My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Dodging The Cold

This was a classic winter weekend in Sussex County, New Jersey. I can't lie and say I spent too much time watching skiers and snowboarders from my deck, it was way too cold. When it's 30 or above fair game, but when it's in that lovely 0-29 degree temperature range we often find ourselves in during northeast winters, just too cold and not enjoyable for me. Even with an ice cold beer that turns to slush, still not fun lol. This weekend involved me enjoying the NFL Playoff Divisional Round, laughs with friends and a ribbon cutting ceremony too.

We will start my Epic Weekend In Pictures with Friday. Friday was one of those crazy busy behind the scene days where my Program Director job for our three iHeartRadio stations required me to spend several hours sending reports and spreadsheets to folks. Affirmative, even if you work in radio, you still can't dodge boring meetings and spreadsheets / reports. Growing up I thought radio would be my way to dodge it, unfortunately that's not the case. All good. By Friday afternoon, I was totally drained. My goal was to go see friends for Happy Hour, get a pizza to go, and have one of those quiet Friday nights in where you're wearing sweatpants staying warm. At the time it felt like that was all my bandwidth could handle after a busy week.

While getting my meat lovers pizza to go from The Cottage laughing with some good friends, I got a text from besties Jasen and Brendan. It was Jasen's birthday, they were getting back into town earlier than expected. It was great to be able to see Jasen and celebrate his birthday on his birthday. My heart goes out to folks who have birthdays in January and February. With the way our northeast winters tend to be, there tend to be several birthday makeup dates for my friends and family celebrating their birthdays during these cold winter months.

I was able to see them at Kite's where the dining room was packed. I think it's safe to say ski season with my friends at Mountain Creek is going quite well. It's fun when you have so many people in good, happy moods visiting our beautiful area we get to call home. With the bar being packed and every single seat being taken, I was able to score leather chairs for us right near the dance floor. Those chairs came in clutch big time. I honestly didn't have the energy to stand around the bar. I usually don't like standing around bars anyway.

After spending some time sharing laughs with friends Friday night, time to go home and warm up. Lucky for me, Friends reruns were on television. Two of my favorite episodes aired too. The one where Monica explains the 7 zones for females, and The Quiz Game with The Lightning Round hosted by Ross. I couldn't stop laughing out loud watching even though I know every single word to those episodes already. Great way to end my Friday night that was originally supposed to be in and low key.

Saturday I was invited to the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony by my friend Damian over at Realty Executives Mountain Properties by Rite Aid in Hamburg on 94. If you work in radio, it's likely there have been many ribbon cutting ceremonies that you've attended. For me honestly, ribbon cutting ceremonies don't ever get old. Everyone is always happy, hopeful and optimistic about the new business situation. It takes so much hard work behind the scenes for these folks to throw a great ribbon cutting ceremony that many can enjoy. Saturday was definitely one of those days. I will confess I went into Weekend In Picture mode helping plan the best spots and camera angles to post on social media. They all laughed and said "oh wow, you're pretty good at this." I said "thank you, but I've had a ton of practice doing this over the past few years." LOL. It was fantastic seeing so many smiling friends, running into some old friends and making some new ones too. Talk about a terrific event where many enjoyed the food spreads they had. I don't know if it's okay to pluralize food spreads, but if there's ever a case this would be it. We all enjoyed ice cold beverages together celebrating the launch of our new realtor business team. By the way, between you and me, I think there's a chance we could be working with them on my Pets Of The Week. I see lots of fun potential.

Saturday afternoon we watched the thrilling Cincy Bengals upset over the Tennessee Titans. I think even my friends who bet on Titans to win were rooting for the underdog Bengals by the end. It was a fun game and everyone at The Cottage were loving it. I love watching games at home better where I can either relax or pace and yell at my tv. That being said, it's still fun to be out with friends who also love football and are impressed with the level of drama surrounding the games.

Saturday night I watched the Green Bay Packers get upset by the underdog San Francisco 49ers. Even though I'm not personally a fan of either team, I have more Packer fan friends than 49er fans. When my Patriots aren't playing, I may not be directly rooting for other teams, it's more like rooting for my friends to be happy. I was sad when the Packers lost thinking of my friends. They took it well, noting that this has happened before with them. You can't help but wonder if that was Aaron Rodgers last game with the Packers, it might be the end of an era.

Early Sunday morning I was able to get a haircut from my personal stylist Jenn at Pro Cutters in Franklin. It was much needed and success. Sunday morning was a little less than epic, I grocery shopped at Shop Rite Of Sparta. I realize that there are several grocery stores I pass to end up at Shop Rite Of Sparta. I just tend to have a little better luck getting everything I want in one stop, plus the liquor store in the plaza too. One less trip, I'm happy with that. Also getting a green tea from Starbucks? Another victory for me. Success.

I then saw some friends watching the first half of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer vs. Los Angeles Rams game. What an amazing game. I have several friends who admit they're not fans of Tom Brady, but many of them were even rooting for Brady by the end. Brady pulled off another amazing comeback like I have seen so many times over the past 20+ years. Such an epic game again, tough seeing him lose. It's far tougher imagining the possibility that this may have been his last game. For him (or his camp, sources close to him,) to leak out Sunday morning that he isn't yet committed to next season is enormous. Brady has never hinted towards retirement before in his career. I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to start being there for his family more. He kind of hinted at that. It's inevitable eventually and will be a sad day when TB12 does retire. (Although I won't miss watching him now beat my Patriots!)

Sunday my remote control stopped working despite brand new batteries. I better reach out to DirecTV. I was able to sleep to the Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs game. I had to be in early because today on this Monday I'm doing double duty filling in for Steve Andrews on the 102.3 WSUS Morning Show, and doing my afternoon show. Let's go! I don't even want to admit how many green teas I'm probably going to drink today.