Unmitigated

Automotive Wish List

I am in the market for a new car. The Chrysler Pacifica I have driven for the last eight years has been very good to me, but I am ready for something smaller, as I rarely have to drive children around anymore. I am also currently getting an average of 19.2 miles per gallon, which could do with LOTS of improvement. 

Husband Styro and I have driven Chryslers or Dodges almost exclusively for nearly twenty years. As a Detroit girl, born and bred, I have always been loyal to "American" cars, which I interpret as automobiles, the profit from which is headed into the coffers of a USA-based corporation.

You know what? I'm not too impressed with corporate America right now. There are a few cars that fit into this category that I was willing to look at...

 Dodge Caliber, starts at $17,380, up to 22/27 mpg

 Ford Focus, starts at $16,500, up to 26/36 mpg

 Chevy Cruze, starts at $16,720, up to 26/36 mpg

Mid-summer, I had a chance to go for a ride in a Nissan Leaf, the new all-electric vehicle, that Nissan was taking on a road tour. It was a fun ride, and gave me a chance to see how completely differently you have to think with an electric vehicle. Currently, they have a range of about 100 miles, so they aren't really practical for me, as the occasional trip to Dayton or Chicago far exceeds the cars limitations. And now that they have caught on, the government isn't subsidizing hybrids anymore, so even the Totyota Prius, which starts at about $22,000, is more than I am willing to pay for transportation.

Anyway, along with the Leaf, Nissan had brought along a Versa, an amazingly-priced little machine with terrific mileage (starts at $10,990, 27/36 mpg). I drove it. It's a great little car, but way too much of a comedown from what I currently drive for me to be happy with it. So I tried this...

 NIssan Sentra, starts at $16,060, 24/31 mpg

Nicer. Still in a reasonable price range to start, but if you add anything at all, it quickly gets up to twenty grand, more than I wanted to spend. 

I gave it a couple days pondering, and decided I wanted to look at higher-end vehicles, but something used (certified, pre-owned actually; most places sell both Used and CPO, be careful of the distinction. If they aren't willing to warranty it, I don't want it) with low mileage. Here's what I will be bringing home on Monday..

So, this Detroit gal is buying a 2008 Nissan Altima SL in Pebble Beach Metallic. It looks silver in the picture, but it's a beautiful golden/sand color in reality. It has everything but the premium sound system; moon roof, heated leather seats, a stereo with an input for my mp3 player, and a 2.5 liter engine with a nice little punch to it. And the thing that drew me to Nissan in the first place, the continuously variable transmission. The CVT is the transmission equivalent of anti-lock brakes. An ABS system will pump the brakes hundreds of times faster and more efficiently than the driver could do so. The CVT does not have traditional gears. It's built differently, and shifts continuously to whichever gear ratio will get the best mileage/performance. (Consequently, Nissan doesn't have to qualify their mileage numbers with "up to;" their cars actually get the mileage listed.) Very smooth, very quiet, and rarely goes higher than 2500 rpm. As I test drove it, the odometer rolled over to 30,000 miles. 

The new baby comes home on Monday. I would like to thank Don Scherbing at Tamaroff Nissan for an awesome car-shopping experience. Don is friendly, honest, and careful not to tread on the buyer's toes. We spent some time talking about me as a driver/vehicle owner, and he got a pretty good idea of what I wanted pretty quickly. I will definitely shop there again.

I received no compensation or discount for writing this, and I gave Don a shout-out based solely on the fact that he did a great job. 

In Which I Struggle with the Order of Things

It's gorgeous here, today, though some might beg to differ. It's gray, and drizzly, and the fall colors are just this side of amazing, and I don't have to be anywhere, that last part being the most important of the list.

Yesterday, I read the script for my daughter's wedding ceremony and nearly fainted. I might have to do something about that. Other people might look back on how wonderful life has been because of this child, and I do, too, but I also spend a tremendous amount of time reliving all my worst parenting moments. 

And the problem with shopping at places like Target and Kohls for your clothes is that the quality of the fabric and the workmanship are usually only a step above shoddy, so the clothes that got through last cold weather season, are not really up to the challenge for another. Something tells me a trip to Marshalls/TJ Maxx/a few thrift shops is in the offing, if only I can work up the enthusiasm for the trip out of my cozy, rainy-day cocoon.

