You guys, I think I am finally leaning into this empty nest life. Things have settled down in my head and I’m finally allowing myself to enjoy DOING THINGS again. I do not recommend going through a traumatic loss of a pet and your kid leaving for freshman year of college simultaneously though, and then have that compounded a few mths later by the re-election of a psycho fascist dictator. It’s all too much for anyone. Therapy has helped, writing in here has helped, crying to Henry has helped, reconnecting with old friends and having soul-baring vent sessions over IPAs has helped!

One of the things I have been adamant about doing this year, and have been actually holding up my end, is just getting out more generally. ESPECIALLY ON WEEKNIGHTS. The one night recently, we just went to the mall because I had something to pick up at the Vans store and even just something as simple as that made a difference and broke up the monotony. But also, on weekends where we don’t have anything planned with friends, concerts, etc., I have been trying to do one small thing. Usually it’s just us going to one of our favorite cemeteries for a walk, sometimes it’s going to a new-to-us cafe, etc. This past weekend, Sunday was going to be the warmer, sunnier of the two days so we planned our walk for that day and since Saturday was gross and dreary, we picked a little indoor activity. Since I’m still attempting to get all of the stamps in my dumb Pgh brewery book, we chose Hop Farm in Lawrenceville and had a nice little afternoon date where we rehashed the movie MOTHER MARY which we had seen the night before, which I DO NOT RECOMMEND. And, also, I have been reminded during our last several movie dates why I stopped seeing movies in the theater years ago — I CAN’T STAND BEING AROUND PEOPLE WHILE I’M TRYING TO WATCH A MOVIE. The crunching. The rustling of wrappers. The sibilant whispering of nearby patrons. Go fuck yourselves!!! I will have to go back to my “weeknight only” rule of theater-going if I’m going to continue down this road. (It gives me something to talk to with Chooch, which is why I have been seeing movies again in the first place!)

Anyway, JFC do I go off on tangents or what. The whole point is that on Saturday, we went to Hop Farm for the first time, had an AMAZING experience at the bar with the bartender who was SO YINZER FRIENDLY (IYKYK) that I almost felt like I was being filmed for some local tourism spot on the Sunday morning news. The moment he found out we had never been there before, he started chucking (in the gentlest way) sample pours at us until we had essentially tasted their entire liquid oeuvre. There was one lone regular sat at the end of the bar, weighing in on his faves as well, and I ended up getting the one he was currently nursing: The Cheeseman of Dusseldorf. It was really good! I am still learning what I like and have begun to settle into traditional German styles, I guess. Basically, beer that tastes like beer. My other thing is that I don’t drink to get drunk–I am really trying to appreciate the flavors and all that nerdy stuff. No more flights for me either because I learned that they make me feel like shit. I like to get a small pour of two different things when we go out and that is working for me so that I don’t feel like I’m on a slippery slope to alcoholism. (I HATE BEING DRUNK.)

Anyway, this place is actually huge. Aside from the bartender and his pally at the bar, we were the only ones there so it was really nice to sit back and bitch openly and loudly about everything on my mind and hearing my shrill voice bounce off the floor and walls like I was in Laurel Caverns.

Can I also be gross and say that I’m glad my fear of being an Older Couple with nothing to talk about has not come to fruition and that we actually have such fun conversations these days when we go out?!

My second half-pour was their flagship IPA, Dinosaurs in Space. I’ve been growing more and more picky with IPAs but this one was nice. What a nice little rainy Saturday side quest!

The weekend also included lots of cuddle time with Penelope who, KNOCK ON WOOD, has randomly decided to start eating her dry food again!? Maybe she was just going through a phase, trying to see if  there was anything else out there, who knows. I’m still also putting out various wet foods just in case and she has been half-heartedly grazing on those but it’s the dry food she seems to be really eating. I’m just happy she IS EATING. The vet had me so panicked.

Buddypalooza.

Saturday after lunch, we went to Pink Box for some Asian buns which we promptly ate at the cemetery. IT WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

Mausoleum bathroom selfie.

In between all of this  stuff, I somehow fell down the FURTHER SEEMS FOREVER rabbit hole after having not thought of that band for over a decade at least. I started thinking of my old Zen and wishing I could charge it because I can only imagine the random shit that’s on it. Also — do I really want to revisit that time in my life though? Lol. I had a shitty job and a toxic BFF. I did realize that I had some of those songs saved to an old Spotify playlist though, which saved me because I could NOT remember who sang this song:

Here’s what I just learned as I write this blog post:

• Blindside is a Swedish band?? Did not know this.
• THEY ARE STILL TOGETHER and played shows as recently as spring 2025?!

And that was basically the gist of the weekend!

No comments