The Friday Five, 8/11/23: 5 things I've been up to this week

I don't know why I bother trying to get to sleep "early" because yesterday I got 7.5 hours of sleep, but didn't sleep well (I woke up 5+ times; I normally wake up 2-3x), so I feel a lot more tired today versus yesterday when I got like 6 hours of sleep. 

Lindsey Stirling, Centennial Terrace, Toledo, OH
Lindsey Stirling, Centennial Terrace, Toledo, OH

What I've been up to this week:
  1. Seeing Lindsey Stirling in Toledo. On Friday night, my boyfriend and I went to Toledo to see Lindsey Stirling perform at Centennial Terrace. CT was a new venue for me; it turns out they have parking but it's $10, and we showed up a little bit after the opening act started, so we ended up parking across the street. This was my FIFTH time seeing Lindsey—I've seen her at the Fox Theatre, Michigan Theatre, Stranahan (also Toledo), Freedom Hill and now here—and she always puts on a fabulous show. Check out my reel here.
  2. One-night stay in Toledo. After we saw Lindsey Stirling, we had a 15-minute drive (instead of about an hour's drive home) to the Holiday Inn we had booked with points. It ended up being a newer Holiday Inn and super nice, plus it had free breakfast in the AM. 
  3. Toledo Zoo and Tony Packo's. I had never been to the Toledo Zoo, but we renewed our Detroit Zoo membership this past week JUST so we could get the reciprocal pricing—for reciprocal members such as Detroit's, it's half off tickets, so instead of $29 PER ticket, we paid $29 total to get in. The Toledo Zoo ended up being a blast and honestly I actually liked it a little more than the Detroit Zoo; the one exception being the penguin area, because the Detroit Zoo has the largest penguinarium in the U.S., I believe, and it is super nice. At the Toledo Zoo I even got to feed a giraffe, which was a ton of fun, and they had THREE red pandas, which is another of my favorite zoo animals. See my reel here.
    After the zoo we headed to Tony Packo's—I had been there before with my parents but the one we ended up at, in Sylvania near 23, was actually more of fast-casual cafe. However, the food was still good—we had fried pickles, pierogies, and chicken paprika (paprikash? I forget). 
  4. Seeing movies at the theater. On Tuesday, I normally go to the gym but was feeling tired and didn't want to, so I ended up seeing Shortcomings, at AMC Livonia—you can check out my Instagram video review here (and one of the actresses commented on it, too, after I tagged her, which was nice!). I gave that movie 4.5/5 stars. Yesterday I ended up seeing The Meg 2, in 3D, at AMC John R, and I'd give that one 3.5/5 stars, although the 3D was fabulous (sharks everywhere, and I even jumped a few times in my seat, haha). See my review reel here.
  5. Getting a haircut. The last time I got a haircut was May 2022, according to my Google Calendar, so 14 months later I definitely needed one. I got about three inches off my hair—I still want it to be relatively long, but it was getting TOO long, especially for summer. 
Red panda at Toledo Zoo
Red panda at Toledo Zoo

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