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

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

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

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

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

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

See?? We actually had a decent evening anyway!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I started to wake up from a fairly deep sleep around 1:30AM when I heard Chooch talking loudly on the phone and barreling down the steps. I assumed he was on a call with his friends and possibly leaving the house? But then he texted me this:

Apparently, he was on the phone with 911!!! I don’t know how Henry and I didn’t wake up when this happened, but Chooch was still awake and heard it as soon as it happened and, being the SON OF HENRY, he jumped to action. He said the 911 person was very unhelpful but it was OK because there were people down the street who had also called 911. Chooch said when he peered into the car, the driver was just sitting there staring into space – YEAH, I BET?! That looks like a CRAZY accident!

We think what happened was that the driver (it turned out to be a young woman) was speeding DOWN our street (these things usually happen the other direction) and hit the front of the Jeep parked on the side of the street, spun out and the car flipped over on its side facing back UP the street??

The only good news here is that there did not appear to be any injuries, somehow. The owner of the Jeep is a woman who works at that behavioral health house up the street from us, so she was out there too. We missed the part where they got the driver out, but we did see her spectacularly fail the “walk the line” test and into the cop car she went.

I was watching all of this from the bedroom window and here’s way – she was a lone woman out there with a bunch of male cops. Someone needed to keep an eye on things. Isn’t that sad? That we can’t trust the people who take a pledge to protect us? What a world.

During my vigil at the window, I watched THIS COP CIRCLED UP THERE toss something into the yard of the church across the street and walk off toward his cop mobile that was parked in front of my house.

“THAT PIG JUST LITTERED!” I cried to Henry, blood pressure rising. “I’M GOING OUT THERE TO SAY SOMETHING!” Henry didn’t even try to stop me. I’m sorry, but littering is one of my all-time biggest pet peeves and I cannot fucking stand to see it. Most of my confrontations in life have been me calling someone out for littering (this was my 4th confrontation, where the fuck is my GIRL SCOUTS badge for this shit??).

So, there I went, flying out my front door like the Kool-Aid Man in their Aunt Sharon’s oversized Bon Jovi tour shirt from the 80s, no bra, joggers, and no socks, arms protectively covering their chest. That was me. That’s what I’m trying to say,

“Excuse me, excuse me!” I yelled, as the littering cop was now getting back out of his copmobile, having moved it off the road and into my driveway (OH OK, BE MY GUEST). Now I need to preface this real quick by saying that I would not have went out there if anyone was transported away in the ambulance. No one was. The only carnage out there was the car on its side.

First of all, the cop – a big white bald-headed gap-toothed white man who probably is also a wife beater – called me ma’am but I sensed a SARCASTIC tone.

“Did you just litter back there?” I asked sternly.

He just started at me like he needed me to define the word “litter.” So, I told him I SAW him throw something into the church’s yard. I won’t lie, in my head I was like, “This is stupid, you’re going to end up in that backseat with the drunk girl, Erin” but now there was no turning back. I’ll just make a donation to a charity today to counteract my Hulking out over litter last night.

He took a step toward me, AN INTIMIDATION TACTIC, and oh Yolanda, if you could have heard the SHIT EATING TONE he applied to his voice when he said, “You mean THE HEAT PACK from when I was assisting in the blabblahblah procedure?”

UM, SO HEAT PACKS AREN’T LITTER? Are heat packs BIODEGRADABLE?

Also, “assisting” in what now, sir? Because from my post at the Bedroom Watch Tower, all I saw him doing was meander about like an NPC, doing fuck all.

“I don’t care what it was, I hate litter,” I said, and I know my face was BEYOND resting bitch face. I was now Real Fugly Karen Just Rolled Out of Bed in the Middle of the Night.

“I hate litter too,” he said. OK THEN WHY DID YOU LITTER WHEN YOU WERE LITERALLY WALKING BACK TO YOUR CAR, YOU COULD HAVE JUST BROUGHT THAT SHIT WITH YOU???

I honestly can’t remember what happened after this but he was seriously getting too close to me and my anger was making metallic crashes in my ears so I just shittily said, “HAPPY THANKSGIVING” and then stomped back into the house, yelling FUCKING DICK as I slammed the door shut. Then I noticed Chooch was there watching the whole thing with his patented, “Ladies and gentlemen, my SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR mother” smirk on his face.

“Feel better?” he asked sardonically.

NO ACTUALLY I DIDN’T because now the adrenaline was cruising through my nervous system.

“I did it,” I said to Henry, who was still watching from the bedroom. He said he knew, and played back our security camera footage where you can hear me yelling EXCUSE ME lol.

The last words I said before I fell back asleep was, “I bet he’s also an ICE sympathizer.”

I GUESS THIS ONLY APPLIES TO CIVILIANS.

ETA: I just replied to Janna’s comment about how I can have the shittiest service at a restaurant and I will be like, “Eh, the server might be having a bad day” but a man in authority DARES TO EVEN GLANCE AT ME and I am like OH BUDDY, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

“So I’m not a Karen,” I defended myself to Henry. “What does that make me though?”

“A psycho,” Henry said WITH NO HESITATION, WOW.

Also, “welcome home, Chooch!” He must seriously miss this action sometimes. Henry said he came out of his room when he heard me fly out the front door and asked, “Where did she go?”

“To jail,” Henry sighed.

This is the last leg of the Maramures adventures and also when things began to unravel – you knew it was bound to happen!

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT GODDAMN ICE-CAPPED MOUNTAIN BACK THERE THOUGH?? I don’t think I have ever snapped so many pictures out of a car window before in my life. But anyway, this was after we left the Barsana Monastery and stupidly said, “Eh, we’ll eat at the next stop!” when we were considering whether or not to get something from the food vendor in the monastery parking lot. Dumb dumb dumb.

The geotag on this picture tells me we were passing through Strimtura. Also, I’d like to note that lots of elderly people bike around in Romania. I was saying that you rarely see this in the States and Henry immediately referenced two old men who bike through our town of Brookline regularly and I was like, “OK HENRY, BUT ASIDE FROM THEM!!!” God.

Calinesti provided some STOP THE CAR! worthy views.

So, in an effort to keep this final Maramures recap short and short (I really want to move on to SIGHISOARA which was my favorite town in Romania!!), after leaving the monastery (maybe by the end of this post I will have learned how to spell MONASTERY on the first try and nope, that one was not it) I had thought we were headed to Budesti but Henry had looked at an incorrect version of the itinerary that Copilot had lovingly helped me craft and he was heading somewhere else which I didn’t know until we reached that somewhere else and discovered that the only road to reach it was blocked off by the electric company and a small huddle of villagers. I don’t know what was going on, but it was clear that the incident was not close to being resolved.

Henry was all, “THERE HAS GOT TO BE ANOTHER ROAD TO GET THERE” and started jabbing at the car’s navigation screen with his angry man stubs. This brought us to a DIRT ROAD that wound up a hill and into farmland and then eventually turned into a DIRT PATH which prompted Henry to scream “WE ARE ON SOMEONE’S PROPERTY I THINK THIS IS A FUCKING HORSE TRAIL” as the car was catapulting us over rocks and divots. I have some video of this – it was cracking me up, but Henry was SCARED. (Not of some farmer coming after us with a shotgun, but that he was going to bust the rental car and be in BIG TROUBLE with the Enterprise guy at the Bucharest airport who fucking haaaaaaaated us.)

It was around this point when I realized, “Hey wait, where are you even trying to get us to?” after I really – finally – looked at the map on the screen.  Henry was trying to get us to Ieud, but I wanted to go to Budesti. I still don’t know exactly at what point the miscommunication started to bake this casserole of chaos, but here we were in the middle of nowhere, Henry frantically trying not to get the car stuck or send us careening over a surprise cliff.

