My Epic Birthday Weekend In Pictures

This Epic Birthday Weekend In Pictures was a phenomenal reminder of just how lucky and blessed I am.  With this Weekend In Pictures, you'll be seeing a delicious steak, amazing buffalo wings, many yummy craft beers, all while having a wonderful time with my family and friends.  My Birthday celebration has lasted 5 days, starting in Vernon, traveling to New England, then Franklin, before finishing things up on Campus back in Vernon.  My Birthday is November 25th, so this means that my birthday once every 6 years lands on Thanksgiving Day.  Even before Facebook reminded people of birthdays, many friends and family always knew to simply wish me a Happy Birthday all through Thanksgiving Week.  Since my birthday is Thanksgiving Week, it can be a very challenging time to spend time with your friends and family.  Everyone has crazy schedules, especially on that week.  Normally we celebrate my Birthday every year on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week, but since we did our Christmas Light Up party at Subaru World that day, we postponed it to Thanksgiving Eve.  My friends who took time out on this busy night are amazing.  

Thursday Thanksgiving morning I was on the road leaving Vernon by 6:20am.  This process has worked out fantastic for me.  When leaving Thanksgiving Eve, it would take me up to 7 hours going from Jersey to Boston.  When I'm able to leave Thanksgiving morning at 6:20am, my ETA in Boston is usually 10:00am on the dot.  Major success!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday all year, because it's about family, food, and football.  Yeah buddy!  Okay I'm a sellout because I do end up getting gifts on Thanksgiving due to my November 25th birthday.  I'm so blessed to have my amazing family.  Once together, all we do is just have fun, laugh, and bust on each other.  We are extremely lucky.  As you can see in the pictures, my family is hinting very loudly about wanting me to pop the question to Awesome Girlfriend Megan soon.  I promise, soon people, soon!!!!  

Black Friday!  I ventured off to Gillette Stadium which is only a 12 minute drive from my parents (when there's no traffic.)  I always love feeling the energy from Gillette Stadium, even when it's empty.  My parents took me out to lunch celebrating my birthday, and I picked Longhorn Steakhouse.  You may remember, Longhorn seasoning is the not so secret ingredient when I'm grilling burgers and steaks on my "cute," electric grill.  I ordered a NY Strip steak, medium rare, and it came out PERFECT!  An ice cold beer with a yummy steak?  I'm happy!  

Then Friday night, my parents hosted my best friends from home with our annual Black Friday party.  Matt, Chris, Kyla and Steph rounded out our wonderful night.  It's so fun being able to laugh with your friends and celebrate.  Tough to believe I've been friends with Kyla and Steph for over 15 years, Matt for over 18, and Chris for --- probably 27?!?  We enjoyed yummy drinks, including a career victory / birthday shot that I'll be giving you more information about very soon.  

Saturday!  I ventured out to South Shore Plaza in Braintree to get my oil changed at Sears.  For basic oil changes if I'm back in Boston, I would much rather walk around a mall entertaining myself than just sitting around an auto shop being bored on my smartphone.  Likely due to their bankruptcy situation, Sears wasn't offering oil changes.  #EpicFail.  I was texting Awesome Girlfriend Megan about it, when I heard "Steve Allan!"  It ended up being my friend and old morning guy, Karson from Karson & Kennedy on Mix in Boston.  When you work in radio on a morning show, their is a family like bond between the members you hear, and the team behind the scenes too.  Getting to see Karson and update him on my career fun and success in Jersey was a terrific surprise.  

Saturday afternoon, off to Wendell's in Norton.  This place is one of the best buffalo wing places in America, and only a 15 minute drive from my parents.  In 2018, they are still cash only.  I always say, in this era, if a bar or restaurant can survive being cash only, they must be excellent!  My bestie Davey, who was born 4 days before me on November 21st, have had a tradition since our college days where we take each other out to lunch at Wendell's for our Birthdays.  One time at Wendell's, I met a family who came up from Georgia, just to try their wings.  No exaggeration at all.  While they increase the heat, they also somehow increase flavor as well.  Davey introduced me to his buddy Dave and we hit it off immediately.  Major success.  

Saturday night, I was able to see my Bridgewater State buddies for the first time in a couple of years.  They always have a Friendsgiving party Saturday night, but the past two years I've had to work in Jersey on Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend.  This year the second I knew we would be off from work, I let my Bridgewater State buddies know of my return.  You know those friends how even if you haven't caught up in many months, the second you're together it's like zero time had ever passed?  Those would be my amazing Bridgewater State buddies.  It was also great to meet all of the new babies they have had in the two years I have been away from them, lol.  LOTS of kids...EVERYWHERE.  

Sunday, the big 37th Birthday celebration.  I left my parents by 7:30am to beat the Sunday of Thanksgiving Day Weekend traffic, and it worked.  Timing is everything.  My first year, I left at 9:30am and it took me almost 7 hours to get back to Jersey from Boston.  Leaving at 7:30 as opposed to 9:30 makes ALL the difference.  

Awesome Girlfriend Megan was there waiting for me at The Cottage with an ice cold Perpetual IPA.  We enjoyed the first half of Patriots against the Jets, then caught the second half at my place.  I'm very thankful that my Pats did not lose to the Jets on my birthday.  

My bestie Jasen then had us over for a birthday celebration for wine and pizza, talk about more of my favorite things!  Getting to relax with my besties after a long, fun weekend was just what the doctor ordered.  I wanted more pizza at one point, but was too tired from all of my weekend travels.  Meg and I left before 8pm.  Jasen insisted we get cupcakes so that they could all sing Happy Birthday to me, which was so sweet.  Getting to hang with Jasen, Brendan, Carrie and Spooner was terrific.  Meg did an amazing job coordinating with so many to make sure I had an Awesome 37th Birthday party.

Our weekend was Epic, thanks to so many fantastic family and friends.  I hope you had a great weekend too.  Now time to start planning next weekend!