Noche de Romanza

A lot of couples have "date night" where it's just the two of you, and you have dinner and see a movie or something. We like to spice it up, and we call it "Noche de Romanza" (spoken with the most absurd possible Zorro accent) - other than that it's the same as anybody else's date night. Well, except that we usually get tired after dinner and skip the movie. Romanza indeed!

With Valentine's Day coming up - we have a bad track record with Valentine's Day. We generally scoff and promise to do nothing but stay home and watch a Hepburn-Tracy film (intended) or back episodes of Supernatural (more likely). But in reality, at the last minute, we get swept up in our usual gifting frenzy, and go out to an expensive dinner. Inevitably disappointing and a little shameful.

This year at least we have a birthday party to attend and big work deadlines right around that weekend. Those factors should keep us out of trouble.

Another thing that happens this time of year is the emails pouring in from all my frequent flier and hotel loyalty programs. They are pretty sure they can convince me that a packaged vacation to Mexico or Aspen or . . . er, Atlanta (Romanza!) is how I want to spend a two-day weekend and a very good deal. As a non-dummy, I am pretty certain that packaged vacation offers on holiday weekends are never a good deal.

One of my favorite kinds of "packages" is the one where they just add breakfast - mark it way up - to your room rate, and brand the whole thing as something like "The Art of Waking Up" (Klimpton), "Awaken at the Park" (Hyatt), or "Week End Escape" (Sofitel).

So, from Starwood comes this offer which is not unusual in its structure, but I think it has the most hilarious copy - breathlessly overwrought and totally incomprehensible.

Begin the day with breakfast each morning served in-room or at our Restaurant, followed by the anticipation of an experience beyond expectation.

Whoa! Happy Valentine's Day!