{"id":2448115,"date":"2019-08-28T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=311990"},"modified":"2019-08-28T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T03:00:00","slug":"aspen-princess-getting-the-best-of-both-worlds-aspen-and-down-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-princess-getting-the-best-of-both-worlds-aspen-and-down-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen Princess: Getting the best(?) of both worlds: Aspen and down valley"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The other day I was walking down Hopkins on my way to get my hair done and this flawless looking woman walked by in the other direction with her long, blond hair blowing in the wind and as if she were a model on a photoshoot.<\/p>\n

She wore the latest iteration of trendy jumpsuit (calf-length linen and baggy through the bodice with thin straps) and expensive-looking sunglasses (light-colored acetate lenses with a moderate round shape). She had the face of a Ralph Lauren model \u2014 chiseled jawline, small, slightly upturned nose, high cheekbones and full lips. I suddenly felt frumpy in the striped cotton T-shirt dress and platform sneakers I\u2019d thrown on since preschool drop-off and errand running don\u2019t warrant the effort.<\/p>\n

The transformation from Aspen glam to downvalley suburban mom happens to us all when we finally realize we want a house that\u2019s bigger than 1,000 square feet and\/or don\u2019t have the time or money to keep up with the ridiculously high standard for beauty and athletic prowess. Of course there are just as many rich, fit, beautiful people in Basalt and Carbondale, it\u2019s just that we\u2019re too preoccupied with our kids, our dogs and our yardwork to have the time or desire to try so hard.<\/p>\n

Here are a few surefire signs you\u2019ve gone from Aspen Princess to Desperate Downvalley Housewife:<\/p>\n

You have more sneakers than heels.<\/p>\n

When I lived in Aspen, I wouldn\u2019t hesitate to drop four bills on a pair of designer shoes if they made me look taller, thinner and more glamorous, and all of them did. I\u2019ll never forget when I first walked into the Prada store in downtown Aspen and no one asked me to leave. I used three different credit cards to pay for that pair of black platform Mary Jane clogs with chunky wooden heels that were at least 6 inches high and felt like having a rusty nail driven through the ball of my foot after the first 10 minutes. Still, I wore them again and again. They were kind of like the padded bra of shoes \u2014 that extra height fooled all the boys.<\/p>\n

These days, I\u2019ve gained 10 pounds and lost 5 inches and I\u2019m more Vans than Versace. I wear sneakers that are only appropriate for daytime because I rarely leave the house after dark. Plus, who needs the height or the hassle? The only boy I need to kiss these days is my 3-year-old.<\/p>\n

Your makeup routine is sunscreen.<\/p>\n

I used to love to sit at the makeup counter at the Cos Bar at least once a year to update my make-up regimen and to spend an entire month\u2019s salary on some luxury skincare brand I couldn\u2019t afford (I still dream about La Mer). I loved being fussed over and learning about new products or how to master the best application techniques. These days, my idea of make-up is the special sunscreen for problem skin by Alta MD. Why bother putting your face on when the only time you take your sunglasses off is to scroll through the last 100 photos you took of your kid?<\/p>\n

The idea of staying out past 10 is terrifying.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, my friend Jen invited us to celebrate her husband\u2019s birthday party at Mi Chola. My in-laws were in town, and Ryan and I were excited for a long-overdue date night, to dress nice, smell good and hold hands in the street \u2014 until we found out the party was at 8. At night. \u201cI know this sounds lame, but we are so tired, so we might just come for a drink.\u201d Jen wrote back, \u201cYes, that does sound lame.\u201d And so we did. It was at least two days before those dark circles under my eyes faded, and not because I made the effort to put on concealer.<\/p>\n

You go to Whole Foods. Every. Single. Day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m seriously convinced that Whole Foods must pump oxygen into their stores like they do at a casino and they\u2019ve also rearranged the store in such a way that it takes you three times as long to find what you\u2019re looking for (even though, strangely, you already know where everything is), so that you can\u2019t get out. That\u2019s the only explanation I can come up with for why I find myself there every single day even though I shop for the week at City Market where I don\u2019t end up spending $75 for fancy olives, a brick of imported cheese and gluten-free pasta. It\u2019s just part of the suburban existence, because in our world, realizing you forgot to buy raw cashews for your vegan Caesar salad dressing is a really big deal.<\/p>\n

You tweeze and shave instead of wax.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Ryan will creep up slowly toward my face wielding a tweezers and quickly yank that renegade hair that\u2019s sticking out of my chin that I missed. It\u2019s kind of sweet in a way, how he grooms me like a gorilla. While I was once coiffed, groomed and waxed by a team of professionals (a Brazilian wax is still the gold standard for the most pain I\u2019ve ever endured without anesthesia), these are expenses I can spare with a razor and a set of tweezers. That\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t splurge once in awhile, it\u2019s just that it\u2019s in the back room of the nail place in El Jebel that always smells like feet and chicken broth.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t still love the Aspen luxury and glamor or the way it feels to be the girl people check out walking down the street. It still happens \u2014 only now it\u2019s because I accidentally put my shirt on inside out or didn\u2019t catch that chocolate stain left by my son\u2019s sticky fingertips.<\/p>\n

I can have the best of both worlds because Aspen isn\u2019t going anywhere. It\u2019s just me who is finally, gratefully, happily, standing still.<\/p>\n

The Princess really needs a haircut. Email your love to alisomargo@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day I was walking down Hopkins on my way to get my hair done and this flawless looking woman walked by in the other direction with her long, blond hair blowing in the wind and as if she were a model on a photoshoot. She wore the latest iteration of trendy jumpsuit (calf-length […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 20:57:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}