Yes/No Detroit

I feel like July went by FAST, and tomorrow it'll be August: Baby K's birthday month (and my Birth Day month). Craziness. What I've been up to this week: BBQ with friends. One of my husband's friends invited us over for a BBQ last Friday night, and they have a SUPER nice outdoor setup—we ate under their gazebo, and there were twinkling lights and also they have a TV mounted to the top of it. I had ribs, chicken, potatoes, and cornbread—my husband actually made the cornbread, I helped by cleaning up after—and Baby K had some of the meats and also tried banana for the first time, which she liked. We got home way too late (around midnight, I think) but it was a lot of fun.  Watching 72 Hours, on Netflix. This is the new Kevin Hart movie and it looked like dumb fun, so I watched it the other day ... and it was. I'd give it a 3.5/5 and I found myself laughing out loud during a lot of it, so it was a good time.  Watching TV shows. Married at First Sight has been releasing...

*Disclosure: I have an ongoing media relationship with Broadway in Detroit. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. Maybe Happy Ending is coming to the Fisher this October—I've never seen it, but Darren Criss was in the Broadway (NYC) version, and it looks pretty interesting. Read below to learn more about it, and also win a pair of tickets to opening night on Oct. 20th! All photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman About the show: The critically and widely acclaimed Tony Award winning Best Musical, Maybe Happy Ending by Tony Award winners and Grammy Award nominees Will Aronson and Hue Park directed by Tony Award winner Michael Arden, is coming to Detroit’s Fisher Theatre October 20 – November 1. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 31 at 10:00 a.m. and will be available online at us.ATGTickets.com/Detroit . Maybe Happy Ending will star Original Broadway cast members Steven Huynh as "Oliver" and Claire Kwon as “Claire.” Additional casting to be announced. Maybe Hap...

Somehow July went by FAST and now it's July 24th. We are going to a BBQ later tonight which I've been looking forward to, and we made some homemade cornbread to bring, too. Latkes, sour cream, and applesauce from Whistle Stop, Bham What I've been up to this week: Getting Doordash and going out to eat. My husband and I got Noori via Doordash on Saturday and also yesterday—I usually get the same thing there, the sweet and mild sauce on boneless chicken with soy garlic dumplings and either a root beer or an orange soda (it's included in the combo), but on Saturday I got sweet and mild bone-in wings, which were okay but not as good as the boneless, and yesterday I got soy garlic boneless, which was tasty. On Sunday, Baby K and I met up with one of my friends at the Lodge, in Keego Harbor—my friend lives in Waterford and I chose this place since it was midway between us—and she slept for half of lunch, LOL, but otherwise it was fun. Finally, yesterday I was working at the of...

I have had a lot of doctor's appointments and random things this week but other than that, not much going on, except trying to live through this wildfire smoke that we are getting from Canada—it's supposed to be better today, but I tried to get Baby K into the car fast after daycare yesterday because I didn't want her to be exposed much, either. Yelp pick-up event at Einstein Bros. Bagels, Bloomfield Hills What I've been up to this week: Yelp pick-up event at Einstein Bros. Bagels, Bloomfield Hills . This was available at three locations—Royal Oak, Ann Arbor, and Bloomfield Hills—and I chose Bloomfield Hills thinking it was the location at Maple and Telegraph, but it was actually at Woodward and Lone Pine, so about a 20-min. drive. I brought Baby K and my mother-in-law, my husband was traveling for work over the weekend so she came in to help me with the baby, which was very nice of her. We got a baker's dozen (13 bagels) plus a tub of shmear (cream cheese) and a dr...

This has been a busy week and will be a busy weekend—yesterday I went to Ann Arbor for Sonic Lunch, a noontime concert series, to meet up with some friends while Baby K was in daycare, and today my MIL and I are going to the Tigers game tonight courtesy of a candy brand I write about. Madtown Grilled Cheese at HopCat, Ann Arbor What I've been up to this week: Fourth of July get-together . Two of our friends have held a get-together for a few years now, but this year they have a three-month-old baby and we also brought Baby K. The food is always super tasty (and there's usually brisket), plus it's fun to hang out with friends. Their neighbors pool funds together to put on a fireworks show, too—this was Baby K's second fireworks show and she reacted better than the first time, but her reactions swung between interested and disinterested, LOL.  Visiting with my sister-in-law. My SIL lives in Indiana, and came up to visit Friday to Monday of 4th of July weekend, to hang wit...

This week went by pretty fast and I have zero plans this weekend—hoping to maybe sleep a bit, because I haven't gotten a lot of sleep this week, with Baby K waking up a bit. Walled Lake fireworks What I've been up to this week: Walled Lake fireworks . My husband, parents, and I go to this every year, because it basically takes place outside my parents' condo. With a 10-month-old, I wasn't entirely sure if she'd be okay with it, or start sobbing, and it was kind of a mix of both ... we got her headphones (ear protection) but she was crying when the first few fireworks went off, because it was rather loud and they were basically right after another. After we moved back a bit further, back to the condo, she saw the lights and seemed to enjoy that, it seemed ... we will try again on July 4th weekend, as some friends have invited us to their neighborhood display.  Getting tasty foods. Yesterday, I worked in the office and I had a sandwich from La Pecora Nera, its pesto o...