Green = where we started

Blue = where we were lost

Red = where we needed to be

Of course, the only way to get to Budesti from Ieud was to go all the way back to Barsana and down to Budesti. We were running out of daylight and had to check in to our guest house by no later than 8:30 that evening, so it was a frantic drive from here on out (spoiler – everything in Budesti was either closed by the time we got there or we missed some magical entrance, so basically the whole last half of our day was spent in the car, starving because we didn’t pass a single store until much later!).

I will say it wasn’t all a bust though because the scenery in Budesti was chef’s kiss. Not to mention we had another “YOU CAN’T TAKE THIS NORMAL ROAD SO WE ARE REDIRECTING YOU TO SOME RARELY USED MOUNTAIN ROAD” moment which was terrifying because the road was pockmarked with potholes and if ever we were going to break down and get mauled by bears, it would have had to have been on this portion of the drive. Especially since the sun was setting and every roiling shadow I saw on the sides of the road just SCREAMED “big bear silhouette!!! alert!!!” to me.

Honestly though, we might have missed out on whatever crafty local wares were to be had in the village of Budesti, but we got to cleanse our eyeballs with some poppin’ views.

Cernesti brings the vistas.

Driving through a town called Strimbu-Baiut – the sky was immaculate.

After stopping at a convenience store in some tiny town and stocking up on snacks* in lieu of dinner (REMMEBER WHEN I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO EAT DINNER IN BUDESTI LOLOLOL), we made it to the town of Beclean around 8:30 as expected and the owner (?) of the guest house was waiting for us. We were the only guests in the whole place and I felt so awful when I learned later from Henry that she had come out specifically to meet us and check us in. Ugh, hopefully she lives close by and didn’t have to sit there all evening watching the news (which I noticed was talking about Charlie Kirk #vom when we walked past the office to enter the house.

*(I got some delicious pastry that I grudgingly shared with Henry, and cheese curls. Both were good but not SATISFYING.)

After bringing our stuff in, we headed out to two nearby grocery stores (one was the ubiquitous Penny and the other one was a smaller shop that I didn’t write down the name of but did say that Henry majorly embarrassed me at the bakery counter by saying CHEESE? CHEESE? over and over to the confounded lady working back there until I waved him off and just pointed to the one I wanted after determining on my own that it was a fruit something or other and when I ate it in the next morning in the car, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was filled with a delicious raspberry filling) for some more sustenance and things to eat in the morning. I was obsessed with these 7 Days “croissants” that were pretty stale tasting but filled with delicious things like chocolate and various fruits. I preferred the “forest fruit” variety. It was just a cheap and super-convenient breakfast pastry to eat in the car and also something that I would never eat at home, so it was also a treat! I didn’t think they were strictly distinct to Romania only but when I googled, the website has a New Jersey contact address which made me LOL. Maybe I can find them in Wawa next time I’m out that way?? BUT WILL THEY HAVE FOREST FRUIT.

I did also see in my Internet travels that Romania specifically is “obsessed” with them. Someone asked “why” on Reddit and there is a whole thread of Romanians arguing about if they’re good or not lol. It sounds like the general consensus is that it’s a nostalgia thing – grabbing one from a convenience store on the way to school as a kid type shit.

That Candy Can sat in the car, unfinished, for a few days before I finally tossed it. It was like drinking sparkling simple syrup. My teeth were screaming.

It’s amazing how tired simply being in a car for most of the day can make you. I slept real well that night!

I took these pictures the next morning before we left (it was actually kind of creepy being the only guests there, I’m not going to lie):

We sat out here the night before, drinking a beer and I wrote some postcards – MAYBE IT WAS FOR YOU.

This was the beer we drank that night, I had to take this picture the next morning when I realized that GOD FORBID I had forgotten to check it into Untapped.

Here’s a compilation of our Maramures day – the last clip is my favorite, also I purposely recorded for nearly the entirety of Call Me Maybe because it reminded me of MY LOVING SON, CHOOCH.

1. Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

OK this is very verbose and ambitious and definitely not some light, quaint beach read. It’s a series of interconnected (subtly, blink and you might miss it) stories about a case of flawed people experiencing rejection in different ways. I was really into this until toward the end when I reached the Main Character story, and then it blew my attention and interest into smithereens. I will say that this was some of the hardest writing I’ve ever read in terms of subject matter, while somehow still giving me moments where I genuinely laughed. There was one story that went DEEP into a gay Thai man’s kink and it was sending me back to my LiveJournal days when nothing was off limits and I wrote some seriously depraved shit but none of that even came close to this wildly imaginative smut.

I really wanted to give this a 5 but that one damn story really took me out of the zone.

2. The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine

Great cover but I spent much of the book asking myself, “No seriously, haven’t we already read this?” I think it’s just kind of a basic thriller. I was neither shocked nor awed but the audiobook version provided mild entertainment on my daily walks so I can’t complain. There were some genuinely creepy moments, but then way too many descriptions of meat and slaughter which ruined it for me.  Middle of the road 3 stars.

3. The Watchers (The Watchers, #1) by A.M. Shine

I gave this a three only because the ending was pretty decent but I was alarmingly bored through the first 3/4 of this book. The only character I liked was the bird.  I don’t think I will watch the movie (which is kind of funny because we were somewhere recently where it was on TV in the hotel – maybe Newark? – and even that seemed uninteresting yet I still picked up the book!! To my credit, I didn’t make that connection at first. Needless to say, I will not be continuing on to the next one in the series.

4. Small Spaces (Small Spaces, #1) by Katherine Arden

Sometimes we need a good, creepy Middle Grade horror in October for old time’s sake. This was really fun!

5. Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates

Oh. I didn’t realize this was a short story collection. I did enjoy the title … track? lol. But the rest were pretty lame. I was listening to this on audio and finished it at O’Hare airport during our stupid 5 hour delay and it did nothing to improve my mood. Also, one of the stories was about a plane crash, so amazing fucking timing.

6. Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

And then I didn’t read AT ALL while we were in Romania. But I picked this one up when we got back and it was just OK. Actually, the first half was really great until the reveal (I guess?) happened and then it got really far-fetched and I quickly lost interest.

7. Heart the Lover by Lily King

You know that Friends episode where Monica is doing her erogenous zones demonstration and totally sends herself when she gets to 7? That is me telling you that this book is a 5! 5! 5! OMG FIVEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! 

I actually brought this with me to Romania and I am so glad I didn’t attempt to read it while on the plane or actually there because this fucking TREASURE, this MASTERPIECE, broke me. I was weeping messily at home reading it and I can only imagine the scenes I would have caused if I had been reading this in public. Lily King is a literary goddess. The way she writes her characters into existence, I felt like I was a part of it. I WANTED to be part of. It’s like feeling that aching tug of nostalgia for something you didn’t actually experience – Lily King does that.

The last sentence of this book fucking killed me. And then when I realized it is connected to her other masterpiece, Writers & Lovers, I lost my damn mind. I am crying just thinking about this book. If you take anything from this dumb book review post, let this be the one. Read this. Maybe ready Writers & Lovers first, but it’s not necessarily a must. (I recommend it though! You won’t regret it.)

(Maybe you will and if you do, don’t come for me.)

8. All Fours by Miranda July

I am such a Miranda July fan-girl. This new one of hers was so gross and weird and poignant and hilarious and RELATABLE. Totally Miranda July-coded. Which also happens to be Erin Rachelle-coded. Every time I see one of her IG posts or read her latest book, I feel like we could be really great friends. She is so fucking weird lol.

I listened to the audio version of this which is narrated by July and her soft, quiet voice just really puts the bow on the package. Her writing is not for everyone, but it is for me. And I love her.

9. Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

What a waste of a great book cover. I did not enjoy this. Referring to this as horror is incorrect and deceiving. It was very boring and not even remotely scary or chilling. Sorry.

10.Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley

Sloane Crosley is up there in my Lily King god tier. This is her memoir about grieving the loss of her best friend, which happened to coincide with her apartment being broken into. The subject matter sounds like this would be extremely depressing and heavy-handed, and it IS very sad at times, but she manages to frame her friend’s suicide with these beautiful, funny, quirky vignettes to show us why she loved him, who he was, what he meant to her. The good and the bad. Definitely somber at times, and by the end, you will feel like you lost him too. You will go through all the stages with her. So beautiful and unforgettable, an amazing tribute to a best friend.

11. The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

When we were at Castle Blood, one of the items we obtained during our challenges was a plastic eyeball. “I’m actually reading a book right now about some girl who is obsessed with eating eyeballs,” I blurted out to the two strangers in our group. Why do I do these things. That statement hung in the air like a rancid fart before we all moved on with our quest in the Castle.

But no seriously, the protagonist in this book becomes obsessed with men’s eyeballs and eating them. This is an unhinged revenge mission and I loved it. FUCK GEORGE. FUCK ALL MEN, honestly.

12. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

OK I don’t know why I gave this just a 4 on Goodreads, because it was brilliantly chilling, exactly what I wanted for October! I actually purchased this for my Kindle about 5 years ago and then my Kindle broke and I’m sure there is still a way to read it but I am too lazy and forgot about it. I ended up just getting it from the library when I remembered that it existed and it was worth the wait. This was expertly craft, kept me rapt, filled me with dread, and the only far-fetched part of it in my mind was that this shit was going on when the two friends were IN KINDERGARTEN and running amok in the woods and neighborhood? I get that this was the 70s or 80s I guess, but it was still hard to picture these little Kindergartners out in the wild. I don’t know, maybe I’m just being hyper-critical because I had literally no other complaints with this book.

And those are the books I read in October, thank you for attention to this matter. – Queen ERK

Our next stop after the Memorial to the Victims of Communism was a 28 minutes drive to a town called Barsana. There is a beautiful wooden church and monastery there that I had to see. I was so nervous that it was going to be closed because we were really racing against the setting sun – there is just never enough time when you’re on vacation!

This will mostly just serve as a photo dump because nothing super memorable happened other than me and Henry admiring the wooden structures.

This was a town called Oncesti, halfway between Sighetu Marmatiel and Barsana.

We made it! It is free to enter, but we did of course stop by the gift shop on the way out for magnets. I mean, obvi.

Most of the buildings here are inaccessible to the general public because this is an active nunnery. I didn’t see any of the nuns while we were there though unless the older lady in the gift shop was one.

I actually felt like we were in Switzerland for a minute!

I love religious art so much.

The inside of the church was so beautiful! There were a handful of other visitors there at the same time and they all seemed to be actively religious people so I was trying to hang back until they were done praying and fearing God, etc.

I kept going on and on about how much I loved the color palette and Henry was like, “Ok. Cool.”

I’m not a religious person but I love going inside churches and cathedrals in other places and then I always feel like, “Wow, maybe I really am religious” until we’re in the car driving away and suddenly I’m back to hailing Satan and puking up green pea soup (FORESHADOWING lol).

Looking back at these pictures, though, I’m filled with this super cozy, sentimental feeling. It was such a beautiful afternoon, barely anyone else was there, and Henry and I were still card-carrying members of the Get Along Gang. Somehow, someway! Maybe it was all the churches we visited, infecting us with Christ-dust, but I really feel like our couple’s road trip through Romania made us like each other more or something, I don’t know, don’t make me say more.

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

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

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

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

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

BACK ALLEY

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

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

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

COBBLEHAUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

BREW GENTLEMEN

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

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

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

Henry being annoyed with me.

Henry being dumb.

Me in the bathroom.

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

HITCHHIKER

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

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

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

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

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

DANCING GNOME

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EAST END

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

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

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

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

Rimetea, Romania

It’s always a crap shoot with these cameras, but I brought one of my toy cameras – the Diana – to Romania with me because it’s been literally over 15 years since I used her. In fact, there was a roll of film in her that we never even got developed (there was nothing salvageable on it, sadly). These cameras might be cheap AF, but the film really isn’t, especially when there’s no guarantee that the pictures will turn out.

But, when in Romania, right?? I had two rolls and only used up one full one and was pleasantly surprised that every INTENTIONAL shot I took actually came out. Then there were the three fuck ups, but we knew about those so those ones weren’t a shock, lol.

Anyway, here they are! I’m going to get them printed, definitely.

Signature Green Window in Rimetea

Merry Cemetery, Sapanta

Church in the Merry Cemetery

Saxon Cemetery, Sighisoara

OK we didn’t get to the Sighisoara section of the trip recaps yet but I will tell you now that it was my favorite town in Romania. I miss it so much everyday! (And I love saying it out loud: SiggiSHWARA.

I don’t know what all is on the other roll. I guess I’ll have to make Chooch pose for some pictures while he’s home, and maybe take it to Chicago next month to use up the rest of the roll. WITH INTENTION! This shit is expensive, I’m not going to take 8 pictures of myself in the mirror with the flash on like my grandma used to do when she wanted to use up a roll that needed developed, lol.

(Speaking of, I miss Ritz Camera sooo much. I have so many memories of going to the mall between shifts at Olan Mills to drop off my film (2 hour development!), charge a bunch of slutty clothes from Contempo to my corporate American Express that my mom paid, and then maybe go to the movies by myself before having to go back to work! Split shifts, man,)

I haven’t shot off any music videos into the ether in a while so here are some jams that I have been obsessing over lately! (See also: need a break from typing words lol.)

1. PRESTON KNIGHT – A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Originally, I was going to post the first one of his songs that I heard but then this one slipped into my heart. I appreciate that his music videos have a Lost Boys / horror-theme to them! How to steal my heart:

• 80s synth
• horror-themed music videos
• smooth vocals

2. NCT DREAM – BEAT IT UP

NEW NCT DREAM ALERT!! WAKE UP!! NEW NCT DREAM DROPPED!!

God, I still love them so much.

3. SUMMER SCHOOL & RYAN PREWETT – SENTIMENTS

Sadly, there is no music video for this but I would remiss not to share it (I was spamming my work friends with this last week on Teams because it’s just too good and even GLENN LIKED IT). It’s like next gen Rick Astley and I can’t get over how good it is. If I had gone the traditional wedding route, I would be so mad right now that this wasn’t around yet to play at the reception.

4. CHANDLER LEIGHTON – SAY LESS

I’ve been in my Chan era since seeing her open for Johnnie Guilbert.

5. DAVID DEEJAY feat. DONY – SEXY THING

OK this one is old but I recently found out that the Romanian music I became obsessed with on our trip is a genre called POPCORN which makes it even more amazing. Anyway, this song comes up a lot in Popcorn playlists and instantly gets stuck in my head like a popcorn kernel in the teeth. IS THAT WHY THEY CALL THIS POPCORN??

Well, there you go. Five songs. Maybe one will stick.

(SRSLY THOUGH SUMMER SCHOOL BETTER GO ON TOUR BECAUSE I WILL TRAVEL FOR THAT SHIT. Heads up, Henry.)

Our next stop was Sighetu Marmației to visit the Victims of Communism Memorial which is housed in the old Sighet prison. Actually, as we were about to have lunch in Sapanta, we passed a HORDE of school kids who were filing into the Merry Cemetery. We weren’t sure if it was a local school attending mass or what, but there had to have been over 50 kids so we really dodged that bullet.

