Digest for Dreaming

When I was a kid, I used to love to look at catalogs -- Sears and J. C. Penney were probably the main ones.  If I could pick any bedspread on this page, which would it be?  Which outfit would make a ten-year-old look the coolest?   What about all that jewelry?  And how about those toys?  (Who can forget the Wish Book?)

When I got much older, I discovered Architectural Digest through my future mother-in-law.  Similar dreams, but on a much bigger scale. Imagine walking through that garden in Tuscany.  Or that kitchen in the Hamptons.  Sitting in that living room in Manhattan.  If only.

For a while, I subscribed, but once in a period of penny-pinching, I failed to renew my subscription.  Recently, we received a subscription pitch in the mail.  The price seemed good, so I sent in the card.  I've been eagerly awaiting my first issue for more than a month.  When the first of February came and went, I wondered if I would ever receive my new subscription.

Today, the mailman delivered not one, but two issues of Architectural Digest, plus a thin volume of celebrity homes, to my mailbox.  On this gray, snowy day, a curl up on the couch with a couple of grown-up Wish Books sounds just about perfect.

Diet Coke at hand, cozy blanket nearby.  Ready to dream.