Time is of the essence. Valentine's Day isalmost here. My better-half and I have made it a habit to buy each other funny gifts each year. To us, humor has been the glue of our existence, the bond that has held us together through the best and worst of times. We love to celebrate our two decades, sometimes ridiculously awful, but , more often pleasant, with a funny Valentine's present.



I have been surfing the net and reading blogs about other couples who understand the importance of humor and humorous gifts and have taken note of what they are buying.

For instance, I am not pregnant, but many couples are expecting. There is a wonderful maternity and infant wear shop called Mirth Girth Birth www.mirthgirthbirth.com which offers funny maternity wear and infant wear and a small inventory of gifts and collectibles by the cartoonist whose work appears on the products. The categories are in "Future Professionals" naming each profession such as "Future Scientist" or "Lawyer" etc. One of my favorite is in the Future Musician category which is Beethoven-themed. To explain it in such an article is a bit difficult, but the image shows a giant beet (vegetable) at a piano, with a face that has a striking resemblance to Beethoven. Quite an offbeat hilarious image. And the caption simply says, "Beethoven". You have to see it to appreciate it. I got a wonderful chuckle from it.

I love any of Rick London's stores (Rick is the cartoonist who created Londons Times Cartoons), so most of the funny stores I found on the net are owned and run by his firm.

Another great gift is from the Rick London Collection. www.ricklondoncollection.com. It is a Starbuck's parody cartoon coffee mug (he sells dozens of other items of this cartoon from collectible clocks to hoodies), but I particularly like this mug. It is called Starbucks Is Everywhere, and shows an astronaut on the planet Mars, where he is surprised to see a Starbuck's. He is on his radio telling Houston to forget the freeze-dried coffee on the next journey there. This is a classic to me.

I am a big paper greeting card fan, don't care much for the e-cards, too impresional for me, and if I find the right ones, I buy them by the box. One of my fave, if not the all time fave funny greeting cards sites is www.justfunnygreetingcards.com One of my favorites, and maybe favorite cartoons of all time, is on one of the sets of cards called Easter Island which can be found in the "Holidays" section of the store. It shows the giant metaphysical rock beings of Easter Island gathering colorful Easter eggs and a great caption about every year it is traditional for the kids to find the eggs. So much in the spirit of Gary Larson.

I love the store, A Thong In My Heart www.athonginmyheart.com . One of my favorites is Dr. Rorschach Walking His Dog "Spot" which is in the psychiatry thread. The store is brand new, and not fully-populated yet, but what is in there is absolutely hysterical. It's one of those must-see stores. The cartoons are on women's thongs and men's boxers, which are both funny and sexy. Can the two exist together? Absolutely!

Rick Londonwear www.ricklondonwear.com and his Londons Times Superstore www.LTSuperstore.com, two supergift stores run by London carry a huge plethora of merchandise. Funny tees, sweats, beer steins, coffee mugs, keepsake boxes, aprons, and you name it They even have gourmet cartoon coffee gift baskets and the coffee is incredibly good (in the LTSuperstore) at the top of the page.

And yes, I visit non-Rick London-owned stores as well and shop at them. Some others that make the grade are www.stupid.com (that is, if you really go for weird); and sometimes not that funny. A lot of it is political but well thought out. From strange watches other weird gifts in various categories. Most of it is more novelty-related and more of an all-occasion type gift shop for those who like the "really-strange" kind of items.

I also like Hipster Gifts www.hipstergifts.com which is more for the younger crowd (in my opinion) such as college age. But I still find some of the items quite cute.