No one asked, but my Nourish app journey has been going well! It’s been a little over a month and I did go into this knowing that I lose weight extremely slow but something clicked into place the other day and after having lost 2 pounds in the first several weeks, I dropped 3 more since Friday and I am so stoked! Mostly because I CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE. I feel so much better, I’m sleeping better, I have more energy. And I really love my dietician! We’ve had three Zoom calls so far so I like that it’s not a strict weekly check-in. And she is so encouraging and praises me for my protein and fiber intake! She’ll say things like, “You tend to go over your carbs, but I’m not mad about it.”

Perimenopause has been such a silent pest over the last 1-2 years! I was doing so well, not needing to track my food, staying active, and then BAM – I gained ten pounds over the last year, mostly in my belly – and none of my old diets and tricks have helped. I was in such a calorie deficit all summer, walking every day, doing cardio, lifting. Not a single ounce dropped and no muscle tone gained (because while I was gaining weight, I was losing all of my good muscle tone!!!). It has been so frustrating, mostly because I honestly am a very vain person. I care deeply how I look, and I’m not ashamed to say that. However, I am ashamed to admit that this has caused me to cancel plans in the past and actually fear going to social events where I have to eat, so that part is not good.

And that’s why I finally took Henry’s advice and found professional help because apps alone aren’t doing it for me. I need a real person. And Amanda, my dietician, has opened my eyes bigly to all the errors of my ways. I never ever fucked with macros before. It seemed too complicated. But she has set my goal numbers for me and it is very fascinating having to adjust my diet to make sure I’m hitting my goals, rather than just counting calories. Especially as a somewhat vegan-leaning vegetarian.

After our initial consultation call, we had a check-in after a week to see how things were going with me tracking my food and understanding macros, etc. I didn’t know this at the time, but dieticians have access to your “journal” on Nourish so I had to sit there while she went through EVERY DAY OF MEALS that I ate in the last week, stopping to make comments (“You could have added some more protein here by xyz” type shit) which was jarring at first and I felt so under the spotlight.

“OK first of all, it’s no wonder you like having smoothie bowls every day – these look SO GOOD! But wait – it says here that the smoothie bowl you had on Saturday had tofu in it. That must have been AI putting in inaccurate information,” Amanda said. But I said that no, that was probably right because Henry has been known to slip in some soft tofu in there to bump up the protein.

“That is brilliant!” she said. “Oh my god, I have never heard of that – what a hack!” and then she went on to praise Henry for his ingenuity and his pretty smoothie bowl plating (“bowling”?) like, OK we get it! EVERYONE LOVES HENRY. HENRY IS THE HERO OF EVERY STORY!

Ugh.

AND JUST SO EVERYONE KNOWS I AM 100% SURE THAT HE DIDN’T MAKE UP THE TOFU HACK!! It’s probably a very well-known thing to do in the veg community AND HE PROBABLY LEARNED IT FROM ONE OF HIS GRANOLA MOM COOKBOOKS!!

I mean, he does make very visually appealing smoothie bowls. And they are delicious.

BUT STILL!!!

THIS IS ABOUT ME!

Sigh.

Anyway, this has been my dietary update. I am super happy with Nourish, adore my dietician (we chatted about Romania last week and she was like “please don’t track your food but please DO post pictures of it because I want to see!” 😂) thankful that my insurance covers it, and grateful that it is helping me conquer my fear of food! I am 46 and learning how to eat, better late than never! Hahaha ugh.

Once again, I was compelled by the power of G-Dragon. For the longest time, I have wanted to get some type of Seoul 1988 Olympics memorabilia because G-Dragon, born in 1988, has made Seoul 1988 Olympics kind of his thing. He can very often be seen wearing Seoul 88 hats. I’m not a hat-wearing, so I went on eBay in search of anything else and I found this jacket at a super reasonable price!

It is honestly SO GOOD. Yes, it stunk like someone’s basement closet from 1988 for sure, but with a bit of airing out it’s fine now! It’s the perfect fall jacket too, I love it so much.

The Mister Softee shirt I wish I had been wearing in Philly last weekend! Also, my Vans match it perfectly which really tickled me.

Also? Eat Flem.

Blair Witch shot.

Oh I look so friendly here but I am actually berating Henry through this fake-ass smile. “Can you please just take the picture without fucking it up, thanks.”

We won’t talk about how frustrating Henry was being in his photographer role. I mean, we got through it but Chooch would have done it better!

I liked this tree.

Also, you can’t tell here but the front has “Leon” embroidered on it which is EVEN BETTER because one of the things I learned on our first trip to Korea in 2018 is that Leon: The Professional has something a bit bigger than a cult following there?? There was Leon merch everywhere – phone cases, socks, etc. I don’t exactly know the lore behind it but it’s a real thing, Leon is big in Korea. So this jacket is even that much more of a chef’s kiss!

Anyway, that’s all from Sunday. I’m tired.

Hello from a late Saturday afternoon in October. The weather has been so beautiful today- sunny and cloudless blue skies. Though, a little bit too hot for my liking now that we’re into fall. 80 degrees but feels so much hotter in the sun!

I started the day off with some Japanese walking around the ‘hood. I can’t remember if I mentioned this on here but for the past month or so, I have been doing Japanese walking every single day. It’s 10 rounds of 3 minutes of walking, alternating between very fast paced and then slow. It’s supposed to be really great for heart health and I have to say that the definition of my leg muscles has definitely come back after going into hiding over this past year. (Perimenopause comes at you in all kinds of stealthy ways, so I’m learning!)

On my walk, I ran into a dog who I actually thought was a coyote at first and she was like, “PANT PANT PANT, COME FOLLOW ME!” so I did, I followed her to the next street over, trying to get her to stop so I could see her tag. But then some lady came out of her house and was like, “Sierra!” I asked her if that was her dog and she said no, she lives down the street “and is always getting loose.”

:(

Poor Sierra was running around with her leash on, ready to go!

Anyway, the lady took it from there but in my head, I was like, “Maybe Sierra doesn’t want to go home. Maybe Sierra wants to live with YOU.” I mean, she ran straight to her house!

I dunno, that made me feel sad.

Then after breakfast, we went to AAA so that I could get my international license. I originally wasn’t going to get one because Henry said all the cars in Romania are stick but they’re not, actually??? The one we rented is automatic so I can drive it. Not that I plan on it, but just in case!

