All Things Fashionating by tracy mausser

There is definitely something to be said about Six Degrees of Separation. Before the holidays, I was visiting my friend Robyn in Santa Barbara.   We were engrossed in idle chit chat when it somehow came up in conversation that a friend of hers – Lori – was hosting a jewelry event in Hermosa Beach.   This happens to be where I live, which is more than 100 miles away from where Robyn, who previously lived in Hermosa, lives now. Coincidentally, my son Shane is a classmate of Lori’s son.   Neither of us had any idea there was a connection. Nothing too earth shattering at that point, but then Robyn started showing me her jewelry created by designer Edina Kiss and it blew me away. Edina Kiss Designs creates modest jewelry – necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings – that are simple yet out of this world with style. According to the Edina Kiss website ( http://www.edinakiss.com ), “Her pieces are designed with beautiful and natural stones such as Amethyst, ...

Saturday's sunset from our deck For those of you who don't live in Southern California, we had one of those glorious January weekends that don't come very often -- even in the summer.  Sort of like "Indian Summer" back East; but this is summer summer right smack in the middle of winter. The temperatures were in the 80s and the sun just dazzled, so I spent the majority of the weekend outside with Shane and Jason. We rode bikes by the beach, excercised and played sports outside, swam in the outdoor pool at our sports club, cooked lots of great food, and watched two of the most fantastic sunsets from our deck.  What more could a girl ask for? On the downside, I just could not bring myself to sit down in my home office and write.  There will be plenty of rainy, winter days ahead of us but I just didn't want to miss one second of this glorious one. So, I am reposting today's Daily Om for your reading pleasure.  Somehow, it seemed poignant and tied i...

When I was in college, I suffered my first – and only – broken heart; but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Five years after we started dating, my high school sweetheart and I called it quits. With both of us being young and immature, it was a roller coaster of a relationship and, it was not the first time that I had declared that we were over – we broke up often.   However, this time, I realized that we were done for good. With Spring Break fast approaching, my mom wanted to try and cheer me up. She suggested spending a few weeks down in Miami, specifically in South Beach, to get a head start on our tan and soak up the sun. As our trip approached, I started to get excited and spent a lot of time at the tanning salon.   Who knew it was so bad for you in the early 90s, but my dermatologist loves me for it today. Since we were going for two weeks, the plan was to drive my pseudo-new Hyundai Excel from the Jersey Shore down to Florida over the course o...

At one point in my life, I thought getting a manicure was one of the greatest -- as well as cost-effective -- luxuries a girl could have without a lot of fan fare;  Today, it is the blow out. Jason -- my hubby -- actually turned me onto the drybar (TM), a blow dry bar, about a year ago.  The chain's first location, in Brentwood on San Vincente, boasts a wash but no cuts. No color.  Just $35 blowouts.  The concept has blown it out and they have expanded into the South and to the East Coast. For the standard cost, the salon offers various types of blowout styles named after sophisticated drinks like the Manhattan, Cosmopolitan, Mai Tai and Shirley Temple.  For a wee bit extra,  the dry bar offers UpTinis (Updos) for $70, Dry on the Fly (In Home Blowouts) for $73 and, most important, the Floater (a 10 minute head massage -- ewww...get yo' mind out of the gutta) at $10 extra.  Nice! But most excitedly, the dry bar is addi...

On Christmas Eve, I was at a dinner party and saw my friend Jessica.   As we stood there talking, I was struck by how her face was just radiating.   I complemented on her dewy glow and she told me that Nars Illuminator takes all the credit. I almost forgot about her little insider tip until too many holiday parties and not enough sleep started to catch up with me.   My complexion was looking a bit sallow, and I needed to do something about it. Last Friday, I happened to find myself on Sephora’s doorstep, so I ambled in to, at least, check it out. I couldn’t find any Nars products at first and thought, perhaps, they didn’t carry it.   I asked a sales associate for some help and I found exactly what I needed. The Sephora associate confessed that she also uses the Nars Illuminator and that she had it on right then.   I looked at her glowing skin and knew that I was sold. According to Sephora, the Nars Illuminator is a multifunctional face product th...

As we gear up for the AFC and NFC play-off games this weekend, I think it is safe to say that we will see plenty of blocking, clutching and probably some tackling; However, I doubt that we will see Tom Brady or Eli Manning taking part in the haute new trend of Color Blocking, with the exception of maybe Brady's baby mama Giselle Bundchen. Not too different than each coach’s approach to get his team to the Superbowl, Color Blocking is a trend that calls for the strategic placement of contrasting – yet complimentary – bold and bright colors paired together to create a successful play...I mean look.  Sorry, I got distracted. We have seen Color Blocking everywhere from head to toe, but I am really loving the wow factor of it on clutch purses right now. It is a hot, hot trend giving us all a reprieve from our boring monochromatic lives. I may not get tackled this weekend, but I definitely plan to block some color. Touch Down!

