All Things Fashionating by tracy mausser

As I have posted before, I totally dig Heidi Klum. With Project Runway Season 9 in full swing, I’ve been getting my fill of the Glamazon.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Klum has taken her Project Runway experience and added fashion designer to her own long list of accolades.  Image Courtesy of HK NB  Recently, she partnered with New Balance and created an active wear collection to be sold on Amazon.  Her creations include tunics, knits, woven tops, leggings and outerwear pieces “developed to fit every body type.” The collection consists of easy, go-to pieces that add a dash of unexpected cool to life’s day-to-day tasks like dropping the kids off at school, running to the market or having coffee with friends.  The pieces – which retail from $32 to $168 – reflect Heidi’s modern and cultivated lifestyle. The New Balance campaign will begin its national launch in November; but if you don’t want to wait for Klum’s chic active wear, you can snatc...

Most mornings, I wake up early and sit in front of our sliding glass doors which look out toward the ocean and our surrounding neighbors.  Last week, around 6am, I saw a gaze – or group – of raccoons on the roof of a neighboring house.  Currently, the house is in escrow and it has been empty all summer.  So you can imagine my surprise as I watched all five of those coons scramble into the roof vent. It brought back memories of a time when I had a run in with some raccoons. When I was in high school, my mom – Kathy – and I did a lot of car camping. One time in particular, we got a big group together to go camp out up at High Point – which is where New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania all meet – for my birthday. My mom, Aunt Trish, her kids -- cousins Jimmy and Jackie, and my girlfriend Michelle prepared for the two plus hour drive for a weekend camping trip. We set off in my mom's 1975 Toyota Corolla station wagon that was a distinct shade of eggplant. By the t...

Good News from J Crew Every once in a while, I see something that I must have at all costs.   (Sorry Jason!) Last weekend, I glimpsed a pair of pants in Glamour Magazine and thought, “I would be a better fashionista if these were hanging in my closet.”   However, the pants were logged into my memory bank along with about a dozen other shoes, purses, jackets that I was crushing on…so buh-bye! Image Credit: J Crew So you can imagine my surprise when I found those exact pants pasted on one of my favorite blogs CheapChica.com.   This helped to bring those bad boys back to the fore-front of my mind and now I really had to have J Crew’s Café Capri in Bright Dahlia – the neon berry color. I love the color as much as the tailored “City fit,” which according to J Crew, is the lowest rise that sits just above the hip.   These skinny trousers are fitted through the hip and thigh, with a cropped leg and cuff. Last Sunday, I decided to go online to check them out; b...

I committed a fashion faux pas. At first, I wasn’t even aware of my transgression but, after doing a little research, I realized that I have confused two fashion brands: VINCE and Vince Camuto. Now, this is not surprising and, on occasion, I must live up to my blond hair.  Such as the Louboutin debacle:  I own two pair of the iconic red-soled shoes yet it took me three fashion seasons to be able to say the brand name without stuttering or second guessing myself.  So, with all the different designers and brands out there, I simply can’t assume all the responsibility to know everything about everything, but I certainly try.  So, in this case, I realized that I had to educate myself and figure out the difference between VINCE and Vince Camuto. VINCE, a contemporary clothing line for women and men, was founded in 2002 by Rea Laccone and Christopher LaPolice on the principals of iconic design and superior quality, according to Wikipedia. Sold to the Kellwood Company ...

Shane and Mom Seven years ago today, the joy of my life – Shane Loyal Mausser – came into this world at 6pm on a Tuesday evening. I can honestly say that it was and still is the happiest day of my life. I know he is my son, but I believe him to be one of the sweetest and most endearing individuals I have ever met in my life. He was born with a good disposition and it remains with him even today. I was almost 30 when Jason and I tied the knot. We both had agreed that we didn't want to rush into starting a family. We wanted to take the time to experience our married lives together. The reality is that we were scared. I speak for myself when I say that the prospect of actually being someone's mom frightened me. At thirty years old, I felt like a kid myself. Jason was happy to spend the next five years honeymooning, traveling and just enjoying life. And we were not alone. At the time, a lot of our friends were just getting married themselves and not very many had begun...

