New Zealand’s Next Top Model — I officially love it. I can’t remember what I said about it when it first started, but I am a confirmed fan. The girls are so cool & lovely, & they all seem to really like each other which is so refreshing! I still really adore Christobelle & Laura but Ruby is quickly winning me over with her rad personality. If any of them won I’d be really happy about it.

My new skincare routine! Yes! I now have my hands on it & I am happy to say, it is working! I’m using MD Forte Facial Cleanser III (reviews), Desert Essence Organic Jojoba Oil (reviews) & Clarins Super Restorative Total Eye Concentrate (reviews), & I am so happy. I love all of it. I’ve only been using them a few days but I already feel like my skin looks better than it has in ages. YAY.

New Zealanders in New York! My friends Timmy & Erin are in town from Auckland, & have been staying with me. The three of us fit in my bed, amazing! (International Playgirl HQ is like an orphanage for wayward children.) Also last night I went out for drinks with Lucie Boshier, controversial NZ fashion designer & sex blogger, who is great fun. According to some of my American friends, New Zealanders are taking over. Maybe! It’s funny to sit in America & be surrounded by these weird accents that I am so familiar with!

Yoga misadventures — I feel almost like I shouldn’t put this on the internet, but… it was too amazing not to share. I went to a jivamukti yoga class this week — which was cool, I enjoyed the chanting & music & readings very much — but there was a guy two rows in front of me wearing shorts without underwear. It was amazing. Yes, everyone behind him saw everything he had to offer. AHEM. I really do suspect that he came along just to show off his crown jewels. At least it made for good entertainment?!

Honourable mentions: Good lip balm; my round-table of clever girls; “It’s a deal, but not a big deal”; cupcakes & cocktails with Kris Atomic, Cynthia, & Jazzi; mid-afternoon naps; Soundset anticipation!!!; straightening things out & really awesomely honest communique even despite Mercury retrograde madness; Anna Wintour (I was really impressed by her professionalism & polish when I saw her on Tuesday night); saying “KAIXO!” (ki-sho) instead of “hello” — it’s Basque!; seekingarrangement.com (“for mutually beneficial relationships” — wow, wow, wow); boys who do eerily spot-on impressions of Notorious B.I.G.; kisses on the windowsill; Russell Brand (every time I see Forgetting Sarah Marshall I love him more & more); me as a mermaid; dark chilli chocolate for breakfast; shopping sprees at Forever 21; super-fluoro nailpolish (bright pink, yes!); decoding boy behaviour; orange & mango juice; sweet old men on the street who tell me they love my hair; peanut butter & chocolate shakes at Lula’s Sweet Apothecary; obsessively tidying; “She was a thief! You gotta believe! She stole my heart & my cat!”, & last but absolutely not least, regaining my old friend — who I had missed terribly — & making a new one all at the same time. So good.

I have a new addition to Things I Love Thursday… un petit playlist… ! Hope you enjoy!

Songs which are making me swoon: Kam Moye – 3 Ladies; Ghostface – Back Like That & Kilo; Kid 606 – Megachurch Meltdown; Big L – Devil’s Son (beware disturbing lyrics); J Dilla – Won’t Do; Drake – Sooner Than Later (what good is being famous if I’m never on your mind?); Digable Planets – Jettin’.

“We can deny everything, except that we have the possibility of being better.” — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Show us yer TiLTs, love!