It feels like there should have been a transition paragraph in between those last two, doesn't it?

The past 10 days have been a little rough (as in roughage) physically, and I ended up taking a mental health day off from work on Thursday, to pamper myself a bit. Husband Styro and I were watching the Tigers in the playoffs that evening, and 21-year-old girl came running across the street to tell us she'd heard from her brother that he was on his way to the emergency room from work, having cut his hand on the rotary deli slicing machine. That wasn't stressful at all. Turned out fine; he needed a few stitches, and was wise enough not to look at it...until the stitches were done. The results of that mis-step kept us there for another 30 minutes or so, while he returned to his usual pinkish, and regained the ability to keep the contents of his stomach heading south, instead of north.

What's new in your world?

 

 

UPDATED: Sparkly Stuff

I ended the last post with a bit of a teaser. I didn't really mean to, but then I saw how long the post was getting, and my evil little heart took over.

Anyway, I found a fascinator that the bride and I both loved at Silver Frostings, made by 1beader. It looks like this:

I love the beautiful brooch with the tiny pearls and crystals, and the tiny wisp of feather. The bride has very short hair, so we didn't want something overpowering.

Thing is, while I was looking for the fascinator, I happened to see something else on 1beader's site that brought out all my magpie tendencies. I do love a good sparkly! When Ms. Partly-Cloudy loved it as much as I did, I decided to splurge a bit on this:

The artist calls them 'Blessing Bouquets" because she always adds a tiny little crystal angel to the mix of brooches. Here is a different angle:

photos of 1beader's work from her Etsy page here

Is that not one of the most gorgeous things you have ever seen? I do not believe in spending fortunes on a wedding. Some friends wanted us to watch "Father of the Bride" with them, the Steve Martin incarnation, and it was a sweet movie, but the idea of spending $50,000 on a wedding? I find that ridiculous. I work at a beautiful place that hosts weddings you would not believe, but the minimums for any of those venues are DOUBLE the total cost of what is going to be a very lovely wedding with about 170 guests or so. This bouquet is something beautiful I could do for my girl, so I did it. Someday she can pass it on to her own little girl, or who knows, maybe one day Husband Styro and I will renew our vows, and this time, we will do the long dress and the tuxedo, and a photographer, all things we did not have at our wedding 26 years ago. And then I will carry the pretty bouquet.

Anyway, on with the story. The dress I found has a square neckline, and is a relatively simple affair. I knew I wanted to go fancy with a piece of jewelry to set it off. I've been looking for at least a month, and I saw this on Sally's blog:

That's My Gal Sal in some fun French stripes, and check out that necklace...

Sally's amazing photos by her Husband Mike

I've been reading Sally and chatting with her about life for going on four years now. She's one of my favorite people in the world. Someday, I will go to the Twin Cities and hire her style services. I knew that she had made the necklace she was wearing, and that it had cost her about $30-40, so I took the leap and asked her to borrow it for the wedding. I knew that was the look I wanted, and I loved her choices. She's such a sweetie, she was totally fine with it, with the warning that, "It's held together with jump rings, but they sometimes slip out, and sometimes the brooches turn around backwards on their axes..." Undaunted, I asked her to send it. As soon as it arrived, I pulled it gently out of the box, and unwrapped it...and two of the jump rings dropped off! No biggie. I put them back on, and moved one of them to stabilize the turning on the axes issue, which helped quite a bit. Then a jump ring fell off again and I started to get worried. I knew that if this happened at the wedding, I would be sad.

(I still have a plan for Sal's necklace, which I am not revealing because she reads me, but she will still get it back shortly after the wedding, with love from me!)

So, it was back to 1beader, and with Sal's necklace for inspiration, she made me this:

And now I have blogged more in the last three days than I have in the last three months.

My fingers are tired.

But not too tired to share this: Sally is one of 8 style bloggers in a Hanes contest with a $10,000 prize! Do me a huge favor, and vote for her here!

Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if you read the end of yesterday's post, and didn't think I'd actually post today, like I claimed?

Ooh, An 'arm forest.' Huh.

Anyway, I promised wedding stuff today. But first, a little backstory...

