A Love Story...
So the last month of my life has been wrapped up with work...and another big new thing.
About 4 weeks ago my husband, Jason, sent me an email expressing his interest in purchasing a new car for himself. He has a longer drive to work and his car kept having issues and didn't get the best gas mileage. At first I was a little upset that he had done a lot of research and stuff without cluing me in to his intent but it didn't take me long to agree with him that he could use a new car and that his research was accurate and worthwhile. He had figured out how to afford it and everything so I said ok. He was pretty sure that he wanted a 2008 Honda Fit Sport but wanted to test drive one to make sure that he (all 6'6" of him) would FIT in the Fit.
The more I thought about it and read about them, I decided that *I* wanted a new car too...and would it be cool to get TWO new cars? (Not the *most* responsible, but definitely fun.) So I put in my request for funding and started calling around to Honda dealers to see what they had in stock and when we could get a test drive. We chose Peninsula Honda in Hampton (an hour from our house) because they had both colors that we wanted in stock. Jason chose the Blackberry Pearl and I chose the Vivid Blue Pearl. A few days later we headed down to Hampton and test drove a stick shift for Jason and a manual for me. He DID fit and we decided that we really really liked the Fit Sport. We signed the papers and committed to two cars and then headed home to await our funding checks.
Jason's check came two days or so later and they had said that we could go ahead and pick up both cars. But the morning of the Friday that we were to pick them up, our dealer lady called and said that there had been a little trouble with getting the right color (odd since they were supposed to have it in stock) but that they had the car and there was a little ding on the bumper. Did I want to pick it up for the weekend and then bring it back for them to fix, or have them fix it now and come back and pick it up later. *sigh* "Go ahead and fix it, but we'll still come get Jason's."
On the way down I joked with Jason that "wouldn't it be funny if they were just bluffing about the bumper and everything was ready for us to pick up when we get there?" Thinking that wouldn't be the case. But, lo and behold, we get there and Tina (the dealer lady) announces that the bumper has been repaired and it's all good to go! Hooray! So she leads us past Jason's car to this other car and opens the door and looks very proud of herself but.... "This is the wrong color," I say. "No it's the blue you wanted." She says with a look of concern. "No, this is Tidewater Blue, I wanted Vivid Blue."
"You wanted Vivid Blue?" Her face falls and she still looks confused.
"Yes, Vivid Blue...this is Tidewater Blue...Not the right color." My face falls and I look disappointed.
There's a long awkward pause.
"You wanted the Vivid Blue?" She says as though we're starting to get to the end of a very foggy conversation.
"Yes." I said firmly, knowing full well that that was always the plan and that she had written the correct color on my file in her very own handwriting. I'm starting to grow slightly annoyed.
"But we traded the vivid blue to get this one! And then while it was being transported it was in a crash!"
Of course. Of course it was. She proceeds to show us the totaled car (coincidentally the driver walked away without a scratch, very safe car.) Well, giant bummer and 3 hours later, we drive off in Jason's new cool Blackberry Pearl with a promise that they'll find me the correct color.
A week passes with me calling the dealership regularly to see how they're progressing with finding my car. Tina said there was one in Hagerstown, MD that she was going to go get for me. But they had difficulty getting a return call from THAT dealer. I was the essence of patience. Patient Patient Patient. I called around to see if anyone else had a vivid blue pearl. Turns out that really no one does because it's the end of the car year and the '08 Fit Sports are getting hard to find and I might need to wait and get an '09.
But I WANTED an '08 for several reasons. There were base models available but I WANTED a Sport because they were far superior. More time passed and no one had an automatic vivid blue. So I got Jason to re-teach me how to drive a stick, thinking that would help my chances. I decided I could deal with a stick. I spent another day off calling everywhere within a two hour drive to see if they had anything. They had a silver. yuck. They had black. yuck. They had basics. yuck. They had a USED sport that cost $2000 more than a new sport. what the heck?
I finally get back in touch with Tina (she became not very good at returning phone calls) and told her that I was able to drive a stick. All that she had was a black basic, a vivid blue basic, and a Blaze Orange Metallic Auto Sport.
Blaze Orange. So I gave a lot of thought to whether or not I was a "Blaze Orange" kinda girl. It was hard to determine the actual color from the website...but it was pretty much the last Honda Fit Sport in a three state radius. I decided to drive down to look at it and if I didn't like it, I'd just hold out for 2009 and deal with it. I called Tina and told her I was coming. I got up early on a day that I had PM duty and drove down to Hampton to see the car. I waited 20 minutes for Tina to get there. I tried to tell myself that it was ok to not like the Orange and to not talk myself into it if I really didn't like it. Tina arrived and took me out back, where the car was just coming out of the Car Wash.
The early morning sun was shining and it glinted off of the water droplets on the prettiest color of coppery orange that I'd ever seen....
And I fell in love.
Turns out I AM a Blaze Orange kinda girl. I christened her "Anne Shirley" and she looks great sitting next to Jason's Blackberry Pearl "Bubba P." I drove her off the lot with 6 miles on her. It's a GREAT car and I love it. I do mean LOVE it. I think about just sitting in it. I look forward to driving it. It's great. I've had her for a week and half now. After her first fill up I got 35.8 miles per gallon...and she's not even really broken in yet. I should be getting over 40 soon!
And that's the rather long story of what's been going on in my life....I'll do another post for other stuff because this one is already way long. But there you go...an update.
