Valentine's Day Redeemed ...by the skin of his teeth

I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day. What started as a day to honor a Saint has turned into quite the cash cow, from gifts to cards to dining. (Have you noticed how many decent restaraunts do "special" [read: overpriced] menus for the day?) The only reason Dan got a gift this year was I stumbled across something nice at Nordstrom, and it was a good enough excuse to give it. Dan, however, fussed about it far in advance, requesting an early work shift for the 14th and a late one for the 15th so we could go out for a nice dinner. Problem is, he also hates planning things ahead, so I arrived home last night to a "let's go out" with a "but I don't know where." Fortunately, the nearby Carrabba's had just started seating their "heated outdoor patio," so we were seated, served, and done before a lot of the larger parties ahead of us had even been seated. We went home, took post-"too-big-of-a-dinner" naps, and went out to our favorite club for the evening.