Our annual poorly planned amusement park road trip for my birthday week starts tomorrow! This one is pretty ambitious: lots of states, SUPER GLAMOROUS, no hotels booked yet, and honestly probably not enough effort was put into this. But hopefully there will be many pockets of fun tucked into the chaos!

Henry has changed the route numerous times and even tried to change it AGAIN the other night but I snapped and said JUST LEAVE IT!!

The most solid plans are as follows:

1. Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, KY
2. Six Flags over St. Louis
3. SILVER DOLLAR CITY, THE REDEMPTION TOUR in Branson, MO
4. Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, MO
5. Adventureland in Altoona, IA (our first time in Iowa and I am bizarrely stoked for this! I WANT A CORN MAGNET)
6. Lost Island in WATERLOO, IA
7. Arnolds Park Amusement Park in….Arnolds Park, IA
8. Bay Beach in Green Bay, WI (you might remember that we were supposed to go here a few summers ago when we went to Wisconsin Dells but the forecast was BIG RAIN and it was quite a bit out of the way so we dumped that plan.

I am sure there will be TONS of arguing, crying, stressing (hate leaving Penelope BUT my mom will be staying with her so that gives me some peace), and general bitch fests. But it’s gotta be better than last summer’s emotional disaster of a birthday road trip. I won’t discredit the memories because there were some good moments but the fact of the matter was that I was not emotionally stable enough to be able to go on a healthy vacation like that. I was deep in the throes of grief over the loss of Bambi, and consumed with daily stress and fear over Chooch leaving for college. PROBABLY should have stayed home, but can’t change that now!

I am lowkey hoping that this one turns out to be as memorable and fun as our Spring Break Coaster Road Trip of 2022 – that one was AMAZING and we actually barely fought. Please wish this for us, lol.

Anyway, I’ll be liveblogging and microblogging along the way because it’s legit my favorite thing to do AND I EVEN GOT A NEW VACATION JOURNAL so I can write down my BIG FEELINGS every time Henry and Chooch hurt me. I anticipate lots of closed-quarters gaslighting. We’ll see.

What I’m most looking forward to:

• getting to (hopefully) ride the coasters that weren’t running the last time we were at Silver Dollar City
• A BRAND NEW RMC JUST OPENED LAST WEEK AT LOST ISLAND!!!
• legit just being in Iowa, I’m so oddly fascinated
• Mamba at Worlds of Fun
• hopefully finding quirky and old diners to eat at and potentially purchase merch! (I love collecting t-shirts from diners we eat at, it’s dumb but I don’t care)
• sending postcards! I was prepared this time and bought postcard stamps to take with me and by that I mean Henry sent to Chooch to the post office to buy postcard stamps for me
• spending time together because this might be Chooch’s last summer home while he’s in college and after that, I do not anticipate him wanting to vacation with his parents lol.

Well, that’s it. Catch me on my exotic road trip for the next week. In the middle of MAGAland. Yee haw.

In case you didn’t know, Chooch is oddly obsessed with Ibuprofen. Not the “taking ibuprofen” part, but just the…idea of it? The concept of the pill? I have no idea how this started. I’m sure there is some inside joke / back story that I’m not privy to because I’m a MOM.  I remember back when he started high school, shit was still virtual because of the pandemic and I got a CALL FROM ONE OF HIS TEACHERS because he jokingly said something about snorting Ibuprofen in the class chat???? I mean, OK , I get it – it was stupid on his part, but like…he wasn’t talking about coke or Angel Dust?? Anyway, his IG handle and email address both have Ibuprofen in it, and this is actually a crime against me because I have the hardest time pronouncing that word and he and Henry drag me so hard for it. Then a few weeks ago, I saw this shirt in an IG ad and was like, “Finally, a shirt that I know he will want” because he usually says NO THANKS every  time I try to buy him shirts so that he can stop wearing all of the free shirts he won on campus by doing stupid challenges or spinning a wheel or signing a petition, etc.

Yo, he wore it all day before realizing that it’s misspelled and the misspelling is actually the way I pronounce Ibuprofen!!!!

I hate AI and who knows who much energy this expended but Henry made this dumb picture of us from the Stray Kids concert and I begrudgingly have to admit that it’s adorable. LOOK AT MY LIGHT STICK!

Ugh, Chooch is so rude and takes picture of Penelope when she’s in vulnerable states, I swear to god he is so rude to her!!

Well, I think that’s all I got. To sum up my life lately, one of my work friends messaged me and said she dropped her lunch when she took it out of the microwave and asked how my day’s going and I said that every day is basically one big metaphorical dropped lunch.

Noroc!!!

(That’s one of the only Romanian words I know so far, along with copil – child, lol.)

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.

