my mom to sketch the cover of the Programs and design the costumes. Oliver...Annie Get Your Gun. Mom also used to make my Halloween costumes...
My Mom famously says she would love to come back in her second life as an International Spy. Cracks me up. She loves PBS and British Masterpiece theater, got me hooked on things like Poirot. She's a Europe junkie, and now that some physical struggles have grounded her globe trotting, her iPad takes her via YouTube to places like the Louvre and London.
Art makes her cry; it's in her soul. She used to organize art fairs and art gallery shows when we lived in Mexico. Speaking of Mexico, she used to make me keep my hair so short that when we moved there in the mid 80's in the 7th grade, I nearly passed for a boy. (I got her back when I pierced my ears a year later with a friend, during a sleepover, using an ice cube and a needle.)
Mom has decorated almost every apartment and home my brother and I have ever had. We can credit most of the cool things in our houses to either her gifting or her amazing hand-me-downs. Mom studied Art in college (University of Iowa) and growing up she always used to write notes with a ruler because she prizes pretty penmanship. Mom gives advice like nobody's business, and she is "warrior supportive" of her kids. There are just two of us and Mom has encouraged us to dream big, and NEVER give up.
There are funny stories too, like how she once told my Dad when they were dating that she played the bongos because she wanted him to think she was exciting and unique. (No, she doesnt play the bongos.) Mom has never been an active sporting type, probably where I get my disdain for physical activity. And much like me, her outgoing flare for befriending strangers and chatting up the world, hides an introverted, very sensitive lady. Must be how she was always so good at relating when as a kid I felt lonely or scared or scuffed up by someone. She always used to tell me I was special.
Mom loves Shelties, takes her coffee black, tears up at Andrea Boccelli, and her favorite phrase is, "...the long and the short of it..." She also polices my FB page for meanies (consider yourself warned ;) and she once got sick as a kid after eating a whole jar of green olives...so to this day, she can't eat one.
Isaac Mizrahi has these designer floral arrangements at 1-800 flowers that he's done and i think I'm getting Mom the "Charming" arrangement. She's always loved yellow roses, and sunflowers, but there's something about the "Charming" bouquet that feels perfect for her. Never ordered from 1-800 flowers, but Isaac convinced me to try it.
To Isaac's mom Sara, to my mom Lo, to my friend Jenny's mom in heaven, and to all of your moms...how lucky we are to have mothers who gave us roots, and gave us wings!
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Shawn
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