Fat Teas

I was reading the Vancouver Sun the other day and they had an article that said scientists have discovered that milk may negate the slimming effects of drinking tea.

Boo-hoo. This is a sad day for all those English teas (like Earl Greys & English Breakfast) because those teas definitely SUCK without milk (or copious amounts of sugar, I don't need a degree in nutrition to tell you "sugar" spells "spare tires").

I guess this article comes to no surprise to all those people who love their morning mistos from starbucks because I've tried that drink before and it's like a tenth brewing of a regular cup of Earl Grey plus half the sugar and milk that goes into a slice of cake. Although that might sound like a positive review (coming from me), it's actually not. That tea is a surprising cup of disappointment and poor taste (sorry, misto fans, I have to stay true to my buds... taste-buds). 

Anyway, just thought you all should know my feelings towards certain teas because that's what's important on thursdays (not radioactive rain from Japan, not the strange police database that records wrong info on citizens).

 This is another day to raise my cup of Chinese teas (my mom being awesome that she is, has brought lots of Pu-erh, which looks like "poo" in cake form... see below)

How can I not love this stuff?

Have a Hobbit Monday!

Hobbit spotting number... I'm not sure.

I've spotted people previously who remind me of hobbits but I didn't have a blog back then to record my observations and findings.

The things you see on a bus. Most days, the strangest thing I see on transit is a can collector (which, if you know Vancouver, isn't all that strange a sight at all). But today was different. Today was my day. Yes, my day to spot a hobbit.

He had very round cheeks (a bit rosy, not from running or any exersion because he was sitting down and reading). He had a frilly cap of red hair (everyone knows that not all hobbits have red hair, but all red hair people are hobbits... I might be very wrong here). He had fat little fingers that wrapped around his novel. And also, the fattest thighs to ever try to squeeze into those small bus seats we have.

It was awesome! I wish I had a camera with me just show I could show you what I mean. And I wish I also had the balls to take out a camera to take a picture of this guy (I'd tell him it was for my blog. No, not a fashion blog, but one about hobbits).

Anyway, this is a great start to the week. If I see any other magical creatures, I'll keep y'all posted.

Have a Hobbit Monday :D

Best Bagels

Yesterday was lovely unlike today (but I admit that today's rainy weather is definitely much less intimidating as it provides ample excuse for an unproductive monday). So it was necessary that I go out of doors to get myself a good (free) dosage of vitamin D.

It's been a long time since I've had bagels, and my boyfriend (being the foodie that he is) decided we should go to a bagel shop to get ourselves some snobbishly good bagels. We decided to go to Seigel's. It was a small little store with nothing but bagels.

My boyfriend, who has no training in weight watchers or other forms of portion control diet, decided that we should get a dozen bagels so that we can munch on them during our walk and still have some leftover for the next day.

A few blocks and Starbuck's Tazo Earl Greys (which is disappointing as always) we had finished about half the bagels.

That's right. We finished six deliciously addictive bagels with salmon and garlic cream cheese. Justifiably we had quite the long walk since we went from Granville & Broadway down to the seawall, then went all the way along the seawall, then back up to Alma & Broadway and walked the whole way back to Granville.

By the time we got back home, we were all bageled out. So we had two more and now our "dozen bagel bag" looks hopelessly sad on the counter.

I guess this means we should finish these last four today.

Anyway, I don't know what my point is. I think I am just trying to give you a warning about bagels and how they can foil any dietary plans (especially ones that try to keep your carbs down) because they are hopelessly addictive (especially if you get them from Seigel's and not the supermarket).

I'm just going to roll over and eat these other bagels before I start my day. Happy Monday, everyone.

No Apologies. No Cells for Lend

Today when I was walking my dog, I was approached by a guy in his late teens/early twenties asking to borrow my phone.

As I was approaching, he looks kind of shady already but that could just be because he's dressed in baggy jeans and a sweatshirt and not very professional.

In any case. I didn't have my phone so my automatic answer was. Sorry dude, walking the dog here and don't have my phone. He looked a bit annoyed and so I suggested maybe he borrow the phone from the local community police (because they are just around the corner and they have phones to use for free).

He immediately walked faster away and was like mumbling something so I asked him what he said (I felt confrontational anyway). He repeated that he's waiting for a friend and needs to call him.

