The Friday Five, 12/30/22: 5 things I've been up to this week

This has been kind of a crazy week but it's been nice being a "lady of leisure," aka not working this week. 

TSO at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit
TSO at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Driving to Indiana and back, all within 24 hours. The original plan was to drive to Indiana on Christmas morning, to do Christmas with my boyfriend's parents and sister, and then stay until Tuesday or Wednesday. We woke up Christmas morning to a cold house—his thermostat said it was 66, I believe, and normally it's set to 71-72. My boyfriend looked at the furnace and fixed it, so we drove to Indiana around noontime, arriving around 5pm. Around midnight that same day (technically next day), he noticed the thermostat (via his app) dropping again—it was down to 68. This was a problem because he has two cats, and also it was so cold out (10-15 degrees those days) that the pipes could freeze and burst. So instead of staying in Indiana the 2-3 days as planned, we drove back, 12am-5am that day, which was not fun, to say the least. We did get a nice Christmas in with his family though, including opening presents and a homecooked dinner, but then had to leave. 
  2. Christmas with my family. On Saturday (the day before all this), my boyfriend and I had a Christmas of sorts with my parents; we opened presents and, per tradition, had a lot of appetizers. We were going to order pizza as well but the appetizers were filling so it wasn't needed. 
  3. Seeing movies. The only upside of unexpectedly having 1-2 days free this week was that I got to see a ton of movies. On Tuesday, we saw Babylon at the theater, and I'd give it 4/5, but my boyfriend gave it 5/5. On Wednesday, I treated myself to a double (kinda...) movie day at AMC Livonia—I saw Puss in Boots 3D, which I'd give 4.5/5 stars, and it was a really fun watch, especially for PIB and Shrek fans. After that, I used my AMC A-List membership to watch about 1.5 hours of Avatar 2 in IMAX 3D—I only stayed for part of the movie because I had accidentally slept through parts of it when I originally saw it, in 2D, and also I had heard the 3D was amazing. Caveat for anyone seeing IMAX 3D movies, though: I learned once the movie started that the glasses are DIFFERENT than the regular 3D glasses—I was wondering why the 3D looked so shoddy, lol, and it turned out I needed different glasses. Once I put on the "real" IMAX 3D glasses, the movie looked beautiful. 
    We also watched Home Alone 2: Lost in New York on Disney+ last night, which is one of my favorites, and the new Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery on Netflix, which was surprisingly good—I wasn't a huge fan of the original Knives Out (I think I maybe gave it 3/5 or 3.5/5) but this one was 4/5 from me. We also watched the original Matilda plus the new Matilda the Musical, which I liked a lot; I'd give that 4/5 as well. I saw Matilda the Musical when it was in Detroit, I believe at the Fisher, a while back, but I actually preferred the movie version, on Netflix, more.
  4. Eating out. I didn't order a meal (cooking) box this week, since I figured we'd be gone about half the week, so instead we have been eating out and doing delivery, which has been nice. On Monday, I slept from 6am to 2pm after arriving back from Indiana, and we got Thai delivered from Sy Thai in Birmingham, one of my favorites. On Tuesday, we went to the Culver's in Wixom, before doing some shopping at At Home over there, and then after Babylon at Emagine Novi, we *tried* to have dinner at Buddy's Novi—there was a 30-minute wait, so we went to Crumbl in the meantime, and that also took forever, so by the time we got out (about 40 mins. later), Buddy's had taken our name off its waitlist—so we actually ended up going to Buddy's in Farmington Hills, by him, because there was no wait. On Wednesday, we went to Mission BBQ in Northville because I had a free sandwich coupon to use (and it's right by AMC Livonia), and last night, I took my boyfriend to Frame in Hazel Park for a special 1-year anniversary/Christmas gift—Frame changes up its menu/"experiences" every few weeks, and this month's was a steak dinner, which ended up being delicious. Today we are planning on maybe Shake Shack, since he's in my area for once, for lunch. 
  5. Seeing TSO at LCA. Yesterday we went to the 3pm performance of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, at Little Caesars Arena—this is always one of my favorite events of the year, and I'm fortunate to go with blogger tickets, so they are usually floor seats, which are excellent. This year was no exception and I really enjoyed it. TSO usually does a 3pm and 7:30pm show yearly at LCA—keep an eye out if you'd like to attend next year, as tickets are reasonably priced on Ticketmaster and sometimes Groupon even has it.
6-oz. filet with chimichurri sauce at Frame, Hazel Park
6-oz. filet with chimichurri sauce at Frame, Hazel Park

Popular Posts

Review: Polar Pizza at Baskin-Robbins

Image
*Disclosure: I received a gift card to try the new Polar Pizza at Baskin-Robbins. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. Baskin-Robbins launched its Polar Pizza last month (July), as I talked about in my recent post about them, and because this past month was crazy busy for me, I didn't get to try the Polar Pizza until this past Sunday. My parents and I went to the combined Dunkin' Donuts / Baskin-Robbins near them, in Novi, MI, to split one of the ice cream pizzas.
Read more

Upcoming and GIVEAWAY: Mamma Mia! at the Fisher Theatre, Detroit, April 23-28 {ends Dec. 12}

Image
*Disclosure: I have an ongoing media relationship with Broadway in Detroit. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. MAMMA MIA! will be playing at the Fisher this April, from April 23-28, and I'm excited to see it—I'm a big fan of the movies but I've never seen the Broadway show. About the show: Since premiering in London in 1999 and on Broadway in 2001, the irresistible musical has captured the hearts of millions around the globe. The sunny, funny tale of a mother, a daughter and three possible dads on a Greek island paradise, all unfolding to the storytelling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs, has now been seen live on stage by 65 million people across the world and turned into two record-breaking movies – MAMMA MIA! The Movie and MAMMA MIA! Here We Go Again. To date, MAMMA MIA! has been seen in 50 productions in 16 different languages grossing more than $4 billion at the box office. MAMMA MIA! opened on Broadway in 2001 where it played for a record-breaking 14 year
Keep reading

GIVEAWAY: Duel in the D, February 10 at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit {ends 1/10}

Image
*Disclosure: I have an ongoing media relationship with 313 Presents. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. I had a great time at Duel in the D last year—I'm a UM alum, but I had only ever seen ONE hockey game in my life at that point, and this was the second one.  I'm looking forward to it again this year, and one of my lucky readers will win a 4-pack of tickets to experience it as well! About the game: The return of college hockey is headed to Little Caesars Arena with the annual “Duel in the D,” presented by Meijer, set for Saturday, February 10 at 8:30 p.m.  The fans of Hockeytown will be treated to one of the most intense and exciting rivalries in college hockey, as the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans men’s ice hockey teams will add another chapter in their storied rivalry and clash for the “Iron D” Trophy.  The “Duel in the D” matchup features the most-played rivalry in college hockey. The game will mark the 346th all-time meeting between the h
Keep reading