Ms. Partly Cloudy has been engaged to her fiance, Lovely Young Man, since just before she graduated from high school, in 2007. The reason I didn't completely wig out at the time was because she promised that A) she wasn't pregnant, and B) it would be a very long engagement. She wasn't, isn't, and it has been! Over 4 years.

Now it seems to have just flown by. The other day, someone mentioned that the wedding was four weeks away, and Ms. P-C nearly fainted! Imagine how I feel!

The young couple are paying for a majority of the wedding themselves, though both sets of parents have chipped in. By far, my greatest contribution has been to keep the bride from hurling herself off the nearest tower in times of stress, which are many and varied when planning a wedding.

Here's a general status:

• The estimated number of guests are paid for, food, drink, etc.
• Everyone but the bride's younger brother is outfitted for the occasion, hopefully that will happen soon, or he'll be attending the wedding in his 'uniform,' saggy gym shorts, t-shirt and sneakers.
• Flowers, cake, and photographer are all set. Flowers are coming from Westborn Market in Dearborn. They took a couple days to get back to me, but their work is lovely and the prices were great.
• RSVPs are trickling in. So far, there are 120 guests, but we still need to hear from 78 more!

And now the really important stuff: The Bride and her Mother

The bride's dress was purchased a couple years ago, when the bride happened to find her dream gown ON SALE. I brought along a consultant shopping with me, someone who understands the Tao of the Girl, a skill I have never had. We found a really gorgeous, floor-length, deep-plum-colored gown, which you don't get to see until the wedding. 

John Paul, the Prince of All Stylists, did a test run on my up-do, and it will be stunning!I am trying to transfer a picture (from my phone, not the best, but the true reveal will be with the gown). So far it's not working.

And now, my favorite thing to talk about: Sparklies!

Ms. Partly Cloudy has very short hair. Sometimes, short to the point of not actually being visible, but just in time for the wedding, it's grown out to a cute boy-cut. Which is adorable on someone as waif-like as she is. I talked her into a fascinator, and then found the perfect one on Etsy from a shop called Silver Frostings. Who knew that the proprietor, 1beader, would end up being so important to the wedding?

And on THAT note...I leave you, until tomorrow!

 

All the Things Piling Up in My World

And there are many of them. I haven't posted for weeks, though I have still been happily following all of your blogs.

See that sentence up there? I typed that sentence two days ago, then started downloading and processing some pictures to share. At this point, I do not recall if I even finished processing the photos, but I am afraid to look, because I will get distracted again.

My daughter is getting married in 26 days. That should answer much of WHY I haven't posted in weeks, though laziness does enter into it to a startling degree. I'm just gonna do this like a Random Tuesday, okay?

Summer Things

We spent Labor Day weekend at one of my favorite places in the world: Wiser Times, on Lake Huron, just south of the fingernail on your index finger. 

That dark gray part at the top of the photo is rain over easter Lake Huron/Ontario. I love the silver sheen on the water in this picture. There was a stunning amount of technical things going on while we were there, of which Husband Styro was mostly the cause.

I have entitled this photo, "The Wyatts are Here."

Two computers, a hacked Nook (now an Android tablet), a terrabyte hard drive, a *Rocker* iPad mount with speakers, and all the attendant wires. It would take far too long to explain why we brought all of that with us. I just need to mention that we also brought a large plastic tub with hundreds of CDs with us, also.

Art Things

I have mentioned previously about some really inspired gifts I commissioned for Husband Styro this year for his birthday, Father's Day and our 26th anniversary. I have finally taken pictures so you can see just how amazing I am they are.

First, Michele painted this beauty, but I never shared the final framing:

We had it framed at Michael's, and though I hate to shop there, they did a really beautiful job framing it for us. They also suggested a really gorgeous frame, that I would never have looked twice at, but which really brings out the rich, deep browns in the painting, and echoes the winter branches, too. That was Husband Styro's birthday/Father's Day gift (the dates are two weeks apart).

Our anniversary is in early August, and something I saw on Tera's blog (scroll down to the California Dreamin' piece), and new I had found what I wanted! I commissioned this from her:

The first song we danced to at our wedding was the Talking Heads, "This Must be the Place (Naive Melody). I sent the lyrics to Tera, and together we picked out which we wanted to include, messed with the order a little, and she applied her graphic genius. Husband and I both love it, and it hangs in our newly-redone room.

Tomorrow? Wedding stuff.