Some of How I Spent the Day Before I Fled the Country for Half a Month

*Slept In.

*Had coffee and a breakfast fit for a lumberjack.

*Lay around listening to Pandora; Worst-case-scenario speculated about my rowmates on the planes; Remembered that I never did go down to the Village to look for a marked-down, used-copy Italy travel guide.

*More coffee.

*Went to the hardware store for a voltage adapter.

*Swung around the block to the grocery store, to get refunded for a single roll of toilet paper I’d been charged $10.99 for the other night. (Always review your receipts. And minimize any chattering you do with your cashier, your bagger, the bagger over in the next aisle, and the floor manager while the cashier rings up your purchases, so you can pay closer in-real-time attention - or any attention at all - to the numbers popping up on the register’s screen.)

*Fell head over heels for a $20 shirt at Marshalls that has gamechanging potential; Feel similarly about a bottle of “Brilliant Blush” nail polish I found 10 minutes later.

*Checked my work email and was instantly disgusted by a message from the douchiest bureaucrat I’m forced to liaise with; Started drafting a response, but soon deleted it - he’s too emotionally frail; Logged out and vowed not to log back in until September 30th.

*Fixed myself dinner and a Skinnygirl Margarita.

*Ogled the Marshalls shirt.

*Stage 1 of the packing process; Unearthed a dressy scarf someone once brought me back from Italy that I never wear. Wondered what it would do to my karma if I handed it to someone else upon my own return, with a, “Surprise! This is for you, it’s from Italy.”

*Began a load of laundry, while the couple intellectualizing in the back corner got drunker by the minute.

*Bought a Fodor’s guidebook at a bookstore in my neighborhood, full price.

*Trip #2 to the hardware store to return the voltage adapter that turned out not to be compatible with my phone charger’s prongs. The store was closed.

As much as I love my country, I’ve earned another break from it. Ciao!