All Things Fashionating by tracy mausser

I wrote this poem at a time when my home town of Ocean Grove's municipal authority was being threatened to be folded into the auspices of Neptune Township; and it did eventually happen in 1981. However, my 10 year old opinionated self had to have my voice heard.

Today is Memorial Day and, for most of us, this means a three day weekend, BBQs and retail sales; but today, I want to take a moment to let the world know how proud I am of my cousin, Specialist James Donovan U.S. Army, of Ft. Benning, GA. (Just so you know Jimmy will absolutely hate that I am doing this!) When I was 9 years old, my aunt Trish – who is only 11 years older than me – had Jimmy, her first child.  He was the cutest and happiest baby boy I ever met until I had my own son. Jimmy and I both spent a lot of time with our Nana and they put his crib in the spare bedroom, which also had bunk beds for me as well.  As you can imagine, I thought Jimmy was my baby.  Nana was around to oversee and make sure baby was safe; but I loved to feed Jimmy, put him in his crib, take him out of his crib (which caused a few head bumps since I could barely lift him), and play with him. Then almost two years later, Jackie – Jimmy’s little baby sister -- came along....

Contract for Greatness Great wines start with stomping on a lot of grapes, and so it goes with the soul.  Revealing your greatness requires moments of pain.   And since our human nature is to run from it, we must make a contract with ourselves to go through the hurt, no matter what. Today, renegotiate your contract, and commit to going through discomfort in order to become great. Yehuda Berg

The Cannes Film Festival ended last Sunday.  It is always such a glamorous event so, on Monday , I just had to take a few minutes to check out the different red carpet fashions. I came across this photo of Karolina Kurkova on the runway at Naomi Campbell ’s Fashion Relief  show and it had a big impact on me. As you can see , Kurkova is wearing a stunning full-length yellow gown with a sky high slit to the thigh.  The left arm is cut blocked out to the waist and is adorned with golden studs.  (Unfortunately, I was unable to find the name of the designer before I posted this blog.)  The sunshine yellow color is splendid and she looked like a ray of light.  Her hair is pulled up in a loose chignon with side swept bangs, and she has a berry colored – possibly matte -- lipstick.  I so wanted to be her. OK, so two days later, I got the bangs and now I am looking for the perfect lipstick to emulate her look.  I wasn’t joking when I said ...

Seventeen years ago, I was new to Los Angeles .   Since I had lived and worked in New York City for five years – prior to changing coasts – I was not typically star-struck.   However, not long after my arrival, I found myself face-to-face with old Hollywood royalty and one of the most dashing men I have ever seen on the silver screen. But let’s start at the beginning: I’d like to report that my writing career took off as seamlessly as I had alluded to in a previous post; sadly, that was not the case. When I first moved to Southern California , I had a difficult time finding a journalistic opportunity – so for the first three years – I went back to my old stand-by – working retail management.   At the same time, I supplemented my income by working for a catering staffing service part-time. I both dreaded and loved that job. Basically, the company called Party Staff provided “servers and bartenders” for small, private events to star-studded galas.   Party Staff fou...

I was brought into this world in the year 1969 and I have always considered myself lucky to have been born in the “hippie era.” I have continually had an intense fascination with the late 1960s and ‘70s.   I love everything groovy about this time period: the fashion and the music. This interest began long before Michelle Williams cut her hair and began looking like a modern version of Twiggy.   When my mom was pregnant with me, she went to see Janis Joplin in concert.   I believe that I was exposed to the culture of the ‘60s while in the womb, and this is why I still dig it today. But there was a real coming of "vintage" age for me while in college. With Me and Bobby McGee ringing in my ears, I bravely ascended to the attic of my grandmother’s house when I was 20 years old.   The house, b uilt in the late 1800s, was sort of scary. But I had no fear as I hit the jackpot and I found decades worth of vintage clothing in an old steamer trunk. Daisy-printed dre...

 Yogini Chicks  Last week, I wrote about my favorite Yogi tea and the principals behind it.  One of the reasons that I am so into it is because I am a self-proclaimed (work in progress) yogi myself.  I love my practice which helps to keep me limber, strengthen my core and calm my mind. For the past three years, my buddy Rachel and I have attended yoga retreats up the coast and, sadly, this will be the first year we won’t be attending. We both have several obligations that will be taking us out of town right about the same time we usually escape to our Zen paradise. It started four years ago when Rachel so gallantly accepted my invitation to attend a random yoga retreat. We really weren’t sure what to expect but, that is truly one of the things I love about Rachel, she is always up for anything. So, once we had made our decision, the first thing we had to figure out was the level of lodging.  The retreat was held at this beautiful (and original) Craftsman...

