Why Magazines & Bookstores Will Never Be Obsolete

So in the early 2000s a lot of bookstores were closing down.  There were many articles about how print was dead and that everyone would get their info through the web.  Well, bookstores are still around and print is not dead.  Yes, I read magazines online but I also love to go to a bookstore and peruse the magazine stands.  Going to the bookstore is the social nonsocial.  It is a community of people who more often than not chooses not to interact but interaction is also a possibility.  When I look at an article online I miss out on 80% of the things that may interest me.  Online no matter how hard you try, you and your attentions are directed to certain sites.  Yeah, you can try to direct your searches but you are still going to see what google, bing, yahoo and the other search engines want you to see first.  The purest form of looking at magazines is going to the bookstores and looking at the stands.  Yes, they have mainly popular magazines mixed with some locals but the playing field is for the most part equal.  My eyes see their covers and I choose based off of what attracts me.

Last year I decided that I wanted to write reviews for magazines.  Let's face it sometimes we waste time and money on magazines that may not have anything we need.  For example, it is hard to find a good February issue for any magazine.  A great cover doesn't always mean a great issue.  I wanted to be the person to say don't buy this month it is all "clickbait," lol.  I wanted to write these reviews last year...way to procrastinate Love.  In that time I bought a lot of magazines many were disappointing.  Today I decided that now is the time to go to the bookstore and look at all the pretty magazines in print.

What to buy? What to buy?

I decided to go to Barnes & Nobel because it can frankly put me in a good mood, a hopeful mood. While driving to the bookstore I realized it was the end of May and it is "New Magazine Time." (Note: The July issues will be out soon but I am still looking at June.)  So, of course I am going to look at magazines.  Then I decided maybe I should try that magazine review blog I thought about.  I walked into the bookstore and immediately got distracted by all the books that were on sale.  Love, we actually gave ourselves an assignment please put down Rich and Pretty.  While walking to the magazine section I decided test one.

Test 1

Does the magazine make me want to take it back to my table?

Literally it means does the cover interest me? Is it a mag I normally love? Who is on the cover? What is in the issue? But let's face it, test 1 is all about the cover first, and the magazine brand second.  I concentrated on fashion, food, and decorating magazines only.  Okay one real estate mag did make it to the table.  The point is if it didn't make it to the table it didn't speak to me.  It didn't give me a reason to carry it into the café part of Barnes & Nobles.  Yeah, I might have picked up the Magazine but it wasn't worth it to me to walk it back to the table and look at further.  In all, only 10 made it to the table.  I picked up more magazines than that, but either the cover model discouraged me or it just wasn't a good issue.  At least not a good issue at first glance.

Test 2

Does it do anything for me? In other words, is it worth taking home? Is there anything in it that engages me at all.  Does this magazine help inspire me in any way? Or did I glance through this magazine and set it aside in less than 5 min? If a magazine does not give me that, "ooo wow that image" feel, or "ooo la la that article" moment it is not getting more than 4 minutes of my time.  This happened with only two of the magazines I picked and one I would actually buy in a different month but just not this month.  Ummm, wait, I am not being honest I can tell in less than 2 minutes if a magazine is worth buying but you know I am trying to be nice.

Test 3

Do you really need it? Does it really inspire you? Is it just pretty pictures?  Don't get me wrong pretty pictures are a good reason to buy a magazine but NOT WHEN YOUR ON A BUDGET! I need more from my Magazines than pretty pictures.  Especially when some of the magazines cost more than most books! If I had an extra $1,000.00 in my pocket and no bills then yes I would buy these publications.  Otherwise hell no! They aren't giving me anything I really need.  

