Hybridalicious

So we finally bought a car. A new car. I've never had a new new car. Even growing up, we've only ever had new used cars. It smells new. It looks new. It has less than 500 miles on it so far. Yesterday a bird pooped on it and I actually cleaned it off with spit and a napkin. It's not a fancy car with all the bells and whistles, but considering our other cars have at 150,000 miles on them, the fact that the windows all work and the antenna goes all the way up are pretty cool features.

We bought a Toyota Prius which, admittedly, makes me feel like I have a right to sit a little higher on my high horse. I feel like I am making that step towards having less of an impact on the environment. In reality, the car really makes sense for our family in just about every way, but I still feel like I can rationalize spending so much money on a new car a little more. We've been averaging 50 miles to the gallon, which is a great improvement over the Jeep (avg. 15 mpg), and the car does have some pretty cool enhancements, like a touch screen display for the radio, climate control, etc., a back-up camera, and a pretty great stereo. And did I mention the new car smell? The car makes annoying errands and driving across town not only tolerable, but enjoyable.

And the greatest part is, Mark and I both love it. It wasn't a purchase that just he wanted or that I thought we needed. We totally agreed on it. So we ride around together and talk about how cool it is and that we couldn't have bought a better car. I even got to surprise Mark with it. Last Saturday Mark was out of town in the Tetons, so I went to the dealership to just talk some financing because grandma came through with a little check that made it all possible. Of course, the dealer wanted to know how he could get me in a car that day. I told him, and he met my offer. So I went ahead and bought the car (Mark not even knowing about grandma's gift) and drove up in it Monday night after he came home. He was thrilled. It was so much fun to be able to do such a big surprise with very little hesitation. Mark's expression was priceless.

Here's our lovely new car. The Prius. You can almost smell it through the picture, can't you?