The Friday Five, 1/19/18: 5 things I've been up to this week

I went to Orlando this past weekend (Thursday to Monday), which was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, the slight cold I had going into the trip has now amplified into a full-on cold (coughing and stuffy nose), which I'm not happy about.


What I've been up to this week:
  1. My Orlando trip! It was quite busy—I flew in on Thursday, and we did Disney World from Thursday through Saturday, getting about 30,000 steps in on our Fitbits each day (!!). On Saturday, we switched from a Disney resort to the Hilton Bonnet Creek, where I had stayed for BlogHer, since I had two free nights there, and on Sunday, we did both Universal Studios + Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. On Monday I came back to the tundra (Michigan). I'm most likely going to write a recap post of both Disney + Universal, as this was my first time visiting Universal since the '90s, so keep an eye out for that.
  2. Celebrating my birthday. My birthday was this past Saturday (1/13) and both the friend I went on the trip with and everyone at Disney made me feel super loved - I was wearing one of those "Happy Birthday" pins that you can get at guest services at Disney, and I think the staff is REQUIRED to wish you a happy birthday if they see you wearing one, ha. My friend and I also had two very nice Epcot dinners to celebrate, at Chefs de France and at Teppan Edo (Japan), for hibachi.
  3. Seeing shows and movies. On Tuesday, a friend and I saw The Bodyguard, downtown, which was fabulous (and is there until 1/28!). On Wednesday, my parents and I used our MoviePasses (yes, they're now MoviePass converts too) to see The Post, which I would give 3.5 out of 5 stars - I liked it but it was very slow. 
  4. Dining out. Other than all of my Disney noms, on Tuesday, my friend and I went to Imperial, in Ferndale, before the show, which is one of my favorite taco and hot dog places in the area - they do interesting combinations. (for example, their hot dog of the month has pomegranate seeds, walnut cream, and carnitas on top of it, and also is wrapped in bacon like all of their hot dogs)
    On Wednesday, my parents and I went to Pasquale's to use my $20 birthday certificate - if you sign up for their e-club, you'll get an email coupon good for $20 to use anytime during your birthday month. They have fantastic pizza, too.
    And tonight I am headed to Ann Arbor later for the last day of Ann Arbor Restaurant Week - a friend and I are going to the Gandy Dancer, which I'm excited about, because it's a bit fancy and I've never been before. It's in an old train station and is located right by the current Amtrak station, a mile or so from downtown A2. 
  5. Trying to not be sick. This is a tough one for me. Yesterday I 'canceled' everything (skipped zumba, skipped going over a friend's house for her weekly get-together) just so I could cook myself dinner, do some laundry, and stay home. I'm going to try to relax more this weekend, too, but I'm staying overnight in A2 tonight, and then tomorrow, we have plans to see a midnight movie (Blade Runner: The Final Cut) at Main Art.
Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek - hard to leave this view!


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