Nicole Richie got me thinking about my own sense of style.  I completely respected her risk-taking at the Golden Globes by foregoing Prada, Gucci or Lanvin and wearing designer Julien MacDonald.   http://julienmacdonald.com/  MacDonald -- whose fashion roots run deep at Chanel, Lagerfield and as Alexander McQueen's successor at Givency -- has been concentrating on his own label that has grown strong since 2004.  However, he is no fashion power house yet; although, I have no doubt that he will be one day soon. But, it was Richie's daring to carry her own line, a House of Harlow clutch, and promote her disheveled pony (a big hit for the night) courtesy of Suave Professionals hair products, that made me take notice...and she looked fantastic. Suddenly, and I know this sounds corny as hell, but my "fashion" mission statement suddenly popped into my mind.  I had this burning urge to have a creed to live by and it was important for me...

Charlize Theron On Sunday, Tinseltown got all dolled up for the 2012 Golden Globes.   Hollywood’s hottest stars – and the world – waited in nail-biting anticipation to see which big and small screen actors had paid enough money to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to take home a Globe.   Did I actually write that down?   I mean…we all watched as the most talented Thespians were lauded for their acting acumen. Sadly, I was not invited this year; so I had to watch the event from home.   I was so happy to see that Ricky Gervais was asked back again to host the event and he did not disappoint.   I think that guy is truly hilarious and I love watching him, in all his UN-PC glory, make Hollywood royalty squirm. Unfortunately, I am way behind on all my cinematic responsibilities and, the only movie that got a nod which I saw this year, was Owen Wilson’s “Midnight in Paris.” Wha-wha! But as you know, it wasn’t the acting as much as the fashio...

Now, I haven’t been totally forthcoming with you all.   Back in September, when I was crushing hard on a pair of Vince Camuto boots for the fall http://allthingsfashionating.blogspot.com/2011/09/to-be-brown-or-not-to-be-that-is.html , I was lucky to get great feedback from some followers – via a survey – that brown boots were the way to go.   Excitedly, I hit the purchase button online and those buttery boots were at my doorstep in no time. Unfortunately, they were like melted butter and a bit too slouchy for my taste.   I truly wanted to make them work but, after weeks of deliberation, I finally returned them.   (I love you Bloomingdales for your generous return policy.) Since then, I had tirelessly continued my quest to find the right brown boot for this season; however, my luck changed last Monday when my newest infatuation arrived. While perusing the last month's edition of Lucky Magazine , I saw an editorial that stopped me in my tracks.   A model was...

Today, I am going to launch a new segment call Fashionably Fashionating Fridays in which I plan to cover trends, looks for less and, well, anything Fashionating about fashion that I come across. My first post is about color and, I must confess, I “borrowed” the concept Pop of Color – or POC – from the new Bravo show “It’s a Brad, Brad World.”   POC, the use of accessories to add a pop of color to an outfit in a more mainstream way, was coined by stylist Brad Goreski, the star of his own new reality show.   Brad was the right-hand man for celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe and, surprisingly, left the successful Team Zoe when the network offered him his own program.   Zoe’s camp certainly didn’t seem thrilled about this sequence of events – as mentioned last season on her own show, The Rachel Zoe Project – which interestingly airs on the same network. But fashion is about trends, and sort of deriving from others, so I am going to use this impressive acronym to reveal some of ...

Even for Southern California standards, we have had a relatively mild winter so far.  Our daytime temperatures have been in the high 70s to low 80s over the past few weeks. Despite the warm days, we do tend to have desert-like temperatures at night.  Meaning that – even if it does get to be 80 degrees during the day – it can go as low as the 30s or 40s during the night. Last Thursday, it had been so warm that I put Shane to bed in some sleep shorts and a t-shirt.  Unfortunately, Jason and I forgot to set our heat at a low temperature in case it got cold – which it did – so our little man woke up in the wee hours frozen like an ice cube. He climbed into bed with us and I nearly shouted as his frozen toes burrowed into mine.  Within a few minutes, he was toasty warm and back to sleep; however, it made me remember some cold days of my youth. When I was little, the country was suffering from the energy crisis.  The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exp...

Admittedly, I am a sucka for reality television: Especially the Real Housewives franchise.  Right now, I can not get enough of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.   As I have posted before   http://allthingsfashionating.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-does-reality-tv-become-too-real.html , I am a huge fan.  The drama unfolding on this season of RHBH is almost more than I can take and I find myself wanting so much more at the end of each episode.  (I may find myself in therapy along with Taylor when this season actually concludes.) Despite the fracas that went on at Kyle's White Party, the fact that Taylor and Russell are headed for "splitsville" and not to mention Russell's inevitable demise, I was excited for the girls' Hawaii trip to celebrate Mauricio's birthday; However, I found myself "Jonas-ing" to find out who Camille and Brandi were wearing on their first night on Lanai. First, I was a bit disappointed that there...

It is with great pleasure that I say good-bye to 2011.  It is not that this year was all that bad: We bought our amazing house; traveled to some beautiful destinations; experienced good health; took part in many fun times with our family and friends; and just realized living the good life. For those of you who follow my blog -- on a personal note -- I lost two individuals who were very dear to me; but it doesn't hurt quite as bad and I'm ready to move on. To me, 2012 represents a fresh start. I'm not really about making resolutions.  I truly believe that it is my personal duty to strive to be the best that I can be in my day-to-day life.  BUT, if I were the type to set a new goal or two each year, I would certainly resolve to be nicer to my hubby. (Love you, babe!) This year, we spent New Year's Eve having brunch with our family and then we watched the ball drop with some very old and dear friends.  It was so fun to share such a special even...