I walked away. Dog was walked and when I got home I remember that my friend had her new phone stolen months ago when she lent it to a young guy who needed to "call his mom" but had instead ran off with it. I became kind of suspicious that the guy waiting for his friend could remember his phone number (who in the world these days remember their friend's phone number anyway? I know I sure don't. Also, it was suspicious that he didn't use a pay phone or borrow one from the coffee shop that was a block away.

So I searched the internet and I found that there are many scams people do with borrowed cell phones (you can check it out here). I guess that means that next time someone wants to borrow my phone, I'll have to say no, even if it means that I've just been talking on it and they see that I have one. Because I don't care if they run away with my crappy old phone, I just don't want to get signed up to some spam that will waste all my airtime!

Too bad you just can't trust people these days. Oh well, I guess the thing to take away here is that you should never forget to bring your phone with you because the chances that people will risk lending you a phone should be close to zero, which is understandable I guess.

Earthquake in Japan Shaking Our Reality

The huge earthquake that happened in Japan this week is a reminder to Vancouverites to be prepared.

I for one am not prepared. I don't have dried goods or water to last me the first 3 days of surviving should I become trapped. And I don't have a first aid kit (i'm not sure if I even remember how to use it in any way that would be useful during a natural disaster).

Then again, I'm kinda putting that off because I figure that if the big one really hits, I won't make it anyway.

That's because I haven't heard anything about Vancouver being really conscious about earthquake proofing our buildings. I live in a concrete condo and this is scary because I don't think this building is earthquake proof. And I know that in an earthquake these buildings will come tumbling down.

So now I ask, how am I going to prepare myself then? There's no way I can change my building's structure. Should I move away? But of course all those options need lots of money... lots and lots of money. So I guess when an earthquake comes, my first thing to do is just to try to get the hell out because if I fall, I'm sure it's a long way down.

How does everyone else feel about this?

A Spoiler Alert!

This post is just going to be a hate-on for this fictional family in the movie 28 Weeks Later. I recently re-watched this sequel to 28 Days Later, to dilute the effects of a horrible movie with Nicolas cage (that's not even worth mentioning here on my blog).

Anyway, you should stop reading here if you plan on watching 28 Weeks Later (which I recommend you watch if you like your zombies real scary) because this isn't really a review at all, but more like a rant on a stupid fictional family because I just hated them in the movie (yes, I've used the word hate quite a few times now and I know it ain't zen).

So this movie starts out with a couple (husband & wife) trying to survive in a farm house and they're trapped in there with other strangers who have come together to hide from what you soon find out are zombies from a strange and incurable "rage virus" (or as I call it, Zombie flu). So everyone is having dinner and having a nice little argument about whether or not this jerk should keep telling this stupid girl that her boyfriend is already dead because he ventured out a few days ago. He was a real jerk, so I'm glad he dies. But before it gets to that, there's the man and the woman (the couple) and they seem all loving and shit, but the woman has the kind of personality that makes me wonder how the hell she survived to get to this barn because as soon as she hears banging on the door, she wants to go get it. Plus, now there's a child begging for them to open up. Of course, the rest of the gang just sit there and stop offering any input, and the guy is like, no, let's not let the zombie flu in. But of course, he caves because how else are they going to get into shit in a zombie outbreak but to open up to take strangers in. Needless to say, their stupid action got everyone else killed, and it shows that the man leaves his wife screaming for help in the attic of the barn house as he's running away all chicken shit.

Ugh. I didn't like the wife so it wasn't a great loss to me when I watched this, but now I definitely don't like the guy either, but part of me was like, it's OK. He might die. So the story now follows that this man's children were deported and for some reason (unknown) and USA decides they will be the boss of everyone and sends these deportees back to Britain (because you know, THAT sounds safe to do so soon after a mysterious outbreak of Zombie flu). And with the US Army and the way they are always depicted in these zombie movies, they screwed this up big time (or there'd be no movie).

Anyway, the man's kids get out of the detainment area because they're punks (hating them already). And they see their zombie mom in their old house (that's just great *eyeroll*). And the weird thing is that she isnt' a zombie yet but of course she's not communicating because of the shock I guess, so the army lifts everyone back to the detainment area but under quarantine. That just doesn't seem like a smart thing to do, so the whole time I'm like "wtf people, wtf". Of course this family doesn't stop bad shit from happening yet, because the dad has access magically since he works as a janitor in the "new city" that he gets to go into the room where they've quarantined the wife. And this is the scariest part of any zombie movie I've seen, and also like both touching and stupid at the same time. Very stupid. He kisses her and of course, turns CRAZY, and like after some bloody gruesome scenes later, she's dead and he's this mad zombie king that dashes out and reeks havock on the whole city.

