Productive saturday.

So Tim and I are both guilty of getting these crazy ideas every once in a while. 3 months ago I had the crazy idea to get a puppy. Next thing you know, we are flying to Idaho and then back... with a 12 week old boxer and are absolutely, totally unprepared for puppy-parenting.

The other day Tim says to me, "So, I think that we should get a new car. Trade in the FJ."

My response, "HUH?!"

We JUST got that car a year and a half ago and it is a sweet ride. I mean, true, it gets horrible gas mileage and is the one part of our life that is completely opposite of environmentally friendly and it would be perfect for off roading which we don't really do. And Tim has an hour long commute each way thus enhancing it's crappy gas mileage BUT STILL. It's just a cool car.

So I was shocked.

And then he dropped an even bigger bomb: "I want to look at the new 2010 prius."

WHAT?! You're looking at trading in a cool SUV for a prius? Seriously? Granted the prius is very environmentally friendly but there is also a huge stigma attached which I was shocked that he wanted to associate with.

But, being the nice wife that I am, I went along with it, to humor him. Or so I thought. We went to the Toyota dealer where we got the FJ and test drove a new 2010 prius. I'm not even kidding you, these cars are AMAZING. They have an eco mode, an electric mode, and a power mode if you need it. And honestly, it probably has more space than the FJ. It has some zip too. And the new models just look cool. Plus I am a sucker for the "made from all sustainable materials" thing. And that's not even mentioning the 600 miles it gets per tank of gas. I was completely and totally blown away.

Apparently a lot of people are too. To get one, you have to put it on order. They are in pretty high demand especially in Washington because there is a law in place that says that you don't have to pay sales tax if you have the car before July 31 (only on the prius, no other car). On a $30K car, 10% sales tax- it's a pretty big chunk of money.

We were both so impressed, we decided to get one. It just makes sense in so many ways. Lucky for us, there was a car on route that would get to us before July 31 (thus the no sales tax). It had everything we wanted minus the sun roof- navigation, gray, bigger wheels, etc. I know I suck at explaining car stuff but it was one step under the highest package (which included the sun roof). We were happy. So this new little baby will be here in a few weeks.

Later in the day we decided to go on a hike and to the beach. We were talking about eco-duncan (as we are calling the new prius) and also about Winston (my 2005 mini cooper). Winston is almost at 70,000 miles and I have had him for 5 years. We were talking about how we will need to fix several thing on him in the next several months: his brakes are squeaking (new brakes/pads); he is due for a new clutch; needs a new windshield (it's cracked); needs a detail desperately.

Once we started adding everything up, we started thinking, holy crap. That is going to be thousands of dollars. We went home and jumped on the mini website (as well as Kelly blue book). Old Winston is not worth as much as we thought he would be. And the new Winston's are pretty cool.

Next thing we know, we are driving down south to the mini dealer and are ordering a new mini for me. Again, it just makes sense and I'm not sure why I didn't do this sooner. The old mini is just going to continue to depreciate and we are going to have to throw so much money into it. Better to trade it in now and get as much as we can out of it and get a new car in return. Plus, by doing this, we actually save on monthly payments especially considering how much we would have to put into repairs.

So, I got a new "spicy" Winston. He will be red with a black top and I am going to tint the windows. He has the sport package, the premium package, and the cold weather package along with the souped up stereo system, blue tooth, ipod adapter, etc. Basically everything but the navigation which looks stupid in the minis because it takes up the whole circle in the middle of the dash which I think detracts from the authenticity of the mini. It basically has everything I couldn't afford 5 years ago including the dual pane sunroof which I am probably most excited about.

He is being built and will be here from England in a couple of months... now hopefully old Winston can just hang on until then. His brakes are not sounding too good....

Needless to say, it was a very exciting day. Tim and I are so spontaneous but, again, everything we did today just makes sense for us. Not to mention, it will just be fun to have two new cars!