The lady who assisted me was nice enough but lowkey made me feel like I was being interrogated by Homeland Security?? And then I felt like she thought I was trying to scam her because Henry legit just added me to his AAA plan WHILE HE WAS SITTING THERE WAITING FOR and when she asked me if I was a member, I started to say no, but then suddenly—–

“I texted you the membership card!” Henry said in my ear.

Henry was IN THE CUBICLE WITH US NOW, LIKE SO CLOSE THAT WHEN I TURNED MY HEAD AFTER THE SHOCK OF HEARING HIS DISEMBODIED VOICE, I ALMOST BRUSHED MY CHEEK AGAINST HIS SHIRT??? It was the biggest non-haunted house jump scare, almost like a GREY POUPON moment, with him fucking vaporizing into the space at the very mention of “AAA member.”

Did somebody say AAA MEMBER??

Meanwhile, this lady kept getting my name wrong. She kept calling me Kelly and then I noticed that she had my name reversed in whatever she was typing so I had to correct her.

“That must be difficult,” she said about my audacity of having two first names.

Yesh, apparently it is VERY DIFFICULT for many people if you go by the amount of times I’m “Kelly”d at work by people outside of our department ON THE DAILY. I cannot say for sure that there has ever been a day that has gone by in my 15 years without me being misnamed at least once.

She did get it right on the license at least, but on my receipt she fucking spelled my last name with THREE Ls.

KELLLY.

Ok.

Over that portion of the day.

Then we went to the grocery store to get some travel-sized toiletries, and I was so annoyed the entire time because I was not cut out for grocery shopping.

“Jesus Christ, that took forever!” I oof’d as we left the check-out.

“We were literally here for 15 minutes,” Henry time-splained.

“Well, it felt like all day, like we should be walking out to moonlight.”

After this, we went to Lolev in Lawrenceville because they have a pumpkin stout which honestly sounded disgusting to me BUT it’s called SEVER and it has MICHAEL MYERS ON THE CAN. I felt like I had to have it.

We got there literally right as they opened and got a robust, “Welcome! You have the distinction of being the first customers of the day!” from the bartender. You know how I love me a warm welcome! So right away, I knew I was right to claim that this place is my favorite local brewery.

I knew, at that moment, that we were not going to “just get the Michael Myers beer.” I mean, first of all, Henry asked for a half pour of it to try and I was like, “Well in that case, I’m getting one too.” I got their Oktoberfest / Marzen which was a delight. So, then we settled in at the bar at this point and chatted with the bartender who was very informative and friendly, which we love to see. I was telling him that I only recently got into beer and Lolev is BY FAR my favorite, the one place that I keep thinking of, ESPECIALLY their matcha beer! He said that I’m not alone in that camp, and that it will be back in March!

He seemed really touched though by the praises I was doling out and Henry decided he had to get into the convo too and said, oh my god hold on I have to get in the right headspace to relive this moment, put my cringe-resistant pants on.

OK, 60-year-old blue collar professional driver Henry said, ahem: “Yeah some places around here have good aesthetics but then the beer is mid.”

EXCUSE ME SIR WHAT IN THE GEN-Z IS THIS.

Aesthetics??

Mid??

I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the bartender but I was straight SHRIEKING in my head, and as soon as we left, I lost my shit and laughed all up in his face.

Never mind the fact that I told the bartender about my HAUNTED HOUSE JOURNAL COLLECTION circa 1995. This was after he sold me on the 2025 Pgh Brewery Passport Book. “You seem like someone who likes to keep track of things and take notes,” he said. BOY AM I EVER.

But wow – that one half-pour almost decommissioned me for the day! I might enjoy the taste of (some) beers now but I am still a light weight. And honestly, let’s keep it that way.

The end.

We only got about 2 – 2.5 hours with Chooch on Saturday but it was so worth it. We got to University City a little after 3PM and there was a flea market thing going on so one of the streets was blocked off AND THERE WAS A MISTER SOFTEE ICE CREAM TRUCK PARKED PLAYING ITS HAUNTING MELODY!

“Did you get a Mister Softee???” I panted by way of greeting.

“No,” Chooch sighed because unlike me, he does not fine reasons to obsess over the little things, like an East Coast soft serve franchise with a creepy cone logo. 

“I wish I had worn my Mister Softee shirt,” I murmured through waves of regret.

This time Henry got to take the elevator up – we did not make him climb 20 floors, which is he STILL crying about, by the way. In fact, I even texted Chooch the other day and said, “OMG guess what he’s crying about right now.”

“Idk. The steps?”

DING DING DING.

“I’m sorry, but you two fuckers LEFT ME IN THE STAIRWELL. I could have had a heart attack!!! I could FEEL MY HEART BEATING IN MY EARS,” Henry raged from the kitchen when I told him I ratted out his whining to our judgmental son.

Chooch actually had one of these already on his desk! Granted, he had it upside down, but that’s fine. I fixed it, framed the Marvel Cave one, and then picked up the ICONIC picture of Henry rummaging through my backpack in the Busan train station. Chooch took this picture of him that day and we laughed about it heartily for the rest of the trip. I can vividly remember sitting at a table in the train station, nursing drinks from a cafe, and cracking up over this while Henry sat alone and smoldered haha. We were so slap-happy. Then I printed and framed the picture for Chooch that Christmas.

Meanwhile, I presented one of his roommates with the shoo-fly pie we had brought from Dutch Haven and I don’t know what I was expecting, the equivalent of a Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes winner reaction, but he was like, “OK” or something and I was like, “WOW OK” and then stewed over that for the rest of the day. I brought it up immediately after we left the room and were waiting for the elevator.

“I don’t think your roommates like me,” I whined to Chooch, who did not care about this at all and said, “Well, they were having a conversation and were distracted” but ONLY ONE OF THEM WAS IN THE ROOM DURING THE PIE PRESENTATION.

“I like your high school friends better,” I said sadly but also not without a hearty dose of crybaby poutiness.

“Wow,” Chooch mumbled, again not caring.

Then we took Chooch to GIANT, a grocery store which is apparently of no affiliation to our local Giant Eagle grocery stores. He’s trying to be a grown-up I guess and opted for the lowest tier of the dining plan and alleges he will be “cooking” at “home” for most of his meals.

Um.

‘K.

Henry left us to go to the bathroom so we wandered down the baking aisle where Chooch started to ogle the flour.

“I should get flour,” he said.

