Help--?

So, I need some input from you people out there. I'm considering swiching my blog from this handy (free) Blogger account to a different host that would charge me for the honor. Why? Well, I recently came across the blog/portfolio of a French cartoonist named Caroline B. What I liked about her blog page is that it has her portfolio embedded into it. Check out this link. Notice the galleries on the left side of the page. I think that's pretty cool. Right now I have a portfolio website that is separate from my blog. I think it would be nice to have them all together. Also, I can only imagine that it is much easier to update those blog galleries than it is for me to rebuild my own website.

But I'm torn.

The nice thing about this Blogger blog is that it's free and part of the whole "Google" experience. I know nothing about the host of Caroline B's blog: Typepad.com. Anyone out there have experience with Typepad? Do you think it's worth the cost (about $9 per month)? Are the templates easy to customize? Any bad experiences you can share with me?

Also, perhaps it is better to keep the blog and portfilio separate. It seems like putting them together is a good idea, but maybe I'm not thinking of something. Anyone out there have an opinion?

I need some guidance.

Now I must work. But first:

Listening to: Herman's Hermits. Not sure why. I'm so hardcore.
Watching: Last night we finished watching The Longest Day. Have you seen that one? Good D-Day flick. Unbelievable cast: Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, John Wayne, Sean Connery, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Wagner and about a zillion other faces you'll recognize.