Congratulations it's a green!

We woke up bright and early to go car shopping today. Dad had the paper and we looked at the cheap ads and then we visited the first dealer. On the way we stopped to visit dan at the caffeine factory. I used the power of the internet when we got lost on the way there, and felt so proud of my little cell phone. Steph really married a nerd. The guy on the first lot was really nice, but the only cars they had with the options we wanted were the WRONG color. So we went to the next dealership, it turned out to be farther away than we expected, and Steph had to pee quite badly by the time we got there.

They had an accent that we wanted to try, but the elantras they had were actually a lower price with power windows, doors, cruise, and remote entry. The new accent comes with ABS brakes standard, but that was the only reason to even consider it. In the end, Stephanie really wanted the green or the red, and we couldn't find a dealer with the red, and the green was only in the elantra, and the elantra was cheaper, so DEAL!

The actual deal took nearly 4 hours, we went to lunch, and came back and took a tour, talked with the salesman, and generally just chilled. It wasn't too excruciating, because at the end of the waiting there's a NEW CAR! Steph drove off the lot with a big grin on her face. She's grinning right now just thinking about it. She tested out the AC as high as it could go, and tested the brakes in heavy portland traffic. She anxiously wanted to call her family and tell them, but i won't let her call and drive when I'm in the car. Plus when I warned about someone crashing into her she got quite superstitious. It's now her baby.

We went to a fantastic birthday dinner for my mom at Boccelli's in Gresham. They have fantastic pasta. I had the Gnocchi, and Stephanie had the Ravioli with a sun dried tomato cream sauce. It was the first time in about 2 years since all of us kids and spouses and grandkid have been together at the same place and time. I think mom was pleased enough to explode.

Erik and Dan had to go to Midas in the middle of dinner because the doodyheads kept his car 6 hours past when they said it would be ready and if he didn't pick it up they were going to lock it up overnight. It made for a fun moment of gritching about mechanics, and Midas in particular. We all seem to have a bad story about Midas, I wonder if that counts as a consumer warning?

Christi and Bryan went to a wedding after dinner and the rest of us went up to mom's house and just hung out and talked. It was fun. Christi and Bryan just got home and now I'm heading to bed.

Good night internet.