Fat Kid's Gotta Eat

In addition to my endless questioning of "Where should I sleep tonight", one of the main challenges has been figuring out what and how to eat. In order to avoid having to eat take out or in restaurants all week, I went grocery shopping when I arrived home from Russia on Saturday evening. To store my groceries, I have taken over a drawer in the refrigerator at the office. This proves to be quite convenient during the week when I'm there during normal eating hours, but is extremely comical when I stop by the office on Sunday evening to have dinner.

As I told you before, I basically only eat raw foods (uncooked vegetables, nuts, lunch meat, protein shakes, yogurt, etc.) so that I don’t have to worry about cooking anything. Don't get worried, I realized that it’s actually not that different than how I used to eat when I lived in an apartment.

This afternoon (Tuesday) I wanted to have a snack/dinner of a couple of pieces of turkey, and much to my surprise, I finished off the pound of turkey that I had just purchased! Let me spell it out for you: I ate an ENTIRE POUND OF TURKEY IN 3.5 DAYS. I think I ate that lunch meat turkey as my source of protein for almost every meal without ever realizing it

I should really reconsider my food shopping habits.

Is this still your address?

Sneaky little Cop #1 was hiding in the corner and radioing to Cop#2,3,4,and 5 about who was talking on their phone or texting while driving. Well, obviously, I am never in my car and not on the phone, so Cop#1 saw me. I got pulled over along with a long line of other cars who had been caught to be issued a ticket.

Here's how it went:

Officer: "Miss, I pulled you over because we have another officer around the corner and he noticed you talking on your phone. May I please have your license and registration?"

HZ: (Hand guy my stuff)

Officer: "Is this still your recent address?"

HZ: "Well, no actually I don't have a permanent residence. If you want I can give you my office address?"

Officer: (chuckles) "That's ok"
(Walks away and writes up my ticket)

HZ: (Have to use a lot of self control not to text Jillian during this wait and tell her why I had to suddenly hang up. But I decide officer wouldn't appreciate it if he sees me doing this)

Officer: (Returns to the car) "Here is your stuff and your ticket. You have until 8/13 to either pay the $100 fine or plead not guilty and be given a court date"

HZ: "Ok, thank you. I know I'm guilty"

Officer: (Nods and begins to walk away)

HZ: "Wait! Sir! Can I ask you a question? I'm wondering... if I don't have a permanent address and don't plan on having one in the near future, where should I register my car to?"

Officer: (chuckles again) "Well, you could to a PO Box"

HZ: "Really? Are you sure? Because most things won't allow a PO Box in lieu of a permanent address... Insurance, Credit Cards, etc."

Officer: "I think so, just go to the DMV and they should take care of it"

HZ: "Ok thanks!"
(Drive away, highly doubting that he has any idea what he's talking about).
(Promptly get back on my phone.. but put it on speaker this time)

Disaster Zone

So Trevor requested that I post pictures of the disaster... I hesitated to let everyone in the world see. But Trevor gets what Trevor wants. (You all can go ahead and say it, I'm the best big sister ever)


Backseat mayhem.


What? It's not normal to keep your mail and stamps under the drivers seat?


Looks organized, but try asking me what's in any of those bags..

Decision

So I finally made a decision regarding tomorrow night.. seems shocking, I know. But I'm not going to Iowa, and I decided to go back to Hartford this weekend. I can always cancel my reservation if I change my mind. I was debating between the Marriott and Hampton Inn, but in the end, even though it's $10 more per night, Hampton Inn won because it has free high speed internet as well as free breakfast. Plus, the staff there is getting to know me. Haha just like the ladies at the nail salon. It's interesting that my only friends are those who are paid to be friendly to me..

Commitment Issues... even with a hotel

You may or may not know, but I over think almost everything. This is just a glimpse of what goes on in my brain. I think you’ll be exhausted by it.

The issue is that need to figure out where I’m going to stay Saturday night after I get back from Russia. Now this is a dumb thing to worry about, but let me spell it out for you and maybe you’ll understand.

Decision #1: Am I going to be exhausted or am I going to be a functioning human being?
After my 24 hour plane ride back from Russia, it’s hit or miss. Sometimes I land ready to go out for a beer and enjoy the evening, and sometimes I land and go straight to bed for the night, or somewhere in the middle. I just never know what it’s going to be. I’m flying into Boston Logan, so if it’s the “go out for a beer”, I have a lot of options, and can potentially even stay at a friends. But if it’s the straight to bed option, I just need a cheap hotel near Boston, but not in Boston (because the price will be inflated).

