zine love

so, i work in the magazine industry. and i LOVE magazines. i can't get enough of them.
the first magazine that i remember truly loving was seventeen. my sister got me a subscription for christmas after hearing that i had been buying it on the newsstand. i think i might have been in junior high. sassy soon followed, and that became my favorite magazine. it was so fresh and smart. it wasn't all about getting a boyfriend and ditzy stuff. i remember one beauty article that made an impression on me--it was all about how much the editor loved cherry chapstick. they interviewed kurt cobain. this was my kind of world.
i have had other subscriptions along the way that have come and gone; mother jones comes to mind, the atlantic monthly. interview. spin.
now we have a schizophrenic collection of magazines coming to the loft every month: blueprint, metropolis, metropolitan home, details, espn, blueprint, entertainment weekly, glamour (after jane folded, i got the remainder of my subscription to glamour), elle decor. i buy instyle on the newsstand a lot; i buy bitch and bust on the newsstand although i should subscribe (did you know the magazines a larger percentage of money from a subscription, which is cheaper, than they do from newsstand sales?). i used to get the new yorker, which i love, but couldn't afford the renewal. i buy marie claire on the newsstand when it looks interesting or pertinent to something at my job. i get brides and modern bride, and i buy elegant bride on the newsstand, although those will go away after the wedding. don't worry. i plan to replace those with something else. . . perhaps real simple or body+soul, the new yorker again finally or domino. somewhere along the line, i got on some kind of mailing list where is tarted getting really cheap deals to subscriptions, so i just got one in the mail for a $12 national geographic. that's a good deal. i just also got marie claire, two years for $10, so i'll probably get that one too. they way i figure it, that's like buying three magazines off the newsstand, which i'd be likely to do over the next year or so, so it's worth it to me.
sometimes i dream about writing for national magazines. . . i don't know if it will ever happen on daily basis, but it'd be pretty sweet to see my name on national pages.
when i see a magazine stand (oh! the airport ones are my favorites!), my heart really starts to race. i love to see the new ideas, the old ideas repackaged into new ones, fashion spreads, beauty pages, feature stories i can devour. when one comes to our mailbox, i practically run upstairs and tune out the rest of the world while i escape into my little magazine-land. it's a living vicariously, a learning experience, a little escapism for me. i love to see things in magazines and make it happen for me without spending $1,000 on a dior dress. (of course, i'd love it even more if i could get the dior dress, but i can't imagine my lifestyle will NEVER be one where that's possible.)
last night i was at my brother's girlfriend's birthday party, where she introduced to me to her friends. her way of introduction for one friend was, "you have to meet each other because you remind me of each other. . .and you're both super stylish." i was really flattered. i love style but i always feel my wallet falls short of really being able to wear what i want (and that's not the couture stuff, it's like i'm always $80 short of what i REALLY want.) i know what my style would be if i could afford it; i see it all the time. milly is my favorite designer. but i work on buying classic pieces in nontrendy colors and hope i never get sick of black. anyway, i take a lot of cues from magazine stuff. . . sometimes it's a wide latitude though, i'm hardly a slave to trends. what i really love is 1950s and 1960s fashion. ah, i was born in the wrong decade!
anyway, i'm totally getting off-topic, and extreme home makeover (a.k.a. my weekly cathartic cry) is almost on. . . so off i go. but tell me, what are your favorite magazines?