G'day campers, how you going? After all that waffling in the last post, this may end up short and sweet, it may not. Glad you all liked the bus blind and thanks for all the emails, if I haven't got back to you I am working on it (still not got my computer yet so things are a tad behind 'round here – a Dell from Hell Update coming soon)
Today, sadly is the last day of the summer holidays for us at the Beach Cottage and after a lovely day spent celebrating Australia Day yesterday in true Aussie style with swim, barbie, boat, beer and sunshine we are all ready to start the New Year properly.
It's gonna be an interesting time for me too…I am starting on a few ventures of my own – more to come on this blog as I get those Beach Cottage Kiddos happy and settled and start to think about me…
Anyway, back to today, I wanted to talk about magazines. Because mine are getting outta control. And my New Year Kids Back To School Resolution is to sort them out.
Please tell me you have the same problem with magazines and stashing them as I do? Or am I some sad old bird filling some void with eye candy and then furtively stuffing them in any open and available orifice, to return to at a later date for more lusting?
And it's not even really that I buy bundles of magazines, because I don't. I have two or three faves that I love and one or two that I buy religiously…the trouble is, and that is how this post started, I cannot bring myself to send the ones I have off to the nearest St Vincent's De Paul.
I always, always buy Country Living, both UK and USA - this is one of the first magazines I came across when I started stalking, I mean, liking vintage things…but the best thing was it wasn't a general magazine about the 'country' look, it really was a magazine about the country, with interesting articles and features on people living the kinda life I secretly dream about…one where pigs and chickens roam around somewhere outside, where I have a swinging old field gate and all manner of fruit trees in the orchard.
OK, that's all a pipe dream, though I've really really tried to get Mr BC to let me get a few chicks (no, Favours, did not work in this case)…he told me I would hate the mess, that I would whinge and whine and moan for England, I scolded him and told him I would love them and wander out there with a basket on my arm, a faded flowery skirt flowing and would talk to them as I happily collected the eggs…he told me that is very much a { insert blue word } joke…and flatly refused to go anywhere near a chicken-buying farm…
But that is what I like about Country Living, pipe dreams, yet just about attainable all the way…
This is comfort reading on so many levels…a good magazine, a cup of tea, a slab of chocolate and an hour tucked away on the deck, in the hammock, or my favourite, mid-evening but early-to-bed and tucked up in bed.
It has to be one of the most comforting things to do…without the brain-power for reading a book or the concentration levels to keep up with a tv plot.
Just a simple page flick here and there and oh-so-much inspiration.
And one knows when one might have hit a problem when one decides to decorate with the piles of them that seem to be growing uninhibitedly around the cottage
…when one begins to de-clutter and finds, instead of releasing them to other needy-magazine-lovers, one instead sorts them into new and different categories
…Like, Really Like, Really Really Like…Archive…Frame…
And so to try and pass-on my obsession to one of you and with my latest penchant to offer you goodies on this here blog, I am suggesting we have ourselves another Beach Cottage giveaway.
Just in case you are in need of a little comfort, a little magazine bolstering. If I'm still feeling generous, and I'm not in the bad books with Mr Beach Cottage, I'll be signing up more than one of you to a lovely subscription…
see ya later beach chicks, you'll find me Down Under, somewhere under a pile of mags…
and if you're interested in the ladder, I found it out treasure hunting, it was in a bad way but was complete with beautiful old rusted hardware, mmmmmm…I did my usual simple paint treatment on it (video tutorial here)
and other ways I've used old laddders for that beach vintage look, here, here and here.
{ *simply leave a comment to enter & I'll get a neato little subscription swiftly to your door* }
{ *Tweet or blog it and I'll double up* }
{ all comments, all week will enter draw }
{ giveaway closes 29.01.10 ]
I’m not sure how else to do this, so I’ll just tell you here that I blogged about your contest! My post is http://2dogcasa.blogspot.com/2010/01/giveaway-beach-cottage.html. Thanks for the chance to win and the LURVELY pics of your cottage life.
