Mimi

There are common phrases that you use, but never really understand them until you have truly experienced them in your own life.

When it rains, it pours
Bad things happen in threes
Everything happens for a reason

It is with great sadness that I now understand these common phrases more closely than most of the people I know.

After the death of my grandfather in January I thought that this would be a hard spring. Earlier this month my mother fell hiking and broke her leg and I knew this would be a difficult summer. Last week I was informed that my Mimi had passed away in the night.
This is going to be a tough year.

When it rains, it pours
Bad things happen in threes
Everything happens for a reason

Unlike my complex and confusing relationship with my late grandfather, I knew Mimi like the back of my hand. She was true family and easily one of the classiest people I’ve ever met. My first memory of her unique air of status was when I learned her name. Mimi was only the pet name that she let her grandchildren (my cousin, my younger sister, and myself) call her because as she bluntly put it: “The word grandmother makes me seem so old!” She could have chosen to be a granny or a nana, but none of these terms of endearment would really encompass all that she was. I always thought that she was just Mimi—like Madonna or Cher—but when I was about eight years old, I asked my dad why Mimi’s cards always were sent to a woman named Barbara Pennick. He explained the whole double names thing and it promptly blew my tiny mind. Only Barbara Pennick could be one of the greatest grandmothers of all time without even actually being a grandmother by title.

Vain genius with good intentions.

It was this vain genius that continued to entertain and impress me throughout the 21 years that Mimi was physically in my life. When she would visit us in California (always in the spring or summer months to make sure she got only the best weather), she would sit by our pool with a vodka tonic vowing that someday this would be her entire life. I loved being her vacation. It made me feel special. Even after she made her face up, she would still dare to get in the pool with the splashing machines that took over my sister and I whenever we touched water. Gliding effortlessly around the pool with the help of a kickboard Mimi would never get her hair wet. I never understood how she did it, but I guess I never tried hard enough.

How could I not look up to a woman who made everything look so graceful and cool? I didn’t even mind that she smoked that much because the smell of her cigarette smoke mixed with Chanel No. 5 was so inviting, so natural for her personality. She was my definition of New England royalty and always played the part so beautifully.

During my last days with Mimi this past March I learned more about who Barbara Pennick was. Barbara Pennick was a dedicated single mother of three beautiful children, the eldest being my father. Her life was not always full of Chanel No.5 and pool side lounging. As a Catholic mother trying to take care of her kids, “no meat Fridays” and hiding from the paper boy on collection days were regular occurrences. Sitting around a table drinking wine, these stories were full of hilarious embellishments and the rose tint that often comes with looking at your life through the rear view mirror. I thought about these stories I had heard over and over at dinner tables throughout my life as casual chatter and realized how hard Mimi had it. It was at this moment that she became not only one of the most beautiful women that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, but also one of the strongest.

Everything happens for a reason

There is something special in the fact that my grandfather died first because it gave me the gift of being able to see Mimi one last time. I don’t take it lightly and I thank him from the bottom of my heart because I am completely satisfied with my relationship with Mimi right up to the moment that I drove away from her to Logan airport. People continue to send their condolences to me because of how much death I’ve had to deal with this year, but they shouldn’t. It happened on a perfect schedule all thanks to Joseph.

Now I know that Mimi would be upset that I spent some of my writing about her on her ex husband especially considering they had been divorced for over 40 years, so let’s salute the woman who taught my father how to dress, and a family how to stick together.

To the woman who thought Talbots was an acceptable gift for a 13 year old girl!
To the woman who once said “She doesn’t know I don’t like her!”
To the woman who made me listen to Frank Sinatra when I only wanted to listen to the Spice Girls.
To the woman that sent me cards in college for no occasion at all.
To the woman who always believed in me.

To Mimi.

Wedding Whimsy

I was never one of those people who pretended that I wasn't excited about the upcoming Royal nuptials. I love weddings. I love the Royal Family. I love the pomp and circumstance. I love the uplifting excitement of a whimsical day. I love that it was a UK Bank Holiday. People can naysay all they want, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

A Few Favorite Aspects

The music was just incredible. Prince Charles helped Kate pick out the hymns and it was just gorgeous including a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem "God Save The Queen" which Piers Morgan from CNN deemed able to "absolutely raise the roof of Britain". I don't know about all that, but it was magical. The bands were wonderful and the choir was just angelic.


Westminster Abbey was the perfect place for their wedding, but if we are honest, its not a very welcoming and inviting kind of building. The addition of the Birch Trees to the interior of the gallery just brought a new sense of life and magic to the traditional ceremony.