Just a quick post to share Chooch’s OOTD from one day last week and to share an exchange we had today that literally made my heart feel so full after missing him this past year while he was at school:

He came downstairs around 1:00pm or so and went into the kitchen to make lunch. That was my signal to also go into the kitchen and make some protein coffee.

“Really? Every time I’m in the kitchen you suddenly also need to be in the kitchen. Ugh you’re so annoying! You literally had all day to do whatever it is that you suddenly need to do now!”

Then when he was trying to get something out of the fridge and when he turned around I was waiting all up in his face and said, “oh good get my creamer while you’re in there”

I love torturing him and invading his space so much. It’s like the sole reason I was put on this earth. <3

I was going through my camera roll and found some shit that I never documented because June really got away from me. Let’s go through them, shall we?

First of all, DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED. I FUCKING KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN:

TO PURCHASE THE WHOLE SET OF 8?? Oh, go fuck yourselves, Penn Brewery.

Meanwhile, in our front yard this shit was developing:

Henry asked me if an animal threw up there, since he apparently thinks I am posted at the front door 24:7 on wildlife patrol (OK, I really am though for a good portion of the day). But after he hosed it off, IT GREW BACK EVEN BIGGER?? So, he did some RESEARCH and found out it’s a fungus called Dog Vomit?! We have never had this growing in our yard before so now I’m super fascinated and also wildly disgusted.

Megan and I met up with Debby and Mar two weeks ago at Fish Nor Fowl for an extremely overpriced dinner. Megan and I were trying to get out of it because we are not foodies and can’t get behind paying nearly $40 for a mushroom pasta but we gave up in the end and while it was actually good food, I was very pissed that my vegetarian version of the same dish Debby ordered was actually a much smaller portion (like, comically smaller) and still cost the same!?!?!

But, our server was very handsome and the focaccia (NOT COMPLIMENTARY, AND BTW WE EVEN PAID FOR THE FUCKING WATER) was honestly some of the best bread I have ever eaten. Would I go back there though? No, unless it was my birthday and someone else was paying.

Oh, also this was during a heatwave (over 90 degrees for like a week and my house has no AC downstairs) and they sat us in the loft which was so stifling I wanted to scream. I had been looking forward to leaving my house for an air-conditioned restaurant that whole day!

But in the end, all that mattered was that we got to catch up with Debby and Mar so it was still worth it. This was also the same day I bought G-Dragon tickets so I was extra focused on prices LOL.

OH HELLO how fucking accurate. Good one, Duolingo!

OK, you’re dismissed.

Our dear friends Chronica have just moved to Spain for three months (maybe permanently – this is a trial run for them!) and we went to their send-off gathering at Spoonwood on Sunday. First, let me get this out of the way – I have been clearly exposed as a beer poser because everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, in this damn city Qtips their dickhole over this place. Previously, we had only been there once in the past and coincidentally, it was also for a Chronica gathering – Monica’s 40th birthday! I must have had either cider or wine at that event because I know I sure as shit was not drinking a beer then.

Well….aside from the beer pictured above which was a “Brown” something, I didn’t like ANYTHING I tried. I kept getting tasters and sliding them right down to Henry. There was one that everyone was fanning themselves over. I had tried it before anyone got there and immediately gave it to Henry, but now I was getting caught up in the enthusiasm for this spicy brew and peer-pressured myself into getting another taster of it.

AND I STILL HATED IT.

Nate was also there and blamed himself for this because he was sitting next to me raving about it. BLAME NATE!

“Didn’t you already try this and hated it?” Henry asked when I slid it down to him.

“Yes.”

“THEN WHY WOULD YOU GET ANOTHER???” he cried.

(Chooch was sitting in between us so Henry was not privy to the events that led up to this moment.)

“And then the baby I helped birth during the Great Twizzlers Shortage of 2010 was this big,” probably is what Chris was saying. Chooch seems skeptical.

I also want to add that the Spoonwood people handled this low-key event very poorly. At first, our server was borderline annoyed that we didn’t know how many people were going to be joining us. We had just sat down at a 4-top inside to get drinks and then when she came back to take our food order, we said we needed to wait until the people of the hour arrived because we would likely have to move tables. She was like I WILL GET YOUR CHECK THEN and it was crazy watching how fast her demeanor changed.

Eventually, Chronica arrived, explained the sitch to the hostess, and we were given an area outside on the patio in the 90 degree heat. Sweat started to trickle down my back immediately, even in the shade.

As more people arrived, Chronica asked if they could pull more tables over and the server, the same one we had inside and who was back to being OK again, was like, “Yes, you can.” But then the manager came out and was a big bitch about it because, and I do understand why this was not great, they were pulling tables from other servers’ areas and I actually heard her say at one point, “If you had called and given us a heads up—-” to which Monica quickly and politely interrupted with, “I tried that weeks ago and was told we couldn’t make reservations for this and had to just show up.”