But then afterward, when we arrived in Sighetu Marmetiei and were looking for the communism museum, the same kids were walking in organized clumps down the sidewalk and we had to laugh because they were clearly on a field trip and beat us to this place.

Rather than attempt to go inside at the same time, we popped into a cafe right across the courtyard to give them some time to disperse into the museum.

I got a cappuccino because I didn’t want to screw myself with another thimble of espresso and cappuccinos are cappuccinos, you know(ccino)? Henry got “some lemon thing” that he can’t remember now. He ordered it after saying he didn’t want anything so as usual he was keeping his streak of making baristas hate him.

By the time we finished our drinks, the school kids were well entrenched in the prison walls so we actually walked through the whole thing alone. It was very informative and intense, and there were many times when I just lost my shit and started ranting about how “THIS IS NOT TOO FAR OFF FROM WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE NOW.” The parallels. You don’t have to be a mega history buff to see that.

This was definitely a very somber afternoon.

This place was EXTENSIVE and thorough. You really need at least 2 hours to fully absorb it all.

Henry: “It was very interesting.”

Mmm. Thanks for the words.

It’s just so crazy to me that while the Romanians were revolting and uprising in 1989, I was rollerskating and probably crying because I didn’t get something dumb that I wanted for Christmas, having no idea that the people there were completely cut off from the rest of the world and living in forced economic squalor. And then not learning about this later in school or even overhearing my parents talking about it – DID ANY ADULT IN MY FAMILY CARE/KNOW THIS WAS HAPPENING? I am very protective of Romania now and I am upset about this.

I LIT THAT CANDLE. (And teared up while doing it.)

I’ve been seeing comments on anti-Trump posts sharing “Remember Romania 1989” sentiments and I’m like YES. Let’s start a fucking revolution!

Very heavy. It wasn’t a fun way to spend the afternoon but it was important to remember and learn, especially as an American under the rule of a batshit crazy regime who would love to start throwing educated and outspoken citizens into labor camps and prison, I’m sure. Again, the parallels. Fucking scary.

Quick life update:

We should have been in Toronto this weekend for the Wonho concert, but his whole North American tour was canceled due to Visa issues (I believe) so that’s super sad, but we still had a full weekend here in Pgh. It was nice to just spend most of Sunday evening chilling on the couch with Penelope.

Chooch is coming home on Friday for Thanksgiving break and I am REALLY looking forward to that! We’re doing a Romanian menu and had to go to one of the European markets yesterday for some ingredients so that was fun (only because I bought some candy and frozen treats, I don’t care about the actual groceries Henry had to buy haha).

I went into the office on Thursday for the Service Recognition lunch – this is my 15th year at the law firm which feels so short but also somehow so long simultaneously? It’s also Nate’s 15th year – we’re the last of the 2010 babies from our department, sadly. It was nice to see some of my friends and I also won suite tickets to some WWE thing which I didn’t enter yet knew I was going to win because it’s the most un-Erin thing they were raffling off so look forward to THAT blog post I guess lol. I do truly still like my job after all these years, even though so much has changed.

I have so many more Romania recaps to share and I’m sorry if it’s been annoying. :/ I even tried to not spam Instagram too much but I’m just still so excited to talk about our time there!

(Don’t worry – I’m back on my “when are we going back to Korea?” agenda now but Romania has a space in my heart too.)

We decided a while back that Chingumas is taking a break for 2025 because we just don’t have the time to plan anything and honestly, last year’s party cost us A LOT of money and we just can’t this year. Plus, we have the Key concert in Chicago one of those weekends and I just want to enjoy December without the added stress. (It’s worth it because you know I love having parties but these last several mths have been so chaotic, I just want to end the year on a quiet note!)

That being said, maybe 2026 has a pie party in its future?! CHINGUWEEN?! Only time will tell!

Halfway through November and I’m still writing about haunted houses. Leave me alone. I’m a mess. But here are the last 3 haunts we visited this Halloween season!

FRIGHT FARM

You might know that this is typically one of my favorites but the process of actually getting there and onto the hayride is really starting to be too much for me. To avoid the super outrageous crowds (because this place does get more packed than a Wall Street bro’s nose in the 80s), we try to go on a Sunday or we wait until the last week when they’re open every night and we aim for Wednesday which always SEEMS like it would be safe but Fright Farm still finds a way, you guys.

On this particular Wednesday, we arrived around 6:45pm and got our wristbands. Normally, we’re also given a pretty elaborate ticket that has artwork for that year’s theme. It’s always one of my favorite ones to paste in the ol’ haunted house journal. But this time – JUST A WRISTBAND?!

“I need an actual ticket for my haunted house journal,” I cried to Henry as we waited in the rain for our hayride group # to be called. The way I was actually so stressed out about this, like it was truly on the back of my mind even later while I was getting assaulted by chainsaw guys. “They always have the BEST tickets, too,” I whined at one point, probably cutting off something “important” Henry was saying about his day.

I could NOT let this go.

“I had the perfect spot for it in my haunted house journal, too,” I sighed wistfully. I don’t think Henry was listening anymore.

Afterward as we were leaving, I HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. So I went back to the ticket booth and breathlessly cried, “I HAVE A QUESTION DO U NOT GIVE OUT PRINTED TICKETS ANYMORE.” My patented panicked run-on. The ticket lady explained that they were about to run out so they stopped giving them out. “We still have a couple left, do you want one?” Lol the way I said yes with more emotion than when Henry proposed, my hand has never shot out so fast to receive something (NOT EVEN THE BODY OF CHRIST).

“OMG I feel so much better,” I said to Henry, exhaling deeply in the car as I admired the ticket. He just frowned. I texted all of this to Chooch in real time and I don’t think he cared but I also don’t think he was surprised that I was on the verge of losing sleep over a haunted house ticket. He was actually more fixated on the fact that they used AI on the ticket design.  That is pretty disappointing, Fright Farm. Do better. Have a contest for local high school kids to design next year’s.

Overall, it was fine. The thing that gets me though is that even though it wasn’t crowded, the hayrides were supposed to start at 7PM and didn’t start running until nearly 8. So we had to sit there and listen to some shitty Wedding DJ crank out 15-minute Taylor Swift medleys and firehall reception line-dance hits like Cupid Shuffle. This is not what I want to hear while waiting for a haunted hayride! Look, I already angrily scribbled five pages about this in my haunted house journal but by the SECOND TIME they played the SAME IRRITATING BENSON BOONE SONG and I used CAPSLOCK for that because both times, the VOLUME WAS TURNED UP, I was actually twitching and considering leaving. It had me in the foulest mood – music should not do that! Music should set the MOOD and this was only exacerbating my anxiety of having to wait for so long in the cold rain.

And then, even though it wasn’t crowded, their crowd control during the actual walk-through parts is soooo bad that there were basically 30 of us walking through like a hive. It got a little bit better in the indoor section, but not much. The positive side of this is that everyone was decent, no outliers, no drunks, etc. I didn’t actively hate anyone around us, aren’t you proud of me??

The highlight though was the final, optional walk-thru which is literally just a building full of chainsaw guys. They actually ARE good about only sending in small groups of people at one time for this one. I got so freaked out during the little “show” in the first room where we were locked in, that as soon as the door opened behind me, I took off running so fast that the chainsaw person in that room didn’t even have a chance to get me, and then I just kept running – I think I was actually catching the scare actors off guard – until I realized HOLY SHIT I’M ALONE and then turned around and RAN BACK to get Henry who was like, “WHERE DID YOU GO, PLEASE CALM DOWN” and I was like, “I CAN’T – THAT BUNGEE GIRL IN THAT ONE ROOM MADE ME PEE MY PANTS A LITTLE!” I was legit running like a scared rabbit the whole way through, only now I had Henry to fling around like a shield. My heart was racing by the time we made it out, probably a full 3 minutes before the rest of our group, I can handle so much in haunted houses but those damn chainsaw guys, man. Such a cheap scare but they get me every time.

