Today is April 25th so it's not too hot and not too cold—all you need is a light jacket. (bonus points if you know what movie that is from!)
April 25th is also my mom's birthday, plus my cousin's, plus his wife's, so it's a memorable day all around. We are headed to Indiana later for the birthday celebration weekend (after I crank this out, and we pack some more stuff), and it should be a fun time.
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| Pizookie Platter at BJ's, Livonia |
What I've been up to this week:
- Dining out/getting takeout. Last Friday, my husband and I drove 25 minutes to MOD Pizza Livonia—the Northville location is now permanently closed, and we had $20 in gift cards to use from Christmas last year. On the way there, we also got cheap gas at the Costco across the street (like $2.65 per gallon!) and checked out JoAnn Fabrics—all of their stores are in the midst of permanently closing, so they had some good deals, and I even got some earrings.
On Saturday, he and I and my parents went to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse in Livonia—more on that below, but the gist is that I had been invited to try their new Pizookie Platter, since we write about them for my job, which is basically four Pizookies in one big dish.
On Sunday, my parents and I got Hungry Howie's takeout, per usual, and then last night my husband and I got Pink Garlic via Doordash, which is always delicious—it's my favorite in this area, and even with a 15- to 20-minute delivery drive, it's still piping hot. - Going to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse in Livonia. Because we write about them for work, they invited me in to try a secret menu item, the Pizookie Platter, and I asked if we could come in for dinner as well; they ended up giving me a very generous "courtesy card," meaning the balance had to be used in one sitting, so the four of us went. We tried out five different appetizers—my favorites were the Fryckles (pickle fries) with ranch, plus the spinach artichoke dip and the potstickers—plus we each got an entree, and then we split the Pizookie Platter for dessert. Everything was delicious, and we had a ton of leftovers too. I hadn't been to BJ's in a few years, but they do a great happy hour menu, as well, and also daily specials; I believe there's one in Sterling Heights still, too.
- Seeing Sinners at the theater. This movie was excellent and I'm still thinking about it today; you can see my video review here on my Instagram, and I gave it 4.5/5 stars. Michael B. Jordan plays twins in 1930's Mississippi, and they want to open a juke club, aka a place where people can dance and drink. There's just a slight wrinkle with this, and I won't go into spoilers here, but there are some supernatural elements, let's say. I also thought the music was fantastic—it's mostly blues and jazz aka music from that time period—as was the acting, and the cinematography. It's worth seeing in theaters IMO. I also saw it in Super EMAX at Emagine Novi, which had a great screen and sound.
- Finishing our wedding album! Only about six months late, LOL. We got married on September 15th and our photographer had all ~1,800~ of our photos to us by early- or mid-October. Part of our wedding package included a nice album, which is something I wanted because my parents also have a nice one from their wedding, but we had to narrow those 1,800 photos down to 250 max for our photographer to choose from, to put the album together, and my husband and I finally sat down on Sunday and Monday to select photos. Originally we selected about 270-280 but we were able to whittle it down to 250, and I'm excited to see how the album turns out.
- Reading books. Haven't written about this in a while, as I've been neglecting my reading, but I got the newest Hunger Games book from the library last week, Sunrise on the Reaping, which is Haymitch's backstory, and it was very good; I'd probably give it 4/5 or 4.5/5 stars. I'm also reading a Carola Lovering book right now, Can't Look Away, and that one is shaping up to be 4/5 or 4.5/5 as well. I started reading her books because she is the author of Tell Me Lies, which is now a Hulu show; I saw the show first, and loved it, and then went back to read the book.
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| The Pizookie Platter at BJ's Livonia ($27.99) |