Get it together, Spoonwood!! I will not be going back there unless Chronica have another event there someday.

Chooch got asked a lot of “How’s college?” questions and he mumbled the same blurb each time like a telemarketer.

Beer and management and sweltering heat aside, I was happy to be there because I love Chronica a lot and am so excited for them to be embarking on this new adventure! Spain is to Chris what Korea is to me, but even deeper because she studied abroad there and lived there in her younger years and has been back a bunch of times. I really hope this works out for them because this country is trash and I do not blame them one bit for leaving!

Also, I want to add that I got to see Chris’s cousin Amber for the first time since our White Elephant party years and years ago – she sat across from us and started talking to us like she had just seen us last week and I loved that so much. I always feel like no one remembers us but she was like, “Wow Chooch, I can’t believe how grown you are!” and I was like, “O M G SHE KNOWS US!” I really like her a lot – she has actually become good friends with my brother Corey after they also met at the same White Elephant party and then reconnected years later when he helped her buy a house, so I was like “Next time you hang out with Corey, LET ME KNOW!!” I want to be a part of this club too lol.

And I met Sarah, their friend from WV who apparently used to do both of their hair but is no longer a hair stylist? I knew of her though and it was cool to meet her in person and she is WONDERFUL. So easy and casual to talk to and you know what it made me realize? You can tell how amazing your friends are by how amazing THEIR friends are. She was so fucking cool! (You can see her and her tattoos in the background of my first picture up there!)

We were there for about 3 hours and I felt like a dog dying in a desert by the time we left. I was so glad that I had brought a kimono-type coverup thing with me because otherwise, I would have put my soaking wet back and butt on full display when I finally peeled myself off the chair. It was so disgusting – sweat everywhere. Ugh.

We had planned on going to Kennywood that evening so Henry could use the rest of his Bites and Pints card since that was the last day for it, but I ended up feeling so sick and delirious that I hung back. Henry and Chooch went for about 90 minutes – long enough to get the rest of their food samples and ride Phantom:

LOL WTF????

Then Henry sent me a picture of a lady in front of them when we were leaving because she was wearing the Stray Kids DominATE tour shirt!!! I was like, “ASK HER WHICH ONE SHE WENT TO!!” and he said, “No I will not, that’s weird.” Ugh, I would have if I had been there.

I was so fucking wiped out from the heat that I ended up passing out in bed early. The next morning, I woke up, laid there blinking for about a minute before reality hit me and I texted Henry, “Wait, did you really book our flight to Romania last night???” and he was like, “Yes, we are going to Romania.” I was so out of it Sunday night that I couldn’t even remember if that was real or a sunstroke-induced hallucination, but it was true! We are going to Romania for 9 days in October for our belated honeymoon!

We’re doing a Transylvanian road trip! I have been trying to get here for actual decades but could never find anyone who was interested in accompanying me, and Henry and I couldn’t afford to both go back then. I can’t believe that this is almost a reality now.   I hope I’m not jinxing myself!

Henry’s birthday / Father’s Days gift finally arrived! It’s always a crapshoot ordering something from an Instagram ad, but I saw these fun things and immediately knew that it was yet another reason to resurface THE BIG DOPPELGANGER PICTURE. And “1212” likes because our least favorite cashier at CVS said our total was “twelve twelve” once in like….2019 and for some reason I was already recording her on the sly to send to Chooch who also dislikes her, and the way she said TWELVE TWELVE killed me on such a deep, personal inside joke with myself level that I have been referencing it ever since.  Henry didn’t even realize why I was doing it for a long time and finally broke down and asked me what it meant. Way to be present in my life, Henry.

OMG and this was from a cafe in Jeonju in 2019 where Henry and I shared bingsu and Chooch and I made fun of something that Henry did/said/looked like/who knows but whatever it was we kept mocking him and Henry lost his temper and said something like, “OK  YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY IT TWICE THREE FOUR TIMES!!!!!!”

So then that became the thing that we said TWICE THREE FOUR times and he was so pissed.

Jeonju: Final Thoughts & Pictures 7/28/19

Anyway, he just looked at it when I gave this one to him and I said, “You know, the origin of TWICE THREE FOUR times” and he sighed, “Yes, I know.”

I love when his gifts are really gifts for me, lol.

Henry and I went to another 50501 event downtown, this one was pro-immigrants anti-ICE. I definitely didn’t want to miss this because it was organized with Case San Jose and their speaker at the No Kings protest last month (Jaime) was so powerful that I needed to hear him speak again.

It was mostly a peaceful – yet angry – gathering. There was one asshole who screamed YES THEY ARE when one of the speakers was talking about how pro-Palestine college students protesting on campuses are being labeled as terrorist organizations by this evil administration. It started to escalate a bit when the speaker engaged him but other protestors quickly surrounded the douchebag and pushed him back until the police intervened. He eventually stormed off like the sad sack that he is.

