The Friday Five, 7/9/21: 5 things I've been up to this week

I saw two movies in the theater this week, and I'm seeing Black Widow in Dolby today, at the AMC Forum! I still wear a mask in the theater, just to be cautious, but I am enjoying getting back to seeing movies in theaters. 

Island Lake Recreation Area, Brighton
Island Lake Recreation Area, Brighton

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Seeing movies in the theater. As previously mentioned—last Friday I took the day off work and my parents and I saw the new Fast and the Furious movie, at the EMAX theater at Emagine Novi (pretty much IMAX, they just called it EMAX for the Emagine "E" name). I would give that a 4 out of 5; some of the stunts they did were pretty crazy. On Monday, most people weren't working but I worked a bit and then saw The Forever Purge, which I would give 3.5/5. And today, I am meeting a friend and her family to see Black Widow later at the AMC Forum, and we are also going to do UNOs for dinner—if you go to their website and sign up for their new e-club right now, they are giving away free individual pizzas!
  2. Dining out. My parents and I got Hungry Howie's takeout on Friday after the movie to celebrate my dad's birthday. On Tuesday, my boyfriend and I went to Granite City—they do a fantastic happy hour ($9 flatbreads, $5 cocktails, and half-off certain apps; plus on Tuesdays they now do $3 margaritas, which is a deal NOT listed on the menu!). They were very understaffed, which they had warned me on the phone—only the bar/bar booth area was open, so we had to wait about 15-20 minutes, which was fine. The bartender was also our waiter and they also had runners to deliver our food.
  3. South Lyon staycation. A friend of mine lives in South Lyon, and last Saturday I went to visit her and stay overnight. We went to the artisan market first—not very big, but had some interesting stuff—had lunch at the Corner Cafe, which is a cute cafe I have been to before, and then went to Island Lake Recreation Area, in Brighton, to the pond they have there. They also have another beach as well. For dinner, we went to South Lyon Hotel, and then back to Corner Cafe for Guernsey's ice cream for dessert. Overall a very fun day, and the weather was great for it too. 
  4. Buying a new phone! On Saturday at the beach, my phone unexpectedly turned off; I put it in our cooler (in a plastic bag, of course) and then later it was fine. However, on Sunday, I was driving to Dearborn Heights for a 4th of July get-together that my boyfriend's family was hosting, and the phone again turned off—which was a major problem, because I needed Google Maps for directions on how to get there. I finally pulled over in Southfield and got the phone to turn on, and then wrote down directions like a Mapquest peasant, LOL ... luckily, when I arrived in DH the phone was still working. After that I started to research phones and phone deals online. Xfinity Mobile had the S21 (Samsung's newest & greatest) for $300 off, but it was in the form of a Visa gift card, so my phone payments would still be about $33 per month, which is more than I wanted to pay ... Samsung's own website had deals going on for the S21 (but not as good as Xfinity's deal) and I ended up choosing the S20 FE from them.
    I did some research comparing the S20 FE with the S21 and basically they are about the same; the S20 FE actually has a bigger screen, which is not my preference, but that's fine. The phone is coming TODAY but I have to sign for it, so hopefully it comes before 4pm ... otherwise I may have to go to my local FedEx store to pick it up. Sometimes I can leave my signature on a Post-It on my door and that works, too.
    Anyways, my current phone (the S8) is about 3.5 years old ... the only thing I'm a little sad about is that to get that price through Samsung (about $400, and only like $16/mo for 2 years) I agreed to turn in my S8 to them ... but once I wipe it (factory reset it), as they require, it won't really feel like "my phone" anymore anyways, I suppose. I also will probably put my Tech21 case on my local Clawson Shares group on Facebook, it's been a great case because I drop my phone frequently and the screen has never cracked. Here's your reminder to use Rakuten, aka Ebates, too; I got about $36 back from my purchase! Click here to sign up, it's valid at most websites; I use it at Groupon a lot too. 
  5. Trying out new TV shows. I started watching Run the World on Starz, since a friend gave me her login to use, and it's really good; it reminds me of Sex and the City a little bit. Also, Disney+ debuted Monsters at Work this week, and if you're a Monsters, Inc. or Monsters University fan, you'll want to watch this one; it's very cute, and Sully and Mike even make appearances. In addition, HBO Max released their new rendition of Gossip Girl, which I definitely had to try out—the original is one of my all-time favorite shows. I really enjoyed the pilot—there's only one episode up right now, and they'll be releasing one new episode per week, I believe—and it's awesome that Kristen Bell is back as the voice of Gossip Girl too. 
    This is also your reminder that Atypical is back on Netflix today and so is Virgin River, so I finally have some new TV shows to watch (or new seasons of them, anyways) although this weekend is busy so I'm not sure when I will have time to do so!
Dinnerly Parmesan Pesto Tortellini, & I added grilled chicken too
Dinnerly Parmesan Pesto Tortellini, & I added grilled chicken too


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