February 05, 2003 - 10:41 a.m.

Simon had the day off yesterday, so we had a leisurely lunch in St Kilda at Soulmama with Des and his boyfriend, Justin. We ate outside, only a few yards from the water's edge. It was hot, and the water was warm and clear. I could have stayed there all day.

Des is from Ireland and arrived here about when I did. He has to return to Ireland for three months (at least) because of visa restrictions. I felt so sad for the two of them. It only reminded me again of how lucky I am that Simon and I are finally in the same place. And how lucky I am to have met Des, even if he is leaving.

Our lunch somehow managed to stretch beyond three hours, which probably explains my rosy shoulders and Simon's farmer's tan. After, we went to Chapel Street, which seems like an alternate universe compared to where we live. We bought Simon some much-needed new clothes with a voucher I had that was set to expire. Well, at least that's what I thought until I realized that I'd read the date on the voucher backwards. It said it was good for six months from 8/11/02, which I quickly interpreted as August 11th. Wrong, silly American. And I'd been so good about reversing dates here! Simon had a chuckle at my expense.

The sales assistant at the clothing store said she loved my hair and wanted to know where I got it cut. I was taken aback because it's been growing so long and has been a bit unruly. I had to confess that it wasn't the haircut but the hair product, my new favorite toy, but she could still go to Toni & Guy if she was so inclined. Now that I've written that last sentence, I've realized that my haircuts, if I actually paid for them, would be $80 each, whereas the bottle of hair glue only costs something like $12. I should have told her that the magic styling product is a better deal, especially if it can tame that in-between stage (barb, jj and anyone else with short-ish hair, you know what i am talking about). I'm sure she'll figure it out on her own.

I'm off to Richmond to meet the Luckies and show them their pictures. I'm crossing my fingers that they will go for my concept once they see it printed up. We'll probably shoot something else tomorrow, too.