Don’t mind me. I’m just over here green-faced and burping at the mere recollection of my journey to 20 stamps. Chooch kept saying this was going to turn me into an alcoholic but in the end, I think it actually turned me AVERSE to beer.

Anyway, let’s get the rest of the stamps on record here for prosperity.

We met up with THE Chronica at Headley’s for some stamp action. I truly lost track as to what # stamp this was but rest assured we had a wonderful evening with Chronica. We hadn’t seen them since their going away party last July at Spoonwood! They returned from Spain in the fall but are actually headed back again as I type this. So I am super grateful that we got to see them during a hectic holiday season!

Either Chris or Monica pointed out that this picture makes it look like we were hanging out a random animal hospital, and very happy to be doing so, LOL. I don’t know why we were positioned this way, probably at my misleading direction, but it makes it even funnier honestly!

Of course I made them pose with the bag of CHRONIKKAH Dark Matter coffee that I saw and had to pick up for them when we were in Chicago because they have gone by the portmanteau
Chronica for probably as long as I have known them!?

Last weekend, we went to Helicon in Oakdale. It was OK. I wasn’t wow’d and probably would not go back. I also started to get a headache almost IMMEDIATELY after my first sip of whatever this was.

After one half pour at Helicon, we went to the new Grist House location also in Oakdale. I have GOT to stop getting locally-brewed Belgian beers because they do NOT TASTE LIKE BELGIAN BEERS. I didn’t really enjoy my other beer either (some kind of sour that was supposed to make me feel warm on a cold day or something but that was not true) HOWEVER!! I am not writing off Grist House because I have had one of their IPAs from somewhere else and I thought it was just fine, plus this new location is really cool, the staff were incredibly friendly and attentive, and I am just going to go ahead and say this now – I think I had the best soft pretzel of MY LIFE there. Would certainly go back for that and the vibes.

This is the sour that did not inspire warmth.

The next day, we went to Golden Age to buy beer for Christmas Eve, as previously mentioned in my Xmas Eve post, and that counted toward a stamp!

On the way home, we stopped at Burghers on the Southside. I didn’t see anything on the menu that appealed to me so I opted out, but Henry got some New Zealand ale thing. I took a sip expected it to be basic but YOOOOO. Was this possibly the best beer out of all 20 stamps? I don’t know but it was NICE. You know how when people say something tastes bright? Well, now I understand what that means because it legit lit up in my mouth. I loved it. I probably ended up drinking half of it.

Then we went down the street to Velum. Mid, honestly. The people there were very nice but I wouldn’t go back.

I can’t even remember what this was but it was whatever. Henry got two tiny IPAs that were fine. One had a description saying it tasted like spruce and yep, they got that right.

I dunno, I didn’t really like the vibe in there either. It felt like we were sitting in a snack bar, which is only acceptable if it’s connected to a ROLLER RINK, obviously.

And then Friday was THE DAY! I decided on Eleventh Hour for my 20th stamp, because I realized that I never collected the 10 stamp prize along the way and Eleventh Hour was one of the only breweries listed that had BOTH prizes available to collect.

I LIKED THIS PLACE! I think I’ve had their beers before at other places, but the vibe of the actual brewery was super chill (I mean, it was also a Friday afternoon, so…) and the bartender was great. She didn’t even count my stamps, just completely trusted me!

I had a REALLY delicious sour (I am so fickle with sours so when one is amenable with palate, I rejoice) and enjoyed it while lovingly stroking my prizes. Meanwhile, Henry was looking at the Pgh Brewers Guild website and it says that these books DON’T EXPIRE?? That you just can’t combine books for the rewards?? So I can technically still keep collecting stamps in this one I guess until I reach 30??

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

That chaotic race to 20 for WHAT.

Oh well, it was fun and you know I love a challenge.

Anyway, I came home and shoved my rewards in Chooch’s face.

“Oh wow,” he deadpanned. “How will you talk about this for 30 minutes at the Christmas Eve table with Kevin and Corey?”

OK HATER.

(Literally, he said we talked about beer for 80% of the night on Xmas Eve and I really find this to be a gross exaggeration.)

Here are the breweries we visited (or popped in just for a to-go pack and stamp); the ones I will definitely go back to are bolded:

• Lolev, obv.
• Cobblehaus
• Dancing Gnome
• Brew Gentlemen
• Hitchhiker
• Aslin
• Back Alley
• Headleys
• Helicon
• Strange Roots
• Burghers
• Velum
• Eleventh Hour
• Chimera
• Grist House
• Sly Fox
• Southern Tier
• Golden Age (I loved that Christmas beer!!!)
• Hazel Grove
• East End

What have I learned?

• I have low tolerance
• I am extremely picky
• Flights aren’t for me – I get sick/drunk every time I get a flight
• I’m so over IPAs yet they’re also my failsafe / fallback
• I really like red ale but have also had bad ones so I don’t know
• Christmas beers are better than pumpkin beers
• Belgian beer should only be made in Belgium
• Sometimes if a beer sounds like it’s going to be plain/boring, that might end up being the best one so I need to stop looking for the flashy ones!
• I need to find a new challenge for 2026, preferably one that involves salads and lots of exercise
• Beer tastes better at concerts 100%

Piața Sfatului, or Council Square, was lined with restaurants and bars and has got to be the place to be in the summer season. And winter! In autumn, it was still beautiful and blessedly uncrowded. I have seen so many pictures of the iconic BRASOV sign on Mt. Tampa back there and it felt beyond surreal to see it in real life. It’s the little things!

Strada Sforii! It’s one of the narrowest “streets” in Europe, only wide enough for two people to walk down side-by-side and was intended for firefighters to use it as a quick accessway. This is a must-do in Brasov and I was stoked that we made it there in between hordes of tourists! I have seen videos where people are pushed through in a crowded line – no fun in that!

I would say the top complaint I have seen across the board about Romania is their unhinged graffiti problem. We definitely saw less of it the more rural we got, obviously, but once we started making our way south toward Bucharest again, the tags began popping off. Brasov was a clear indication that while the buildings were old as shit, we were in more urban land for sure. Graffiti doesn’t bother me – as long as it’s not on churches, etc. Probably, it shouldn’t be here either but I felt like it added some flavor, I don’t know! It was fun to go through and look at all of the different languages. I didn’t see it in my pass-thru but on one travel vlog I watched on YouTube, I saw something written in Korean!

I knew if I looked hard enough, I’d find at least ONE Kpop reference, lol. #StanATEEZ

I took pictures with the good camera too and haven’t had a chance to even LOOK at them. Basically, I’m saying these Romania posts have no end in sight. I’m sorry.

Huntr/x representin’!

I mean, I don’t know! The graffiti gives it a grimy, sleazy flair! I think it would be such a cool backdrop for senior portraits. I have no idea why that was my first thought.

After moseying around town some more, we stopped back at the room to chill for a bit and I had to stop and take a million pictures from the catwalk thing that lead to our room. I just couldn’t get enough of this sight! It’s the main reason why I booked this room.

Then on the way back out, it was darker so I had to take more pictures LOL. Me one day in the nursing home: “Have I ever shown you my BRASOV SIGN pictures?” Every nurse under employment: “YES. ALL 87 VERSIONS.”

Brasov has a Romulus statue too!

I loved the lighting on this building!

After some shopping, we ended the night at a bar near our room called AFTAR STUBE.

Henry for some reason asked to sit outside and it was SO COLD. I was visibly shivering and although Henry was ignoring my frost-bitten status, the waiter noticed and asked if I needed a blanket.

YES, PLEASE.

He grabbed one from a stack inside an old telephone booth and brought it over to me and I was so grateful. He had come off very brooding and dark-vibey up until this moment (not that I minded, we were in Transylvania for fuck’s sake, ride that stereotype my guy).

Even though it was so chilly out, it was a great atmosphere. Groups of people came out here and there to smoke, so it wasn’t like we were ostracized but I still wished we had sat inside where the action (and heat) was.

I don’t want to paint myself like some kind of hop ho, but I was openly moaning while lapping up this sexy glass of sweet froth.

(FORESHADOWING: for as much as I loved this in moment, I feel extremely queasy just thinking about it right now. Ugh.)

This was a classic Romanian beer – very delightful! Bere Czell toasted my check-in on Untappd! (It was Henry’s beer, but I stole a few sips lol.)

Then this confident girl strutted onto the patio! The blurry picture is the result of me being slightly inebriated, my hands shaking from the cold, and the cat not standing still for even a split section.

One of the younger servers told us her name – it sounded like Video but that wasn’t it – and said she is a neighborhood stray who comes there for food every day. After I said, “aw” to the stray part, he said, “She is….” and after struggling for a moment to find the fitting English word, finished with, “living.” LOL. She definitely looked happy and healthy!

That was one thing I noted very quickly about Romania – they love their stray cats. It seems that many local restaurants have quid pro quo relationships with them – they keep the rats away, the restaurants give them scraps.

“Video” was following the younger server around like she owned the place. I loved it.

We split this veggie pizza – it was perfect with beer!