Anyway, here are some pictures. I feel so fired up and ready to sign up to join an ICE rapid response team even though I don’t know that I can handle these two duties: being a peacekeeper and helping to de-escalate. Henry was like “You can’t do that” and Chooch was like “good luck.”

FUCK ICE. FUCK TRUMP. FUCK ALLIGATOR AUSCHWITZ.

8:14am: getting ready to leave. I am feeling ok emotionally this morning! So happy that we got to see SKZ last night. It was phenomenal – aside from Coachella and Riot Fest, I have never seen a concert of that scale before and it was insane and amazing. I did feel like we had just spent the day at a legit music festival by the time we crawled into bed last night / this morning. It was a rough day but the pay off was worth it!

10:08am: At the border. We came through Niagara Falls this time to avoid truck traffic. Made it through in 30 seconds literally lol. The guy was like “Lol not even gonna try” when Henry said “Stray Kids concert.” Handed us back the passports and said “OK man have a nice day.”

Also stopped in the duty free shop and got chooch some maple shit. The bathroom had a Dyson hand dryer and they never work for me so I had to walk around with wet hands.

Also got a drink at Tim Horton’s just because I wanted the fun straw. “So what’s the deal with the straw?” Henry asked. “Nothing it’s just paper but everyone we walked past all weekend had their Tim Hortons drinks and I thought to myself ‘I want to drink out of that straw too,'” I saw matter-of-factly.

“Omg,” Henry muttered.

12:42pm: Just stopped at Sheetz in Erie for “lunch” – I always just get half of a veggie sub or a wrap, pretty fucking simple if you ask me, but they always find a way to screw it up! This time NO TOMATOES. Instead they tucked in some rock-hard jalapeño twig that probably would have broken a tooth had I bit down hard on it but I felt it with my tongue before any damage could be wreaked!!

Ugh!!

Meanwhile some older man was standing there trying so hard to figure out my shirt (wearing my SKZ tour shirt obv!!).

2:13pm: This is a dumb liveblog. We should be home in about 30 minutes and I’m so excited to tell Chooch all about the Stray Kids concert that he sincerely doesn’t care about. It was just so good!!

Other than dissecting our favorite parts of last night, we’ve been ranting about tRump as usual. Nothing new there.

Oh!! I just realized we were a part of two history-making events this month! The No Kings 6/14 protest and the inaugural event at the brand new Rogers Stadium! I didn’t even know until after I bought those tickets that it was going to be in a stadium that wasn’t even finished being built at the time.

OK BYE.

10:20am: Hello we are en route to Toronto for the weekend currently in Cranberry. Why haven’t we made it very far, you ask, Mary? Well because I threw a fit this morning and said I didn’t want to go anymore because I’m having a bad body image day. Like I hate the way everything feels on my skin. So I yelled IM NOT GOING and Henry was like “ok” and he started doing the dishes and I went for a walk. Then I calmed down eventually after having PB toast for breakfast and I said FINE I WILL GO so I finished packing and here we are. To be fair, I was still going to go tomorrow because that’s when the Stray Kids concert is. I just didn’t want to be stomping around Toronto today with my thunder thighs but even more than that I don’t want to waste the money for the hotel. Ugh.

11:20pm: Still in PA. I’m bored.

12:25pm: Finally crossed over into New York. I’m still bored. We stopped at GetGo in Erie to pee and that was also boring. We put new batteries in my SKZ light stick. Boring still.

Henry said just now, “we can go to Lake Chautauqua. Smrobly not.” UGH he’s not allowed to say smrobly??!! After decades of making fun of me for it??

1:36pm: Henry is driving so chaotically and now I feel car sick which almost never happens. Also we stopped at the rest stop in NY we always stop at with this iconic pedestrian bridge:

But they completely renovated it so now it’s basically like a mall food court and it was PACKED. I said NOPE and we left so now I have to pee and I’m starving. Standard for our road trips. Always disappointed in the food dept.

1:46pm: Wish us luck.

Also, Henry picked the worst / slowest line as usual.

2:13pm: OMG OMG OMG we just had the most amazing border experience.

When we said why we’re coming to Canada (“concert in Toronto”) the border guy laughed and said “Oh that kpop group right” and I said “Yeah actually – Stray Kids” (I was leaning over Henry and being the passenger seat mouthpiece, because this was my time to shine now) Border guy goes, “SERIOUSLY?? I was joking! You guys are…not the target demographic!”

He actually chatted with us about it for a few minutes, asking how we got into Kpop, etc which held the line up and everyone behind us probably hated us. I said “We like it so much that we got married in Korea” and he was like “GET OUT! OK you are blowing my mind!”

He told us he just saw AC/DC in Cleveland with a buddy and how Angus Young is still so awesome for his age etc. It was hands down the best experience we’ve had at the border lol.