Test 4

I'll buy it even if I really shouldn't spend the money right now! This is a magazine that has the pretty pictures and the articles that inspire me.  It isn't just a pretty pic of a great food recipe but an article on the Keto Diet.  It isn't just a pretty ad for a designer but a fashion spread that talks about trends I never saw coming.  These magazines inspire me as an actor, a woman, a foodie and a consumer.  They are magazines that I might hesitate to get rid of later.  They are definitely magazines that I want to take my time to read and not just browse while I drink my frappe in the Barnes & Noble Café.  Of the ten magazines I brought back to my table, only 5 were one that I would take home.  There were specific reasons for each!  Out of the five I would say the British Vogue and Where Women Cook June issues were the most important for me.  Vogue's VLIFE really engaged me with its Big Little Deal and Peak Performers article.  So, yes, I would have taken home two June issues of Vogue but like I said the British Vogue was best.  ODDA is expensive but the theme Queen Bee is worth it.  As a woman who is fighting to rule her own destiny I need it.  Of Course W made the list.  It is my favorite but there have been some issues that have let me down in the past.  Ms. Tiffany Haddish is on the cover of W's Dare to Be You June issue.  As women it is time to build ourselves up.  The best magazines are inspiring us to keep moving forward.  They show us doors we never knew existed and let's face it you might miss the best magazines of the month unless you get out to your local bookstore.  We are not virtual people.  We are real and sometimes we want to...no we need to see the real thing to discover something we never knew we needed.  

Fear and Love; Diet and Food

Love Yascone with Jonathan Goldsmith at Astral Tequila bottle signing
and a Food collage
These are just some of my repeat meals this year

Fear and Love 

Yes, I realize the irony and the play on my name.  I am only going to talk about my fears with dieting and my love of food and how they get in my way.  I am one of those people who refuse to let my dieting affect my feelings for food.  I love food.  Love and fear can’t be together when I have food.  Unfortunately for me, diet and fear go hand in hand.  Over coming my fear of starting a diet means, for however long, I will be spurning some of my food loves.

Fear and Diet

Days before I start a diet I come up with a plan.  Once that plan is made it takes me days before I start.  

Fear #1 Stickler Love: Once I Start I don’t stop.  

This is especially true when I do low carb or the Keto Diet.  Keto is the highest performing diet I have ever done.  It is better than HCG, low carb, Intermittent Fasting Only, Carbohydrate Addict, Beverly Hills Diet, Sadkins and yes, plant based diets. (Why Keto? I don’t lose muscle and I am never hungry.) Keto is the strictest of all the diets.  Mistakes, at least for me, cannot be made.  Therefore when I start a diet I set a goal and/or a date and I can’t break my diet until that goal/date is reached.  It is because of this I usually start with a plant based diet or Intermittent Fasting if I have a lot of events to attend.

Fear #2 Missing Events and Cool Moments

Yes, it always seems I start my diets the day before some celebrity chef has an event, or there is a major bourbon or tequila tasting, or it is the most beautiful pre-summer day in years and it demands tacos or ramen with friends.  (I know I can make low carb versions but I want to be out enjoying someone else's food.) It is because of fear #2 that I ate tacos at El Taco Luchador three times this week.  It is also the reason my diet plan starts plant based and ends Keto.  I will post a video for my summer diet plan.  (Note: I started my period this week so the Tacos may be because of PMS.)

Fear #3 Failure

Part of success is picking the right diet at the right time and having the right frame of mind.  I am going through a lot these days. Literally I was just interrupted to deal with negative energy again.  It is enough to run out the house and have a nice glass of wine while looking at the river.  So depression causes failure.  If I am losing weight this usually doesn’t happen but sometimes I can also feel isolated when I am on a diet, so it depends.  The worst of the worst, is if a negative outside force comes after me.  Like at this moment.  I am innocently writing you and someone negatively impacts me.  Well, I haven’t started my plan yet.  I should just give up today.  Failure hurts me.  I have major events to go to on Friday and Saturday.  Going to these events looking the same way I look today would also make me feel like a failure.  I need to do a video on this, too.  I fear coming up with plans because once I have a plan I need to start it.  If I don’t start that is a failure.  Worse, if I start and quit due to some reason or other, it is a bigger failure.  The absolute worst failure (and this has happened to me) is being a stickler on a diet for two months and not losing an ounce.  I was suffering on a very strict diet missing Hollywood parties while my sisters went out and I did not lose a pound! The failure never left my heart.  It was an event that colors all my dieting fears.  I have an allergy to sugar substitutes including the natural ones.  I can use sugar alcohols (without a migraine) but, my body will not lose any weight.  I won’t gain but I won’t lose either.  It was a horrible lesson and I reconfirmed the lesson when I made my Keto pound cake.  The cake was wonderful and I did not gain weight but I did not lose either.  Other people don’t have this problem but I do.  It is a built in failure😢, but knowing is half the battle.

