I Have Lots of Issues

If there's anything I enjoy as much as mindless reality television, if not more....it's probably an easy readin' magazine!

As I sit here this morning and look at my "mags to read" pile, I realize that we (okay, I) have a lot of magazine subscriptions!  When I actually stopped to think about it, my subscription list borders on the ridiculous.  I subscribe to:

• Real Simple
• National Geographic
• Creating Keepsakes
• Better Homes and Gardens
• Scrapbooks Etc
• Digital Scrapbooking Magazine
• Memory Makers
• Southern Living (for some reason, they send me two issues/month)
• Every Day with Rachael Ray
• Cooking Light
• Health
• Shape
• Lucky (I don't know how I get this...I never subscribed, but it just started coming)

See a pattern here?  Shannon gets a few as well:

• Natl' Geographic for Kids
• American Girl
• Teen Vogue
• Highlights
• Children's Digest

If I had to pick a favorite of all of the ones I subscribe to, I'd say it's Real Simple.  Not only is is packed with practical ideas, but it's so visual.  It's beautiful graphic design and color inspire my scrapbooking.  I LOVE National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and Vogue for the photography.  One of my dream jobs is to be a photographer for NG or SI. It's no secret that Rachael Ray inspires my every day cooking, and Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens keep me yearning for a kitchen and bath remodel.

I let my subscriptions to People and Sports Illustrated lapse because they were piling up before I could get through them.  I love magazines, they're a guilty pleasure for me, especially in the summer when I can sit on the deck with a margarita and a magazine.  It might be warm enough to do that later today, but it's one of those busy days, so I doubt that it's going to happen.  And no margaritas for me today, I have "child taxi duty" late this afternoon and choir practice this evening! 

The good thing about all of my subscriptions is that I donate them to the waiting room at my office when I'm done reading them.  That way they don't pile up here and we get fresh new things for our patients to read. 

Do you like magazines?  Do they inspire you?  What are your favorites and why?