Anyway, that was a fun and heartwarming interaction that I will think about a lot. Sigh. Canada, can we stay?

3:25pm: Update – i finally had “lunch” at Tim Hortons. They had a pretty good cilantro lime veggie wrap which felt moderately healthy and didn’t make me sick.

3:41pm: We lost service and I said “But how is the map still mapping?” Henry started to mansplain the FUCK out of that and I quickly cut him off to say, “ok great I don’t care anymore. Everything you say is sooo boring.”

“Yeah but you learn something from it,” he said smugly, like how cocky???

“No, actually, I don’t. I actively do not remember a single thing you tell me.”

4:08pm: fucking finally! Also I hate how it always says his name on the TV.

4:46pm/ train time.

5:46pm: other people stopped to take a picture so i had to as well.

7:12pm: Made it to Left Field Brewery on foot.

the beers – mid

Vegan Chicago dog was pretty good but not pictured is the absolutely exquisite vegan chicken sandwich that I gained in a food trade with Henry. (“That’s what a great husband I am, I order from the vegan menu so that I can share with you.” Oh here we go, martyrdom reaching.)

Apparently there is a soccer game happening right down the street so everyone came here in their matching shirts to pregame and it is LOUD.

Henry confirms that he thought the hot dog was good but they didn’t capture the essence of a true Chicago dog. I have never had one even in my non-veggie days so I can’t add to this commentary.

The Commodores “Lady” is on right now and this song has always made me feel a strong level of comfort because I relate it to my childhood at my Pappap’s house in case you care. I have had not even a whole flight (I didn’t like 2 of my beers and passed them onto Henry the Sink) but I’m kind of drunkish.

WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOW

8:08pm: we’re here now:

The beers are significantly better than the last place and ironically one that we like a lot so far is a collab with the last brewery lol.

Also on the way here:

Accidental sloshy foot selfie.

8:48pm: wow what a shocker Henry trying to decode a trolley schedule.

Also we passed an Amazing Pride dance party under a bridge and I was so inspired. But I have Henry with me ughhh.

You guys I’m buzzzy.

8:52pm: We just got on the trolley and Henry’s phone got an error when he tried to pay so I stuck my phone over and it worked for me so I said GOODBYE and trounced away while he was left to struggle on his own. He thinks it was my fault though bc the error message said “multiple cards detected” and he said it was because I was standing too close lol ok bro. Keep white knighting yourself and your pubtrans trials and tribs.

9:17pm: at Union Station after taking a trolley where I tried to psychically latch on to a group of 4 fun people. HENRY NEVER LOOKS WHERE HE IS WALKING AND ALWAYS COLLIDES WITH SOMEONE HE IS SUCH AN OAF. I am so embarrassed.

9:26pm: He just had the audacity to tell me where to sit so I walked far away from him and sat somewhere by myself didn’t ever fucking tell me what to do bro. Dumb white man.

Also, I took this of Henry outside of Something in the Water.

9:34pm: this broad just ran over and stood RIGHT UP IN MY FACE LIKE WHAT. Henry noticed from his TIME OUT corner and took this picture:

Now he’s sitting next to me and I’m like “hi I didn’t invite you here?”

9:39pm:

11:09pm: Now we’re driving around in the car like idiots because Henry wants ice cream and every place is either super crowded or a SIT DOWN ESTABLISHMENT and we just want it to go, actually I don’t want it AT ALL, I just want to go to the hotel and sleep.

“What was Daddy Warbucks’ secretary’s name? I can’t believe I can’t remember!” I cried, to which Henry was like, “I certainly do not know and also, why??”

It was because right before that, he read out loud the sign on a restaurant that said something about Punjabi flavors which obviously made me think of Punjab from my beloved Annie and in my mind, I started replaying scenes and then blanked on her mane – it’s Grace, btw.

Anyway I googled Punjab and did you know that the actor who played him was apparently more well-known for being the voice 7Up’s “Uncola”?! Who cares that he won Tonys for his direction and costume design for the Wiz and something to do with Eartha Kitt, I already forget.

Ok I’m signing off. We’re almost to the hotel and I am exhausted. We walked almost 20,000 steps which isn’t a lot considering one time in Toronto, we walked over 40,000 which was my first time unlocking that foot-on-pavement level!

I don’t even want to talk about how stressed this made me and how I might have just sweat off 5 pounds from my body. But we’re going to see G-Dragon!!!

Edited to add: Aaaand a second show was announced 10 minutes into this show’s fan club presale and I ended up getting better seats for that show + VIP so now I am super in the hole and Henry is like the largest, grumbling walking frown you ever did see.