“For what??? Isn’t that for BAKING?” I cried, gagged by incredulity.

“Um, yeah, that’s why I want to get it,” he scoffed.

“Well, I don’t know what kind you’d need so you have to wait for him to come back from the bathroom,” I said, dusting this whole uncomfy sitch off my shoulders.

“Yeah, I wasn’t asking you, believe me,” he sighed.

He did grab a thingie of sugar though because he said they “made lemonade” whatever that means the other night and had to use I forget what to sweeten it. Honey I think he said, I quit listening because I WAS SO BORED.

While we were there, Henry signed up for a Giant loyalty card thing because he’s a good homemaker. Chooch also made us buy him a pineapple plant, not shown.

And just like that, our time with Chooch was up. We took him back to his apartment, his roommates came down to help him with the groceries, and then Chooch and I hugged goodbye awkwardly which ACTUALLY IS PROBABLY JUST AWKWARD TO EVERYONE ELSE BUT  NORMAL FOR US SO LEAVE US ALONE.

This was Henry’s truck stop dinner later that night. He had to assemble his hoagie that he bought at 7-Eleven and that’s the face he made after I started dry-heaving to best convey my disgust at this splayed meat exhibition.

Also fun to note is that I was still on a mission to get all of my steps for the day so at every truck stop, I made Henry walk all around the parking lot with me, EVEN THROUGH THE BIG RIG SECTIONS and we started laughing because to all of the truckers in their cabs, they probably thought I was a LOT LIZARD leading Henry to the PARTY ROW for some COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

Why yes, I did Google trucker sex lingo and apparently there really isn’t much they use over the CB in case the POPO BE EAR-PEEPIN’. But I learned PARTY ROW and COMMERCIAL COMPANY after going down the lot lizard rabbit hole and just an FYI, I learned about lot lizards back when I had a Blackberry and used to play around on some CB radio channel on it with truckers.

Well, I guess that’s all. Chooch is officially back in Philly, working his co-op which he said seems cool so far, and learning how to make things with tofu which is already a step ahead of me.

I’m not crying about him being gone, I’m crying about him surpassing me in the cooking area.

Just so  you know.

1. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

I asked the library to recommend books written by Romanian authors or set in Romania to help me prepare for our trip – I like to educate myself on more than just “Instagram famous cafes” when I’m traveling somewhere new, OK?? Anyway, this book was EXACTLY what I was hoping for.

It’s technically YA I guess, but didn’t really feel that way. Set in 1989 Communist Bucharest, it was very eye-opening. I feel like this is a leg of Communism that we don’t really learn about in school, and it was kind of blowing my mind to know that while I was reading the Babysitter’s Club books and going to roller skating parties, kids in Romania were being blackmailed and spied on by turned family members.

Five stars. I highly recommend this book but can understand why, in our current climate here in America, it might not be the best read.

2. Human Rites (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, #3) by Juno Dawson

OK this is why I don’t like fantasy series! I adored the first two books in this series but by the time I got around to reading the last one (hopefully this is it!), I had completely forgotten what happened in Book 2 and felt so lost. Way too many character arcs, plots, side missions, etc. I quickly lost interest and fell out of love with this case of misfit witches. Literally any single one of them could have died and I wouldn’t have felt a thing, which was not the case at all during the first two books.

But again –  I’m not the best when it comes to book series (EXCEPT BEARTOWN AND THE RAVEN BOYS CYCLE!) so take my review with a grain of salt.

3. I See You by Clare Mackintosh

I like this author, and I think I have decided that I like British thrillers best. This one was entertaining and the twist actually got me good.

4. The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene

OK I expected this to be lame because it was one I got on Hoopla when I was in-between holds from the library. I had never heard of this one but it was GOOD. First of all, great as an audio book because there are podcast chapters. The rest of the chapters go back and forth between two POVs and two timelines – one is set in 1998 and follows a college student who goes missing around a time where other girls from campus also went missing, and the other is present-day and follows her younger sister who is now an adult and sniffing around the case.

This was a GREAT book to listen to on my walks. Another twist I didn’t see coming.

5. Lauryn Harper Falls Apart by Shauna Robinson

Corny but cute, great fall vibes, and I loved that it focused on mending a broken friendship and NOT a romance.

6. Time, Death, and the Unspeakable Secret by Mircea Eliade

Another library recommendation but I couldn’t get through it. Short stories, man. Plus this was way too academic-feeling, like I was reading it for a grade. I couldn’t get myself to enjoy it. VERY dense and philosophical which makes sense because it was written by a Romanian philosopher and professor. So, I’m the problem! Me and my dumb-dumb walnut brain.

7. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack

What. Oof. OFC this is being turned into a TV series. The worst books always are.

8. 13 Months Haunted by Jimmy Juliano

Not bad! I wasn’t creeped out too much but it was an interesting plot and I loved all of the late 90s/early 00s Internet throwbacks. It made me so nostalgic!

9. Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee

I really wanted to love this but it was too stream-of-conscious-y for me, like reading a series of LiveJournal posts, albeit thoughtful and well-written. Woman gets told by husband that he’s having an affair and wants to leave her, then she gets breast cancer, and somehow expresses absolutely no anger.

10. Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

Super far-fetched but had several LOL moments. I just wanted her to be able to fucking sit down and rest!

11. How Can I Help You by Laura Sims

A former killer nurse gets a job as a librarian. Everything is fine until a new person is hired, and she happens to be an aspiring writer with great observation skills. It was alright.

12. Play Nice by Rachel Harrison

OMG YES. 5 STARS. GAGGED.  I fucking adored this. Rachel Harrison is totally my style with the way she writes her dialogue and the personality she pumps into her characters makes the whole thing come to life in my head. This book took precedence over everything else in my life during the few days I was reading it. I actually got legit scared two nights ago when I was reading it in bed before going to sleep – it was one of those, “JUST ONE MORE CHAPTER AND THEN I’LL TURN OFF THE LIGHT, GET OVER YOURSELF, HENRY!!” moments where I did NOT want to stop reading – and I fucking swear to god I heard movement downstairs and kept whispering DID YOU HEAR THAT to Henry, who had already fallen asleep. I don’t know why he bitches about the light being on when he’s just going to fall asleep anyway, motherfucker used to nap at Warped Tour for god’s sake.

Last night, I was brushing my teeth and a towel slowly fell off the hook behind me and made me scream and practically deep-throat my toothbrush, so that was great.

