One thing about me that hasn’t changed since probably 2003 or 2004 is that I will NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE ON NYE. You can’t make me. I like to stay in, be cozy, not get social anxiety, and most importantly – avoid drunk drivers.

Plus, we got some heavy snow this year on NYE so even more reasons to stay in! Chooch was happy because we played some dumb game he got for Christmas called Hitster which he quickly realized he hated because I was REALLY GOOD AT IT. Basically, you can a QR code on a card and when the song plays, you have to correctly place it in the timeline you’ve created from other cards you’ve won. It gets progressively harder the more cards you accumulate.

You can also win a “token” if you correctly guess the name of the song and artist. Chooch made fun of me bigly because one of his songs was “Let it Be” and he goes, “Oh the hit Let It Be by Corsby Stills and Nash” as a throwback to when Corey and Kevin were here Thanksgiving weekend. I don’t think I wrote about this but it has been HAUNTING ME ever since so here goes.

Deep breath.

Exhale.

OK, we were playing that Songs of 80s and 90s Humming Game that I love so much. One of mine was “any song by Madness.” Um, OK I only know the ONE Madness song and I thought, “OK I have this in THE BAG.” So I started humming it and NO ONE was getting it. Everyone eventually gave up and when I said, “Our House by Madness” no one knew the song and I was aghast. But here is where it goes south.

“Yeah, it’s their cover of the Beatles’ song,” I said with full confidence. Chooch and Kevin were both immediately questioning this and I was like, “Yeah, the Beatles.”

We moved on with the game.

But two days later, I shot up in bed and cried out, “The Beatles didn’t sing Our House! That was CROSBY STILLS AND NASH!” I texted both Henry and Chooch about this, in a state of PANIC because if you know me, I am like half-savant when it comes to music things.

“Wow, good job,” Chooch replied, and then Henry admitted that he was thinking to himself that night, “What is she talking about??”

But then a few days went by and I was still emotionally self-flagellating over this when the actual Madness song popped into my head and I said out loud to no one, “THAT WASN’T EVEN A COVER, THAT WAS THEIR OWN FUCKING SONG, WHAT WAS I EVEN THINKING?!?!!?!?”

Am I losing it? Is this early on-set dementia? Was it just because I was drinking a strong Belgian beer and off my game??

Anyway, Chooch will never let me live me this down, hence his little Crosby, Stills and Nash quip.

I originally put on Seoul’s countdown and Chooch goes, “This was like 12 hours can we please just watch the US one, thanks.” W O W. Penelope was walking by and stopped abruptly to stare at the TV, which cracked me up.

Then she continued watching from the table.

Anyway, anti-climactic as always. Happy fucking New Year, etc.

But then for some reason, I brought up the Miz again I GUESS HE HAS BEEN HEAVY ON MY MIND SINCE LOSING HIS MATCH AT  THE DUMB WWE HOLIDAY THING ON SATURDAY and it inspired me to put on The Challenge compilation videos and Henry and I sat there until after 1AM reminiscing, saying things like, “What was his name? Abram I think?” and being totally mesmerized by CT (the best to ever do it, IMO). There was one clip of CT with Adam from The Real World Paris and I was like, “His dad was someone….but I can’t remember now.” Lionel Richie kept coming to me but I knew it wasn’t him. Eventually, I gave up and Googled and his dad is one of the founding members of The Commodores, so practically Lionel Richie! But it also made me laugh because one of the songs Henry got earlier that night during Hitster was “Easy” by the Commodores but he said Lionel Richie so we didn’t give him a token.

How’s that for too much detail into our boring NYE??

Meanwhile, I was avoiding my phone all night because the Stranger Things finale was released but Chooch and I had tickets to see it in the theater on New Year’s Day at noon. I wouldn’t even open Instagram to post a Happy New Year picture.

But finally it was Thursday and I was so sick to my stomach over the anticipation of saying goodbye to Stranger Things! I get so easily attached to everything and anything, it’s fucking stupid. I hadn’t originally intended on seeing it in the theater. Kevin and Corey were telling us it was going to be released this way back in November and at the time, they had thought it meant it was the ONLY way to watch it so I was really annoyed by that because I don’t generally enjoy going to the theater to see movies, let alone a series finale?? (Says the broad who is about to go to the movies again tonight to see Marty Supreme, but I digress! This is only because Chooch also wants to see it and I’m trying to actively be more supportive of the Hollywood Theater down the street.)

Of course, it turns out that it was also going to be released on Netflix so yay, but then Chooch started hounding me to reserve tickets to see it in the theater since he’d still be in town for it. I grudgingly did so. There were only two theaters showing it, and the closest one is in a part of town I try to avoid with all my might (the Waterfront, I have always hated the feel of this area) so I asked Chooch if he cared if we’d have to drive 45 minutes out of the city to see it in Greensburg, LOL. He said he didn’t care! He just wanted to see it and besides, the theater in Greensburg had more availability.

Can I just pause here and say that the fact that he chose to do this with me and not one of his friends actually made my heart feel like it was going to pop out of my chest? We have watched this show together since it came out in 2016 and this just felt so special, driving to Greensburg (me yelling, “SLOW DOWN!” to him every 10 seconds as if he doesn’t get his speed demon tendencies from me) and making him listen to my annoying music, ugh. It was probably the BEST New Year’s Day I’ve ever had, if we’re being honest.

There was some AMC promotion where every ticket came with a $20 food credit — the same cost as the ticket, so suddenly I wasn’t AS annoyed that it cost us $40 for these tickets!? I am so out of the loop with theater prices that I had to consult with my friend Nate at work who confirmed that $20 is the going rate for “special releases” I guess. Because of this, I figured we could just get there a little bit earlier and get food for lunch they allege to have Impossible nuggets, flatbread pizza, etc. But the young kid at the counter said, “no, we’re out” to both of these items and then before we had a chance to choose anything else, he added, “We’re out of basically everything.”

Dafuq.

Here’s $40 in concession credits, good luck.

There was a mall across the parking lot from the theater and we had a good 45 minutes, so I suggested just going there. I was fine because I had eaten breakfast, but Chooch hadn’t eaten anything yet and I didn’t want him to have popcorn for lunch (assuming they weren’t out of that too). So we went to the food court and luckily there was a Panera there so Chooch got his beloved caprese sandwich. Neither of us had ever been to the Westmoreland Mall before so that was a fun side quest.

Back at the theater, the concession stand now had a legit line as opposed to earlier when it was just Chooch and me, looking like we had only gone to AMC to eat lunch. I felt bad for all the people in line around us discussing what they were going to get when I knew it was basically candy, popcorn, or suck their fat one. (IYKYK.)

However, when it was our turn, I decided to press my luck and tentatively ask for a soft pretzel.

There was an awkward silence.

“Well…” the guy started. “We’re out of the pretzel bites, but we do have one Bavarian pretzel left…” He was saying this is a tone like he was trying to talk me out of ordering it, but that’s the pretzel I was actually asking about.

I was like, great my guy, OK cool, I’ll take the last Bavarian.

But he goes, in a weirdly serious tone, “It’s a pound and a half.”

LOOK I HAVE $40 DOLLARS IN FOOD CREDIT HERE AND WOULD LIKE MY FUCKING PRETZEL STOP FAT-SHAMING IT AND ME! Bro was about to pull out the bullhorn next to announce to everyone that this Fatty from the City had just purchased the last 1.5 pound soft pretzel.

Anyway, I got to use the stupid food vouchers – one Bavarian pretzel, one bottle of water, and one soft drink was $30. Jesus.

However, once that pretzel was birthed from the over and delivered to us, I opened the lid and yelped. That was one motherwhompin’ pretzel for sure and actually worth the $16. Plus it came with two things of cheese. It was so big (literally looked like a vine from the Mind Flayer) that Chooch and I only ate about 1/8 of it before Stranger Things started and took the rest home for Henry the Pretzel Monster.

I should have held it up to my head for scale – it was definitely bigger than my head.

Well, anyway – no spoilers here obviously but props to Chooch for twisting my arm because being in a sold out theater for this finale was everything. I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like that even back when I was regularly going to the movies (I used to be a huge movie buff as a teen and into my early 20s!) and I’m so glad that the Duffer Bros made this an option because the live audience made it feel so much more epic! I still plan to rewatch it at home on Netflix (Henry and I have been re-watching the whole series and are almost done with Season 4, anyway) but this was truly the coolest way to watch it. THANK YOU, CHOOCH.

He was 10 when it first came out, and being able to watch something with him that touched so heavily upon my own childhood as an 80s kid was wild and memorable!

