A Fresh Start!

Yesterday we went out and bought me a new car. I literally couldn't sleep the night before; I was like a kid on Christmas--too excited! You may remember me posting the other day that I had wanted the Nissan Cube for forever--and, well, I didn't get that. I got something BETTER! I had test driven the Cube before, and it honestly didn't drive amazingly. Don't get me wrong--it drove fine and I still wanted that car, but it was kind of whatever. The Kia Soul is the same type of car as the Cube; not a sedan, not an SUV--kind of an 'in between.' I thought that I didn't like Souls--I thought they were cute in the commercial with the hamsters, but when I saw them in person I thought they were weird looking. Until Tuesday night. I had to run to Hobby Lobby, and I ended up parking next to a Soul. Without knowing what it was, my first thought was 'whoa, that car is so cute!' ...and then I saw what it was. I laughed to myself, then called Joe and told him that I wanted to look at these cars.

I had planned on looking at the Kia Sorrento and the Kia Sportage yesterday; the Sportage was about the same size as my old car (Infiniti QX4) and the Sportage was just a little bit bigger and offered a third row. Once I went home Tuesday night and pulled up all the info on the Souls, I knew that I wanted to go full-force with this car. 

We looked at the different options each Soul offered; they have 3 different models: Basic, Plus, and Exclaim (Exclaim being the highest price Soul). After looking at all of the options, we decided that I was going to get the Exclaim (honestly, the deciding factor was the interior fabric on the seats--you'll see why). I wanted it in grey, and luckily the dealership had ONE in stock. 

So yesterday I drove up to Irvine to buy my car. You might remember me saying that Joe got a new car last Friday. Since he works up in Irvine, he bought his car from this dealership. They gave him a great price for his trade in, and offered him a CRAZY LOW APR %. When you find a great thing, you stick with it ;). (By the way, little hint here: if you're planning on trading in your car and want an accurate guesstimate on how much the dealership will give you for it, go to www.edmunds.com. Apparently that's the site the dealerships use, and it was almost dead-on accurate with what they offered us for our cars).

So I get to the dealership and the car literally is straight off of the truck; plastic all over it, everything brand new. I was in love. I've never bought a brand-new car before; I've only ever had "new used" or just used, haha. There's something special about buying a car that has 5 miles on it :)). I hopped in and took it for a test drive--and let me just say one thing: this car has some POWER!

Okay, okay--you get it: I'm obsessed with my new car. Now lets get to the pictures! She's pretty on the outside, but she's REALLY pretty on the inside <3

My new baby! Because we got the top model, this car came with rims, a sunroof, car-color door handles, bumpers and mirrors, blinkers on the mirrors, and tinted windows. 

Bluetooth with steering wheel-mounted phone controls, radio controls, and cruise control. I'm most excited about the Bluetooth.  If my phone weren't practically dead last night while I sat in traffic, I would have been calling everyone. 

I love the black-and-tan interior. It just looks fancy. Note: see that speaker in the bottom right of the picture? That, along with the one on the drivers side, lights up in tons of different colors; I can switch it from transitioning colors slowly, or have it match the music and pulsate to the beat. Party in my car!! 

This, THIS is what I'm most excited about. Look how pretty that looks! That is touch screen and I can do everything from there. I have Sirius Radio, HD Radio, and UVO. I LOVE the UVO. I can turn Pandora on on my phone, and it'll sync to my radio without any cables--so cool. I also have a jukebox feature; say Joe and I buy a CD that we want to share. I can pop it in my car and rip it to my stereo, then give him the CD. It'll save the CD in my car without it actually being in there--SO cool. Oh yeah: that screen is also a backup camera. I LOVE that. I swear I'm constantly asking Joe "do I have room?" and now I don't have to wonder; I can see it in plain view. 

And here is the deciding factor that pushed us to get the highest model of this car: the Houndstooth seats. We LOVE how this looks--I'm kinda obsessed with looking at it :)) 

My pretty baby <3. I need to get a cute license plate frame or something! And of course a Red Sox sticker, along with a New Orleans Saints sticker. Then I'll be set! 

I swear I'm fighting the urge to pack the kids up in the car and just drive around the neighborhood. I probably wont do it.. but I might. Okay, I wont. Question: how do you keep a car clean when you have kids? I know the obvious; I never let my kids eat/drink in my cars (new or not) anyways, and if any toys are brought into the car for the drive, they have to be taken out as soon as we get home. However, there are already little tiny fingerprints all over my windows. Any remedies to keep them off? Ugh, I know--probably not.

Thanks for letting me share my excitement with you--I had to show someone! <3