Beth Dolgner, Writer and Editor

I went ice skating last week. This may not seem like a big deal to most, but as a Florida native, it was only the 4th or 5th time my feet have had blades strapped to them.

I also hadn’t been ice skating in about 17 years.

Ed and I tagged along with Rusty and his two girls, and despite being a bunch of amateurs,  I think we did pretty well. Most of us avoided collisions with other skaters (I won’t call out the one person who didn’t). We were at the Ice Forum in Duluth, and their open skate sessions are two hours long. Ice skating is a lot more of a workout than I expected!

On the plus side, it was also easier than I’d remembered. I think all the hours I spent on roller blades during college helped me. I even managed to skate backwards a few feet. And, it was fun! I’m definitely ready to give it another shot.

I’ll be sure to post when I go ice skating again, but it might not be for another 17 years or so.

The Atlanta Thrashers host a Casino Night each year as a fund-raiser for the Thrashers Foundation, which supports various charitable efforts. I’ve been begging to go for three years now, and finally, this year, I wore Ed down. I knew I wanted to go with a 1950s/pin-up girl look, and by some miracle I found a gorgeous vintage dress at Frock of Ages: it’s black velvet and celebrates my curves. A trip to Pin-Up Girl Cosmetics here in Atlanta took care of my hair and make-up. For two hours I was curled, plucked, brushed and made-up, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

We finally got to Casino Night at Opera, and it was a crowded house. Most of the gaming tables were full, so we made a tour to see where the players were dealing. Ed and I met up with our friends Steve and Brandy, and of course the guys made a beeline for the craps table. They lost their money in short order: thankfully, it was only play money, redeemable at the end of the night for raffle tickets.

Meanwhile, Brandy and I realized the party table was roulette with Jim Slater. He had us clapping, cheering and generally acting up as the rowdiest table at Casino Night. When Ed told Jimmy that I’m “the girl with the Slater banner,” I was rewarded with a high five and a stack of chips. Jimmy even called me “the biggest Slater fan in Philips Arena.” Yay!

I was actually fortunate enough to have a lot more interaction with Jimmy, and he was very gracious. (He also made Ed kiss the roulette ball at one point: priceless!) He seems to get a kick out of having such a big fan (which is better than thinking I’m a crazy stalker). All four of us forgot our cameras, so a big thank you to Virginia for getting a picture of me and Jimmy. She has more great Casino Night pictures on her blog, Getting Pucks Deep.

Me with Jim Slater, my favorite hockey player.

I got my picture taken with a few other players during the night with Ed’s phone. I had an absolute blast the entire time. We’ll definitely be going again next year, and next time, I won’t forget my camera.

Me and Brandy with Zach Bogosian.

With defenseman Christoph Schubert.

Paranormal investigators, I need your input on this photo! During our Girls’ Weekend in Savannah, my friend Elyse snapped a ton of pictures. She took a lot of the house at 432 Abercorn Street. I talk about that house in my book, and it’s probably the most unnerving ghost story in the whole collection.

The photos all turned out blurry: it was near twilight, and Elyse’s camera doesn’t like low light levels! However, out of all the photos she took of this house, this is the only one that had any sort of anomaly. The close up shows the front porch, and you can see two reddish-pink streaks of light, aligned vertically, on the front porch.

If you have any suggestions as to what this could be-paranormal or otherwise-please comment here. Is this paranormal, or is there another explanation for the anomaly? Thank you!