Feel like you need a change? Buy a box of hair dye & radically alter your tresses! (Remember that if you stain floors or counters by mistake, whitening toothpaste scrubbed into the surface will make it look good as new again!)

Recite your affirmations over breakfast (like sweet Katie E. does!).

Stop carrying plastic bags. It’s not chic & it’s terrible for the planet. When the cashier asks if you’d like a bag, say NO! Whip out your own. They fold up teeny-tiny, so you can keep one in your handbag at all times. Walking around with a bunch of plastic bags is not sexy. Look, it’s in the New York Times so it must be true! If you’re not sure where to get a good canvas tote bag, try Etsy!

Dress as your favourite fictional heroine this week. Lily from Black Swan? Marla from Fight Club? Cassie from Skins? How would they dress if they were sucked into a time machine & spat out into your life?

If the cold weather’s got you down, one of the best ways to feel better is by doing something good for someone else. Who could you help & how could you do it?

Leave an orgasm on someone’s voicemail… !

Take a long train journey. Pack a little bag with some snacks & your camera, & make a day trip out of it!

Come up with a motto for 2011. One of my favourites is sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc: we gladly feast on those who would subdue us. (Thanks, Addams Family!)

Order yourself stationery with your name at the top, so you can write thank you notes with flair! Alternatively, design postcards which say “From the desk of ________” on the back. They make for excellent notecards! (Be sure to stock up on coloured markers for writing on the back, too!)

Go ice-skating & teach yourself tricks! (Extra effort: Wear something short & sparkly!)

Hold a dinner party every week. Make sure there is plenty of bread, soup & dessert. Invite your favourite people, do your best not to start a fire in the kitchen, & stay up late drinking wine.

Start making a video diary of your life! Save up & buy yourself a FlipCam, learn how to use a video editing program (I love iMovie, it’s super-easy!), & let the documentation commence! (Imagine how funny it will be to watch in 20 years!)

Light big bunches of candles every night.

Buy yourself an amazing, hilarious pair of slippers!

Northern hemisphereans! Remember that it’s winter–& it’s meant to be a slow, resting, regenerative period. If you’re feeling guilty for not doing a million things like usual, let it go. Use this time to learn & think & restore yourself!

Southern hemisphereans! Remember that it’s summer–so GET PSYCHED! It’ll be over before you know it. Get out there, go swimming, have an ill-advised romance, & enjoy it!