This Epic Weekend In Pictures was affected by rain once again, but I still had quality fun wherever my traveling adventures took me. Thursday we had my Adopt A Pet Of The Week Motley on with us and he's a sweetheart pup for sure. Unfortunately we haven't had any luck helping Motley find his new Furever Family yet. This guy loves people so much. You can see him by clicking here. Overall my Epic Weekend had some retail therapy, football misery, and fun with friends.
Friday night I ran into some friends for Happy Hour but other than that had a quiet, early night in. After a long, action packed week at work I was ready to just go to my couch and watch 90s tv show reruns like Seinfeld. Sometimes the not so epic nights can be refreshing. Saturday my goal was to go to Woodbury Commons Outlets. I hadn't been there in awhile. The forecast called for rain starting at 12pm, which I didn't mind. At least when it's raining outside the outdoor malls aren't as crowded. I wanted to try and get some new workout gear.
Saturday morning when I woke up the rain had already started several hours earlier than was forecasted. All good. I wasn't going to let a little bit of rain get in the way of my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Do you think we'll ever break from this weather pattern of us getting rain every single weekend by the way?
Saturday morning I did my usual Saturday morning check in call with Madre to tell her of my plans. I drove the 50 minutes or so in the rain over to Woodbury. The rain was consistent, but not a hard heavy downpouring rain at least. At least it did lower the crowds, Woodbury had much more walking room than on a normal Saturday.
I had my iHeartMedia windbreaker on, so that helped me stay dry. My first stop was the Under Armor Outlet store. Ideally I was potentially looking for some gear that can help me stay warm if I'm running outside. They had a few hoodies there, but I already have several hoodies that I can use for that. They didn't have much dry fit gear for running inside that was hitting me either. All good. Next top was the Lucky Outlet. Everything I slightly liked, guess what, I already have. LOL. All good. I ended up almost eating at Shake Shack. My buddies teased me last summer when I went to Shake Shack and said for me "it was just okay." I only got a hot dog and french fries at Shake Shack, my buddies all teased me that I did it wrong. I went to Shake Shack and didn't get a burger, nor a shake. Apparently that's a cardinal sin. I went back to Shake Shack, and honestly got a case of sticker shock. Burger over $10, fries $5, and that's before you even get anything to drink with it. I ended up going to a nearby TGI Fridays instead. There was one unexpected successful stop at Woodbury. I went into The Guess Outlet store there for my first time in a few years. They had a couple of decent sales, and the wheels came off pretty quickly after that. I was able to basically get a new red dress shirt to replace a couple of my older ones, a pink shirt that's similar to a short sleeve shirt I have but this one is dressier, and a new sweater. With many of us dressing more business casual than as casual the past couple of years, I figured switching in a new sweater instead of hoodies might be a good idea.
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Saturday was a good success. Even though I ended up not getting any workout gear at Woodbury Commons, I still had fun and got some steps in despite the rainy weather. Before TGI Fridays, I went over to the nearby Kohl's. Boom. I was able to get two new dry fit shirts and a pair of shorts, all on sale. Success!
I then met up with bestie Artie and other friends at The Cottage to watch college football games and stay dry! There were some good games on! I arrived at The Cottage just in time to see Rutgers make their big comeback over Michigan State. Shout out to those who braved the nonstop cold rain and cheered on our local college team. It was fun watching close and exciting college football games with friends all while drying off after playing in the rain.
Sunday morning I didn't have as much of a plan like I normally do. There were some potential options with friends. Once some plans started to fall through, then my bestie Jennifer texted me. She asked me what I had planned for my Epic Weekend In Pictures, and I told her I was basically open until the 4pm Patriots vs. Las Vegas Raiders game. She had a couple of errands to run at Rockaway Mall. Two malls in one weekend? Why the heck not! I was happy to join her. I then scored more workout gear socks, at Dick's Going Going Gone warehouse outlet store, and fun stuff at Macy's Backstage. After that we went to nearby Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the 1pm football games. It was such a fun, crowded atmosphere at Buffalo Wild Wings. Seeing so many games on television at the same exact time was great. We started watching one game, then I alerted bestie Jennifer that there was possibly a huge upset happening with Cleveland Browns, without their starting quarterback, against the San Francisco 49ers. We had fun watching that game, even despite the network tv local broadcast rule hiccup. If you were watching, the NFL makes networks cut away from a game no matter how phenomenal it may be, to go to the local football team once their game starts. The NFL has had this policy in place for probably ever. It was just jarring for many when it's a huge play at the end of the game, and suddenly the TV cuts to Jets quarterback Zach Wilson merely running onto the field. All of this while one of the biggest upsets all year is taking place! Comedy gold.
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I then went home, couldn't get my Patriots game on tv. I tried streaming it on my phone but it just kept driving me insane. I ended up at The Cottage to watch my Patriots. Several friends said "Steve, we usually don't see you here during the Patriots games!" I responded with "No, I prefer to watch my Patriots games home alone. It didn't work out, so here I am now." They had the Jets game on at the same time. Ironically, believe it or not, I was predicting all week that the Jets had a strong chance at upsetting the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. Surely enough, the New York Jets pulled it off. This was a very rare case where I was rooting for the Jets to win. I mainly root for my friends who are fans of them to be happy. It was definitely an odd sight, me cheering on the Jets and their friends who are not used to me ever being on their side. I was even nice to the nice Raider fans who were able to celebrate beating my Patriots. They were nice and knowledgeable about football too, I had fun watching the game with them even though we were on opposite sides of the fence.
I even rounded up my Jet fan friends to take a victory selfie with me. They earned it. I promised the fun would stop once they start the most annoying noise in the world to me, the JETS chant. They know how much it annoys me when Jets fans are so proud of themselves for spelling a four letter, one syllable word correctly. J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS - - - UGH UGH UGH UGH STOP STOP STOP STOP IT!!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Overall I had a great weekend seeing people and accomplishing some things along the way. Time to start planning next weekend!