Magazine Obsessions

My mother enjoyed reading and read to me quite often. My father could not get enough of the printed word in newspapers, books and magazines. We might not have been wealthy, but by the time I (the last of the children) came along my father always made certain that we had a large collection of books and many magazines around our house.

The two of us, my father and I, would sit together and peruse those beautiful, glossy, large pages of "Look" and "Life" magazines. Daddy would point out things to me and we would sometimes have  conversations about what was on the pages. Sundays, after church, were some of my favorite times because I would snuggle up next to my father on the couch as we read the Savannah Morning News. He would always read the comic strips to me (they were called "funny papers" back then)! There was always a big colorful section of funny papers. He and I would laugh together as he ran his fingers along  the words on each comic strip, reading every line to me. I adored my father and I look back so fondly on those special times we shared together.

Is it any wonder that I grew up to love reading a good book or that I eagerly anticipate opening the latest issue of my favorite magazines? Probably not.

We enjoy traveling. My husband and I are always interested in finding out about other places and how people in different parts of our country and world live. We both enjoy reading about those things. In addition to that, my personal interests are those of family life, cooking and gardening, and home design and home decor. I also enjoy sewing and crafting. Therefore magazines that speak to those interests are of personal appeal to me.

I will not mention names, but for many, many years we subscribed to a number of well-known monthly publications that, as a whole, reflected all of those interests. In recent years, my husband (who particularly enjoyed one of them)and I had begun to notice a big decline in the general appearance(ex. dimension and quality of paper used) inside and on the covers. They were a lot thinner than in the past, as well.. It is understood by most reasonable people that a number of advertisements are to be expected, but when a publication has more ads than substance, it is a real turn-off to me. As a result of our shared disillusionment with those we had once so greatly enjoyed, we discontinued subscriptions to most of the magazines we were receiving. The quality and content was no longer evident and they had lost their appeal to us. We began to search the books and magazines racks of stores and book stores for some others that we might enjoy.

I have been thinking that, perhaps, it might be of interest to some of you what type of magazines my husband and I are enjoy. I will tell you about a few of them in this little post.

We have not traveled to England nor to any part of the European Continent for that matter thus far, but that does not deter us from dreaming about doing so. A magazine we read on a regular basis is "Britain the Official Magazine". We find it at Books A Million, here in town.

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We also enjoy and subscribe to "France" magazine. Go here to find out more about their publication. This is a favorite of mine since I studied the French language for a couple of years in high school and have a love for the language. I endeavor to speak it more fluently. There are all sorts of tips and a crossword puzzle in each issue, so I try to work that out. "Try" being the operative word!

Anyone who reads my blog will realize pretty quickly that our family and extended family are avid Disney fans. We are frequent visitors to Walt Disney World and to make visiting more economical and pleasant, we decided to become members of the D.V.C, Disney Vacation Club, some years ago. Our "home" resort is Disney's Boardwalk Inn and Villas. If you care to check it out (I am not being compensated for linking) you can go this site to find out more about the Disney Vacation Club and Disney's Boardwalk Inn and Villas. You can check out a couple of posts I wrote about Disney's Boardwalk Inn here. Since we like to stay on top of the happenings at Walt Disney World and all the Disney's member resorts, we receive the "Disney Files Magazine." This magazine is a special publication for D.V.C. members.

We also subscribe to a magazine that is about all things Disney. "Celebrations" is another fabulous magazine, which publishes dozens of facts(some of which are little known) about the Disney parks, places to dine, tips about saving money and time on your visits, events and great things to see and do that are sometimes overlooked. "Celebrations" has a Facebook page that will give you some idea of the content and quality of the magazine which, by the way, is superb! I was surprised several years ago that "Celebrations" magazine chose to publish a short article I had sent to them on their website about what Walt Disney World has been to our family and the memories that have been made for us there. I found out the piece had been published only as I was reading the magazine a couple of months later. There it was, my humble little piece, in the beautiful and quality magazine we so much enjoyed!

My favorite home decor magazine for the past couple of years has been "The Cottage Journal." If you like leisurely browsing through pages of photographs of beautiful homes and gorgeous decor, you would probably enjoy reading this magazine. I sit and soak up every last article and photograph in every single issue!  I think it is a marvelous publication with something to appeal to most every design aesthetic.

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I love to cook and I love gardening, so for the cooks and gardeners among you, there is always something for you to enjoy. Have you ever seen more beautiful photographs? I tell you, "The Cottage Journal" is such a great publication.

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Perhaps, you can see why "The Cottage Journal" is one of the magazines which I read. I am not being compensated for giving you my opinion, but I can truly tell you that I cannot wait for each new edition of this magazine to be available. The moment one's fingers feel the cover and pages, the quality of the publication is evident. The articles are well written and the photographs are gorgeous. I actually buy my copy from shelves locally, sometimes at a book store and sometimes at Sam's Club. It seems that only a few places stock it and that puzzles me. A new edition comes out about five times yearly, with special holiday editions.

I hope you have enjoyed my little post about the magazines we enjoy in our home, though I have to admit I didn't mention a couple of others. Yes, I am obsessed.

What are you reading? I would love to hear about the magazines that you enjoy reading!