(OMG don’t mind me but I’m just over here crying again, lol.)

The rest of the day was super chill. Just hung out at home, finally got to start scrolling through all the Stranger Things reaction and theories posts on Threads and Reddit, and just had a nice relaxing New Years evening.

That was a really nice start to 2026, although it also means it’s almost time to take Chooch back to Philly and I am really getting sadder and sadder thinking about this because having him home for this Christmas break made everything feel normal again and now I’m going to go back to being lonely during the days while I’m sitting here working.

Sigh.

Happy New Year!

Sappiness doesn’t usually good on me and we all know I’m that vain bitch, but I gotta be real here and tell you that this past Christmas was anticlimactic, quiet, and — absolutely perfect. All I wanted was for it to be just us three, no expectations, no obligations. And it was just that.

Against all odds, Chooch has grown up to be someone who doesn’t care about the amount of Christmas gifts under the treeTrudy. He was content with all the things we got him, like a jersey from some guy from the Seahawks, a Gulf of Mexico shirt (FDT), other assorted clothes items, Dr. Squatch, a really cool diffuser that Henry and I have become obsessed with and are planning on buying our own, lol.

We did also get him and his friend Zakk tickets to a Steelers game the week before, I gave him my credit card on Black Friday so he could buy himself clothes and an Eddie Bauer (he loves Eddie Bauer??) jacket at the outlets, and we let him roadtrip to Cleveland today for another Steelers game with two of his friends. So, he is happy!

As for me? HIM HO (that’s what Drew :( and Penelope call Santa) got me G-DRAGON’S PEACEMINUSONE NIKE PARANOISE AIR FORCE 1s!!! This was the most recent version released earlier in the year that I didn’t even attempt to buy because it’s a bloodbath and no one can compete with sneakerheads PLUS G-Dragon fans. But then I found my size on eBay and sent it to Henry as a HINT.

(

Oh! And as usual, half the fun on Christmas is watching Chooch roll his eyes at who all of his gifts are from. This year:

• Truman
• Lady on the sidewalk, dead
• Pam’s Eagle tattoo (our coaster friend loves the Eagles and is always showing off her Eagles tattoo lol but Chooch hates the Eagles)
• Splenny Claus (I inexplicably call Penelope “Splenny”)
• Wolfman’s Nards (obviously a nod to Monster Squad)
• Truman again, I guess I’m losing it
• 마크 (Mark Lee from NCT – when Chooch cared about Kpop, Mark was his bias)
• Johnnie Gilbert in his Never Shout Never phase (Chooch hates that I love Johnnie)
• Tara Yummy’s dog, Sugar (Chooch hates that I watch this certain group of YouTubers and know random things about their lives like the name of their dogs)
• “Welcome to the shithole!” guy in Iowa (literally one line in this entire blog post good luck finding it)

Let’s look at my shoes again!!!!

OMG my dream is to wear to these to a BIGBANG concert in 2026.

Excuse me, who is this adult.

Penelope, checking to see if they’re G-Dragon scented.

Later that day, we went to Pink Box for our annual Christmas buns. I got a taro mochi. I don’t know what the others got, just that they were annoyed that I wouldn’t let them eat them until we got our family pictures done in the cemetery.

The day started out so ugly and wet – just in general, the air was so cold and damp. But on the way to Pink Box, the sun came out and then the skies were a beautiful blue at the cemetery! It was also just warm enough to comfortably take off our jackets (hilariously Mr. Anti-Coat kept his on???).

There was only bad sour moment of the whole day and it was when I got into a big argument with the tri-pod and then pouted in the car for only approx. 30 seconds – BABY’S GROWING UP.

I ALMOST FORGOT TO TAKE PARTY!PARTY! PICTURES! Chooch was like, “Oh GREAT, you’re still using that app?!” when I screamed, “WAIT! PARTY! PARTY!”

Location change! And bun debut!

Anyway, as usual, these turned out like the usual Erin and Her Background Standers snaps that everyone is used to. There were actually quite a few people walking around the cemetery at this time (it’s usually dead, pun intended, but ever since Covid it’s like people realized that cemeteries are great places to take a stroll, ugh, go away) and I felt like we were getting stares but fuck you people, this is our TRADISHAWN.

Then, to cap off a perfect Christmas, we gathered on the couch at 8PM to watch all three new episodes of Stranger Things, and Penelope even joined us here and there. It was the coziest end to a wonderful day with my two faves and the only bad thing is that it’s going to make it so much harder to say goodbye to Chooch next weekend. :(

This just REALLY made it feel like Christmas to me.

OMG he went thrifting his friend last week and got this blanket gown thing that he has worn every day since and he’s so annoying about it.

Splenny <3

This has been a rough for most people I know and I just hope that everyone found some peace with their family / friends / furry kids during this holiday season.

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house this year and it was really nice if not a little frantic as time ticked on during the day but that’s normal for us, lol! Obviously, Chooch and I are of NO HELP to Henry in the kitchen but I at least cleaned the bathroom and living room and got the table set and the house mood-prepped, while Chooch was the designated “OH SHIT can you go to the store and get all of the things Henry forgot to buy” runner.

To his credit though Chooch did attempt to bake cookies (I forget what they were actually called – something about slamming the cookie sheet onto the counter after they came out of the oven, but they were essentially just sugar cookies) but he got immediately frustrated with using a hand mixer so Henry had to take over and do most of it while Chooch stood there antagonizing him. Ah, the harsh tones of two surly men sniping at each other in the kitchen, I’m going to miss that when Chooch goes back to Philly next week. :(

I think this was when we were looking for the Christmas tray for the ham that Kevin was bringing, lots of slamming and metallic rummaging ensued. And sorry if my unread message count stresses you out, you should see the number of unread emails I have on my phone (it’s over 10,000, you’re welcome).

I’ve been really into Romanian club hits which apparently the actual genre is called “Popcorn” – that makes me love it even more! So I had a YouTube playlist going on the TV to set the “mood” – right when my mom showed up, a video of half-naked girls wrestling in oil was playing. She just kind of glanced at it and kept on walking past, lol. Oh, Romania.

The incomplete dessert station featuring “Chooch’s” cookies. Henry also baked an apple butter pie (I FOUND THE RECIPE) which was legit fireworks on the palate – the perfect mix of apple and pumpkin pie, really. Best of both worlds. But just in case, I had him also get a storebought sweet potato pie as backup. The apple butter pie was perfection though and made me really want to bring back the pie party next year.

Henry got this Christmas beer from Golden Age so that I could get a stamp (lol) but it ended up being worth it regardless because it was SO GOOD. I think second to Belgian beers, I like Christmas beers the best?? I haven’t had one I didn’t like.

I like that it looks like I’m the only one who showed up to Christmas Eve dinner, but the truth behind this picture is that, true to the type of ride hostess I am, I ran to the kitchen to serve myself first, lol. So, when I took this picture, everyone else was in the kitchen getting filling their plates except for me, Chooch (who was shoving me out of the way to get to the food first) and Henry the Martyr of Holiday Hosting who waited for everyone else to get their food before getting his own. Remember when I used to do the Goofus and Gallant, Oh Honestly Erin-style drawings? This would have been a good one.

I was going to make a kohlrabi and apple salad until I realized that it involved lots of slicing and I didn’t feel like doing that so I delegated it to Henry who pointed out that the recipe was behind a pay wall (I didn’t even get that far when I found it – just looked at the picture LOL) so then he took it upon himself to find something similar and I don’t know what he did but literally all I could taste was vinegar and I hated it, sorry Henry.

The tofurky was good though.

Oh look, there are the pies!

Chooch got to talk to Uncle Ryan about football. I still can’t believe he likes football. He’s going to Cleveland tomorrow for a game!!! WHO IS THIS KID.

Annual sibling photo.

Chooch in his new Seahawks (his favorite team??) zip-up from Ryan and the “dad” Blueie slippers my mom got him, lol. College Fashion. Of course, Chooch made us play a game after present-opening (Chameleon) and said that Kevin was the only one who understood the assignment. He is so judgey! That’s why I hate playing games with him!

Other than that, I feel like I told the same stories I always tell, my mom said things like, “WHERE WAS I???” every time Corey, Ryan, and I reminisced about our childhood hijinks, and Chooch accused us of talking about beer for 80% of the night which I strongly disagree with.

Relaxing after everyone left. <3 Penelope glowered on the back porch all night, refusing to greet her guests, lol. Overall, it was a very chill Christmas Eve and so nice to have my family here. I’m not saying I was a Grinch this year but there was so much going on that I didn’t really get too much into the Christmas spirit – we didn’t even have time to have Chingumas and that was a hard decision to make because I love having parties here.

