October to-do list.(Brief Article)(Column)

* Get out of a Saturday-afternoon slump by grabbing your girlfriends and heading to the most fancy-schmancy hotel in town for afternoon tea. Of course, you have to bust out in your uptown-girl best, including white gloves (a hot fashion trend for fall).

* Columbus Day is Monday, October 8. Take advantage of the long weekend by shacking up in a bed-and-breakfast with your beau. Do make sure you have a private bathroom. And don't forget the essentials: a sexy new nightgown, a sultry CD, and a bottle of mer-lot. To find a B&B with a fireplace or other must-have features, click on www.bedandbreakfast.com. Then pay homage to the great explorer by undertaking an erotic expedition.

* You already know that Johnny Depp is hotter than Hades. But now he's really From Hell, starring as a detective trying to hunt down London's 19th-century serial killer Jack the Ripper. Check him out with costar Heather Graham when the film opens on the 19th. Be sure to file down your fingernails because you'll be gripping your boy's biceps from start to finish.

* Don't get bummed out just because you have to push the clock back an hour ...