Check your tires

This is an embarrassing story. 

In 2011, I blew out one of my tires on the highway on my way to teach school in the morning. Thank God for AAA, they came right away, put on my donut, and I went to school and promptly made an appointment to get a new tire. Not knowing much about cars, tires, or anything outside of my neighborhood in DC, I picked Sears- it seemed like a safe, retail-chain bet. A sad "adults know this but kids don't" thing I learned is that when you blow out one tire, you actually need to replace a pair of them, because you have to keep the wear on the treads even. What a buzzkill. Hundreds of dollars and two new tires later, I left Sears. 

For the next two years, I drove around on my new tires. Now, I live in DC- the district of congestion- and after I stopped teaching, my commute shrank to 3-4 miles, mostly at speeds of 15mph or lower. I kid you not, sometimes I think I could have jogged to work faster than I drove for the last two years. Alternately, I took the metro. So needless to say, my car didn't see very much action, save a rare trip to a concert in the suburbs or to BWI airport. 

But things changed once I started my new job this summer. Now, I spend hours each day in the car, driving all over the highways of Northern Virginia, the beltway around the city, and even up into Montgomery County. One huge pro to driving my car at highway speeds is that my gas mileage has really improved! But after a few weeks, I realized that my car was shimmying. Any time I hit 55mph or more, my steering wheel wiggled and if I looked over at my purse in the passenger seat, I could see it shaking. 

I got scared. I remembered a fearful story from a friend about this exact symptom, followed by her tire LITERALLY falling off her car. Google told me it was probably just a tire-balance issue, but just in the same way that WebMD will convince you that you have Lupus every time, my internet search on "shaking steering wheel" didn't do much to calm my fear. I brought my car in to the dealer the next day. 

My mechanic's name is also Tori, so we have a pretty good bond going on. She called me back to the desk just 10 minutes after I turned over the keys. I didn't even have time to connect to the waiting room Wifi. "Tori!' She called. "Did you by any chance lend your car to someone who may have blown out a tire and replaced it?"

Uh, what? 

"No, why?" I responded, baffled. 

"Because you actually have one tire that is a DIFFERENT SIZE from the other three tires on the car. Have you ever had any tires replaced from a blow out?" 

And here's the embarrassing part of this story: Yes. In 2011. 

Apparently, I have had a wrong-size tire on my car for more than two years and never noticed. I felt so stupid, but then I asked my mechanic why they hadn't noticed it either during the full circle inspections I've gotten in the last two years... her response? "If you're not looking for it, well, you're not looking for it!" 

Luckily, I still had my receipt from Sears, and they replaced the tire for me without any hassle or cost, even two years later. But buyer beware: As I have started telling this story to friends, two other people have had the exact same thing happen to them! It's insane to me to think that someone whose job it is to put on tires would put on two different sized tires, but I guess they kind of are all round, black and made of rubber. The moral to the story is this:

1- If you have new tires being put on your car, check the sides and make sure they are all the same size!

2- SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS!!!!!!!!! 

Cheers to a wobble-free future. 

Peace and Love. 

Meet Basil

A few weeks ago, I bought a bunch of basil at the supermarket. I was going to make pork banh mi sandwiches (a new obsession!) but realized that I wasn't going to be home for most of the week at dinner time. I didn't want my basil to go bad, as it was key to the recipe.

I figured fresh basil couldn't be that different from fresh flowers. So to keep it green, instead of just throwing the package in the fridge, I clipped the bottoms on an angle and stuck it in a vase on my windowsill.

Fast forward to the end of the week. I was so impressed with how green and pretty my basil had stayed, no wilting whatsoever and adding a lovely fragrance to my little kitchen. But upon closer observation, I realized that there was something else going on here-- my basil had grown roots in the vase! The clippings were growing into their own plant!

I had no idea you could do this with basil, but I have seen my dad do this for years with Christmas cactus clippings. I decided to plant my newly-sprouted clippings in a pot with some dirt I covertly stole from my apartment's flower beds using a laundry detergent cap as a shovel, and hope for the best.

I am happy to report that a few weeks later, and with some proper pruning, my basil is growing strong!! And more exciting news-- my friend Holly has given me some mint clippings, which apparently do the same thing. I guess I might need to pick up some actual pots and soil from the hardware store soon.

My mini-ist of gardens. 

I'm so excited about my little urban garden! If any of you have any other plants you think could do well in my studio apartment windowsill, I'd love to know!

Peace and Love.