Illustration by Cécile Mancion
The holidays are long gone and over, award season is here which always makes me feel poor, unaccomplished and ugly and it's dreary and cold - everywhere (except L.A apparently). Is it just me or is anyone else feeling a winter funk creeping in?
Not being someone who copes well with the change this time of year as winter depression gets the best of me, over the years I have had to come up a solution. I've created the perfect three-part combination to cure winter blues.
1. Cocktails (you knew that one was coming)
While red wine is my drink of choice, when I want an invigorating cocktail, I like to play with flavored vodkas, fruits and herbs. Here's one that I whipped up one night:
Garden Greyhound
3oz. Pink Grapefruit Belvedere vodka
3oz. Pink Grapefruit juice
A splash of Perrier or Champagne (if you have it)
A spring of basil or mint for garnish
2. Facial
I love a good homemade remedy whenever I run out of my masks. My mother taught me that a great beauty elixir can be found with things already in the house. I remember sitting in our living room in Manhattan side by side wearing homemade natural beauty masks while she drank Sauvignon Blanc and me, Ginger Ale...in a wine glass. This one is the cleanest and easiest:
Homemade Lemon Sugar Scrub
Take 1 lemon and roll it on the counter to soften the inside of the lemon so that it will be easier to extract the juice.After it's been rolled and beaten into submission, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a small cup or bowl and add a splash of water to delude the lemon juice. Add a tablespoon of white granulated sugar and a drizzle of honey into your the lemon water and stir. Test the ratio between sugar and water until it's a paste that won't slide off your face and end up all over your apartment. Once it's on, sit back, sip your Garden Greyhound and leave on for 15 minutes while listening to...
3. Playlist
I hope you weren't expecting Enya or zen chimes. If so, you should know me better by now. These songs on the other hand, without fail make me laugh...especially after a cocktail or two. Why? Because the lyrics are absolutely ridiculous. Saying that, I may have been known to sing some of these badboys at karaoke....
Micheal McDonald - I Keep Forgettin'
Wham! - Everything She Wants*
Billy Ocean - Caribbean Queen
Hall and Oates - I Can't Go For That
Serge Gainsbourg - No Comment
Tina Turner - Private Dancer
Atlantic Starr - Always**
Anita Baker - Caught In the Rapture
Jennifer Lopez - You Belong to Me***
PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
Steve Perry - Oh Sherry
Phil Collins - Sussudio****
To listen to this playlist in its entirety, click here.
* Please listen to these crazy lyrics. If I'm in a bad mood, this song without fail gets me out of it. It takes ridiculous to the next level.
** "Let's go make a family". What producer thought that was a great lyric? Even as a kid, I found it odd and not to mention pushy.
*** I absolutely love the original Carly Simon version but the J.Lo version is just so stupid that I had to add it to the mix.
**** What the fuck is a Sussudio?