I stopped after my Hop Hooligans dessert beer, but I made Henry get this IPA from Clandestin because I follow them on Instagram and wanted to taste it lol. Also, it’s worth noting that I kept the labels of both cans, of course. I’m Captain Packrat.

What a great end to our first night in Brasov!

When Chooch was home for Thanksgiving, we made him go to lunch with at Chimera Brewing and he was so annoyed because I only wanted to go there to get a stamp for my Pgh Brewery passport thingie and he didn’t want to be part of that. But then football was on the TVs there so he was happy. Because Chooch, son of Erin and Henry, somehow became a football fan on his own time.

I can’t remember what number stamp this was – 8, I think?? I’m already so over this but I can’t quit until I win. I definitely need something else to fixate on in 2026.

I watched the annual MAMA Awards which was really somber in light of the Hong Kong apartment fire tragedy. :( It was annoying because a lot of people were calling for MAMA to cancel entirely, but then when they opted to go for a somber, toned-down ceremony, people complained that it wasn’t exciting enough. Jesus.

Henry got Trudy all decked out in her Christmas best Friday night after Thanksgiving.

Kevin came over for the first time on Saturday so she had to be dressed for the occasion, lol. We were dying because moments after our company arrived, the doorbell rang AGAIN and we thought it was a glitch until later when Henry reviewed the security footage and we saw  that we were legit Ding Dong Ditched LOL. I was just bummed that our DDDitcher didn’t hang around long enough to enjoy the mesmerizing doorbell jam.

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We had pizza and played the 80s & 90s Song Humming game in the attic – Henry opted out, lol.

The next day, we went to Hazel Grove Brewing for another stamp (#10 – #9 was actually a “cheat” because I sent Henry to a place we’ve already been to – Strange Roots- and he bought a bottle of something called the Plague that was just OK). Anyway, I was excited about this place because they had some Belgians there but I am starting to come to the conclusion that I don’t like American versions of Belgian beers. I have been impressed by NONE so far and keep going back to my imports from Duffy’s. Clearly, I need to just go to Belgium. (And admit that I just don’t really LIKE any other kinds of beer.)

All of my Buddys are totally beefed up for winter. I don’t know how this one doesn’t get stuck in HNC’s roof!!

Last Saturday, Henry and I took the T to the North Shore and had, ugh, a “day date” I guess. BUT ONLY BECAUSE I WANTED MORE STAMPS!!! Right away in Dormont we encountered an aggressively chatty Elder Yinzer but then he liked my shoes (just dark purple Vans) so then I was like, “OK you can stay.” He was in a big hurry to get home and watch the game, whatever game that was.

We went to Southern Tier and had a nice lunchtime beer. Mine was Cherry Pie and it was actually OK but it got kind of cloying after a while. Our server was so nice and that made me like it there even more.

After getting my 11th stamp (yay!), we walked over the bridge to downtown and saw this which is so gross but obviously I had to take a picture because: agreed.

Once we were downtown, we walked around the Christmas Market and look–why do I even bother? I KNOW it’s not for me. And it still is not for me! But we did get a pretzel and cherry strudel to share, so there’s that. I’ll tell you what though, seeing Santa’s Workshop made me so sad though because YOU KNOW how much I looked forward to dragging my work friends over there for our annual group photo with Santa. :(

Here’s the last one we took, back in 2019. MEMMMMMMMMMMMMMries.

Santa always looked forward to our appearances. :( HE TOLD ME SO.

Anyway. Then we walked down to Sly Fox for our second beer and more importantly, ANOTHER STAMP. I got some winter ale thing that was pretty good but the best part was that it was so chill in there (it was also chill the last time we were there after the No Kings protest in June) and they had a bangin’ playlist! PORTISHEAD? BRING ME THE HORIZON? BALANCE AND COMPOSURE? BRAND NEW? It was so good that I had to give the two women behind the bar snaps and they were like, “YESSSSSS.” Being complimented on your music taste is the best, I’ll tell ya. I could have a parade of people going by and telling me I have a nice ass or I’m so smart or whatever, but one person tells me “sick playlist, man” and I am eating out of their hand.

Just like that.

Now you know.

(I miss the old days when people would ask me to make them a mix tape!)

Also, look at Henry smiling because he enjoys my company so much.

On the way back, we saw the Elder Yinzer again! He got on and back again in Beechview. Then on the walk back home, we stopped at Le’s Cafe in Dormont for sticky mango rice (and Henry got a pistachio latte but I learned the hard way that it’s one or the other for me – a sweet drink or a sweet treat from Le’s, I can’t do both or I crash so hard). It was such a nice day! Well, I mean, Pgh weather-wise, it was cold and gray. But it was nice getting out of the house for fun things.

I also learned that flights aren’t great for me. If I get a flight, I feel like I’m drinking less but I always end up feeling so drunk and sick for the rest of the day?! So now I am sticking to one beer. I think I was OK with two on Saturday because there was more than an hour in between the beers since we had to walk from the North Side to downtown for the second place. THIS WAS BY DESIGN. I PLANNED IT THAT WAY. God forbid I should just relax like a normal person. Everything has to have hidden exercise involved.

The rest of the weekend was full of cuddling with Peenlop and rewatching Stranger Things from the beginning. We binge-watched season 5 while Chooch was home but holy shit, did I forget A LOT, even after watching a 35 minute refresher video on YouTube before starting season 5!! I’m not ready for this show to end. Umbrella Academy was hard enough to say goodbye to! Those two shows go hand-in-hand for me and Chooch. I have the nicest memories of finishing a Jillian Michaels workout (don’t worry, I’m done with her) with Chooch and then sitting down to watch Umbrella Academy or Stranger Things. Also, Drew was around for that too.

Super sentimental about everything, I can’t help it.

Also, not a spoiler but Chooch and I were very much against the use of Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” in Stranger Things. We both screamed, “They can’t do that!!!” because UMBRELLA ACADEMY DID IT FIRST. Maybe they could have used DEBBIE GIBSON INSTEAD, JUST A THOUGHT.

Oh, also Henry went to Aslin on Sunday and got a 6-pack which will probably live in our fridge for mths, untouched, just so I could get MY 13TH STAMP!! 7 more by 12/31, can I do it??? We’ll be in Chicago this weekend so I’ll have to really strategize, ugh. All of this for some stupid glass.

Back in the beginning of October, Henry and I stopped into Lolev because they had a seasonal beer with MICHAEL MYERS on the label and I needed it, even though it was a stout. Or a porter. I don’t know the difference, just that I don’t enjoy either. But the can!! Michael Myers!!

Anyway, we ended up sitting at the bar for a bit, chatting with the bartender – who was insanely friendly and informative – and he showed me this beer passport thingie. I have seen the coffee ones before, but didn’t know that there was one for breweries! He said, “Eh, it’s probably too late in the year to get started with this though” because I guess it’s only good for 2025. Basically, you just go to the breweries that are participating and get a stamp, and then collect prizes at the end of the year based on the number of stamps you get.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

He happily gave me my inaugural stamp (Lolev is my fave local brewery so I was happy to start there!) but then we went away to Romania and lost many days of stamp-earning.  However, I came back with a vengeance and am proud to say that I have SEVEN STAMPS now out of 40. 40 stamps earns you the privilege of attending some beer party but I don’t want that – going to a party with a bunch of beer dorks is the last thing I want to do. Getting awkwardly mansplained about the types of hops in the beer I’m drinking and probably not liking? No thanks.

Besides Lolev <3, here are the breweries I collected stamps from so far:

BACK ALLEY

Guys, I cheated on this one! Back Alley is right up the street from us and I was like, “OMG Henry great idea, why don’t you walk your ass up to Back Alley and just get a 4-pack to go so I can get a stamp?” and then as he was getting ready to walk out the door, I ran after him with my passport screaming, “DON’T FORGET MY STAMP!!!”

We tried two of the beers that night while watching Johnnie Guilbert videos. They were fine. I only took a few sips of each and then slid my share on down to Henry. He was like, “I’m glad you’re turning me into an alcoholic just so you can get stamps.”

Anyway, it was fine, but probably won’t go back. I’m picky.

COBBLEHAUS

Last Sunday, we went to Cobblehaus with Corey and Kevin. I had been wanting to go here for some time now because they’re supposed to have Belgian beers and after dabbling in IPAville for a bit, I have decided that Belgians really are my one true love.

They only had two Belgians on draft that day and they both good but just didn’t give me the feels like legit Belgians do. (Imagining a group of Belgian people tickling me now, maybe this will be my next hyperbolic kink that gets me in weird blog situations.)

(Clearly, I need to just to go to Belgium.)

But! I did really enjoy the experience. The atmosphere was great and the company was even better. We got there when they opened at noon and accidentally stayed until they closed at 5PM, lol.

Henry was embarrassed because as soon as we walked in and said hi to Corey and Kevin, I immediately panted, “CAN YOU STAMP THIS???” at the bartender.

“Jesus, Erin, at least order something first!” Henry said, full of disappointment. I lack brewery couth, sorry!

