Life is a Highway, I Wanna Ride It All Night Long

SO. Something very exciting happened to the Queen this week. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter or spoke to me since Monday, you most likely know about it already, since I’ve been very excited and chattering nonstop about it every since :)

I GOT A NEW CAR!!!

More on that in a sec. For a minute I need to reminisce about my old car. When my back was turned and my father was distracting me, the car salesman quickly drove her away. I didn’t even get to say goodbye :(

I will miss the old car. I had it for 8 long years and loved every minute of it. Shortly after I got the Infiniti QX4, they stopped making it, so it was fairly rare to see another one on the road (which made me feel super special). And no matter where I was - Tucson or LA, city or valley, driving on the freeway or parked in a parking lot somewhere - I got calls all the time from people who recognized my little SUV with the HUGE Arizona A on the back of it. “I SEE YOU!” I guess you could say it was my signature :) I’m already looking into getting one for the new car!

That car and I went through some good times. I remember the day I got it -- it was also the day I bought the new Jimmy Eat World CD and started dating my high school boyfriend! (Crazy what you remember. I love the car way more than I loved the boyfriend.) I drove it to work at summer camp, to friends houses, to dates and errands and restaurants and road trips to Ojai and Palm Springs and Newport Beach.

And then I went off to college and left it behind. When I was having my “I’M SO HOMESICK COME GET ME NOW I HATE THIS PLACE” nervous breakdown/temper tantrum those first few months at school, my parents asked me what would make me feel better, more at home in Tucson. And the first thing out of my mouth? “My car.”

And so the little QX4 came to join me in the desert, and for four years, I happily drove it all around the Tuc. Freshman year, I was one of the only ones who had a car in the dorms, and so I gave people rides - to class, to the supermarket, to sorority chapter meetings every Monday night. Sophomore and junior year, when I lived in AEPHI, you could usually find that car stuffed with no less than eight of my best friends, forever on our way to Beyond Bread or Oreganos for food and fun. Senior year, I couldn’t believe my luck -- I was one of TWELVE lucky people to get a personal parking spot at Hillel, conveniently located five feet away from campus and my sorority house, so I once again found myself giving rides to campus -- this time, from my friends and roommates, who all lived off campus from me.

But times change. People change. Things change. Sometimes, for the better :)

So yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have a new car - a gorgeous Audi Q5 SUV! It has leather seats and the most ginormous moon roof I have ever seen and a rear camera so I won’t smash into things behind me and BEST OF ALL, a navigation system so I won’t have to call my dad every five minutes confessing that I am once again, lost and in need of directions.

It’s pretty, isn’t it? Can’t wait to see what adventures we’re gonna have!