The wrapping paper is wadded up in recycling and the Christmas tree is on the curb—okay, okay, it will be on the curb one of the days, but for now, it’s still in my house, shedding needles all over my carpet. My point is, the holidays are over, and winter looms before me: an endless loop of chilly, slate-gray days with nary a reason for eggnog in sight. It’s always right around now that the first signs of winter blues show up. In my case, that means canceling plans with friends, staying in the whole weekend, and watching Food Network while eating my weight in cookie dough. But this year I’m on the offensive. Armed with some simple tools, I’m ready to beat back winter blahs with a few “add to cart” purchases on the Internet.
If You Fake Spring, It Will Come …
When I was in college, I had a friend who every year during winter finals would allow herself a trip to Spain without leaving her dorm room. She’d crank up the radiator, wiggle into her bathing suit, slap on some sunscreen, and eat fresh pineapple for a day. We’d catch her lounging around on a towel reading a paperback in the hall and she’d shout, “How’s the water? God, I love Spain!” The thing is, it really worked. When she returned from “Spain” the following day, she’d be mellow and relaxed and you could almost detect a faint tan. The lesson learned here is that given a few accessories, you can fake your way to a warmer climate. For me, nothing says spring quite like tulips. Their colorful bobbing heads in the garden trigger a “yippie!” in my mind. It’s not hard to pick up a little handful of them at the grocery store, but why think so small? On the Grower’s Box you can buy tulips wholesale. For a mere $196.85, you’ll have one hundred stems (at $1.96 per stem) and you can blanket your home with enough flowers to make it look like a hillside in Holland.
