Hello from a late Saturday afternoon in October. The weather has been so beautiful today- sunny and cloudless blue skies. Though, a little bit too hot for my liking now that we’re into fall. 80 degrees but feels so much hotter in the sun!

I started the day off with some Japanese walking around the ‘hood. I can’t remember if I mentioned this on here but for the past month or so, I have been doing Japanese walking every single day. It’s 10 rounds of 3 minutes of walking, alternating between very fast paced and then slow. It’s supposed to be really great for heart health and I have to say that the definition of my leg muscles has definitely come back after going into hiding over this past year. (Perimenopause comes at you in all kinds of stealthy ways, so I’m learning!)

On my walk, I ran into a dog who I actually thought was a coyote at first and she was like, “PANT PANT PANT, COME FOLLOW ME!” so I did, I followed her to the next street over, trying to get her to stop so I could see her tag. But then some lady came out of her house and was like, “Sierra!” I asked her if that was her dog and she said no, she lives down the street “and is always getting loose.”

:(

Poor Sierra was running around with her leash on, ready to go!

Anyway, the lady took it from there but in my head, I was like, “Maybe Sierra doesn’t want to go home. Maybe Sierra wants to live with YOU.” I mean, she ran straight to her house!

I dunno, that made me feel sad.

Then after breakfast, we went to AAA so that I could get my international license. I originally wasn’t going to get one because Henry said all the cars in Romania are stick but they’re not, actually??? The one we rented is automatic so I can drive it. Not that I plan on it, but just in case!

The lady who assisted me was nice enough but lowkey made me feel like I was being interrogated by Homeland Security?? And then I felt like she thought I was trying to scam her because Henry legit just added me to his AAA plan WHILE HE WAS SITTING THERE WAITING FOR and when she asked me if I was a member, I started to say no, but then suddenly—–

“I texted you the membership card!” Henry said in my ear.

Henry was IN THE CUBICLE WITH US NOW, LIKE SO CLOSE THAT WHEN I TURNED MY HEAD AFTER THE SHOCK OF HEARING HIS DISEMBODIED VOICE, I ALMOST BRUSHED MY CHEEK AGAINST HIS SHIRT??? It was the biggest non-haunted house jump scare, almost like a GREY POUPON moment, with him fucking vaporizing into the space at the very mention of “AAA member.”

Did somebody say AAA MEMBER??

Meanwhile, this lady kept getting my name wrong. She kept calling me Kelly and then I noticed that she had my name reversed in whatever she was typing so I had to correct her.

“That must be difficult,” she said about my audacity of having two first names.

Yesh, apparently it is VERY DIFFICULT for many people if you go by the amount of times I’m “Kelly”d at work by people outside of our department ON THE DAILY. I cannot say for sure that there has ever been a day that has gone by in my 15 years without me being misnamed at least once.

She did get it right on the license at least, but on my receipt she fucking spelled my last name with THREE Ls.

KELLLY.

Ok.

Over that portion of the day.

Then we went to the grocery store to get some travel-sized toiletries, and I was so annoyed the entire time because I was not cut out for grocery shopping.

“Jesus Christ, that took forever!” I oof’d as we left the check-out.

“We were literally here for 15 minutes,” Henry time-splained.

“Well, it felt like all day, like we should be walking out to moonlight.”

After this, we went to Lolev in Lawrenceville because they have a pumpkin stout which honestly sounded disgusting to me BUT it’s called SEVER and it has MICHAEL MYERS ON THE CAN. I felt like I had to have it.

We got there literally right as they opened and got a robust, “Welcome! You have the distinction of being the first customers of the day!” from the bartender. You know how I love me a warm welcome! So right away, I knew I was right to claim that this place is my favorite local brewery.

I knew, at that moment, that we were not going to “just get the Michael Myers beer.” I mean, first of all, Henry asked for a half pour of it to try and I was like, “Well in that case, I’m getting one too.” I got their Oktoberfest / Marzen which was a delight. So, then we settled in at the bar at this point and chatted with the bartender who was very informative and friendly, which we love to see. I was telling him that I only recently got into beer and Lolev is BY FAR my favorite, the one place that I keep thinking of, ESPECIALLY their matcha beer! He said that I’m not alone in that camp, and that it will be back in March!

He seemed really touched though by the praises I was doling out and Henry decided he had to get into the convo too and said, oh my god hold on I have to get in the right headspace to relive this moment, put my cringe-resistant pants on.

OK, 60-year-old blue collar professional driver Henry said, ahem: “Yeah some places around here have good aesthetics but then the beer is mid.”

EXCUSE ME SIR WHAT IN THE GEN-Z IS THIS.

Aesthetics??

Mid??

I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the bartender but I was straight SHRIEKING in my head, and as soon as we left, I lost my shit and laughed all up in his face.

Never mind the fact that I told the bartender about my HAUNTED HOUSE JOURNAL COLLECTION circa 1995. This was after he sold me on the 2025 Pgh Brewery Passport Book. “You seem like someone who likes to keep track of things and take notes,” he said. BOY AM I EVER.

But wow – that one half-pour almost decommissioned me for the day! I might enjoy the taste of (some) beers now but I am still a light weight. And honestly, let’s keep it that way.

The end.

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