and chris is a very happy boy

After months and months of debating and obsessing and thinking and talking and yes, more obsessing...Chris finally decided what car he wanted to get! He had it narrowed down to a few choices, and while in St. Louis for Thanksgiving, he was able to test drive them all. And then he was sold...on one that really hadn't been in the running at all!

A Lexus IS 350.

He almost bought one while we were in STL, but we didn't have his trade-in with us. Plus, we'd have to drive two cars thirteen hours back home. He wanted the black car with the light tan interior. Very sharp. Decided to just get one in Texas...and then, once we got here, found out that black with tan interior is very hard to come by in Texas. Who knew??? He got discouraged, and talked with multiple dealers. There were none in Texas the color he wanted, and none with all the features he wanted. Except for one...a "tungston pearl" with black interior. We weren't sure what exactly that color meant, but we thought it might be similar to my pearly white Murano. He decided that he could live with that color combo, and worked through email and phone calls with a very nice guy, to work out a fabulous deal. To Dallas we were headed!! Chris' dream car was now within reach!

Thursday, he cleaned the inside from top to bottom. Friday, we headed to the car wash to get the exterior all cleaned up. Oops.

Ever heard of Murphy's Law?? Here's a definition for you: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way.

Yep. There was a piece on the back of Chris' Explorer that was a bit loose...and the extreme power of the dryer in the car wash sucked that piece right off!!! Chris was royally ticked off! How unbelievable is that?? Chris had told the sales guy all about the car, and it was under good faith that we would deliver a car just as he described it. What lousy luck.

Saturday morning, we got up early, and were on the road to Dallas by 8:30. Cruising along, about 30 minutes from the dealership...you guessed it. Murphy's Law...AGAIN. This brings up another familiar saying...bad thing happen in threes. On the highway, a big truck flew past us, and flipped up a big rock...and it slammed into the windshied with such force that it left a quarter-sized chip. Many curse words filled the Explorer. Six years of owning the Explorer, and there was not one single chip in that windshield...until now! Within 24 hours of our other bad thing. We were really nervous about talking to the sales guy now...how unlikely was our story, that two such major things could happen within 17 hours of trading it in?? We were terrified to drive the rest of the way...what if that fabled "third bad thing" happened before we could get to the dealership??? Luckily we made it with no other mishaps. Informed the sales guy right away what happened. To make a long story a bit shorter, they simply adjusted the price of the trade-in (and it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.) We looked over the new car, met with the financing guy, and had to wait for our sales guy to get done with his other client. Since we had to wait, he even offered to buy us lunch at their little deli in the dealership. I thought that was very nice of him. We enjoyed a greek salad with tuna (me) and a big club sandwich (Chris)...and when he was through, he went through the basics of the car with us.

This car has everything. I bet it could even drive itself! :) It's sporty and classy and Chris is over the moon with happiness! Without further ado, here are some pics!! :)

I know he will enjoy this...