the cure

there is something difficult for me about the transition time after christmas. i get used to shopping, being on the lookout for the perfect gift, handing over my credit card, & buying, buying, buying. after christmas there are usually a few things to exchange so that keeps the trend going. then, all of the sudden, january rolls around & we should be done with the purchasing. but i just am not that good at switching off the shopping button. i had this discussion with my friend the other day & was relieved to learn that i am not alone in this buying fever. 

hopefully we closed out the shopping season with a bang! we bought a new car! we have been saving up {per dave ramsey's car-buying with cash only plan} & forked over the cash for a used all wheel drive safari van. what?!? that's right people, we bought a van! we couldn't be more stoked. it is going to be modified into a mini-motorhome of sorts & will also serve as a conduit to getting brandon out of the house & into the mountains while i slave away at my internship this spring.

i swear we saw every safari van between laramie & denver yesterday. we test-drove a few, even a pimped out conversion van with creepy limo lighting. we also went to REI to exchange my far too large bike helmet, stopped by target to buy a few 75% off work-appropriate shirts for me {see internship above}, dropped off our "second" dog at his real home, & and had an awesome dinner at PF Chang's. i haven't eaten there in a long time, but it was just as delicious as ever! 

take note of the snow on the road.
we haven't seen the blacktop of our road
since sometime in november.

we are gonna pull one, or maybe both,
of the back seats out.

so it was success all around, with a few important exchanges/purchases & then one big slammin' deal on a car we have been wanting. hopefully looking out at our new {to us} paid-for-in-hard-earned-cash-money van can bite the shopping bug!