Magazines and Life

I remember growing up, I used to love it when my mom splurged and brought home Women's Day, Redbook, Family Circle, or Good Housekeeping. She subscribed to Reader's Digest. I loved reading her magazines because it opened up a whole different world to me.

In the homes of others, I could define them by the magazines on their coffee tables. My Aunt Minnie had Psychology Today. Mrs. Scott had National Geographic. Grandma Mary had The National Inquirer (Inquiring Minds...). When Mom started her nursing career, nursing magazines filled the magazine stack. Later, her interests blossomed into Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, and others.

As a pre-teen I learned all about celebrity crushes by reading hand-me-down Tiger Beat magazine from my cousin Kristy. I inherited her clothing, her magazines, and one time even a chemistry set! Tony Defranco was my my first crush, thanks to Tiger Beat!

Fall of 1980 was a big time in my life. I read every holiday magazine I could get my hands on. My mom's, Russ's mom's, you name it. Why? Because I wanted to throw a blow out party for my friends, to announce my engagement, and the engagement of one of my best friends (Patricia). I received the ring on Christmas Day, and a few days later I hosted the dinner party. We set up various tables in one room, and decorated a little bit (not nearly as big as I dreamed in my head). I cooked most of the meal. The menu included baked pork chops with apples on top, and homemade yeast rolls. I can't remember what else we fixed. Mom helped me get it together. In fact, it was a tense time because I also went to St. Louis for a shopping trip rather than staying home to get things finalized (sorry Mom). I had my head in the clouds those days! What started all of this was dreaming big by reading the holiday magazines.

I go in phases with magazines. I used to buy them at the magazine counter all the time. Sometimes I subscribed. Other times I'd go to the library to check out older mags or sit in and read the current issue.

Right now I'm in between phases. When I get settled into my new home (flying there October 29th!) I will begin to subscribe to my favorites again. I know we will be putting roots down, so I won't have to mess with those awful change of address forms.

I combine work with pleasure on my magazine picks. Sometimes I buy magazines because I want to consider writing for them, or targeting them for one of my author clients. Other times I have ministry in mind. Or home and hospitality.

I guess if I picked 5 to subscribe to, at this phase in my life, they would be:
Today's Christian Woman
HOPE For Women
Real Simple
Writer's Digest
The Writer

I also enjoy reading the magazines I picked up over the summer at our SBC church. I looked forward to each new month, for new reading material to bring home. These include:
HomeLife
Mature Living
On Mission

Check them out!

What magazines are you reading these days?