No one asked, but I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and mostly human on Saturday morning! We got a really early start to the day since it was our last day and, well, you know how maniacal I get about SAND THROUGH THE HOURGLASS and so on and so forth.

We started off the day with a subway ride! You know I’m obsessed with subways and have to ride them in every city we go to, at least once.

Henry contemplating chucking his wedding band into a gutter for probably the 8796875th time since March 26, 2024 :) I think I was in the process of mocking him as he consulted the subway map. I love mocking him, it might even be what I was put on this earth to do.

Subway!

I didn’t take any pictures on the subway because it was pretty crowded, but it was otherwise a pleasant experience! So far, anything is better than Philly and Boston as far as I’m concerned.

And Pittsburgh, obviously. Though, I will say that ours at least isn’t too downtrodden and stinky but it definitely lacks in the convenience department because it barely goes anywhere! I have said for years that if it went to Oakland, Lawrenceville, Shadyside — I’d be getting out of the house way more often because those are all places that I hate driving to (because of parking!!!).

Arcul de Triumf! This is one of the reasons why Bucharest is called Little Paris, obviously. We saw this on our first “night” in Romania when we were driving to our hotel from the airport at approx. 3:ooAM, ugh. I remember being SO EXCITED to see it in the dark though, and thinking, “OK, we are IN ROMANIA!!”

From  there, we walked to King Michael I Park, which is also the location of a Michael Jackson tribute which you might think is odd but he actually had a very big cultural impact on Romania, as he was the first Western artist to perform in post-Communist Romania, after the revolution in 1989. It was a really big deal to Romanians and I get it! Hilariously though, Michael infamously stood on a balcony during his visit and yelled, “Hello BUDAPEST” instead of Bucharest. He wouldn’t be the first nor the last to make this mistake, and Bucharest really leaned into this and made it into a cute little campaign lol:

I had packed these jeans as back-up but they were admittedly a tight squeeze pre-trip. Happy to report that all my puking had me slipping into this pair with ease, LOL. Always looking for the bright side:) But sincerely, I went home weighing three pounds less than I did when we left Pittsburgh. Love that for me.

I felt so much better on this day!

This little plaza had 12 alarmingly giant bronze domes making up the Monument to the Founding Fathers of the European Union. Very creepy to a certain extent and I liked it.

EW. Lol.

EW. Lol.

Obsessed.

I was on squirrel watch the whole time we were there, having not seen ONE SINGLE SQUIRREL anywhere in Romania! Henry saw one in this park for a split second and by the time he told me, I could only catch the tail end of it slipping into the darkened tree boughs. :(

There was quite a bit of construction going on throughout the park during the off season; I can only imagine how nice it will be in the spring and summer! I will say our last day there was probably the warmest day of the whole trip, warm enough for Henry to be like, “YAY I’M WEARING SHORTS TODAY!” I mean, I didn’t think it was THAT warm, but OK. There were lots of people out jogging and walking their dogs (lots of leashless dog-walking in Bucharest, I observed) and there was some little kid obstacle course that was being set up too. It just looked like it was going to be a really nice day at the park.

Back to the underground!

Waiting for the subway to take us back to the Old Town area so we could find food!

December 21, 1989 was the day shit really hit the fan in Bucharest and the people fought back. Timely inspiration, if you ask me. Everywhere we went in Romania, we found nuggets of hope within their history that maybe America could fucking stand up and do the same. LET’S GO, USA. The Romanian dictator at the time – Nicolae Ceaușescu – and his wife Elena were swiftly found guilty and executed ON LIVE TV ON XMAS DAY.

DARE.

TO.

DREAM.

We found this trendy little joint called Nuba Cafe and it looked like a place that would have something wholesome and healthy for me, cautiously ready to finally eat. I can tell you how I knew I wasn’t fully 100% health reactivated – just Henry saying the words, “I’m going to get the shakshuka” made me burp up just a hint of acidic bile. JUST A DROP!

In my journal, I wrote, “Henry got shakshuka which is actually so repulsive to me right now, but cook on, Henry! Only thinking of himself!” I’m such a peach :)

Similar to the place we ate in Cluj, this was also run predominately by young men who looked very bored and disinterested in the roles they were playing, like they were just killing time before the beat drop at their popcorn DJ set later that night. They made zero eye contact with anyone, barely even looked at each other, left a table of GenZers to die at a back table (they were getting SO HUFFY, too, I was eating it up), generally acted as a Romanian Service Industry stereotype.

I think this was an iced chai??

Also, what the hell was going on outside the window behind me that had Henry peering so intently,  like he’s about to buy binoculars on Amazon and have them drop-shipped to his lap?

THIS WAS PERFECT. I ate it so slowly and savored every last scrape of honey that I could finagle. NOURISHMENT. In case you were wondering, they call berries “forest fruit” in Romania and I love that lots.

Another cool-ass building.

I’m getting really sad like I’m living this last day all over again even though it was 3 mths ago at this point. Over 3 mths ago. This is absurd. This will teach me to never again leave my laptop at home while traveling.

Next on the agenda was the Communism Museum! I took a lot of pictures in there so stop by another day and we will go through those together. Aw.

January is usually my LEAST favorite month of the year, but so far so good for this 2026 version. I mean, I still absolutely abhor the weather and gray skies, but otherwise it’s been kind of OK.

After taking Chooch back to school that first weekend of the new year, I expected to be depressed – and I was. We just had such a nice holiday season with him and I know eventually it will be the norm to not have him home, but the adjustment is still on-going (at least on my side – I don’t think he or Henry care much because: men).

The weekdays are all the same, honestly. Work. Quiet evenings at home, exercising and watching brain-rot videos on YouTube. My therapist and I are having discussions of different things I can do to break out of this boring-ass routine and I think I have some ideas.

Last weekend, Henry and I went to Industry Public House because, and this is so pathetic, they have this Christmas beer that I had imprinted on. OK, let me back up: you know that I was doing that whole beer stamp-collecting rigmarole during the last few mths of 2025, right? Well, it burnt me out. It made me realize that I don’t really care about beer all that much, it was just fun to have something to do. But, do I want that “something to do” to revolve around drinking beer? Eh, no, not really. And honestly, there weren’t even any beers that I had during my Pgh Brewery Travels that made me lean back and gasp, “I can’t wait to come back here and drink this again!” I just…don’t care that much.

However! When Henry and I went to the nearly re-opened Hollywood Theater down the street to see The Cure concert film, they had a Breckenridge Christmas ale on tap and I thought, why the hell not, get me a cup of that. And DANG y’all, maybe it’s just because I now associate it with The Cure (my favorite band of all time, natch), I have been on a one-track mission to imbibe that seasonal cheer in liquid form again. It actually FELT like Christmas in my mouth. I haven’t had that happen before with a “Christmas” beer. But this one got the spices right, I guess.

