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I committed a cardinal sin this morning. I forgot my reusable shopping bag when I went to the farmers' market. I left the house in a rush to get the the market before all the good stuff was gone, and in my haste, I left my bag at home. They always have plastic bags to put the produce in, but it wasn't until today that I realized nobody ever really uses them. As I strolled around the market picking out root veggies and the last of the summer tomatoes (and a few green ones for frying), I began to notice that everyone else had their Whole Foods and Trader Joe's bags slung over their shoulders. There was even a token bag from The Strand . What can I say, I live in a hipster neighborhood. And there I was, conspicuously without one. What had started out as a jolly shopping trip turned into a covert operation as I skulked around the stalls trying not to be noticed. But the real trouble began when I got in line to pay. I stood there behind...
I checked into the hotel with just the clothes on my back, my phone, and my wallet. Minutes earlier, I had walked out of our now-empty home for the last time, having purged the remaining bits of our life into the garbage. Just before I left, I snapped one last picture of our beautiful view of Thomas Circle and tweeted , "I don't live here anymore." It took my breath away how much it hurt. The woman at the hotel desk handed me a package with the clothes I would wear and a purse I was borrowing from my mother. They were the only possessions I had. I swallowed the lump in my throat and went to my room. As I stripped off my clothes and put them into a garbage bag, I thought to myself, "How did I get here? How had I survived the past year? Would I survive what was coming next? What was coming next?" There I was, in nothing, with nothing, and I couldn't fathom how I was going to put my life back together. I didn't know if WH was ever going to get better....
Have you ever gotten a wild hair and refused to let up? I had an experience like this a couple of weeks ago. I had run out of my makeup and needed to replenish it. Since I work right next to a CVS, the replishment should've been easy (yeah, I wear drug store makeup, what of it?). Only that CVS no longer carries Almay. Half a block later, I was at the other CVS near my office, only to learn that they were out of the makeup in question. That was in the morning. I went to my office, naked faced and on a mission. At lunch you will be mine, I vowed to the makeup. After looking up the other CVS locations within several blocks of my office, it was discovered that there were four more besides the two I had already checked. Phew! We wouldn't want the people of downtown D.C. go without their prescriptions, haircare products, and pantyhose. My goal in sight, I set out for the first of the CVS Stores in question. I headed down K Street to what I hope...