And this morning I was taking a shower and became acutely aware of the fact that I was home alone and it was still dark outside.

I loved that at the heart of this book though was an INTENSE family drama. And lots of trauma. Grief. Regret. While still making me laugh!!

Yeah, this book checked all the boxes for me. My favorite Rachel Harrison book so far!

As usual, we had to split Chooch’s move-in across two weekends because it’s just us trying to move his shit in a Kona. You’re not allowed to bring a U-Haul and we don’t have anyone to ask to help so…two trips it is.

Henry had the bright idea of “taking the slow and leisurely way” and stopping in Lancaster on the way. First of all, he still took the turnpike, so I don’t know what the point was of “slow and leisurely.” Everything was fine until we got to Lancaster. We were having a fine morning in the car, listening to the Kpop playlist I made for Lyda, railing against MAGA, talking about G-Dragon. You know, the usual things that parents of a college student talk about it in the car on their way to bring their kid the rest of his underwear, his pillow that he apparently forgot, and other sundry that will probably never be unpacked. (Although, the iced coffee maker did make it out immediately and he was practically hugging it. Priorities.)

Usually, our go-to is Dutch Haven for shoo-fly pie, but I have been following this new-ish place called Lancaster Beignet Co (so much effort went into this naming convention that I am over here mopping my brow just thinking of the exertion) on Instagram since they opened in 2022. We have actually dipped into Lancaster numerous times since then but I always forget about it. This time though, I said it out loud and not just in my head, and that’s all it takes to solidify itineraries around these parts.

We arrived around 11:30, having made pretty good time on the road. With the exception of the times we went to Lancaster for concerts at the Chameleon Club, we have never actually been DOWNTOWN Lancaster. We always just go to the Amish-y outskirts, the weirdly-named towns like INTERCOURSE and BIRD-IN-HAND, you know, those areas.

“Didn’t we go to a quilt shop here once with Jessy?” Henry asked, and I said, “Maybe, but I probably was trying to smother myself with one of the quilts and blacked that memory out.” I loved Jessy but man – we could not be ANY DIFFERENT, lol.

Anyway. We made it and it was just crowded enough to make me annoyed. It was also really small inside with very little seating and the people working there were like cardboard. Not TO BE A KAREN but to me, personality matters. The way someone interacts with me at a cafe or a restaurant is sometimes more memorable than the product. And these people were just like, potatoes. Just stood there blankly until I nudged Henry to order because I think he was waiting for them to initiate the transaction and that was clearly not going to happen.

We got an order of three beignet (the smallest order) and then sat on some glorified balcony overlooking the sidewalk and main street. Henry was mad because the guy sitting at the table next to us refused to scoot his chair in. I don’t know if these were locals or LANCASTER LOLLYGAGGERS but I got an annoying vibe from everyone in general.

And then the beignet were just mid.

Also, pro tip: don’t eat beignet around Henry if you don’t want to be:

• embarrassed
• sprayed with powdered sugar

I had to ask him in a not-nice tone to please CALM DOWN and not eat like a medieval thug tearing into a turkey leg.

I don’t know why I get like this, but this mediocre experience set the tone for the next hour and my emotions went into a free-fall. The prominent feeling was one of pouty annoyance, I would say.

Also, it could be possible that I just really care for beignet? But I was super pissed that I chose  this over shoo-fly pie, that is FOR FUCKING SURE.

But then! While we were sitting on the fake balcony, I spotted a cafe across the street and was glad that we didn’t get drinks at this dumb beignet place because now we had a reason to go here instead and it was A DELIGHT. Like, as soon as we crossed the threshold, a bro behind the counter welcomed us happily and it was so genuine, like he could not WAIT to get a refreshing drink started for us. I was charmed by his enthusiasm and immediately ordered an iced blackberry matcha, which was the seasonal spesh.

But then I got annoyed again because Henry came lumbering over to the counter, all indecisive (he can’t just admit that he doesn’t like coffee). There was a wheel of Pokemon and other Japanese cartoon-inspired drinks so I egged him on to spin it. He fucking spun the wheel right off the pedestal and it went careening down the counter. Ugh, he has to manhandle everything, I swear! He eventually reassembled it and spun it with less toxic masculinity the second time around and ended up getting something that I can’t even remember now. Caramel and something latte BUT HE HATES ESPRESSO.

He was nursing that motherfucker for HOURS.

Also, this was a CBD-inspired cafe so they asked us if we wanted any CBD in our drinks. I said “no” like a normal human, but Henry practically had his fingers on his NARC NARC NARC speed dial button.

My matcha was fantastic.

I had to send this  to Chooch because we have this thing where we accuse Henry of “looking” every time we pass an adult store.

Also, we never knew that there was a market house thingie in Lancaster?? We went in but it was pretty crowded and I got overwhelmed very quickly, also these places are annoying because Henry “just likes to look” and never buys anything ALSO it was adding to my beignet regrets (beigrets?) because there were tons of more appealing treats on display here! U G H. Those fucking beignets. I’m unfollowing their Instagram account. I won’t be fooled again.

Then we left and got in a fight because I wanted to go to some shop but Henry was like THE SIDEWALK IS CLOSED, THEY ARE DOING CONSTRUCTION but you could still access the shop?? So I pointed that out all huffily and he was like “OK then let’s cross the street” but I was too busy storming off and pretending to not hear him calling out, “Hey! Don’t you want to go this store? Hello?”

UM YES I DID BEFORE YOU RUINED  MY LIFE BY MANSPLAINING HOW SIDEWALKS WORK.

So we walked back to the car and he was like THAT’S IT WE ARE LEAVING AND DRIVING STRAIGHT TO PHILLY and I was like FINE GO FUCK YOURSELF ON THE WAY and then he was like PLEASE JUST LET’S GO WALK BACK DOWN THERE SO YOU CAN GO TO THAT SHOP and he was basically crying about it so I said FINE but then we went to a different store instead and it was dumb and I got boxed into a corner by the three very tall men and a middle aged couple who were chatting up the clerk and refused to fucking move. I couldn’t handle it so I fled.

I was about to write off down Lancaster after that but after we got back to the car and barely drove a block on our way our, WE SAW A SWEDISH CANDY STORE. So Henry drove in a large loop back to where we had originally parked so we could walk back to the candy store and my mood was 100% improved.

