I bought a car!

I'm the proud new owner of a 2003 white Toyota Matrix, all-wheel drive, power everything, decent stereo with a CD AND tape player, and my first car with air conditioning. Interestingly it was the first car I looked at on Craigslist four weeks ago and the dealership just couldn’t move it (since they seem to open only when it pleases them and don’t return calls, go figure) so I was able to get a great price on it and so far it runs smooth as butter. I had made an offer on a 2005 at another dealership but they didn’t come down low enough and I’m grateful because the 2003 actually drives a lot tighter and I like it more in general.

When I got in the car for the first time as its owner and turned it on, Kube 93 was playing. The song “Shot Caller” by L’il Troy started immediately and its first line I found very appropriate: “Wanna be a baller.” That’s me. Then I switched to 101.5 and “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics came on, also appropriate! It’s the first time in my life that I’ve had what could be considered a “nice” car and it’s overall exciting to just have a car at all after several years without one. Here's the super-clean interior:

The first snafus include a horn that doesn’t honk and a keyless entry that doesn’t work, but I’m hoping they are simple fuse and battery replacements and all will be well and it won’t need anything else, except new tires in a few months which I’m already anticipating. Here's my dad trying to fix the horn:

Confidential to anyone who needs car insurance: Geico is the absolute BEST. I had them before and their customer service is second to none. Even after a minor accident (my only one ever, knock on wood) my rate didn’t go up. This time I have full coverage of everything you can think of and I’m paying just $417 for 6 months. Doesn’t get better than that, and if it does I’d question the policy!

In other news, it's after midnight so today is my sister Tessa's birthday. In her honor, here is Cali, our prized family Westie who gave us a bit of a health scare this week but is back to her happy, barky, jumpy self. (How do we know? She comes running at the sound of Redi-whip.) Happy birthday Tess!