My love affair with magazines began in junior high. I really wanted subscriptions to all the teen mags, but my mom wouldn't allow it. I suppose she thought they'd create eating disorders and make me boy crazy. Unbeknownst to her, I was both of those things without the subscriptions. I started hanging out by the magazine racks at bookstores, hungrily flipping through glossy pages, worried my mom would catch me.

I still like to go to bookstores for the sole purpose of perusing the latest issues, but I don't feel ashamed of this obsession any more. The magazines below are just a few that I read, but I will read anything from "Men's Health" to "Parenting" to "Wired." And if you know me, you know that I've actually purchased copies of "US Weekly."

Texas Monthly
"Texas Monthly" is all about the nooks and crannies of my home state. From down-home diners and smoke houses with dusty back porches to the best ice-cold rivers to float in the middle of July, this magazine shows proud Texans what they really have to be proud of. I read it now because it takes me back. I read it then because I fantasized about writing for them someday. Maybe I will.

Self
"Self" empowers women to be their best selves, while sort of removing the notion that we all have to be skinny blonds with large breasts. They occasionally feature such models, but for the most part they provide realistic goals for those of us dying for a normal self-image after overdosing on Cosmo, Vogue, and Elle.

O
As if you didn't know, "O" is Oprah's baby. The target market is women ages 30 to 60+, which makes me a little too young to fully appreciate the content. But I like it because it gives readers a peek into Oprah's world, has great recipes, and just has a warm, motherly feel to it.

Marie Claire
I just flipped through this magazine for the first time about a year ago. I'd skipped over it on the racks, writing it off as another makeup/clothes/body/boy obsessed publication. It does have that sort of content but in a classier way. It feeds those indulgences that are so ingrained, that our feminist sides want so badly to rebel against, but there's something that it has that the others don't.

First, I'd put it in my bank account and stop fretting over the overdraft fee I just acquired. Then I'd head over to Hopleaf and buy everyone a drink. I need friends.