Overall this has been a good week, and Baby K has a doctor's appointment (10-month well visit) today so I was able to sleep until 8am or so, which was also very nice. Crumbl delivery (work samples) What I've been up to this week: Buying a new car, and more car issues. My husband's 2014 Hyundai had about 140,000 miles on it and was nearing end of life, so we got him a 2026 Explorer. It's a super nice car, but was a "courtesy car" for the dealership, meaning it had 1,000 miles on it already. There were a few quirks that needed fixing, so we had it for about two days and then they gave HIM a courtesy car (also an Explorer, not as nice as ours tough) so he's had that this week. In terms of MY car (also a 2014, a Honda Accord), I went to go do errands during my lunch on Wednesday and it went from like 1/4 tank of gas to showing zero by the time I had driven one street away. I immediately turned around and went home ... I had never seen that before. :(  We lucki...

*Disclosure: I have an ongoing media relationship with Broadway in Detroit. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. The Notebook is coming to the Fisher Theatre this September and October, and I'm super excited about this one because I like the book, and also the movie is one of my all-time favorite movies (and I haven't seen the musical yet!). Read on to learn more about it, and also win a pair of tickets to the Sept. 23 show date! All photos by Roger Mastroianni About the show: Producers Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch, along with ATG Detroit are thrilled to announce that THE NOTEBOOK, a new musical based on the best-selling novel that inspired the iconic film, will play the Fisher Theatre September 22 – October 4.  As part of the 2026-27 ATG Broadway In Detroit Series, audiences are about to fall in love all over again with this beloved story. Individual tickets for THE NOTEBOOK go on sale Friday, June 26 at 10:00 a.m., tickets will be available online at us.ATGTi...

This has been one hell of a week ... hoping that the next week and weekend are better. Bodysuit I got for Baby K while in Vegas for work What I've been up to this week: Insane car troubles. On Saturday, I had my Crohn's infusion, and then was driving to get us takeout ... and my car engine STOPPED working. Like I could tell I was just coasting. I was super lucky and was almost at Telegraph, so I pulled into the Jeep dealership and was able to park, and I also walked inside to explain the situation to make sure THEY didn't tow me. The tow truck took about two hours to show up, so I walked over to CFA and had lunch (and enjoyed the air conditioning), and then I had him take me to Belle Tire ... the driver was also super nice and gave me a drive home, too, otherwise my husband and the baby were going to have to come get me. Fast-forward to Tuesday night, when I was driving my husband's car, and experiencing some of the same issues. On Wednesday AM, he got in his car to dri...

I unfortunately didn't have time to do a Friday Five yesterday, but I have a tiny bit of time before my Crohn's infusion this morning, so let's try a Saturday Six! New gifted book for Baby K What I've been up to this week: STILL still being sick, kinda. My cough is mostly gone—or was, until today, when some remnants popped up—but my ear still feels funky, I think the ear infection didn't completely heal. I booked an appt. with my doctor for Monday afternoon, so hopefully she can check it out then. Going to the movie theater!  My work now has Summer Half-Day Fridays, so I try to log off at 1pm or so, although yesterday was more like 2pm. On T-Mobile Tuesdays this week, there was a deal for $5 to see Masters of the Universe , which I was already thinking of seeing in regular format, so I went to see it in PREMIUM format aka Super Emax ($15 regularly). I did unfortunately fall asleep during it, so no *official* rating from me, but unofficially, I'd give it 4/5 star...

I've still been pretty sick over the last week and now my husband is sick too, so, weirdly enough, the only non-sick one in the family is Baby K (unusual for her, she brings home daycare germs).  Surprise-ish delivery from Crumbl What I've been up to this week: Still being sick. This weekend was not fun, and it was nice to have a day off work for Memorial Day on Monday, but I went back to the doctor on Wednesday because my ears were still driving me crazy—they felt like someone put water in them and then stuffed them with cotton. Turns out I still have an ear infection, so I'm on a different antibiotic for that, now, and hopefully it's helping.  Surprise-ish Crumbl delivery . We write about Crumbl for work—this time it was about their new/revamped chocolate chip cookie recipe—and sometimes they ask me if I want samples (um, yes, lol) and they deliver to me, which is great, but don't always tell me when they will be delivered ... Tuesday I took the day off work and w...

This past week had a LOT of stuff going on—I got back from my Vegas work trip last night, and I lost my voice on Tuesday somehow, so I am going to see the doctor today and probably only working a half day (and then Monday is Memorial Day, thankfully). World of Beer festival, Frankenmuth, MI What I've been up to this week: World of Beer festival, in Frankenmuth. My mother-in-law came to town last Friday, because of my work trip on Monday, but we asked her to come in a little early so we could go to the beer festival in Frankenmuth—we had gone in 2022 and 2023, and it was a good time. Your admission fee ($30-ish) gets you this tiny souvenir mug, pictured above, plus six pours, and you can buy three more tickets for $5 on site. They had a lot more vendors, including artisans, this year, and I bought a funny plaque that says "Welcome to the bathroom - a cat will be with you shortly" (we have two cats), which is now hung in our bathroom, haha. The festival also has food trucks...

I am pretty sure Baby K is in a 9-month sleep regression, so this week has been pretty rough ... either that or her teething has kept her awake. We have been lucky to get 5-6 hours of sleep each night, and it has not been consecutive, LOL ...  Ice cream from Treat Dreams, Ferndale What I've been up to this week: Colonoscopy prep . Always the most FUN weekend of the year (right ....) and the fact that it happened to coincide with my first Mother's Day was the cherry on top—to be fair, I did schedule it myself, but I think I scheduled it in May or summer 2025 when I was pregnant, as I usually book it about a year beforehand. On Saturday, I had only liquids; on Sunday, I had liquids plus four liters of prep drinks total, at 8am and 5pm; and on Monday, I had 8am prep drinks. Did learn something this time though: you can have liquids (just not soup or Jello) up to two hours before you leave for the procedure ... in the past I always thought you couldn't even have water, etc. on ...