The Friday Five, 8/25/23: 5 things I've been up to this week

This was a fast week but had a lot of moving parts, so I'm glad it's over. I'm headed to Chicago on Sunday for a work trip; I get back Wednesday night; and then Saturday to Monday next week we are headed back to Grand Haven, this time with friends and a rented VRBO condo, which should be fun (but busy!).

Birds of Prey show at Michigan RenFest, Holly
Owl at Birds of Prey show at Michigan RenFest, Holly

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Attending the Michigan Renaissance Festival. I had blogger tix to attend this and it turned out it was only valid for the first four weekends, so we ended up going opening day, last Saturday—kind of ironic because last year we went CLOSING day. Parking is $10 this year, but they have a service organizing parking now, and it was better than last year. If you park in the South lot, you have about a 15-min walk through a forest to get to the Renfest, FYI; last year we parked in the North lot, and the walk is through the parking lot itself. My favorite things this year were the wire walker and the Birds of Prey show, which we also saw last year—they had an owl (see above) and all sorts of cute birds. 
  2. Seeing "Uncle Joey" at the Beach Boys concert. On Sunday, we drove up to Meadow Brook because we had (pavilion! yay) tickets for the Beach Boys. Midway through the concert they did sort of a tribute to John Stamos (Uncle Jesse, Full House) and I started getting excited, thinking that John Stamos was going to be there playing drums for them (he does it often for BB concerts). INSTEAD, much to my surprise, it turned out that Dave Coulier, aka Joey/Uncle Joey from Full House, was in attendance! (He lives in the metro Detroit area so it wasn't THAT surprising, I guess, but I was excited)
    Fast-forward to later in the show, Mike Love (one of the BB singers) brought him up on stage, so I grabbed a video and some pictures! See below for my picture. 
    Related, this was probably my 5th or 6th Beach Boys concert ... I grew up listening to their music, and my parents and I have seen them a lot, and I've also seen them other times. I think this was my first time sitting pavilion for them, not lawn, though, which was nice EXCEPT the seats were small (at Meadow Brook) and there were a TON of bugs, unfortunately. 
  3. Dining out. At the RenFest we dined on fried ravioli, kielbasa, corn dogs, and other snacks—they were unfortunately out of turkey legs most of the day. On Sunday for lunch, I met a friend at Browndog Barlor in Northville—always a favorite of mine, and they had their brunch menu at that time, so I got avocado toast, and of course one of their ice cream flights for dessert. That same day, before the Beach Boys concert, we went to Kruse & Muer, one of my favorites, at the Village at Rochester Hills, since it's like a two-minute drive from MB; I always get their Michigan fettuccine dish, with chicken, dried cherries, walnuts, and pasta, and their bread is phenomenal. Yesterday I met up with a friend at Camp Ticonderoga in Troy for dinner, and I had their chicken burger with goat cheese and spicy cherry jam, as well as seasoned fries, all of which was also good; they have a very nice outdoor patio, too, which was covered so it wasn't too sunny out.
  4. A lot of work stuff. I had video interviews on both Wednesday and I have one today, too, with two different candy companies, and on Wed. afternoon I also moderated a webinar. Yesterday I had site visits at Sanders (Clinton Twp., MI) and Kar's Nuts (Madison Heights); I had been to Sanders back in 2017 for their grand reopening, as media, but had never been to Kar's. I'll be doing a video on Sanders and a feature story on Kar's for my two magazines (one is snack-focused, one is candy-focused). 
  5. Seeing movies. Last Friday I saw Back on the Strip, at the theater, and I'd give it 3.5/5 stars—I don't need to see it again, but I liked Tiffany Haddish in it, and it was a ton better than Strays, at least. I wanted to see Gran Turismo today but unfortunately don't have time, and I probably won't next week either, so I'll resume my theater visits in two weeks; I am in Chicago for work this Sunday through Wednesday, then I have two days home, and then I'm in Grand Haven for two days.
Joey from Full House, aka Dave Coulier (in white), next to the Beach Boys' Mike Love
Joey from Full House, aka Dave Coulier (in white), next to the Beach Boys' Mike Love

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