I’ve actually never bought an issue of Country Living but I will now that you’ve recommended it! I think my favorite magazine would have to be Coastal Living. They have a ton of great ideas and I enjoy dreaming about having a little house right on the beach…you might even say a “beach cottage.”
Hi Sarah,
I have 16 hens in the suburbs and I absolutely love them. We get exquisite brown eggs, and because they are in a moveable pen they are not a mess. The “coop poop” goes straight to the compost bin and my garden is loving it. Your blog is one of my treats with a cup of tea. I saw a new storage idea at pottery barn that I am trying to figure how to copy.
I too, have piles of mags. One of my faves is “Victoria”.
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/collapsible-canvas-baskets/?pkey=ckitchen-laundry-organization
Thanks for sharing your days down under.
Country Living is like doing an easy trip to the country, without the cheese and bacon sarmies.. every time the wheels turn anywhere, I HAVE to make ‘padkos’.. (road food)..Country Living Mags is my escape excuse to have a long soak in the bath with a good glass of Red! aah… thanks for your BRILLIANT inspiration Sarah.. I’m also an Oz chick! (my Mags?.. Kikki K has great ideas for keeping them all safe for years to come!) PS.. I’d love a subscription please.. tweet, tweet x
DEAR SARAH,
I LOVE COUNTRY LIVING. I LOVE YOUR LADDER. I HAVE ONLY BEEN TO THE BEACH…MYRTLE BEACH IN S.C. WHEN I WAS 12. WHAT I WOULD GIVE TO WALK THE BEACH. SHOULD I BE SO BLESSED TO WIN THIS GIVE AWAY WOULD YOU INCLUDE SOME SHELLS AND A JAR OF SAND. MY ONLY DAUGHTER GRADUATED TO HEAVEN IN OCT., 2009 AND I KEPT A JAR OF SOIL FROM HER RESTING PLACE. I DECIDED IF I EVER HAD THE CHANCE, I WOULD ASK PEOPLE TO SEND ME A JAR OF SOIL FROM WHERE THEIR FEET WALKED….I’M WEIRD….BUT IT IS A SMALL PIECE OF THE EARTH I CAN HOLD AND PRAY FOR.
I ENJOY READING YOUR POSTS VERY MUCH. I AM ADDICTED TO MY MAGAZINES BUT I BUY THEM AT THRIFT STORES.
BLESSINGS
SIMPLY DEBBIE
DEAR SARAH,
I KNOW THE DOOR GIVE AWAY IS CLOSED BUT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT THAT AND I THINK A BEAUTIFUL MERMAID HAND PAINTED ON IT AND FIND BEAUTIFUL LITTLE PIECES OF DRIFT WOOD THAT WOULD SERVE AS A TOWEL HOLDER…IT COULD BE PUT SO MANY PLACES…MY DAUGHTER PAINTED ME 4 YEARS AGO A FULL BLOWN CHEF ON OUR DOOR GOING OUT TO THE GARAGE…IF WE EVER SOLD THIS HOUSE WE WOULD TAKE THE DOOR WITH US AND I AM SURE SORRY I JUST DISCOVERED YOUR BLOG AND DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE ANTHRONPOLOGY STORE…I COULD SURE HAVE FUN SHOPPING WITH A CARD FROM YOU….YOU WOULD HAVE A RIGHT UP TO NO END TO IT BUT WE WOULD HAVE TO DRIVE 100 MILES TO GET TO ONE……ANYWAY, I AM SORRY I HAVE NOT GOT TO KNOW YOU BEFORE NOW…..I HAVE A BLOG THERE’S AN ANGEL ON MY FRONT PORCH AND THAT WAS AMY AND HER CANCER AND GOING HOME…..THROUGH THE GRIEF I CAME UP WITH THE BLOG SIMPLY DEBBIE…..MY JOURNEY WITH AMY WATCHING OVER ME FROM HEAVEN AND MY ONLY SON AND HIS WIFE WILL BE SHOWERED WITH LOVE AS ALWAYS…..I HAD TO FIND OUT WHO DEBBIE WAS….I THINK SIMPLY DEBBIE IS A DIRECTION OF MANY THINGS….VINTAGE JEWELRY REMADE…PURSES, BOOKS, AN ART FOUNDATION OF SOME KIND IN MY DAUGHTERS NAME…….I AM A POOR WOMAN WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN GIFTS AND HAVE HAD MUCH GRIEF AND SORROW BUT I I WANT TO BE KNOWN AS AN INSPIRATION AND ALWAYS HELPING ON THE MISSION FIELD….I HAVE DREAMS…I HAVE GRIEF…I AM 54 YEARS OLD AND FEEL I HAVE JUST BEEN SET FREE OUT OF A CAGE.