"It Was A Very Good Year" by Frank Sinatra But now the days are short, I'm in the autumn of the year And now I think of my life as vintage wine From fine old kegs From the brim to the dregs It poured sweet and clear It was a very good year I find myself facing my own mortality these days. I'm not sure when it started to happen. Perhaps, it has to do with turning 42 last month or celebrating my 13 year wedding anniversary last week. But it seems like just yesterday that I was graduating from college, moving to Los Angeles, getting married, and having a kid. Today, I feel like I'm closer to 50 than 30. Uh, well...I guess that part is true. The funny thing is that I still feel like I am 30-something. This is not a new topic for me and I have blogged about it recently. [See "Can 40 Be The New 30" from May 6, 2011.] This post, however, is not so much about my physical state of being, but more about my mental state. Now that I am older, I have fin...

I am loving this Jemma Kidd's Backstage Kit from Target.  For $35, this make-up palette dishes up lots of pinks, browns, reds, beiges and yellows for lips, eyes and cheeks. It includes eye and lip primer, bronzer, cream eye shadows and blushers and much, much more. It is sold out online, but you can still find it in Target stores. http://www.target.com/s?keywords=backstage+kit&searchNodeID=1038576%7C1287991011&ref=sr_bx_1_1

I’ll Rise Again Life is filled with obstacles and tests that sometimes knock us off our feet. When we do lose our balance and fall flat on our faces, it’s important to stand up again rather than to sink into doubt and depression...and dust ourselves off. Getting up again generates greater spiritual Light in the world than if we had never fallen in the first place. The fact that we fell is not what’s important. True greatness is in the act of rising again.

I was shocked to see breaking local news that Taylor Armstrong’s husband, Russell Armstrong, had committed suicide on Monday night. Taylor, a “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” personality, had filed for divorce in July citing her estranged husband with physical and verbal abuse. Russell’s attorney, Ronald Richards, said the 47-year-old was upset over his wife’s divorce filing, living beyond his financial means, and running out of credit.  “He didn’t want his marriage to end,” Richards said. “They were raising [their daughter] together.  It came as a shock.” The Los Angeles County Coroner had ruled Russell’s death a suicide by hanging after an autopsy on Wednesday.  He said Russell did not leave a note. As a huge fan of RHBH, I was stunned that Russell committed suicide but I wasn’t surprised that Taylor, 40, had filed for divorce.  Throughout Season 1, Russell certainly seemed controlling and demeaning to Taylor.  In one episode when the cast was in Las Ve...

This is a reprint of my commentary first published in the PV News back in September 1998. Well, the big day finally came and went. On Aug. 15, I married the love of my life, Jason.  We danced the night away and didn’t retire to our honeymoon suite until 1 a.m., but we did indeed make our 8 a.m. flight to Maui on Sunday morning. This is somewhat amazing because we were flying on companion passes. Jason’s mother, who had worked for a particular airline for nearly 40 years, gave us the passes that would allow us to basically fly free. On the morning after our wedding, God must have been on our side because we were ushered on board the plane like we were royalty even receiving a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne as a gift. We arrived on Maui and spent six whole days having the grandest time of our new married lives.  But suddenly it was over. Luckily, Jason had the foresight to book our return flight on Saturday morning just in case we got “bumped” and had to take an ev...

 Vegas-style  As I have posted before, in the early 90s, I began a long love affair with vintage clothing.  And, as I wrote yesterday, one of my biggest attractions to my husband was his love of antiquated duds as well. This was extremely important to m e because back in New Jersey, I had always gotten grief for my eclectic style.  In the beginning, I would style an outfit around a cool vintage piece like a jacket, purse or jewelry; but, I also rocked my Betsey Johnson frocks, Levis and was a huge fan of Contemporary Casuals back then. Christmas 1994 I was – and still am – an equal opportunity shopper.  As long as it looked good on me and represented my style, I was happy and I could care less what others thought.  However, I was always astonished when I would go on a date and the guy would completely put down my bravura which, to me, represented my individuality. So you can imagine my surprise and happiness when I met my future husband Jason.  ...