Yes/No Detroit

*Disclosure: I received compensation (meal + gift card) from MOD Pizza in exchange for this post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

This past weekend, I was able to stop by the new MOD Pizza, in Troy, MI, to sample its seasonal pizza, the Isaac, as well as a few other menu selections.

I'm a big fan of MOD (check out my other MOD posts here), and so I was glad to see they opened one in Troy recently—it's about a 5-minute drive from my house, and previously the closest one was in Rochester Hills, about a 20-30 minute drive.


MOD's current seasonal pizza is “The Isaac," which is named after a young customer who formed a special bond with his local MOD Squad and sadly died of suicide last year. To keep his spirit alive and to spread awareness of mental health in teens, Isaac’s parents teamed up with MOD Pizza and The Jed Foundation, an organization committed to the well-being of young adults, to create a pizza in his name. The pizza features olive oil, garl…

Last weekend I was in Grand Haven for a girls' trip (5th annual, actually), and this weekend I'm relaxing at home a bit, which I'm looking forward to.


What I've been up to this week:
Traveling. Two friends and I stayed in an Airbnb in Grand Haven, and it was a cute, 2-bedroom cottage, with a futon. It also had a pulldown projector screening that was connected to a PS3, so we could watch Netflix and Hulu shows, which was awesome. We had great weather all weekend, as well.Seeing alllllllll the movies. MoviePass switches to its 3 movies per month plan next week (same price, $9.99 per month) so I've seen 4 movies this week with it, and I intend to see two more before Sunday, too. On Monday, I saw Hotel Transylvania 3 (3.5/5 stars); on Tuesday, I saw a screening of Alpha (not with MoviePass); on Wednesday, I saw The Darkest Minds (3.75/5 stars); as I write this, I'm about to see Crazy Rich Asians in about an hour; and today, Friday, I'm intending to see The Meg. T…

Kodi Smit-McPhee has become a prolific young actor as of late, but his one role he performed that really stuck in my head was in Let Me In, where he befriended a young vampire. His role in Alpha was quite different, but shows how far he has come as an actor since that movie.

The setting is Europe, 20,000 years ago. Keda (Smit-McPhee) has recently proven to his father, Tau (Johannes Haukur Johannesson), the tribe leader, that he's ready to go hunting with the group, and Tau has high expectations for him. As Keda's mother says, though, he leads with his heart, not his spear, and he has trouble killing innocent animals, even though the point is to provide food for the tribe. When they go on a bison-hunting expedition, he falls over a ledge, and the tribe leaves him for dead; we find out later, however, that although he's injured, he's not dead. Keda must fix his injuries, provide food for himself, and somehow make it back to the tribe, before the land's harsh and col…

I'm again writing this post on a Thursday, since this weekend I'll be on my annual girls' weekend in Grand Haven - two friends and I have booked a cottage in Grand Haven, through Airbnb. Grand Haven is one of my favorite Michigan cities so it should be a fun trip. We usually visit Saugatuck and the surrounding towns as well.


What I've been up to this week:
Eating a bit too much. And the scale is reflecting it, so after Grand Haven it's back to zumba for me - I haven't gone in 3 to 4 weeks because I had been sick.  On Wednesday, I met up with a friend at Camp Ticonderoga (in Troy) for dinner, and had a delicious pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. On Thursday, a friend and I went to Granite City (loooove their happy hour deals) before seeing Wicked downtown, and since I was in Portage/Kalamazoo last weekend we ate a lot as well (like those donuts, pictured above). On the way back from Portage we stopped at Little Caesars for takeout, where I encountered …

Huzzah! The 40th season of the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly, MI opens its gates on August 18, 2018! Those gates will be open every Saturday and Sunday through September 30, 2018 plus Labor Day and Festival Friday (September 28).

Read on to see how you can win a 4-pack of festival tickets! There will be two winners.


Here’s what’s new this year:

Featured for 2018:
The Quest: Triumph of the Elements: This is a build on the quest that began last year, where patrons will be able to play a part in the Village of Hollygrove, solving puzzles and playing games to win prizes.Battle Axe Pub: Test your axe-throwing skills and grab a beer at the newest pub in Hollygrove!Unicorn Crusades: Patrons can feed their sweet tooth with Unicorn Cake, Unicorn Ice Cream, and Unicorn Droppings this year. We will also have our Unicorn out every day for pictures and meet and greets.Brand New, Revamped Wine Tasting Garden: Patrons can have a chance to try different meads and wines from wineries all over …

Searching will be screening on Thursday, August 23rd, at 7pm at MJR Troy, and twenty-five of my lucky readers will EACH receive an admit-two pass for the film!

About the movie:
David Kim becomes desperate when his 16-year-old daughter Margot disappears and an immediate police investigation leads nowhere. He soon uses Margot's laptop to contact her friends and look at photos and videos for clues to her whereabouts.

The movie stars John Cho and Debra Messing, and is rated PG-13.

Please remember that screenings are first-come, first-serve, so I would recommend getting to the theater by 5pm or 6pm that day to get in line, if possible.

