Not a lot of people know this, but I used to be a massive Candy girl. Candy magazine was the first magazine I subscribed to, and I would just amass the copies and read through everything obsessively. I would read it from cover to cover, pick out the clothes I liked (LOL) and was pretty active on their message board. Funny story: I unknowingly gushed about Haley Joel Osment on it with my best friend, Isa, who totally knew it was me. (I didn’t know it was her.) I think our friendship might have been written in the stars?

I’ve since grown out of Candy. Mostly because my interests have morphed into other things, and I guess I also just grew up. But I do still check their website from time to time and occasionally write for them. (Incidentally, all these web features are about Harry Potter.)

This is a late post, since all the new issues are out on the stands right now, but I suppose it’s still worth mentioning. I got a small feature on the March cover for this blog (I realize that’s kind of weird and self-referential to post about it, but well—)! The April issue has BBV on it, but if you still wanna read the tiny blurb on Nothing Spaces, try looking for the March issue with Taylor Swift on it:

It was kind of strange (in a pleasant way!) to be leafing through the issue again, because I couldn’t really relate all that much anymore, but a tiny part of me was feeling a familiar kind of comfort. And, you know, I actually was able to learn a few new things because of really practical tips. Who knew! It’s also kind of funny when I read about boy-related things and thinking about how I used to be so into these things.

Candy was such a big part of my life. I always wanted to have something I sent in posted on Anything Goes! I think I might have been part of it once, and it thrilled me so much. It was such a big deal when my friends’ letters would get published, and when I won a contest~ for e-mailing in a blurb about my life hero, it felt like such a high high. I would read the embarrassing stories with my sister and we’d vote on the worst ones. I would also always attempt to do the Candy wink… to no success. I’m pretty glad digital cameras were a rarity back then.

The variety of people who alerted me to the news was pretty funny and surprising. I knew I was going to be featured (the editor of Candymag.com, Macy, asked me for a photo), but I didn’t expect these strange variety of people to be the ones to tell me about it. People I knew from high school, college, church, and the Internet told me, and I guess I was surprised that Candy was still a part of the lives of so many people I knew.

I think that no matter what happens, I can’t ever deny my Candy roots. I’ve changed a lot since my obsessive Candy-reading days, and I’ll probably change again, but I think that Candy will always have a tiny pocket in my heart.