At this time of the year--and especially this week, with the temperatures reaching a balmy 12F degrees currently--it becomes necessary to defeat the winter.

Unless you live in some mild climate, you know exactly what I mean. It's a long haul from here until spring break, as all Chicagoans know, because spring will last approximately 20 minutes before it becomes summer and unseasonably hot.

My favorite way to defeat winter is with things that smell good. It seems to me somehow that if I can change the atmosphere indoors a little bit, the outdoors won't seem quite so bad.

So the office of the interior at my house will be requisitioning scented candles from Aveda, fruity glycerine soaps from the Body Shop, and incense from the hippie store down on Clark Street. Also stocking up on easter lillies at the grocery, because their scent always makes me feel like a rich girl, even if I bought them at the Jewel.