BREW GENTLEMEN

Last Saturday, we had to go to one of the European markets to get stuff for Romanian Thanksgiving, so I suggested that we just “pop in” to a nearby brewery while we were out so that I could get a stamp. IT IS CONSUMING MY LIFE. Brew Gentlemen was pretty close to where we were going, so it was settled. We’ve had BG beers before (actually, I think it was at the Honey Revenge concert) but have never been to their place.

This time, I ordered before thrusting  my passport at the bartender but I could tell Henry was still annoyed – SORRY THAT I GET EXCITED OVER STUPID THINGS, HENRY.

Anyway, I got this really amazing chai ale thing and it was refreshing AF. I kept saying, “I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW MUCH I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS” around every single sip.

Henry being annoyed with me.

Henry being dumb.

Me in the bathroom.

Anyway, what a fun and quick afternoon beer! Then we went to a cemetery and walked it off before Euro grocery shopping.

HITCHHIKER

On Sunday, we had decided to try to do two breweries within close proximity. Originally, we were going to go to 2 Frays and East End, but then Kara told me that Chris and his bike club did a collab with East End and there was going to be a thing there for that on Tuesday so we moved East End to Tuesday and decided to instead go to Sharpsburg and do Hitchhiker and Dancing Gnome which are withing WALKING DISTANCE of each other, so even better!

Hitchhiker was actually sort of the gateway into me thinking, “Whoa, COULD I like beer??” but then Henry was all, “You don’t like beer, you just like these because there’s sugar and lactose in it!”

OK to his point, yes, I was only drinking their dessert-y milkshake beers. But they are SO. GOOD. It’s what challenged me to try other, more basic/standard beer again just to see if maybe my palate had been broken enough to tolerate it by now.

I immediately felt super comfortable here. Granted, we got there right after they opened so there was only one other couple sitting at a table, but the bartender was very lovely and reminded me of Lynn Gunn a little bit (I’ve come to realize that many women of a certain age remind me of her, and by certain age I mean mid-20s). She was very patient as Henry was being a diva unable to make up her mind.

I got the Mr. Bitters and then swapped with Henry because he actually got a pumpkin something or other?! Henry hates pumpkin! But I think he probably knew that I would like that better than the Mr. Bitters which was fine but the pumpkin thing was so much better.

DANCING GNOME

We had planned on just having one beer at Hitchhiker and then walking to Dancing Gnome because for some reason I had it in my head that I was going to like it more there.

I DID NOT. I found the bartenders to be your typical “we know beer better than you do” types of whatever this new generation calls hipsters. I mean they weren’t blatantly rude but I felt like they were making fun of me as soon as I turned around MAYBE I’M PARANOID BECAUSE I HAVE LOW (NO) SELF ESTEEM. But it just wasn’t a warm place.

The beers were just OK. I can’t remember what I got. Oh! The Yam Jam. It was neither yammy nor jammy. I smrobably would have been better off with just a basic IPA. Whatever that is. But the one in this picture is actually Henry’s – I probably look like such a drunkard but I always check-in every beer on UnTapped even when it’s something I just took a sip of. So this picture was just for check-in purposes.

I did not like this one at all and immediately passed it over to Henry. (We were getting half pours, btw. Look at me trying to justify us.)

Guys, we went left Dancing Gnome feeling unsatisfied and went BACK TO HITCHHIKER for a flight!

“Why didn’t we just go to Dancing Gnome first for one beer, and then come here?” I asked in disbelief. We KNOW we like Hitchhiker!

“We’re back!” I said happily to the guy bartender and he was like, “Oh boy.” No, I’m kidding, he smiled.

I always think I like sours because Hitchhiker has the best ones (hello sugar) and then I get burnt at other places when I try a sour. But damn Hitchhiker is really so great.

I was talking to my therapist about how we’ve been doing this (she’s a beer person and was flipping through my passport because ofc I had it in my purse during our last session) and I realized something! Henry and I have actually been spending quality time together during this mission! It’s been really fun and I’m thrilled to say that my fear of becoming the kinds of Empty Nesters you see at a restaurant, not talking to each other, was all for naught because we’ve been having the best time!

Granted, I’m a professional yapper so I don’t know why I ever had fears of becoming an incommunicative couple.

I will admit that day drinking is not for me though. We definitely went overboard like we were on a date or something weird, who are we.

EAST END

I will only leave the house on a work night for a select few people and Kara is one of them! As mentioned previously in this drunken post, Kara’s husband Chris is a co-founder of a local bike crew called Give Up and East End made a havy IPA in their honor! Kara lured me with the ube-flavored sour, and that was a fun one but I REALLY liked the Give Up beer!! I wanted Henry to buy a pack of it but he was all THERE IS NO ROOM IN THE FRIDGE!!

It was a great time hanging out with Kara while also dodging the East End owner because I trashed his beers so hard in an old blog post – like REALLY old, so old that it was actually from the LiveJournal days and then reposted over here –  back when I truly hated beer with my whole hateful heart. And then he found it, because of course he did, when am I ever going to learn, but he commented and thought it was funny! And he asked if he could include it in his beer newsletter or whatever and I was so mortified but also like, how could I say no this guy who was clearly such a class act and so chill about some dumb broad dragging his livelihood through the mud of the Internet streets.

Anyway, after we left, KARA TOLD HIM and he apparently said he wished I had said something while I was there but OMG having to talk to someone about something weird I wrote about them on my blog already happened once this month, so I think I reached my limit! Maybe next time!

Well, that’s my summary of the first 7 stamps in my dumb passport (PICTURED ABOVE!!). 13 more to go by 12/31! CAN I DO IT?

We had a concert to go to in Columbus last Wednesday night so we made it into a little day trip because we don’t usually get to spend much time in Columbus – we’re either just passing through onto other destinations or we’re there just for a concert so we get there with an hour or two to spare.

Still, we didn’t get in until around 1:30 but still managed to pack in a good bit before needing to get in line at Skully’s later that evening. Here is what we did because this is a fake travel blog!

Our first stop was Koffee Paradise, a Filipino cafe which is actually right outside of Columbus. If there’s ube on the menu, ubet my ass is gonna be there.

However, I done fucked up by getting the coffee flight instead of the twinzilla which is a split cup so you can get TWO different drinks! But I saw coffee flight and got excited so I ordered that and when asked if I wanted hot or iced, I said hot which was actually untrue but sometimes my mouth just moves on its own, like am I possessed by the most docile prankster entity or what?

I didn’t realize that the flight was actually the equivalent of a full sized coffee cup. That was a lot of caffeine even for me, considering I had beasted an XL Dunkin’ hot coffee on the way there. (I mean, I dragged it over the span of three hours but still.)

So, I had four decent-sized hot lattes to imbibe instead of getting the iced ube and frozen matcha in the clever split cup. I struggled. They were all delicious (ube was god tier out of the 4) but I ended up begging Henry to take the tiramisu one because it was too rich and I thought my stomach was going to split.

Ube crinkle cookies were bus. I wish we had ordered more than two even though I had so many lattes to slam.

This place was such a calming vibe and the staff were so sweet. I’m definitely keeping it on my list so that I can go back for twinzilla redemption! Also two younger people came in wearing PTV shirts and I wanted to say that I liked PTV too but I was afraid they’d think I was invading their safe space. Like “ew that mom likes our music, so lame.” (I’m an OG fan but whatever.)

While we were there, the lady in the background of the picture of my coffee flight from Koffee Paradise walked by outside and these places were nowhere near each other so I was screaming!

This bowl was everything I wanted in that moment. I was obsessed with this place. The music was super intense house beats and I approved of that too even though it didn’t really match the vibe?!

Our server liked my ring (an old one from the Culture Shop way back in the day) and we made smiling eye contact with each other while Henry struggled to pay the bill at the table. Like, “please excuse grandpa, he’s used to paying by check at the register.”

He actually said “cash or charge” today and I was like ok 1980s charge card.

Henry got the house veggie burger and really liked it. In case you were wondering, no it wasn’t a vegan restaurant but Henry likes to rub it in my face that he gets veg options so that I can try it. Like this excuses that it took him 23 years to marry me. ;)

After lunch, we still had a lot of time left so we parked in the area of the concert venue and walked around for an hour which is my favorite thing to do after eating. It was really windy that day, I feel compelled to tell the blog that for historical factors. You never know.

We walked past this brewery called Elevator and it looked so cool but Henry was like I CANNOT DRINK BEER I HAVE TO DRIVE HOME TONIGHT – like OK, six hours??

We stopped in Magnolia Thunderpussy to buy Chooch a record and I sent him this picture – it’s the counter he was standing on when he met Chiodos as a baby 🥹.

Then!!! Get this!!! Henry goes, “let’s go to BrewDog.” It was right across the street from the venue and I was like “are you kidding me, you said you didn’t want to drink when I wanted to go to Elevator but OK SURE let’s go to this place that isn’t even local to Columbus!”

I was so annoyed that I couldn’t even enjoy anything we got in this flight (which we shared because Henry was being responsible and I was still full from our late lunch).