That last Friday that Chooch was home, January 2nd, he and I went to the Hollywood Theater to see Marty Supreme and I will be quite frank here – one of the main reasons I suggested it was because I wanted to get that beer again LOL. But UGH, they lost their liquor license!!! In that span of like 3 weeks, it must have been lapsed when it became 2026 I guess? I didn’t really pay attention to the explanation because after the concession stand person said, “I’m sorry, we’re actually not serving alcohol—” everything after that sounded like it was being projected from under the sea.

This is a very long-winded side-bar to explain why we ended up at a random bar/restaurant in Robinson Twnshp on a Saturday afternoon in January. Bro, I was so happy though. We sat at the bar and Henry the Bitch Boy got a flight but I ordered a full pour of my Breckenridge bae with confidence and was content with that and only that. It was just as I remembered it! Plus, I liked sitting at the bar. The hostess originally sat us at a table but we weren’t planning on eating (I have to plan these things carefully because of my calorie-intake compulsion. Signed, A Blogger with Disordered Eating) plus there was a man across from us who was VIOLENTLY blowing his nose and making sick throat gurgles so I said, “Nope” and we moved to the bar where we enjoyed a peaceful sit with our beers. I was very content in case I have not already mentioned that.

The next morning, we got up early and drove out to Freeport for a cinnamon knot and croissant from Vivienne’s Bakery. Truly so delicious and worth the drive every time though it does make me sad because the first time we went to that area was for a walk during Memorial Day weekend of 2024 and Drew was still alive then so my mind always goes there. I’m trying to push through the pain! Anyway, Henry pointed out that there was fresh sourdough at the bakery so we added a loaf to our order (sourdough bread is my snack every evening after exercising in case you wanted even more detail into my incredibly exciting routine) and I can no longer eat sourdough bread from anywhere else, thank you very much. God, theirs is so good.

My dietician keeps trying to talk me into making my own sourdough which is hilarious to me because she doesn’t know me that well. I mentioned this to my therapist and she started laughing because she DOES know me on that level and knows that the real Erin would NEVER bake her own bread. I mean, maybe HENRY might want to do that but certainly not me, LOL!

Lots of cozy time with Penelope. Henry bought me a heated blanket and Penelope is the biggest fan.

Sunday night, I was watching the Golden Globes red carpet just because I wanted to see Joshua from Seventeen (!!!) but then after sitting through the whole thing, realized I was invested at that point and needed to see the whole thing through so I watched the actual award to the very end and felt like…vintage Erin. I used to eat this shit up and would have to race around town during awards season, making the rounds in an effort to watch all of the nominated movies. It was fun to see some things win that I had actually watched, like Timothee Chalomet for Marty Supreme, Kpop Demon Hunters (save your Negative Nancy comments, they won’t get approved), Adolescence….I can’t remember if there was anything else I actually had seen.

I realized though that I was getting really excited while watching this, like I used to as a younger version of myself, and maybe I should start going to the theater more often. Even before this, I had planned on going to see Hamnet at the Hollywood Theater on my own this week because I read and loved the book and had made the promise to support my local theater more actively. But maybe instead of sitting here every night watching people scream on YouTube while doing food reactions, or making fun of travel vloggers who mispronounce names of things in South Korea, I could start watching more movies and then also that would give me something to bond with Chooch over since he is so movie-focused that I had to buy him an AMC membership.

My therapist loves this idea. I think so many people fixate on finding “new” interests but isn’t it OK to revisit old ones? Surely that counts.

Penelope dares you to disagree.

Last week, I had to go back to the gum doctor so he could check on the work he did on me last month. I absolutely love that doctor. I mean, I don’t love that I have gum issues that require me going to the dentist extra times a year and the occasional visit to the periodontist, but at least he is a great guy and makes me feel like a person and not just a patient.

Anyway, Henry drove me there and on the way back, we stopped at this newish cafe on Library Road called Pour Johnny’s which has a logo that looks REMARKABLY like the Monopoly guy and I honestly don’t know how they get away with that, but OK.

I don’t know if this lady was the owner – I feel like she was – but the barista on duty that day was SO FRIENDLY. And not even in a fake way, but effortlessly natural. Like, I could have been having the worst day ever and I feel like being in her presence would have healed me at least to some degree.

I got a chai latte (I am HUGLEY picky with these, btw, and there are only approx. 2 places in this city that makes them to my taste) and Henry got an iced caramel latte. As we walked out with our drinks, I said to him, “This can taste like hot dirt and I would still go back because that lady was so fucking delightful.”

Then I took a sip and as expected, it was the kind of chai that I do not like, so I just laughed and said, “I should have started out with a coffee drink, I guess.” But I had already had two cups of coffee at home and wanted something different! I tasted Henry’s latte and it was really good though, so now I know to just avoid the chai latte if/when I return (she gave us a punch card and they sell baked goods from Brown Bear so I think it’s safe to say we will be back).

Penelope says FUCK ICE, thank you very much.

In other weeknight news, Chooch convinced us to start watching The Pitt because he binged it all week long and loves it. I will admit that hearing Lisa (from Blackpink, god forbid that Kpop nonsense bleeding into the mainstream so forcibly that now – GASP – Kpop idols are presenting at the Golden Globes /sarcasm) namedrop our city of Pittsburgh when referencing The Pitt while presenting at the Golden Globes made me feel actually excited (Kpop tours never come to Pgh so I always just assume that no one from that side of the world knows that we exist). “Pittsburgh” coming out of THE Lisa’s mouth! I don’t care for hospital shows but it definitely piqued my interest.

I couldn’t make it through the first 10 minutes of the first episode, LOL. I thought it was so boring and cringey! The writing was….so weird?? So cheesy? But then Chooch was like, “No, you must give it another try” so we have since watched two episodes and it’s OK. I will continue but I’m not totally convinced or captivated. Also, I don’t have hometown pride that much either so the fact that it’s based on a hospital in Pgh doesn’t add much value for me.

One thing I will say is that it extremely graphic. Chooch knows my aversion to gore so warned me. “You’re going to spend a lot of time looking away,” he texted and boy howdy, was he correct. I have to look away so often that I tell Henry to not even pause it and use those moments to get a water refill or take a bathroom break.

Friday night, Henry and I were watching one of my favorite vloggers at the Stray Kids concert – wholesome, pure content – when suddenly it switched over to the scene from 127 Hours where James Franco is AMPUTATING HIS OWN FUCKING ARM. Blood and gore filled the screen alongside screaming and flesh sounds, and I almost passed out. I texted Chooch immediately: DID YOU DO THAT??

Turns out, he was trying to show his friend Mason “the worst scene ever” and somehow connected to my YouTube at home, hijacking my WHOLESOME AND PURE KPOP CONTENT. Oh, it was a whole frenzied episode here at the OHE Headquarters.

Chooch swears he did it accidentally and I actually do believe him, but this is totally something that he would also do ON PURPOSE!!

On Saturday, Henry and I went to see No Other Choice at the theater and it was REALLY GOOD. Always happy when foreign films get screen time in the States.

Also let’s recognize that Henry has grown as a person from the time we started dating back in tbe 00s (lol) because he used to go see foreign films with me kicking and screaming and now he’s like SUBTITLES RULE.

