Feb 15, 2014

When I got up in the morning Alex fed me leftover pizza that her dad brought home from work last night and then sent me on my way to the Big Brew Beer Festival in Morristown. It was cold and icy in the parking lot and the people working there had no idea what they were talking about. They made me walk back and forth to each side of the building several times before I finally got in. I found my place at the Six Point Brewing table, said hi to people from the club and other reps I know, and then got settled and ready to pour some beers.

I really lucked out, as I was directly in between Brittney from Dominion and Caitlin from Oskar Blues so I had friends to talk to all day! That really helped when it got boring or when someone did something stupid. I can usually make friends with people pretty easily, but it helps when you already know them. The first session was good, but we needed to get out of there. Brittney and I inched our way slowly down the slick road in horrible traffic because of the snow to get to the Famished Frog for lunch. We split two sandwiches so we didn't have to decide what to get. It was delicious.

We came back a little late because it took so long to get to the restaurant and back, but we took up our posts and got back to the work. I was pushing Resin and Righteous Ale all day, but I got to drink some other things even though it was frowned upon (shhhh!) Newburgh Brewing's Brown Ale was fantastic, as was the KUKA Devil's Treat Stout by Andean Brewing. I need to go visit both of them when I get up to New York again.

As the day wound down I had poured many, many beers and my pointer finger was hurting from opening so many cans. We hung out while everyone rushed the doors so it would be easier to leave in the snow. I also followed the lead of the other people there and scored quite a nice stash of beer from what was left over on tables. Not a bad little bonus. I drove home down the Parkway to 295, listening to podcasts and genuinely enjoying the ride. I was completely tired by the time I got home.

Feb 14, 2014

I began my day driving up to Montgomery County to do a photo shoot at a legal aid firm. I did head shots and office shots. It all went pretty smoothly and easily. I was happy with the library head shot I did for the guy that was being honored at an award ceremony in the near future. Everyone was very friendly there.

I went for a short walk around the area after leaving the office to get some shots of the court house and some other local building. The giant piles of snow everywhere didn't help me getting around. I was parked on top of a mound of snow already so I was hoping I could get off of it back to the road.

I did, indeed, get back on the road and drove up to North Jersey to pick up Alex for our Valentine's Day date. We went to Montclair to Mesob Ethiopian. We ordered our food and caught up on the many, many things we hadn't gotten to talk about. It was nice seeing her again. She was also working on a photo project so she had her little tripod set up on the table, shooting photos once in a while as we sat.

The food was amazing, of course. It was served just like it has been in the past. The spicy lentils might have been my favorite. Or the cheese. It was all fantastic though. The set menu came with a dessert and tea as well so we were very full when we left there.

Next stop was the Upstairs Bar. It was really fancy and somehow we lucked upon two open seats at the bar. There were fun lights and mirrors everywhere. I really liked the design of the bar.

The main reason I wanted to go there was because they were supposed to have great cocktails. We both got a couple and were happy with them. I got that night's signature cocktail which came with pink peppercorns on top. It was great. I drink too fast to get expensive cocktails though so I switched to beer.

  

I talked to the bartender for a while about beer and he's interested in joining NJCB. I got Elysian's Split Shot espresso stout which was amazingly delicious! I also tried a Pilsner by Palm that was surprisingly great. We had a great night out, but it had to end eventually. I was set up on the couch in Alex's basement where I fell asleep with ease.

Feb 13, 2014

And for another productive day: I spent much of the day inside my room watching television because we got yet another snow day! This time I didn't really venture out except to go to the gym with Ryan in the afternoon. We had a good workout and then it was back home to have dinner and continue the not doing things. Look at all this blank space where I could have written about how productive I was. Nope.

Feb 12, 2014

I got a Child Study Team job today at Holly Heights and Bacon School. I was at Holly for about fifteen minutes. I covered a gym teacher while she went and signed a paper. I watched the kids jump rope until she got back and then I had a two hour break before the next meeting at Bacon. The meeting there took longer but not long at all so I was done and out early. Thanks for the full day's pay.

Later we went to Quizzo for the championship round. We were soundly defeated as has been the case for most of the games. Still, we had a good time and some late night appetizers.

Feb 11, 2014

I was not feeling the return to work so instead of getting a sub job I slept in a little. It was barely enough to justify staying home, but it was nice to stay in for the day. I edited a bunch of photos that needed to get done and tried to be productive otherwise. Later Chuck came over with a six pack of Sweet Baby Jesus and we had some beers and watched internet videos. Mostly they were of cats doing stupid things or falling off tables. It was a quality evening of hang time.

Feb 10, 2014

Our final day we headed back to Killington, both a little less than excited about it. How can you follow up the day we had yesterday? Plus today was cold, snowy, and gray. There was fresh powder and that was a new experience where I was skiing and couldn't see my skis or boots at times. It also made turning a little more difficult. We did sections of the mountain we had not even been to on the first day. There were no crowds and few moguls this time around, but it still felt a little less fun. We did some good trails but ultimately ended up heading out early.

It was freezing! My hands were so cold when I got back to the car to take my boots off. We got some coffee at our first opportunity and then began the drive home. I had this delicious bean and veggie salad.

The drive home always seems longer. But this time it didn't seem so bad. Maybe because I wasn't driving this time. Either way we had a good drive home and I had to take my stuff out of Ryan's car and put it in mine. Obviously when I got home I only brought in the stuff that needed to come inside. The rest could stay in there for a while.

Feb 9, 2014

Day two we went to Okemo in the morning. We got a much earlier start this time, but it didn't help too much as we realized right about when we got to the resort that we had forgotten our passes at the hotel. We got them as part of a promotion and needed them to get our lift tickets soooo we made a round trip before we even started skiing.

We still had a pretty early start on the mountain and the place was amazingly less crowded. It was a gorgeous day and the conditions were completely perfect. We had gone up and down probably 4 trails in the time it took us to do one at Killington yesterday. Maybe slightly exaggerated but not much. The trails were great too.

We took a break at the summit lodge at one point after we got separated on a glades trail that I decided not to do because of the uncovered rocks and myriad other things that could kill or break me. We took a little break at the lodge and got some water before being offered a free hot beverage for taking a survey! I sipped on my delicious hot chocolate for a while and then we headed back out.

I didn't want to leave really, so we kept skiing for a while longer. I wanted to take advantage of all the trails we could. I would honestly have liked to spend the whole weekend there. I can't describe any more how perfect everything was.

After the ideal ski day we had to go to Applebee's for our usual dinner to cap things off. I tried a couple of beers they had on tap from local places that I'd never had before. Magic Hat's Chair Lift IPA and Long Trail Limbo IPA. Both were fantastic. Another nice night back in the sauna for a short time and then we hung out playing some games before retiring to bed.