All Things Fashionating by tracy mausser

After three hours of being lost in the wilderness, my mom, her then-husband Rob, and I headed down the road to our salvation – civilization. We had traveled so far, and it was at this point that my mother’s Golden Retriever, Laney, decided she couldn’t go on.  We could all relate to Laney’s exhaustion.  For the past seven hours, we had been lost, dehydrated, and suffering from heat exhaustion.  I had even been trampled by my horse. A short walk to the closest house seemed like a thousand miles.  Because of Laney, it took us an hour to reach our destination – a little, white, one-room adobe sitting in the hot sun.  Since there was nobody home , we helped ourselves to the hose in the backyard. After a short rest, we continued down a dirt road, which turned into a familiar paved road.   However, the road was on the complete opposite side of another town called Silver City , about 20 miles from Piños Altos.  Luckily, further down the road, the sma...

Colors, colors, colors…I love all the vibrant hues that are all the rage this fashion season: Haute Pink, Cool Melon and Lemon Yellow were just a few of the shades that Marc, Zac and Miuccia Prada all represented on their runways this SS11 Season. Every advertisement on television, magazines and billboards reveal people wearing color, even reflections of street style show the average Joe rocking these magnificent colors, except me. I am a so monochromatic and I just can’t help it.  Almost every day – especially to work – I wear black, gray or cream/white and sometimes…I mean sometimes…a splash of color.  When I was in college, I always wore black because, as I would say then, “I am in mourning for my life.” Well today, I live in sunny Southern California and spend most of my time outside so I have no excuse why I’m not the bright light of my life.  I mean, being a compulsive shopper, I have purchased my fair share of effervescent Spring fashion but it is just sitting i...

My mother, Kathy Murch, lives on a small – non-working ranch – unless you count all her work to keep it running – in a New Mexican town called Pi ños Altos. After college, I was lucky enough to spend some time there that changed the way I view life forever. In 1994, I had just graduated from a university in Northern New Jersey and decided to do some traveling.  So I put all my belongings in storage, packed my car, and sedated my cat for the three-day journey out West. I was a city mouse, and had spent the last four years living and working in New York City.  However, I had had enough of urban life, and was looking forward to the relaxing atmosphere of my mom’s ranch, which is filled with horses, a donkey, dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, peacocks, and one mean old turkey named Hank Williams. No sooner had my car rolled into her driveway than did my mother, who is an avid equestrian; start making plans for a trail ride bright and early the next morning. By 8 a.m., our caravan...

"I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls." - Anais Nin

Giver With Gift   Money, time, emotion:  these are three of the hardest things for humans to share with other humans.  Give all three today.  Donate to a worthy cause. Volunteer time helping someone. Express your love.  Give from the heart - because gifts without the giver aren't gifts. By Yehuda Berg

Three weeks from today, I will be laying on a tropical beach in the Caribbean.   I love the smells of the beach and can’t wait for the aroma of the sand, ocean and…suntan lotion?  Not so much anymore.  The truth of the matter is that the new spray lotions just don’t smell as good as our suntan lotion of yesteryear. But that is why I fell in love with Hawaiian Tropic ® products last year.  Now, I’m not talking about their SPF 0 Dark Tanning Oil; my baby oil days are over. But for years, I often wondered why lotion and/or suntan lotion manufacturers weren’t making a lotion with SPF.  Not sunscreens mind you, but lotions.  After I had my son and we spent a lot of time outdoors all year long, I really wanted this kind of product.  I wanted the lightness of a lotion but that protected my body – such as my arms, legs, neck and chest – from the sun. I was delighted when such a product came out on the market. The first one that I tried out was Lubrider...

Today is National Running Day and I started the day off with a run.  According to Runningday.org ’s website, National Running Day, held annually on the first Wednesday in June, is a day when runners everywhere declare their passion for running. Wherever we are and whomever we’re with, we run—fast or slow, alone or with others, all over town or just around the block. It is a coast-to-coast celebration of a sport and activity that’s simple, inexpensive, and fun. It’s the perfect way for long-time runners to reaffirm their love of running and for beginners to kick off a lifetime and life-changing commitment. I have to say that when I read this statement (I know, I am a geek), it made me so excited. I love to run and, for as long as I can remember, I have always loved to run. When I was a little girl, my pediatrician said my legs were made to run and I just sort of accepted that to be the truth.  When I was about 17 years old, I got a job at a gym.  I started out working in...