In honour of the Power of Print campaign, I’ve decided to give you a regular roundup of my favourite bits and pieces from my vast repertoire of print magazines.
Parents Magazine
September 2010
“Parents don’t need to entertain their kids all the time, and this includes giving them lots of things to play with. Children actually benefit from the opportunity to get bored.”
Dr. Jenn Berman, Psy.D., child, marriage and family therapist
To that I say AMEN!
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Ladies’ Home Journal
August 2010
Cindy Crawford, quoted in an interview: “If the kids want to go for ice cream, I’ll get ice cream, too. I don’t want my daughter to think that being a beautiful woman is about depriving yourself. She sees me exercising. She sees me eating right. I want to be a good example for her.”
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Ironically, eight pages later there is a story called “Oops You Did It Again” about food cravings. I have no problem with this…I mean, I have no problem with the topic of the article, but I can’t say I have no problem with cravings, because the accompanying photos tormented me! You aren’t helping people fight their cravings for, say, french fries, with a FULL PAGE COLOUR PHOTO CLOSE-UP of the offending food. Same with the next page: larger than life chocolate bar chunks, followed by a pail of buttery-looking popcorn and a cream-cheese bagel. Gee, thanks for the help!
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In Style
September 2010
“A house should be continually cared for, adjusted and improved. It’s like a growing child – you cannot build a home and then abandon it!” – Domenico Dolce (in case you know a lot of Dolces, this one is of Dolce and Gabbana)
My husband and I totally buy in to this theory, much to the amusement of some of our friends and family. Our home is only seven years old, built and decorated to our specifications, but only two rooms in the house have not been redone (the bathrooms – so much work!)
Every year we try to freshen up at least one room with a new paint colour (remember my red paint fiasco?), and we are constantly updating light fixtures and upgrading features. For example, when we built the house, we put cheap carpet in the main hall instead of investing in hardwood to match the living room/dining room, so last summer we took the plunge and replaced it. We also added a backsplash to the kitchen, and actually finished a bedroom, office, and bathroom in our basement (certainly our biggest reno to date).
It’s not only the inside either – my husband is VERY committed to landscaping, and had the foresight to plant trees as soon as we moved in, knowing, of course, that they would take years to grow. We are now beginning to enjoy some of the fruits of “our” (haha) labour. And of course, this summer we did a front door makeover!
Obviously everyone has different priorities (and finances, and sometimes the two don’t coordinate so well) but for us, keeping our home updated is very important. (Actually owning something from Dolce and Gabbana? Not so much.)
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Women’s Health
September 2010
“Surfing the Internet might tune up your brain…A new study at the University of California at Los Angeles found that just one week of frequent web browsing can fire up your brain’s complex-reasoning skills.” (From the article “The Bad Girl’s Guide to Good Health” by Jennifer Johnson.)
A nice bonus for bloggers and blog-readers such as ourselves!
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I also really enjoyed an article called “Take Back Your Weekends!” by Jessica Girdwain, which offered tips for keeping Saturday and Sunday from turning in to an extension of your workweek. Some of the ideas: plan only three activities for any given weekend, force yourself to schedule breaks from technology {I’m so good at this – I never check my email at church!} and start a Sunday night tradition to help you ease back in to the workweek on a positive note. Does Desperate Housewives count?
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Any thoughts?