I was pretty irritated overall after this long-ass evening and had declared that I thought it was time to maybe retire Fright Farm from the annual line-up after this, until I realized that I have one Fright Farm-shaped ticket spot left in the haunted house journal so now I feel obliged to at least go back one more time next year, ugh.

(Please excuse Penelope’s tail in that picture – I pasted the ticket in immediately when we got home and took this to send to Chooch who was like, “Wow. Do you feel better now.” Jerk.

CASTLE BLOOD

You KNOW Castle Blood is bae, my ride or die, my absolute can’t-skip. Even if we hadn’t had time to go to any of the other haunts during this truncated season, we’d have found a way to fit in Castle Blood.

We ended up going here on actual Halloween night after our abysmal trick-or-treating ended and it was such a mood-booster. I knew it would turn the night around!

Boris paired us up with a young couple and yelled at us to get to know each other because he “didn’t feel like talking to us” – rude, but also such a Boris thing to say! It’s not a visit to Castle Blood without a little berating by Boris – I like to think of it as the amuse-bouche before the real haranguing happens inside the Castle.

Anyway, our new friends were from Morgantown, WV and instead of saying introducing ourselves by name, the girl part of the young couple immediately asked for our signs. She’s a Libra and that must be good because we meshed so well from the get-go that it was like the 4 of us had already known each other and made plans to meet up there intentionally.

I don’t know how the Castle does it (yes I do, actually – they’re a gaggle of geniuses up in there) but their haunt is mind-bending every year. I never feel as dumb as I do when I come to Castle Blood and I mean that in the best way – this is way more than jump scares, you gotta pay attention (apparently not my forte) and actually apply teamwork (a little shaky there too if Henry is involved). It’s the best feeling when I finally do something right there.

And they always change it up year to year – a new storyline, new talisman to collect, new OFTENTIMES FRUSTRATING challenges and puzzles to complete.

When we were in the library awaiting our turn in the lab, we all formally introduced ourselves – our WV friends are Brooke and John! Brooke asked how Henry and I know each other, and in a put-out monotone that could only be described as “ugh vocalized,” I said, “We’re married.”

“REALLY?” she said, and it made me crack up because maybe I look even younger in the very forgiving black lights of the Castle??

And then I told them about how long Henry waited to propose and how we only JUST got married a year ago. She was HORRIFIED and goes to John, “You better not do that to me!!” I found out later that they have just been dating for a few mths and they seem so sweet and cute together so all the best to them!

She also took in a sharp intake of breath when I told her Henry is a Gemini. “That’s bad, isn’t it?” I asked her and she was like, “I mean….” LOL.

We hung around for some time afterward, catching up with some of our Castle friends (except for Dawn who was still inside Hexibart’ing it up!). I am not just saying this because I have developed friendships with the Castle Blood crew over the years, but I am always so impressed and completely in awe of the magic they create within those walls, that I usually tear up when writing about it in my haunted house journal afterward. Between conquering the missions with a cool couple to the entertaining and perfectly condescending cast, the immaculate gothic vibes and brilliant storylines, this was one of the best and most memorable Castle visits ever. I scream about it every year but if you live in this area and still have not gone then PLEASE hit me up next season and I will go with you.

ANYWAY GUESS WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THIS. I posted about it on Instagram and true to my cringey form, I said “Brooke, if you’re out there, hi, it’s me – Erin the Leo. #Missedconnections #hauntedhouseedition

Because my friends at Castle Blood love to troll my dorky ass, they reposted that to their story and within a few hours, I had a new friend notification and a comment on that post from Brooke! I can now add “friendship matchmakers” to my list of reasons why this is my forever #1.

(This was another thing that I got to disappoint Chooch with via text!)

IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK – whhaaaaat???

Oh my sweetly syruped jonnycakes, where do I even begin with this one.

Let’s take a trip back to 2003, I’ll hold your hand. I know it was a scary time with all the Uggs and severe side parts, but we won’t be there for long.

There was this small haunted yard type thing called Igor’s Fright Shack that I went to with Henry, my brother Corey, my friend Keri and her husband who hated me, Dean. (I haven’t talked to Keri and Dean in approx. 18 years but I imagine Dean would probably still hate me as I am just as annoying as a 46-year-old as I was back then.)

I can’t remember how we found this place, probably one of the haunted house review sites? But it was in a place called Ralph, PA, near Uniontown. And for some reason, I latched on HARD to it. Don’t get me wrong – it was really fun and legit scary for being on the low-tech side – but you know me, I was so consumed by extreme giddiness that I had created some blown-out love story between me and one of the monsters – Vladimir. I just remember this place being an outside walk-through, sort of on a hillside? And Vlad RUNNING down the hill toward us at one point, me screaming, “VLAD! YOU CAME BACK FOR ME!” and my brother being like, “YOU ARE SO EMBARRASING” while Henry was mostly likely ignoring all of this.

I wrote about this AT LENGTH in my haunted house journal back then, and even recorded myself dramatically reading it out loud for LiveJournal at the insistence of my friend Alisha, who would always encourage me to do really embarrassing things under the guise of “No, it will be cool, people will totally think you are so awesome and funny and not WEIRD at all. Nope. Not weird. AT ALL.”

Thank god I don’t have that voice recording anymore.

But after years of referencing Vlad in my blog – he had become the benchmark of scare actors for me, I compare everyone to him ever since then and say things like, “That guy with the ax in his head was pretty hot, but he’s no Vlad.” – I was finally transcribed that old 2003 review on here so people (a/k/a my three readers) would understand who Vlad was.

Because of this and also the fact that I remember the night being hilariously chaotic, full of over-the-top screaming and that good-good haunted house-induced adrenaline that I am always on the hunt for like a junkie looking for a fog machine fume fix, I have NEVER FORGOTTEN ABOUT IGOR’S FIGHT SHACK.

Sadly, that was apparently the last year because I searched the internet for years after that, looking for it on haunted house listing websites. I think once we even drove out that way to see if there were any advertisements in the area. But nothing. Igor’s was gone, destined to live on only in my heart.

Until about two weeks ago when Henry said that he had seen something online for Igor’s Fright Shack. I was in the middle of typing a work email when he casually eased THE BIGGEST NEWS OF 2025 onto my plate.

“Excuse me sir what now??” I cried, frantically Googling for myself.

“It can’t possibly be the same place, though,” Henry said. “It’s out near Murrysville.”

“OK seriously, how many other people would name their haunted house something as specific as IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK?” I cried, cracking my knuckles and putting on my investigative haunted house hat and trench coat. I dismissed Henry; the Haunted House Expert was now on the case and it took me all of 30 seconds to deduce that it is in fact the same place, resurrecting all these years later by Igor himself and his wife and kids are all involved in the reincarnation!

And luckily for us, they were open on Friday and Saturday last week, and there were a few spots left. I reserved two for last Saturday with a quickness and was so freaking stoked about this, actually ran around the house squealing a little.

Finally, last Saturday arrived and I had regressed into a ball of schoolyard giddiness in the car as we drove to reunite with our old friend Igor. The new location is at the family’s house in a residential area so I was intrigued by how they were going to pull this off. Home haunts always amaze me – the things people do with small spaces feels like magic.

