Yes/No Detroit

This past week had a LOT of stuff going on—I got back from my Vegas work trip last night, and I lost my voice on Tuesday somehow, so I am going to see the doctor today and probably only working a half day (and then Monday is Memorial Day, thankfully). World of Beer festival, Frankenmuth, MI What I've been up to this week: World of Beer festival, in Frankenmuth. My mother-in-law came to town last Friday, because of my work trip on Monday, but we asked her to come in a little early so we could go to the beer festival in Frankenmuth—we had gone in 2022 and 2023, and it was a good time. Your admission fee ($30-ish) gets you this tiny souvenir mug, pictured above, plus six pours, and you can buy three more tickets for $5 on site. They had a lot more vendors, including artisans, this year, and I bought a funny plaque that says "Welcome to the bathroom - a cat will be with you shortly" (we have two cats), which is now hung in our bathroom, haha. The festival also has food trucks...

I was in Orlando from Sunday through Wednesday this week for work, and even though it was hot (about 87-89 degrees daily), it was nice to attend my conference and also get some consecutive sleep. Peeps bracelet from Alex and Ani What I've been up to this week: Work trip to Orlando . The last time I had been to Orlando was January 2018, when a friend and I hit up Disney World for two or three days, I believe, and Universal Studios for two days. I didn't have any theme park time this trip, unfortunately, but my conference (a candy one) was a lot of fun and I also squeezed in about an hour at the hotel's pool and waterslide area (see pic below).  Eating out and getting delivery . The day before I went on my trip, we got Pink Garlic via Doordash, which was tasty. The Sunday I arrived, I didn't get into my hotel room until 2pm or so, and my Uber had passed a Zaxby's on the way there—I have only had them once, so I got it via Doordash for lunch, plus I always get almond m...

And just like that, it's the end of February—to me, it kind of feels like January went by super slowly, and February went by super fast, for some reason. Sangria at Sedona Taphouse, Novi What I've been up to this week: Getting delivery/eating out . Last Saturday I actually got to go out to eat! Rare nowadays with a baby. I met a friend at Sedona Taphouse, in Novi—I used to go to the Troy one a lot for their happy hour, but have only been to Novi a few times. It's a little bit pricey but everything was good—I had the sangria (pictured above) and chicken marsala, and my friend had a cocktail and their gluten-free flatbread.  I also had a free birthday coupon for Crumbl, so I stopped by and got a S'mores cookie and also bought one of their Nutella ones; I liked both, but the S'mores was better IMO. On Sunday night, we got La Marsa via Dorodash, which is always tasty. On Sunday, we got takeout from Green Lantern, since I had a free cheesy bread coupon; their pizza is al...

This week went by fast, because I was in Dallas from Sunday through Wednesday for work. Not much going on this weekend except I am meeting a friend for lunch, which I'm looking forward to. Sign at the Hyatt Regency DFW, where I stayed What I've been up to this week: Work trip to Dallas . Both the conference and my accommodations were at the Hyatt Regency DFW, so I only got to leave the airport once (more on that below). I originally had an 8:30am flight that Sunday, and I got to the airport around 6:30am ... I was in line around 6:45 waiting to check my bag when I got a text saying the flight was CANCELLED, and they had rebooked me on a 9pm flight, getting in at 11pm. Kind of a problem when my meetings started at 8am the next day. I ended up rebooking and taking a 10:30am flight to Atlanta, then 4pm to DFW (Dallas Fort Worth airport) from there, but because of that I missed the Retail Rodeo, which would have had me going to a few grocery stores in the Dallas area. Thankfully on...

This week went by fast although Tuesday was my first day back at work. I got like 4.5 hours of sleep one day and 5.5 hours on Wednesday night, but I think last night I maybe got like 6-7 hours, non-consecutive ... aka, I'm still tired, but not EXHAUSTED exhausted like I was previously. Baby K's first Halloween What I've been up to this week: Celebrating Baby K's Halloween . Kinda/sorta. She's only 12 weeks old, so that's too young to go out, but we got a grand total of *three* trick-or-treaters this year, and she greeted them at the door with us. It did give us an excuse to dress her up in cute outfits, though, including the pumpkin hat you see above (which is SUPER cute but always falls off of her, LOL). Hoping next year will be more eventful.  Running errands . On Friday, I took Baby K to get an RSV shot ... I wanted to get one for myself too but you have to be over 50 years of age or pregnant, so even though I'm immunocompromised, it didn't matter. On...