Later that night, our friends Brittany and Todd came over for a pizza hangout and it was SO GOOD. I keep saying I want to have friends over more often now that we’re empty nesters but then complacency sets in and I don’t do anything about it. But this time, I made the plans and we ordered pizza from Fiori’s (my local favorite that I actually haven’t had in years). It was the first time visiting our house for both of them and it was exciting to show them around!

I have to say, they are on the short list of people that Henry actually effortlessly engages with and I love that. Usually, Henry will just sit in the background and not talk but it’s not like that with Todd and Brittany. I love them and btw they are engaged now so this is all very exciting!

I think that about catches me up on here! I mean, I still have Romanian recaps to write but that’s another story. :/

*(Just a reminder that it was now Friday, late afternoon.)

Old Town seemed to be the best bet for food so we stayed there and started scoping out menus. I know this is wildly annoying and invasive for some travelers, but I loved that there were girls stationed outside of every restaurant, trying to entice people to choose their spot. They almost always started with, “Hello, you can sit here, have a coffee…” I don’t know, I appreciated their verve.

We ended up choosing a very trendy, Instagrammable place called Old Habits. I really liked the girl who lured us in (don’t tell her, but we had already looked at the menu and decided to eat there) because she had this really cool, IDGAF attitude. She kept going back over to her little customer-fishing podium, looking at her phone, smoking a cigarette, and drinking (I’m pretty sure) beer. I love Romania, you guys. I love it.

Honestly, all the spots in Old Town looked so cozy and cute. But it was the mismatched pillows, hot air balloon decor, and neon that swayed me. I still didn’t have much of an appetite but Henry kept asking, with the strained hope-tinged tone of a boy asking if dad was ever going to come back, “Are you going to want to eat at some point today? Maybe? Yes? No? Dot dot dot question mark?”

Oh, this area was a whole-ass vibe. Especially when some old lady randomly brought over tropical birds for people to hold? While they were eating? And I’m sure for a fee, as well? That felt kind of questionable, but you know, Romania.

Wow. OK. Henry actually posted this on Instagram. Romania changed him.

The one thing that I remember vividly about this moment is that there was a halloumi burger on the menu and it sounded like something I would have beasted on a normal day, but I was terrified of ordering it. So I got some kind of plain tomato penne.

I only ate about 1/4 of it because almost immediately after our (super sweet, btw) server set it in front of me, my stomach was like, “Yo, we’re still not alright in here, remember??” as my body was internally doing the Lord’s work trying to protect me from whatever virus was ping-ponging around my intestinal tract.

Actually, even just looking at this….yeah, I feel super burpy, lol.

Henry ended up eating all of his food (he got mici and I would love to thank him for that, loved sitting across from those meat sticks) and mine. The server was so upset when she came out and saw how much I had left. “Oh, no! You didn’t like it?” she asked, all concerned type shit. I told her that no, I did like it (I really did) it was just too much. She admitted that she asked the chef to give me extra since I don’t eat meat. Seriously! What a sweet person. If you’re in Bucharest, go to Old Habits. They are nice there and while I can’t speak very much on the food since I was in a state, Henry says his mici was delicious.

Then we walked back to the room to drop off the honey and wine (for Sue!) we bought at the farmers market thing. I was so sick from eating lunch when I clearly wasn’t ready to resume eating anything more substantial than crackers. I passed out in bed for about 45 minutes and then felt renewed enough to walk to the Parliament building.

(When I say I am the most stubborn sick person, you guys, I mean it. Nothing gives me FOMO more than being sick. I will forever be the one kid mouse in Secret of Nimh – TIMOTHY!!! – who is sick and watching his siblings play outside with the most forlorn expression.)

Bro. This building. It’s actually so much more impressive IRL.

Some facts from the Visit Bucharest website:

• the largest administrative building (for civil use), as confirmed by the Guinness World Records Book
• the 3rd place worldwide by its volume
• the heaviest and the most expensive building in the world

Apparently, the dictator at the time – Ceaușescu – got the inspiration for this building after a trip to North Korea.

These birds were so effing cool – like a cross between a pigeon and a crow.

I was in poor condition, guys. Just looking at these pictures, I can remember how weak I felt at the time while still wanting to see everything and take it all in. Bucharest!

Honestly though – this building was stunning to look at it. You can also take tours inside but that was not something I felt up to doing. I needed to be outside in the fresh air.

The Vlad Tepes Fountain!

I started to feel SICK and needed to sit down. We found a nearby bench and it happened to be right near a cafe so I thought, you know, maybe I needed caffeine since I hadn’t had any coffee at all that day. The cafe was called The Coffee Shop Constitutiei and interestingly also serves whiskey.

Henry got me a matcha latte and it only made me feel worse. Sigh.

I don’t know what he got – flat white, maybe? – but I liked the frog!

We made our way back to the room after this and stopped at Mega Image to get laundry detergent and snacks to bring home for Chooch, then went back to the room where I violently puked up my pasta and then felt great! And thank god because we had a really nice time exploring the area at night, and this included me buying some things at a gift shop manned by a very apathetic man. I bought magnets and a cute little handmade box to keep Romanian coins in, but there was a whole section of RELIGIOUS things that I was salivating over and Henry’s response was to FROWN.

We had to walk by this building every time we went to the Old Town section. I was obsessed with it.

Another Cure poster sighting!!!

This is the CEC Palace looking handsome AF at night. (I think this is actually a bank now??)

Zlătari Church. I bought a really pretty green bracelet here, in case you were wondering. If a church has a gift shop, bet on me spending money.

University Square.

We saw some lady holding a bouquet of flowers completely wipe out on the sidewalk – I don’t know if she was drunk or if she tripped, but she went all the way down and I had a moment of paralyzed panic where I felt like I should help but couldn’t get myself to kick into hear. Luckily, two other people helped her up so I said, in my signature socially awkward robotic monotone, “Oh no” and we continued on our way.

We passed this brewery called Ground Zero and I was feeling OK still so told Henry to go ahead and get a beer. I didn’t feel THAT GOOD though so I decided to stick with something non-alcoholic and just got a Fritz. Henry wanted to get a flight but some dumb guy in front of us ordered like 8 flights for his group so they didn’t have any of the glasses left. The bartender was super nice and apologetic about it but it wasn’t his fault!

Henry got the Amber Guerre, a red ale. I checked it in on Untappd and apparently liked my tiny sip enough to give it a 4.

Russian Church. We started to go in but there was mass going on and I panicked so we left lol. I am easily susceptible to recruition.

We walked past this place and I was OBSESSED with that back wall so I had to take a picture. It’s called Drunken Lords and is also a music venue. Sadly, my FRITZ COLA was making me about to vomit again so we had to make it an early night and start walking back to our room at 9PM, so lame. And on the way back, Henry kept pointing out street food places and beer and I was like, “CAN YOU NOT.”

I’m glad I was able to get out and do SOME things but I can promise you that there were so many other things I had wanted to do and just couldn’t. What can you do, though? At the end of the day, I was still there, in actual Bucharest (!!!), and that is what matters the most to me.

