Third Time WAS a Charm

The rink opens at 12, but they resurface at 1:30 so I decided to wait and go a bit later today to get the laundry done. It was a pretty impressive morning - must have been the blueberries! I got the laundry done, took care of some bills, freshened up the kitchen, dealt with my nails (aka the hot mess of the day) and all in time to have lunch before heading out.

I knew I wanted something warm and hearty enough to keep me going through the afternoon but not so heavy that I felt full-full. I decided on a lemony shitake and asparagus sauce over quinoa. Pasta didn't sound too appealing and I wanted to give quinoa a shot since it's supposedly a wonder food. It's the only grain that is a complete protein in and of itself. Pretty cool, huh? This was my first go-round with it and I'm hooked! The slight nuttiness of it paired so well with the mushrooms. YUM!


I wasn't quite full and decided to go ahead and have a 2% Fage Greek yogurt with strawberry to fill up the empty spot in my stomach.



Shortly after lunch I headed downtown to hit the rink and was a bit disappointed to find about 20 people already skating. I don't mind the newbies who truly can't stand up on their skates and I LOVE the old-school hockey guys ducking in and out of the groups. I can get around the newbies and trust the hockey players completely to move where and when they need to, but there were a four guys in their late teens/early twenties who were, quite simply, being JERKS. What they were lacking in ability they more than made up for in ego and after narrowly avoiding being run over by them while they chased each other, threw things on the ice, and purposely tried to make people fall I was done. DONE. I made it nearly 30 minutes but just could not deal with them anymore and wanted to be able to enjoy the ice and my working iPod. Luckily my friend Karen recently pointed out that the OTHER rink is only a couple blocks away and basically hidden so I threw on my shoes and hiked over. What a difference 2 blocks made!

This rink is truly a hidden gem and I'm so grateful to have found it. I arrived to find eight or ten kids (real kids - all under 10!) who not only knew what they were doing on the ice but could outskate me. It reminded me a lot more of the rink I grew up on where there was a healthy mix of figure skaters, hockey players, and frequent fun-skaters who all could hold their own on the ice. Much more my style, and I even got the guts to work on my transitions from backward to forward skating as well as some back crossovers! Even the music was better - cheesy teen pop, which is in my opinion the best for skating. Luckily the rink had pretty much cleared by the time I bit it and none of the kids were there to laugh at me. : )

One of the best lessons I learned in yoga while working towards headstand was that sometimes if you don't fall it's because you're not trying hard enough, and that was definitely the case today. Once I really got into it, BAM, I went down. But hey, one of the skills they teach in classes is how to fall, so who cares?

When I got home I ended up doing a slow and light yoga practice instead of a power yoga session and am completely calm and loose now. That must have been just what I needed! The Beanpole's on his way home and to celebrate we're ordering Chinese takeout - a big ol' beef dish for him and veggies for me. Can't wait!