Decision #2: Am I leaving for Iowa on Sunday afternoon or not?
If I leave for Iowa, I once again have two options. Stay in Boston and fly in and out of Logan, or go back to Connecticut and fly in and out of Bradley. I’m trying to find out if I’m supposed to be involved in the activity Monday in Iowa or not. However, I’m not sure when I’m going to find out. If I’m going to fly in and out of Bradley, then I can get a hotel anywhere between Boston and Hartford, something with the lowest price and a nice outdoor pool since it’s supposed to be 89 and sunny on Sunday. But then on the other hand.. my favorite swimsuit is at my friends house since the Fourth of July, so am I really want to go lay out? Also, I actually hate laying out because its so boring, so even if I have good intentions, this isn’t going to last for more than eight minutes, is it? If no, why am I worrying about finding a hotel with a pool?

Now, I know you’re thinking, just wait until you land to figure it out. However, I wont have internet access, and my jet lagged self is not capable of making decisions and figuring things out when I get off the plane.

Do you understand my dilemma??

This is precisely why I don’t make plans.. it’s because I never know what I’m going to feel like doing when that time rolls around.

I'm not trying to blow up the plane

Ok so it's happened a few times that when I go through security, my bags set off an alarm saying that it detects explosive materials. When this alarm goes off they have to do a complete pat down and bag search, special tests, and then re-run the bag in x-ray machine. Complete bag search entails them emptying the entire contents of my suitcase onto a table in the middle of airport security. It's happened a couple times, this time in Boston Logan airport on my way to Russia. I am not a terrorist!! I think I'm going to have to hose down all my luggage and clothes so it stops happening!

Home Sweet Home

So this month has been kind of difficult on me regarding my homeless plan. It’s July 16th, and I’ve only been out of town for the weekend to go to my parent’s house. Although, I am leaving for Russia this Saturday.

I’m very fortunate that this week that my coworker is letting me “House Sit” while her and her family is on vacation at Martha's Vineyard. This means watering the plants, bringing in the mail, and caring for the cats, and in return, I have free accommodations for the week. Pretty good deal, right?.


me and Tinkerbell

I won’t lie, I love this homeless adventure, but having a home and constant place to stay, keep groceries, and do laundry is kind of refreshing. I don’t have to pack my bag every night, I don’t have to search for my toothbrush, and I had a place to boil water when I wanted to cook some eggs for breakfast.

One final thing to vent about, I really cannot stand how messy my car is. It is just a disaster and I get stressed every time I get inside of it. Honestly, there’s mail, laundry, overnight bags, gym bags, suitcases, towels, jewelry… just shit EVERYWHERE. It needs to improve.

I knew that months would be up and down regarding how much I am traveling, but I promised myself that minimally I’d break even month-to-month. To make that happen this month is going to be a stretch. Luckily, I think I have August worked out, I’ll let you know the master plan once I get it sorted out.

A Trip to Storage

So, yesterday I went to my storage unit for the first time since moving all of my stuff in there to pick something out to wear this weekend. Well well well, turns out I kind of forgot about the part where I'll go there to swap out clothes frequently. I caught myself several times saying "oooh, so that's where that is" I discovered so many things that I had been "missing". My car is turning into a complete chaos, so I thought those things were buried or in a different bag. I need to spend at least an hour sometime within the next week organizing a little bit..

A Strange Strategy

So this is my third night in Connecticut and I have been taking a very strange approach to my hotel booking this week. I have been waiting to hear back from the lady about arranging a corporate rate at the hotel next to the office, so I’ve only been booking hotels one night at a time.

Since I check in every night and out every morning, I didn’t want to have to be lugging suitcases everywhere. So each night when I check in, the only thing I take into the hotel is my workbag because I don’t want to leave my computer in the car. I ask for a toothbrush/toothpaste at the front desk and use the hotel soap to wash up. The next morning I leave in the exact same clothes, and then change and shower at the gym. It’s kind of bizarre, but it kind of works.

Here’s an evaluation of the local hotels I’ve been staying at:



Obviously, my hotel of choice at the moment is the Hampton Inn.. they even upgraded my room to a suite for tonight.. thank you very much.