Here’s the daily video compilation!

She sent me four cans of G-Dragon’s limited edition Peaceminusone highballs! They were only just released in the US after debuting last spring in Korea and of course, there is nowhere even remotely close to Pittsburgh that is stocking them. But Veronica lives in LA and was able to snag a case of both the black and red versions and sent me two of each, plus stickers!!!

I actually screamed, I’m not even going to lie. You can ask my cat Penelope. I stopped everything, nearly sliced my hand with a knife while savagely carving the box open, and then immediately took pictures to send to Henry and Chooch. Chooch of course just said, “Wow. Good job” because he is so over my Beatles-level mania for G-Dragon.

I mean, honestly, G-Dragon could put his name on a rock and I would set an alarm to wake up at 3AM in order to join a queue to try to buy one, and then pay more in shipping than I paid for the actual item without even hesitating because GD got me like that. He makes me stupid. Er.

Stupider.

Margie the Bad Influence told me to just crack one open right then and there while I was still logged on to work but I had restraint. Mainly because I wanted to wait for Henry. We decided to save it until tonight and I thought about it all day because I am so lame!

We just tried the black can for now.

First of all, the tab is so cool – I love that it pulls off in a circle! And there is a real lemon slice inside!

OK look, it could taste like actual squirrel piss and I would have rated it on a 5 on Untappd, but this was genuinely delicious. Crisp and refreshing, lemon-y and fizzy. It actually gave me Smirnoff Ice vibes, a little bit? And if you knew me in, say, 2000, you know that was my drink of choice at McCoy’s and at home, which was obvious if you see pictures of me back then with my big bloated face.

This has a French burgundy Sauvignon Blanc base so it feels fancier than a Smirnoff Ice, for sure. Plus, the power of GD’s branding.

I’m excited to try the red one next, maybe this weekend!

God, I love G-Dragon so much. Thank you, Veronica! I am always so grateful for our paths crossing on Instagram all those years ago. <3

(Obvi I have to keep the cans and do art with them.)

We left our guest house in Brasov on Friday morning and began our 3ish hour drive to Bucharest. The final city on our weird honeymoon road trip! It was sad though because it also meant leaving the Transylvania region. And also, it meant being in the car while still half-sick, aren’t you so thrilled this portion of the trip is still on-going. You know, I’m really wondering if I had norovirus.

Before we leave though, I had to stand on a sidewalk with all the luggage while Henry walked the mile or so away where he parked the car, and I’ll be real with you – I wasn’t feeling so hot. I hadn’t puked at all that morning but I was still squeamish at the mere sight of food, so imagine how stoked I was still be standing next to a truck making a potato delivery.

But…better than fish, I guess.

We saw this cemetery on the road! The geotag on my photo says it was from Sinaia, which is the area where Peles is. I forgot we had to drive back out that way in order to get to Bucharest.

To be honest, I slept for most of the drive there which is how you know I was sick because I am usually like if Aerosmith wrote “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” for a passenger princess on a road trip.

The hallway of our apartment for the next two nights! It had a tiny, rickety elevator and I loved it. Still sickly but smiling!

This apartment was very cozy and clean. And it had a washer so Henry was like YES, LAUNDRY TIME! MY FAVORITE!

He’s so weird. And domestic.

Ofc I had to add my name to the chalkboard wall! I lit up like a Kindergartener peeling glue off their fingertips in art class when I saw it and immediately went on the hunt of the chalk.

We had a little enclosed balcony and this was the view from it. (It also had a lilac Eyfel diffuser in there and I was determined at this point to finally go to one of the shops and buy some.)

The first thing on our agenda was to just basically get out and poke around while also walking to a post office so I could – GOD FORBID – buy stamps for my postcards. This has to be on Henry’s list of Reasons Not to Travel with ERK – being one of the only surviving postcard senders left on earth which means we are always having to find post offices in foreign places.

Sometimes in the US too! We had a bitch of a time finding a place to mail my post cards in Iowa and this was with me PRE-PLANNING by buying postcard stamps AT HOME before we left! (Actually, I made Chooch go to the post office for this and he was so annoyed.)

Anyway, no surprise here but Bucharest was way different than any of the places in Romania we had previously explored. I mean, obviously it’s the capital so it’s already going to have that gritty, urban vibe to it and the Communist / Bauhaus architecture was popping. I personally found it beautiful and unique but apparently travelers complain about it?

Fun fact is that Bucharest is known as Little Paris. It has been A LONG ASS TIME since I was last in Paris (literally mid-90s) but I didn’t really get that feeling? It’s also been A LONG ASS TIME since I’ve been to Berlin but if I had to compare Bucharest with a Euro city I’ve been to, it would be Berlin.

We spent most of our time in Old Town, I would say. It was really close to where we were staying and just had a really cool vibe to it. Yes, full of tourists but not overwhelmingly so. (Consider the season!) We had to pass through here on the way to the post office, so we also popped into the famous Cărturești Carusel bookstore that EVERYONE GOES TO when they visit Bucharest. It is so prevalent in all of the “things to do in Bucharest” travel vlogs that it very quickly turned Henry averse to it and he did NOT want to go.

I have to say you guys – I was very underwhelmed. I mean, it was pretty at its core but it wasn’t anything to LITERALLY write home about? Just a book store. However, I do need to mention that A SONG FROM BLOODFLOWERS was actually playing inside there and I NEVER hear songs from that Cure album, especially out in the wild. And that is one of my favorite Cure albums too. I took a quick video, of course, so that will be posted later once I compile all my clips from this day.

(And yes, we found the post office!)

This was the square outside of the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development where a farmer’s market type thing was going on. There were so many different stands with local honey and I was like I NEED TO GET HONEY FROM ONE OF THESE PLACES but it was so hard to choose.

Also, there were so many food stalls but I wasn’t ready to eat yet :( I wanted Henry to at least enjoy the cheese samples but he was being SO WEIRD about it and said he didn’t want to ask for samples when he knew he wasn’t going to buy any cheese. Like, wow, much martydom.

I did end up getting honey from here – a whole cute set of it – and I think I already wrote about this when we first came home but it got taken by TSA at the Dulles airport because of a checked bag that ended up getting UNCHECKED because we were put on a different flight and then they wouldn’t let us recheck it and LONG STORY SLIGHTLY TRIMMED, my carry-on was routed over to the SUS LANE and the TSA agent (super nice guy, at least) was like, “I’m so sorry but I have to take this unless you go back and check in your bag” and we were like, “We tried that” and then honestly the clock was ticking, we were already cutting it close, so I was like ENJOY THE ROMANIAN HONEY MY GUY and we left it there. :(

Literally we have the worst luck with these things, even when we initially do it the right way.

The fact that the TSA agent was actually nice and treated us like human beings made me less mad though, for sure. I know it was probably just thrown out but in my imagination, he took it home, smeared it on some toast, and shared it with his neighborhood squirrels while wondering if I made it home safely. (He was kind of cute, OK??)

Korean market!

