Spring Fever: Car Wash edition

I’ll admit, I caught the bug known as Spring Fever.  When I went to put shoes on this morning I reached for my Fuggs (fake+Uggs) first, but then it hit me….it’s 60° IN MARCH.  So my hand fell from the Fuggs and to my delight found my J Crew flamingo flip flops.  I think you should try to say that 5 times fast…go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done? Good.  So I slipped on the flops and smiled as my flower pedicured toes peeked out, and I was off to Target.  I had to get the girlie things: a windshield wiper, dog food, Jet Dry, you know, the usual.  After 30 minutes flip flopping around Tarshay I was walking to my car.  When I got to where I parked some heathen had taken my black Jeep and replaced it with a dingy grey one.  It was amazing, they had the same bumper sticker and crystal thingy hanging from their rear view, what a small world.  Then I realized I was a brunette, not blond and that this WAS my black Jeep only covered in a hazy sheen of winter salt.

So let’s recap, it’s 60 and sunny, I’m wearing flip flops and I’m on a pseudo retail high, why not spend more money?  Off I go to the car wash.  Shockingly, I has the same idea as about 15 other people.  But I waited patiently.  I was the only car that didn’t need to do a 3 point turn to get into the little track thingies that pull you through Washland (of this I am very proud).  I paid my $9 (but remember I idled for a few minutes so it really cost ~$12) for 72 seconds of car bubble bath and realized I’m in the wrong business.  If you think about it, Mr. Scrub a Dub makes as much on a sunny day as a lawyer gets normally, and they put up with half the crap.  I bet all you lawyers out there are thinking, “MAN, don’t I feel silly with my  $100,000 worth of debt, corner office and fancy diploma.”  We’re here for you, it’s going to be OK.

As I was letting my baby air dry, aka driving home, I felt a twinge of guilt from that little inside voice that I spent $9 on a car wash when there are probably people in a third world country that could use that money to feed themselves for a month.  So I did what any sane person would do, headed over to Dunkin Donuts and drowned that pesky little voice with a medium iced tea!  😉

I don’t care what you say…I love my SUV

My Jeep and I have had disagreements in the past (way too many to mention here), but when it snows here all those tough times melt away (pun intended).

Let me give you some back story. My first car was a tiny piece of plastic in the shape of a Ford Escort.  If there was a morning dew on the pavement, I would fishtail and soft summer breeze would push me around don’t even get me started on the vibrating steering wheel whenever I accelerated over 60mph.

When the Escort finally died, I splurged on a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Please keep in mind that this was 2006, before the pocket sized Smart cars and skyrocketing gas prices. I had contemplated a hybrid, but didn’t think it would pay off.  (Boy was I off on that one!) But I got the big bad Jeep by convincing myself it would be perfect to haul around the two pups.  (No sir, I don’t care how much the moonroof and heated seats cost-the dogs NEED them…yeah, ok)

Let me tell you, when I looked out the window this morning and saw th 9″ of snow, I was like a little kid.  I knew I would be able to venture out when all of those Sedan-folk were stuck inside their homes pining at the thought of DD coffee.  And venture I did.  The thing that got under my skin was when one of those “sedan-folk” tried to drive and didn’t go over 15mph for fear of skidding.   Even WORSE is when SUV drivers don’t know how to drive in the snow!  To own an SUV you must show that you are capable of driving under all conditions, if you can’t you get a conditional license that stops you from driving when it rains/snows/sleets/etc.

Am I concerned about killing the Ozone and leaving a big-honkin’ Carbon footprint, sure.  Is it crossing my mind when I am crusing the deserted snow covered streets on my way to a Toasted Almond iced coffee extra light with skim…not so much!