re•cent reads: the good and the ugh

I'm really loving that my mags all arrive around the same time. For the second month in a row, I got my Redbook and Good Housekeeping in on the same day. I'm assuming I'll be seeing my Better Homes & Gardens (I know, I'm old!) any day now.

Despite working a bit more than I would like, I got off a little early on Saturday and was able to enjoy flipping through the former two titles. While nothing was as nice of a feel-good read as the ones I pointed out last month, I still found some enjoyable highlights (and some that I straight up just needed to comment on).

Allow me to share:

[the new] Redbook:

Redbook had been mentioning on facebook that "the new Redbook" was  on its way. The masthead has been changed and overall the cover looks...younger. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

Before Redbook's last makeover, their tagline was "the married girl's guide to life." Admittedly, I started reading it before the wedding, but we had been together a pretty long time (we had been dating over 5 years when I walked down the aisle). I get that more and more young adults are opting to wed, so fine. But please don't keep going down this road. I stopped reading Cosmo and Glamour because I'm a young adult who is PAST "how to tell if he likes you," or "how to flirt in a bar." Can we keep this for slightly more mature women without getting too frumpy or too immature? This was the first issue, so I guess only time will tell.

Excuse the crappy photo quality - these are all scanned pages as the issues are brand new.

The ponytail project (starting on p. 50): I LOVED this. Regardless of what I do with my hair, it tends to wind up in a ponytail. Not cute by any means, but functional. What I like about this is that it recommends a more chic ponytail option by hair type instead of a one-size-fits-all deal. All the options look polished, and I feel like I could do most of them quickly and easily enough.

UGLY Shoes! It had to be said.

hi/lo Tasseled loafers (p.100): UGH! I know my fashion taste is pretty basic and straight forward, but some trends I just don't get. I was hoping this smoking flat/tasseled loafer trend would go away by now. I love a good pair of flats, but to me, these are hideous and tacky. Adding pretty colors isn't enough to call these a feminine must-have.

Good Housekeeping:

Break These Fashion Rules (starting on p. 80): I see articles like this one every so often. Sometimes I like them, sometimes not. This one was a love/hate.

• Rule 1 says we can now mix navy with black. Back in the day they said the same for brown and black. both are still HUGE no-no's to me. The demo outfits to prove their point really didn't catch my eye.
• Rule 2 was fine - mixing prints has been trendy for awhile, and if you can do it right, by all means, go for it!
• Rule 3 was what really prompted the UGH factor. It encourages larger women to wear fitted vs. loose clothing. Fine. The problem is the model used. In the words of my beloved Love Actually, "who would be calling her chubby?" If she is big, I'm screwed along with many others. I thought magazines were finally starting to move beyond the anorexic model mold and show real women. Redbook really has my blood boiling on this one.

Big!? Are you kidding me?

• Rules 4  and 5.... again, fine. Nothing shocking here. Mix and match your shoes/purse all you want and don't shy away from horizontal stripes.

Ok...so maybe that was more mediocre/hate than love/hate. Whatever.

How to be a Friend to a Friend who's Sick (starting on p. 105): I wish I saw pieces like this one more often. People go through trials in life all the time. I know I'm not the only one who wishes they knew how to adequately comfort someone through such things. What to say, what to do, how to help?? Who knows?

 This was an honest first-person testimony of a breast cancer patient. If you look at it and instantly think "TL;DR," don't worry, there is a nice footer feature on pages 106-107 that give you basic tips!