30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 12: But keep the old

Some things are perfect. Eternal. And you never want them to change. Like diamonds. Ballerina flats. And my favorite fashion magazines.

To ward off the eternal creeping dread of middle-aged frumpiness, I need refreshment and inspiration. These magazines inspire me:

1. Town & Country's website is useless, but the magazine itself is gorgeous. The layout is flawless. The photography makes me want to lick the page. And they edit down the fashion journalism blather to terms the average woman can understand. For example, when they tell us about the trends for spring, they devote a page each to: black and white; florals; feminine flourishes. Simple and clear. And it doesn't matter that I can't afford what they show me. I'm looking for inspiration.
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3. Harper's Bazaar isn't quite what it used to be under Liz Tilberis. (And the editorial pages can be that fashion magazine-specific brand of crazy--out of focus sepia-toned photographs of an homage to Bonnie & Clyde are lovely, but I'd like to see the clothes, please.) Still, I'd say it's America's best all-around fashion monthly. The website is good, too. (P.S. Do yourself a favor, and don't copy Kate's eye makeup.)
4. More is the one magazine where you know you won't see 14 year olds dressed and made up to look 35. That alone is worth the price of admission. Like most magazines, they expect you to be rich, but at least they don't expect you to be young. The website is good, but if I see Sandra Bullock at the Oscar's one more time, I'm going to shut down my laptop.
5. I pick up People's StyleWatch all the time. It's too celebrity-focused, but it's a fast read, and it makes the trends crystal clear. Unlike Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Town & Country, it also focuses primarily on the things you'll actually find in stores. The website bears too much resemblance to the regular People web site. I give it a meh.
6. Allure is the one magazine devoted to cosmetics and skin care. I read it to keep up with new products. And the annual cosmetics "Best-Of-Beauty" awards are a must-read. The website is informative but extremely cluttered. Someone needs to give it a makeover. Hee!

Conspicuous in their absence:

1. Lucky, which I secretly call Sucky, except not out loud, because that would be vulgar, and God knows I don't need my daughter becoming a pottymouth like some people we know.
2. Vogue because ... I don't know ... is it the print size? The annoyingly long columns? The inflated sense of self-importance on the part of people like Andre Leon Talley? You tell me.
3. You'd think I'd be all over InStyle, but honestly, I get better fashion reporting from the other glossies. InStyle magazine is what would happen if People magazine married Town and Country and they had a baby.

Which magazines inspire you? Am I missing something crucial? Because those Amazon magazine subscription prices are really pretty amazing ...

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 11: Make new friends

I remember my first trip to the magazine rack as a newlywed. After years as a single woman and months of planning a wedding, all of a sudden it felt like there was nothing for me to read. Magazines seemed to be aimed at three kinds of readers: Cosmo girls, aspiring socialites, or parents of young children. It was either sex tips, fall runway fashion, or "can this marriage be saved?"

Where were the magazines with style tips for impoverished graduate students?

That's when I discovered Sassy. Which I was way too old to read. I mean, I was insanely outside of their demographic. But I read it anyway, because it had great take away information.

And this is what I advise you to do, too. Find sources of information that are outside of your comfort zone.

I look for inspiration everywhere, and you should, too. Look for sources of style that are aimed at women who are older, younger, artier, or more bourgeois than you are. And find your sources in old and new media, please. I mean, of course I'm BFFs with the internet, but think about it:

• newspapers alert you to sales and get you up to date on local sources for stylish goods in :gasp: brick and mortar stores.
• magazines have big beautiful pages--and you don't have to wait for them to load.
• books pack a ton of information into a relatively small amount of space, and the best ones provide invaluable information (I'll be doing book reviews on this blog, as soon as this series is over.)

All of them tend to be more thought out, more reasoned, more deftly written, and less hey-look-something-shiny than web sites and blogs. Even this one.

So that's why I subscribe to a bunch of magazines--including Teen Vogue, which seems to be the closest I can get to my beloved Sassy. I also pick up foreign editions of Vogue. It doesn't matter that I can't buy the stuff they show. My goal is to wake up my eyes, and reading a magazine out of my demographic and comfort zone is a great way to do it.

Orgy Night ...

... and it's not what you're thinking at all, so cut it out. If you're looking for pervy stuff, go check your email. If you don't get enough pervy spam to keep yourself sufficiently occupied these long winter evenings, let me know, and I'll forward mine to you. OK?

No, dear reader, the orgy I speak of is the vast pile of new books and toys I accumulated today, plus the fact that my New Favorite Television Show will be on tonight. (See previous entry.)

So in addition to watching "How Clean is your House?" I get to read my new library book, Fer-de-Lance, by Rex Stout, which only happens to be the first Nero Wolfe mystery, that's all. And being the geek that I am, I fully expect to read through all of the rest of the Nero Wolfe mysteries, in strict chronological order, because that kind of thing makes a geek really feel alive.

And as if that weren't enough enjoyment for a single evening, I get to also flip through two new magazines, Esquire and Shop, Etc., both of which look very promising, as well as a copy of InStyle magazine's Getting Gorgeous which is just like an InStyle magazine except there are no ads, how cool is that?

And if that's not enough, I have a new jar of bath salts and three new pairs of shoes. And don't break out into a nervous sweat or start to drool or anything, but one of these new pairs of shoes is a pair of ponyskin leopard print pumps by Casadei with a tiny keyhold opening near the base of the toes and a teeny little leather bow, a slightly rounded toe and killer four-inch stiletto heels. They are so totally Honey West that I may wet my pants. I realize, dear reader, that you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but for Baby Boom women, that is an image that resonates powerfully. We all were in thrall to Honey West. Trust me on this.

So after reading my new books and magazines and watching my new favorite teevee show and taking a long bath with my new bath salts, I'll probably spend some time admiring my new shoes, and maybe even taking them for a test spin around my bedroom.

Hmmm, on second thought this is actually starting to sound kind of pervy, so I'd better shut up now before I embarrass myself.