Holly and I have reached our TWO-MONTH wedding anniversary! Yay! We celebrated our one-month anny by going to Chicago to attend a conference and see the broadway musical Wicked (okay, so the musical was Holly’s birthday present…either way….

For our two-month anny TODAY, we…uh…we bought a new car…an ’07 Pontiac Vibe!





We traded in the Scion (which I’ll get to later), so we could both have a vehicle to drive (Holly despised the Scion—it had a manual tranny and is a “sports” car—it’s technically a "sports compact car" ). The Vibe has an auto tranny, four doors, a cargo rack, hatchback, better gas mileage, better warranties, and lower insurance costs. We were in a toss-up between the Vibe and the Toyota Matrix, so we left our decision up to the local dealers and how well they would take care of us. And the GM dealers ended up taking better care of us…they were very sincere in saying “[we] didn’t just buy a vehicle; [we] bought a dealership.” They pursued us and hooked us up with some great offers (the GM “liquidators” were on-site to help rid them of the remaining ’07 stock), and Holly’s grandfather is a former GM employee, so we got that discount too (thanks Grandpa!).

Turns out we’re benefiting across the board because the Vibe is “a corporate twin of the Toyota Matrix…built at the NUMMI plant, a joint GM-Toyota facility in Fremont, California, [which] means . . . the Vibe has reliable Toyota genes and will likely provide years of dependable service.” After owning the Scion and getting a first-hand understanding of the reliability of a Toyota vehicle, I was, for a time, poised into getting another Toyota and putting the Vibe in a distant second place. But we ended up with the Vibe, and we hope GOD has blessed that decision.

Now…about trading in the Scion…there is an undeniable bond between man and vehicle that had to be severed today…her name was Jannie [JAY-nee]--(all my cars had names that end with “ie”). It was an inevitable sacrifice for my family…one of many that, I’m sure, will soon follow this one. Just so y'all know...I may be entering a state mourning…Holly is considering the purchase of sackcloth and ashes, and I may be shaving my head…okay, just kidding. But really…