(OK fine the beers were good but that didn’t stop me from referencing Elevator in a manner generally reserved for when one partner is constantly reminding the other of their infidelity. “Remember when we could have went to Elevator which looked so much cooler than this place but you said I don’t want to drink beer today like a little bitch?”)

Those were all the pictures I took for Untappd. You’re welcome.

There were only 2 other people there (2 men at the bar) and the bartender was very nice. Especially considering Henry acted like it was his first time at a bar ordering a flight and I was getting pre-show nervous irritation so I started snapping at him and rolling my eyes which as you know is my most shining quality. Everyone says so. It was especially annoying when I was standing RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and he turned around to yell something at me because he thought I was at a table, and i said, “hello I’m right here” with so much derision that it could have passed for a sound effect for evisceration. The bartender light-heartedly said, “surprise!” but was probably nervously thinking, “yeah these people are gonna be the subject of a future true crime podcast.”

We stayed there for at least an hour, nursing the beers, bitching about the govt, and crying actual tears over missing Korea (me).

And we STILL had time to kill after this, not wanting to get in line yet, so we walked down the street to Insomnia Cookies and got some sugary carbs to soak up the beer.

There went our healthy lunch!

(Ok now I’m mad all over again about Elevator and just tried to start a fight with Henry about it as he’s getting ready for bed LOLOLOL.

“We could have made such great memories at Elevator. It could have rejuvenated our love,” I argued.

“You don’t know that,” he mumbled.

“Wait, is that even what it was called? Elevator?” I questioned.

He’s over this lol.)

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.

This past weekend was pretty chill. Another hot one though, that’s for sure! Henry has finally started on the fabric-portion of the bedroom dresser refurb which required him to dust off his sewing machine and “practice” on scraps of fabric, lol. He is such a little Henrietta Homemaker.

I let him take a break in the afternoon and we went to Duffy’s for some Saturday night beers. I think I am mostly over IPAs now, and actually not really excited about beer in general anymore (I’m so hot and cold, anyone will tell you that!!) but we did get two varieties from the local brewery Lolev. We went there over the winter with Amy and Dick and it’s kind of become the benchmark for me as far as local breweries because we had such a great experience there. I’m just going to go on record here and say something that is probably considered contentious by Yinzers, but I think Lolev is a million times better than the overhyped Spoonwood. I SAID WHAT I SAID. I won’t be going back to Spoonwood unless Chronica have another large gathering and that’s the venue. Then I will go. But I will probably just drink water!

This was absolutely delightful.

The next day, I went to Sally Ann’s for brunch with Sandy, Lauren, and Amber. Always nice to chat with them! I miss Lauren and Sandy a lot – and even though I still chat with Amber weekly at work, I miss seeing her IRL!

Brunch was really nice but PICKLESBURGH was gearing up right as we were leaving so downtown was turning into pickled pandemonium. I guess this was the 10th anniversary of Picklesburgh so the city went all out and expanded it to various bridges and streets. I only went to the first one, which was contained to one bridge and even then it was way too much for me. Chooch and I had only gone to see our friend Bethany and her band Balloon Ride Fantasy perform at the end of the bridge and I distinctly remember that this older woman from the mail room, BETTY, was there and I was like, “OMG Betty sighting in the wild!” She was a crazy character, but very beloved by people in the firm.

Anyway, I was hoping to check out the little vendors’ square near Heinz Hall to see if there was anything fun to get my friend Lyda from our Seattle office as a housewarming gift. Amber and Sandy accompanied me and Amber said, “Lyda’s really taken a liking to you,” and I said, “I know.” Super smug, as usual :) I’ve been training Lyda at work and we had already had a good rapport before that but now we chat even more frequently and my absolute favorite thing is that she will come to me for song recs to listen to during her afternoon “strut.” She said that she likes asking me for music because I’m so passionate about it and always give her back stories and I said, “Yo, THANK YOU” because it genuinely seems like most people find this to be on the long list of my most annoying traits! On Tuesday, I introduced her to  the Dance Gavin Dance lore and she was all in. (She’s Team Kurt Travis, in case you were wondering.)

(You weren’t.)

I was extremely disappointed in the pickle wares on display so I parted ways with Amber and Sandy and continued out of the boundaries of Picklesburgh to a cute little shop called Love, Pgh. I go here often when I’m looking for Pgh-centric gifts for friends. It’s so cute and the people working are always extremely friendly. On this day, the cashier immediately said she loved my kimoni-esque coverup when I walked in, and then when I was paying she said she loved my purse too and I was like, “I know.”

No, I’m kidding, I’m not that cunty lol. I just shyly said thanks.

But yeah, I should have just come there first because it had so many things that made great options for a housewarming gift.

I mean, I had to walk there with a sketchy older gentleman panhandler who I could NOT shake until he dropped his plastic cup of donations at which point I said the classic, “Op!” paused for a second to show concern, then swiftly walked on.

I can only be so people-y before I get burnt out.

Later that afternoon, Henry and I walked to Potomac Station because I wanted to try this new Cherry Coke espresso drink they have?? Apparently, they have buddied up with local influencers (ugh) and let some of them create new drinks for them. The first 30 people to get this one after it debuted on Saturday got it served in a cherry tumbler. Well, I guess they overestimated the hype for it because we went a full day later and I got it in the tumbler too. It was just OK.

The smoothie bowl Henry made me for dinner later on was definitely more write-home-about-able.

Jeez guys, I think that was all I have to say about the weekend! I did stuff but it was just very mid overall. There is some action on the calendar for the coming weeks so I should be appreciative of slower weekends – they can’t all be amazingly memorable! Nice to see my friends on Sunday though!

P.S. I just realized that every picture in this post is a drink + a drink in a bowl. What a fascinating weekend recap, you are so very welcome.

Dear Blog,

It’s me, the Obsessive One. The Finnicky Fixator. The Alice Down the Rabbit Hole. Circling back on my ELUSIVE BEER CAN mission from several weeks ago.

You might remember that Henry and I had purchased a limited edition Penn Brewery six-pack in collaboration with Kennywood and I was so stoked on it. Not only did I LOVE the can art, but the beers were actually pretty good too. I liked ALL SIX varieties which was a big deal for this Picky Peggy (sorry, once I start, I can’t stop). I had a vision of cutting and flattening the cans to make a picture frame and was super excited about this. If you know me, you know I am a hugely sentimental person, I love souvenirs, mementos, memorabilia, etc. ESPECIALLY when it involves amusement parks!

But then a week later, we met my sister and her husband at Penn Brewery and this is where a wrench was thrown in my plans. First of all, we had a shitty experience as far as the server and most of the beers went. Maybe it was the Kennywood cans that were hyping up on the other Penn Brewery flavors in my mouth, but the ones we actually got on draft on there were mid at best. The lemon shandy especially was extremely bland, like Lysol without the lemon scent.

On the table was one of those little plastic stands with their “specials” slipped inside. On the other side was an ad for the Kennywood six-pack, with a picture of it in the middle and then all of the individual cans bordering it – 4 on both sides.

You might be thinking, “But 4+4 = 8, Erin. How is that a six-pack?” THAT WAS MY QUESTION TOO, YOU GUYS. I might hate math but I didn’t suck at it in school. I held the sign close to my nose so that I could really scrutinize it and saw that there were TWO BEERS not included in the six-pack: one called a Potato Smash and the other one I couldn’t see very well but could tell that it was themed on the now-defunct dark ride, Le Cachot. And unfortunately it was the dreaded lemon shandy, LOL. I didn’t care though – I NEEDED BOTH OF THESE NOW THAT I KNEW THEY EXISTED.

Henry was going to ask out server but I stopped him because she was seriously the worst and acted like she hated us, so god forbid we ask her to do more of her job. So, he went to the bar and had an equally abysmal interaction with the bartender, who did sell him a six-pack of the Potato Smash one, but basically gaslit him into believing that the other one didn’t exist in the Kennywood can. She kept trying to push their regular brewery cans of lemon shandy on him like we were actually buying this for the beer itself.

As.

If.

I was in a spiral and kept arguing with him the entire weekend that this couldn’t be true.

“WHY WOULD THEY HAVE THAT AD ON THE TABLE WITH 8 CANS IF THERE ARE ONLY 7???” I kept crying, and Henry was like, “Jesus Lord in Heaven, beam me up. I’ve put in my time and I wish to now clock out.”

Hey, Sus – you stay out of this.

We kept checking some local distributors thinking that maybe they would have it because another bartender said something about shipping them out, etc. But we came up empty.

Not one to be deterred that easily, I decided to send the brewery a message on IG, in hopes that someone who actually knows what goes on there would be the one to respond. I explained my dilemma, “lay awake at night thinking of this mystery can” etc. – I gave it my all. I laid all of my neuroses on the table. I’m just a girl, on the other side of your Instagram DM, freaking the FUCK out because now I have an UNEVEN NUMBER OF BEER CANS FOR MY ART PROJECT!!!

