This was a wonderful weekend at times enjoying our beautiful weather! Other times I was watching football making me miserable both real actual football and both of my fantasy football leagues. Friday night I met up with girlfriend Brooks at Industry Kitchen & Bar in Sparta. We enjoyed capitalizing on Guest Appreciation Hour at the bar. Brooks and I split their charcuterie board and a side of french fries. The french fries at Industry are so underrated and delicious! Industry was a convenient spot for us, not just because we love it, but also for the location. Brooks had signed us up for an introductory meeting to sit future Seeing Eye Dogs. Our bestie Turner informed us about this interesting and exciting process a few weeks ago at NJ Taco Fest. We met at a the church on 15 in Lafayette. I went in with a totally open mind, eyes wide open not knowing what to expect. WOW. This was an amazing experience. All of the sudden, we were handed this gorgeous puppy named Katherine. She was so sweet and loving. For the next 45-55 minutes, we started helping train her. They have dogs do all of these fun exercises to better socialize with both people and other dogs. Situations like having dogs walk around each other intentionally, so they stop following their instincts and sniffing each other. Katherine even did well following my commands when I told her to sit. This was a wonderful experience. After 3 meetings I think that gets us into the running to get in dog sitting rotations. Katherine was so sweet, and this was a very rewarding experience. To think that I might play a very small role in training, or simply watching a future seeing eye dog that can help someone going through so much survive? This was a humbling, and awesome experience. We even met a girl named Debbie who was blind for years, and after 7 surgeries she can see again. She just got her driver's license, and guess what? She will now soon be training seeing eye dogs herself! Talk about a full circle hero, and someone who will be the perfect person to train seeing eye dogs with her personal experience! We got home just after 8:30, which is a little late for me on Friday night but well worth it. Can you imagine in the future me getting to play with and post even more cute puppy pictures? I can't wait for this! We ended up relaxing after that watching Big Bang Theory reruns. Not a bad Friday night at all!
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Saturday morning the weather was absolutely gorgeous so I came up with some fun, different ideas. We took a nice walk at Riverfront Park in Hackettstown. The river might not have been the most magnificent and the water levels were low, but it was still beautiful. We had a great time. I also was cracking up over all of their "beware of Bear," signs. This is probably the first time I've ever seen a sign for bears. In Vernon, my neck of the woods, we have bears everywhere, even in Dollar General! In Hackettstown where there are far fewer bears, they have signs warning about them. We couldn't stop cracking up over this. Don't get me wrong, better safe than sorry, but still. We enjoyed that wonderful walk while seeing nothing but smiling people also enjoying our perfect weather.
Saturday afternoon, we grabbed an early lunch at Marley's Gotham Grill. It was my first time there in several months, and I still LOVE it! Girlfriend Brooks enjoyed cajun wings, and I wolfed down the Nuclear. They were terrific! I had a wonderful Saturday in Hackettstown. Then after delicious hot wings, we tried out Pickleball. I have played Pickleball once before, probably 9-10 years ago in Sparta. Brooks always has been mentioning a desire to play, so I surprised her with a Pickleball Starter kit I bought at Walmart. We might not have known all of the rules and etiquettes, but that didn't stop us from having a great time and terrific workout. We basically kept practicing volleying back and forth together enjoying tremendous weather. When we started to get tired after an hour plus or so, I suggested we play a match against each other and then call it a day. We kind of forgot about keeping score, even though I might have won 7-4. It was a spirited game! If I let Brooks win, she likely would kick my @$$! Fiercely competitive people like us never want to be let off easy, that's for sure!
Saturday night I grilled us a couple of burgers and then we chilled watching a fun throwback on MTV, where they played the 90s movies Friday and Next Friday! I always quote that movie with my bros from home Rob, Chris and Matt. We always quoted it growing up, and still quote these films all the time. I'm honestly far more familiar with Next Friday than the original Friday, but love them both so much in their own ways. Go figure, we ended up watching movies called Friday on a Saturday night. The irony isn't lost on me, that's for sure.
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Sunday it was time for football fun. I definitely did make the most of my drive from Hackettstown back to Franklin, New Jersey. I swung by Marshall's seeing if there were any random bargains. In September when going to TJ Maxx and/or Marshall's, you never know what might happen. Sweaters aren't quite out yet, and they're still trying to get rid of some leftover polo shirts. When passing by the area though, how could I not give it a shot. I scored! I purchased 3 new dress shirts on sale for $16.99 each. Whenever I buy a new dress shirt, I get rid of an old one. I still have far too many, but in the near future will definitely work on downsizing that too. I just donated 13 pairs of jeans, the dress shirts are next! I don't have to wear dress shirts quite as often as before the pandemic, but they're still great to have in my wardrobe. Once I pick up my dry cleaning, it will be easier to see out of all my dress shirts what I need and don't. These transactions were simple, I'm simply donating an older white dress shirt, black dress shirt, and replace with the brand new ones I just purchased for $17 each! $17 for a dress shirt is a tremendous deal these days. I was psyched. I picked up laundry, and swung by The Farmer's Market at Shoppes At Lafayette. I was hoping to score on spicy pickles and bring them to share with my friends while watching football, and I got Firecracker ones again. If you want to be popular despite being a Patriots fan on a football Sunday? Bring spicy pickles! That's apparently the secret.
My Patriots lost. The Jets lost. The Giants lost. Both of my Fantasy Football Teams appear to be losing again. Why was I so happy to have football season come back again?
Overall we had a great weekend. Time to start planning next weekend. I'm going to my first New York Giants game of the season with besties Artie and more. I'm very excited to go back and enjoy tailgating fun with my friends at MetLife. Maybe I'll bring them good luck this year? You never know!