My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Entertaining And A Big Old Barn!

This was definitely an action packed weekend we won't forget! I was able to get Awesome Girlfriend Megan this weekend, so the possibilities were endless. Thursday night we were supporting Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice at The Sussex County Fairgrounds Conservatory. We were supporting our bestie from work Shawn Stinnett who was one of their runway models. Then our work bestie Kim Eid volunteered my services to be a runway model for them next year. #WhatCanPossiblyGoWrong?

Friday night Meg and I had plans to meet up at The Cottage in Franklin. We were so psyched to see our friends Tina and Phil playing an acoustic set in their band Party Of Phive. By 6, Meg texted me saying she wouldn't be able to meet me in Franklin due to awful traffic for her. She has quite the long haul driving all the way from Rutgers University in New Brunswick up to see me here in Vernon. We figured it was easier for Meg to just meet me at our besties Jasen and Brendan's instead of trying to find parking, etc. I represented us and enjoyed the acoustic show. The comedy of Friday night was everyone finishing off a keg of pumpkin beer to make way for the new Yeungling chocolate beer. I'm not into pumpkin beer, and the chocolate beer was intimidating. Artie let me have a sip of his Yeungling chocolate beer, and it tasted just like a Hershey chocolate bar. It was a delicious sip, but I wouldn't be able to drink a full beer of chocolate flavor. Too sweet for me. Like my personality, I prefer my drinks to be rather dry and bitter, lol.

After The Cottage, Meg and I met up in Vernon on Campus at Jasen and Brendan's. We were able to relax with our friends, enjoy yummy wine, and laugh the night away. Have you noticed that red wine just tends to travel everywhere? Sometimes when we remember we attempt to just keep a paper towel on the counter under the bottle of red wine. When we were enjoying the wine, on one of her first sips, poor Meg spilled a little bit. She had a long, long drive and was exhausted. Meg immediately reached for the sponge and started cleaning off the mini wine spill stain. Jasen immediately cringed. Apparently Meg used the wrong sponge to clean off the counter. Jasen like me gets grossed out easily by sponges. Meg just looked up and asked herself aloud "why do I surround myself with guys who have issues with sponges?" How lucky is Meg, right?

Saturday morning Awesome Girlfriend Megan helped me elect my health benefits for 2020. I have done this successfully on my own for several years, but Meg demanded to help because she was "sick and tired of me not knowing even basic information about my health insurance plan." This way with Meg helping me through it, she can remember details that I don't typically pay attention to. Then it was time for us to run some errands, dry cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping. Fun fun fun!

Meg wanted us to entertain Saturday night, but we didn't have the energy for a massive cookout. We kept it small and simple. We got our ground beef from Sussex Meat Packing, and used one of my sirloin steaks I got from Green Valley Farm stand a couple months ago. I nicknamed them my Campus farm stand.

A couple of weeks ago, Meg and I accidentally went to a wrong Brewery almost an hour in the opposite direction of us. Our friend Kim recommended Orange County Brewery, when she actually meant Orange County DISTILLERY at Brown Barn Farm. I was determined to finally take Meg to the correct location. Even though last time we went to a wrong location, Meg and I still have a blast everywhere we go. We always joke even if we have bad experiences, we still get great stories and memories from wherever we go. That being said, I didn't want to mess up going to this place twice.

Once we arrived, Meg and I knew it was well worth the wait and hype. They had a Bear Catering food truck outside the venue which of course gave us complete comedy gold. With it being a Distillery, they had many more options than just draft beer. They had wine and liquor options if one wanted, with gorgeous views of a nearby field and pond. It is a classic big old barn. It's also COLD! Not much winterizing treatments on a big old barn after all. They had 3-4 pellet stoves cranking out heat. Meg and I went to the upstairs portion and had it all to ourselves. They had nice couches up there, Meg and I ended up being warmer up there as opposed to near the heating stoves. Our timing was perfect, we had that top floor all to ourselves, and we apparently left right before a large party arrived who had rented that space out. Success!

Saturday afternoon it was time to start prepping for our little cookout. Meg always knows I'm so stressed and miserable leading up to these. My brain just doesn't stop, and I'm obsessed with making sure everyone has fun. During the meal preparation, Meg all of the sudden asked "Steve, where is your Longhorn Steakhouse seasoning?" This is my not so secret secret weapon. Longhorn Steakhouse which you can order online is the dry rub seasoning I use for my world famous burgers and steaks. It has such a terrific kick to it. I rub it three times on each side of whatever I'm preparing. Meg and I were searching my tiny one bedroom apartment all over trying to figure out where did it go. I had just opened a new bottle a few weeks ago last time we had a cookout. Then the light bulb clicked for me. I brought my Longhorn seasoning for tailgating with my bestie Spooner before the Giants game. I figured it's likely still in the totaled car after our car accident. Boo! I then flew to the grocery store and got Montreal Seasoning. Montreal seasoning is good seasoning, but it's no Longhorn. With temperatures in the low 30s to high 20s, I knew to have my electric grill cranking for a couple of hours. I'm okay with how the steak sirloin came out, more medium, but the burgers came out nice and medium rare! btw, that box of wine wasn't bad at all! We were able to successfully use my selfie stick, with tons of help needed from Jasen and Brendan.

Sunday morning Meg and I were beat. We did some minor errands, then went to The Cottage for our Sunday farewell beer. It's on the way for Meg as she's driving all the way back to Hackettstown. We figured it was going to be a quiet late Sunday morning at the bar. We were WRONG. Apparently there was a huge rivalry soccer game happening, Liverpool against Manchester City. The bar was PACKED, and everyone was intensely watching every single second. I'm not a soccer fan, but watching with a bar full of people definitely makes it more fun. I was annoying Meg by trying to force in soccer terms whenever possible, my lame attempt to blend in. I think she was pretty close to slapping me after I told her the score was 3 NIL, instead of 3 to zero. We had a great time. Sundays are just always very tough for me when Meg has to go back to Hackettstown.

Sunday afternoon I watched the Jets vs Giants game. That was a close game. Even though they both tend to be rivals of mine, I still wish them well and hope the franchises keep building in the right direction. I was thrilled that Fox's NFL Sunday show did their broadcast from nearby West Point in honor of Veteran's Day. That was so cool to see. Sunday night I wrapped up with Happy Hour at Kite's, with my besties JG, Steve and Brad. Just best friends busting on each other laughing all night. The way life should be!

We had a spectacular weekend together. I hope your weekend was wonderful too. Time to start planning next weekend!