[ddot]

i have been a bad girl over the last two months as i’ve been feeding my magazine loving ways after many years of it being banished in favour of responsible budgeting. alas i have found another way to feed the monster and that is with a healthy magazine swap. it feels good to be sharing, and it is very nice to receive something new to flip over and something which is yellow.

thanks to kate for sending me the two magazines {cottage living + blueprint} and for noticing my current love of white and yellow. thanks also to holly for organising the international magazine swap; it works so smoothly and simply.

one thing though, after reading blueprint magazine {albiet at 2am} i wish i could say i loved it. i really wanted to, because you know it’s meant to appeal to our desire for simple living. the editors clearly know that readers want a clean and fresh design, and it delivers in that department.  but it left me feeling like a bit cheesed off at the tone of the writing, especially the article about organising a dinner party.

the writer assumed the reader was a complete novice, one who wouldn’t know a whole lot about hosting a get together, cooking or even setting a table. in my humble opinion a person who reads home/lifestyle magazine would know a few things about hosting a soirée.  where as someone who has never hosted a party, in my experience would ask their mother or friends advice for simple advice. and aren’t we the generation of viewers of lifestyle?

the advice about creating a signature meal at your first grown-up event made sense {i know i’d like to be remembered for one fantastic dish}, but the line about frozen dinners {”never mind that the only other thing you make is lean cuisine“} made me swap the magazine for my french language textbook.

having said that, the layout, the trends and the article about hanging artwork was great, as was the one about purses. anyone else read blueprint out there in the internets?