This Thanksgiving was a very lowkey affair and I am not even a little bit mad about it. I was just happy that we got to have Chooch home, even though he is a big football bro now and that’s annoying.

It was just going to be the three of us (it usually is for T-giving), so I suggested to Henry that we (LOL “we”) just make a few Romanian dishes and call it a day. henry found a recipe for vegetarian sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls, but the Romanian version uses sour cabbage), mamaliga (polenta with farmers cheese and sour cream – we got Bulgarian feta from Pitaland and Ukrainian sour cream from one of the European markets), and sour cherry pie but somehow that morphed into a sour cherry cake and I was not happy about that but whatever.

I think I must not actually be Romanian because I was not a fan of this. Maybe it was just the way Henry made it, I don’t know, but I had to unwrap the cabbage and just eat the insides.

When Chooch set the table, he said “Pick a holiday.” I chose Halloween.

LOL and then when Henry brought out all the food I realized that OK, perhaps we underplanned this holiday spread. Henry also made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes but it didn’t feel like Thanksgiving.

I think that a past Erin would have pouted about this but I chose to look at it through an optimistic lens – Chooch was here and it felt normal here again. Also, the part of me that is terrified of food was glad to not be tempted to overeat. It was nice to spend the evening not feeling sick!!

See?? We actually had a decent evening anyway!

This was fine but it was supposed to be like the pie we had in Sighisoara and I was so excited because Henry said he found a recipe online that was a dupe of the exact pie we had at a cafe there, but then it ended up being a cake so I was extremely confused. It was still good but also had a pizelle-esque taste to it and I don’t like pizelles that much. I’m not sure where he went astray and I don’t bake so I guess I can’t judge him too harshly. IT WAS A DAY TO BE THANKFUL, AFTER ALL. I think I did a pretty good job not being too much of a brat – baby’s growing up.

It just took 46 years and getting back into therapy, lol.

Ugh, then we played some games even though I didn’t feel like it – especially not Scattergories because I get so competitive and then everyone accuses me of cheating but hello, maybe I’m just really good at linguistics?! The humming game is always dumb to play because I can’t hum without laughing, Henry is tone deaf, and the only time anyone ever guesses anything is when it’s Chooch’s turn and it’s always me guessing it correctly while Henry looks on in confusion.

And Scattergories – of course I killed it as usual, but there was one point where I was laughing so hard that I started to cry and Chooch was like, “I HATE PLAYING THIS WITH YOU! YOU’RE SUCH A CHEATER!!” while I was laugh-sobbing and defending my answer of “dabbing down ditches” as a hobby.

“No ‘cuz look – there is probably someone out there that enjoys jumping down into a ditch and dabbing!” I squealed in defense, wiping away tears, which Chooch and Henry started at me in disgust.

Then Chooch took over the TV for the rest of the night because FOOTBALL ugh.  I truly don’t know him anymore.

Anyway, it was a really nice day. I can’t remember the last time we all crammed onto the couch together – me frantically playing Duolingo because my friend challenge with my work pal Michelle was ending in 2 HOURS OK Duolingo, why would you do that on A HOLIDAY.

Today, Chooch was bitching about the Thanksgiving food selection and OK, I’ll claim the L on that one, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have suggested the Romanian theme! Henry worked hard in the kitchen all day and I know he felt bad about it but honestly, it was still a really nice day and I am thankful that I have a family that gets along – even when Chooch accuses me of cheating and then we start sniping back and forth at each other (“You’re annoying” “No, YOU’RE annoying!”). It’s what makes us “us” :)

(Chooch leaves Tuesday morning and I know he’ll back for Xmas but I’m still sad.)

My Halloween costume every year: desperate for trick or treaters, looking like a bitch waiting for her fisherman husband to return home from sea. This might be the worst Halloween yet and some A-HOLE a few houses up (the drunk guy who tried to barge into HNC’s house a few years ago with his drunk wife!!!) has decided for the first time ever to hand out candy so he was hulking around the sidewalk with a CASSEROLE DISH and legit just tried to STEAL A TRICK OR TREATER FROM ME. I had to deer-leap out my front door and cry WAIT COME HERE FIRST.

Eff that guy and his casserole dish.

P.S. I only know it’s a casserole dish bc Henry said “he has his candy in a casserole dish.” Like, why would I ever know what that is, amirite.

I was texting Chooch a play-by-play from the night and I am sure he was sitting at the edge of his seat, caring deeply about this. I was so pissed because this dumb drunk guy NEVER HANDS OUT CANDY?? And I lost an idiot kid to him because I guess walking up sidewalks is too much of a hassle so he and his dumb parents and toddler-sibling in a stroller-wagon with fake leaves and a Jurassic Park sign skipped over my house (I HAD MY PORCH LIGHT ON AND IT’S A COLOR-CHANGING LED LIGHT SO YOU WOULD THINK THAT WOULD INDICATE WE’RE A CANDY-GIVING HOUSEHOLD) and went straight to that asshole because he was SITTING OUTSIDE WITH THE CANDY CASSEROLE PAN. I was livid.

Meanwhile, Henry just sits on his ass the whole time, watching Instagram reels. He is the most brain-rotted adult male that I know and I would love to just rip that phone out of his hands and smash it LIKE HELLO YOU ARE MISSING ALL OF THESE THINGS AKA MY PERFECTLY CRAFTED AND WELL-TIMED QUIPS BUT OK, KEEP WATCHING YOUR JUNK THAT YOU WILL THEN SEND TO CHOOCH ONLY FOR HIM TO TELL YOU HE’S ALREADY SEEN IT AND/OR IT’S NOT THAT FUNNY.

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday but lately I am so sour and bitter because I’m sick of it all!!!

Anyway, I would say we (“we” like Henry ever came to the door even once) got about 7 or 8 kids total. I felt bad because the kid that almost skipped me because of Casserole Asshole was a bit older, maybe middle school or 9th grade, so I thought I was OK to totally barrel out of the door with the candy and cry, “I’m desperate!” Turns out she may have been autistic or something because she seemed really terrified of me and had a very pronounced stutter and I felt really bad for letting my lunacy leave the house with me.

There were NO KIDS who came to this house of their own accord. I had to stand at the door holding my pumpkin basket and literally making, “COME HERE” finger waves like I’m the Old Ass Schizo Widow of Pioneer. (MIGHT AS WELL BE A WIDOW, INSTAGRAM REELS HAS KILLED MOST OF HENRY’S BRAIN CELLS AT THIS POINT).

Meanwhile, one of the people who lives next door did a couple + dog Toy Story costume theme and they looked so fucking adorable sitting out on their porch with their candy bowl, only for NO KIDS TO PASS BY so they gave up and went inside. They did get two small groups of older kids that came to their door after that though (and don’t worry, I got them too!) but it made me sad for them. I hate this fucking street so much.

My last customers weren’t even trick-or-treaters, I don’t think. They were two high school-aged boys walking past with their bikes. I think MAYBE one of them had face paint on, I’m not sure, and I also think that maybe they WERE attempting to trick or treat because they DID have tote bags. They stopped when they got to my neighbor’s sidewalk because they had their porch light on and actually have a few Halloween decorations up, so after I watched them go there, I frantically waved them to my house too. WHAT NICE BOYS. Literally, so polite, so grateful. I told them to take a bunch since we always have so much left, and they still each only took one so I had to insist. They wished me a Happy Halloween AND a good night and you know what? I almost started to cry because I am so sick and tired of the rhetoric I see online about how “only kids of a certain age” should trick-or-treat, and people who “won’t give candy to kids who aren’t in costume.”

Look, I live in a neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh. There are some rough sections here. Some of these kids could be out doing WAY WORSE THINGS but here they are, politely collecting candy as is the custom on this day. I don’t LIKE kids, you know I don’t, but I like this holiday and Jesus Christ can we just let kids be kids?? I don’t give a shit if an 18-year-old high school senior comes to my door for candy on Halloween. To me, kids are kids all the way through high school. Let them hang on to their youth for a little longer MY GOD.

Also, the costume bit? You don’t know these kids’ lives. Maybe they have parents who are never home because they have to work several jobs. Maybe they just have deadbeat parents in general who don’t care to help in the costume department. Maybe they don’t HAVE THE  MONEY – SHIT SUCKS, REMEMBER? Just because some parents can afford to get their kid a costume at Spirit Halloween, or just because they have the time, ingenuity, and creativity to make a costume for your child doesn’t mean that all parents do. My criteria is “trick-or-treat” and “thank you.” And every kid that came here that night did that and more. They were so sweet and polite. Take all my fucking candy and enjoy being a kid for as long as you can, my dudes.

