I did it...

I traded the Beetle (Violet) in. It was a sad process in some ways but I feel it was the right decision. It was having consistent electrical problems, the miles were getting up there. I knew maintenance would start rolling in soon. So I decided to cut my losses while I still could. So I did a lot of research online these past few weeks and found a car that fit my idea of fun to drive, sensible, and reliable at the same time. I went to one dealer on Saturday that was recomended to me, with Emily for moral support, and they didn't even have any of the cars I wanted to drive. And not only that, but said it would be months of being on a waiting list for one. Seriously?! So I called another dealer that has a program set up with my credit union and whaddya know they have the car I was looking for. I got there and they had it in the color I wanted too. Then they offered me pretty close to what I thought was a fair trade in price for the Beetle.

So I went for it. Deep breath! Its so tiring making decisions like this. You second guess everything. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE has advice on what you should do. Half of which disagree with each others. But in the end you have to do what feels right to you. I'll be paying on this car longer than I would have the Beetle, but its brand new with no problems and its a consumer reports best bet. The Beetle however was WORST bet. Remember that if you are ever considering one. The coolness after a while does not outweigh the issues. Sorry VW, you are cool but that's it.

So are you just so annoyed I haven't revealed what it is yet?
Well I traded this:

For this:

It's an '06 Honda Civic LX. Not the fanciest version, but more than adequate. Its so fun to drive. I just zoomed all over today. Now I am breathing a sigh of relief that the ordeal is over and a decision is made.

What to do... What to do?!

So I love the Beetle... Half the time. The rest of the time I get annoyed at its little electrical blips, and maintenance. Plus I still have a lot of debt. A lot of which I reinvested in this car recently to get a better rate. I'm not Ms Shopaholic for nothing! So I had the fleeting thought this weekend of selling it, and buying a cheaper car. It could get me out of a nice chunk of debt. Today I shopped around a bit online and found that I could probably sell it for a nice price because its a diesel and everyone wants better mileage right now. And that's another think I don't want to do, go through selling it and having people I don't know poke around and look at it.

So I am praying about it. I'd love to buy a house some day and I might just have to bite the bullet and drive a car not as cool as the Beetle for a few years if it will help. But I also don't want to trade out for a car that won't be reliable or still somewhat nice to drive. I guess part of getting older is realizing you have to make grown up decisions. Cool and fun is not the same as fiscally responsible. Then to tempt me today I saw a fantastic Audi TT on my works classifieds today for only $15k. That's CHEAP, but really I wouldn't be doing anything but trading one car for another at that point.

Any advice? Moral support?

Lots of Catching Up

So I have been very remiss this summer in blogging. I find that since the computer is now in my bedroom away from the living area I hardly ever go online. Plus I've been getting out a lot at night walking the beautiful neighborhood so I'm not even around. So I thought I'd catch people up.

I went to my 10 year high school reunion last weekend. TEN YEARS!!!! I can definitely believe its been that long, but I don't like the reminder that I'm aging at an unstoppable rate. Well I didn't want to go. You can barely drag me to functions at current school/work environments let alone force me to go backwards to one from my past. The only way I ever got to prom was when my friends intervened and found me a date! But my dear friend Meagan was planning it so I felt I really wanted to support her and see how it went.

The first night was a open gathering at the one local "cool" bar in our tiny town. I'd say this was my favorite night because everyone was just dropping in and out and mingling. Plus it was the night with the first sightings of each other. It was great to see some of my former school friends and see what they were up too. It was surprising where some had ended up. Still living in the same town, or moved back. Some had gone on to do crazy things. I was surprised at how many people came. I thought it would be a much smaller number.

But after that night I would have been just fine not seeing them all again. Is that sad? It seemed we weren't quite grown up (aka people still getting wasted because they could), but we still aren't extremely young. And people acting like the best of friends but having not seen each other in YEARS! It was surreal. That was my word for the whole weekend. Surreal. Night number two was more formal at a local hotel ballroom (imagine a 1980's hotel ballroom and you've got it). By night number two I didn't really have much more to say. I did talk to a few people I hadn't the night before, but mostly I was ready to go home at 8.

I was pleasantly surprised by a few people who actually talked with me a while who had NEVER really talked to me in high school. One guy I'd played with many times in elementary school and never talked to in high school. I totally enjoyed talking with him for a while though. Some very funny encounters too... The guy who looked 45 with a mustache, not 28! What was up with that? Was it worthwhile to go? Yes, I'd say so. It was nice to have my curiosity quenched on what had happened to people.