No, I have never been diagnosed as OCD but sometimes I wonder. I also think I am on the spectrum a ‘lil bit. (Aren’t we all??)

They replied a day later and said that YES! THE KENNYWOOD LEMON SHANDY CANS ARE AT THE BREWERY! I mean, I made sure to emphasize that I needed the KENNYWOOD CANS, THE ONES WITH THE LE CACHOT ART, and their response acknowledged this. .

I sent Henry out to get it.

And they were closed.

This was a fail on his part, though!! He should have checked their hours! I will give Penn Brewery a pass on this one.

But then he went the next day and the same lady bartender from the day we were there with Amy tried AGAIN to give him the basic cans and he was like, “No the Kennywood ones” and she told him they didn’t exist! AND HE WAS LIKE OK BYE AND LEFT!? No push back!?!!?!?!?

I was livid. I sent Penn Brewery a reply and told them what happened and they read my message and never responded!!!!!!!

SO THEN I MADE JANNA MESSAGE THEM ABOUT IT AND THEY NEVER RESPONDED TO HER AT ALL.

OK, I was really hating on this place at this point and I felt actual sickness in my stomach when I would think about how now my project was going to be lopsided and forever incomplete in my heart since I KNEW that there could be an 8th design out there!!!

HOW DID THEY HAVE A PICTURE OF SOMETHING THAT DIDN’T EXIST?!!?!?

THE MATH WAS NOT MATHING!!!!!

Eventually though I told myself that I had to let it go. I have never been more frustrated over something this small and non-life altering! This stupid beer can was living rent free in my head but I’m about to be charging this squatter back rent!!

2 weeks have since gone by since Janna messaged them with no response. I had actually given up. But this morning, I opened Instagram and one of my fave local cafes posted a picture of a guy painting a mural in one of their locations. I was like, “That looks nice” and then I clicked on the artist’s Instagram and didn’t have to scroll very far before I saw THAT HE IS THE ONE WHO DESIGNED THE KENNYWOOD CANS!!!!! (In hindsight, the cans DO say his name but it is VERY TINY and I only just noticed it now!)

He has a video where he is in the brewery watching them can the Jack Rabbit Wheeeeat and it says, “Get this and 7 others at Penn Brewery!”

SEVEN.

OTHERS.

I mean, he should know, right????

So I commented on his post and told him my sob story and he said that yes, the mythical 8th can is available AT THE BREWERY.

It just so happened that we were having lunch today with Todd and Brittany in the Strip so since we were already out that way-ish, I made Henry swing by the brewery on the way home.

“I WILL GO IN MYSELF AND HANDLE THIS,” I hissed, and Henry of course was like, “Thank god.”

“Yes, we have that,” the bartender replied, no hesitation, when I explained in CLEAR ENGLISH that I was looking for the KENNYWOOD CANS of the lemon shandy.

“OMG! Can I please have a six-pack?” I giddily asked, in disbelief of how easy this was panning out to be.

He came back WITH THE PENN BREWERY CANS.

“No….” I began to say, and he cut me off to explain that this was the same lemon shandy found at Kennywood, just in the Penn Brewery cans.

So, once again, I used my CIVIL, POLITE WORDS to explain that I was looking for the CANS WITH THE KENNYWOOD ART.

“Oh, you have to buy the variety pack,” he said. “You’ll only get one can of the shandy, but it will be the Kennywood art.”

“No, that’s not one of the ones in the variety pack,” I DEMURELY and CUTESY-ly argued.

He retrieves a six-pack to prove his point and immediately says, “….oh.”

“Yeah,” I said, relishing the moment he realized that the lemon shandy WAS NOT in the variety pack.

I then argued that I was told by THE ARTIST that this can exists and that it’s available AT THE BREWERY. I was NOT leaving until he went back and checked again. Like, bro – can I just come back there? Can you just let me look? Are you just like, glancing around? Opening the junk drawer halfway? What is going on here?!?

He did go into the back again and if I’m not mistaken, he retreated with a bit of ‘tude in his stride that I did not appreciate.

But guess what you guys? HE CAME BACK AND PLACED MY HOLY GRAIL ONTO THE BAR IN FRONT OF ME.

This was like my own version of the motherfucking DaVinci Code. The trials and tribs I went through! All that was missing was a pair of sphinxes asking me a riddle.

“This was the last one,” he said, explaining that the rest of the batch was sent off to the distributors. Are you kidding me? If I start seeing these everywhere, I’m going to lose my mind. Regular people be walking into Giant Eagle and snagging a six-pack of Le-mon Cachot Shandy not knowing what those before them went through to acquire this bounty.

The worst part is that THIS BEER SUCKS!! But yo—-that can design. Can you even believe it?  It is so good! I loved Le Cachot when it was still around! Paul Haggerty, you are a brilliant artist.

This was the other one that wasn’t available in the variety pack. If you have never been to Kennywood, they are famous for their Potato Patch fries.

I love that this one, named after the Thunderbolt, has a Golden Nugget ice cream on it!

RIP Log Jammer.

THIS shandy was actually really delectable.

And that’s my story about how I obtained all 8 cans and will never go back to Penn Brewery again. (Unless they do a Kpop series one day.)

Henry and I had a drinking lunch date on Saturday with Amy and Dick and I always look forward to these! This time it was at Penn Brewery and I was excited about it because we recently got that Penn Brewery Kennywood-inspired six-pack and actually enjoyed all 6 varieties in spite of Henry’s prior mutterings about “never having had a single good beer from Penn Brewery.”

It’s evidently the oldest brewery in the city. These are things I’m learning, lol. I have never been there before even though it seems to be a beloved Yinzer institution. I will definitely give it all of the points for aethestics alone – I love old shit and this made me feel like I was being all historical and whatever.

I guess this was the tunnel where they stored the beer back in the day?? That’s what Amy told us. She and Dick were there a few weeks ago to pick up some special collab that the brewery had with our SUPER GREAT local chocolatier, Sarris. (Seriously, I get that Europe has the supreme chocolate but it irritates me when the American chocolate being put up against Cadbury and the likes is always Hersheys and Nestle. SARRIS IS SO MUCH BETTER!!!!)

Anyway, they made a limited-run stout conditioned with Sarris’ peanut butter meltaways and it sold out so fast that they made more for Easter so Amy and Dick headed out and grabbed a whole case because so many of their friends (they live in Ohio) also wanted to try it. Henry ended up finding single cans at our local beer distributor so he brought one home and we HATED IT. Like, I took one sip and decided right there on the spot that I never wanted that swill in my mouth ever again. Henry ended up dumping the rest of the can because he hated it too.

I figured Amy and Dick might have enjoyed it because they are more stout-adventurous than us, but they scrunched up their faces and said they thought it was awful.

“Did you guys taste ANY peanut butter?” Amy asked.

“No, and not any chocolate, either!” I cried. I also saw that it got a ton of bad reviews on Untappd so that made me feel validated.

But back to our experience at the brewery itself:

Apart from it being really cozy and German-y, we were off to a bad start immediately when we walked through the door and a semi-surly server barely greeted us and told us to sit anywhere. I was hoping she was just the hostess, but then she came over to get our drink order and made me feel so uncomfortable right out of the gate. We asked if they do flights there and she was like, “Yes, I’ll bring you a flight card” and then Henry tried to get two more for Amy and Dick who had yet to arrive, but it somehow complicated the whole process and I could practically see fire in her eyes. She ended up just bringing us two cards and we were like, “That’s fine, thanks” then Amy and Dick had to jump through the same hoops once they arrived.

It was just as bad when she came back for our food order – she was actually turning her head away from us the whole time while we were quickly trying to decide and I wanted to be like, “WHY DON’T YOU JUST COME BACK THEN IF THIS IS SUCH A NUISANCE TO YOU??”

We were being so polite too, way more so than she deserved. She made me feel like I was in trouble every time she came to our table and honestly just made the whole vibe awkward and uncomfortable. I really hate complaining about these things and it takes a lot, really. I’m 99% always on the server’s side but this broad needed to just go home.

The beers were just a’ight. We all got the lemon shandy I think and all had the same exact review: dafuq, where’s the lemon tho?

I dunno how Dick & Amy felt about their food, but Henry and I were not impressed with ours. I got a veggie sandwich on a croissant and what was served to me looked like it was from a kids menu. I’ve had bigger and better croissants from 7-ELEVEN (and I’m talking about the crappy American 7-Elevens, even – not the superior ones in Asia). It basically had a floppy portabella slice, lettuce, and a tomato on it. It was so lackluster and I was still very hungry afterward. Luckily, I swapped the fries for a side a spaetzle and that was actually good, just not as good as my Pappap’s.

I did try one of Henry’s fries though and it was really good so I guess if I ever go back, it’s “order a bunch of sides” or starve.

One highlight (aside from hanging with my sister!) is that there was an advertisement on the table for the Kennywood six-pack. But alongside the picture of the 6-pack, there were EIGHT different cans!?!? I quickly ran through them and found the two that there were not included in our six-pack. Henry was going to ask the server and I was like, “Bitch, best just go straight to the bar with this inquiry, come on now.”