So just after you think that this family can't cause no more trouble after that with the whole city dead, they saved the kids (those stupid punk kids), who are also somehow carriers like their mother, and they airlift them away. And of course this movie ends with Paris all in zombie flu mode.

Yep, this zombie movie has been the hardest to watch in a very long time. No, it was good. I liked it because it was scary and very very graphic. But this family.

ARGH!

This is one of those movies that makes me just wanna go into the movie and shoot them myself. Talk about a rage virus.

Chips, You Make Me Sick

Nope. Chips isn't a person. I'm talking about real chips (not the British version, though sometimes they do too). But I find that potato chips and tortilla chips always make me sick.

Chips are my kryptonite.

It seems like there really is no plausible explanation for it except that there might really be something in these deep fried foods that just makes my body give up on living completely. I sort of figured this out already throughout my life that whenever I partake in the chip eating and partying, I usually got sick. When I was younger, I never believed my mother when she told me that I can't have chips, so I'd go off to some birthday party, load up on the good stuff and come home pretending I was all good. But inevitably the next day would mean that I would have a sore throat or a fever or a combination of the two.


On Monday, I went boozing with my friend in broad daylight. Well, not super broad daylight. It was after 1pm and it was a nice day out, so naturally, we went to get some beer at the Granville Island brewery. But they don't have real food there, they only have chips and other things of the like. And since I didn't particularly feel like being an elephant shelling peanuts with my beer, I decided to go for the ol' chip & salsa. I was hoping that it wouldn't affect me, but by the afternoon of that same day, I could feel the top of my palate getting sore.

Shit. So now I've been having this crazy painful swollen palate for a whole two days now, and I'm not seeing it go away anytime soon either. Why must I always succumb to the temptations of chips? I know they are bad for me, but sometimes, I just want to live like a normal person!

I bet this is what Superman must have felt like.

Fashion Fiend

Ugh. Fashion. I knew I should never have been sucked into The Sartorialist for its pretty pretty pictures of people who dress all interesting and cool. Nah, it's still an awesome blog. But the contents got kinda heavy for what I expected.

I read from The Sartorialist, that John Galliano (of Dior) made racial slurs and was suspended from his role as head designer. At first, people were in disbelief and quite a lot of people just couldn't believe it was true.

But now, there's this video of him saying these nasty things (they are pretty bad) from this article in The Sun. (Thank you, technology). It's quite sad and there were lots of people who commented on The Sartorialist's update article saying how it was mental illness, or how he was drunk. But I don't think it's excusable.

I mean, we've all  been drunk before.  But how many of us will say this kind of stuff? It's pretty serious and very hurtful. I mean, most of the time when we're drunk, we might do stupid things or even fight with people, but I don't know how someone can just spew racial slur like that if they weren't already a racist to start with.

So to all the people who are super compassionate about the whole thing, I will have to say that I can't agree with that. I don't think being drunk or saying it's a mental illness is any sort of excuse to racism. Also, being an artistic genius doesn't excuse anything and being under high stress of being head designer (and living your dream job boo-hoo) is certainly no excuse!

If anything, I think John Galliano should serve time because there's a law in France and if he doesn't then it really shows that being a head designer means you're above the law and that isn't right. The good thing is that at least he's apologized but I'm really not sure if he's forgivable given what horrible things he has said and how so many people looked up to him.

Old Friends

Today I get to hang out with an old friend of mine who I haven't seen in a long time. The sad thing is that she lives around the city still, so she's not like an old friend who is out of province which makes hanging out pretty much impossible (although I am fortunate one of my old friends visited just recently from Newfoundland).

I find it is hard sometimes to arrange a time to hang out when everyone has their own lives to lead and things just get busy sometimes. I get that. Sometimes, just everyday living gets in the way of doing things that you really want to do. So to arrange two people's lives so that there's some time to get together is really difficult.