God, I had such a headache after those stressful two hours! Luckily, the night redeemed itself after that because we went to Castle Blood and had one of the best times there but I will recap that another time. I HAVE TO GO FOR A WALK NOW AND STOMP OUT THIS ANGER.

Well, like at least half of the country, we weren’t exactly donning our red white & blue attire and firing up the grill in honor of America. I know that you can hate the president and love the country at the same time, and that is WHY we hate Trump (among a full-ass tome of other reasons), but being celebratory when inhumane ICE raids and “Alligator Alcatraz” and the big ugly bill are also happening just feels gross.

So instead, I spent the morning having a good, long convo with Corey over iced berry cobbler lattes from Reginald’s, where the super cool and college-aged barista told me that she loved my outfit. “The butterflies over the Gemini shirt – it’s such a vibe!” and I was like, “WHY IS CHOOCH NOT HERE TO WITNESS THIS.” He would have been even more annoyed because my card got slightly stuck in the reader and the barista said, “Oh no, I’m sorry – that’s never happened before!” After I yanked my Visa out, I said, “Oh it’s not your fault, it’s because I have this overlay on the card,” flashing my custom Seventeen credit card at her. Chooch would have been mortified, lol.

Later that afternoon, I wanted to go for a walk and surprise, surprise – look who came with us!

We stopped at Pink Box first, as per tradition, and this was the first time that the owner was there! She chatted with us at length and wow – what a sweet woman! It made me appreciate Pink Box so much more. We have been popping in there for years, and it’s even become our treat of choice to take to the cemetery with us for our traditional Christmas “picnic.”  They have some new buns at Pink Box and she was explaining to us how they are made. Every time she would say goodbye, she would remember something else though and the conversation would start up again – it was hilarious. Then as we were walking out, she yelled out that she thought my purse was cute! INYERFACE Chooch!

LOL, I didn’t know Chooch took this but I’m keeping it because I look like I’m scanning the horizon for danger. My face is so serious! But really it’s just because I was squinting into the sun and being mad at two cars that were practically drag racing through the cemetery.

But yeah, here’s my “vibe-y” OOTD, lol. That Gemini shirt is honestly one of my favorite shirts ever. I wish whoever designed it would do one for Phantom’s Revenge because those shirts consistently suck.

This was a whole ordeal to take these since we didn’t have a tripod and had to rely on a flat tombstone. But surprisingly, no one fought! Chooch acted like it was the worst day of his life, though.

G-Dragon member’s only mini-lightstick, check. Haechan T-Money card, check. Limited edition Korean Vans, check. Stray Kids bracelet received at last week’s concert, check.

And then we spent a good 20 minutes walking the perimeter of the pond, talking to the bullfrogs, turtles, and geese. There is always so much action in this pond in the summer!

Other than that, 7/4 was a laid back day. And that was just fine! Hopefully some day soon it will feel like a holiday again.

We used to go to Kennywood every Father’s Day because for some reason it is traditionally uncrowded there that day. I guess most dads want to stay home and grill meats, who knows. I’m not a dad, I don’t know what goes on in Dad Minds.

It ended up being not crowded, per the norm! And Chooch had already said he was bored before we even entered the park so that was a great start, status quo, welcome home, etc.

Steel Curtain finally reopened this season after having been closed all of last season and….most of 2023 I think? I quit caring, to be honest. Kennywood does this thing where they buddy up with a coaster manufacturer and agree to have a prototype / first of its kind added to the park and then it ends up being a maintenance nightmare, but whatever – you do you, K-wood.

Oh! I can’t believe I never mentioned this on here but Kennywood and its sister parks were recently bought by Herschend, the owner of DOLLYWOOD AND SILVER DOLLAR CITY. I am so stoked on this. Do I wish that Kennywood could go back to being family-owned? Of-fucking-course. But this last corporation that owned them (Palace) made some real stupid choices. I’m hoping that Herschend will put some theming in, get some better food up in that piece (I’m thinking of YOU, Dollywood’s famous cinnamon bread,  but then again – it might lose its novelty if we’re able to have it whenever we want here in Pittsburgh!), and AHEM – RMC MAYBE??? We know Herschend has a good relationship with RMC! (OK, Lightning Rod might have tarnished that relationship BUT they were still invited to re-track Fire in the Hole at Silver Dollar City, so maybe??)

Sorry. Tangent.

LOL Henry had to ride with some other dad. They immediately started talking, too, and Chooch and I were dying. Then Chooch realized he had allowed himself to share a moment with me and went back to being sullen and bored.

Anyway, Steel Curtain is still good! I didn’t notice the new trims that much, but Henry said that his ride was super bumpy but maybe that’s just because his brain is bumpy.

KANGAROO.

Honestly, nothing that exciting happened all day so this is mostly just going to be pictures.

We didn’t even really ride that much because we were all tired for various reasons (Henry and I had a late Friday night and then the No Kings protest most of Saturday, and Chooch is just perpetually tired because he’s of a certain age + spent all of Saturday on a train home). But we did get some Phantom rides in and I can confirm that it is STILL one of my all time favorite coasters.

Then Chooch guilted me into riding Black Widow with him and I cannot stress enough how much I dislike this ride.

They assign you a number when you walk on and are very serious about everyone sitting in their assigned seat. They were going in order starting from 1 and I ended up being 15 but then they skipped to 20 for Chooch. I know it was weight / balance thing because the park wasn’t crowded enough for them to fill every seat on each cycle, but it was still annoying because I didn’t want to ride at all and now I had to sit alone. Then they moved him and some of the people next to him clear on the other side!

I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going to throw up as the ride was coming to a stop. I was hungry and also definitely needed water so that just exacerbated things and I am totally certain that all of the casual bystanders could tell that I was having a bad time, lol. The ride operator even said, “How was that ride?? Some of you looked like you were having fun, others….did not.”

HEY, THE LITTLE NEXT TO ME ALSO HATED IT AND WAS YELLING AT HER BROTHER THE WHOLE TIME FOR MAKING HER RIDE IT, SO THERE.

DARK SKIES.

OMG he’s so happy to be home with mommy and daddy.

We didn’t get a Golden Nugget! But we have season passes so I’m sure I will get my Gol’Nug fix at some point this summer.

That stupid Bites & Pints thing was happening again so Henry bought a dumb tasting card and there was next to nothing for non-meat eaters, I’ll tell you that much. Chooch and I would have been extra-screwed if we were full vegan. As it were, we could only really eat the dessert options at nearly every country’s booth. I was PISSED at Italy because it looked like ALL THREE OPTIONS were meatless so I was stoked and asked for the flatbread that had peaches and cheese on it, I forget the exact kind. But then when I saw in under the heat lamp thing, it looked like it had MEAT CRUMBLES on it so I asked the guy who punched my taster card if it did and he emphatically said no. But some woman next to him overheard and said, “Yes, it does – pancetta.”

UGH!!! The description did NOT mention that AT ALL. Do better, Kennywood. It is literally 2025.

Oh and the “pints” option for Korea wasn’t even a Korean beer, but ok.

My favorites were the churros from Spain and whatever the raspberry pancake things were from Poland.

It started raining pretty hard around 3PM and Chooch was like, “Oh darn, I guess we will have to leave now.” He was in a big hurry to be done with family time!

Before we left, Chooch and I rode the Racer in the rain which was kind of fun actually, but there was a Jonny Craig-looking dad in front of us (in a wife-beater, no less) whose young son was sitting in front of him and he proceeded to SLAP THE KIND ON THE BACK OF THE NECK for the entirety of the ride?! Granted, he was doing it as a loving rough-housing type of thing but it was making Chooch and me so uncomfortable, like bro – ok, you could have stopped after the third whack, you know?

Just so fucking weird.

What else do I want to remember? Oh, Johnny Rockets is now the Carousel Cafe and they have a veggie burger! We were HOT several seasons ago when Johnny Rockets removed the black bean burger from their menu like fucking haters. Anyway, only Chooch wanted to eat there so I went inside with him while Henry went to pee (the Kangaroo really jostled it out of him), but then I realized I didn’t have my credit card so we standing there by the register like losers waiting for Henry to come back and then a big family came in and I was like UGH NOW THEY WILL GET IN FRONT OF US AND THIS WILL TAKE LONGER but luckily, they hung back to look at the menu and then I saw Henry finally walking over so I pushed Chooch over to the register to order. I was frantically waving Henry over but a mom and her daughter thought I was calling them over so they cut in front of the large family and joined us?!!? It was so awkward!!!