And by this point, it was mid-afternoon and Henry was like, “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE OK TO EAT” like just say it bro, I’m ruining your life by being sick! Anyway, we’ll talk about lunch in the next post because I have blogging fatigue. :(

December books coming atchoo.

1. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I actually read this on the last day of November and somehow forgot to include it in that wrap-up.  Mostly, I wanted to see what a John Green book is like as an (older) adult and this was pretty insufferable to get through if we’re being real here. Also, it did not age well.

2. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

I generally hate books about tech (and now, AI) but this one was pretty compelling and thought-provoking, revolving around a fatal car accident that may or may not have been caused by the autonomous minivan driven by a teenager with his whole family in tow.

3. A Perfect Union of Contrary Things by Sarah Jensen

OOOoooof. I love MJK and all of his projects but this was book was such a snooze. I get that he’s good friends with the broad who wrote this but perhaps it would have been interesting in someone else’s hands. I couldn’t wait for this to end.

4.Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Henry and I listened to this audiobook on the drive home from Chicago and both had the same reaction: “That’s it?” It reminded me of a line from a Cure song, “And wait…and wait….and wait for something to happen.”

5. We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls, #1) by Karin Slaughter

This book was so long, and for what.

File under: if you read one, you’ve read them all.

6. The Stranger by Albert Camus

I just REALLY was invested in that fucking dog.

It reads like a flat line. Despondent and devoid of feeling, just like how it feels living in present day America.

I’m depressed.

7. The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

It was no Raven Boys, but it’ll do. I never really fully grasped the concept of the magic (?) water. There were some real characters up in that hotel  though!

8. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

LOVED IT. Charming. Cute. Memorable characters. Fun concept. Snazzy cover. Let’s go, Ashley Poston! I adore her and this was just the light-hearted read I needed during the stress of the holiday season.

9. The Cold House by A.G. Slatter

Short and scary! I really enjoyed this one – it was funny and dark, with an ending that I did NOT see coming.

10. My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero

Maybe I’m the wrong demographic for this one. I thought it was just OK because I’m not a struggling 20-something singer using sex as a coping mechanism. I love the cover colors though.

11. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

OK this one is wildly popular and hyped, and I LOVED this author’s last book, but this one was so. fucking. boring. “…a thrilling drama unfolds.” – BITCH, WHERE? All those POVs for what?? Not one compelling character. I didn’t care if the missing kid was ever found, to be honest.

12. Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham

I generally like Stacy Willingham but this was a miss for me. One should not be bored when reading a thriller.

Wow, and that concludes my 2025 book wrap-up. I will maybe come back with a list of my faves. It feels like I didn’t have very many this year but maybe I’m just a bitch who needs medication, who knows.

This Brasov wrap-up is going to be a quick one since I spent a good bit of time crashed out in the room. :( Henry went out while I was sleeping and bought me a ring that I had been eyeing the day before. Can you believe it? He actually paid attention. I know, I’m just as stunned as you are.

Anyway, I woke up around 5 and was in no shape to go out but I am so stubborn and didn’t want to waste any more time in that room! Plus, my EVERY PEN I brought with me from home had run out of ink from all of my obsessive journaling, so I wanted to at least go out and buy a new pen.

And that’s pretty much all we did on our last evening in Brasov – walked around and shopped while I avoided making eye contact with all of the food we were passing along the way. :(

(According to my vacation journal, I only slept for 2 hours so I guess not too much of the day was wasted unless you count the zero time we spent in Viscri earlier that day, ugh.)

Hilariously, we went to so many souvenir shops in Brasov looking for pens (I’m picky), but Brasov ended up being the one place I didn’t buy a magnet. I still have no idea how I managed that! Wait a failure.

There were many times when I had to sit down on a bench while Henry went into shops on my behalf before I started feeling kind of….burpy. You know how what I mean.

In one of the souvenir shops, there were these wooden vampire things that looked JUST LIKE ROBERT SMITH, even Henry was like, “Why does that look like Robert?” so ofc I had to buy one. I even sent a picture to Chooch who is the #1 naysayer in my contacts, but he too agreed!

Apparently, there was some older broad that Henry kept running into when I was dead in the room, and then we kept seeing her when I was with him too – she was kind of Joan Rivers-y, and I made some comment about her after we ran into her for like the 8th time and it turned out I was fixated on someone entirely different because I didn’t see who Henry was originally pointing out and that’s very on brand for our “marriage.” Rarely on the same page, etc.

I just asked him what else he did while I was dying back in the room. Here is his recap:

“I walked around and got food.”

WOW, COOL.

He thinks he got a pretzel from somewhere. And he got “um, a hotdog?” that was like “inside some kind of pastry that wasn’t very good.”

Then he got something to drink and just walked.

Thrilling! Thanks for the filler, Henry.

He just said that there were two people who tried to get him to buy them food at both places?? He said they stood next to him until he got to the window and then they pounced.

I just asked if they were together and he said no – one was at one place, and one was at the other place. One was an older maybe unhoused man and the other was a kid.

Henry tells the worst stories. Do not ever try to interview him, he will fucking enrage you with his vagueness.

Another highlight for me was seeing this young woman singing and playing the violin – she reminded me so much of my old law firm friend Kaitlin and her songs made me tear up, they were so emotional. (I have some footage at the end of the video that will be at the bottom of this post!)

Also, buying this beautiful Romanian sweater from a boutique and praying that I didn’t puke in the fitting room. (I didn’t.)

Then, and this was so dumb, can you believe my stupid ass was like, “Let’s split an ice cream.” What the actual fuck, Erin. Granted, as I mentioned in an earlier Romanian post, when you get a “small,” it’s ACTUALLY small. Like, the tiniest little scoop because non-Americans don’t need to gorge themselves. So, I thought, OK we’ll get a small and I’ll just take a bite. Yo, I threw up as soon as we got back to the room, LOL.

I can’t even remember what flavor we got. I blacked it out of my mind.

We did do a fair bit of walking that night though because of course I pushed myself. You know I must have been sick though if I only took three pictures the whole time.

And then I remember waking up numerous times throughout the night to puke some more. Yay, vacation vomit!

Brasov, you were amazing though. I hope I can go back someday!

Here’s the video from Thursday, October 16, 2025. Next up: 2 days in Bucharest!

Haven’t done one of these in a minute. Here we go.

1. FUCK ICE

2. FUCK ICE

3. FUCK ICE

4. F   U   C   K        I   C   E

5. FUCK ICE

After leaving Bran on an empty stomach, I was starting to feel weird. Instead of going back to Brasov, the plan was to head over to a small village called Viscri which was close to a 2 hour drive. Viscri is an off-the-beaten path village known for its local artisans, farm-to-table meals at small restaurants, and for being a quiet place to stay in a guest house and experience slow living. It’s claim to fame is being the object of affection of King Charles, who owns a cottage there and advocates for the preservation of Viscri’s heritage and architecture by serving as a cultural ambassador. I was really looking forward to seeing this place especially because it doesn’t seem to be a known tourist attraction (yet). I was really excited to come here, stroll around and look at nature, buy some Romanian pottery and WHAT HAVE YOU. We were originally going to make reservations at one of the guest house restaurants but then decided against it, and well, good thing….

