1. Peony Pink, 2. grad-6, 3. Seducimos valiendonos de mentiras y pretendemos ser amados por nosotros mismos., 4. Untitled

Here is my list of things I luuuurve this week!

Meeting new people — In the last week, I have met (among others): Andrea, managing editor of The Fashion Spot; Wendy Brandes, jewellery designer extraordinaire & her husband, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal; Craig of street style blog Altamira NYC; Jenny & Soren of Copenhagen Street Style; Gilda of Bunka, Parsons & holiday in the sun fame; Colin of No Impact Man; the girls from Bag Snob; Chris from Stylehive; Wendy from Nitrolicious; Aaron from Haute Concept; Lesley from FashionTribes, a whole lot of lovely people from Louis Vuitton, & uh, probably some other people too! Phew! Not bad for a week, hmm?! Even better, it shows no sign of slowing down… I am loving it!

My new place! I probably don’t need to explain this, so let me just say: my new apartment is bliss. I am so happy to be here that I could pass out with glee. Each morning I wake up with this little feeling of delight that begins somewhere in my eyebrow & slowly spreads down & across until it bathes my entire body, & I lie there feeling fabulous, blessed, excited, energised & ready to kick booty! Dear Universe: thank you, thank you, thank you.

Bicycle delivery guys — At about 5pm, you have to start being a little more careful when you cross the streets of Manhattan, because the city slowly becomes awash with dudes on bicycles couriering food from restaurants to apartments. I love it! It’s so quaint & cool & they are all so fearless — racing with taxis, risking life & limb, all in the sweet & simple quest to deliver your pizza hot. Amazing.

Ricky’s NYC — If you’ve never been into a Ricky’s store, let me explain. Every city needs at least one. It is basically your one-stop beauty shop. It’s better than Sephora, because they stock pretty much every beauty accessory known to man. There is a wall of false eyelashes, all in different colours, shapes & materials. There are candles, delicious-smelling soaps, straightening irons, all the best types of shampoo, & my favourite thing? The entire range of Special Effects hair dye. (They also have Manic Panic but it is an inferior product & you should not waste your money.) I think I have been into at least one of their stores every day since I got back last Thursday. I cannot walk past without going in. It makes me very, very happy.

Eating raw — Tonight I was feeling a bit petulant, & wanted a salad but couldn’t be bothered going & buying all the individual ingredients. I know, what hardship, right? So I got off the bed & walked to Pure Food & Wine, which is a mere stroll from my apartment. Yay! I had a delicious dinner, & made jottings in my Moleskine as I ate, & thought, & sipped at a glass of amazing lemonade. (Amazing, I tell you.) When I was done, I went next door to their takeaway area & picked up a pint of almond butter cup ice-cream, which is devastatingly good (& I swear tastes about a billion times better than conventional ice-cream), & a slice of cake (gasp!) for tomorrow. Breakfast, probably. Yum yum!

Avril Lavigne — I’m sure I’ve mentioned this in a Things I Love Thursday before, but it’s still true, so it’s worth repeating! When I worked at Lush, her album, Under My Skin, was one of the only decent CDs in the shop (& believe me, before I started working there, I didn’t like her at all). The Grease soundtrack was the other great one, but we also lots of stuff that drove me crazy, like Maroon 5 (argh!). Anyway… I was going through an ugly break-up & infatuation with someone totally unsuitable at the time, & this is going to sound so lame, but singing along to Avril Lavigne when the shop was empty was truly one of the best things ever. (I do have other female vocalist loves though — & taste, I swear! — notably Fiona Apple, Amy Winehouse & Ani Difranco.) Oh, & I read an interesting thing about Avril Lavigne a while ago where she attributed her constant angst to eating too much sugar! She said she went to a nutritionist & sorted herself out & she’s much happier now. Neat, huh?

New Zealand music — I didn’t like it much when I was in New Zealand, but as soon as I left, everything changed! This is one of my very favourite NZ songs. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Honourable mentions: The fact that contact lenses are half the price here!; being asked for directions twice in one day & being able to help both times!; the Barney’s sale (uh oh, look out…); the charm that is inherent in practically every New Yorker I’ve met so far; Lupe Fiasco (I listened to The Cool on the bus back to Gainesville & was really, really impressed); fashion illustration (sometimes I wish I lived in the pictures); a big stack of stationery from the New York Palace; my friend Bei Badgirl’s art (one day I will have her paint a wall in my house); falling in love with skirts (1 with detail, & 2); sitting in my window watching the world go by (it is so exciting & happy-making that I feel like my heart might burst!), & emailing back & forth with Simon while I was at dinner (it was like a very slow date, but I loved it).

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.” — Woody Allen

Don’t be shy! It’s time to join in! (Especially if you are in the antipodes — it is 2am, & I stayed up finishing this so that you would get this on Thursday & wouldn’t feel left out! So you owe me… haha!)