in college, my mom got me a subscription to us weekly. with the magic of the internet, most new stories were hardly “news” by the time the glossy-printed periodical made its way to my student mailbox, but there was still something so exciting about turning the key to my box and finding britney spears in a pair of jean cut-offs and a message tee (these were the forgotten federline days) staring back at me.

after college, us weekly eventually became the magazine i only read while waiting for my toenails to dry after i had treated myself to a weekend pedicure. and in an effort to up my book-reading, i even altered my pre-flight ritual of purchasing the latest issue of people magazine for the likes of gillian flynn’s latest thriller.

but recently S came to be with an offer. he had some leftover points to redeem from jet blue and wondered if i’d be interested in getting a few magazine subscriptions that we could both enjoy. i scanned the list of available titles and after a short discussion, decided on the following three:

real simple

instyle

and,

cigar aficionado

albethey a hodgepodge of concentrations, i think our monthly reads will provide an array of interesting topics. i’ve always loved real simple‘s glossary of “new uses for old things” and their catalog of recipes, instyle‘s focus on seasonal fashion (and exposes on some of my favorite hollywood stars), and well, i have no idea what cigar aficionado has in store but S loves him a good cigar every now and then and what a great opportunity to learn more, right?

if anything, these subscriptions will get me excited about getting the mail again. because all that seems to come these days are bills, ads, and letters from AAA notifying me i’ve qualified for their life insurance plan.

curious, what are your favorite magazines? anything we should look into subscribing to in the future?

image via: juliette gold