This was kind of a classic New Jersey Fall Weekend. Yes I know, it was technically the last weekend of Summer season, but everything has that Autumn vibe to it after Labor Day, right? Everywhere you look Pumpkin Spice items are all over. I even purchased my first Samuel Adams Oktoberfest 6 pack of the season.

We will start with our Friday night. I was able to enjoy a fun night out with one of my besties, JG. We checked out Aquaviva on 23 and had a delicious pomegranate martini. Since I needed google to spell pomegranate, you can tell it's been awhile since I've enjoyed one of those refreshing beverages.

Saturday morning it was a beautiful day. My friends at USA Wine Traders Club in Newton/Hampton on 206 invited me to join them for their ribbon cutting ceremony. WOW. USA Wine Traders Club knows how to throw a party! They handed out a thimble of fancy bourbon for everyone to cheers and celebrate. They had several food and drink tasting options, plus a DJ! I definitely did some damage once I saw their prices on Josh and Decoy red cabernet wine bottles. You can see my tour of this massive liquor superstore all the way at the bottom of this page. I enjoyed the Josh with Awesome Girlfriend Megan Saturday night after a fun night of painting some walls. I got my roller tray set from McAfee Hardware. They're always so helpful there and I'm very happy to support local small businesses. My 1st ever job growing up was at Wallpaper City in Mansfield, Massachusetts. I had no prior experience with paint and wallpaper, but managed to last 7 wonderful years at the store. It's one of the jobs that largely helped me pay off my college tuition at Bridgewater University 3 months before I graduated. Not that it's anyone's fault, but within a year of a Home Depot opening my paint store had to close. That's one of the reasons I try very hard to shop small and local whenever possible. I'm not anti chain / big box stores though just to be clear. While they may be national chains it's important to keep in mind that most of their employees are local residents just like us. I worked part time at Best Buy in Mansfield in 2010 to help pay some bills while I was building my radio career.

Saturday night after Meg and I did some errands we relaxed with that nice bottle of Josh red cabernet. We slept to the movie Frozen 2, which I had never seen. I must admit, Frozen 2 was pretty enjoyable.

Sunday morning Meg and I did some more chores around her place, then I was on my way back to Sussex County, New Jersey for football Sunday. Normally when my Patriots are on local tv I watch the games in my living room on the couch. Okay that's partially true, I do a ton of pacing during the games. This time around, I watched the first half of the Patriots vs. Jets game at The Irish Cottage Inn. We had fun. The Patriots rushing defense had me frustrated at times, but overall we are happy. Over the past almost 8 years I have been here, it's so painful when the Jets beat my Patriots. I'm surrounded by plenty of my friends who will constantly taunt me with the cheer "J-E-T-S, JETS JETS JETS!" I always jeer back with "you Jets fans are so proud when you can successfully spell a one syllable word!" It's all in good fun, the back and forth.

Sunday afternoon was a very fun football Sunday in. I shockingly won both of my fantasy football games, and was able to enjoy going back and forth on TV switching between Tampa Bay's Tommy Come Back To Me Please Brady, (my new nickname for him, lol - can you hear Orleans' Baby Come Back in your head?) and Meg's Dallas Cowboys. I'm very happy that Meg's Cowboys won. With me being a diehard Patriots fan, and Meg being a diehard Cowboys fan, we joke that we are the most hated couple in New Jersey. LOL.

I hope you had a great weekend. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend!

Steve Allan

About Steve Allan