Since we weren’t going to be eating lunch there and I wasn’t sure if there would be snacks readily available, I had Henry buy me a pastry at a gas station.

It was cheese and raisins. It seemed fine.

But then I started to get SICK. I don’t get car sick very often at all – I’m the type of person who can read books and write in vacation journals in moving vehicles with no issue, so when I started to feel green, I immediately blamed it on the 3++++ servings of espresso I had early that morning. Maybe it was starting to hit me since I hadn’t eaten anything substantial in the meantime?

By the time we arrived to Viscri and parked, I was cooked. I didn’t even think I had it in me to get out of the car, but I pushed myself and then we had to walk quite a ways through the woods in order to get to the area where all the shops and houses are. It was here that I started shaking uncontrollably because I was freezing.

It wasn’t cold.

This was THE SICK SHIVERS.

I was basically panting too, all worn out from the slow stroll when I am basically a profesh ambler so you tell me – was I sick or nah.

All of the guest houses and shops are numbered.

Eventually, the path spilled us out in between some houses, one of which was a shop full of local wares. Thank god, because I wasn’t sure how long I was going to last and I at least wanted to buy a thing.

I could barely even stand up at this point and felt so miserable in this shop. I can promise you that had I felt like myself that day, I’d have spent $$$ in that bitch because it was full of exactly the type of rustic Romanian pieces I had been gunning for. But instead, I feebly pointed to a coffee mug and whispered faintly to Henry, “Get me this one, I have to go outside and die now.”

It was pathetic. I could barely even hold my head up and felt like I was going to spew my guts all over this precious pottery. There was a bench outside and I parked my sick ass down immediately and put my head in my hands.

Henry came out with my mug and I said, “I’m not going to make it, Henry. We have to go. NOW.”

I was still trying to take pictures though! Even though I had double-vision and had to do weird lamaze-type breathing except instead of trying to expel a human, I was trying to plug in the vomit.

DOG! A bright spot in my “AM I GOING TO FUCKING DIE IN ROMANIA???” freakout.

The color palette of Viscri, though.

This was truly such a long walk back to the car.

I took this while popping an emergency squat on the way back to the car because I really thought I was about to barf.

But don’t worry! I saved that for when we were about 5 minutes out of Viscri and Henry had to veer off onto the side of the road and frantically fish for a plastic gas station bag in the backseat, into which I violently vomited for what felt like a solid 10 minutes but I don’t think it was that long in succession lol.

The bag was red, btw. And actually very small. I will never forget that bag.

Unfortunately.

This was also the first time I even puked in the car that I can remember at least! There was a time when Janna was driving me home from a bar after I quit Weiss’s the first time, and I was so trashed that she had to pull over so I could puke in someone’s yard.

But this! This was some kind of bug. I thought maybe at first it was food poisoning, but it took me out for the entire rest of the day, part of the next day, and I wasn’t able to actually start eating without puking / feeling immediately nauseous until two days later. Our last day in Romania, LOL. Yay me!

I remembered watching this one travel couple on YouTube and the wife got super sick in Romania so I googled it and it’s actually quite common I guess? It’s one of the places where you’re not supposed to drink the water and I definitely didn’t, so I have no idea what I ended up having but you’ll be thrilled to know that Henry remained 100% unaffected. Because of course.

I ended up passing out in the car for most of the drive back to Brasov, puking again when we got back to the room, and then sleeping for pretty much all afternoon into the early evening.

I was too fucked to even be upset that I was missing out on doing Romania things. Like hiking to the top of the Brasov sign, which is what we were planning on doing when we got back from Viscri. :(

Oh well, here’s my mug!

I feel like this is the one thing most people know about Romania – “Dracula’s Castle.” I am really phoning it in, I know, but here is what Wiki says:

Marketed outside Romania as Dracula’s Castle, it is presented as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker‘s novel Dracula (1897). There is no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, whose byname ‘Drăculea’ resembles that of Dracula. Stoker’s description of Dracula’s crumbling fictional castle also bears no resemblance to Bran Castle.

Some of the more negative travelers will tell you that this is nothing more than a tourist trap and I would have to vehemently disagree. Take the whole Dracula element out of it and this is still a legitimate piece of medieval history. It was built in the 1300s for God’s sake! It contains art and furniture curated by Queen Marie but even if the whole Castle was empty, I’d still want to go there. It is so old! And so eerily perched upon a hill!

I do apologize, but this is going to be a big photo dump because I was acting like a kid in Japan who was given her first Nikon and unlimited rolls of film. I wanted to snap every nook and cranny, but I did find some restraint, I promise.

Henry booked us the full package (wow, spend it daddy) for once, opting to go for the guided tour with “skip the line” plus the optional torture chamber and Queen’s elevator thingie at the end. I didn’t care about all that shit but was happy that we had the skip the line thing because this place gets crowded and fast. We were the first people at the gate though! One lone traveler joined us after a bit and I was quietly laughing to myself because he also looked like a coaster thoosie so it was making me feel like we were waiting for a theme park to open and not freaking Dracula’s Castle in Romania.

Our guide’s name was Mihnea and I will be honest and say he was not giving docent. If I had to guess upon meeting him on the street, I would think he was part of the Romanian Intelligence Service of whatever is more secret than that, even. He was all in black and super mysterious with just a touch of “possibly a vampire.” I didn’t get any pictures of him but he’s possible in some of the video I recorded that day.

This was before the official tour started. We had to walk up the long and steep walkway with Mihnea and then he had us wait here for him while he did BTS tour guide stuff or attend to some secret government espionage thing. WE DIDN’T ASK.

Did you know that Vlad the Impaler never even lived in this Castle? Although it’s alleged that he may have been held prisoner there at some point.

I also find it interesting that while the rest of the world associates Vlad with Dracula and considers him a veritable monster, he is regarded as a national hero in Romania and I love that.

In modern times (aka the 1900s when I was born), Queen Marie lived here until her death in the 30s (who reads this thing for exact dates, anyway?), and then her daughter, Princess Illeana, was driven out in the 40s by the Communist regime and a decade later, the Castle was opened to the public as a museum.

JUST A LITTLE HISTORY FOR YOU.

Coat of Arms.

A window.

Oh! Through that doorway is the famous super steep and narrow staircase that E V E R Y T R A V E L Y O U T U B E R records. And yes, your girl also recorded the ascent, LOL.

Our guide told us to watch our heads at the top and then the lone tourist who looked like a coaster thoosie totally thwacked his forehead REAL HARD and I felt so bad but also had to turn around quickly because I was afraid I was going to start laughing.

The view out of every window was so on point. Probably not back in the day when flaming arrows were headed straight for you though. Just my guess.

You guys, in every single video or picture I’ve seen from people touring this place, the courtyard and walkways have been PACKED with poeple. But since we were FIRST! there was NO ONE ruining our shots! Definitely worth getting there early on a weekday.

