The Friday Five, 10/27/23: 5 things I've been up to this week

It's been another super busy week, although next week shouldn't be as crazy. On Wednesday night, I drove to Bryan, Ohio (about 2.5 hours away from Metro Detroit) for a one-day work trip, and I got back last night.

Banh mi from Saigon Market, Madison Heights
Banh mi from Saigon Market, Madison Heights

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Work trip to Bryan, OH. I left Wednesday night and I hadn't made a 2+ hour drive by myself in a while, so I left around 4pm before it got dark and also scrutinized the directions before I left. The purpose of the trip was to visit Spangler Candy, which makes its products in Bryan, including Dum Dum lollipops, Necco wafers, Bit O' Honey, candy canes, circus peanuts, and more. Yesterday we got to visit the factory and I also interviewed its CEO and two other former Spangler employees, who were recipients of an award that my magazine gives yearly (the CEO won it this year, and the other two won theirs in 1993 and 2000), which was fun. 
  2. Takeout/eating out. On Saturday, my fiance and I stopped by my condo to start packing some stuff (I'll eventually be moving in with him full-time), and we also got takeout banh mi from Saigon Market, in Madison Heights, which is my favorite, and a bargain at $5, although a few years ago it was $4. On Sunday, my parents and I got Hungry Howie's takeout, and Wed. for dinner, I got takeout from a place near my Ohio hotel called J.J. Winn's; the food was good, but the cheese curds I ordered ended up being pepperjack cheese CUBES, which was different (I can't do spicy food well). Yesterday, I stopped by Culver's to get PROPER cheese curds (lol) for dinner and also their mushroom & Swiss burger that I like. 
  3. Hanging out with a friend. My route home yesterday took me right by Ann Arbor, so I stopped by and had Panera drinks (yay, Sip Club) with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, which was nice. Panera had given me a free bakery treat that I hadn't redeemed yet, either, and I was pretty hungry at that time, so I got a cookie from there too. 
  4. Watching a movie on Peacock. No theater movies in the past seven days (no time, unfortunately) but I saw a movie called If You Were the Last, on Peacock, with Zoe Chao and Anthony Mackie, which was very good ... I'm now a fan of the band Japanese Breakfast, too, as one of their songs was in the movie ("Head Over Heels," originally a Tears for Fears song) at a pivotal part and was excellent. I'd give the movie 4/5 and it's worth seeing if you have Peacock. 
  5. Attempting to swim ... I went to my gym on Monday hoping to swim, only to find out the pool had been closed since FRIDAY ... I wish they would have sent out an email about that or posted on their FB page. I was determined to get *some* exercise so I ended up doing treadmill in my bathing suit, jeans, and sneakers, which wasn't the most comfortable. I guess the lesson learned from this is to always pack a tank top + shorts when attempting to go swim, just in case.
Spangler water tower, Bryan, Ohio
Spangler water tower, Bryan, Ohio

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