This week has been a disjointed one because my schedule has been out of whack, for the most part—I've had OB appointments and other things going on. I'm glad it's Friday but how did August get here so fast?? (my due date is August 26th!) Giordano's pepperoni pizza and ALDI garlic rolls What I've been up to this week: Getting delivery/takeout. Last Friday or Saturday, I forget which, I was craving pasta, so we tried out "Main St. Pasta Bar," in Royal Oak, on Doordash, which ended up actually being a front for Milan Pizzeria. The pasta was pretty basic but hit the spot (chicken alfredo fettucine and pesto fettucine) and was a HUGE portion. On Wednesday night, I was going to cook a HelloFresh meal, but we ended up doing Pink Garlic via Doordash, because we were both tired, and last night, I got us Culver's takeout, which is always tasty.  Work samples . I don't usually post much about these on here, but I'm fortunate to receive snacks and candy sa...

I am guessing I am probably not the only one in Southeast Michigan who is tired today: tornado sirens went off around 12:15am last night, then abruptly stopped 5-10 minutes later. In addition, our power went out for maybe an hour or so. I just got back from my work trip last night so today will be a busy work day, as well.  Mascots at the Expo What I've been up to this week: Traveling to Indianapolis for Sweets & Snacks Expo . This was the big thing this week, my work trip, since I was there Monday afternoon through Thursday afternoon. I attended the Sweets & Snack Expo, one of the biggest snack/candy industry conferences in the U.S., from Tuesday morning through Thursday early afternoon. This was my third time at the Expo, and it used to be in Chicago; now their schedule is every two years in Indy, and every third in Vegas, so next year it'll be in Vegas. I prefer it being in Indy vs. Chicago because it's a lot more walkable (it was at McCormick Place, so if you we...

Another busy week, and today I'm working in the office (about a 30-minute drive, including parking in the parking structure in Birmingham) so I have to crank this week's post out quickly. The weekend is shaping up to be a bit busy too, including a Ford House tour; I've never been, so I'm interested in seeing it. Steak board! At WL Socialhouse, Kzoo What I've been up to this week: Cooking . We finished up a Blue Apron box from last week and we had Green Chef this week. Green Chef used to be one of my top favorites, but it was a bit expensive; I got this box for $32 or so, which isn't bad, but I do feel like they're a little more limited now in meal choices compared to their sister companies, Hello Fresh and EveryPlate. Last night we cooked an Asian peanut chicken and udon noodles meal, and sometime this weekend we still have chicken tacos to cook.  Friends get-together . On Saturday night, we headed to South Lyon to hang out with some friends, one of whom is...

I spent the first half of this week in lovely Miami for work, where it was nice and warm (except for one day where it DOWNPOURED on me as I walked back to my hotel from the conference hotel ...). Looking forward to relaxing a bit this weekend, except I have my Crohn's infusion tomorrow so I have to be up early-ish for that. Chai-spiced macaron (left) and delicious Reese's tart What I've been up to this week: Traveling to Miami for work . I had a very early flight on Sunday, at 7am (had to get up at 3:30am and be in a Lyft by 4:30am...) because the other choice was 2pm, and the conference kicked off around 5:30pm. I stayed at the Residence Inn Aventura Mall, which is where I stayed last year as well—the conference was at the JW Marriott resort across the street, so it's a quick walk. The conference was mostly Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday I flew home. Dining out/getting takeout.  On Friday, I went to go check on my condo and then I got Pink Garlic takeout for my...

This week has felt long even though it's only been two work days for me—I was in Chicago from Sunday through Wednesday for a work trip. Looking forward to sleeping in a bit this weekend. View of Navy Pier from the Sheraton Grand hotel, Chicago What I've been up to this week: Traveling for work . I had a three-night stay at the Sheraton Grand, in Chicago—this was actually my third time staying there, the first was for a blogger conference, BlogHer, in 2013, and the second was for this same work conference in August 2023. The hotel is very nice, I was a tiny bit disappointed because last time I had a ridiculously large room (it had three windows!) and this time I had a standard one, but I still had a nice view of Lake Michigan and the river from it. I was there for a candy conference that's basically like speed-dating—I had about 11-12 appointments on Monday and Tuesday with companies, and three on Wednesday before I left.  Dining out/getting delivery . On Saturday, I think i...

Welcome to December, aka snow already, it seems. I had a busy week, the weekend isn't super busy but I'm looking forward to a game night tonight with some friends. HelloFresh ravioli with Panko, zucchini, and garlic cream sauce What I've been up to this week: Thanksgiving in Indiana. On Friday, my husband and I drove the five hours-ish (four hours with no stops, we usually stop for lunch at Culver's and one other time to use the restroom) to Indiana to see his parents and sister. On Saturday, we had a Thanksgiving meal with them, and we left on Sunday, so it was a quick trip, but we'll be back in a few weeks for Christmas.  Cooking . I had HelloFresh this week and we made a lackluster meatloaf meal (not pictures), some very tasty sweet and spicy cashew pork tacos, and the ravioli pictured above, with Panko and cream sauce, which was also super delicious but not super filling (we each got about five ravioli each). Seeing movies . I watched Sweethearts on Max and woul...