I already liked salty licorice before our Coaster Crew Norden trip, but being there and eating FRESH, AUTHENTIC SALTY LICORICE changed me. I mean, it at least changed my palate I’ll tell you that much. Sadly, the salty licorice I liked the most was salmiakki from Finland so none of that was to be found at this shop.

They did have this gourmet candied licorice that we actually did buy in Denmark and Sweden but it didn’t taste as luxurious here. I guess it loses something in the import process, but also the kind we had bought over there was a big splurge – it was the “slow crafted” variety which cost more but was SO WORTH IT. I still have the glass jar because it has MEMORIES attached to it now.

Henry got his own bag because he didn’t want his candy rubbing up against my salty licorice hahaha. Also, those Geisha candies are delicious chocolates from this company called Fazer. They had cafes and shops in Finland and we stopped there several times. I had amazing salmiakki ice cream at one on our last night in Helsinki, and we waked to a nearby Fazer cafe every morning we were there and they gave me chocolate with my coffee. I was obsessed and miss that place so much. So, all this did was make me super nostalgic and SICK because I literally ate half the bag on the drive home that night and proceeded to moan and groan in agony like any other outcome was ever an option??

We got Chooch his own bucket of candies too. <3

Then it was Dutch Haven time! A very tall man practically chased me down to and me a plate of two tiny one-bite shoo-fly pie samples, much appreciated. It is the BEST place to get shoo-fly pie. Not that I have had it from very many other places, but I trust Dutch Haven.

Uncle Idiot and his product.

(Can you believe he didn’t buy a bag????) Don’t worry, he got a soft pretzel – just one for him, didn’t even ask me if I wanted one too, so this started another fight after we got back in the car hahaha. Hoo boy was I little bitchin’ Sybil on this day. (Everyday.)

Henry ruined this picture.

(I really thought this sign was coded, like all the red letters spell something on their own but then I lost interest trying to pull EXCEPT MAGA out of it.)

We also bought a full shoo-fly pie for Chooch and his roommates. More on the Philly portion of the day later!

Yesterday was a long and eventful (kind of) day and I’m really feeling it today – driving to and from Philly in one day is exhausting. Even as a passenger!

But it was worth it to see Chooch, even for less than 2 hours. Here’s a closet mirror selfie of us in his room yesterday. He really seems to be loving his new living situation this year so far and I hope that doesn’t change and that he has a great sophomore year experience!

More tomorrow. The rest of today is for reading and relaxing. Byyyye.

Another week down, yay.

Here are some things, if I can muster up 5 it will be a huge accomplishment as I have not left the house since Sunday haha. (I mean, I have gone outside for walks but that is it; even therapy was telehealth this week.)

1. THE PLAYLIST

My friend Lyda said that some of the songs I have sent over the last several mths have been coming up on her Spotify while she’s at the gym and she was inspired to get into Kpop (!!!) so she asked me to MAKE HER A PLAYLIST. Yo. Do you even know how excited this made me? The girl who used to make mixtapes and mix CDs practically as a side gig?? I giddily sat down the other night and started a Kpop 101 playlist for her, with all the old, the new, the in-between, the legends, the one-offs, etc. I was so in the zone, and even Henry was like, “let me see what you have so far” and then immediately said, “I’d remove Ko Ko Bop” because for some reason he has always hated that song – all the more reason to keep it.

Anyway, I sent it to her later that night and then yesterday at work, she messaged me, “THAT PLAYLIST IS ALMOST 8 HOURS LONG!” And I was like, “Oh god, here we go. I scared another one away.”

But then she added: “I love it.”

I mean, OK. I got carried away a little, but do you know how much that meant to me? For 10 years I have been living a lonely solo stan life (ok I have Henry as a co-stan, it’s not that dire), so I was so stoked to share this. Of course she lives in freaking Washington (as in, THE STATE on the OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY) so I still have only Henry to go to Kpop concerts with me, sorry Henry.

(Whatever, he loves it!)

2. SPEAKING OF FRIENDS

In therapy, we have been talking about my struggle with opening up to new people / putting up walls / and how that really impedes upon fostering deeper & more meaningful friendships out of acquaintances.  While on that subject, she asked, “You mentioned that an old friend from your past reached out recently. How is that going?”

Which made me realize I never talked about that here, oh dearest diary, doth thou forgive me, but I have been casually texting with my old friend Brian here and there since June and it’s been OK but I just don’t know. I will see how it feels when/if we eventually meet up in person (I haven’t seen him since…2015?? 2014??). Even Henry has been gently pushing this. I really want it to be like old times but realistically I am sure that’s not going to be the case because that is a lot time that has passed! I’m not the same person and I am sure he isn’t either. But thinking about all of the fun times we had as basically kids, it really hurts my heart. I want that back!

As it stands, he texted me some lamps he was interested in and asked for my opinion, and my therapist said that was a good sign that he was trying to involve me.

See also: SHOULD I START POSTING ON LIVEJOURNAL AGAIN AND LOOK FOR FRIENDS THERE??? I haven’t had any drama lately, might be time to stir the pot!

3. ESCALATORS

I have always had this huge fear of escalators – I mean, I will use them but I’m not happy about it and I get super clenched every time. This fear originates from when I was probably 4 years old and in Atlantic City with my family. We were going up on an escalator (probably in a casino) and my SHOELACE GOT CAUGHT YOU GUYS. I was fucking screaming but MY PAPPAP rescued me -he was always my hero, so many times during the 16 short years he was in my life. Anyway, I have never ever forgotten that moment.

And then there was the time we were at one of the two-level Kohl’s when Chooch was really little, maybe a toddler, and he fell on the escalator and thank god Henry was there (also a hero) because my legs went all Jell-O and my PTSD came back in full force. Thankfully Chooch was OK. (I forget the extent of the situation because obviously all I remember is how it affected ME, thank you very much.)

I get nervous watching people take strollers on escalators. Running on escalators. Doing pranks on escalators. Those things just scream DANGER!!! to me.

But suddenly…I now love escalators!

4. G-DRAGON MARMALADE

These Paris fancams have been giving me life this week ESPECIALLY his “Too Bad” dance break which had a mash-up of Lady Marmalade! I love this nod to Moulin Rouge! In the US, he used Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” for his dance break, I assume as a shout out to his friend Pharrell. But this one is SUCH A VIBE. And his blue hair!!! And new Chanel suit! Jesus, I miss this man so much.

