Surround Yourself With Plants To Remember That Nature Exists 

Be your own Halloween doppelganger

I learned the trick to a last-minute Halloween costume: If you’ve ever thought of, heard of, or read an Instagram comment that points out some celebrity you look like, dress up as them. Especially if you noticed the resemblance thanks to a specific outfit. The night before Halloween, I was stuck without a costume. But in my summer hat, a jacket, a scarf, and a bandage on my ear, I became Van Gogh. Since I already have his beardy ginger face, it was easy for people to make the connection.

– Nick Douglas, Staff Writer

Get a new, improved and cheaper beauty routine

I got a better brow product – it’s just the Ulta brow tint. It’s super pigmented, and only $US10 ($13). I like it more than the Benefit stuff I was using. I also started using lip liner whenever I wear lipstick. It is a game changer. Can’t believe it took me until 31 to realise how important lip liner is.

– Claire Lower, Food & Beverage Editor

Surround yourself with greenery

I’m surrounded by more processors than plant life. I decided to rectify this with some low-maintenance plants. I purchased not one, but two succulents (one for home, one for work). Sure, they’re not going to revitalise my environment or hook me up with a ton of oxygen, but the addition of a little greenery does force me to acknowledge the presence of a world filled with trees, leaves and actual nature, as opposed to the verdant, virtual grasslands found in my latest obsession, Breath of the Wild.

– Patrick Austin, Staff Writer

Don’t gotta have that java

I am loathe to publicise this, but my upgrade this week is giving up coffee. I don’t have a particularly out-of-hand caffeine addiction – I was drinking probably two to three cups per day, tops – but in my ongoing efforts to improve my acid reflux, I very reluctantly decided that it was time to take a break. For the last several days I’ve been drinking green tea (UGH) in the morning, and it does seem to help. I’ve been a regular coffee drinker since maybe Year 7, so this is a pretty radical change for me. We’ll see how things go.

– Virginia K. Smith, Managing Editor

Separate your browsers to stay organised

This one is just a little trick with Chrome tabs. I’m one of those 99-open-tabs kind of people, and I always have Slack in a pinned tab on the left side. If I’m trying to work head-down on a writing project, it’s usually in Google docs, so I can still see that Slack tab light up.

Some people fullscreen their browser so they don’t see the tabs, but I need them for research: Maybe I have interview notes in one tab, reference materials in another, and I keep popping open new ones to google specific points. Here’s the “duh” solution: Control-click just the tabs you’re working on, and you can drag to open them in a new window dedicated to that project.

– Beth Skwarecki, Health Editor

Use your plane ride to catch up on your viewing

I am perpetually behind on movies, but on a plane ride this week, I watched two that were really wonderful: The Big Sick and Lion. If you haven’t seen them, The Big Sick is a quirky modern rom-com based on a real love story, and Lion is about a lost boy in India, also based on a true story. I highly recommend both films, and also plane rides for catching up on all the media you’ve missed.

– Michelle Woo, Parenting Editor