And then the young emotionless girl who rudely took Chooch’s order was so confused because there were three of us but only he was ordering and it turned into a whole thing much like everything does when the 3 of us are united, like we’re aliens from a planet of socially awkward dysfunctional families. She acted MAD that only Chooch was ordering food though and I was like, “MIND YO’ BUSINESS, MISSY.”

Anyway, not the most exciting trip to Kennywood but it was still fun, we rode Phantom, I sipped some beers, and it got us out of the house AS A REUNITED FAMILY and that’s all that really matters! Don’t worry, I’m sure there will be many more amusement park recaps this summer and hopefully at least one of them will be more exciting than this one.

Yesterday was a milestone birthday for Henry – the big 6-0! I posted these pictures yesterday on Instagram in his honor (he was so thrilled and touched by some of them, as you can imagine) so I figured I’d share them here too because honestly, we didn’t do anything to celebrate. I kept asking him what if anything he wanted to do and he gave me nothing to work with. Some people are just like that, which is crazy to me because I will pout and sulk if nothing happens on my birthday which is why I start planning ahead of time because I have learned over the years that if you want to have a happy and fun birthday, ain’t no one going to do that for you but you.

I did chat with Chooch about this a few mths ago but we couldn’t think of anything he’d actually enjoy, lol. I definitely wasn’t going to have a party for him because that would be just me doing something for me, in the end.

And besides, the last year+ has left me stripped of energy, motivation, and creativity. Plus, it sucks without Chooch here. He’ll be home next weekend, which is Father’s Day, so we can celebrate then.

Shout out to Henry for having more patience than anyone I know, keeping Chooch & me from perishing more times than I can recount here, being a one-man crafting powerhouse (he takes all of my ideas and makes them tangible!), driving me hours upon hours for Kpop concerts and never complaining, loving G-Dragon almost as much as me, rolling with all of my stupid “OK HEAR ME OUT, WHAT IF—-” ideas, and honestly just being my best friend. I don’t know how I would have gone through this last year+ without him.

Remember when I used to take coleslaw action shots?? Should I start this series again?? Lol.

Chingumas poca Henry.

Looking like the cook. 

Celebrating Hyunjin in Seoul.

This was taken by me in Gamla Stan, Stockholm just to show him an example of how I wanted him to take a picture of ME and he still failed miserably even with a visual aid. Anyway, it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of him and his man-purse.

Chilling with a troll in Norway.

If Henry was an office worker.

He found the Ted Nugent hotdog bun at Tony Packo’s in Toledo!

That time he got stuck on the floor at my birthday lunch in Seoul. 

This was taken at one of our favorite places to walk – Keystone State Park.

Mt. Olympus angel. He was annoyed because I posted it on Instagram and Mt. Olympus liked it haha.

This was when we were visiting Alyson in New Hampshire <3

LOL donut photoshoot in some random town in New York.

Posing at Six Flags Great Adventure.

LOL. Even when Henry is having fun, you can’t tell.

Being a proud Air Force person at Indiana Beach even though he went AWOL.  

We love Phantom’s Revenge!

At a SHINee anniversary event in Cleveland!

Working on some project for me.

Seeing NCT127 for his first time in Newark!

Enjoying his Golden Nugget at Kennywood.

Henry and his twin brother at Six Flags. 

Had to include this classic Henry photo lol.

Anyway, Henry seemed to have an OK day. He came home from work, got a haircut, went to TWO GROCERY STORES at TWO SEPARATE TIMES which is his favorite past time, and then had some beer while watching Korean content on YouTube. (Specifically: Taemin on Daesung’s talk show, and Joshua on Yoon and Brian’s show BYOB.) I don’t know what today will hold but tomorrow we’re driving to Philly to bring home the bulk of Chooch’s shit so at least he will get to see him for some belated birthday aggravation!

Greetings from Saturday. So far, Memorial Day Weekend has been decent. I took the day off yesterday and it was mostly spent reading, walking, and finally revisiting the 4th season of You, which I had quit watching after 4 or 5 episodes last year because it was one of the most dreadful seasons in a series I’ve ever experienced. But I wanted to be able to watch the final season that just came out so I barreled through – fuck, that was some rough hate-watching TV.

I think the only thing of note that happened otherwise was that I decided to treat myself to a latte so I walked to Potomac Station (yeah, my boycott didn’t last long). However, I was one block away when I looked up and realized I was about to walk right into someone I’ve been avoiding. Sorry to be vague but you just never know. They were at a parking meter and I was like OMG SHOULD I TURN AROUND but I figured that would be more noticeable so I just kept walking and legit had to walk RIGHT BEHIND them, so close that I was sure they’d catch me in their periphery. Right as I slipped past, I was about to exhale when they turned and started to say something and I went rigid – but they were just asking a nearby cop a question about the meter.

Now I was panicking that they were also going to the same cafe as me so as soon as I got to the end of the block, I dove around the corner of a pizza joint and flattened myself against the wall. Then I called Henry and in lieu of “hello,” I hit him with a “FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!” and he was probably thinking, “This is it, this is the call from jail I’ve been expecting for 24 years.” But then when I told him what was happening, he started laughing and excuse me but the last time I checked, this was not a laughable situation.

I waited another minute and when I didn’t see that person pass the pizza place, I tempted fate and poked my head around the corner after trying to peer through the pizza place windows only succeeded in making me look even more suspicious, like some begging to lose a game of hide & seek.

They were still at the meter!!! So I hurriedly retreated to my hideout in the stoop of an apartment building next to the pizza place. One of the residents came out at one point and almost walked right into me, that’s how great I am at HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT.

“Ok, I’m going to check again,” I whispered to Henry, who had stayed on the phone with me so at least it looked I was doing something and not just creeping up and down a quiet side street for no reason. Right as I stepped off the stoop of the apt building, two people emerged from the other side of the pizza place and it gave me such a DAYLIGHT FRIGHT but it was two men and not the person I was trying to evade. When I popped my head around the corner, the rest of the sidewalk was empty. I dunno where they were went, but it was somewhere the opposite direction of the cafe, thankfully.

Still, my nerves were all tweaked when I got to the cafe so I stood there waiting for my Bakewell tart latte, wringing my hands and casting furtive glances over my shoulder.

I texted Megan this story while I was in the cafe and she was like “This WOULD happen to you!!” and then Chooch actually said, “LOL that’s really funny.” Wow. Glad I could send you a chuckle, dear son.

Apropos song for this moment:

Nothing else that great happened except that when I was on a post-exercise evening walk, I was listening to an audio book that was boring me so my mind started to wander and the final result was that for the first time in years (maybe since 2020??) I have a concrete idea for family Christmas cards and had to run back into the house and write down the ideas because all I do these days is forget.

Henry was like, “It’s….May.”

I saw this sign & dog poop baggies on my walk this morning and it made me laugh.

Then my sister Amy sent me a post from Duffy’s (beer dist. that we go to sometimes) where they were advertising a six-pack of Kennywood-inspired beer from Penn Brewery so Henry and I stopped there on our way to Mingo Park (today’s afternoon stroll locale). I mostly wanted to get this because of the cans – I have a plan to cut them, flatten them out, and tack them down onto wood and somehow incorporate one of our family pics from Kennywood into the middle of it. TO BE CONTINUED.

We got one for Amy & Dick too :)

Mingo Park was a nice time but it brought back some memz about PSYCHO MIKE because I was there once with him in high school so I started venting about that and I guess I want to say that I’m thankful that Henry is a WE LISTEN AND WE DON’T JUDGE type (most of the time). Somehow the conversation went to how when I broke up with Jeff (not a psycho but also not for me) for Henry, the most biting dig he could think of was, “Have fun dating an old guy and listening to country music and drinking Coors!”

LOL we have never done either of those things, but OK.

“Isn’t it crazy how we had nothing in common when we first met and now we do?” I said to Henry.

“Yeah because you made me assimilate to you and now I have no individuality,” he answered without missing a beat.

This is SO TRUE but he loves my interests. My interests make him interesting.

You know, it’s not great. It just isn’t. I miss Chooch. BUT!! Henry and I had a nice day out yesterday (well, mostly – I’ll get to that later this week) and I even treated myself to some stuff…like TWO Johnnie Guilbert shirts – I wanted to get a third but then Henry and I both said at the time “does anyone really need three Johnnie Guilbert shirts.” But yo, he has some really good designs! And I wanted to definitely have the one of him where his Robert Smith tattoo is showing.

