The Friday Five, 6/4/21: 5 things I've been up to this week

This week has seemed really long for some reason, even though it's a 4-day work week, so I'm glad today is Friday. I'm planning on being a piglet later: my boyfriend and I wanted to try out Kimchi Box, in Sterling Heights, after seeing so many social media posts about it, and then we will stop by Crumbl Cookies (yes, again, haha ...) to pick up my four free Yelp cookies.

Grilled chicken sandwich from Arbor Brewing Co., Plymouth
Grilled chicken sandwich from Arbor Brewing Co., Plymouth

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Getting the results of my antibody test! This surprised me because they said it was going to take 2-4 weeks, and instead it only took 9 days. If you have a result of 1.0 or above, it means you have at least some antibodies; mine came back at 4.7 and said "High," so I was excited at first, but in the study I'm in, some people have 30+ ... when I emailed the study coordinator, he said that some people even come back as 100-200. So my (layman's) opinion is that I have SOME antibodies, which of course is exciting, but not a ton. I'm going to keep masking up at movie theaters but it does mean I will have some freedoms back, including traveling! Which brings us to point two:
  2. Trying to plan a MA/RI trip. Pre-COVID, I tried to get back to the East Coast at least once a year to see family; obviously I wasn't able to go in 2020, so I'm going to try to go in Sept. 2021. I've been stalking Delta's site, because I'll be using miles to pay for my airfare but I don't want to spend more than 30K (right now the airfare I want is 34K). I also have two hotels booked (both refundable, obviously) for two different dates. I plan on going to MA for a few days and staying with a Birthright friend there, plus seeing my family—she lives a mile from them which is awesome—and then going to RI for two days to see my aunt and that side of the family, probably for two days. Hoping to book over Labor Day weekend, but right now Delta is cheapest if I do Thursday through Wednesday, so I'll keep checking it. Ideally I'd like to do Thursday through Tuesday. 
  3. Seeing friends! Instead of "hot girl summer" we are now in the midst of "vaccinated girl summer," woohoo! On Saturday, I met up with a Yelp friend that I hadn't seen in a few years, in Plymouth; she lives in Canton, and I usually see my parents on the west side of town on Saturday nights too, so Plymouth worked out. We went to Arbor Brewing Company, which was decent although with their new QR code setup, the only time you see servers is when they bring you your food. They also have a nice patio, so we sat outside. On Sunday, I got to see my friends who live in Portage, who are visiting this area for a bit, and my boyfriend and I will also be staying with them for a weekend later this month, too. 
  4. Takeout and eating out. I went to Arbor Brewing Co. in Plymouth, like I mentioned earlier; the fries I got were just okay, but the chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun with garlic aioli was very good. I had been to the Ann Arbor location before but not that one, and this one is more modern and also larger; it's connected to Bigalora next door, too, which has great pizza (I've been to the Royal Oak, Ann Arbor, and Southfield locations, although not Plymouth as of yet). On Friday, my boyfriend and I got Buddy's takeout, and on Saturday, my parents got us Jersey Mike's takeout. On Monday, my boyfriend and I had dinner at Jolly Pumpkin in Royal Oak, too, before seeing a movie at Emagine RO. 
  5. Seeing movies! I returned to the theater again this week, and saw A Quiet Place Part II, at the EMAX theater at Emagine Royal Oak! T-Mobile was doing $4 tickets for the movie, through their T-Mobile Tuesdays app, and I figured out you could use it for any format (IMAX, etc.), so a $13 ticket became a $4 ticket, which was great. On Tuesday I rewatched the original A Quiet Place, too; I can't decide which one I like better, but I think the stakes were definitely higher in the original vs. the new one. This Sunday, I'm going to see a screening of In the Heights with some friends, too, at AMC Livonia, so hopefully it won't be busy; regardless, I plan on keeping my mask on. 
Chocolates from Alpine Chocolate Haus, Plymouth
Chocolates from Alpine Chocolate Haus, Plymouth




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