5. KASH PATEL IS SUCH AN UNEDUCATED DICKHEAD

And he talks like a middle school bully just popped him in the nose after stealing his lunch money and slamming his fingers in his locker.

This administration is full of caricature of comic book villains I fucking swear to god and if I didn’t worry about blood pressure I would be blogging about this shit every day but instead I just scream about it to Henry.

****

And with that, I’m going to watch some Haunted Hotel eps on Netflix and drink a thimble of beer.

Flipping through my vacation journal and found Chooch’s rules that he made for Henry when we were in Korea the last time and it made me laugh but also burst into tears because what if that was the last time we ever will be in Korea together as a family?!

I definitely felt abandoned a little bit when we took him back to school last weekend because as SOON as he was back on campus, it was like he completely forgot that Henry and I were there. And I get it – he has his own life there and we’re not part of that but it just hit different this time since he’s living with three friends and not just some random roommate so he was really rearin’ to catch up, hang out, forget about Pittsburgh, etc.

(STOP CRYING ERIN STOP IT NOW!!)

He’s still texting me every day – usually just his Wordle and Connections results, and a “wow” in response to my droll life updates. And we will see him on Saturday since we have to bring him more stuff. But – it feels more permanent this time I guess? Since he won’t be back for summers anymore. That is the part I’m struggling with. And time is just moving so much more faster now, it feels like.

The other thing that’s been on my mind is that in three weeks, Henry and I are going on our first ever real vacation just the two of us and I am oddly nervous about that. No Chooch acting as a buffer (though, he could often act as a catalyst too…). Even pre-Chooch, we never went away for more than 2 or 3 days at a time because we were so poor lol. I think Coachella was probably the longest trip we took together and that was only because we hadn’t fallen into the Pit of Destitution yet – that would come soon after once we were living off one income lol.

Ugh.

Anyway, hopefully we don’t come back separated!

In a weird state, what else is new, so here are some…uplifting?…things that are currently…uplifting?…me.

1. DORA MAAR!!

Every so often, this song will pop into my head and I run to YouTube to see if it’s still there. I can’t remember how I had originally heard of this song – probably MySpace or Purevolume – but Henry’s oldest son, Robbie, and I were obsessed with it back in the day. I honestly want to say this even pre-dates Chooch. I don’t have the mp3 anymore so when one of the band members uploaded this to YouTube 10 years ago, I was absolutely stoked. In fact, you can see my comment from 9 years ago just dangling there.

You know I love Kpop nearly exclusively these days but this stuff will always have room in my heart!

2. UPCOMING CONCERTS!

September was oddly devoid of shows (I mean, 2 back-to-back G-Dragon concerts + Enhypen in August was pretty good to tide me over though!), but we have some good stuff coming up!

• COLD in October with Wonka & Jess!
• JOHNNIE GUILBERT in November in Columbus!
• PVRIS – this one is a solo show for me in December, like the old days.
• KEY!!!!!!!! in Chicago also in December! I’m really stoked about this one. SHINee is right up there with BIGBANG in my heart and I have never seen them, and now will never get the change to see them as OT5. But I can now say that I have seen Taemin (twice if you count SuperM), Onew, and now Key so that only leaves Minho if we’re playing the “collect all the SHINee” game.

3. plantball update

On Saturday, Ikea plantballs impregnated me with gas, bloating, the feeling of invisible Viking swords piercing through me. It was awful. But happily, I returned to normal the next day (I announced to Henry that I “gave birth” to the plantballs and he was like, “Wha—-? Oh.”) Anyway, I am only bringing this up because Sunday morning I was in the bedroom and there was a fucking commercial for IKEA on the radio and they were like, “AND DON’T FORGET THE MEATBALLS” or something and I almost puked. Then later that day, I had YouTube on but wasn’t paying attention until someone said, “I’ve only ever had Swedish meatballs from IKEA” and I snapped to attention. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN.

4. A Post Script to the Beer Can Odyssey

Click that hyperlink if you don’t know what I’m talking about because at this point, I am so over this Penn Brouhaha.

Back in I guess July, I got a new follower on Instagram and a comment on a picture I had posted from Kennywood earlier that summer. The commenter was a local guy named Brian and he was commenting to say that he stumbled upon my blog post recounting how difficult it was to obtain all 8 Kennywood beer cans from Penn Brewery and came to commiserate because he too was having no luck finding the two “secret” cans. He said after seeing how frustrating it was for me, he decided to just give up.

But! Because I am a nice person (some may have words about this), I offered to give him a can each from the two six packs I had to buy in order to complete the set. Luckily for this guy, Henry and I weren’t wild about the beers so we only drank one of each six pack to get the empty cans and put the rest in the fridge. Turns out this guy is a local historian who has written some books on Kennywood and other ‘Burgh things, and he also works at the Heinz History Center (which was voted #1 history center in the country, in case you need more confirmation that Pittsburgh is alright). He was actually  trying to get the full set of the Kennywood cans for the history center, and I was so happy to help him! Henry actually dropped them off though because it was during the week and easier for him to do it. He said the guy was really cool, and he gave us some of his books, a huge Kennywood banner for Aero360, and some passes to the history center! I was not expecting anything in return, was happy enough to just prevent someone else from going through the hairpulling search and having to engage with Penn Brewery  – who, I should note, found my blog post and sent me a DM on Instagram apologizing for the hassle and offering me a gift card, which I appreciated but I did not respond because:

1. I am moderately embarrassed that they caught me Karen’ing on the Internet (I always forget people sometimes read this trash!) and
2. I am not the type of person who complains about stuff just to get something free in return. I truly did not enjoy the beer I had there and would feel like an asshole going back for freebies. That makes me feel gross just thinking about it. So I guess don’t let my Negative Nancy review deter you from drinking their beer. And whoever is in charge of their social media is a lot friendlier than the staff they have at the bar, so there’s that too.

Oh! This is also funny because at the same time they responded to me on IG, Janna texted me and said that they had finally responded to her Instagram DM that she sent a month prior – I got her text and their DM at the same time and groaned because if they read my post, then they knew I TOLD JANNA TO MESSAGE THEM. Ugh, this was one of the dumbest situations I have found myself in lately, that has literally no impact at all on my life or your life or their life but it was still embarrassing to be in the middle of it.

5. Acetaminophen

EVEN I CAN PRONOUNCE THAT ONE. (It’s Ibuprofen that I struggle with lol.) What a fucking week and it’s only Tuesday.