And then because I’m emotionally regressing, I also bought tickets to Pierce the Veil whom I have not seen since 2017!!! Also, I said that I had only ever seen them in Pgh at Warped Tour but apparently I have also seen them at Stage AE THREE TIMES. You know you go to a lot of concerts when you lose count of how many times you’ve seen one of your favorite bands.

Today was decent. Chooch actually called me ON THE PHONE this morning to wish me a happy mother days and I got lots of other nice messages too which made me feel loved because I think everyone knows I haven’t been dealing with life very well & am in my KMS era.

Later, went to Home Depot to get paint samples for the bedroom dresser and then to an antique store on Library Rd because the vision of the dresser has finally fallen into place in my head and I wanted to look for crosses and rosaries lol. We struck out (did get two other items though but one is for Chooch and I don’t want him to know what it is until he comes home!) but I got two rosaries later on eBay and one of them is glow in the dark!

Came home and I started to make my lunch after getting super hangry while antiquing because that makes me frustrated and angry in general only to find out once I pulled everything out of the fridge that WE WERE OUT OF AVOCADOS. I was big upset but Henry was like “calm down I will go to the store chill plz put down the knife.”

I got to wish New Girl Buddy a happy Mother’s Day but she didn’t seem impressed and looked at me like “I come here for your walnoots not conversation.”

Jesus.

That was Mothers Day. It was mid but at least I didn’t cry.

Every time I think I’m doing ok, the universe is quick to slap me with the reminder that NOPE. Still depressed. Still panicked. Still stressed. Still middle life crisis’ing.

This is our first holiday without Chooch at home. We did spend the day with him in Philly yesterday so it wasn’t all bad but I woke up today and just felt weird. Weird to not have a kid at home. Weird to not be doing anything for Easter. Weird to even just be HOME because in the past, this was typically spring break and we’d go away on a family trip so to even just be home on Easter with or without Chooch is disorienting. I definitely cried a few times today.

Not to mention, last year we were in Korea on Easter. </3 I know it’s ridiculous to think like this but I can’t help feeling as though my life has peaked and it’s all downhill from here.

/enter panic

Well, I guess there were some highlights from today (and it’s only late afternoon so maybe Henry will suddenly surprise me with an Easter basket, LOL YEAH RIGHT):

We got vegan donuts and a chicken sandwich (Henry) and fish sandwich (me) from Viridis which I would have to say is the best bet lately for vegan sandwiches in Pgh, and their donuts are excellent. We split the Taki Blue Heat and Chikn and Waffles:

Ugh, they were both delightful. The Takis one was weird in a good way, and I have to say, I love how chewy the actual donuts are.

And ugh, I am a SUCKER for vegan fish sandwiches. Viridis’ version is made with oyster mushrooms rather than tofu and along with the fried batter, it’s so good that I have to force myself to set it back down on the plate between bites so that I don’t eat it too quickly and make myself sick. Hopefully one day they will have a sit-down restaurant, but for now, we’re fine with take-out (well, what do I care – Henry is the one who has to drive downtown and pick it up hahaha).

Another highlight from today is that we have squirrel babies now that are out of the nest and out & about in the backyard. One of them took a peanut from me today <3 Additionally, we learned that female squirrels will often build their nest in places where they previously nested, as in, where they were born. And this mom squirrel made her nest next door in HNC’s porch roof where is where OG GIRL BUDDY (RIP) made her nests, so we THINK this could be Girl Buddy’s daughter, and these are her grandbabies. And now I’m crying again, lol. Before the babies came out of the porch roof nest, they would poke their little heads out and watch their mom sit on my porch and eat walnuts so I would hope they recognize me as their ally!

A lowlight from today was after lunch, Henry said he would play tennis with me. We drove all the way to my “home court” which is about minutes away, got there and I was happy before only 2 of the 4 courts were being used and both of the back courts were open (my faves) BUT THEN REALIZED HENY BROUGHT MY OLD RACKET INSTEAD OF MY GOOD ONE?!?! He was like, “Oh. Can’t you just use the old one?”

NO! AND HERE’S WHY: That racket was a basic starter racket from Dick’s that cost about $20, and I only bought it when I wasn’t sure if playing tennis again was in my cards, but then it turned out my obsession was reignited and I promptly bought a really good racket for $$$ and babe, there is no going back from that. Henry suggested that we “just go back home” and get it but you have no idea how much I cannot the stand the drive to these courts. So I snarled, “NO, ONCE WE GET BACK HOME, I’M STAYING THERE, THANKS FOR RUINING MY LIFE.” And then we came back home and he still tried to get my good racket so we could go back and I was like, “I SAID NO!” and then I grabbed my headphones and went for a walk around the neighborhood alone.

What a great day.

Just a friendly reminder that I was eating salt bread & drinking coffee in a cafe that was visited by Mino from Winner last Easter, UGH:

Bye.

The other day in work group chat, one of my co-workers was telling my friend Wendi about something in her part of the world (she lives in a very small town a good hour or so outside of Pittsburgh) called KRAYNAK and said something about it being something that people in her area liked to do for Easter. For some reason, my brain went STRAIGHT to Krampus so I thought this must be the alternate Easter narrative of Volant, PA, the symbol being a rabid bunny or something? It just sounded ominous.

Now, the only reason she was directing to just Wendi is because Wendi has a baby and she was giving her suggestions of things to do, I guess. That chat topic died out quickly but I was over on Google frantically looking up KRAYNAK.

It’s….just a gardening center in Hermitage, PA.

BUT!! They do this thing called EASTER LANE where they have several Easter-themed displays set up and you can, you know, walk down the “lane” to gawk at it. The pictures of past Easter Lanes looked just tacky & accidentally creepy enough to pique my interest. So I texted Henry and said, “We’re going to Kraynak’s this weekend” and he was like “OK.”

Right away, I will say these two things:

• it was an hour and 18 minutes away by car, which was annoying;
• it was right on a busy road in the middle of Hermitage which kind of subtracted from the ambiance, you know? I was expecting it to be tucked away in some rural knoll, actually, I don’t know what I was expecting, but this just immediately felt too commercial.

I immediately turned around to take a picture of the sign and almost got hit by some eager KRAYNAK shopper trying to park in the spot I was standing next to. Sheesh.

People were looking at me, too, with the unspoken inquiry of “why is this lady taking pictures of the sign?” woven into their frowns. I wanted to cry out, “WE’RE FROM THE BIG CITY, OK?” God, stop looking at me.

This place was pretty packed. But, it’s huge. It’s like a weird, stinky amalgamation of some boring ass hobby shop, plant nursery, and….off brand toy store? OK that’s not fair, they did have some name brand stuff but it was just bizarre shit like toys you’d expect to find in the same shop that sells model train accessories.

And random aisles of not-great candy scattered all around. No rhyme or reason. It was just one section after the next of strange FUCK YEAH AMERIKKKA yard ornaments and mini-travel games for kids. And Cow Tails. And these things were at the ends of every aisle, it felt like:

We did grab some stuff for Chooch’s Easter basket because we’re going to visit him next weekend. Then we got in line to creep down the Easter Lane:

I mean…it wasn’t as Sid&Mary Kroft as I’d have liked, but it was cute.

I liked this one because there were squirrels. Those muppet kids tho….

And then the last several exhibits were patriotic and religious. Of-fucking-course. :/

At the very least, they could have had a ghost Jesus floating here?!

After this, we continued to browse for a bit but I gotta tell you, I started to feel more and more uncomfy here. We were 100% in Trump Territory and I started profiling dads as hunters and moms as homophobes and then someone waked past me and either farted or just generally stank of shit and I cried uncle. I lasted a good 30 minutes there though!

My takeaway:

• this was not worth the drive (luckily, I had planned for this and found some other things for us to afterward in that general area so all was not lost)
• maybe it would be better with a kid?
• waaaaaaay too many shrieking babies and I did at one point ‘accidentally’ say out loud that I wanted to punch one of them
• Easter Lane could be better
• the line for pictures with the Easter Bunny was extremely long and the queue serpentined a few times, but the Easter Bunny himself was mid if you ask me. I am very picky when it comes to photogenic Easter Bunnies

I MIGHT (MIGHT!!!) be convinced to go back in December to check out the CHRISTMAS LANE. Tbd.