This week has seemed rather long, for some reason, so I'm glad it's Friday.  Detroit-style pizza from Uncle Andy's Pizza What I've been up to this week: Getting takeout/dining out . Last Friday, I picked up some Uncle Andy's Pizza from their Orchard Lake Rd. location—a few years ago, they had a Clawson location, and always had Groupons available, so I was consistently getting their $20 Chicago-style deep dish pizza for $10, which was amazing. That location has since closed, but the Orchard Lake Rd. one is close to my fiance's house, in Farmington, so sometimes we do takeout. They had a free cheesy bread coupon, so we got the Detroit-style picture above and that for about $20, which wasn't too bad.  On Saturday, I met up with two friends at Crispelli's, in WB, for more pizza—they are two of the five friends going on my bachelorette party trip next month, and no one has met before, so this was an opportunity for them to meet each other. On Sunday, my paren...

We are headed to Chicago today for wedding #2, which involves an entire weekend (dinner tonight at a hotel, wedding tomorrow, brunch Sunday), but unfortunately our flight is delayed about 50 minutes—as of this writing, as least, because it's changed from being delayed 1h40m to now only 50 minutes. Fried green tomatoes at LouVina, Indy What I've been up to this week: Going to a wedding in Cincinnati . This has been an extremely busy week (felt like two weeks, actually), and it kicked off last Friday, when we drove about five hours to Cincinnati for wedding #1 of 3 this month, a friend of my fiance's. We've actually been to Cincy a few times to visit them, too. Since he was a groomsman in the wedding, on Friday we went to rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, near the venue, and on Saturday was the wedding. On Sunday, they also had a casual Mother's Day/post-wedding brunch, and then we stopped by Jungle Jim's (the best! I say it's like Costco meets EPCOT) and then h...

This week has been an odd one because I was in Dallas Sunday through Tuesday for work, and I feel like I've been playing catch-up since then (and Wednesday definitely felt like Monday for me).  Giant Eye sculpture, Dallas What I've been up to this week: Traveling to Dallas for work . I was there for two days and two nights, which is usually the shorter end of my work trips, although next month for the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Indianapolis I'll be there for the same amount of time. This time was for SNX, which is a snacks conference. I was also able to see a friend who lives in Dallas, which was super nice because I hadn't seen her since 2018, when we met on a group trip. I saw the Giant Eye sculpture (pictured above), too, which I had seen on Google Maps and was definitely intrigued by; someone else asked me if it changes images, like the Sphere in Vegas, but it does not. Eating out . Last Friday, I met a friend and her boyfriend at Imperial in Ferndale, which is one...

This was a busy travel week, as I was in Miami for a conference from Sunday through Wednesday. I also snuck in dinner with friends and a few movies (one in the theater, and two on the plane). JW Marriott resort, Aventura, FL What I've been up to this week: Traveling to Miami for work . Technically Aventura, FL (about 40 minutes from the Miami airport, and probably 30-40 minutes from Miami Beach area). I didn't get to see the beach this time—when I went in 2019 with a friend, we stayed five minutes from the hotel I stayed in this time (Residence Inn, across the street from the host hotel, JW Marriott), and were beachside, which was super nice. I was there for the National Confectioners Association's State of the Industry conference, which had a lot of interesting panels. Normally on work trips I'm using to running around to appointments, but this was the opposite (a lot of sitting at panels and networking).  I also was lucky enough that two of my Yelp friends from Califo...

This felt like another long week, but I think part of it is I went to bed way too late last night (around 1am/1:30am) so I'm tired again today.  Dinner at The Eagle, Detroit What I've been up to this week: Eating out + takeout.  My fiance was sick last weekend, so we did a lot of takeout. On Friday, I used my $3 T-Mobile code for a half-and-half Little Caesars pizza, which was actually quite good—it was half pepperoni pizza, and half of their Italian Cheese Bread. On Saturday, I had my infusion, and I brought back Panera after; they were doing buy 1 meal get 1 half-off, and I also have gift cards. On Tuesday, I attended The Eagle's "Days of Giving" promo, where the bill for the entire table was comped, minus drinks, which was tasty; The Eagle is always good, and we went with two friends. Today I have plans with a friend at Granite City in Troy, which will be fun—they do a good happy hour, I haven't been in a bit, and I haven't seen this friend in a while e...