BLESSINGS
HUGS
MY MASCOT ON SIMPLY DEBBIE IS A CHICKEN NAMED GRACIE ANN WITH AN ATTITUDE AND SHE CHANGES HER COLOR.
SIMPLY DEBBIE
I totally agree, reading a favourite mag is just so easy and relaxing. My favourite place to enjoy my latest magazine is in the bath with a glass of wine, candles and bubbles.
Nellie xx
I lived with my mom before I got married. I used to read her Country Living. I don’t know why I didn’t get my own subscription when I moved in with my husband???
Your blog is soooo great! I love magazines and I have your problem too, there are piles all over the place. I love country living and been dying to get a subscription, so if I don’t win, I will just have to get it myself, but I much rather win
Oh dear, magazines… Would you believe that the oldest ones in my collection are the 50′s home mags that my grandma saved in her day. Also Seventeen from my teen years in the 70′s. Currently I have files for anything else since I have no problem ripping out the few things I want to keep. Umm, except my UK Country Living in white IKEA magazine files. Works for me.
Please include me in the giveaway! I’ve just been following the blog for a couple of weeks, my mother is a huge fan. She’s in Indiana and I’m in Brisbane, it’s nice to share favorite blogs and feel a bit closer to each other. I don’t get many magazines, but I love them so much. They are such an escape and feed my yearning for a place to ramble in a faded floral skirt.
Thanks!
Really enjoying your blog. Would love some inspiration in magazine form too! Thanks for the inspiration.
I too love magazines, and a collector of them too. Every time I travel to see family I load them up and give them to my sisters and mom. I hate parting with them, but it makes room for new one. I would love a subscription to CL.
I have just discovered your blog (yes I know, what took me so long???!!!)
Loving and devouring every word and picture.
I am a fellow magazineophile, with special mention to Country Living UK and Real Living Aus.
As for the piles of mags at home I have discovered that a nice stack of mags with a funky wooden tray on top becomes a wonderfully functional coffe table/occasional table/bedside table/lampstand/convenient place to place teapot and cup of tea!
I love Country Living, and it’s a magazine I’ve actually been hoping to get a subscription to recently. As a new lover of the vintage, fresh & clean feel, Country Living is one of my favorite magazines to flip through when I’m standing inline at the grocery store. And don’t worry..you aren’t the only one who wishes she had chicken in the backyard
magazines in the letrterbox waiting to be read with love ?
i am a magazine hog! i too need to purdge! they are falling out of my “organized” basket! so, i will be making room hopefully for that yummy subscription! thanks for the chance! wonderful blog~
Oh my fingers are crossed so tightly!
Tee hee, I love finding people like me. I horde Country Living mags and Scrapbooking mags. Believe me when I say they kinda take over every room of my house. Gonna be a good girl tonight and take some to a crop for recycling for a cause (hoping to get donations towards a charity). Wish me luck!!
Well I have to tell you that after reading some of the comments, I don’t feel so bad about all the magazines I have stashed here and there. But one of my goals is to go thru them and try to shorten the stacks I have here and there and everywhere!
I would love to be entered in you giveaway. I love Country Living. Oh and I absolutely am in love with your pictures you psoted with this. I love white!! Beautiful….beautiful!!!
I have a terrible hoarding habit with magazines, i have old Country Living Homes and Gardens and I keep looking at the pitiful piles in our local Drs waiting room and keep meaning to bring some, then when I look through them I find that great look I liked, a chair thats really nice and I put them back saying I will sort through them properly soon.
Great giveaway and more to add to my pile
Thanks Sarah