My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Work And Fun

This Weekend In Pictures involved some work, travel and fun.  Between Vernon, Franklin, Sparta, Hackettstown, Newton, Wantage, I hit a ton of Sussex County.  Friday we kicked it off with my live broadcast at the grand reopening for Double S Diner on Route 23.  Despite the challenging construction happening on 23, we had an enormous turnout.  Hopefully that construction ends someday, if anyone knows please let me know!  Congratulations to Keith, who also oversees Cafe E Dolci in Franklin.  He was a great sport in letting me crack the ceremonial first egg for the Double S Diner grand reopening.  We had several people come up to our table, saying they heard on the radio we were there and came on down.  That feeling honestly never gets old.  This funny video was one of our biggest ones all time, which I'm betting has more to do with the excitement of this diner reopening as opposed to me hilariously failing to smoothly crack an egg, again.  I then ventured to Kite's for a Day Of The Dead Milago Tequila special, and walked through the Friday night monsoon to my car.  Did you get caught in that Friday night monsoon?  Just from walking to my car I get entirely drenched, and had to change my clothes before going to our bestie Jasen's place.  Hanging out, drinking yummy red wine, while playing Cards Against Humanity for my best time in awhile was just what the doctor ordered after a long week.  Many laughs with Jasen, Brendan, Carrie, Mackenzie, and Spot.  

Saturday morning the action packed weekend continued.  We held our first ever Town Hall forum hosted by Steve Andrews, who did a fantastic job with this.  I want to thank all five of our Candidates for Sussex County Freeholder who took time out of their busy campaigning weekends to join us.  It was also troubling to see not a huge in studio person turnout, but hopefully the thousands more who were listening on the radio enjoyed it.  You can watch the entire broadcast that we simulcasted live on Facebook below.  

Saturday I didn't get many errands done, but one important errand for me went great.  I swung by to see my dear friend Dawn Gomez at Garden Of Life Massage And Yoga.  Right when I walked in, hugged Dawn and said hello, a customer at the counter exclaimed "I feel like I'm in my car right now, listening to the radio!"  That also never gets old, lol.  I scored a great deal on massages to celebrate Dawn's 15th anniversary.  Local businesses support us, and we support them.

I then stopped at Mohawk House for a Titos and vodka with splash of cranberry on my way to Awesome Girlfriend Megan's in Hackettstown.  Domestication weekends are still rather new to me, so sometimes pregaming can help.  Embarrassing snafu happened while running into my friend Tina, who I didn't even recognize due to her terrific new haircut.  Tina is in a band called "Blush," who I'll be seeing perform soon.  She informed me that they'll be using the bass guitar owned by my late friend Dr. Mike Ramieri, which made me smile while tearing up.  We enjoyed a drink and good laughs with her friend Paul, who is in a band called "Sick Star Nation," who I enjoyed seeing them perform at Mohawk House a bunch of times.  

Saturday afternoon Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I enjoyed many of the wonderful amenities Hackettstown has to offer.  We enjoyed wings at Marley's, even though I didn't have it in me to do Nuclear Hot wings, only Hot BBQ and then bought a jar of pickles from pickle only store.  Meg cracked up announcing I was like a kid in a candy store.  

We then took Meg's Awesome Daughter Amanda out to lunch, which was a big success.  Meg and I then ventured out to take on more Hackettstown downtown life, enjoying a beer and making new friends at Czig Meister.  We met Glenn and Jean who not only are proud Rutgers University alum like Meg, but also live in Sparta and enjoy listening to us on the radio.  New England IPA's are such a happy medium.  They tend to not be over hoppy, nor over strong.  Quite often over the past few years, as they've been exploding in popularity, IPAs lately tend to try to out hop or out test each other.  Don't do it, you're already good!  

Lunch with Awesome Girlfriend Megan, and her Awesome Daughter Amanda

Sunday morning Meg and I LOVED gaining an extra hour.  Her cats still woke her up to get fed ridiculously early per usual, but we made the most of our time relaxing after then.  Meg made breakfast for 5 people in just 15 minutes where it would take me probably 3 hours to pull off that major task.  I then ventured back to Sussex County, while Meg took Awesome Daughter Amanda to see her Awesome Mommy Rita in PA.  I tried going with them to Marshall's in Hackettstown, but it was only 10:35 and they didn't open until 11.  This opened up my shopaholic wound, because after leaving Meg I took the 206 way which would bring me right into Marshall's in Newton.  No great fits at the time, but those stores tend to be all about timing with their feast or famine nature.  Always worth it to take a shot!  I then went to Walmart, in attempt to find a new replacement plate for Meg after I failed with that a couple weekends ago.  Nope, they had a color lighter than her plates and darker, but not her exact color.  After that adventure I called Meg saying "I just went 0 for Newton.  Time for a beer at The Cottage in Franklin to drown my sorrows."  

I had a couple of beers enjoying football with some usual suspects.  After then, a nice Sunday Happy Hour at Kite's with JG, Brad, and Steve.  I got home to greet Meg.  Even though Meg had the girls this weekend, she was able to come all the way from Hackettstown to watch the first half of my Patriots with me.  I LOVED getting to watch football with Meg.  Big time success.  She got home just in time for the exciting 4th quarter, and we enjoyed my Pats winning.  Best of luck wishes to Meg for her Cowboys tonight on Monday Night Football.  

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend.  I hope your weekend was fantastic too.  Time to start planning next weekend, where Meg is taking me on some surprise adventure where I'm not allowed to ask questions.  I'm scared!