This Weekend's Wrap Up

It was a very fine weekend indeed. Got to hang out with a lot of the Penn State crew: in the New York City and in the Penn State itself. After working from home on Friday (which wasn't a bad thing), I was able to head right into the city from the apartment. As mentioned the other day, Sarah B came to visit all the way from Austin, TX, and we got to see her for the first time in about 14 months! It was awesome to see her, hang out and catch up. The crew (Sarah B, Eric & Abby, Jonny "Belmania" Belman, the Jessica, and myself) enjoyed a fine dinner in Little Italy, and we couldn't have asked for a better evening. It should be noted that the Jessica and I are in the midst of planning a trip down to Austin, so we can see Sarah B and Jared sometime in the fall. That trip should provide some good blog stories, thats for sure.

Got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to make the trek out to State College for the annual Arts Festival appearance. After leaving NYC at 6:30am, it proved to be a long day, yet a very fun one. Being big fans of the food vendors on Allen Street, I enjoyed such favorites as the chicken-on-a-stick and the Italian sausage sandwich, both of which made up Parts I & II of Saturday's lunch. After walking around for a little bit, we parked ourselves at our favorite Penn State bar, Cafe 210, at around 5:30pm. Of course we ended up staying there the whole night. We were lucky enough to score the first table under the awning by the outside entrance, and also lucky enough to be under it when the monsoon hit for a good 30-45 minutes during the evening. Must have sucked to be running around in that rain. Let me tell you, those teas were great and I miss the overall inexpensiveness of State College. Teas = $4. Miller Lite (23 oz.) during Happy Hour = $2. You can't beat it. We were spoiled by the prices and went from one extreme to the other with the rip offs in Manhattan.

Although it was a relatively whirlwind trip to Happy Valley, I was very glad we were able to go and take part in the festivities. We began to feel a little like the "old heads" and didn't see as many familiar faces, but enjoyed each other's company and the friendly confines of our beloved college town. Definitely looking forward to the next trip in late-October for Homecoming.

Work's gonna be killer this week and next, so the posts may be a little shorter, and I'll do my best to stay on track. Wish me luck...