We were paired up with another couple and had a fun little chat with the guys at the entrance and then also the women at a table in front of the house where we waited for our turn. They asked if we had ever been there before (I can’t believe they were back last year and I DIDN’T KNOW) and I said that we didn’t know about last year but that we had visited once in 2003. They said we were the first ones that had been to the OG haunt and that they needed to tell Michael (a/k/a Igor!!). I didn’t think anything of it, figuring they’d probably wait until the end of the night if at all.

After a few more minutes of chatting (really nice women!), it was our turn to enter the graveyard! Now, I don’t want to give anything away because there were quite a few “Wait—what?? How did they do that??” moments, but they transformed what I assume was their upper driveway and garage area (?) into what felt like a sepia-tinged Victorian nightmarescape. The mind reels.

Igor & Co. have acting chops, their makeup & costume person is a legend, and the set design had me completely forgetting we were at someone’s house in the ‘burbs. It was intense, chaotic, and nostalgic in the way it rejuvenated my love for haunted houses. It brought back that excitement I used to get in the 90s after running out of the old Victory haunt in Elizabeth or the Castle Shannon Haunted School. I walked (OK jogged) out of there with the biggest smile on my face, breathlessly saying, “That was so effing good, Henry! IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK IS BACK!”

We could have left right then and it would have been such a memorable night, but wait, there’s more!

Igor’s wife approached us at the exit and asked if we were the ones who visited in 2003, and asked us to wait while she got Michael (he will always be Igor to me). Since they only send in one group at a time, he was able to come out quickly and I figured we’d just say hello, we love Igor’s, thank him for bringing it back. You know, the standard fare.

But as he was shaking Henry’s hand, he said, “You look familiar” and in my head I thought he was just being polite because there is no way he could have recognized us from 2003. But then when he turned to me, he goes, “You’re Oh Honestly Erin” and I was like, “OMG how does he know that, what did I do, what did I write” because you know, my track record with this dumb blog isn’t the most savory. How many stories start with, “Welp, my blog got me in trouble again.”

He explained that he had spent some time reading my blog a few years ago and then he laughed and added that he “still wonders what you would have given Vladimir—you don’t have to say it in front of my daughter!” because his kids were also standing there for this!

I could feel the blood rushing to my face. And I could see feel Henry side-eying me and psychically hissing, “What did you write Erin?? WHAT. DID. YOU. WRITE.”

As soon as we got in the car, I frantically searched for it on my blog and quickly skimmed what I had transcribed from my paper journal in a post from 2021.

“Oh, it’s not THAT bad,” I relayed to Henry. “I said that I gave Igor’s Fright Shack ‘5 gigantical thumbs up and a bunch of things to Vladimir that will remain undisclosed.’ OK so only slightly unhinged.”

In the meantime, I had texted all of this to Corey since he was at the OG haunt with us in 2003. I sent him the link to the blog post and he immediately started texting back snippets and his only commentary was “OMFG.”

One snippet was “or perhaps take him back to the shack where he could impregnant me with our tawdry love child.” I read this out loud to Henry in a high-pitched wail. “Now he probably thinks I’m some freaking weirdo with a niche Kmart zombie mask kink who writes haunted house scare actor fanfic! Who goes to a haunted house and imprints on a scare actor? ME, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!”

(Literally, there was this one time in high school that me and Keri fought over Jason Voorhees at some haunted attraction that was at Civic Arena and HE CHOSE HER. No really, we hung out with him in the parking lot afterward. He took his mask off and I knew as soon as Kert shotgunned a cigarette with him that I was the official third wheel. I feel like they talked on the phone for a little bit after that but then it fizzled.)

(He wasn’t even that great of a Jason Voorhees anyway. Michael Myers over Jason any day.)

Henry, actually laughing out loud over this, said, “Good one, Erin. Good one.”

Chooch, meanwhile, was so ashamed of me, his immature mother. I was texting him this whole scene in the car on the way home and he said, “Good job. I’m glad I wasn’t there. Wow.”

I could say that this was written in 2003 and I am so different now! Very mature, much more stable! But the fact is that I am still an idiot as soon as a keyboard is placed before me, or, even worse, pen and paper.

But never mind my self-induced humiliation! The most important thing here is that Igor’s Fright Shack: The Reboot received a major glow-up while still retaining the purest spirit and heart of Halloween! And I love that it’s a multi-generational family affair. I am still so stoked that we got the chance to visit and if they are back again next year, you better believe I will be there! (Unless there is a restraining order on me.)

From the haunted house journal:

Random picture of a cemetery that I took from the car window early on Monday morning, 10/13/25. We left our beautiful and quirky guest house in Cluj (farewell to my husband the massage chair, I think I still have bruises on my ankles) super early in the AM. I believe it was around 6AM. We wanted to get an early start because our first stop in the Maramures region was about 4 hours from Cluj.

OH, WTF IS A MARAMURES, you ask? It’s a region in the northern part of Romania (and parts of Western Ukraine) known for its rural majesty and cultural goodness. I know, how has Condè Nast not hired me.

Originally, I only wanted to the Merry Cemetery which was one of the first things I ever discovered about Romanian years ago when I became dead set on visiting one day and googled Romanian cemeteries, as one does when exploring options for a then-imaginary itinerary. But then when planning this trip, I started looking more into the Maramures and decided to add more  to that day’s itinerary rather than immediately driving to the next stop.

Henry and I are in rare agreeance over this – the Maramures was our favorite day in Romania. We ended up being in the car for most of it but it was the best scenery of the whole trip. The mountains!! The rolling fields!! The gas station where I discovered my period was starting and I bought a FOREST FRUIT danish for breakfast!

You don’t care about those details.

The entrance to the Maramures!

Some of the scenery we saw upon entering the Maramures, which is Romania’s “most traditional” county according to some. I believe it!

I loved these…township markers?

In the mountains! I have so much video footage from the car, it’s actually pathetic and annoying. Please look forward to that.

Anyway, I wanted to just focus on the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta for this post. I took so many pictures and I want to share them all. Someone might ask the Internet one day for pictures of the Merry Cemetery and then maybe my blog will come up and they’ll discover their long lost relative was buried there thanks to Oh Honestly Erin.

Yooooo, immediately it’s popping off. The colors!!

We did have to pay to enter. There is a little ticket booth at the entrance and we happily paid the equivalent of $2.29 to enter.

The draw of this cemetery, in addition to the cheerful palette, is that the man who started it wanted to bring some humor into the tombstones so each one has a quirky, sometimes super dark, little epitaph describing either the person’s life or how they met their demise. Obviously, we don’t read Romanian but there are translations online and I encourage you to check them out!

I just could not believe we were here!

I love that you can see the mountains in the background.

I also want to point out that it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy when we were there, but the skies were like, “They lied.” It couldn’t have been a more magical morning! Also, aside from some men working along the periphery, we were the only people there until a group a three people arrived after us and it was crazy how un-touristy this place felt.

Also, in the Maramures, most of the older women actually do dress in traditional attire I love it. And I love the apples on this tombstone.

The first tombstone was handmade by Stan Ioan Pătraș in 1935 and grew into what is now known as one of the Seven Wonders of Romania.

The detail on the exterior of this church though!!

We had this whole joint to ourselves! My eyes were drunk off these colors. It was my style!! Mentally shelving inspo for interior projects YOU NEVER KNOW goldleaf might be in my (Henry’s) future.

I’m trying to write this recap but every time I scroll to the next picture, I have to stop and stare dreamily at it like it’s 1992 and I’m at the ice skating rink lusting over some guy from another school that I took private tennis lessons with but in all honesty I realized he wasn’t even that cute one day when he lifted his hat so it wasn’t covering most of his face  –  wait, what were we talking about.

