Remember Twin Peaks? Remember strangely sexy, sexily square, straight-faced, clean-cut, vaguely robotic Agent Cooper, played by Kyle Maclaclan?

Of course you do. The character’s practically an icon. Remember all the coffee he drank? The slices of pie he so dreamily ate? Remember his life philosophy? We’ll refresh your memory. He talked about the need to reward yourself every single day—to find a simple, inexpensive way of elevating yourself, lifting yourself from the seething banality of daily life. It could be indulging in a great cup of coffee or a slice of pie or a doughnut or buying a new shirt, or whatever. The point is to slow down, to really enjoy your reward, to be generous to yourself once a day. It was Agent Cooper’s trick for a happy life, and we must say his quirky blend of Buddhism and autism clearly made an impact on us, because his monologue still comes to us nearly two decades after Twin Peaks first aired.

So why bring this up now? Because although we generally find self-tanning products kind of grotesque, and because generally we question our society’s raging obsession with tanning (which often seems more like an obsession with orange skin), we were recently introduced to Nivea’s Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs. This product portends to be both a “gradual tan moisturizer” and a “shave minimizer.” Sounds weird, but turns out it’s the kind of simple, daily treat Agent Cooper would approve of… a quick, cheap, easy, lovely-smelling moisturizer that imparts a natural glow. It’s weird, but we started to look forward to using this, to noticing the gradual sunny-ness of our skin, to mindfully applying the fragrant lotion, coming to appreciate the curves and muscles of our hard-working legs, breathing deeply as our hands traced our skin … OK, you get the picture. This post will turn into soft-core porn if we’re not careful.

That said, we’re not shills for Nivea. Yep, we like the product, but there’s hundreds in the drugstore. Got that? DRUGSTORE. No need for the pricy department store here—cheap works just fine. (Plus, drugstore prices make it easier to toss if you get so obsessed people start asking if you’re related to George Hamilton.) The bigger point is to enjoy your products, to take pleasure in simple rituals, to do like Agent Cooper and treat yourself to a tiny reward once a day.

Now we’ve got a favor to ask. Send us your ideas for basic, cheap ways to treat yourself. What elevates your everyday? What products, rituals, foods, etc. lift your spirits? Go to Drop a Dime box at the bottom of the page and let us know?