Alright, so to be totally honest, I haven’t done a lot in the last week. I have mostly been packing up everything I own, organising, cleaning & running around like madwoman, as evidenced by the lack of writing here! So it has not been the most adventurous, action-packed week, but here’s what I’m happy about anyway!

Toronto! Specifically: how extremely nice everyone is (it isn’t just a myth! People keep making conversation with me & I love it); the fact that everything is also labelled in French (very lusty for a budding Francophone comme moi); that there is an ad featuring Avril Lavigne which plays in every commercial break (I kind of love her actually); that my friend I’m staying with says “eh” all the time (it reminds me of New Zealand where people punctuate their sentences with “ay!” constantly!), & that I don’t have to leave the house because the weather is so dreary! (I didn’t bring my brolley!) But mostly Toronto is great because of my friend, my friend, my friend, who has totally come to my rescue, is awesome, & a MAJOR Virgo. We understand each other! It is good!

Working out — I haven’t had access to a gym since April 2008! (Oh my god!) While hooping & walking all over New York City is good, it’s just not the same as having all that fantastic equipment at your disposal. Yesterday I used my friend’s gym for an hour. I had forgotten how good it felt, which I am convinced is part endorphins & part smug self-satisfaction! Anyway, I have decided my next apartment needs to be in a building with a gym. Fingers crossed!

Russell Simmons — There are so many reasons to love him. Click his name for another one. MWAH.

Honourable mentions: A Salt & Battery in the West Village; my new Jem earrings (big pink stars!); being distracted by boys; juice & chocolate for breakfast!; vegan burgers; having access to MTV (I really like having it going in the background…); Anna of Lucid New York (she saved my booty on Tuesday!); my friends; people noticing your absence; listening to Justin Timberlake on my old fire escape; puppy cuteness; vegan peanut butter fudge shakes from Lula’s Sweet Apothecary; lesbian lovers having food fights in public (seriously); Bergdorfs; “When you’re in the room I can’t pay attention to anything else”; really cute emails & enthusiasm & honesty; my friend saying “What a dish”, & this email from my mother, after I arrived in Canada.

“Hi Darling,
Thank you for that, have been thinking about you all day.
So pleased your friend isn’t an axe murderer.
Speak soon when you are well rested.
Love and kisses,
Janet.”

Songs to love: Nine Inch Nails – The Perfect Drug (blast from the past, for real, but so good!); Astro-Creep 2000 by White Zombie (one of the best albums ever, maybe, I don’t know, but if I ever see it in someone’s music collection I know they’re a goodun — it’s like a personality test); Commodores – Nightshift; Burial & Four Tet – Moth; Michael Jackson – This Place Hotel; P.O.S. (add him!) – Purexed & Drumroll; Soul Position – Keep It Hot For Daddy (add Blueprint, too!); Jose Gonzalez – Down The Line; Team Sleep – Natalie Portman. Also White Zombie are one of the only groups who ever ever ever made me want to play guitar. (Them & like… Pantera?!) If someone ever played me riffs from Astro-Creep 2000 I swear I would SWOON to death.

“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof & instant coffee, to un-employment insurance & library cards, to absinthe & good-hearted landlords, to music & warm bodies & contraceptives… & to the ‘good life’, whatever it is & where it happens to be.” — Hunter S. Thompson

Alright my darling. Your turn! If you were at a fabulous dinner party right now, what would you toast to?