As I previously mentioned, Holly agreed to take me out to the Thompson Brewery & Public House on Valentine's Day; I did not know how much she was looking forward to the dinner. All throughout the day she would mention how excited she was to be going to the pub. It's an odd twist to have one's wife actually excited to celebrate the only publicly acknowledged romantic holiday in a less-than romantic setting, but I have a very special wife who surprises me with her compatibility on a regular basis.

It has been our tradition to celebrate Valentine's Day early, at least the dinner part, which affords us a quieter atmosphere, usually better service, a more relaxed pace, and in general a better time. Since Valentine's Day is on a Tuesday this year we decided to celebrate on Sunday, allowing us to take an earlier dinner than if we waited for me to come home from work. One would assume that deciding on a Sunday would afford us a larger range of times to pick for dinner, and possibly a larger array of locations, since we'd have time to drive to the restaurant. We have made a southern trek to Novak's to enjoy some good Hungarian food a couple of times, and made a northern trek to Gustav's and enjoyed good German fare last year. This year we didn't feel much like spending our afternoon in the car.