Venturing out in the Civic

Tonight, I drove to a field work event for the first time since the Blizzard of 2011. The event was in a distant corner of the city, and it would have taken a couple of hours to get there by bus, so driving was really the only option.

I almost got into two car accidents: First, someone turned left when I had the right of way. It wasn't at a light or stop sign or anything. I was just driving along when someone turned in front of my car, and I had to slam the breaks. The second time, someone ran a red light. In both incidents, I reacted in time because I am an extremely defensive driver, meaning that I have learned to assume that everyone is about to cut me off or run the light.

Picture a wide-eyed southern girl, seat pulled up close to the steering wheel, clutching 10 and 2 with white knuckles, talking to out loud to herself, and to all of the other cars. "Oh my god that was reckless... no fucking turn signal... what street is this... oh crap change lanes change lanes... Jesus Christ, what are you doing?"

That's me driving in the city.

But then, on the way back from the event, while stuck in gridlock at 9 p.m. for no apparent reason (sigh) I realized that I would pass by the Trader Joe's on the way back. And it doesn't close until 10!

I hadn't been to the Trader Joe's in ages because it's relatively far away and requires driving. So when I finally get there, I'm out of control. I want to grab everything, as a voice in my head shouts "I'LL NEVER COOK AGAIN! MUWAHAHAHA!"

I have been really, really good about cooking lately. Using my slow cooker, working through the Indian cookbook I got for Christmas. I've been eating food made from scratch for days. But I love having the option of not cooking, especially when I've been away for hours and I'm just getting home at 10 p.m. That's why Trader Joe's is amazing.

Now I feel like this blog post is a product placement, and maybe I should delete all the references and replace them with "A Certain Grocery Store That Sells Vaguely Organic Pre-Packaged Food Items That Aren't Gross."

But, you know, whatever.

And now I'm eating a salad that cost four-something dollars, with a goblet of fresh carrot juice and yet another piece of Valentine's Day cake... no cooking or preparation whatsoever... ahhhhhh.