GIVEAWAY:

Enter to win one admit-two screening pass below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, August 15th, at 11:59pm EST, and winners will be notified via email the next day.

Must live in the Detroit/Metro Detroit area to enter this giveaway.

Good luck!
Entry-Form

Chicago will be back in Detroit this October! I saw it a few years ago and it's a fun show.

About the show:
CHICAGO is BACK IN TOWN and its PURE ENTERTAINMENT!

CHICAGO will appear at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre, October 16-21, 2018. Tickets start at $39 and go on sale Sunday, August 5. Purchase tickets online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com, or by phone at 800-982-2787. Starting Monday, August 6, tickets may be purchased at the Fisher Theatre box office.

With a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, CHICAGO is now the #1 longest-running American musical in Broadway history -- and it still shows no sign of ever slowing down!

Produced by Barry and Fran Weissler, CHICAGO is the winner of six 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Cast Recording.

Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, CHICAGO is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who mal…

I'm writing this on Thursday, since this weekend I will be out of town - we are visiting college friends of mine who live in Portage. I'm still coughing a bit today but it's not as bad, which is good. I'm running out of cough drops though so probably will stop by a CVS or 7-Eleven before work ... just in case.


What I've been up to this week:
Cooking, a lot. I received a Dinnerly delivery on Tuesday, and I made two of the meals already and am saving the last one for next week. Dinnerly is similar to Hello Fresh except it's less expensive: it's $38.95 per week, for three meals, and you have to print your own recipe cards (or, use your phone for the instructions). This week I made a ginger chicken stir-fry on Tuesday night, and the Mediterranean meatball pita (pictured above) on Wednesday night, which was insanely delicious ... it reminded me of foods that I ate in Israel on my trip there this summer. I still have a spicy sausage pasta recipe to make, as well. I…

Alpha will be screening on Tuesday, August 14th, at Emagine Royal Oak, at 7pm, and twenty-five of my lucky readers will EACH receive an admit-two pass for the film!

About the movie:
While on his first hunt with his tribe's most elite group, a young man is injured and left for dead. Awakening to find himself broken and alone - he must learn to survive and navigate the harsh and unforgiving wilderness. Reluctantly taming a lone wolf abandoned by its pack,he learns to rely on it, and they become unlikely allies, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds to find their way home before the deadly winter arrives.

The movie stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, X-Men: Apocalypse) and is rated PG-13.

Please remember that screenings are first-come, first-serve, so I would recommend getting to the theater by 5pm or 6pm that day to get in line, if possible.

GIVEAWAY:

Enter to win one admit-two screening pass below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, August 1st, at 11:59pm EST, and winners will …

Before you ask: nope, I'm not feeling any better. In fact, I may actually be worse ... ugh. Last weekend I had a fever of 103, almost 104; since then, it's gone down to about 99 to 100, and only at night, luckily. But I've been coughing a lot all week, and because of that, I worked at home on Monday and Tuesday, and am working at home today as well.


What I've been up to this week:
Cooking. Other than a quick trip to Mr. Kabob Xpress (in Troy - my favorite Mediterranean quick eats place) on Sunday, I've been staying inside and cooking instead of eating out. Luckily, I had a Sunbasket box to finish up, and I also received a Home Chef delivery on Tuesday. On Tuesday night I cooked a Sunbasket meal called Spanish-style chicken and quinoa with fire-roasted tomatoes, which was delicious, and reminded me of one of the very early Hello Fresh meals I made (stuffed peppers with beef and quinoa). On Wednesday night I cooked turkey and avocado tostadas, and on Thursday I cooked …

*Disclosure: I am receiving a Best Buy gift card in exchange for this post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Have you heard about the new HP Envy x360 laptop? It's a laptop that can transform to a tablet, and you can also write on the screen with a stylus.

My last computer (many years ago) was an HP laptop, and I'm amazed at how thin this one is!

The laptop also comes with Windows Ink capabilities and a Windows operating system, as well as an AMD processor.


More laptop specs:
Windows 10 operating systemWindows 10 brings back the Start Menu from Windows 7 and introduces new features, like the Edge Web browser that lets you markup Web pages on your screen.Built for Windows InkQuickly jot down notes and ideas with ease.Full HD touch screenThe 1920 x 1080 resolution boasts impressive color and clarity. Natural finger-touch navigation makes the most of Windows 10. IPS technology for wide viewing angles. Energy-efficient WLED backlight.8GB system memory for advanced m…

*Disclosure: I have an ongoing media relationship with Broadway in Detroit. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Something Rotten! is coming to the Fisher Theatre this September, and I have never seen it before so I'm excited to see it live.

About the show:
The completely original new musical Something Rotten!, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin), with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe Award and Tony Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Tony Award nominees Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O’Farrell, will play Detroit’s Fisher Theatre, September 25 – October 7, 2018.

Tickets for Something Rotten! start at $35 and are currently on sale. Purchase tickets online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-982-2787, or at the Fisher Theatre box office.

Nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, So…