I have a full Kennywood post and a concert recap forthcoming but here are some of the in-between thingies that happened over the weekend:

When my starting word for the last 2+ years is finally the Wordle of the day. This was my second one-guesser! The other time was when I had just been looking at Amazon, opened Wordle, guessed “prime” without even thinking about it, lol. Chooch accused me of cheating.

Chooch is home for the summer as of Saturday night and Penelope is feeling very mid about it, lol.

I saw this on Instagram and thought, “Oh! I bet you can see Henry and me in there” because we were directly across from the middle of the steps where the speakers were….speaking. I spotted the Palestine flag and immediately knew that was our spot because the guy holding it kept dragging it across my shoulders every time he lowered it, haha. So, I zoomed in and staying true to every large group photo Henry and I have ever been present for at concerts, outdoor music festivals, etc. you can see Henry plain as day:

BUT I AM BLOCKED BY A FLAG!!!

My friend Lyda thought this was the funniest thing and honestly, fine, so did I lol. It never fails!!!

Speaking of the No Kings march, Henry and I walked to Sly Fox downtown afterward. I was sweating through my orange DICK PIC shirt but everyone else there had also come from the same place so we were all kind of grimy.

We had a late lunch and shared a fight – I really liked every beer we tasted but the Royal Weisse was the best! It was a nice way to calm down a bit and refuel before heading back home on the T….

….where we ran into Blake! I have only seen him once since he moved out from next door two years ago, not sure how many times Henry has seen him, so it was nice to catch up because I thought he hated us?! Anyway, we were halfway to our step when he asked, “Hey….why are you guys on the blue line, anyway??” because we live within a 5-minute walk from a red line trolley stop.

“Um….because we were trying to avoid someone,” I laughed and then filled him in on the person I have been playing “hide but please don’t seek” with unbeknownst to them. They had invited themself to tag along with us today and I didn’t want to deal with it (11:30 to 3pm – plus the time we spent at Sly Fox) was a long-ass day!) so I said we were no longer going and then we DROVE TO ANOTHER TROLLEY STOP on a different line and had to pay for parking but it eased our nerves knowing that we at least wouldn’t run into them on there.

And of course, because PGH IS SO SMALL, we ended up spotting them right before the march started, but it turned out to be a good thing because then it gave us better odds of not accidentally merging into them during the actual march. I was telling some friends about it and they were like, “JESUS CHRIST, HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.”

(Yes, it is the same person as mentioned here, too, lol ugh.)

This was the random screensaver that appeared on our computer the other day and I was like, “Weird, I don’t remember taking a picture of that tree without people in front of it?” and then realized that this wasn’t MY photo of Gyeongju burial mounds, but some random “places around the world” photo. It made me so happy to see it though! I loved our time in Gyeongju and for some reason, those blog posts still get views almost every day from visitors around the world and I love that so much! HAVE YOU EVEN READ MY GYEONGJU POSTS??

Well, I think that was really all that happened this weekend in between the big events. I will tell you right now that it is so awesome having Chooch home but I am trying not to get too used to it since it will likely be his last summer home, unless he graduates and moves back home with us which I don’t see happening but never say never!

OK, time to go watch the new JNJ video, lol.

I’m exhausted but I wanted to share some pictures from today’s 50501 NO KINGS march in Pittsburgh that Henry and I attended today. We got home late last night from a concert, woke up tired AF, I had a headache. But fuck you, Trump. We still put our asses on the T (adorably packed with protest-ready senior citizens and I loved that) and spent from 11:30am to 2:30pm chanting, cheering, booing, and being together with what has been estimated was between 7000-10000 GOOD-HEARTED, SMART, but PISSED OFF people downtown Pittsburgh.

Grateful that Henry (who always looks like a husband who has been dragged out of his man cave against his will even when he genuinely wants to be somewhere) accompanied me, grateful that it was a peaceful turnout with no intimidation from outside groups or the police so that Chooch doesn’t have to walk from the train station tonight to the county jail to bail us out, grateful that I live in a liberal city on the right side of history. I know I diss Pgh a lot but today I really loved it here.

I bought this shirt for Chooch during that orange cunt’s first term and was glad to have it as a backup because the TACO shirt I ordered for the occasion won’t be here until Monday.

“I’m sure you will have plenty of opportunities to wear the TACO shirt,” Henry assured me while also simultaneously UNASSURING me –  I just want this to be over, take the fucker out, lock him up, please do not let us have to endure 4 full seasons of the real American Horror Story. Cancel the show, someone, anyone.

There were a bunch of speakers and while they were all fantastic and brave with strong and smart messages, I was getting antsy because I wanted to do the march! You know me and walking! I love to walk.

The guy who was walking around with Trump’s smug head on a stake was the MVP.

Finally the march happened. It wasn’t a long march but I was totally all about it.

“That was the first time in my life I said ‘jagoff’ unironically,” I said later when we were walking through downtown to Sly Fox for a late lunch.

