I really enjoy giving gifts. It is one of my favorite things about Christmas, birthdays and holidays in general. I don’t even really like getting gifts myself — except when they are from my husband. Somehow, he always manages to get me the best gifts and to surprise me the most.

Two years ago, it was a hand-bound silk-covered book chronicling my Girl in the D blog entries. Last year, it was my very first puppy, Bagley. I thought it would be difficult to top these gifts, so I wasn’t planning on receiving anything super-special from him this Christmas.

Boy was I wrong. More after the jump …
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I’ve been enjoying my vacation time so much that I forgot to announce the winner of the Metro Detroit Grinch of the Year on Friday as promised.

So, without further ado, the winner is …
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Last night I had the pleasure of dining at the Coach Insignia at the top of the Renaissance Center. It was incredibly scary but breathtaking to rise 72 floors atop the city. The food was excellent, the prices slightly steep but not obscene. It was well worth it to spend a couple hours exploring the cartography of the city. The service was amazing, if anything a little overwhelming having three people wait on you at a time. I did not have room for dessert last night, so I cannot wait to get back and get that taken care of.

While grabbing some lunch, I overheard some chatter about the new location of the Avalon Bakery. I remember reading some time ago that the bakery, having outgrown it’s location on West Willis, was moving and it seems to have found it’s new home on the ground floor of the 55 West Canfield lofts. Naturally, I butted into the conversation to get the scoop, and the (seemingly) knowledgeable men said that the new space will more than double in size from the old. While I hope that the new location means more baked goodies and more business, I also hope that the unique ambience moves right along with the bakery.

rude boys unite! while i don’t know how many of you care for ska music or even know what it is for that matter (it’s like fast reggae) i love the stuff…and i’m not talking about that new age “ska-core” crap that’s not much more than Metallica with a trombone player, i’m talking about the old school, two-tone, dance in place by yourself, fun stuff. my first taste of ska music was when i bought the record “One Step Beyond” by the band Madness and was hooked. records by the Specials, The English Beat, Bad Manners and others soon followed but to this day…oh sooo many years later that very first recording by those silly boys from London is still one of the favorites in my music collection. what does any of this have to do with the price of tea in this town? well, Detroit at one time was home to some mighty good ska bands and there’s a bit of a reunion show Saturday night (the 29th) at the Majestic Theatre on Woodward. titled Motor City Ska Fest it features Mustard Plug, the Exceptions and the mighty Gangster Fun. press your suit, find your thinnest tie, give a final look into the Mirror in the Bathroom and get ready to sweat cuz it’s gonna be a cooker.

2007 draws to an end and 2008 is about to begin. We still don’t have hover-boards but I think it will be a good year nonetheless. Whether or not you believe in New Year’s resolutions, they get made, broken, and even executed every year. Losing weight always appears to be at the top of the list. I had posted about HAP medical insurance’s commitment to this battle in its subsidization of Weight Watchers. Unfortunately I no longer have HAP, but joined Weight Watchers eight weeks ago on my own dime and it was the best investment I have ever made. I have lost 15 pounds to date and aside from the weight loss, I am more thrilled with the knowledge of how to lead a healthy life and put my YMCA membership to good use. Detroit, good luck with your weight resolutions, I have to come up with another one.

I wanted to wish all my fellow Canadians a happy Boxing Day. The origins of the holiday are much disputed. The reason I grew up with – Boxing Day being the day after Christmas when all the boxes from holiday gifts were deposited by the side of the road for pickup – did not even make the Wikipedia definition. Today the day is a maddening one for shopping and returning unwanted gifts and, best of all, it is a much needed day off for Canadians. We are jealous this side of the border.

Merry Christmas, Detroit, from all of us at Metroblogging Detroit! Have a safe and happy holiday!

With the hassle of holiday shopping behind me, I had some time to cruise over to my favorite store, John K. King, to dig up some paperbacked holiday fun. The man himself, Mr. King, is most certainly my hero. Aside from operating his three retail stores (two in Detroit, one in Ferndale) Mr. King does what I would love to do with my time, and that’s collect books.

The stores themselves hold over 1,000,000 books, and they go way beyond the mysteries with curled up covers you could expect to find at a used book store. Fiction, non-fiction, some of the rarest books that you could ever look for, are all under his roof. They’ve even got a great selection of books about Detroit history, and in the beauty of a used book store, the titles are actually published when the history was taking place. Maybe it’s the geek in me, but if I read a book about 1967 that was written in 1967, then I feel like I’m getting it right from the source and not a watered down version in a memoirs book.

Check out the various topics, titles, newspapers, postcards, and other just really cool stuff on their website, or just run over and wander the aisles. If you love the place like I do, don’t be surprised if you lose yourself for a few hours.

With such a small turnout of nominations for Detroit Grinch of the Year, it was easy coming up with a handful of finalists to compete for the dishonor.

And, without further ado, the nominees are as follows:

Detroit City Council for its slow and unproductive ways.

Metro Detroit business owners who, faced with a weak local economy, threw in the towel and moved elsewhere;

The party poopers — er, Metro Detroiters — who didn’t take the time to nominate anyone in this year’s Grinchy poll;

Matt Millen for his unproductive ways with the 6-8 Detroit Lions;
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