I asked Henry if he liked the church and he said, “YESITHOUGHTITWASVERYINTERESTING” just like that, like someone gave him a cue card and he was in a hurry to spit it out. But then he followed up with, “I liked the cemetery too, I thought it was cool.” Wow, an ad lib! HE CAN DO THAT???

I miss this place. I miss the whole area! Even though Henry was being super annoying because he kept taking really bad pictures of me (woof), I enjoyed the time we spent in the cemetery. Oh!! And we went to the little gift shop where I of course bought magnets but also a small wooden reproduction of one of the tombstones, two crosses for the bathroom, and a rope bracelet in the Romanian colors which I proceeded to wear every day after that.

After this, we decided to look for somewhere to eat right across from the cemetery. I will say that the village of Sapanta seems to make the most of the cemetery and they gently lean into tourism but setting up their wares alongside the road and doing the most to lure people into their food establishments. For instance, when we were looking at menu, some woman came over and VERY CHEERFULLY moved us down to another place, which looked to be a stand that was selling placinta (cheese pies) which I actually really wanted and started to excitedly approach the counter to order, but then some other woman popped out of a doorway and it turned out that the first woman was sending us to HER not the placinta place and I was like, “Oh maybe it’s just the inside though” so we followed her through the door but no, it was an entirely separate place and the only thing on the menu that wasn’t meat was fries so that’s what I ended up ordering because the LADY WAS SO NICE AND IT WAS SUCH AN ORDEAL getting us there, these three women all helping each other out to make sure they were dividing the business up amongst themselves, so I was happily obliged to just stay there and eat the fries.

Henry got his first ever mici (meech) and really liked it!

Those fries were seriously super good so I wasn’t mad about it. And the lady (the owner I guess?) was soooo concerned about us and I appreciated that.

OMG OMG OMG after this we went into one of the little shops and I found THE THING. You know, that ONE THING that you spend the rest of your life showing to people and saying I GOT THIS IN < wherever >.

LOL! I love that the girl looks half-decapitated.

Anyway, an elderly woman was running the joint (she actually had left the place unmanned which could never happen in America) and even though we couldn’t speak each others’ languages, she was pantomiming that she liked my shirt (I mean, I think so – she might have been telling me I wasn’t pulling it off very well) and then gave me the magnet that I picked out for free.

“Souvenir!” she said, closing my fingers around it.

I LOVED SAPANTA.

(Henry won’t contribute anything else because I called him out for being annoying – he was mindlessly rubbing his arms while watching TV next to me and the sound of RUBBING SKIN was about to make me launch off the couch and through the roof – so now he’s pouting and being mad at me. The honeymoon is LITERALLY over haha.)

Remember last spring when I accidentally became a Johnnie Guilbert fan? Well, Henry and I got to see him last week at Skully’s Music Diner in Columbus! (OMG before you even assume that Henry didn’t want to do, I have someone’s video from that night playing on YouTube for blogging inspo and Henry was whispering the words!!)

First time at Skully’s! A love a new-to-me venue but I also get curiously anxious beforehand too. Fear of the unknown, etc. This one ended up being tiny with just the amount of grime. You know I love kpop with my whole heart but I really miss these small shows in dark, sweaty venues too! I’m glad that I have been squeezing these in again.

Chooch didn’t know why we were in Columbus until I sent him this picture and his response was, “Ugh. Great.”

There were two college-aged girls in line behind us talking about how embarrassed they’d be if their parents came with them to see Johnnie and I was like, “Do they think we’re here with our children? OMG DO THEY THINK I’M HENRY’S DAUGHTER???”

LOL.

I appreciated that I got carded and the girl at the door who was way younger than me called me “dear” when she called me over to get a wristband. This night was already off to a great start.

Creepy red-light special bathroom and giant ornately-framed mirror. Obsessed. Not obsessed with the fact that the bathroom stall had a curtain instead of a door though.

We were standing in a dark corner so this selfie looks like I took it on my old red Blackberry in 2007.

I don’t know what it was about Skully’s but I felt super cozy there and confidently abandoned Henry to go upstairs and buy my JOHNNIE VIOLENT DREAMS TOUR SHIRT. It’s a weird-feeling material but I will still wear it when Chooch is home for Thanksgiving because I love to trigger him and remind him that Mommy has young interests.

They still had their Halloween decorations up and that really set the mood. And they were playing some awesome emo tracks too, some of which inspired high-energy sing-alongs from the crowd (Metro Station, lol). I was stoked that they played an old Jimmy Eat World song but no one else seemed to know it so I felt old.

I took this to send to Chooch as proof that Johnnie has fans.

Chander Leighton was added as the opening act a few weeks before the tour started and I didn’t know anything about her because friends, that ain’t my scene anymore. I skimmed her Insta and thought I had an idea of the vibe she was going to bring and expected to be ambivalent toward it. What I didn’t expect was IMPRINTING ON CHANDLER LEIGHTON THAT NIGHT. Holy shit you guys, she was phenomenal, the rizz was oozing. I was completely captivated. Here’s some clips!

Meanwhile, the cutest couple ever was standing near us, dancing together through her whole set (and, later, Johnnie’s). They were kind of neo-bohemian, he sounded like Spicolli, and for some reason instead of annoying me, I thought they were so charming and adorable together and I hope they last forever. They were just existing in their little space, not bothering anyone, we love to see it. Meanwhile, Henry stood like a block of Disgruntled Elder behind me even though he CLAIMS to be having a “good” time.

AND THEN IT WAS JOHNNIE TIME! I just love him so much and in some weird parasocial way, I’m proud of him. He’s very open about his struggles with depression and residual trauma of losing his dad at a young age, not to mention being groomed by an older YouTuber when he was just a teenager. It’s crazy that this stuff was happening when Chooch met the aforementioned YouTuber at Warped Tour. Chooch was right to think this guy was a loser even at such a young age!

For the most part, the crows was pretty OK people but there were some young girls gravitated to our area toward the end that lacked concert etiquette and I was not happy with them. But mostly, I enjoyed watching all of the girls lose their minds every time Johnnie came to their side of the stage. Adorable. (OK, and relatable haha.)

But now Johnnie is in his late 20s and his music is gaining more and more traction – I’m sorry but I feel proud of him! And I genuinely 100% like his music too.

Henry’s favorite parts of the show:

• VAMPIRE
• ZOMBIE
• “I liked that first person. I can never remember her name. Yeah, Chandler. Leighton.”
• Right Girl Wrong Time

Someone asked him to do Timmy and he said no and I think that was Henry’s least favorite moment of the night because he loves Johnnie’s Timmy persona.

Please enjoy this series of snippets from the night!

He stayed on stage afterward and signed things for everyone and seemed like he was sincerely wanted to meet every single person in that room. We stan a prince who appreciates his fans.

I wanted him to sign the shirt that I was wearing but also felt weird because I’m nearly 20 years older than him so in the end, I accepted my fate (age) and we head out to start the 3 hour drive home. T O T A L L Y worth the drive, right HENRY??

(I guess I could have taken off my shoe to get signed like that person up there?!?!)

Here’s Henry’s version of Vampire, he missed almost all of the song because he thought he was recording AND HE WASN’T BUT THAT’S OK HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAUGHHHHHH.

“Vampire” is my favorite Johnnie song. Back when I started watching Jake Webber’s videos and had the realization that, wait, is that Johnnie Guilbert from the Warped Tour YouTuber days??? and then saw that he makes music now, I had the kneejerk presumption that it was going to be super lame. “Ha! Let’s see about this,” I thought as I went to YouTube and played the first video that came up, which happened to be Vampire. And then almost instantly, I said, “Oh. Fuck. Goddammit.” I hate it when I’m wrong! But I’m also glad that I was because exploring his music and watching his YouTube has been so much fun since then!