“It’s probably also the first time you carried an American flag,” Henry frowned.

It’s true. I am very meh when it comes to patriotism but Trump is forcing me to care.

We were somewhere in that circled area, if I had to guess. There weren’t many people there yet when we arrived and that at 12 when they blocked off the streets, everyone moved closer to the City County Building and there were suddenly so many more people! It wasn’t too overwhelming though – people were giving each other space and everyone was hyper-aware of their surroundings so I felt pretty calm.

Anyway, I just wanted to share these quickly. Just in case anyone stumbles across this and doesn’t already know where I stand, I am very much anti-MAGA, Fuck Donald Trump, Abolish Ice, Hands Off, BLM, and just genuinely believe in doing what’s right and putting humanity over everything else. Fuck that cult bullshit. Fuck anyone that voted for this with no regrets and no remorse.

I had another bad night of anxiety attacks / restlessness, which left me feeling so gross this morning that I had to skip my morning walk. I’m feeling mostly like myself now though! I don’t know why this happens out of the blue like this – I had a decent day yesterday. Lots of external things out of my control are probably affecting me while I’m trying to sleep at night though, like the constant shit show this country has been ever since PREZ TACO took office again.

Anyway, today is a new day and I’m not going to panic thinking about going to bed tonight lol. Here are some good things because otherwise this page is going to be filled with anti-ICE raging and FDTs but I will save that energy for Saturday’s protest!

Henry blended some fresh strawberries into my strawberry Nami matcha the other night and it was very delectable and I think I will order another one tonight. You don’t know my life.

I’m kind of annoyed though because I bought that glass from Etsy a few years ago specifically because the ghosts on it are supposed to change color once you fill the glass with cold bev but it stopped working and now it looks dumb.

This is the current state of the wardrobe/dresser thingie. Please excuse the messiness. The drawers aren’t painted because they are going to be covered in fabric so Henry was like I AM NOT PUTTING ALL OF THE DRAWER PULLS IN THERE JUST TO TAKE THEM ALL OUT AGAIN. Who knows how much longer this will take BUT all of my clothes are folded and put away, at least. And now we have to get another smaller dresser for Henry’s ugly shirts since there is no room in this one now hahaha.

Oh look guys! My “JnJ” shirt arrived yesterday, another shirt for Henry to fold haha. I wore it last night when I met Margie at Red’s and she didn’t even inquire as to what/who JNJ is!!!

Henry and I love them so much haha.

As previously mentioned, Margie and I went to Red’s Good News after work last night for beer and chats. Can you believe that Red’s has been open for…five years now?? Did it open before the pandemic?? I can’t remember anymore, but you might recall that Chooch and I used to love to go to this place on the blvd called Parker’s, which specialized in breakfast sandwiches and had the best vibe. the owner, Luke, would always treat us like we were co-mayors of Brookline, just me and Chooch, though – never Henry!! But then he bought the bar next door (the old Zippy’s, which was a true dive but also pretty great in an ironic way) and whipped it up real nice in the Parker’s fashion. I walk past it every day because it’s right on the blvd and I can verify that even while never having set foot inside, they put so much effort into gussying it up for each and every holiday. Even back to school! We never stopped by because we aren’t big bar-goers and their food menu doesn’t have much for the meatless set.

Anyway, we had a really great time – I have had some family crises going on (what else is new) that I had been bottling up and it all came spilling out of me as more beer went in, lol. I didn’t realize how much I needed to blabber, and somehow I got kind of drunk off 2 beers in the span of 3 hours, I really can’t stand myself. I actually felt hungover this morning and I’m sure that contributed to much of my restless night. UGH.

If they would add a simple grilled cheese to the menu, I would make a conscious effort to hang out here regularly. It’s just really hard for me to drink without also eating because I get drunk/sick so quickly.

Oh, and the thing I love the most about them is that for Halloween, they cover “Good” on their sign with a pirate-esque flag that says “Bad.” Their attention to detail is amazing and totally my style.

(WHOA WHOA WHOA, Henry just saw his circulars in the trash (courtesy of me) and huffed, “You can make your own dinner!” while stomping away in a pout. Lol, Henry and those fucking circulars, Jesus Christ.)

I’m feeling much better now though, especially after this beaute arrived:

I know everyone always q-tips their dickholes over Black Parade but Three Cheers was peak MCR as far as I’m concerned. I was so into them in the early 00s (even before this record) and feel grateful that I got to see them open for other bands in really small venues and I think I can accept the fact that I grew out of them after this album, but that doesn’t mean these songs will ever stop meaning something to me. Ugh, my MCR phase was a good one. I’m also at a stage in my life where I don’t give a shit about bragging about my past concert luck. I DID THESE THINGS, SO THERE. Lol.

I’m ending with this bad bitch of a Seventeen song, thank god they gave it to us uncensored because ON THE ALBUM IT’S CENSORED!!!!!

