Friday Finds: A Regal Ride

Today I have two finds.

Of course I must comment first on the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  I can't help, but love to see two people get married that love one another so much.  So much so that you can't help but notice it.  Today was their special day.  I know that they are in the public eye a lot, but the fact that they allowed cameras in on their extraordinary day, is so exciting.  Just a little glimpse into what most would consider a fairytale.  Like I said in my post on Favorites AKA Guilty Pleasures, I have a thing for the Royals.  I am fascinated with their lifestyle.  Now, I am not obsessed or fanatic about them.  I just have a general curiosity.  Prince William is just a year younger than I am.  And growing up I always wondered what it would be like to live in their shoes.
Some could care less about the beautiful wedding of William and Catherine.  However, I like it because it is a beautiful celebration in the midst of war, chaos, stress and ugliness in the world.  To have a few hours to tune that all out and be able to witness happiness, beauty, love, and peace is simply wonderful.

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I feel their wedding was regal and classic with touches of modern thrown in.  I loved that they wowed everyone by kissing twice and driving themselves away in a super nice vintage 1969 Aston Martin Volante DB6 from Buckingham Palace.

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My second Friday Find is my new ride

I have been researching and researching for months now.  Tireless nights spent looking at reviews and looking at several different websites.  Driving to numerous car lots.  And I came up with what I thought would be the best vehicle for our family of five.  When we moved to Indiana in August, I knew that one vehicle between my hubby and I would not work so well.  I would need some wheels to get back and forth to dr. appts.  And I couldn't keep borrowing vehicles.  So we rushed around and found a super cheap car that we could pay for up front.  We ended up with a 1996 Honda Odyssey.

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Now let me be the first to say that I was NOT excited about driving a minivan.  But this little guy was like the anti-mini van.  It was smaller and the doors opened like car doors and the doors did not slide.  For a 1996 it was in good shape inside and out.  My 2 biggest complaints were that you could hear me coming from a mile away (the exhaust system needed work) and even though it could sit 7 it wasn't big enough for people and stuff both.  

I decided that I wanted to research a vehicle that could meet all of our needs.  A vehicle I could be proud of, that would hold all of us and a couple of more (no I will not be having more kids), I also wanted enough space that we could put our gear in if we wanted to take a trip or just to put B.O.B. in the back.  The car I decided on was the Chevy Traverse.

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It would seat 7-8 people, had a cargo capacity that is unmatched by other SUVs and minivans.  It gets 17mpg city and 24 mpg highway.  It is a wonderful vehicle that we could rely on.  Reading reviews on edmunds.com, and cars.com, plus talking with someone who owns a traverse had me sold before I even test drove one.  I found a 2009 Traverse for sale that fit our current budget last weekend.  We went to look at it and test drive it.  The outside was in perfect shape, but as my hubby told me, my face dropped immediately as I looked inside.  Whoever had the vehicle before did not take very good care of it.  They had to have had dogs.  There was scratches in the plastic everywhere!  What a disappointment.  We went ahead and took it for a drive.  It drove wonderfully.  but I couldn't get over the fact that the interior was so messed up.  I wanted to know my family, my kids messed up my car, instead of someone else.  HA!  So I was pumping myself up to tell the salesman NO.  I would absolutely NOT be taking this car home with us.  Because I was afraid of the vultures (what I affectionately call car salesmen).  I didn't want him to work me over.  I was dead set.  I wanted a Traverse, but not that one.  To my surprise, the salesman took the words out of my mouth.  He could tell I wasn't happy, and he said "it's because of the interior isn't it?"  What a load off. Whew.  But he was prepared, of course.  He asked me if I wold consider a GMC Acadia.  And I said no.  I don't know anything about them.  He explained that they are just identical to the Traverse.  They sit on the same frame and everything.  They had a 2007 on the lot.  I decided to take it for a ride.  And what a nice ride it was!  It was so nice it came home with us. 

The Acadia feels just like the Traverse and the best thing about it, it fit into our budget!  Unfortunately, my hubby had to trade our memory making Nissan Frontier in for the Acadia.  We took the Frontier from Colorado to Alaska to Indiana.  But he got over it... he got a new ride too. :-)  

We traded the Honda in for a Chevy Silverado.  ;-)

What have you found lately??

~ Selena