This hangout was arranged about a month ago. It was full of uncertainty since it was so far away. I had worries like, will I get sick? Will she get sick? What if I got a job (as if)? What if she forgot she had something important to do? What if her day off from work got switched around? But today is finally here, and aside from being a little gassy (and having a general need to over share), I'm feeling pretty OK.

Actually, I'm pretty darn excited! I'm glad that I get to see an old friend because life is so uncertain that you just don't know when you get to see them again the next time. Maybe their life will take them away from where you live, or maybe your life will take you to other places. I am just glad that I get to hang out with friends when I have the chance.

Flower and Milk Make Good Candies

Flowers and milk are both delicious flavours for candies.

Who knew?

Well obviously the Japanese and most of Asia knows about this "secret".

Last Friday, I went with a friend to a two dollar store. Yes, a high-end dollar store that sells Japanese things that's weird, random and delightful.

In the store they have a section that sells candies, so I decided to pick up two kinds of candies that I haven't had since my childhood. First is the flower candy, that can only be described as uniquely feminine in flavour... if there can be a feminine vs. masculine candy out there, this candy would be the feminine candy.

The second candy, is this milky delicious candy, that is not quite like vanilla ice cream, and not quite like a latte. Yes, not very helpful, but I give it all all thumbs up.

Needless to say, there are only a few candies left lying around by today.  I'm really worried that I haven't got dental insurance, but not worried enough to stop eating them though. So do I have to say again that I really recommend you try them? Maybe. Maybe not. But really, you have to try them!

I forgot how much Asian candies are better in so many ways then the North American candies that I normally love and consume. They are so innovative and strange in flavour. They are also very delicious too even though they sound like a weird idea at first.

To finish off this post, I will leave you with a picture that's worth a thousand visits to the dentists.

Trying a Seascape

It's a bit wrinkly but that's cause I tried it on paper.

Anyway... it's a bit messed up looking hahahha but ok for a first attempt right? Lol

Criminals Dress Code.

Yesterday, The Province posted some most wanted criminals that you can read about here. As I was looking at the pictures in the paper, I suddenly realized that wow. These people DO look like criminals (except for maybe one of them). They certainly have a "criminal" look to them that movies and TV shows would depict as criminals.

Now, sometimes on the buses, I see people who look like they are criminals. And I am definitely judging a book by its cover, but I don't feel very comfortable when I see them, because I think I just assume that they are criminals.

Is that unfair?

Most definitely. But I do this, and when I'm aware of it, I don't feel any less comfortable around them. Is there something wrong with me? Or is this natural?

I wonder if any one else does this too.

Lolz Cat Does Good Again

Hilarious? I think so.

Welding Rhymes with Melting. Sort of.

Today I tried welding both with the MIG and with the oxy-acetylene welder. And I must say. It's not as easy as those guys make it look on TV.

I did pretty well even though I was sort of afraid. Mostly I am afraid of flames, fire and heat. So I really do think that welding is like therapy for me. But it's strange because part of me is like a moth because it's totally attracted to flames too. I'm sure someone can psychoanalyze me real good just from that but really, I think a lot of us have that. There's something we're kinda afraid of but also attracted to at the same time. For me, it's fire and flames. For someone else it might be heights and bungee jumping.

It feels good to do something new and something that you're not quite certain that you're capable of doing. It's a good feeling and I get this high from it. It could also be all the fumes in the metal shop. But I like to just think that it's the thrill of doing something that I was afraid of, and coming back out the other end unharmed.

Well, I guess I won't be sleeping until late tonight. I'm certainly going to ride this high feeling for a bit longer because as I'm getting older, I feel that I don't have this feeling nearly as much as when I was younger! I can see why they say some people keep doing new things to stay young because I think this is the feeling of youth.

Love this

Following Your Passion

Lately it seems like all my art instructors were talking about following your passion. Of course that makes sense. That is what they actually chose to do with their lives. They are the brave ones. They are the ones who didn't let other people's "art will never make you a living" get in their way.

There are so many times when people get scared. And they get scared into taking those jobs that they don't like because it's secure or it's OK. I've been there before. It's not like the job was actually horrible (nothing about having to kill any animals). But it wasn't anything that I really wanted to do. It seems like a lot of the people I worked with also had other things they rather do as well. But instead of doing those things, they were like me, stuck in this boring job day in and day out. Maybe because of this fear of not having work and money. Or maybe it's the fear of being regarded as one of the crazy folks chasing a dream for the rest of their lives.


