soulmates

I love magazines.  I’m not particularly picky about which one.  I’ve had subscriptions to YM, Teen, Seventeen, Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, Self, Shape, and Saveur (and those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head).  However, there is one magazine that stands alone.  That if I could only have one magazine delivered to me on a desert island, it’d be the one.  And, un-surprisingly, it’s Southern Living.

Last week, Boo Mama, had a great post about the changes Southern Living went through last year and its near triumphant return to its former glory.  After reading it, I pulled out my July issue and actually read it.  I didn’t just flip through, looking for mouthwatering recipes (nutter butter banana pudding, you will be mine one day. same goes for you bacon pimento cheese.) or awesome places to visit in the South (Hilton Head feature from June and Savannah Beach’s from July, yes to you both. and if anyone can get me to the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi, I’ll be your best friend for life).  And, after reading it cover to cover, I realized Boo Mama was completely right – it’s a solid magazine.  Cover to cover, choke full of goodness.  I must have turned down the pages on 7 or 8 different articles, from travel, to recipes, and even a couple of the gardening suggestions.  I love every. single. bit. of. it.

And the hidden gem, which I’ve told all of my girlfriends who will sit still long enough to listen about is the Southern Journal, inside the back cover.  This month’s column? “15 Ways to Charm Her,” including bits of wisdom such as standing up for ladies, killing bugs, holding open doors, building and fixing stuff, grilling, calling, paying for the first few dates, and knowing how to make our favorite cocktail(s).  Really good stuff all the way around.

If all this wasn’t enough to prove that Southern Living and I were meant to be together forever (aka meant 2b 2gether 4ever in yearbook speak), today, whoever maintains Southern Living’s twitter account (@southern_living) must have been reading my mind, because 8 minutes after I tweeted about needing a nap, they throw up an article about sleeping porches.  Dear Lord, there is a heaven and it is to be found on a sleeping porch near you.

American by birth and Southern by the grace of God, indeed.