pageturning beauties

An old time favourite thing I like to do with my friends is going to B&N in the magazine section. I know I called it 'old time thing', but the truth is...it never gets old. There's something about pouring through familiar and newfound magazines that make pageturners an exciting adventure.

Upon leaving my dreamy Australia, I have a ritual of bringing yen and frankie magazine back home with me. The top-notch quality of the paper, design and layout in yen and frankie is proof of an artful masterpiece. These are a few out of the many reasons why I think there's magic in these magazines, almost like magic in the traveling pants.

I just finished reading from cover to cover, yen {issue 50} and frankie {issue 42}. There is a lot I have learned about Australian culture, the world and about myself. I never knew someone could be a fanciful paper engineer or that the fashion my mom wore as a kid that I laughed about is now displayed in magazines. These past days, I've had an almost final breakup with music, but reading about Bon Iver in frankie only fascinated me. In part, frankie was one of the elements that saved my musician/songwriting life. I never knew there was a word for fair trade until I saw an ad for Splendour in the Grass. I saw a glimpse of other people's lives, from adopting Rinah from Uganda to Mingrelian people of Abkhazia to Hmong women of Vietnam. There's story characters to be found in ink. And in imaginary letters I read addressed to myself, I've come to an understanding that all shall be well. Also, I don't feel so alone knowing it's part of growing up to feel lost and not knowing what to do or what's next. It's in these pages that have a unique connectivity flowing in the veins. And with the features on real, everyday people and a message of individuality is what makes me feel alive and experience a rush of discovery. To yen and frankie, I love you lots. And until another year...I'll be waiting...