He came back to our table with an entire six-pack of one of the different varieties (this one has Phantom’s Revenge on the can!!!!) because it was the only way to buy it. The one we’re still missing is just – ugh – the lemon shandy with a different name but it’s THEMED TO THE DEFUNCT LE CACHOT AND I NEED THIS CAN!!! Henry went round and round trying to explain to the bartender that we specifically want the Kennywood cans and they kept trying to push the regular Penn Brewery lemon shandy six-pack on him. UGH!

But then one of the bartenders did mention that some had been shipped out to various distributors and Giant Eagle so we spent the rest of the weekend sporadically looking to no avail.

There is really something wrong with my phone’s camera – all of my photos look like ass lately (and not just the ones I’m in lol).

OMG why he is stalking around like this??

Anyway, just look at how amaze this can is (the beer was so-so):

Phantom’s Revenge is one of my ult-favorite coasters and not just because of Pgh Pride. It is legitimately a world-class coaster! GO READ MY MYRIAD BLOG POSTS ABOUT IT!

Anyway, after leaving Penn Brewery, I needed a hot coffee and sweet treat so we parted ways with Amy & Dick and went to the nearby Yinz Coffee, one of the few local chains I genuinely support. It was more crowded than I have ever seen it because it was Pride weekend and a ton of people had wandered in from other events. Normally, I’d be like, “HELL TO THE NAH” when I see a line, but the energy was so positive there because of the LGBTQ+ love that I decided to stick it out. Godspeed to that barista though – he was killing it alone behind the counter! I bestowed all of the kindness I had in my daily reserves onto him, since I was given no reason to use it at the brewery. I always have so much respect for people who can handle the stress and pressure of a non-stop work flow like that, and he was doing it with PANACHE and a smile on his face. We had a nice and quick chat (I’m sure he was relieved to hear that my order was a simple drip coffee with a splash of almond milk) and he said, “Tomorrow is the parade so it will just as crazy!”

It was one of those brief interactions that leave you feeling good because the person on the other end was pure vibes, you know? Love you, Yinz Coffee!

Henry and I also got two cookies to share so we took it to the nearby Uniondale Cemetery (the one where “Henry wrecked” the car, definitely not me) but yo, I couldn’t believe how cold it was. I think it was like 50 degrees that day but it was windy with no sun so we didn’t last long.

And that was Saturday!

I can’t come up with post titles anymore. God help me in the future if I ever need to find shit on here.

Anyway, Saturday was alright. I woke up in A BAD MOOD but I went for a walk, did a GrowwithJo cardio workout and then felt OK enough to be in an amenable state to leave the house with Henry. We are fully in the process of refurbing an Ikea wardrobe and dresser set and it requires trips to antique shops to find some accoutrements for it. Namely: rosaries and small crucifixes. Just…you’ll see. If we ever get it finished.

The antique shop I wanted to go to wasn’t open yet because dumbo Henry didn’t check the times so instead, we drove to Coraopolis and hit the motherlode of rosaries at some place there:

This is my collection as of Saturday. The two on the end are from eBay (the last one glows in the dark!).

The older women behind the counter didn’t ask what our deal was with all the rosaries (members the MYOB club, I like it) but I was prepared to answer honestly that the Devil appointed me to his Catholic Relic Eradication Committee.

“Can I have a paper receipt for reimbursement? Thanks.”

By this time, the antiques place on 65 was open. We’ve been here numerous times and have had success in the past (I know I’ve bought treasures here but for the life of me, cannot remember what) but I don’t think we’ve here since during the pandemic when we were renovating the kitchen and I got super pissed that people weren’t wearing masks.

I forgot how vibey this joint is. It is an eyeball feast for someone like me who appreciates antiques juxtaposed with kitsch.

I took this picture specifically to send to Chooch and instead of being disgusted in his dad, he was like, “SEND ME A CLOSER PICTURE OF THAT SHIP PAINTING.”

He really imprinted on it for some reason but ended up telling me not to get it because he won’t be able to hang it in his dorm room next year. I think I might go back and get it for him anyway though.  He’s not going to be living in a dorm forever, after all??

I wanted the light-up angel underneath the ship painting but Henry looked at the price tag and hit me with his I DON’T THINK frown.

GOOD THING MAMA BEAR* HAS CREDIT CARDS.

*(I’ve been watching way too much Jake Webber, sorry.)

Dude come on now, seriously. I could live in this room. It is so aesthetically pleasing and makes me wish we had more blank walls in the house to play with.

There was one room that had a bunch of original art from Jeff Bertrand and I was SALIVATING over them and Henry was like DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, YOU HAVE CREDIT CARDS but in the end, I couldn’t decide which one I wanted the most and spent so much time ruminating that all of them stopped speaking to me. So, I got nothing. I was in full-fledge pout mode at this point, so I told Henry to just put back the WHO’S THAT GIRL* soundtrack record I was “so excited” to buy 30 minutes prior to this. I get very overstimulated when shopping and experience shopper’s pre-remorse which results in me panicking and buying nothing.

*(I had this on cassette when I was in elementary school and used to blast it on my dad’s stereo while roller-skating in the basement. Very good memories associated with this soundtrack. Ugh. I hope it’s still there?!)

I left with nothing but an allergic reaction from all the dust.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. My bad mood went away after I ate lunch. Shocker.

Henry went out later to get craft supplies because He’s So Crafty, and also came home with two beers from Duffy’s. We haven’t been indulging in that anymore but since he only brought home two and not a whole six-pack, I allowed it. He was able to procure this one that Penn Brewery did with Sarris Candies, which I guess I was kind of excited about because it was a hot commodity when it was released and sold out, but it’s a stout so I also didn’t have high hopes.

OMG it was so bad. I took two sips and gave it all to Henry, who also didn’t like it but he’s one of those WASTE NOT WANT NOT types and drank all of it with his facial muscles frozen in sheer disgust.

I tasted nothing even remotely reminiscent of Sarris. Not even a whiff. Tastes more like a box in the next room over from a Sarris meltaway.

AND THAT’S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT.

After the highway museum (which I’m still so geeked about, to be quite honest – PIE AND POSTCARDS. ‘Nuff said), we drove a few minutes away for lunch at Unity Brewing in Latrobe.

Right off the bat, the Crosby art was giving good vibes.

I got a:

• LEMON CREME COOKIE something. I don’t know what kind of beer it was – a wheat maybe? Whatever it was, it was my favorite. Subtle lemony sweetness without tasting like Pine-sol!
• Another Dimension IPA – just a solid, refreshing IPA that I liked very much
• Peach Ring Sour – remember when we went to that brewery in Youngstown last month and I was like, “I guess I don’t like sours after all?” Nope, wrong, scratch that. This was my redemption sour. It was SO DELICIOUS and fun.
• Vanilla Bean Blonde – apparently this is touted as the “undisputed pub favorite” and I can see why! It was so nice.

I legit loved everything. If I wasn’t a lightweight, I’d have probably gone back to the bar and asked for a full pour of….the lemon creme, I think. Any of them really!

Henry got the Maibock (a German spring lager), the Here’s the Dill! Pickle sour (LOVED THIS, so refreshing! I could have probably had a full pour of this if we were sitting outside with friends or something), the River Goat! West Coast IPA (decent) and….the Willie’s Reserve which I ordered for him and since I have bad eyesight I couldn’t see the smaller words on the menu which said that it was cannabis inspired. Hoo boy, was it ever. Henry and I aren’t like, NARCs or anything but we are both pretty averse to pot – I can’t stand the smell of it and haven’t smoked it since probably my late teens/early 20s because I have so many mental problems that it has the complete opposite affect on me and it AIN’T A GOOD ONE. So this was not our fave. You could smell the skunkiness without even holding it up to your nose.

MY FAULT though – I would not have  told him to get that if my eyes worked better, lol.

We were seriously having such a great time here, I can’t explain it (don’t worry, it was the calm before the storm, lol).

I had whatever “sweet flats” is – OK, I’ll tell you what it is: roasted rounds of sweet potatoes topped with black bean, corn, and two dollops of goat cheese. It was exceptional!! Filling without making me feel like sick, we love to see it.

Chooch called Heny’s phone when Henry was at the bar ordering our food, so I answered and without even letting me say hello, Chooch immediately demanded, “Dunkin.” That’s the only time he ever calls Henry, when he wants him to order (a/k/a “pay for”) his Dunkin lol.

Anyway, I was like, “Wow, hello, we’re at lunch.”

“With who?” he asked.

“No one…just us.”

“WOW. I didn’t know you people did that,” Chooch said, mind blown that his parents do date-like activities together I guess.

The post-lunch plan was to go down the street a bit to Ligonier so we could walk around and not have to be in the car for 60+ minutes after eating lunch. First, we used the gross “outside, needs a key” restroom at the local GetGo gas station. I liked my outfit that day so I took this picture but I did not feel cute that day at all, to be fully transparent. I am in a very low, low, low self-esteem cycle currently.

