The Friday Five, 8/16/24: 5 things I've been up to this week

We are officially 1 month out from our wedding—30 days from today, to be exact—and we still have a lot of little things left to do. We are also hosting a small get-together next weekend, and need to clean the house/get ready for that, too.

2nd stop, 160 Main, Northville

What I've been up to this week:

1. Local bachelorette party in Northville. I had a 3-day Traverse City bachelorette trip too, but only one of my three bridesmaids were able to make that one, so I also wanted to do a 1-night local party; also, none of them had met before, so this was a good introduction! My MOH and bridesmaids planned it, and I wanted to be surprised—I knew ahead of time we were probably doing a restaurant crawl, with three stops (my MOH and I used to do something called the Michigan Pops Orchestra Progressive Party, in college, where one orchestra member would host appetizers, one would host dinner, and one would host dessert, which was always a lot of fun, so we got the inspiration for this from that). It ended up being in Northville, and our first stop was Toria, for drinks and appetizers; then 160 Main, which one of my bridesmaids and I had been to last year and I really enjoyed, for dinner; then Browndog, one of my favorites, for dessert! My MOH is awesome and brought some party-type games for us to enjoy, too, and overall it was a really fun night. 
2. Going out to eat/getting takeout. On Friday night, I brought over Pink Garlic for my fiance and myself for dinner. On Saturday, I had the progressive bach party (Toria/160 Main/Browndog), and on Sunday, my parents and I got Hungry Howie's takeout. Yesterday, City BBQ in Troy had sent me a deal for a free 2-meat/2-side plate, which I definitely took them up on, for lunch; I got brisket, pulled pork, hush puppies, and corn pudding, and it also came with a slice of Texas toast ... an $18 value! I had been to the previous location on Big Beaver Rd. maybe four years ago at this point, and always thought it was just okay, but yesterday's brisket was really good, so I will go back at some point. 
3. Seeing movies. My fiance and I saw Borderlands on Sunday, despite the 8% Rotten Tomatoes rating; I thought it was decent (maybe 2.5/5 or 3/5 if I'm being generous), with a lot of action and special effects, but he thought it was just okay. Yesterday I saw Skincare at the theater, with Elizabeth Banks, and that was a crazy movie—I'd give it 4/5, and you can see my video review of it here on my Instagram. Keep an eye out for a Twisters movie review + digital code giveaway from me soon, too—if not tomorrow, then early next week!
4. Wedding planning. I got to meet a few of my fiance's aunts and uncles over FaceTime on Monday night (his mom is one of six siblings in her family) and we figured out the seating chart—just need to print the placecards, and the website I really like (a stationery store in Ohio) is doing half-off placecards this month, which is perfect. We still need to finalize our florist order and a few other things, plus pick songs to give to our DJ. 
5. Getting my tire fixed. On Tuesday night, after leaving the gym, I noticed my front driver's side tire looked low; my fiance said it looked like it was getting flat, and I should add air immediately. I went to my usual place, Belle Tire in WB, but their free air machine wasn't working, so I finally found a paid air machine (like $2; worth it to not have to drive further) at a gas station nearby. I brought my car in the next day to Belle Tire and it turned out I had a SCREW in the tire, so I'm very glad I brought it in ... they were able to patch it up for me fairly quickly and then I was on my way.

Caprese (top) and fried artichokes, at 160 Main, Northville