OK, that’s all. Dismissed.

*aka Chooch Moves Back to Philly Day :(

8:58am: Waiting for Henry to come back with the rental SUV – he hilariously thought that renting a larger car would mean only one trip but after seeing all of Chooch’s shit in the living room, it’s become quite clear that Henry and I will still be taking that second trip next weekend lol. How do other people do this without renting a Uhaul (Drexel says no Uhauls!)??

10:03am: We’re leaving :( Chooch was saying goodbye to Penelope and I started crying. This sucks and feels worse than last year somehow.

But hey some good news! So the whole draw of Drexel is that they have co-ops so graduates will already have 1 to 1.5 years of work experience in their field when they graduate. This is why Chooch chose Drexel over Pitt (and because he didn’t want to stay in Pgh). Anyway, they had three rounds of co-op applications or whatever starting in June. He got no interviews for the first round. Second round he had one and then didn’t get it. Third round JUST happened 2 weeks ago and brother when I say I have been stressed to the point of sickness this summer – basically if he didn’t get a co-op he’d have to take classes this quarter which means we’d have to take out another last minute loan, etc. just a lot of financial stress when we have been kind of doing ok.

All week we’ve been preparing for that. He had some calls with his advisor and it seemed like that’s what was going to have to happen. Then! He had an interview yesterday at noon and by 2::30 they offered him a position! Not trying to doxx my kid here but it’s at a museum (!!!) and he will be doing meta-data and archival work whatever that means. The weight that melted off my shoulders when he sent me a screenshot of the job offer (he was actually at our neighbor’s house cutting grass – the guy on the street behind us with the Corgi!) – I knew I had been carrying a lot of stress this summer but didn’t realize just how much until I read that email.

You guys I even prayed sort of in my own way over this! It was awkward but I did it.

10:40am: Pulled into a Sheetz. Chooch is bitching because he realized he brought one of the reusable straws in his Dunkin and doesn’t know what to do with it now that his drink is empty so he told Henry to throw it away and I piped up, “no!! It’s reusable! That’s the whole point of reusable straws so that you don’t throw it out!” And everyone is annoyed with me but you’re welcome, Straw, for living to be sucked on another day.

11:10am:

Here is Son, having backseat bitch fest because he doesn’t like the food at Sheetz but was forced to get something since Henry starved him all morning.

OMG HUGE FIGHT ALERT: when we were at Sheetz I tried to get a fork but got pissed bc people kept crashing into me. So I gave up and said to Chooch, “go get me a fork” so he walked over to the food pick up area while Henry and I went out to the car.

“I guarantee he doesn’t get me a fork,” I said as we got into the car.

Just now I turned around because I was ready to eat my watermelon snack. I made “fork” motions to chooch who got real annoyed and yelled “I don’t know what that means.” I kept trying to say fork but I was laughing because of how mad he was so that was making him even more mad until he finally understood me and said, “why would I have a fork??”

“Because I told you to get me a fork!”

“NO, you did NOT!” he yelled haughtily. “You told me to go get my food!”

“I said to get me a fork!!!!” I cried.

“Why wouldn’t you just get your own fork?? You were halfway there!” he yelled.

“Because people kept crashing into me!!” I screamed, feeling my eyes bulging at this juncture of the argument. The crux, if you will. The climax.

Henry was doing a silent laugh through this whole exchange, practically crying over it, while I’m yelling, “HOW WILL I EAT MY WATERMELON???”

“Use the stupid reusable straw!!” Chooch yelled and we all lost it at that point.

I’ll miss our car fights :(

2:57pm: at IKEA somewhere because chooch needs cups?? Henry called the two of us a “little bitch clique” bc we were whispering about him decomposing in a trunk. You had to be there.

1. Now that I have been to the bathroom in the Pgh IKEA and whatever IKEA this is, and the one in Denmark, I can safely say that the US IKEA bathrooms are far inferior.

2. HOWEVER!! The plant ball meal here was way better than the strange concoction they served up in the Danish IKEA 100%. I actually hated that meal so much but this one was nice.

I also split a rainbow cake with Henry but there’s no picture because he carved into it immediately and had it all in his beard ugh.

4:03pm: hello back in the car and I’m seriously about to puke my stomach hurts so bad from eating at IKEA ugh. Anyway we’re 40 minutes outside of Philly. I’m so sad even though Chooch has been mean to me all day. (Nothing unusual!)

4:43pm: we just pulled up and asked the move-in crew if this was where he needed to be for his apartment move in and she looked back and forth between me and Chooch and asked if he was the student, DID SHE THINK IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME LOL.

6:02pm: wow what an actual cluster moving him in but here is his view from the 20th floor:

Oh and excuse me look at what he tried to take????

I made him pose here and he did it haha. Also we had to walk up 20 flights up steps with his computer monitors and TV because we didn’t wait for the elevator again since the line is out the door with move-in activity. I’m cooked.

6:58pm: I feel sad. :( We will see him again next weekend to bring the rest of his stuff but still. This is a part of parenting that I was not prepared for.

7:37pm: ugh why is every experience at Wawa so mid. I got a gross fajita veggie bowl and the avocado I paid extra for was the tiniest squirt of guac. So underwhelming. Meanwhile Henry bought a pretzel and realized in the car that it was opened with a piece taken out of it and he was sure it wasn’t like that when he scanned it at the self-checkout but refuses to eat it now because he can’t remember opening it. I have no idea what’s going on but I’m pissed bc while I was hate-eating my bowl the only consolation I had was that I was going to eat some of Henry’s pretzel like the pigeon I am. Ugh.

8:40pm: here we are an hour later at a rest stop and Henry is still pondering the pretzel puzzle:

“It’s not hard though, you’d think it was opened before I bought it, it would be hard….”

9:39pm: did I mention that Henry rented a GMC SUV? He thinks it’s a Terrain? Never heard of it. It feels like something MAGA would drive and I actually hate it so much. Every 5 minutes I’m finding new things about it to hate but mostly it’s that I can picture these on Texan highways with LET’S GO BRANDON stickers on the back window. I always forget that GMC exists and prefer to keep it that way, which is particularly difficult when I’m sitting in one.

10:03pm: we saw the prettiest stray (?) cat at the last rest stop but Henry wouldn’t let me take her :( When we were leaving, there were workers from the rest stop food places outside feeding her so Henry thinks she’s a regular and “will be fine.” Well, he can sleep outside tonight too. I’m sure he will also be fine.