I am a bit confused as to where I stand right now. On one part, I'm looking for a job. On the other part, I am doing what I love during my free time now. All I know is I keep getting this nagging voice that tells me to "get a job" or that "the pressure is on". Of course if this voice lasted for more than 10 minutes then I would go mental. Usually now I find it easier to ground my thoughts again. I don't know if it's the practice of all the art I've been doing, which requires me to concentrate more than ever like meditation or if it's because I'm just getting better at redirecting my thoughts these days.

So where does everyone else stand on this point in life? Are you doing anything you are passionate about? Do you find them for yourself during your busy work days to do what you love? Or have you already made your career about your passion?

Super Sunny Sundays. And how people should learn to walk better.

Today was wonderful out! I wished I didn't have to be inside and I wished that I had a chance to avoid Granville Island (even though it is one of my favorite places in Vancouver).

I love Granville Island because it's quaint and has lots of interesting shops and most of the shops have people who care about what they do. And I love Granville Island because there are so many studios and the location is right by the sea. It really can't be beat on a lovely sunny day such as this. But unfortunately, with a lovely location, you have crowds. And with crowds, you have your morons.

I really can't stand people who don't know how to walk. It's not that they stumble and fall and don't know how to do it. It's just that these people don't understand it's necessary to let people walk pass them in the opposite direction.

So these morons I encountered were walking from the opposite in a group of three. There's nothing wrong with that but these guys decided to side by side on a narrow strip of wood pathway that really fits only three people across. They ended up blocking all the people behind them by walking ridiculously slow and moving so sporadically that nobody knew how to pass them. Heck, that's not really my problem, but as I approached from the opposite side, they showed no signs of changing their formation. On my side, there was traffic, so really, I couldn't tuck further to my side. I had no curb to step on. I was trapped. Yes, trapped in an idiot walk off.

I had to think quick. So I needed to use what I have with me. Luckily for me, I had a canvas in my arm. I started swinging it quite strongly.

All of a sudden, the formation changed and the guys decided to let me pass after all! Voila. Just like that I was safe. So what, if it had to resort to a threat of physical violence from my part. I was safe.

I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned somewhere in here. I'm not sure if the lesson is to always carry something that can do some damage (even on a Sunny day in a lovely place like Granville Island), or if it is to not let walking bullies push you into oncoming traffic.

All I know is that on a lovely day like today, my art practice saved my life.

Getting All Tao on Y'all

I was rummaging through blogs and I found this. Enjoy!

Fill your bowl to the brim 
and it will spill.
 
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
 
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
 
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
 
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

Lao-tzu (551-479 BC)

Why Doris Hates (the idea of) Vegetarianism (especially in restaurants)

I don't eat vegetarian. Ever.

That's not true. I do. And I did.

Yesterday, I tried a vegetarian place with some good friends of mine for lunch. And they can tell you that I ate a veggie burger (with peanuts in it). I know. How frightful!

Quite frankly, I hate vegetarian food. Actually, that's not really true either. I don't mind food that's actually vegetarian as long as they don't advertise it as such. Does that even make sense? Maybe not. So let me explain, because I did a lot of thinking on this yesterday, after I ate that disgustingly dry piece of cardboard vegetable shit...

The idea of having to eat vegetarian just repulses me. I don't know if it's because I feel like I'm being restricted or if I really just want to eat some animals during my lifetime here. It's probably the latter. I like the idea of eating poor innocent animals that can't help themselves but be so tasty. That's right, I'm a sociopath of sorts and here's your first clue should you one day want to use this against me.

It's strange that when I eat things that are really just vegetarian, but not advertise as such, I don't get as repulsed by it. Maybe it does have something to do with losing my freedom or feeling like I'm on a diet. Or maybe it's because places that serve real vegetarian food without advertising it, actually make it tasty because they don't rely on the word "veggie" to sell their product.

Either way, I know I hate the idea of being restricted when I eat. This will probably explain why I can never follow any religion full-heartedly because most religions have some rules on when you can or can't eat right? I am not sure yet about the Christians, but having to eat turkey on Thanksgiving is a sort of diet in itself isn't it?