Anyway, I’m grateful that Henry and I are still doing things like driving to Columbus for a concert and driving home the same night. IT KEEPS US YOUNG RIGHT HENRY.

When we (“we” – pahahaha! It was all me stitching together this itinerary from scratch I WILL THANK YOU VERY MUCH) were planning the road trip, it made sense to add Cluj-Napoca as an overnight stop because it was the biggest city in between Sibiu and our next full destination of the Maramures region. Plus it was less than hour away from our last stop that Sunday – the Salina Turda Salt Mines – so we figured we’d spend the rest of the day there, eat dinner, whatever. I had NO EXPECTATIONS because for some reason, after watching travel videos of Cluj, it just didn’t resonate with me. The general consensus was that it’s a college town, good nightlife, etc. On this trip, I was more interested in the smaller cities and towns, so I was considering this a pit-stop and nothing more. (Especially after Copilot told me sadly that there no Bela Karolyi points of interest here, even though it was his birthplace! Boo!)

Well, touche, Cluj. You are an awesome, vibrant, incredible city and now I am sad that we didn’t have MORE time there! Honestly, I’d have rather had two nights here than Brasov or Bucharest because we barely scratched the surface. Duly noted for the future!

Only having less than half of a day to explore, we mostly stayed in the area where our guest house was and as luck would have it, it was in the middle of a bustling area. Right down the street was a little farmer’s market type of thing set up in the Avram Iancu Square and we spent a good bit of time here because I had to get my magnet, god forbid, but also there were several tables selling locally made jewelry and I needed to shop.

We had the most adorable interaction with this one older woman. I had stopped to look at some beaded jewelry and she was trying to entice us with her table of bags of coffee. Then she learned we were American and said her daughter had just come home from New York and brought all those bags of coffee back from there. “Never mind about the coffee then!” she laughed, and focused on trying to make a jewelry sale instead.

When I asked if she made the jewelry, she said, “No, no, my friend did!” and then waved her over, saying, “And she speaks better English than me too!” (Um, her English was fantastic as well, and as usual I felt like an asshole since she had to talk to us in English AT ALL.)

Anyway, I ended up buying this pretty bracelet from her friend because this design is all over houses and buildings in Romania so it felt perfect. Meanwhile, the first lady had set her sights on Henry and was trying to get him to buy jewelry too and then moved on  to the coffee, but he kept smiling and shaking his head no. Then she pretended to cry and her friend who made the jewelry was like, “Oh for god’s sake, ignore her” lol. But then someone DID come over to buy her coffee and she was like, “HA! SEE! SOMEONE WANTS MY COFFEE!” It was so funny but you know what they say about having to be there, etc.

Now I wish we had bought a bag of her New York coffee because she was so cute and funny!

I had to take this picture with the flash on because it’s sitting on my religious dresser which is illuminated by the red light of the LED cross.

I also got this hand-painted pendant from another table being manned by a friend of the artist. I love both of these so much! I don’t require expensive jewelry, I just like pieces that have a story/memory attached and these both definitely do because that was such a fun little square to walk through!

I got this pumpkin masala chai latte at Tucano Coffee and it was foarte delicios. Finally, something that wasn’t just a shot of espresso in a cup!

St. Michael’s Church.

I feel like we stood here for quite some time while Henry looked up places to eat and then we ended up going to one of the places our host suggested, which ended up being very memorable for weird  (not bad!) reasons.

Enigma Secret Garden!

It turns out this was a popular hangout for local college kids (there was a backroom / outdoor area that was bustling). We sat inside and Henry annoyed because some of the YOUTH at the table behind us were smoking and I was like, “Europe, Henry. Europe.”

One of my favorite things about this place, aside from the steampunk aesthetics, was that there were two guys working there who seemed very young and confused. I kept joking that one of them was a high schooler filling in for his college-aged brother. They literally just walked around looking so lost and I loved this so much. Plus, we were the OLDEST PEOPLE there which also was cracking me up for some reason, like we had stumbled onto the set of Felicity. (That was the first TV Show I thought of, don’t ask.)

This was the beer I had. It was pretty standard beer-tasting. I was just having fun getting to check in beers from Romania on Untapped like the dumb dork that I am!

MAMALIGA!!!!!! This was the culinary embodiment of “I want to dip my balls in it!” It was everything that I had been looking forward to in Romania, all folded up into a hot pouch of cheesy polenta with a cold cap of sour cream. Please hold while I go scream in a pillow.

I miss this so much.

I couldn’t finish it though so off it went to Henry, lol. I had a piece of his pizza and it was also delectable – super thin which I like.

Henry had to get up to find our server at one point and the kid tried to play it off like he was on his way over to us already. I don’t know why, can’t explain it, but these guys were so effing hilarious to watch.

I thoroughly enjoyed our time at this strange little bar/restaurant, even with all the vape and cigarette smoke wisps hanging in the air around us. It was a big fat vibe and made me feel like I was back in the 90s, man, fetch me my duster and bootcut Mudd jeans.

After this, we found a bar to go to that had craft and local beers. On the way there, we passed another square that we had walked through before dinner, but now there was LIVE MUSIC happening on a stage! Ofc we had to slip into the audience and partake in the festive, traditional singing.

I got REALLY excited because it turned out that we were standing next to the family members of my FAVORITE ONE OF THE SINGERS. “SHOULD I GO SAY SOMETHING???” I squealed to Henry when she joined her family later for hugs. Henry just scowled at me. You know, the usual. I was in a state of suspended glee in Cluj-Napoca. I really liked this Romanian version of myself!

This broad was also really amazing. I have clips from these performances which you can look forward to at the end of the post. (See also: PLEASE WATCH MY VIDEOS, I AM SUCH A SAD AND LONELY GIRL.)

I really enjoy traditional Romanian music, btw.

After this performance, a woman MC came on stage and started talking non-stop and super quickly and obviously this was all in Romanian so we decided to continue on to the bar.

Then this happened! ^^^

Loved the cobblestone alleys in Cluj.

The girls behind the bar at the BrewHouse were so friendly and cute! I wanted to stay inside but Henry was like “LET’S GO OUTSIDE” and then Santa Claus’d his way out the door.

In case you are a beer aficionado and care, this was a Pilsdet from Blackout Brewing, local to Cluj.

And this was a Speltbound (saison) from Hophead Brewing, also local to Cluj! Untapped tells me that I earned the “Baking in Balkan” and “Roamin’ in Romania” badges with this one!

OMG OMG OMG I have been following for Hop Hooligans for a bit on Instagram and have become such a little fan bitch over them. I was so excited to finally get my lips on one of their cans, I don’t care how that sounds!! And yes, I took the can back to the room so we could peel off the label for the mems. (See also: me being a packrat again.)

I got irrationality bitchy around this point and it turned out it was PMS lol. MORE TO COME ON THAT.

What a great little bar. I would go back in a heartbeat. (I really do want to go back to Cluj someday.)

OMG on the way back to the room, this guy was closing out the show and I totally imprinted on him!!! WE MADE EYE CONTACT AT ONE POINT AND I SCRAMMED, “HENRY HE LOOKED AT ME” and not even Henry, my biggest fact-checker, could deny this.

This was so joyful! I wanted to join in but I was also afraid of jacking up the flow and/or completely biting it because I was feeling semi-tipsy from the beers. I never built up an alcohol tolerance!

Yo this crowd was eating him up!

There was also a young man dancing with a girl in a traditional dress and he doing the most to outshine her. Also he looked like Fred aka Lucas Cruikshank. I sent a picture to Chooch and his response was “ugh.”

That was also his response to my imprinting red alert.

This diva!!

ILYSM!!!

Oh, Cluj. One day, I’ll be back.