The Friday Five, 9/7/18: 5 things I've been up to this week

This has been a short work week but has seemed long. I think I need to take a few days and just clear out my calendar—I did that on Wednesday, for the most part, which was nice.

Downtown Knoxville, TN

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Traveling. From Friday through Monday of this week, my boyfriend and I were in Knoxville, TN. I had never been before and it's a very pretty area, even though it was super hot—about 90 degrees—all weekend. We stayed with his cousins and were able to check out the Titanic museum (see picture, below) as well as The Island and a very fun (but also a bit scary) outdoor roller coaster called the Smoky Alpine Coaster. We also took a delicious Knoxville food tour—check my blog post from yesterday to read about that experience. (and if you go to the Titanic museum or do either of the two roller coasters: check Groupon first to save some money!)
  2. Cooking Dinnerly meals. On Tuesday, I cooked a teriyaki beef bowl, and on Wednesday, I cooked creamy tomato pasta. I LOVED the teriyaki beef bowl, but the creamy tomato pasta wasn't for me—I think the mascarpone cheese made it *too* cheesy for me. The homemade parmesan crisps on top were great, though. This week I have Blue Apron meals to cook, but I think the first day I'm free to cook the meals from it will be Sunday.
  3. Celebrating things. Monday was my 2-year anniversary with my boyfriend and Wednesday was his 30th birthday ... so, lots of cards to buy! We celebrated our anniversary a few weeks ago, though: I took him to Ruth's Chris for Troy Restaurant Week.
  4. Starting two new TV shows. A friend had recommended Harlots, on Hulu, and I am really liking it so far; it's definitely R-rated, but also pretty interesting. I also started watching Ozark season 2 on Netflix, and I'm continuing to watch Community on Hulu, even though IMO the later seasons aren't as good as the first few. 
  5. Figuring out car maintenance. My car (Honda Accord) has just hit 35,000 miles, and I need to get an oil change as well as a few things I've never had done before ... cabin air filter, etcetera. I still need to call one or two more Honda dealers to figure out exactly what I should have done, though.
Titanic museum, Pigeon Forge, TN

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