Meet Ginny

Friday afternoon, if you had asked me while I was standing on the beach what my plans were for the weekend, I would have said, "Nothing." Who knew that I'd end up right outside of Washington, D.C. less than 24 hours later on a spur-of-the-moment trip?

My parents and I made the five-hour trek not to gaze upon the seat of our nation's government, but rather to gaze upon a 2005 Honda Accord coupe.


I'd been searching for a new car, as you may know, and after considering everything from car auctions to Honda dealerships for certified pre-owned vehicles, I ended up back at Carmax. But not the Carmax in Raleigh, because they didn't have what I wanted. They offer a transfer service, but who wants to pay $200 and wait seven days? So off we went to Sterling, VA, to pick up Ginny (so named because of her state of origin--thanks for the idea, Mom!). Ginny is dark gray, as you can see, and has 13,000 fewer miles than my previous car, is a whole year newer, has all the same options, and yet was only $500 more. What a deal!



Of course, there were some logistical details that needed to be worked out since I was buying a car outside my state of residence. But it's really not a big deal. I was not charged VA sales tax, because I will pay NC sales tax when I go to the DMV here to register the car. One Virginia feature that I only noticed after I got home: the license plate holder attached to the front bumper (VA requires two plates, like CA, whereas NC only requires one). I don't think I want to remove it, because I think it would leave holes. But that's okay. I can find something cute to put there.

It was definitely a very long day of driving, but the trip home was in my fab new car, so it's all good. Oh, and she rolled over to 20k on the way, so of course I had to snap a photo.

And I have to give an Ellen-style "HOLLA" to my parents who are so generous to drive me all the way up there on a whim to pick up a car. And I will also give credit to Carmax, who, unlike last time, got us out of there in about an hour and 15 minutes. Pretty quick, no?

P.S. Holy cow, people! It's October already. What happened to September?!