Normally I try to share some amusing webby finds or good personal anecdotes on le blog but I have been super busy…. gah. So before a whole week goes by without any fun stuff posted, I thought I’d share today’s webby find that made me smile — a personal comic strip by Allan Wood. Enjoy…

My Valentine weekend would have been mostly charmed, had it not been for the bad and ugly, but that will wait. First, the good:

My girl and I took a road trip to Philadelphia. We went to this amazing bakery called Vegan Treats. According to her, it was located in a “suburb” of Philly. Note to all you Pennsylvania neophytes—80 miles is a bit far for a town to be considered a “suburb”. Anyway, we ate cake for breakfast!!!

After the sugarfest we made our way into the city proper and wandered around South Street for a while. We got spicy chai at a tiny Moroccan cafe and really good Syrah at a wine bar. Then we went to dinner at Horizons, which was the best food I’ve ever had in my life!

The menu:
Saffron Tomato Bisque with smoked foccacia croutons and a roasted eggplant “dumpling”
Wild Mushroom Crepe with creamy truffle sauce, golden beet tartare, and seaweed caviar
Baked Seitan Terrine with dijon glaze, potato chive crust and red wine sauce
Pan Seared Tofu Hanalei with hearts of palm and lomi tomato salad and warm lemongrass butter
Chocolate Covered Red Velvet Cake with lemon-vanilla bean ganache and toasted coconut

My camera didn’t really do the food justice because of the sexy lighting but here are a few shots:

Now onto the bad and ugly: Friday night we noticed our furnace was making funny noises. It kept turning on and immediately switching off. We called an HVAC service. The HVAC guy said the off/on issue was the result of a dirty sensor (which he cleaned) but then he said it looked like we had a broken seal on our furnace that could cause carbon monoxide leakage. He said repairing the problem would cost almost as much as a new furance.  He also said he’d have to rip out the dry wall to repair or replace the furnace since it was in a closet. Then (unbeknownst to us) he turned the gas off to the heater so we had no heat.

Amid a lot of cursing and bitching, my girl insisted we call another HVAC guy to get a second opinion because she wanted to make sure this was a legit issue and she was not about to go two months with no #&!#% heat!!! At least our cat Oliver gave us a lot of cuddles. When the house is 30 degrees he gets very affectionate.

The second HVAC tech took apart our furnace (thankfully leaving our drywall intact) and told us all the heat exchanger seals were fine and the  only problem we had was that the gas was disconnected. He said the dirty sensor may have been an issue but it wasn’t now and our furnace is fine. So it cost $400 to pretty much find out nothing was wrong with our furnace that a little soap and water wouldn’t cure. Ouch! At least we don’t need a new furnace, so I won’t have to sell my kidney or anything.

Also, my girl got me this for Valentine’s Day:

No, we don’t have a new cat (yet). What she did was sponsor a kitty in my name at the MDSPCA. We aren’t quite ready for a new kitty in our family yet, so sponsoring a little guy at our local shelter was the next best thing.

Oh, and I designed two new shirts this past weekend:

I’ve been trying to do new designs each week. I came up with these two last night, inspired by man love, St. Patrick’s Day and my cat:

This year, on my master list of things to accomplish, I’ve decided I must do more seasonal tees so I’ve been trying to A. design for upcoming holidays and B. design in time for said holidays. This is a little tricky being a scatterbrained artist but I think I have this St. Pat’s thing under control. St. Catrick is ready to go and more St. Pat’s day funnies are in the que for next week. Let’s hope I don’t get distracted and actually get pen to paper on those guys.

I love the critters, and some poor Aussie beasties have really suffered due to the bushfires down under. If you can sew more than a button or donate towels/fabric, please help these cute koalas and joeys in need, by making them  some pouches to hang out in. You can read more on the RSPCA site.

Ex-Boyfriend now carries printed canvas messenger bags! I am going to be honest here, I adore messenger bags, it’s like a purse that is OK for men to carry. I probably already own about a dozen messenger bags of various shapes and sizes, but this doesn’t stop me from wanting more of these handy man purses. My messenger bags go everywhere with me –  work, school, gym, vacation, urban hikes, you name it.

I am especially excited for the new bags we’re carrying because they are pretty much the perfect bags. They’re soft yet study, made of 100% cotton canvas. The shoulder strap is super comfy and doesn’t twist and shift.  Magnetic snap closures means in my haste/laziness I won’t forget to close up the bag. The bags also have the perfect arrangement of pockets and pouches. Two inside zipper pouches for my pencils, a notepad and chapstick (because that stuff otherwise always disappears into the abyss that is the bottom of my overstuffed messenger bag). They’ve also got to external pockets so I can easily find my phone and reach my ipod. I can also fit a sketchpad and my laptop in one of these bags, so really everything I need can fit inside. Oh and you know what else is cool? The bags come with a keychain strap so I can finally find my damn keys, rather than rooting around in there and having to pull everything out to find ‘em.

Look inside:

If all this isn’t enough reason to love these bags, they of course feature super stylish Ex-Boyfriend illustrations.  This week I’m carrying a kakhi green Fidel Catro messenger bag.

(That’s me with my new favorite bag)

P.S. Who is going to see Coraline? I can’t wait. I am thinking Valentine date movie.

I spent my weekend designing new tees. I have to say I am most excited about this guy because dinosaurs are silly and awesome:

For the creature lovers, kitty vs canary:

For the pun lovers, a little facial hair/farm animal humor:

Finally, two new additions to the “I’m big in” series, because everyone and their mother has designed a t-shirt with Godzilla or a Sumo that says “I’m big in Japan”, I’ve decided a different take on the theme is in order:

My Photoshop skills mostly involve removing red eye and cellulite from models. The work of Chrisophe Huet is much more interesting.

So I reaallly didn’t want to devote any time or energy to a vapid shell of a human being like Jessica Simpson, but I’m sure those of you who are huge fans of trashy celebretard news like me have heard about Jess’s recent weight gain and all the nasty gossip that’s accompanied it on TMZ and the like.

More than anything else, this seems like nothing more than a very unfortunate wardrobe decision. But the whole reason I’m posting about this is regarding Jessica’s little sis Ashlee, or rather, her most recent myspace blog post.

“I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight. A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman’s weight or figure as a headline on Fox News.

All women come in different shapes, sizes, and forms and just because you’re a celebrity, there shouldn’t be a different standard.”

Is it just me, or does this sentiment ring EXTREMELY HOLLOW considering how widely reported Ashlee’s many trips to the cosmetic surgeon have been since she first appeared on the pop music scene? I’m not disagreeing with her. I’m just sayin’.

All that being said, I should add how impressed I am by Ashlee’s devotion to correct grammar and spelling. You go, girl!

Hilarious snuggie parody video