My new wheels :)

Anyone who knows me knows that I've been dreaming about a new car for years. Years. Before I can show you my fabulous new car, it's only fair to my past cars to do a little recap.

After driving my parents' Chevy Cavalier in high school and going off to college without a car, I stumbled upon a terrific 1993 Plymouth Sundance owned by a friend of a friend of my brother, or something like that. Luckily I had some extra scholarship money in the bank and justifying this purchase as a school expense, I was behind the wheel of my first car. Seriously, I loved that car. I have a picture of it somewhere, but not on this computer. At any rate, it was white, four door, just a tiny little peanut of a car. I never had a problem with it the wh ole three years that I drove it. I sold it to my cousin for $800 and she got a couple months out of it before it was retired to I don't know where.

I would have probably kept driving the old Sundance, but Josh's grandma wasn't able to drive anymore and said that I could have her car as a wedding present. Meet the 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Grey, 4 door, afghans in the back. I'm pretty sure the Oldsmobile didn't even have a tape deck, but it did have air conditioning and automatic windows (both step-ups from the Sundance). I'm pretty sure back in 1990 this baby was a steal.

I probably would have kept driving the Oldsmobile even longer than I did, which was really only a year, but having a V6 in it, that baby didn't get very good gas mileage. Seeing as how I was driving over an hour every day to and from school, we needed something more fuel efficient. Once again, the planets aligned and I happened upon a gift vehicle. Josh's parents were getting their 1997 Mazda 626 back from his brother who had totalled it out in Tennessee rear-ending someone. It didn't really have much damage, just the front end was a little smashed in. They gifted it to me (that's right, my second free car!). The Mazda and I have had many good years together, from driving back-and-forth to school for 2 years, to getting my first job, to bringing Heidi home from the hospital (woah, I teared up a little bit there). Some not so good times, like when the hood flew up on the interstate, but luckily those were few and far between.

We did not trade the Mazda in, she's now Josh's work vehicle, hauling the dogs vehicle, etc.

But me...I've finally gotten my new car. A 2009 Toyota Rav4 4x4. I went in to the dealership intending to buy a used 2009 that they had with 11,000 miles on it, but didn't like the interior (which was already stained and a strange pattern) or the small tired. Then we drove a 2008 that was blue, so pretty, we liked the interior much better but had 31,000 miles on it already and was only 4,000 cheaper than the new. We went to look at the new and when we did the math with my college discount ($1,000, only on a new vehicle), the Grand Opening sale they had going on, and the better financing, the new was just the obvious choice. Once Josh got over his panic, we signed the papers and brought her home.

Name still pending. Give me your ideas ;)

So this is love...