Anyway, I hate diets. The connotations of that word brings up nothing but images of thin-again-and-fat-again Oprah and juice-guzzling old men with more musculature than a doped up Arnold. It's the kind of craze that makes skinny people want to be thinner and fat people want to be thinner. Although, I think a few days of dieting makes fat people want to eat the skinny people due to the faulty logic of if I eat something that's fat free (skinny person) then I will ultimately lose weight (not true).

So really, I think I don't like the idea of vegetarianism because I've linked it to the world of "dieting" and trying to be healthier (but in fact, trying to lose weight). But that's my personal issue with vegetarianism. I know lots of people are vegetarians for lots of different reasons and some of them might not be lying. But I bet lots of them want to be skinny off this effort too. And if I want to be skinny, of course I'll eat "vegetarian" because so many restaurants don't do it right that it's really hard to finish your food.

This brings me to the next point, which is vegetarian food that's not advertised as such, usually tastes better. Now of course, the neurotic-paranoid-conspiracy theorist in me say that it's probably just because they add chunks of beef in it instead of beans and chunks of chicken to replace what they call soy, but assuming that's not so, I think it's got to do with advertising.

For most restaurants to sell their food, unless it's hockey night in Vancouver and they've got a big-screen TV, they really need to make it tasty. But it seems like there aren't that many vegetarian plates on menus of most restaurants, so when they do, they don't need to do it right to sell it. All they have to do is slap on the word: Vegetarian, and they're bound to sell a good amount of it. Now I'm not sympathizing with vegetarians, God forbid I do that, but I'm just saying that most places don't need to cater to veggie taste buds because unlike us blessed omnivores, we can't say that the veggie burger at "Jim's Dinner" is shit, so we'll order a juicy succulent meaty burger instead.

To make my point, I have to confess that I actually ate vegetarian food last night too. That's right folks, for the first time here, I've admitted to going a whole day without any sort of meat (I don't think I even had any eggs in my food unless that veggie burger for lunch was held together by eggs.. that would explain the dryness). I had rice, with pickled cucumbers and this greasy-goodness called Korean seaweed. I also had some pan-friend tofu with sweet soy sauce and a perfectly crunchy and delectable dish of bok-choy in black bean sauce. Now, here you might say that I'm just a great chef. To that I admit, but I didn't make this meal myself. My boyfriend, who may or may not have previous cooking experience, did all the work.

I know I'm not very good at seeing if things are vegetarian (are T-bone steaks vegetarian, because they T is really not like meat right?) but I'm sure my dinner was vegetarian. And quite frankly, it was a really good meal. Everything had flavour, nothing was unnecessarily grainy or "granola" tasting. Granted, I might not have gotten as much fiber as my cardboard burger, but it's nothing that a glass of Metamucil (or for you with more expensive tastes, Greens+) won't fix.

Anyway, I think next time I go out, I'll definitely be avoiding the vegetarian foods, but maybe if not for the points above, it's for the fact that when you change your diet, things happen in your stomach that you really don't want to talk about. So for now, I'll open a window, eat a steak for breakfast and hope for a better tomorrow.

Happy Hallmark Day!

When I was younger I thought that Hallmark made up Valentine's Day and nothing but some huge marketing ploy. Although my suspicions haven't completely subsided, I think now that St.Valentine's Day is not all that bad. For sure, the chocolate, card, and giant stuff animal manufacturers are going to capitalize on this holiday, but then so do they for everything else like Christmas and Easter. It doesn't mean that we have to stop celebrating it. But maybe we can stop buying the merchandise and just spend time with the ones who are important instead.

Of course, this is easier said than done especially when they seem to bombard us with their advertisements (it's like even our local drugstores have turned into theme based stores for most days of the year). And maybe buying some products won't be so horrible (especially if we're talking about those mini Cadbury Eggs for Easter... mmm). But nobody is really forcing us to buy anything really.

As a matter of fact, I still remember the days when I was young and single and carefree... I'm thinking of third grade... when we didn't really buy anything for Valentine's Day. And we weren't really celebrating lovers, because at that age, it would be more than weird. It was just another day where we got an excuse to have some fun and take a break from learning that multipication table (btw I'm still on break from that after more than 17 years). 

So for this Valentine's Day maybe it's time to pull out that old box of Crayolas, some long forgotten & faded construction paper and a whole lot of glitter glue. So happy Valentine's to everyone. And I'll see you all some time next week because I will be in some chocolate/sugar induced coma by tomorrow night after I go clear out the Post-Valentine section of the local chocolate store!