Once I start my diet for real I am confident.  I know the goal.  My love for certain foods are ignored.  Although I do look at food porn a lot. So what does food do for my life? Let’s explore.

My Love Of Food

To me, food is art.  Food is the emotion enhancer.  Food is a mood setter.  Food defines the moment, the season, the event and the person.  I happen to be an eclectic individual.  I can be the French woman with the simple frock and a joie de vie.  I can be the Neet who has binged all the episodes of My Hero Academia.  I can also be the woman going club hopping with friends.  I know the clothes I would wear to make each moment picture perfect.  I also know the food I would eat and the alcohol I would drink.  I realized for the longest time I have not been enjoying my summers.  Why? I never took that summer has started let’s have summer food moment.  Yes, I know the saying, “Do we eat to live or live to eat?” To me it is a bullshit phrase to over simplify a great issue.  What is life to YOU? To me life can be art, even the most ugly moments make beautiful pictures.  Food is art and so is the sample size dress I want to fit into.  Do you want to live your life as a function or as art?  Is life a task? Or is life a string of positive and negative emotions telling one kick ass story? I love how food can enhance and change a moment.  

I really want to change the moment I am having now.   But to tell the truth diet food is a moment too.  I have had my fill of food. I also know Saturday and Friday are going to be good days.  What my plant based diet shake says about me is that I am in the challenge of my life and I intend to win. 

(I failed horribly, I never started because I started my period, lol.  The cravings were too strong and I just did not need the added stress.  So I will start after Memorial Day. Yes, I will be posting a video on youtube and you can watch my past exploits there too.)

Fat Bomb Soup 

my Favorite Keto Diet Recipes

(If you want to see more of my food follow me on Instagram and YouTube and Snapchat.)

Family and Success: UBUNTU "I Am Because We Are"

Love Yascone at the Omni Hotel
She will always hold a place for family
UBUNTU 

It has been hard for a lot of families this year.  Actually, it feels like family relationships have been challenged for the past few years.  It has been more than a year since I posted on this blog.  I knew since last year what I wanted to say but I could never find a good jumping off point.  Over the last two years I noticed there were so many things I wanted to share with my family.  So many things I have learned, experienced and enjoyed. I wanted to really share with my mother, sisters, grandmother, aunts and all the rest.  I noticed that even when we all attended the same events my family would miss something that to me was a major moment.  I found that when I tried to explain these moments and experiences a lot of times they would fall on deaf ears.  It was then that I realized one of the purposes of this blog.  It was to share with my family.  I wanted to share what I discovered and let’s face it a lot of times we forget the most interesting things we learn.  Still, why is it so important to me?

On Facebook I discovered a way of life that explains my need to share.  I found this pic (I Think on Earth Tribe).  Its teachings are very clear.  Cross the finish line together.

I am one of those people who could have easily crossed the finish line of life alone.  In fact, success can find me easily when I am alone.  The problem is I always felt the way of UBUNTU.  Since the day I was born I knew being the one with all the toys was not true success.  I also knew that getting to the top and reaching back, was for me anyway, not a true victory.  I always saw my life as walking hand in hand with my tribe.  There is no need for a savior if you all go together.  In America UBUNTU is not a way of life.  We are taught the opposite.  Someone with my particular nature here in the USA at best can be viewed as naïve and at worst…crazy.  In fact I did not know that this way of life was a real thing until last week, when I needed to see this the most, UBUNTU. 

I don’t know if I felt this way due to cellular memory or if it is just my spirit nature.  What I do know is that I am not crazy, I am not naïve, but I am a person in a country that does not understand the meaning of UBUNTU.  I need to adjust.  I need to learn how to hold open a space while I move forward.  It is my intention to hold open a space for my tribe so that whenever an individual is ready they can join me.  This blog is just one of those tools.  It is one way to bring my tribe with me.  “I am because WE are.”  For me success is impossible if I forget that.