When we were walking back to the car, I was complaining about my distended stomach and said that I actually look pregnant so I started rubbing my belly while saying, “it’s ok baby, we’re almost back to the car.”

“Wow! I’m telling Chooch. You never talked to HIM like that,” Henry said in mock offense. I mean, kind of true. I never called him “baby.” Lol.

Ok I’m posting this now. I miss Chooch. Bye.

10:53pm: I lied. I’m back. We just stopped at this rest stop that has something called TRAILHEAD and Henry said it has something to do with the bike trail that goes to DC or whatever. I needed to get the rest of my steps for the day so we walked over to look at the pavilion that was built and apparently just opened today???-

I guess this is supposed to have a 3D effect but ok.

Oh! When I was in the bathroom, one of the girls working at Baskin was at the sink with me and she said she liked my shoes (just Vans) so of course I had to run back to Henry and tell him because it’s always news worthy when I get a compliment since I am attention starved, always. He didn’t care.

Anyway, this whole time I have been crying over my stomach pains which I have had ever since eating at fucking IKEA. My stomach is so bloated and distended that I could pass for a pregnant lady.

Henry was annoyed that he had to accompany me on my rest stop walk but I was like I DONT WANT SOME TRUCKER TO BE LIKE OOH LOOK AT THIS LATE-IN-LIFE PREGNANT BROAD WHILE LICKING HIS LIPS.

Henry thought this was hilarious and I was like THERE ARE MEN OUT THERE THAT I WOULD APPEAL TO YOU WILL BE SORRY WHEN I GET TAKEN.

Then I started spiraling out. “What if when they check CCTV to get the last known footage of me being seen alive they see me walking through that last rest stop parking lot when I was caressing my fake pregnant stomach and then the APB really does say I’m a late in life pregnant lady???” Henry was like, “omg plz stop.” But then he said that’s probably why the Baskin girl said she liked my shoes, she felt sorry for me being “old and pregnant” and I snapped, “I never said OLD I said LATE IN LIFE but thanks for speaking your truth.”

Then we argued over Trailhead some more because THE HEAD OF THE TRAIL CANNOT EVEN BE ACCESSED AT THIS REST STOP?! Henry said it’s like a mile and a half away. I am so irritated by this.

I mean….wow. Every day I start a new post to rant about this piece of shit admin and then I never post it because what’s the point. And you know, we have talked about the possibilities of one day being marked based on our party affiliation / voting history and I was even nervous about the two short trips we took to Canada over the summer. But now…I feel like we’re under the DARE TO DREAM admin except their DREAMS are our NIGHTMARES and everything is becoming a reality so there is no “waking up from a night terror” reprieve anymore.

Just wanted to say, if anyone is reading this who feels the same way, I’m with you. Trying to stay positive but Jesus Christ, all I do is rage-cry and shake with stress and anger these days. What even is 2025.

Remember when we thought he was dead?

ETA: ok that was depressing so I came back to add some things that cheered me up this week:

1. Jake Webber announced his new roommate and it’s BARRY I LOVE BARRY SO MUCH.
2. I ordered some cutie skirts for vacation and they arrived yesterday – I love them!
3. The Wordle from yesterday was TEETH and I guessed it while IN THE DENTIST’S WAITING ROOM. I excitedly told the hygienist after she called me back and she was like “ok.” This was the same one who asked me if I CHEW TOBACCO btw.
4. Haechan’s LONG-AWAITED solo album dropped recently and it did NOT disappoint. My favorite is Camera Lights:

LOLOLOL.

On Saturday, I made Chooch join us for some Pink Box buns and a stroll through our fave cem. It was, after all, our last full weekend with him but really just Saturday because his Sunday was filled with going to the Steelers game (DON’T WORRY, he likes the team they were playing – Seahawks – not the gross Steelers) with his friends, Chipotle with his friends, PICKLEBALL with his friends (gross!!!) and then a haunted house with his friends. It’s OK. I just stayed home and cried. (He did let two of the friends come in the house with him & awkwardly interact with me in between Steelers game and Chipotle so that was something.)

I really don’t want to take him back to Philly this weekend. :(

This is what he did when I asked him to stand with me for a picture :( He is my biggest troll.

I wanted Henry to take a picture of me in my BIGBANG shirt that Veronica sent me years and years ago! Speaking of, they will be at Coachella next year and you know I am super ugh about Coachella when not even BIGBANG can get me to go again. I’m sorry but can my first time seeing BIGBANG *not* be at Coachella with a bunch of drunk influencers??

(Although it would be worth it to see Jake and Johnnie and the Alexanders, lol. A sentence that Chooch would be very disappointed to read.)

WHAT WAS I POINTING AT. This was only three days and already I’ve forgotten.

Then I asked Chooch to take a picture of Henry and me and the following is what I received:

???? I’m going to frame this one for his apartment.

Plus a selection of random close-ups of Henry. My camera roll always needs to be cleaned up after Chooch has my phone.

And then he finally took OK ones.

Afterward, we came home and didn’t see him again until around 8PM when he decided to go to Walmart and buy a blue shirt and fabric paint so that he could make his own DIY Seahawks t-shirt since it was going to be too hot to wear his Seahawks hoodie to the game on Sunday. I had a lot of fun making fun of him for this while Mr. He’s Crafty was salivating on the sidelines, waiting to be tagged in.

Basically, nothing major happened on Saturday yet I remember laughing a lot. I feel like when we’re all together we’re always laughing a lot (mostly at Henry’s expense). I’m going to miss this. :(

Last fall was so tough and I really hope this time the separation anxiety isn’t as bad. I just REALLY loved having him home, even when he was mostly in his lair or running past us to grab the car keys while calling out over his shoulder where he was going. My workdays are going to be so depressing again.

This absolute cutie was chilling in the backyard the other day which was nice but also terrible because I have lots of backyard friends that could be considered FOOD for this owl so we had to have a conversation. Henry took this picture from the backporch window as I was trying to sternly reason with it to go somewhere else while being met with an “ok Karen” look. 😂 At least it acknowledged me though; the HAWKS just pointedly ignore me although Chooch said one day one one them is going to be like “this bitch” and attack me.

(Seriously though one of my bunny friends was in the driveway RIGHT BEHIND the owl so I had to run out back like a maniac until it hopped under a car. I’m always on backyard patrol, sigh.)