Mihnea scolded some woman who started to encroach on our area while he was taking our picture. Worth the extra price of getting the guided tour! Don’t fuck with Mihnea!

That’s the town of Bran down there.

Sorry, I was obsessed with these old ass shingles. Don’t mind me.

Family tree.

Of course, they do play into the Dracula bit by having several little exhibits related to Dracula in media/pop culture and also the origin of vampire lore in Romanian culture, as well, more specifically Strigoi. 

I learned about strigoi from my old Darkchat friend, Cinn, in case anyone cares.

A group of middle-aged American women pushed their way in front of us in this room and Mihnea was like “Oh hell nah” and made an exasperated throat noise because they were talking so loudly while he was trying to do his spiel.

ALWAYS THE AMERICANS.

You guys, Princess Illeana gave up being a royal, turned into a nun, and died in ELWOOD CITY, PA! That’s not too far from us! We were like, “OMG WE HAVE TO GO AND SEE HER GRAVE” and of course have not made it there yet. Maybe this weekend?! I just thought that was a really cool semi-Pittsburgh connection.

Maybe this castle isn’t as grand as Peles, but I loved every inch of it.

Shingle Time!

TORTURE CHAMBER TIME! Mihnea waited outside of it for us, LOL. I was glad to be in there just the two of us so I could hoarsely whisper vile and depraved threats to Henry.

WINDOWS IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER. (It actually wasn’t a torture chamber per se but just the section of the castle where all the various torture devices were displayed. God forbid I should give inaccurate information!)

I kept trying to push Henry inside of this, LOL. Why the smiling face, tho???

Some lady was very sweet and took these pictures for us outside of the gift shop. She was either American or Canadian and pounced as soon as she saw me attempt to take a selfie of us. Super nice lady!

Then we bought a bunch of shit in the gift shop (Henry even bought a Bran Castle hat, LOL, dork) and parted ways with Mihnea as we had reached the end. Since we bought that extra elevator experience thing, we got to leave by going down the elevator that Queen Marie installed so she could have easier access to the Royal Gardens. Of course the current elevator has some Dracula-y video show playing in it which is kind of corny but also – when in Romania, right? It deposited us in this underground walkway thing that was lined with video screens showing different scenes of Vlad and vampire history in Romania. I thought it was really cool, actually, but there was this couple that came down right after us and they blew past all of that and went straight to the end where you could have your picture taken.

“Why would you skip all of this??” I whisper-cried to Henry, because I thought it was actually really cool and worth the upcharge of the deluxe “we’ll never be here again” package we splurged on. And the best part is that the picture at the end was included in that!

Worth it.

After we got our picture printed in yet another gift shop, we left through a door that spilled us out onto a lower courtyard area.

Sorry, a million pictures of me but bro, I’m at Bran Castle. Let me have this, please.

From here, we went back down to where all the vendors were, bought some magnets and postcards, I almost bought a fake Labubu (intentionally), Henry peed in an underground bathroom, and we did the Bran haunted house!

We tried to get food but this was our first taste of WE HATE TOURISTS attitude from the locals which was kind of hilarious considering these people were vending in quite possibly THE most tourist-trappy area of all Romania. I was trying to ask for Placinta cu Branza which is like a savory cheese pie but I wasn’t saying placinta with the exact accent required so the girl was like YOU’RE A MORON which I inferred from her impatient huffing and tone. Then she sent me to some other girl who was more English-y but also even more busy and was like IT’S NOT READY YET. YOU CAN HAVE THIS OR THAT, OR I DON’T KNOW and then stalked off and I was like OR I CAN LEAVE BYE because I was scared, you guys. These were legit Romani I’m pretty sure and they were not fucking around.

So we left that area and started walking back to the car and saw another little food stand thing that also had placinta but when we tried to order it the older woman sternly shook her head NO so…no placinta for us, fam.

This was just the beginning of what would end up being the worst day of the whole trip NOT TO BE DRAMATIC NO NOT ME, NOT EVER.

Also, it occurred to me that I never posted the video recap from the day before this! If you are hard-pressed for something to watch, here it is.

We’re en route to Philly (BIG SAD FACE) and I need to record this for posterity: before we left this morning, OUR HOUSE BY MADNESS was playing on the radio in our bedroom. Ughhhhhh. (If you read my NYE post, then you know!)

It’s 9:54am and Henry just ate a full Tastykakes pack like there was no tomorrow. Probably didn’t even chew.

Lololol.

12:11pm: An hour left – I finished this book in the meantime which is why I have neglected this boring-ass live blog.

Here are some pictures from our late lunch at Tillie’s yesterday! Chooch requested that we go there and we never say no to a Tillie’s request.

During lunch, chooch made a comment about how Henry “always” leaves leftovers at the restaurant which is hyperbolic but he has definitely done this on occasion! More like leftovers-adjacent but there was this time where we METICULOUSLY curated a bag of taffy from the candy shop at Holiday World only for Henry the Stoop to leave it in the hotel room after we checked out the next morning. (He had put it in the mini fridge, making it out of sight, out of mind!)

And wouldn’t you know it, we were nearly out of McKeesport when Chooch goes, “did you bring the food?” NOPE. NO HE DID NOT. Henry decided to go back and I was like there is no way they kept it, that shits been trashed, but Henry insisted that since it had only been 10 minutes it would likely still be there?! Like there is some “10 minute” guarantee on left behind leftovers?!

No. It was gone. LOL. My friend Chris commented on my IG post and said leaving behind Tillie’s leftovers is a mortal sin – AGREED. You’re the worst, Henry.

12:18pm: Chooch doesn’t have his backpack. His laptop is in his backpack. Awesome!

1:38pm: on our way to a cafe and I think this is the best subway experience we’ve had in Philly ever.

Also some guy was playing Luther Vandross’ “here & now” on his saxophone while we were waiting and I originally thought it was Vanessa Williams’ “Save the Best for Last” – I think something is actually deteriorating (not dethroning like autocorrect assumed) in my brain. :(

2:13pm: Henry said it looks like he’s praying to get away from us wow.

Anyway we made it to Grindcore House!

Satisfying!

Chooch is being so annoying BTW.

3:11pm: made it back to whatever station this is.

Chooch is still being annoying. (Look at his hostage smile?!!) And Henry is complaining. I just look old and tired.

3:42pm: Chooch is looking for his wallet in the car before we drop him off because I can imagine that being another pertinent item he left at home. Henry said something about him being a dick. “Can you please not swear in front of him,” Chooch said before causally saying, “oh there’s my gum!”

Anyway he things his wallet is in his backpack in his room in Pgh lololol ugh.

3:51pm: We just dropped him off and he said “cool bye I’ll see you in Korea I guess.” Wow bye love you too.

oh here are pictures of the Grindcore House bathroom:

And now for the long drive home.