I promise I won’t do this every year, but this is our FIRST anniversary as a married couple and I am feeling nice about that today and was in my feels looking through pictures from our Korean Marriage Mission.  So, here are some (the only, actually) pictures of me and Henry from that trip! Most of the pictures were of Chooch, or of all three of us. Not too many of just me and Henry together probably because he IS SO ANNOYING to take pictures with.

(Henry. Yes, you are.)

In Gyeongju!

Our handmade wedding bands that we made in Hongdae!

LOL us with our marriage license; Chooch was SO PUT OUT that we asked him to CROSS THE STREET and come over to us to take this picture. He gave literally zero fucks about this whole thing because his life did not change at all.

I loved loved loved this place. 

Buddhist Food in Insadong!

Cheonggyecheon <3

We actually came here to take Chooch’s senior pictures, but he snapped some of us too, grudgingly.

I love this picture so much, thanks Chooch! I should probably get this framed.

Henry’s dumb face lol.

One of the BEST places to walk and a great place to watch the sun set. 

I hope that we get to go back to Korea again someday. I feel more alive there than I have anywhere else in my life and the fact that Henry was willing to marry me there means so much more than any traditional wedding we could have had here. It was no frills. Just us, in jeans. I actually couldn’t imagine doing this any other way and would not change a thing.

(OK, maybe I’d have eaten more salt bread. Lol.)

Ugh, I’m crying as usual.

I woke up today to a gift bag full of Totally Erin gifts:

I was cracking up because these could easily pass for a middle schooler’s birthday presents.

Speaking of…Henry said that he talked to his mom today. She said something along the lines of how it’s too bad he didn’t meet me before “that other one” and married me first. Henry was like, “Mom, I’d have gone to jail.” I mean, considering I was IN MIDDLE SCHOOL when he was marrying “that other one.”

So, then she said that he could have “waited for me” and I screamed, “EW, SHE WAS SUGGESTING THAT YOU GROOM ME?!”

That was such a sobering moment on The First Anniversary of Ruby & Hoover’s Marriage Fit for an LJ Post.

Anyway, baby’s first Enhypen album!

CHINGUS up here in the JIP

• Corey
• Amy & Dick
• Kara
• Janna
• Glenn & Amanda
• Chris & Monica
• Jill & Jack
• Wendi, Ben & BABY ROONEY
• Wendy
• Zakk
• Amber & Steve
• Lori
• Margie
• Cara
• Lauren
• Sean!

OK I’m going to be a sentimental bitchbaby here, probably for the duration of the whole post. I have looked at these pictures so m any times and felt so happy for truly one of the only times in the past year. The power of friends, you guys. They made me feel less alone in dark times just by sending simple texts (and also being a kitten scout – Kara!), but having them filling my house with laughter was THE TRUE MEANING OF CHINGUMAS. And even better is that I was able to hassle some of them into downloading the Party! camera app so that we could all see each other’s pictures the next morning and it was so fucking fun! It makes me want to have a fake wedding now so that we can use it on a grander scale, lol. Almost all of the photos in this post are from that app which is how I’m actually in pictures from my own party for once!

This wasn’t taken with the app, but here I am with my sibs Corey and Amy! Amy was super excited to sample all of the Korean beer and makgeolli!

Succulents from Jill <3

LOL tteokbokki smudge on my GD goblet. (I WAS DRINKING CASS AND I LIKED IT! Henry had it a few times in Korea and I had a sip once and said, “Wow, that’s actually not bad for beer” but now that I am a real beer drinker – haha – I appreciate it more.)

Actually, I don’t believe that anyone had any soju! Unless they weren’t using the shot glasses, I dunno!

Rooney was a fan of my clown town house :)

A lot of the pictures turned out this way because I was running into rooms, snapping and retreating. Also, some people (WENDY) didn’t know how to turn the flash off so some of these are a real treat and I was cry-laughing while looking through them!

Even Margie used it!!!

Zakk is Chooch’s Janna. He drags him over here every year for my holiday parties and Zakk is probably like, “Jesus Christ when can I go home?” Also, Chooch went to the store for me that day because I needed, well, everything and also I told him to get get a non-alcoholic holiday punch like the kind that Corey was pushing on him from Trader Joe’s on Xmas Eve. But Chooch couldn’t find anything pre-made at Walmart so he googled and found a “Jingle Bell Punch” recipe and subsequently came home with OJ, apple juice, cranberry juice and then had to go back out for Ginger ale. Also, I was going to go to CVS to get some bags of hopefully marked-down Christmas candy but Chooch said he would handle that too and came home with two big $15 bags of Kisses and Miniatures that weren’t IN HOLIDAY WRAPPERS. $30 for two bags of candy!!

But he did get Dolly Parton holiday plates, so that was something.

Cara stood with her purse on for a long time and I was afraid that meant she was going to leave early but she was one of the last to leave, phew. (She did eventually sit down next to Margie.)

SEAN CAME!! And he wore his BLAME HENRY pin from yesteryear. I saw him walk in and screamed from the back porch because I haven’t seen him since my last pre-covid Xmas party in 2019 when I didn’t want to have a party but Wendy made me. “Just have a small one. Invite Sean,” she said. Wendy is always strong-arming me into these things!

We must have been having a serious conversation. Also, Chris (& Monica!) always has the best hair.

Chooch was getting pelted with college questions all night long and learned that Lauren’s sister also went to Drexel!

Did I mention yet that we have a new doorbell that Henry made for me and I was getting so militant about people ringing the doorbell upon entry that if they failed to do so, I would shout at them to go back outside and try again?? Looking back, I feel like I yell at my guests at every party which begs the question: WHY DO MY FRIENDS KEEP COMING BACK? I’m such a party asshole!

Anyway, Margie in particular was like, “I didn’t see a doorbell! Where is it??”

“WHERE DOORBELLS ARE, MARGIE!” I cried. “IT IS LITERALLY LIT UP!”

All of this chaos over a lunatic doorbell.

Eventually, I wasn’t in the living room anymore and Kara took over as doorbell marshal. Between this and years of taking charge with reading the directions at game night, Kara is basically my second in command! Next year, I’m going to have special vest for herto wear, a la elementary school hall monitors, for when she’s on doorbell duty!

That’s Jill behind Amanda – I didn’t get any good photos of her, ugh! This was also her first time at my house and she is still chatting with me on Teams so I guess I didn’t completely scare her away. Meanwhile, Rooney and Jack played on the back porch and were both little delights. Chingumas is all ages, you guys!

The alcohol is NOT all ages though, lol.

This Party! camera is so weird – some pictures came out lovely and others look like I charged up my 2007 Blackberry for the night.

This was 100% when I was making Chris and Monica join the Party! camera. Monica started to do it and then said to Chris, “I’ll just let you handle this.” LOL.

I DON’T BELIEVE JANNA ASKED PERMISSION TO LAUGH.

Thoughtful trifle dissecting.

These pictures are definitely out of order.

Blurry but keeping! Lauren brought me a hostess gift from the Olive Tap – Sorrento lemon olive oil, which Henry quickly claimed was actually a gift for him and has been obsessing over it ever since. “No one ever brings me a gift!” he cried happily and when I reminded him that she gave it to me, he brushed me off and said, “Yeah, but she knows that I am the one who will be using it!”

He was even googling uses for it the other night and it was so annoying.

Old school work reunion!

Also, I love that we’re able to utilize the back porch and kitchen now because party guests can spread out – I remember our Xmas party in 2016 was one of the only times when every single person I ininvited actually showed up and, being contained to just the living room and dining room, it was such a fire hazard probably.

This was when I made Janna go back upstairs and come back so I could get a picture lol.

YES! Inkigayo sandwiches and a Kloud! Wendy was doing it right.

Everyone was reading the old “Book of Henry” that Chooch and I made, ugh, probably 10+ years ago!? I was so happy that it was getting read after all these years, and it was fun to retell old Henry stories, lol.

I can’t believe Monica agreed to hold a baby!

Amber and Lauren were work-gossiping which is the worst thing to when I’m within ear shot because I kept whipping around and saying things like, “WHO?” “WHEN?”

Anyway, Amber and her husband Steve came here straight from Steve’s work party which was a formal event. I was on the back porch when I saw them walk in and had NO IDEA who they were.

This looks like secrets are being spilled.

I truly can’t believe they sat through this all night.

LOL Corey took this picture of SERVICE ERA HENRY on the fridge.

They were playing some game, I don’t even know.

I dunno who brought these, but they were so good!

Corey’s sloppy plate. (I am sincerely so happy with how the trifle came out!)

OMG MORE SECRETS.

Is someone telling ME a secret now!?

