Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Shiny and New

Day 2 of car shopping was MUCH easier than the first for sure! Big Mike picked me up and I was greeted by a curmudgeon. He was gloomy and seemed a little pissed so I sat in silence while we drove to the dealership.

The beaut of a mitsu that the car guy talked of was anything but.  It felt like a tin can and going over 60 mph on the highway is a feat one should probably sign a release for. After about 3 minutes I had already discounted the car and had moved onto a 2001 Cadillac catera. 

I have this fantastic client who's fiance owns a car dealership; since she is so fantastic and he's a nice guy I decided to give it a shot.  THANK GOD I DID! the car was hands down the nicest we've seen for the price we want. And after a little negotiation, we landed the car! I applied for financing (which I'll be denied most likely) but after some familial negotiation, we came to an agreement and I will hopefully be the owner of an old school classic!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The joys of car shopping

One of the first steps into adult-hood for me will be buying my first car by myself.  I've owned my 98 Olds Intrigue since I was 16 and she has been there through thick and thin.  Currently we're at the thin part of our relationship; every part of her is broken or dying and there is no hope of a return.  I've been putting off car shopping for months now, taking my dad's advice to drive her into the ground so to save as much possible.

Last week must have been the ground because after I took a test at my satellite campus the engine wouldn't turn.  I made a promise to myself not to put anymore money into the succubus I call my car so that was it. My tax return sits idly waiting for an impulse buy so I decided it should go to a shiny new car!

Like any over eager shopper, I started my search by making my budget at $10,000.  The cars were definitely shiny and almost new.  I found a BEAU-tiful 2007 Nissan Altima that met all of my needs.  But the bank seems to think differently, I got to the dealership today to be greeted by your run of the mill salesman who was wouldn't answer direct questions and pulled the puppy dog sale on me.  Needless to say my dad (Big Mike we'll call him) and I weren't impressed and Big Mike gave him a piece of his mind.  So naturally we left, and ate lunch, then test drove a station wagon (eek!), then went to see a Saturn that was getting work done.  The day started to feel REALLY long when another slimy car dealer insisted his brakes were fine when they CLEARLY weren't.  We obviously decided to throw in the towel for the day and keep looking. 

At the end of the day I'd rather not fully embrace my independence because Big Mike will always be there to duke it up for you :-)

Friday, February 11, 2011

Giving a Counter-Culture idea a Try

So we're all worried about the environment right? Well I hope we all are because this weather sucks and I blame the 80's for it's use of aerosol hairspray causing a hole in the ozone layer :-) But in all seriousness there are a lot of things one can do to reduce their carbon footprint.

I try to recycle, turn lights off when I leave the room, do full loads of laundry etc etc. But one thing I've never really embraced is the showering less/using alternative products movement. And quite honestly this new showering routine I'll touch on has nothing to do with the environment.

I have gotten so sick of buying expensive hair products and never being fully satisfied with the finished product. So after doing very little research,  I came across a blog simplemom where she discussed her use, or lack there of, shampoo/conditioner.  So after months of revisiting said website I decided "hell why not!"

Today was day one of going "poo-free" and I would be lying if I said I loved it. My hair is already a little oily and although it looks clean it feels heavy and it's not as shiny as it is when I use the usual suspects.  But as all of my reading mentioned, it takes a little while for your hair to get back to whatever its supposed to be like. Three days seems like a good enough amount of time to decide if this is what I want, and once I figure out how to upload pictures I'll add examples of what my head is looking like right now lol

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

In the Beginning...

So I had a Julie Powell moment well maybe moment(s) and after months of reading friend's witty, fun blogs and losing my favorite blog(ish) site- Lemondrop I decided that I'd like to join the ranks of narcissists alike and write about myself incessantly :-)

I sat here for a long time thinking about what I could write about, what I could contribute. I thought about where I work and I'm not as stylish as I'd like to think. Then school; I am so over school that I don't want to devote anything more to it. Then I thought about how I, at 23 years old, am still living in my childhood bedroom. Which let's be honest isn't that rare in today's economy.  But it still sucks and rocks and fulfills every other human emotion one could feel.  So that's the genesis of this blog and for the next 8 months I plan on chronicling the last part of my "childhood".