June 16, 2002 - 1:43 p.m.

my brother proposed to his girlfriend, and she said yes! hooray. she is the best thing to ever happen to him, and i like her very much. i also know this gives her more cred in persuading him to come to my wedding. i called to congratulate him and asked if he'd given any more thought to heading down under. "we're discussing it," he said, which means she has a say in the plans. good news, good news.

simon and i went to the nearby shopping center yesterday to find some vegan cheese (which we never found). i got sidetracked by a 50% off sign at one of the bookstores. my radar must have been fine-tuned because there was a pile of books in the phaidon 55 series that had been marked down to $4.95 each (originally $12.95). they're quite amazing and very handy to have as a reference, so i bought all eight of the discounted ones (knowing only three of the photographers). i would never have been able to afford so many at the original price! i added two of the regular-priced ones because they were of important photojournalists whose work i'd studied, and their pictures are very hard to find. only 24 left to go. hello, amazon wish list.

simon was quite impressed with the books, as well, saying, "wow - listen to this," repeatedly. i remember the first time i saw quality photo-art and photojournalistic books in missouri. i was amazed that such things could exist! specifically my first view of the photo essay, which is my favorite thing to this day. so to have great works in my personal collection that i can then share with others is quite amazing.

now we need bookshelves!