Missouri! It’s pretty neat, actually. I really didn’t know what to expect before I came here, but it’s been really interesting & a lot of fun. It is so, so different to the coasts, & has been a major eye-opener. All kinds of exciting things have happened, from meeting a nonpareil in the street in Columbia (!), to having a girl tell me I reminded her of a Barbie she once had, to being yelled at by an impatient Taco Bell drive-thru customer! Everyone I’ve met has been super-nice, too (well, with the exception of the woman who got all malignant over her burrito!). It’s been pretty chilly, but I’ve been wearing my new favourite hoodie & it’s kept me very warm!

City Museum –This deserves its own mention. We went yesterday & had so much fun! It’s hard to describe, but basically it’s this insane building that you can climb all over & discover. There are caves & 7 foot slides, huge bank vaults & aeroplanes high above the ground. There’s also an awesome little sideshow area where we took oldschool b&w photobooth strips, & I heeded the wisdom of a mechanical fortune teller. Ahh, it was so cool!

New York! For all the excitement of Missouri — hee — I’m looking forward to going home today. It’s a bit sad though too, because on Tuesday I leave for New Zealand! It has seemed like such a short trip! There are so many things I’d like to do before I leave — like ice-skating! — especially since I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be back! (Sob!) Early 2009, for sure, but I don’t have any dates set in stone yet. But I do still love love love New York, & I am looking forward to seeing its sweet face again.

New Zealand anticipation! Yup. I am starting to get excited about going back to NZ. I’m going for the Christmas/summer period, & I’m so happy about getting back into some warm weather! Eeeeeeeee! I think I’ve said it before, but cool temperatures just aren’t my thing, so I avoid them. Haha. Anyway, NZ will be good. My parents just renovated their entire house so I’m really looking forward to seeing it, & odds are fairly high that I’ll be making a trip up to Auckland some time within the next couple of months too. It will be nice to see all my strangely-accented friends, haha!

British Vogue (December) It appeared in my hands as if by magic on Saturday night & I spent a good half an hour flicking through it, audibly squeaking with rapture & having to take pauses to put my hand on my forehead. Seriously. It was dramatic! So you know that I mean it when I say that this is the BEST ISSUE OF VOGUE, from ANY country, that has come out in a long time, & you would be a complete fooligan to miss out. They call this the “fantastic fantasy fashion” issue & oh boy, do they deliver. There is a Roald Dahl-themed photoshoot shot by Tim Walker, for god’s sake! Get that sweet toosh of yours down to your local magazine shop & snap it up! It is glorious.

Vampires — Aahahah. Well, last week I went to see Let The Right One In, which was awesome, & it has really only gotten worse since then. On Tuesday, I bought a second-hand copy of Sundays With Vlad from this teeny but awesome bookshop in Columbia, & ended up having a weird conversation about blood-sucker culture with the woman behind the counter. & then… Timmy bought me fangs. HAHA. I am almost embarrassed to admit it. I haven’t worn them yet, but they are so hilarious. Way to be ridiculous, Gala!

Honourable mentions: Magical thinking; big bottles of kombucha; FOUND magazine; doing the right thing for my body; dangling upside down; Prince; seeing my first real teepee!; ridiculous jingles; drinking pumpkin spice soy lattes while searching through radio stations; staining hotel room pillows pink; invitations to Florida; um okay this is so gross but spicy chicken crunchwraps from Taco Bell are sooooo good; listening to Wham! in hotel rooms; thinking about fun new projects; having my feet rubbed; going to super-Walmart at 2 in the morning; cuddlin’; smoochin’.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Okay beautiful — how about you? Tell us the best parts of your week!