We took these dumb pictures of each other. Chooch said we were “Wow so cool” when I sent them to him later haha.

Anyway, Ligonier just pissed me off. I hated everyone there, it wasn’t my vibe, I rejected every store we passed, I got outrageously babyish at a cafe over a chai latte that was made with whole milk because I forgot to ask for almond milk and declined their offer to remake it and said, “No this is fine” in a monotone because at that point I was trying to be difficult while pretending like LOOK HOW EASY I AM BEING. As soon as we walked out, I thrust the latte at Henry and said IT’S ALL YOURS and he was like, “?????” because now he was double-fisting iced lattes. I don’t know, I was feeling uncomfortable in my skin, it was kind of hot out but I refused to take off my sweater because I didn’t want to show my arms, Henry was NOT LISTENING TO ME AS USUAL. It was a perfect storm. The last time we were in Ligonier together was before Chooch was born it was also a really bad day. Henry has declared a travel ban on Ligonier and I can’t say I’m going to argue with him on that one.

We drove home (in a big traffic jam) in silence, me listening to Johnnie Guilbert and scowling out the window while also silently crying and wanting to die. It gets easier until it doesn’t. I just don’t know. The day was so great and then….that. Can’t even blame it on hanger because it was after lunch. Luckily, once we got home everything was fine. I exercised. Ate dinner. It was a normal Saturday night.

Grow up, Erin.

(Henry tried to blame it on me revisiting my emo roots but I have been this bad if not worse for over a year now, not to mention since I was born. So.)

I’m a big advocate of post-meal walk-abouts, constitutionals, digestive jaunts – whatever you want to call it. I like to walk after eating. Especially after having been in the car for 4 hours. So, after our so-so Batch Brewing lunch, Henry suggested the Detroit River Walk, as if I would ever say no to that. Right away, we saw a carousel, but it was closed. :(

I begged him to please wear the BooSeokSoon hat that I got him for Christmas, which he has worn NOT ONCE, and he was a big baby about it because he’s ashamed of his Kpop heritage, I guess. Finally, he agreed but said the moment I started being mean to him, it was going in the river. LOL ok, sure, Captain M.T.Threat.  I love this hat so much! I specifically got in a color other than black because ALL OF HIS HATS ARE BLACK, so now he uses the “it doesn’t match anything” excuse. Looks pretty complementary against his burnt orange shirt, if you ask me.

In case you care, BooSeokSoon (a/k/a BSS, a/k/a the gag trio) is a sub-unit of the Kpop group Seventeen. They actually started out as a joke but the fans loved the combo so much that they’re a legit sub-unit now with albums and music videos, and we love them in this house.

Boo = Boo Seungkwan

Seok = Lee Seokmin (his Seventeen stage name is Dokyeom / DK)

Soon = Kwon Soonyoung (his Seventeen stage name is Hoshi)

Here’s a compilation of clips from when they got to hang out with THE LEGENDARY G-DRAGON recently, and it made my Carat/VIP heart swell to abnormal, undocumented sizes.

OK now that I got that out of my system, here are more pictures of the RIVER WALK which is right across from Canada! (Windsor, I believe? I think that is what Jessi told us the next at breakfast.)

Some buildings.

Some mural.

For as many times as we have been to Michigan in general, visiting Bill & Jessi, going to concerts, etc., this was the most amount of time we have spent *in* Detroit. I really want to spend more time there sometime and maybe GO ON THIS BOAT??? It looked so cool. I love river stuff.

Henry is so annoying. BUT ALSO DOESN’T THAT HAT MATCH WELL WITH HIS SHIRT??? I am a big color theory expert.

Then we joined that pro-Canada, Fuck Trump rally that I previously posted about from our hotel room last Saturday night. 

I don’t know what this pose is and I look like trash, but I’m leaving it here though because of Canada <3 looming behind me like the big, beautiful sovereign country it is.

After this, we drove about 20 minutes out of the city to check into our hotel, a Hampton Inn near the Detroit airport, specifically in Romulus. The first time we stayed in this area, I made a joke about how maybe the next time, we could stay in Remus, but it bombed, as Biblical jokes usually do.

This particular Hampton was actually a pretty decent hotel, good job, Henry. It was nearly 4PM by this point, and doors opened at 6PM for the Onew concert so I was in a big hurry to get back downtown and find real food before that, since our lunch was more of a snack than anything else. I didn’t want to be Big Hungry after the concert and needed to eat something sustainable. When you’re an old person, you start pre-planning the types of meals you need to have based on the events you’ll be attending later. Love this for me.

I started screaming when we came up on the Fillmore!!

Little did we know that not only was a baseball game JUST letting out, but it was a double-header so it was a chaotic flux of crowds coming and going. Luckily, we pre-paid for a parking spot in a lot right between the baseball stadium and the Fillmore, so we had that going for us. However, it made it miserable trying to find a place to eat because all of the people leaving the game had teh same idea. I am now super-familiar with three or four blocks of downtown Detroit and it’s much nicer than Pittsburgh, BTW – so lively and lots of cool & fancy shops. Pittsburgh could never. Detroit definitely does not live up to the bad rap it gets.

The original place we were going to eat was Detroit Beer Co. but there was a wait of course, so we kept walking in circles, with no back-up plan, me getting hangrier and hangrier. AND it was kind of chilly and I didn’t have a jacket so I was Mrs. Miz about that too. Then I got very mad because some older man walked by us and he was also complaining about the cold, so his wife goes, “Oh, it’s not that cold. Look, THAT guy is wearing shorts!” and gestured bigly toward Henry. Henry of course gloated about this and that did NOTHING to boost my morale.

We were going to go this fast-food looking place called Mister Dips in a super trendy alley. We were actually standing in line to order when my stomach started to preemptively cramp up on me – the thought of eating an Impossible Burger and then going to a (seated!) concert was making me have hives. In the end, I decided to leave and find something else, but I am keeping this place in mind for the next visit because it looked totally my style!

At the very least, I want one of their shakes!

I thought I did a pretty good job not “throwing a fit,” but I was definitely grumpy. We even went back to the parking lot and sat in the car for a bit before deciding to try Eminem’s Mom’s Spaghetti which is right next to the Fillmore. There’s a walk-up window so we were going to do that and just eat in the car like a pair of hungry, de-homed rats, until we realized that the line we thought was for the Onew concert was actually for the walk-up window. (Oh don’t worry, the Onew line was also long, but it was on the OTHER side of the Fillmore.)

We ended up roaming around again and this time, the Detroit Beer Co has no one waiting in the entrance! We got a table almost immediately and I silently thanked the good Onew for sprinkling the town with his Jinki magic dust.

I was so happy and content. I ordered vegan pasta which was light and just the right amount of filling. And I had this seriously delicious IPA from actually some other brewery, not Detroit Beer haha. It was M-43 N.E. from Old Nation Brewing Co. and now I would like to go visit their establishment sometime!

I really liked the vibe of this place. We were seated by a busboy who reminded me of a younger, nerdier version of Henry’s son Robbie. He was really nice and I felt so bad for him when these two SPORTS DUDES came in, sat at the table behind me, and asked him to PUT THE BASKETBALL GAME ON. The remote / cable / TV in general was really giving this kid a tough time and I sat there helplessly watching him. The TV was right behind Henry, who was in the bathroom, so it was just me and this kid locked into an awkward scene together while the SPORTS GUYS sat behind me and talked SUPER LOUDLY about their SPORTS KNOWLEDGE even though we were the only two tables in this corner – there was no one even remotely within ear shot for them to be trying to impress. I hate white men so much, truly I do. I glanced over my shoulder a few times and they looked just as I had imagined – a few years out of college but still hanging on to the glory years, bearded, big outdoor voices for no reason. The one – the loudest – kept  talking about when he was in Turkey.

WHEN I WAS IN TURKEY.

MY TURKISH FRIEND IN TURKEY.

I know, everyone reading this is like, “OK Erin but replace TURKEY with KOREA—” but I would just like to note here that at least I use my indoor voice when I am constantly reminding everyone around me that HEY GUYS REMEMBER HOW I WENT TO KOREA.

Been a while since we were treated to a COLESLAW MASTICATION shot. I wish I had more of these so I could make a “60 Photos of Henry Slawin’ Down” commemorative book for his upcoming 60th birthday. :(

Henry also ordered a beer as an afterthought, and it took our server (who was great if not slightly flustered) an extremely long time to bring it, and I was doing the big foot-tapping song & dance because it was almost 6PM and I wanted to leave and get in line for the concert. She finally brought it over around 5:50 and I was trying to make him chug it.

“This is not chuggable!” he borked, so I tried it and it immediately burnt the tip of my tongue which is probably a good indication that Henry had the right call there. I went back for another sip and I actually liked it so I kept stealing more sips to “help him.”

Overall, a decent place for pre-concert food and drinks! The pasta was very light and flavorful (and it had artichokes, which I love in pasta when it’s done right) and did not lay in my belly like a load of bricks so I was able to comfortably enjoy Onew and his heavenly vocals. (That will of course be another post!)

