Tell her what she's won, Johnny...

A NEW CAR!!!!! That's right, my birthday came a few weeks early in the form of a new (to me) car! I have been wanting a Mini Cooper since I saw the one my friends in Atlanta bought one brand new in 2005. I have said since then that I wanted my next car to be a Mini Cooper. They are just so damn cute!!!!

We have been looking at getting me one at the end of the summer this year, but fate intervened. With the birth of their first child last year, those same friends in Atlanta finally made the very painful decision to sell the Mini. It's very hard to get the car seat in and out of it, and if you have ever seen the "backseat", you would understand. Let's just say the the "Friend price" was to good to resist.

We crunched some numbers, and realized that hey, this just might be possible. A call to the bank, and one thing led to another, and last Saturday we went up to Atlanta for the child's first birthday party, and to pick up my new car.

Now for the details. It is a 2005 Mini Cooper S, and yes, the S stands for Supercharged. No slow cars allowed in Big Dave's Hot Rod Speed Shop! The name of the color from the factory is Purple Haze Metallic, and the roof and the mirrors are black. 43,000 miles, one owner, garage kept, and more options than any other car I have ever seen. The only thing it doesn't have that the dealer offered that year is a Navigation system. Other than that it has it all. AND, it's a 6 speed manual transmission!

Now here's a very important part to the story. Before Sunday, I didn't know how to drive a stick shift. That's right kids, I bought a car that I couldn't drive home.

But, Sunday was my first lesson and I got the "Intensive Training/Boot Camp" with Drill Sgt. Sexton. I started in a parking lot doing stop and gos and by the end of the day I was driving down country roads. I even did hill training.

Monday night was lesson 2, and that was traffic training. By the end of the session, Drill Sgt. Sexton and I both agreed that I was okay to drive to work the next day.

Tuesday I drove the Mini all the way in to work, with D riding co-pilot. He decided not to ride, so we carpooled.

Today was my first completely solo driving day. I drove all the way in to work, and then to school, and then to dinner, and back home again all by myself!!!

Now, granted, I'm still getting used to everything. It will take a little while before I'm a pro, but in general, I'm doing pretty damn good!!!

And just in case you couldn't tell, I LOVE IT!!!!!