What would Brian Boitano do?

Only one more day until the hubby gets home -- hooray!!! Meanwhile, I've had a super fun weekend, and Day 3 and 3 and 4 of Girl Weekend '10 were fun-and friend-filled. Saturday started with a trip to Brighton with Lisa Z. for a book exchange party at Tracy's. Everyone brings books they're looking to unload -- but rather than just sift through them, each person goes through their books and gives the group a brief synopsis of each book. If you're interested, you grab it and it's yours. Whatever is left over gets donated to the local library. It's not much of a surprise that I left with more than I came with -- I just like books, and I like to have books. I only typically part with books that I have zero emotional attachment to. (So my book synopses sounded something like this: "I hated this!" or "This book sucked. But you might like it.") Tracy was a lovely host, making us some very delicious brownies, I might add. And it was great to see her and Owen, as well as Alison and little Liam.

See, I told you -- a whole box! (I still can't believe someone actually gave away Sybil!) I also grabbed a hilarious kid's book from the '60s (see above sausage factory) and I am SO stoked to have snagged a copy of Stitch 'n Bitch (although I feel soooo guilty for not letting Tracy snag it. Sorry Tracy! Perhaps we can timeshare it! hehehe).

That evening it was over to Sarah and Mike's house (three cheers to having awesome almost neighbors! Hooray for west side what what!) for fireside sci-fi fun (even though Pandorum left us scratching our heads a little).

Maggie loves urinal cakes.

Today it was off to Royal Oak for a snowbunny date with Melissa. First, brunch at Cafe Muse, which I raved about here a few months ago. Of course, another delicious meal. This time I went with lunch, as I had breakfast on my first visit. I couldn't decide between the shrimp salad sandwich and the smoked salmon sandwich, so I took the advice of our server and went with the salmon. I also chose the side salad of the day over chips, a non-issue as soon as he said potato salad (to which Melissa and I both swooned out loud about). My sandwich came on toasted sourdough with roasted onions and Gruyere cheese, as well as the delicious hunk of smoked salmon (my favorite!). I'm happy to report it was very good salmon, without any black or annoying white stringies. All the elements went together really well (I wasn't sure how smoked salmon would be with melted cheese) and I enjoyed this sandwich a lot (although now I have to go back and try the shrimp sandwich!). The potato salad was some of the best I've ever had -- I couldn't place anything particularly special about it, but it certainly was (it was mayo based not mustard based, fyi). Melissa thought she tasted cheese but all I could taste was yum. After food it was time for the big event......... ice skating!!!!

Before.



After.
That's ice on my skates! I really did it!

It probably doesn't really surprise anyone that I'd never been on ice skates before. But thanks to Melissa's guidance and patience (and strong arm), I am now an old pro.

I started to panic when I first saw the rink but luckily there WAS a wall for grasping.

And since I know I can't possibly be the only one who's never skated before (yeah, I'm lookin' at you!), some novice observations... 1. Ice skates are not like roller skates. They aren't floppy around the ankles and they actually hold you in really solidly, providing actual support. Ankles safe and sound! And standing on solid ground on skates? Not hard at all! Oh, and when someone tells you to wear thick socks, wear THICK socks, not just tall socks. Supportive? Yes. Comfortable? Not at all. I'm currently nursing some popped-blister-covered ankles. Ow. 2. You don't skate on top of the ice. You actually skate IN the ice. I know, duh, right? But in my head, ice skates glide on ice. Totally scary. But as anyone who really actually thought about it knows, the blade penetrates the ice and you are much sturdier than I ever would have thought.

So how'd I really do? Well, I did much better than I thought I would. It wasn't nearly as scary as I was expecting, and Melissa helped me work through the initial skate-don't-walk impulses and held my hand the whole of the way. It helped my confidence there was another first-timer there, a slightly older man, who spent most of the time on his butt (he was clearly Melissa-less!). I was pretty wobbly most of the time, but I managed to stay upright until I started to get tired, when I took three progressively worse spills in one half round of the rink. The third one was my skate karma because as soon as my mocking words (about another skater, of course) left my mouth, I was smack on my left knee (that's definitely going to leave a mark) then flat ass out on my booty. But that was it -- no all-out bails, no snapped ankles, no concussion. And I feel confident that I'd do at least as well if not better on a return trip.

Stars on ice.
(PS who recognizes Melissa's hat?!)

Now, who wants to hit the Cube with me?