It’s currently 9:18pm and the electricity in large swathes of Pgh has been out since around 5pm when some tornado-esque storm blew through and I am sitting here in candlelight bemoaning my new pioneer woman status while blogging from my phone. I’m also dying a little because when we were cleaning out my pappap’s house in 2016 I found an old transistor radio in a kitchen cabinet and brought it home – sometimes I turn it on in the 1980s dream kitchen for the lofi vibes but now Henry has it on because we literally need SOUND in this house right now. Ugh, knock knock electric company. Let’s gooooo.

I dunno is that what a transistor radio is?

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our brewery lunch in Detroit on Saturday! I was really excited for this but it was kind of a let down. The beers were ok but the vibes were off, fam. Unlit, just like my house right now.

Apropos of nothing, I was wearing my SHINee Obama pin on Saturday in honor of Onew <3

Lil baby pours. I think we got all IPAs and a Pilsner. Everything was just fine but nothing made me slam my fists on the table and feel inspired to, I dunno, lift my shirt up.

The fuck, Henry…

I hate ordering from QR codes. All of the “veg” options for the tacos were “out of stock” so I ended up with a side salad and mushroom soup. I didn’t finish either. The soup was really good for the first two spoonfuls then I started to hyper focus on the taste.

Henry got cauliflower wings and I usually love me some cauli-wings but these had a…taste. I can’t explain it but my tongue was like no thank YOU.

The beers, in case I need to reference them at some point in the future. You never know.

A tasteful Untappd snap.

Yeah I don’t know. I probably wouldn’t return here but it wasn’t AWFUL. We did up end up getting a soft pretzel to share and THAT was good.

Well on that note I better go and conserve my phone battery because who knows how much longer we’ll be in the dark over here. Cries in pitch black.

A big reason why I wasn’t too torn up over that Easter Lane thing being lame is that we had planned a little mini daytrip around it by scoping out some places in nearby Youngstown, Ohio for lunch. We settled on this brewery called Noble Creature because “Viking” was thrown around in descriptions of the vibe and that seemed like something for me. I was really HUNGY (r removed purposely, OK, I learned this from Chooch) by the time we got there but luckily not to HANGRY proportions yet.

I really liked the atmosphere of this joint, even from just the outside!

BIG YES to that welcome disclaimer.

Right off the bat, I felt good here. The bartender was super down to earth and helpful. I’m not trying to act like someone who is knowledgeable about beer and have no qualms being an open n00b about it, and he was patient and happy to answer my questions. (“IS ANYTHING HERE COMPARABLE TO A BELGIAN?” is usually my only inquiry, lol. Sadly, not really but he did steer me toward an ESB called Basement Darts and complimented me on my OLD WORLD tastes hahahaha.

I had no idea what an ESB was (Extra Special Bitter allegedly??) and it was OK. English. I was able to finish my little glass of it but would probably never get it again.

Henry got two tasters of the only IPAs they had and I was pissed because I don’t like ordering the same thing as him, so to finish my flight, I chose a sour called Jelly because I used to like sours way back when I didn’t like beer and I haven’t really been drinking those anymore. I also got a Flemish Red which I thought was going to be like an Irish Red. Nope, not even close. Hated this one so much. So sour, like way sour-er than the actual sour. I never want to even think about this one again.

Lastly, I got my first Gose after mths of asking Henry, “What is a Gose? Do you think I’d like it?” Turns out, nope, no I do not like Gose. Not even when it has a cool name like Mother Shover.

Full disclosure, I have to admit that the only reason I wanted to like it is because Seventeen, one of my favorite Kpop groups AS YOU MIGHT KNOW, have a show called Going Seventeen but it’s shortened to GoSe so I associate that beer with it. Bummed that is not for me.

(Reading about Mother Shover on Untapped now – because why would I do this before ordering – and apparently it has table salt in it too??)

Henry’s IPAs were both really good :(

Basement Darts. Since it was English, it made me think of the band Basement. I used to really like that band!

A really good mushroom and black bean burger! With asparagus! That burger was really good. The portions were on the small side so I was still hungry when we left but it was for the best because usually I get so full that I become sick when I eat out these days.

So-so sour. No, it was fine. I could never drink a full pour of this but let’s be real, there aren’t many beers I could drink a full pour of!

Mother Shover.

Before leaving, we decided to split one of the seltzers, called CASUAL CORSAGE. We were eyeing it up because it was billed as “a purple seltzer with juniper, lemon, elderberry, butterfly pea flower, and honey simple syrup.

ALL THINGS I LOVE.

And before you ask, yes, even butterfly pea flower – I love it when cafes have butterfly pea matcha.

Oh, damn, did I strike out across the board here! It just tasted like sour nothingness! I thought it would be crisp and sparkling?? Semi-sweet?! It was not any of these things. I truly can’t describe it but it did not inspire me to go wading barefoot in a bubbling brook, which is what ALL OF THOSE INGREDIENTS FEEL LIKE THEY WERE MADE TO ACCOMPANY?!

It was a struggle for us to finish this, especially since Henry had to chug the last dregs of my FLEMISH RED, brotha ew is all I can say to that one. It felt like a sinister, ancient and sacred religious ceremony in a candle lit cellar playing out on my tongue. Just…old and scary and like some possessed monk’s liquified sour breath rolling around in my mouth, daring me to swallow it while my gag reflexes where in overdrive.

I know, it sounds like this was a terrible time but I really enjoyed our visit! I chalked it up to a learning experience because I still am figuring out what I like and don’t like, but also it was just really nice to be in a different “city” on a day-date thing while texting Chooch annoying pictures of ourselves.

DON’T WORRY THOUGH BECAUSE OUR DATE DIDN’T END THERE.

Last Tuesday evening, Henry and I went to Crafthouse to see one of my old favorite bands, Cold. I was wavering on buying tickets for this because I knew it was going to be an emotional rollercoaster – it had been FIFTEEN YEARS almost exactly since I last saw them. Two mths before I started working at The Law Firm, actually! Sometimes it’s hard to believe that there were pre-Law Firm times in my life.

I finally sucked it up though and bought us tickets and I am so glad that I did. Yeah, it’s a drag to do these things on work nights at this age, but really it was so worth it.

I had to laugh though because as we were standing outside waiting for the doors to open, the people behind us were talking about health insurance. “The conversations happening in line now are wayyyyy different from when we used to go to see Cold back in the day,” I laughed and Henry did too but I don’t know why because he was old back then too??

Once we got inside and settled into a table, I started giggling which always makes Henry scared.

“I just realized that I didn’t change out of my NCT shoes,” I cracked up, raising my legs up and wiggling my feet. Henry groaned.

“AND I HAVE MY G-DRAGON LIGHTSTICK ON MY PURSE!” I pointed out. “And my Seventeen credit card!”

I had to get a picture of the full trifecta and Henry mumbled, “You’re so dumb.”

I am really leaning into the Empty Nester Lifestyle. I mean, not that this isn’t something we would have done with Chooch still in the house, because obviously we were still going to concerts back then too but it just feels…different somehow? Like, fresh? Like almost as though we ARE DATING? I dunno man, it’s weird.

Also, it felt kind of wild being around this certain demographic again. Cold is hard rock (actually they were even considered nu-metal adjacent there for a time) and I haven’t been in this scene in A LONG FUCKING TIME. I mean, this was my pre-Chooch life, really. This predated the Warped Tour and screamo and post-hardcore season of my life.

I have to say, on one hand I felt very comfortable and confident in this environment, it felt natural and familiar, I felt like my old out-going self. And it’s probably the only type of man that still CHECKS ME OUT, lol. I came back from the background and bragged to Henry about that. He just frowned.

But on the other hand, looking around at the majority of these people – especially the women – I am very thankful that I got out of this scene. I was always getting drunk back then off gross things like Smirnoff Ice and chain-smoking Camel Wides. I can only imagine how gross my voice would be today, how old I would look, how FUCKED my health would be in general. Hard Rock Erin was not it.

Literally, though, this one “rode hard & put away wet” woman came falling into the bathroom and Skeletor’d, “DO YINZ KNOW IF I CAN VAPE IN HERE??” Calm down, sis. Also, NO????

I took this to send to Chooch. He lowkey hates that his parents go out together I think, lol.

That guy’s face, though lol.

I just want to say that this was only our second time at Crafthouse and both times we had wonderful servers. I enjoyed my food a lot more this time – I went with the margherita flatbread and it was just right. Also, I Like Beer Now^TM and their selection is pretty good. Henry and I both had two different IPAs and both were good. Specifically, I had an Aslin Clear Nights and an Appalachian Brewing Co. Hop Offering. I don’t remember what Henry had because he refuses to update Untapped.

Good music aside, I just want to say that I really enjoyed this night so much. It was a tough decision to come out, but I’m glad I did and that Dumb Henry was with me. JUST LIKE OLD TIMES when it felt like we were seeing Cold several times a year for a while there. But be prepared for the show recap because it’s going to be so stupid-emo.