Starbucks Goes GaGa on May 23 Lady Gaga is a big Starbucks fan - and it just so happens that they like her quite a bit too. So on May 23, Starbucks is going Gaga in a big way on the Starbucks Digital Network in partnership with Yahoo ! That's where we'll have a limited number of free downloads for her new song "The Edge of Glory" to give away. Plus they'll be streaming her new album and an exclusive video of a live, acapella rendition of "Born This Way" - because the SDN is all about providing you great content you can't find anywhere else. To get on the SDN, just get on our free wi-fi at a participating store and go to starbucks.yahoo.com. My normal posts will resume tomorrow!

For those of you who know me, I mean, really know me, then I have shared with you that I am a closet Forever 21 clothes whore. Like I’ve said before, I will drop the Benjamins for shoes, purses and clothing that I can wear season after season; but anything trendy, I will not invest.  I just can’t justify spending a lot of money on something that will be out the following season…well maybe unless it is Marc Jacobs but I’m in retail therapy for that one. Besides that obsession, F21 is my favorite cheap chic teen retailer. You can imagine my excitement upon learning that the clothing giant will be celebrating the grand re-opening – Saturday May 21, 2011 – of its new ginormous store in the Beverly Center , which is located in Los Angeles . The new space will carry its usual suspects – Heritage 1981 , Men21, Plus-size and Maternity wear – but it will also include a gift shop which carries cosmetics and tchotchkes. The grand opening starts at 10 a.m. and F21 will be giving away ...

I went to Target on my lunch break yesterday. My tweeps had been twittering for the past two weeks about the Calypso St. Barth collection since – and even before – the launch on May 1.   I was starting to get major anxiety that I was missing out on something fantabulous. So, while picking up a mouth guard to stop me from grinding my teeth out of sheer apprehension of not being in the know – I took a few minutes to check out the Calypso line and, try as I might, I just wasn’t that impressed. Damn, my teeth are little nubs for nothing. According to its website, over the last 16 years, Calypso St. Barth has grown from a modest resort-wear line into a global luxury lifestyle brand with a passionate following. The brand offers a no-fuss approach to style anywhere in the world by combining timeless pieces with diverse elements. The line for Target – which doesn’t seem to stray too far from its resort-wear roots – seems a better fit for the older Palm Springs crowd.   How...

OK, truth be told, I care more about fashion than I do about beauty.  I am quite simple when it comes to my daily cleansing and moisturizing routine – Cetaphil and all Neutrogena products .  I get a teeny bit fancier with my make-up but mostly Estee Lauder and Clinique for my face with some Mac for the eyes and a little Chanel for a pop of color on my lips and nails. I am pretty basic folks; but as I was looking through my most recent Glamour Magazine ( June 2011 edition), I noticed an article entitled, “31 Days of Beauty Freebies!” It reads, “Mark your calendars: There’s glam stuff up for grabs every single day for a month.  Enter to win at glamour.com/contest.” My first thought was that, by registering for this contest, I could score cool beauty products without thinking about it.  So I thought I should share this info with you. So, here it goes and I will diligently try to note daily – on my blog – which product will be given away on that particular date....

They're baaaaaccckk! Last night, I got a chance to watch the season premier of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. (RHONJ) As my husband Jason said, "What a train wreck." But like any other major catastrophe, it is very difficult to not look. This season, Dina and Danielle are gone and, at first, I was extremely disappointed. I mean...how could they live up to the same level of drama without that nut job Danielle.  Boy, if I had bet you a pork roll egg and cheese sandwich, I would have been wrong. Now being a "former" Jersey girl myself, I am actually quite shocked that New Jersey has gained so much popularity in the reality TV genre.  No, I don't personally watch the MTV show Jersey Shore which is the annoying question that people always ask me when they find out I hail from NJ. But Jason - who is born and raised in SoCal - watches it. However, I think Jersey Shore is responsible for the garden state's five minutes of fame, but RHONJ was the clin...

Well, Thursday night was the second Season Finale of The Vampire Diaries (TVD). I was a bit faklempt to say good-bye to Damon, Elena and especially Stefan for the rest of the summer; however, I know that my vampire obsession will continue to be fed. Even before Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series came out and possessed the young and old alike, I was a huge vampire fan. When I was about 8 years old, I read and reread the original, unabridged version of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula ” and sunk my teeth into some good old vampire lore.  From that point on, I was hooked. I would read or watch anything vampire-related: from the movie Salem’s Lot to the television show The Munsters to the cartoon Groovy Ghoulies .  As I got a little bit older, I found Anne Rice ’s Vampire chronicles and that was when it got really bad. (It didn’t hurt that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt starred in the movie.) In my young mind, I actually wanted to be a vampire and, if I was ever faced wi...