Thanks for reading!
About 4 weeks ago my husband, Jason, sent me an email expressing his interest in purchasing a new car for himself. He has a longer drive to work and his car kept having issues and didn't get the best gas mileage. At first I was a little upset that he had done a lot of research and stuff without cluing me in to his intent but it didn't take me long to agree with him that he could use a new car and that his research was accurate and worthwhile. He had figured out how to afford it and everything so I said ok. He was pretty sure that he wanted a 2008 Honda Fit Sport but wanted to test drive one to make sure that he (all 6'6" of him) would FIT in the Fit.
The more I thought about it and read about them, I decided that *I* wanted a new car too...and would it be cool to get TWO new cars? (Not the *most* responsible, but definitely fun.) So I put in my request for funding and started calling around to Honda dealers to see what they had in stock and when we could get a test drive. We chose Peninsula Honda in Hampton (an hour from our house) because they had both colors that we wanted in stock. Jason chose the Blackberry Pearl and I chose the Vivid Blue Pearl. A few days later we headed down to Hampton and test drove a stick shift for Jason and a manual for me. He DID fit and we decided that we really really liked the Fit Sport. We signed the papers and committed to two cars and then headed home to await our funding checks.
Jason's check came two days or so later and they had said that we could go ahead and pick up both cars. But the morning of the Friday that we were to pick them up, our dealer lady called and said that there had been a little trouble with getting the right color (odd since they were supposed to have it in stock) but that they had the car and there was a little ding on the bumper. Did I want to pick it up for the weekend and then bring it back for them to fix, or have them fix it now and come back and pick it up later. *sigh* "Go ahead and fix it, but we'll still come get Jason's."
On the way down I joked with Jason that "wouldn't it be funny if they were just bluffing about the bumper and everything was ready for us to pick up when we get there?" Thinking that wouldn't be the case. But, lo and behold, we get there and Tina (the dealer lady) announces that the bumper has been repaired and it's all good to go! Hooray! So she leads us past Jason's car to this other car and opens the door and looks very proud of herself but.... "This is the wrong color," I say. "No it's the blue you wanted." She says with a look of concern. "No, this is Tidewater Blue, I wanted Vivid Blue."
"You wanted Vivid Blue?" Her face falls and she still looks confused.
"Yes, Vivid Blue...this is Tidewater Blue...Not the right color." My face falls and I look disappointed.
There's a long awkward pause.
"You wanted the Vivid Blue?" She says as though we're starting to get to the end of a very foggy conversation.
"Yes." I said firmly, knowing full well that that was always the plan and that she had written the correct color on my file in her very own handwriting. I'm starting to grow slightly annoyed.
"But we traded the vivid blue to get this one! And then while it was being transported it was in a crash!"
Of course. Of course it was. She proceeds to show us the totaled car (coincidentally the driver walked away without a scratch, very safe car.) Well, giant bummer and 3 hours later, we drive off in Jason's new cool Blackberry Pearl with a promise that they'll find me the correct color.
A week passes with me calling the dealership regularly to see how they're progressing with finding my car. Tina said there was one in Hagerstown, MD that she was going to go get for me. But they had difficulty getting a return call from THAT dealer. I was the essence of patience. Patient Patient Patient. I called around to see if anyone else had a vivid blue pearl. Turns out that really no one does because it's the end of the car year and the '08 Fit Sports are getting hard to find and I might need to wait and get an '09.
But I WANTED an '08 for several reasons. There were base models available but I WANTED a Sport because they were far superior. More time passed and no one had an automatic vivid blue. So I got Jason to re-teach me how to drive a stick, thinking that would help my chances. I decided I could deal with a stick. I spent another day off calling everywhere within a two hour drive to see if they had anything. They had a silver. yuck. They had black. yuck. They had basics. yuck. They had a USED sport that cost $2000 more than a new sport. what the heck?
I finally get back in touch with Tina (she became not very good at returning phone calls) and told her that I was able to drive a stick. All that she had was a black basic, a vivid blue basic, and a Blaze Orange Metallic Auto Sport.
Blaze Orange. So I gave a lot of thought to whether or not I was a "Blaze Orange" kinda girl. It was hard to determine the actual color from the website...but it was pretty much the last Honda Fit Sport in a three state radius. I decided to drive down to look at it and if I didn't like it, I'd just hold out for 2009 and deal with it. I called Tina and told her I was coming. I got up early on a day that I had PM duty and drove down to Hampton to see the car. I waited 20 minutes for Tina to get there. I tried to tell myself that it was ok to not like the Orange and to not talk myself into it if I really didn't like it. Tina arrived and took me out back, where the car was just coming out of the Car Wash.
The early morning sun was shining and it glinted off of the water droplets on the prettiest color of coppery orange that I'd ever seen....
And I fell in love.
Turns out I AM a Blaze Orange kinda girl. I christened her "Anne Shirley" and she looks great sitting next to Jason's Blackberry Pearl "Bubba P." I drove her off the lot with 6 miles on her. It's a GREAT car and I love it. I do mean LOVE it. I think about just sitting in it. I look forward to driving it. It's great. I've had her for a week and half now. After her first fill up I got 35.8 miles per gallon...and she's not even really broken in yet. I should be getting over 40 soon!
And that's the rather long story of what's been going on in my life....I'll do another post for other stuff because this one is already way long. But there you go...an update.
Thanks for reading!