Sucker for a Deal

There’s nothing in this world that can beat a great weekend with family and your oldest, closest friends.  Although there are hundreds of things I love about being back up in Jersey, the best part is being so close to my parents and my best friends.  This Columbus Day weekend I spent time with my best part of Jersey.

On the Friday night I met up in NYC with four of my best girlfriends, Erin, Kerri, Leigh and Sally (Alex you were missed!).  We spent the evening seeing both Leigh and Kerri’s new apartments and catching up on old and new stories while drinking wine. I think the most amazing thing I can say about my friends is that although we all are very different and have changed so much over the past 15 years or so of our friendships, we are still able to come back together and fall into the comfort of our friendship. We’ve all gone through a lot with each other and have found a way to let our relationships grow and change along with us. We can spend hours telling old stories and laughing at the stupid things we did in high school and then immediately jump into the stupid things we did with each other last month. We don’t rely on the friendships we used to have. We look back on the memories and are thankful for the new ones we’ve created with each other. However, for as close as we all are to each other now geographically, our crazy lives get in the way and we don’t all get together as often as we should. Good thing we made a pact to get together once a month!

Love my girls!

After a great night with my girlfriends, I went back my parent’s house for the night. I had not been home since before I started my new job and I really missed my dog Abbey…Just kidding…I wanted to go to my favorite restaurant one last time before it closed for the season as well. Just kidding again! Of course it was because I missed my mommy and daddy and what’s the point of living 45 minutes from home if I can’t go see them whenever I want?!  We went to dinner at the Dover Grill where I ate wayyyy to many cheese fries, but it was well worth it. They are only open from March 15 – October 15 so it was imperative that I got in one last bacon cheese hot dog and crinkle fries with cheese. Yes, I know you are judging me right now, but until you have experienced it, don’t knock it. It is well worth all of the calories! But, it is probably a good thing that I live a good 45 minutes away from there! After my delicious dinner, we came back home, visited with my favorite neighbors then got a good night’s sleep.

Now, I’m sure you have all heard of Groupon. Well, my dad Larry is who they invented it for! If it’s on Groupon, there is a 75% chance he’ll either buy it or send it to me telling me I should buy it. If it’s a deal for food, the chances are 100% that he will buy it. One day I’m at work and I get a call from Lar asking me if I’ve ever been to see the Bodies Exhibit. I said no, wondering where this conversation was going and then, there it was.  Of course Lar continues with, “Well, I was on Groupon today,” ahh there it is “and they have a great deal for the Bodies Exhibit. I was thinking you, mom and I could go, you in?” I said yes of course, I mean dad was paying, so it was a no brainer. So that Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity. The weather was beautiful and it was one of the first weekends we were all available. We took the Path in from Hoboken, walked down to South Street Seaport, and enjoyed the exhibit. It was really fascinating and since I actually took the time to read the signs, I learned quite a bit. Did you know that every drop of your blood passes through your heart every minute? Betcha didn’t!!! After the exhibit we grabbed lunch on the pier, did some people watching and headed back to Hoboken. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been if my little brother could have joined us. Zachary, are you done with Austin yet…NYC is calling your name! Anyways, I started to feel a little under the weather on Friday evening and by Sunday afternoon I felt like I had hit a wall. I kissed my mommy and daddy goodbye and crawled into bed for the next day and a half. Thank god for long weekends! The next day my best friend Carrie took me to the doctor; another positive of having my sister so close. Only she would drive 2 hours with me round trip to take me to the doctor while I was hacking my brains out and snotting all over the place on her day off. Thankfully the doc gave me some meds and now, almost a week later; I’m finally starting to feel better. Or maybe it’s not the drugs, maybe it’s the good friends and family I have around me. Nahh as much as I love them, I’m pretty sure it’s the drugs!