These past couple of weekends were fun times getting to see some family up in New England and some friends here in Jersey. Happy New Year and I hope 2024 is even better than previous years for you. This Weekend In Pictures will be a little lighter on text. Christmas weekend I was able to drive from Vernon, New Jersey to Mansfield, Massachusetts on Saturday the 23rd. Even though experts predicted that day to be among the worst for traveling, I got lucky. I hit the road by 8:30 and made it back to see my parents at 12:30. I was pleasantly stunned. Last time Christmas was on a Monday it took me 8 hours to get home instead of 4. I had to stop a couple of times during that one. I had a great time with my family back home it was absolutely wonderful getting to see them. Christmas Eve I also had a Merry Christmas in person wish from my next door neighbor friend, Luke. Christmas morning we were in our multi season room watching The Grinch when I heard what sounded like a minor gun shot. I looked over, surely enough it was Luke shooting off a confetti streamer gun. I swear by late Christmas afternoon his backyard looked like a sea of colors everywhere. Comedy gold. My family also gave me an air fryer. Once I figure out where to put it, this has fun potential to learn working this. It might give us some comedy gold of me trying to learn and experiment with it until I replace my outdoor broken electric grill.
I had a great time with my family. It was fun having football on in the background. I have to admit, even though it was fun, I honestly prefer not having football on Christmas Day. Even though I'm a diehard, rabid football fan, it's definitely okay to have a break on Christmas Day.
I was able to enjoy a couple of vacation days back home after Christmas, coming back to Jersey on Wednesday the 27th. That helped me get through work on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th, knowing that we were going to be slammed going into the New Year / another holiday weekend. My ride back wasn't too bad either, I was able to beat rainy weather for the most part.
My last day in Massachusetts I was able to enjoy two awesome, unique restaurants, both within a 12 minute drive of my childhood home. For lunch I went to Wendell's Pub in Norton, Massachusetts. I did Extra Spicy wings there for my first time in a couple of years at least and loved it. By noon they were packed. I always joke that it's a good sign if you're at a restaurant in now 2024 and they're still cash only. If you're going to be that inconvenient to still be cash only (yes, there tend to be ATMs nearby, even often on the premises,) it has to be a sign that the business is GOOD. My wings were absolutely fantastic. Approximately 20 years or so on a cold winter night, a gentleman slowly came into the restaurant. He asked me if this was "THE Wendell's," hottest wings of The Mississippi, etc. I said yes. He left and came back 30 seconds later with his family. They made the trek from Georgia for these wings.
Tuesday night, Padre and I came up with a plan together at the same exact time. He said "Steve with it being your last dinner with us, how about we do Fresh Catch?" We both said Fresh Catch at the same exact time. Fresh Catch in Mansfield is a fantastic seafood restaurant. My lobster roll was so phenomenal the next day it was still all I could think about. Well, missing my family and coming back to Jersey, I was thinking about that first, but then shortly after that it was the lobster roll. As delicious as it looked in my pictures, it was even better in person! To quote Seinfeld, it was real and spectacular! ;)
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Thursday and Friday were nonstop slammed action packed here, as I expected. Not too too many things appeared to break while I was away on vacation. If anything more things seemed to break over this weekend, nevertheless.
Saturday I was able to do a pretty decent job of organizing my place. After my birthday and Christmas a month apart, it was a good time to reorganize and put some things away. As we know, once you stay on top of organizing then it can help with both everyday minor things and large too.
Saturday night I was able to see our friend Donna for her birthday. We were psyched to see her in action doing karaoke with her soothing voice. She's a fantastic singer, I look forward to seeing her sing again sometime. It was fun to be a part of the birthday party at The Irish Cottage Inn for sure.
It was an early night, knowing I had The New York Giants at MetLife football game where they were taking on the LA Rams.
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Once I heard they were going to be having ribs and wings at the tailgate, I immediately went to the grocery store and bought a few packs of wet wipes. Nice, simple contribution from me for the tailgate. It's tough to keep your hands clean out at those fun tailgate parties on a normal day, let alone when ribs and wings were involved. We all ate well.
The weather forecast for Sunday was supposed to be partly sunny and 42 degrees outside. Not bad weather at all especially for a late December day. When we arrived at MetLife 8:05am, it was a pretty decent morning. The sun was peeking out of the clouds and we were excited for our day. We were wrong about the weather. The sun never ended up coming out, and it was just cloudy and freezing. I was wearing my Under Armour heat gear as my first layer, had a long sleeve over that, my white hoody, and my coat, plus gloves. We were still freezing. We still had a great time at the game, despite the weather, and Giants losing. The Giants went 3-1 when I went to their games last year. This year they split it 1-1.
When we got back, bestie Artie said "Steve I know you're tired, take a warm shower, see if that recharges you." I went home and took the warm shower. It did not recharge me. I went to bed under my warm covers right after that. New Year's Eve, I was in bed by 7pm. I woke up occasionally to watch football, but that was it. I was out in the elements from 8:05am to approximately 4pm. I was done. I think I still had trouble shaking the chill off of me Monday!
Monday I was able to get some retail therapy in and go to Woodbury Common Outlets. I was able to get a new pair of dark denim True Religion jeans to replace my current ones that just got a hole in the right knee. All good. At least I scored a decent deal on them.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend!