Within moral reason, I would do just about anything to keep the temperature at 61 degrees for the rest of February. I cannot believe the difference it makes to wake up and not have your first thought be, “Damn, it is so cold I do not want to live in Cleveland anymore.” This morning I woke up and thought, “Good morning Nick! Good morning world!”

Much nicer.

Over the weekend Nick and I celebrated many things. First, we went to Cincinnati and celebrated Catie Bella’s inauguration into Club 30. And Erin Kraft Houston’s impending water burst. As of Friday, she was one day overdue. Then, we headed to Russia and celebrated Nick’s grandfather’s 80th birthday. For pics, see here.

The warm temperature this week are big fat teasers and I wish they could stay. 97% of our house and property has melted and you can see my car’s tire tracks in our front lawn. Spring cannot come soon enough.

But we took advantage of the weather and took a nice long walk today. It’s been awhile since we did our normal 3 mile early evening walk and it felt like it was taking FOREVER since we haven’t done it in several months. As we dodged lake-sized puddles on the sidewalk, we discussed our plans for Valentine’s Day. I tried to hide the fact that I get a little more excited about Friday the 13th than Valentine’s Day, but we decided that to celebrate our wonderful love and life, we’d do something special. We’re not big Hallmark people. Nick nearly goes into a spasm on Sweetest Day and I don’t really feel the need to make a big deal out of it. We’re loved everyday, I tell people, and I think it’s rather DUMB to do cliche things for 1 day out of the 365.25 days out of the year.

But, we decided to do something fun.

Nick announced we would have a theme. (If you haven’t noticed, we’re big on themes.) The theme for Valentine’s Day 2009 is IN LOVE IN CLEVELAND.

That’s right! From 12noon to midnight, we will do all the things and spend time in places that we love, think we grow to love, or are falling in love in Cleveland. For me that means rocking independent bookstores and the west side market, unexplored cafes and coffee shops, art galleries and the Tremont area of town where there’s a real artistic spirit. It’s going to be super cool and super fun.

Forget roses and chocolates, leave poems at the door, but give me an art gallery any day of the week and I’m happy.

So, Nick announced this as we huddled under the umbrella during our evening walk and in my excitement almost slipped on thawed out dog poop on the grass.

And, just on cue, a dog – on a long leash held by a small child – started barking at Nick. I tried to move out of the way because I could sense what was about to happen. The kid didn’t make any effort to pull the dog’s leash shorter and the stupid animal bit Nick in the ankle. A rare annoyed look passed on his normally calm face (at a CHILD) while he lightly said, “That’s alright….” to the kid’s apology.

I didn’t laugh as I normally would have because I know a rare occurrence when I see one. When Nick is that annoyed, I just shut my trap.