What a nice time with Chooch though, getting to revive our fake rivalry over who Penelope loves most, jokingly telling him to can it every time we fake bicker, watching Season 5 of Stranger Things over Thanksgiving and Christmas and seeing the finale together at the theater. That dumb WWE thing. Seeing Marty Supreme with him at the Hollywood Theater on Friday (such a fantastic but stressful film!!) and sharing Stranger Things memes and theories. I really love that kid. :(

5:06pm: Now we’re listening to the Pens game on iHeartRadio lol. I had to redownload the Pens app to access the WWE tickets from work and in doing so I started getting game notifications again and just like that, sucked back in. I haven’t actively watched since 2017 or so because we got rid of cable and I had no way to watch after that and considered it a blessing for my health because as you may know, hockey was such a blood pressure jacker for me. I have no idea who even anyone is on this team now aside from the mainstays.

5:39pm: Pens made it to overtime with like 14 seconds left!

Henry keeps asking me all these Pens questions and I’m like bro I haven’t paid attention to hockey for the same amount of time as you so how would I know?! Apparently he just wants me to google all of this for him for free. (I didn’t even know who their new coach was!!)

5:43pm: YOOOO PENS WIN IN OT! CROSBY! On that note I’m ending this live blog. 2 hours and 42 minutes left.

Real quick I want to show-and-tell the bitchin’ coffee mugs I got when we were in Chicago last month! Technically, I was shopping for Kevin and I don’t know him very well so when I saw these mugs at Wolf Bait, handcrafted by local artist Liz Born, I was like, “OH WELL GUESS MAMA’S GETTING HERSELF A CHRISTMAS PREZZIE INSTEAD.” I mean, I would LOVE to gift someone a she-bopping rat mug for Christmas but literally the only person aside from me who I know would appreciate it is probably…Bill. I don’t even know.

But then I felt guilty and decided I didn’t need the mugs so we left.

I pouted REAL BIG until Henry was like JESUS CHRIST so we went back the next morning before leaving for home and he bought me the two I wanted lololol. I mean, I could have just bought them myself but it was more fun this way. (Besides, I found Kevin a normie mug there made by an art therapist who works at two local correctional institutions and then goes home and makes pottery as a way to process her stressful days. It was a beautiful, texturally pleasing mug!)

My favorite part was that when we went back the next morning for my redemption shopping spree, one of the owners was there and we had the absolute pleasure of chatting with her about the mugs and Pittsburgh (she has a friend here who owns a curiosity shop!) and she was just the best. Her entire personality felt like a raunchy GIRLS NIGHT comedy. Just an amazing person and I am so glad we went back! Wolf Bait is my new go-to shop in Chicago for gifts (for myself lol).

This was the positive experience I needed to turn my day around because for some reason, I had woken up that morning in the hotel feeling like I wanted to be a royal pain in the ass that day. I don’t know why I get like this, but we had picked a restaurant the night before to go to that morning for breakfast and I immediately said I didn’t want breakfast, I didn’t want to eat, I was having a big food scare. Can’t just let myself live!

Then we went to The Brewed for coffee and Henry was being annoying and having no spatial awareness, being in everyone’s way, and then they were preparing for an event so there was nowhere to sit inside and I just felt like I was going to flip out in public so I demanded the car keys and went and sat in the car like a little fucking bitch.

But then we went to Wolf Bait and it brought me back down to earth. And yes, we talked about this in therapy lol. I think I need bigger help for my food issues though because I feel like I’m getting worse.

Shop at Wolf Bait. Cool bye.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the sour that did not inspire warmth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

That chaotic race to 20 for WHAT.

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

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

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

OK HATER.

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

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

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

What have I learned?

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

My goal of wrapping up these recaps before the end of the year does not seem to be within reach now. But! We have reached the point of the trip where my luck ran out and the PINCH ME I’M DREAMING spinning on a hilltop mindset finally record-scratched me back to reality, lol. But at least this morning was nice! We’ll get to the bad part another day. First, let’s talk about our day trip to Bran Castle a/k/a Dracula’s Castle!

Bran is about an hour drive from Brasov so we set out around 7AM because this is a place that you need to get to before it opens since it’s such a big tourist attraction (or trap, as some reviews online say! BUT IT’S FUCKING BRAN CASTLE IN ROMANIA, OK? You can’t skip that).

On our long walk from the guest room to the car, we stopped at a cafe that wasn’t actually even opened yet but my big dumb American ass saw lights on and a barista behind the counter, so I barged right on in and ignored the “closed” sign on the door. UGH I hate myself. (Yes, the sign was in Romanian but come on, dumb stoop American tourist – be more aware!!) An older man came out from the back to see what the fuck was happening I guess, and he took over for the barista. To both of their credit, they were extremely friendly and forgiving. They didn’t even point out that they weren’t technically open and the guy even patiently explained the whole Romanian “long black” mystery to me. He suggested that if I wanted a larger size, to do three shots instead of two and I AGREED TO THIS? WHY DID I SAY YES SO CALMLY TO THREE SHOTS OF FUCKING ESPRESSO ON AN EMPTY STOMACH?

Foreshadowing, my friends, lol.

Anyway, I know the “pictures from the car window” is so tiresome, but ROLLING FOG ALONG THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS ON THE DRIVE TO THE BRAN CASTLE? Come on. I was hanging out that car window like a motherfucking dog.

Can you imagine living here?! I mean, I personally would hate it because it’s already hard enough for me to go to Kpop concerts just living in PITTSBURGH. Imagine rural Romania!? But I wouldn’t object to living here part time? Like, a month out of the year. Henry can do farm things with a mule while I lay in a field and read books watch Kpop videos on my phone.

We eventually made it to Bran, which was still somewhat Sleepy Town. This was our first glimpse at DRACULA’S CASTLE! We had a good hour to kill so we parked and found a cafe, like I really needed more caffeine after my TRIPLE long black!

We walked to Bran Coffee a bit down the street from where we parked.

IT LOOKED LIKE THIS INSIDE AND I LOVED IT!

THIS WAS NOT MY DRINK. I opted for no drink. Henry thinks this was a flat white, but he doesn’t have a vacation journal that he writes in habitually so we may never know (he just exclaimed from the kitchen that he is sure this was a flat white but it’s also possible that he wants my 1.5 readers to think he’s fancy). I will tell you that my croissant was the worst croissant I’ve ever had – so dry and hard that I would have needed to borrow Vlad’s sucker-fangs to make any purchase on it.

“I love Romania and all but Korean cafes are by far superior,” I muttered to Henry, who said, and I quote (because I wrote this in my vacation journal!!!), “You ain’t kidding.”

Cafe culture in Korea is just…different. It’s a whole genre.

Anyway, after this, we made our way over to the Castle ticketing area where all of the local vendors were noisily setting up their wares and food-stuffs, and it was really starting to feel lively! However, knowing that this place gets super crowded, I started to get the PEE JIG / INDIGESTION feeling that I get when we’re trying to rope drop at an amusement park. Even though Henry booked us guided tour tickets for 9AM AND “skip the line.” We don’t normally spend the extra money for fast pass bullshit but this was an exception.

More on the tour in the next post, because it’s time for me evening feeding.