Normally I am pretty wary of veils on brides especially with the modern cuts of dresses, but paired with her gorgeous McQueen dress, Kate's sheer veil only added to her beauty and the mystery of the occasion. It complimented her body and her dress stunningly. With regards to the dress, I thought it was fantastic, but there was a wow factor that was missing. I'm not particularly a fan of Diana's dress, but it was clearly a dress fit for a princess.


The Beckhams. Best looking guests around. Enough said.


And last, but certainly not least, the adorable Queen of England herself. A vision in yellow!

And with all of the build up and all of the excitement, the day is over and done with. It really inspires me because even if Kate's life is a living hell for the rest of her life because she is a princess, at least today was a dream. A dream that she actually got to live.



Good Luck Will and Kate! Everyone pray for Harry.

Track Take: "Cornerstone" (Arctic Monkeys)

After the explosive approval to their first album Whatever People Say I'm Not, and the lackluster response to their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare, the Arctic Monkeys really had nothing to lose commercially in planning and recording their third album. While Humbug is a very interesting and disjointed album in its entirety, "Cornerstone" is not only the best song on the album, but it's one of the best tracks that the band has ever produced.

Front man and resident songwriting genius Alex Turner is incredible interested with the surf guitar sounds of the 1960's (see The Last Shadow Puppets for his obsession at full blast). Here the watery sound of slide guitar and blurred notes beautifully compliments the confused and desperate character in his song. Beyond the accented lead guitar and the jangling rhythm, the track is very simple. This doesn't make it boring--instead it makes it addictive and so unsatisfying at the end when he doesn't resolve the rhythm. Alex doesn't find the girl, he is still stuck smelling seat belts and creeping on other ladies.

While the song is appealing sonically because of its timeless sound mixed with Turner's unique Sheffield voice, its the universal theme of lost love haunting every turn of your life that makes it a classic. Instead of churning out another song about a break up, Turner takes us beyond the last fight and leaves us with the pathetic attempts to remember a lost love's face.

It's fresh, yet maddeningly commonplace.

Friendly Ghosts

 

Not gonna lie, kind of forgot I had a blog. No matter, I'm back with something new to complain about; it's called "Ghosting". And no, I am not referring to the strange sex act that goes by the same name according to Urban Dictionary. I'm referring to the tendency exes have to haunt you like a god damn ghost. You know, when you've finally reached a point in your life where you've learned to live without them, and you either fill with rage or smile fondly at the thought of them, and then they call/facebook/text you out of nowhere? Like when you check your phone for the time and see you have a text, expecting it to be from a friend and then your heart skips a beat when you see it's actually your ex (who you thought had a new girlfriend) asking you to go for a drink? Why is this so common amongst men? Or rather, why is it OKAY when the guy does it, but when the girl does it she is desperate, pathetic, psychotic, creepy, etc? 

Handling these things are an art. It takes much wit, manipulation, and preferably booze.

Here are some tips for handling your friendly ghost, assuming you're already drunk:

1. If you even decide to respond, your first text should be as aloof as possible.

 2. Make sure you mention you're busy doing something really cool. Since he's in a semi-vulnerable situation, he'll do most of the talking in an attempt to egg you on.

3. Say something bitchy early on. Make it clear you're still feeling hostile towards him. Dudes love angry women.

4. Drink more.

5. Say something you instantly regret sending. Explain that you are drunk. This only makes you look cooler anyway.

6. Now you're on a roll, tell him you miss him. Follow up immediately with: "AS A FRIEND THO"

7. He might start to get sentimental at this point. If you're drunk enough, go with it. 

8. If you can get to this point and he is still texting you more than you're texting him, just stop texting him, wait 'til the next day, and text him something related to something you are doing that makes you seem cool. Also, try to start a fight about something so he remembers you're feisty.

9. ABS: Always Be Sassy

 10. If you do agree to get a drink with him DO NOT let him come back to your place after. 

11. Realize that you're still attracted to him, revert back to state of mind you were in several months ago.

 13. Find new love interest ASAP or kill self.

HAPPY HAUNTINGS, FRIENDS. 

Snapshots of Massachusetts

In late March I travelled to the east coast to spend my spring break with my family in a place that had no idea it was even spring yet. With coats bundled up and the occasional snow flurry I wandered around the towns of Andover, Marblehead, Lowell, and Salem, complete with a day trip to the big brick city of Boston itself. While it was grey and chilly outside, the historical beauty of Massachusetts shined bright.

Salem










Andover






Lowell








Boston






The photos were all shot on 35mm without any sort of flash and while it does seem rather sad because all the photos are kind of dark I believe that there is something beautiful in the muted images.