The Friday Five, 12/6/19: 5 things I've been up to this week

Well here we are all of a sudden, in the last month of 2019. The year went by fast! My December is looking chock-full of activities, including this weekend, when I'm going to a Kroger influencer event in Brighton on Saturday, as well as the Lindsey Stirling concert, in Toledo, which I'm very excited about.


What I've been up to this week:
  1. Eating out. I had last Thursday and Friday off of work for the Thanksgiving holiday, and was at my parents' place for a few days, so I ended up meeting up with friends and also eating out a lot. On Friday, my parents and I went to the Tiki Boil Bar & Grill (aka the old Bayside) in Walled Lake, which was just okay. On Saturday, I met a friend at Turmerican Indian Cuisine, in Novi, which was surprisingly good ... it's vegetarian Indian cuisine, as my friend is both vegetarian and gluten-free. Their mango lassi was also vegan, which was great. On Sunday, I met a friend at Uptown Grille, in Commerce Township (love their chicken piccata!), and on Tuesday, I treated myself to Burgerim, in Royal Oak, since I had a small ($5) gift card.
  2. Seeing movies, and sleeping through them ... Recliners are deadly for me when I'm tired (which is like all the time, tbh) and I have literally slept about 20-30 minutes in every movie I saw last week and this week, except for Parasite, which I give 4.5/5 stars to, and which is probably going to make it into my Top 10 Movies of 2019 list. Last Friday I did a double header, and saw The Good Liar at AMC Livonia (3.5/5 stars from me, good acting from Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen though) as well as 21 Bridges at Emagine Novi with my parents ... probably 3.5/5 or 4/5 for that. I saw Parasite on Tuesday (and did NOT fall asleep, lol) and saw Black and Blue last night, which I would also give 3.5/5 stars to, but I took a good 20-minute nap during that one too ... hoping to see either Waves, Dark Waters, or Jojo Rabbit this Sunday, also. 
  3. Being banned on Instagram. I have been having trouble sleeping lately due to some temporary pills I'm on for Crohns (prednisone), and I woke up at like 5:30am one day to find out that I couldn't comment, post, or "like" anything on Instagram. I had been using an app to follow and unfollow people and apparently that's against their TOS, which I did not know, so they've essentially banned me from using the app, for one week, until 12/11. Weirdly, I can still post daily stories, "like" comments on photos, and see photos/videos ... I just can't interact with anything. It's definitely a bummer but I guess now I know better, re: their TOS. 
  4. Work bake sale. On Wednesday, we hosted a bake sale at work, which is always my favorite day of the year, because everything is like 50 cents to $1, and all of the profits go to the Gleaners food bank. Our CEOs double the profits as well - I think we made about $600 this year, which is great, so they will be donating $1200, I assume, making it a total of $1800. My coworker friend who organizes it says that Gleaners does a match too, so it might even be like $3600. My favorite items this year were the raspberry bars, a red velvet cupcake, and a cookie bar.
  5. Buying way too much on Black Friday. I spent about $400 this year which is a bit out of character for me ... however, the deals were too good to pass up, because of "bonus cards." For example: for every $25 Cheesecake Factory e-gift card you bought, you get two free "Slices of Joy," aka pieces of cake or cheesecake, to be used 1/1-3/31/2020. I do that deal every year, and did this year too. This year I also did Granite City's (buy $100, get a $40 bonus card); The Whitney's (buy $100, get a $50 bonus card, to be used in January only ... I'm taking my boyfriend there next week for his Christmas present); and I bought a Ring video doorbell ($79 on Groupon, usually $99+ on Amazon/Best Buy). I had been coveting a neighbor's Ring doorbell so I'm excited to play around with it and see how it works. I also bought a $25 Applebee's gift card on bjs.com (BJ's Wholesale) for $19.99. 
  6. (bonus one this week!) Becoming a JORD Affiliate. I've been a fan of JORD watches for a while now, ever since I promoted one of their watches a while back, and this week they sent me a new watch (see above), the Cassia model, which I LOVE. I'm now one of their affiliates, which means I will be promoting them on a regular basis, and they have a nice program in place for affiliates too ... after a few social posts I can get ANOTHER free watch, which is crazy (and will be a gift for my mom, because now I have two of their watches plus a pair of sunglasses!). You can click here to get 20% off your purchase, too, with my link. 
Combo from Burgerim, Royal Oak (two 3 oz. sandwiches, drink, and onion rings)


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