Valentine’s Day is the one magical day a year where the color gods came together and said pink and red shall be put side by side and actually make people happy, not angry. It seems like such a happy holiday, however subconsciously I think both Greg and I dread it a little. You see, our first Valentine’s together was a bad one and I think we both fear that it will happen again. That was the day that my mom came out and carefully knocked on the window of the car, jubilantly asking if anyone was kissing and Greg coined the phrase in a sad, despairing little voice, “…there’s no kissing going on in here…” The main problem of that Valentine’s Day was, well, forgetting to plan, thus eventually leading to eating dinner at an empty Chinese food restaurant and causing one of the subjects of this story to therefore forget it was Valentine’s Day which might have caused her to suggest they hang out with an old friend which may have made the other subject feel unloved.. or something. Anyways, all that to say, I got started early this year and decorated our house with Valentine’s cheer. It didn’t take quite as long as my Christmas crafting fiasco but I still finished thinking, “why do I ever think crafts are a good idea??” But! Greg liked coming home to a house with little hearts strung in each window and gave me a wonderful sympathy hug for my efforts. Because of the above story, we have learned to keep our expectations pretty low for this special day. All I asked for this year was for my bike tires to have been magically filled up over night. And they were! Not only that, but I woke up to red flowers on a tray with coffee in my Valentine’s cup! And flowers in each place all over the house! I loveses flowers : ) : )He arranged each one all himself and they looked so very pretty. And then! in our jamies with cups of coffee in hand, we snuggled up and watched that romantic, ahem, cartoon, Cinderella and it was just as good as when I was a kid and so relieved I got the other kids to watch it instead of those other terrifying princess movies cause it was the only one that didn’t have a super scary villain. The best news of all though, was that he surprised me by taking the day off work to hang out and duh, finally use our awesome picnic basket! We would set up right next to a man working with a personal trainer the whole time. I didn’t know whether or not to feel guilty as we made a meal out of cheese, or feel sorry for him and offer him some of our unhealthy lifestyle. Nevertheless, it was such a delightful afternoon and that dog got to run and run and be happy.And thennnn! that night, my sister came!!! and the Valentine’s party continued. She got a full dose of how boring these Nettles can be. Saturday was spent mostly in pajamas, reading our new subscription to Martha Stewart and giggling at how ridiculous her calendar is (but secretly wishing our lives were so organized and thorough) : ) : ) Our big event for the day, was going to Whole Foods cause it’s kind of the most spectacular grocery store I’ve ever seen and I like to show people so they can ogle too. It’s two stories and their meat counters look like they were put on display by the hands of angels – as if the fish were lifted from the waters and placed gently into the cradles of ice you see behind the freshly cleaned glass. It. Is. Awesome. If you’re as weirdly into food as I am : ) Anyways, most of her trip was spent lounging around and being lazy which obviously equals vacation! We did make it on a hike up my favorite mountain in these parts! So we weren’t so lazy : ) Sunset was a fun time to go cause there are interesting characters, bats, and the urgency to get down the hill before it is completely black. How delightful. I loved having my sister here. I still can’t believe she drove all this way, just to see us! I felt so very special. She even got to stay until Monday and I got to show her around Glendale. I was so happy because we got there just as the fountains were doing a dance to some dreamy Frank Sinatra song which obviously made our hearts swoon : ) We confirmed more than ever that Taylor needs to be in some sort of water or landscape design – seeing how her eyes light up whenever a burbling fountain was nearby. Isn’t she the dearest though? I love her so. Sadly, she had to go back home and we were left with sadness in our hearts. As for this week, poor Greg has been ever so sick and has apparently dropped his former way of “just getting up and going” while sick for my, “stay in bed and rest until you can’t rest anymore!” And I’ve just been painting away! One more week till I have to have this thing done but luckily it’s mostly blocked in. There is a story behind her, but I’ll tell you about that later. I hope you all have a wonderful week and are staying well! Love love love you!