RSSThis Month in O, September 2008 : Great Finds, Great Advice!
August 25, 2008
September 2008’s issue of O, The Oprah Magazine is called Get Your Life Back, with features entitled Too Busy To Live and Oprah’s Cure For Feeling Overwhelmed. Now you know why I bought it. Time is the one thing I have the least of and that Oprah doesn’t have any more of than I do. And, she couldn’t buy more if she wanted to.
Those phrases capture the problem for most of us women who are trying to make some changes and figure it all out. WHEN??? Just when are we supposed to do this??
Everything in this issue was terrific. Here’s the short list :
1. Tons of beautiful things I actually would buy and could buy! Many finds under $100 . Handbags, jewelry, wine, furniture even. Fabulous stuff. I think they actually went out of their way to fit into real budgets for the millions of us who really do like Target.
2. The article about Willa Schalit, with her strong and healing presence , empowering women in Rwanda not with charity, but with fair trade. Lovely items, on sale at Macy’s or online.
3. Real life advice on real life questions (questions I actually have!), about money, relationships, speeding morning routines, and health. This is advice you could use, not read and forget. Many myths (like “Will it harm my family that so much of our food is microwaved?”) are deflated with straight up talk.
4. The Yes, You Can section, where O’s creative directore Adam Glassman styles 40-something women is really interesting. The women look real, or as close as modern magazines get. He demonstrates how we can look sexy, or arty, mix prints, and more, without looking ridiculous.
Am I the only one who hopes wide-legged pants is a fancy that will soon pass? Maybe I have an aversion because I remember “baggies” when I was in Grade 9. These look exactly the same. Everything looks good if you’re 5’10” and a size 2, but here’s my whole point : WHO IS???
5. 3 10-minute weight workouts that work arms and legs together. I ripped them out and stapled them together. I’ve been doing a set each day. There’s not even time to sweat! These are good moves that will make a difference. Several are done with eyes closed; presumably, that’s for the balance challenge, without sight to corroborate that upper and lower body are making the right choices at once. There’s also a 10min. Cardio and Yoga plan.
6. The article “Just Say What You Want, Dammit” . A topic every girl and woman I know (including me) could work on. The article was decent, if the examples were a little extreme. The advice was basically “Keep trying”. Because speaking up is such a weak point for so many of us, I just like the reminder to be kept on the front burner.
I can’t read the minds of others and cannot expect them to read mine. It’s not that they won’t. It’s that they can’t. And yet, most of the time, what you do want is just fine with everyone else, and you could have had it with ease if you’d just said something.
In keeping with the theme of the magazine, there are no long, reflective articles to get through. There is one but it anchors the whole featured section on saving time. The rest is snappy but very engaging.
Even Oprah gets overwhelmed (how could she not?). She writes about re-centering herself, getting back into each moment. My brain is almost never in the now. I live in the future. The closest I seem able to get to the present in by acknowledging all the things I have. So much is right in most of our lives that we need to spend more time celebrating that.
What else? I was not even a bit nervous to let my 12year old daughter read the entire magazine. I was pleased that she read it! This never happens.
There’s a Merle Norman ad with a lovely grey eyeshadow for a winter (if you ignore the green).
I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a magazine so completely. I think you will too.
-->September 2008’s issue of O, The Oprah Magazine is called Get Your Life Back, with features entitled Too Busy To Live and Oprah’s Cure For Feeling Overwhelmed. Now you know why I bought it. It was worth every cent.
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