8:36am: We just left a Greensburg Sheetz, en route to Philly to get Chooch mostly-moved out. Henry’s breakfast sandwich is making the car stink of b.o. so bad and also I looked over right as he pulled a LONG onion tendril out with his teeth and I started gagging.

“Why are you laughing??” he demanded.

“I’m gagging, thank you very much.”

Anyway, I’m using this time in the car to also do a photo dump from the last week so I can stop being so behind on blogging.

Here are some pictures from our Sunday visit to our fave, Pink Box, for some pre-cemetery walk treats:

Seriously love this place so much, love supporting it, love their delicious treats! Please stay forever, Pink Box.

I got this giant pineapple croissant because I needed croissant redemption after that shitty bread-lump that I was served at Penn brewery the day before. Oh and while I’m at it, let me state for the record that I hate them even more now because I messaged them on IG re: the Kennywood edition of their (shitty) lemon shandy. I specifically said LEMON because there is a strawberry shandy that comes in the Kennywood six-pack. Whoever answered me said that YES the KENNYWOOD LEMON SHANDY was available at the brewery in the KENNYWOOD CANS. So Henry went out (twice because the first time he forgot to check their hours and they were closed lol) and that same shitty bartender lady tried to sell him the REGULAR six-pack and he was like NO, THE KENNYWOOD ONE PLZ and she said NO.

So I responded again and my message was SEEN but not replied to. Fuck you Penn Brewery.

Anyway, my Pink Box croissant was so satisfying.

Homewood Cemetery has the most beautiful pond. We come here all the time (miss not having Chooch with us) and just stand there looking at tadpoles, turtles, etc. like it’s nature porn.

P.S. I had to wear glasses for nearly a week because whatever allergies/sinus ailment I had made my one eye red under the iris. It didn’t hurt at all but it made me nervous. Not nervous enough to get it looked at by anyone other than Henry though. Haha.

—————-

9:21am: We still have 3:32 hours left ugh. And it’s raining. We’re listening to the Stray Kids DominATE set list now but this came up earlier and cracked me up:

10:14am: LOL I texted Janna and asked her to do me a HUGE FAVOR because that’s just the sort of text everyone wishes to receive out of the blue (갑자기) and after waiting AN HOUR for her respond, I asked her to message Penn Brewery about the cans and she said SURE.

LOL. I AM GOING TO SUE THEM FOR FALSE ADVERTISING.

In other non-on-the-road news, we are still in the process of getting the wardrobe and dresser set up. Henry spent all last weekend tediously trying to fold all of my T-shirts because I just ball them up and punch them into the drawers. He even ordered a T-shirt folder and taught me how to use it so I can fold my own shirts going foward lol. But anyway, everything is removed from the old dressers and they are currently bashed into pieces in the dumpster at Henry’s work. (Trust me, I’m all for upcycling but these were TRASHED. It was so bad & aggravating, trying to access clothes in the condition BOTH dressers were in.)

10:20am: Henry just gave me a quizzical look because he looked over and saw me crying.

I was thinking about G-Dragon. Lol.

12:31pm:

Me: Do I have to do anything when we get there?

Henry: like what?

Me: Help.

Henry: That’s hilarious. I just brought you along for company.

Lololol.

Speaking of Henry, did you know he moonlights as my inhouse matcha barista?

Of course this is Nami Matcha, their new strawberry-infused blend. It is sooo good. The strawberry essence is subtle and natural, but not artificial tasting at all.

And here’s some Penelope pics:

2:09pm: this is very tedious and frustrating lol.

2:30pm:

Me: I’m sweating!

Henry: from carrying that poster?

lol srsly that was pretty much the extent of what I did.

3:16pm: we had lunch with Chooch at GFG Cafe and it was delectable. Veggie mousakka!

And we finally got to meet FOUR of his friends finally, two of them he’s rooming with next year.

What a whirlwind day. Now we’re heading out. I let Chooch off the hug hook this time around since we’ll see him on Saturday!!

Bye Drexel!

5:31pm: Still in the car, trying not to have a heart attack while reading updates on the Orange Psycho’s war on Californians. Trying to balance it with G-Dragon content.

Speaking of, my fan club members only version of his mini-lightstick arrived on Friday :)

6:07pm: It’s really sad that we have made this trip so many times that we recognized the last working at the 7/11 at whatever rest stop we just left. (Blue Mountain or something.)

Also Henry bought a Mr. Beast Feastible because he was influenced by Jake Webber.

7:06pm: Just left this cutie rest stop:

We’re listening to Kurt Travis and getting so stoked to see him again next month and by we I mean me. “Isn’t his voice so pretty?” I said to Henry.

“I guess?”

Ugh.

9:42pm: We’ve been home for an hour. Byeeee!!