Corey sat in that wheelchair for a long time.

LOL Margie took this of Janna.

I don’t even care about my massive double chin here – I was so giddy when Margie took this so it’s staying! This was when I was trying to help Amber download the Party! camera and she wanted a selfie with me to use as her profile picture and it took eleventy thousand tries.

Chronica foot selfie.

I know exactly what I’m doing here! I’m saying JANNA YOU IDIOT THE BOTTLE OPENER IS RIGHT THERE.

All of these adults orbiting the two teenagers all night, beer in hand.

My favorite thing about my parties is that all my friends from different circles end up talking to each other.

Wendy could NOT get her flash turned off!

LOL Lauren.

Me being an Inkigayo Sandwich server.

…and probably also me being an Inkigayo Sandwich defender!

Corey loves to get me going with old Janna stories and I was seriously almost peeing my pants telling the back porch crew about her Robitussin scandal, the time I made cupcakes for game night and made a “special” one for her, and the infamous Poopy Birthday Cake we made for her as a surprise many moons ago. This was me showing off the picture of it, which inspired questions like, “Why is there a Santa spitting out poop?” WHY INDEED.

This picture sums it all up!

Meanwhile, Kara pointed out that all of these years everyone has been like, “Oh poor Henry.”

“But what about Janna?” Kara asked.

“Justice for Janna!” Amanda said, and I almost peed my pants again.

I love this picture so much.

<3

Lori! I walked through the kitchen at one point while Henry was asking her questions about her house and I took that opportunity to offer up Henry’s handyman services, then kept going about my business.

Everyone but Janna and Corey had left by midnight so this was the after-party. It felt so good to lay back on this chair and relax. This was also the FIRST AND ONLY picture Chooch took using the Party! camera the whole night, because he had JUST DOWNLOADED IT right then. So annoying.

I did have a panic attack that night when I was trying to go to sleep which was weird because I did not feel one iota of stress the entire night. Maybe it was just social overload. Maybe that means I shouldn’t wait until the end of the year to hang out with all of my friends in one go??

I also felt that this year’s was a lot better than last year’s. I missed the people from last year who couldn’t attend this time, but I just felt so much calmer overall and when I think back to last year’s, I feel like I didn’t talk to anyone. This year, I had some good chats with pretty much everyone and it just felt really good. It was a good way to end a not so great year – with the reminder that if you have good friends in your life, things can’t be all that bad.

CHINGUMAS! CHINGUMAS!

For this year’s Chingumas, I thought it would be cute to make party favors so I bought some cute gift bags, filled them with thoughtful Korean treats, Ediya instant coffee sticks (Ediya is a really popular cafe chain in Korea, and forget what you think you know about instant coffee because Korean instant coffee is actually really good! I used to keep a box in my desk at work because whatever coffee we were provided with the coffee machine on each floor was…not good.). I spent weeks procuring the contents, and then a few more weeks convincing Henry to pose for pictures that we could turn into pocas  (photo cards) to also include.

LOL.

Henry also made little pots of vegan kimchi (original and cucumber-style) and I made labels for them because it’s the least I can do when a project involves food.

One of my favorite Korean treats is patbingsu, which is made of the softest, snowiest shaved ice, and flavored with pat (sweet red bean paste which is a staple in Asian desserts and one of my favorite flavors ever) and injeolmi – soft rice cakes covered in sweet soy bean powder which has a lightly sweet and nutty flavor. I had the great idea of taking that and making it into a trifle. Henry replaced the shaved ice with a sweet cream similar to that found in Korean bbang (bread/buns), the bottom layer was made of Choco Pie, a middle layer was crumbled matcha Choco Pie since matcha is also a very popular bingsu flavor, and then of course the pat layer. We topped it with just injeolmi and not more pat because people are weirded out by sweet red beans! It’s crazy to me how many people were like “nope, that’s disgusting” when I got to the red bean part of the ingredient explanation and am grateful to Kara who backed me up on the delicious “don’t knock it till you try it” virtues of pat.

This is patbingsu in its original form ^^^

And this is our trifle version of it:

We always included a small carafe of condensed milk to drizzle over each serving, a la the true Korean-style.

In full disclosure, Henry and I 100% were winging it. He did a trial run of the injeolmi a week before, but we left the rest up to fate and I am happy to say that it turned out better than I could have imagined! All of the flavors worked well. The Choco Pie soaked up some of the cream so it was moist and provided just the right amount of texture. Sorry to those who were too wimpy to try it because OMG beans. Ya gotta have at least SOME sense of adventure & willingness to try new things if you come to a party celebrating Asian culture!

The next contentious item was the mini Inkigayo sandwiches we made.

These sandwiches are very beloved in our family. The short version is that they used to be served in the cafeteria of the TV station that airs the weekly Inkigayo music show. Inkigayo means “popular song” and the show is sort of like TRL, to give it American context. These sandwiches were super popular with idols and there is even some lore behind them that idols were using them to covertly give out their phone numbers to other idols since everything has to be done secret because of dating bans in their contracts.

When fans found out about this, it made them want to try the sandwiches but they were not available to the public. Various convenience stores started making their own versions of the “idol sandwich” and we ate the fuck out of them the first two times we were in Korea. I heard that the cafeteria no longer makes them, possibly because the creator of the recipe no longer works there? Anyway, we loved them so much that Henry found a recipe and started making them for us to eat on Easter – Eastergayo sandwiches, lol.

I made these cutie foodpick flags from screenshots of actual Inkigayo footage.

The OG recipe has imitation crab meat, so Henry made some like that too and put it on a separate plate with different food picks in them to differentiate. I think everyone who tried one liked it but there were still a bunch of people were like BIG NOPE.

And to that I say BIG SHRUG.

(Although there was someone who said they just genuinely don’t like egg salad I think so I will let that one slide!)

My black sesame shortbread cookies! I loved how these turned out – they had the nostalgic texture of a Keebler Sandies, sort of?? And they weren’t too sweet which I really appreciated. Also, I say “my” cookies because it was idea to make them but all I did was order the cookie cutter and send Henry the recipe LOL.

KIMBAP FOR DAYS. We put vegan bulgogi and smoked tofu in some of them. I told Henry he had to make extra this year because last year we ran out very early into the party, and of course our biggest kimbap fans didn’t come this time so we had so much left. I wasn’t complaining though because I could live on kimbap so I ate very well for the next few days!

The one thing, my actual favorite thing, that I failed to photograph was the crockpot chockful of tteokbokki that we left on the kitchen counter. I love tteokbokki and would happily eat it every day if I wasn’t so hyper-conscious of my waistline. It is always the first thing I eat when we get to Korea! There is nothing in the world like a paper cup of tteokbokki served straight from a street food cart by an ahjumma. It is my favorite comfort food right up there with grilled cheese and now I’m wondering why I have never combined the two?!?! Tteokbooki halves inside of a grilled cheese?!?!

SHOULD THIS BE NEXT YEAR’S CHINGUMAS FINGER SANDWICH!?

FFEOK ME UP, TTEOK.

^^^ Actual footage of tteokbokki that we ate in Namdaemun Market on our wedding day! <3

Ugh, I love so many things about Korea and just want to spend the rest of my life sharing that with my friends no matter how hard they resist.

Here’s the box of treat bags and kimchi that sat there ALL NIGHT until I locked the door after the last person left at 1:30am and noticed it. I hadn’t given out the favors to a single fucking party person the entire night. Literally screamed, “MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRR!!!” and then could barely sleep that night. Luckily, with the help of Chooch, a/k/a Mr. Always Looking for a Reason to Take the Car, I have successfully delivered these to most everyone at this point.

I’m excited for the next post, which is just a collection of pictures of my friends Chingu’ing it up with other. We really put so much effort into these parties, even crossing state lines (3x!) to round up Korean beer, and it means so much to me when people show up for this. Even when I yell at them for not ringing the doorbell and make them go outside and try again, or scold people for calling kimbap “sushi”* – I know I get a “little” out of control but it’s just in my nature! And if I’m having a Korean-themed party, it’s only right that I commit to the cause! I think everyone is used to it. “We’re going to Erin’s to get yelled at and have curious foods shoved in our faces. Not to mention constant kpop** in the background.”

Thanks for indulging me!

*(Next year I’ll have information sheets pasted throughout the house, but until then, here’s some facts to prove that they are different and I do believe that it would be pretty offensive to call it sushi in front of Korean, but that’s just me having thin skin when it comes to defending Korea I guess.)

**(here’s the playlist of YouTube videos which you will note is a BTS-free zone lol.)