New Car Smell

Hyundai Elantra

I can cross another item off my 30 before 30 list, and that is to buy a new car. I realize cars aren't what I, or most other life style bloggers talk about. It doesn't possess the usual cute or girlie factor in things I like to write about. It's not decked out in polka dots, stripes, or accessorized with cute shoes, but it is making me very happy. After the Licorice Whip (yes, I named my old car) died last week and showed no signs of being rehabilitated I knew it was time to find a replacement. I can't tell you what a relief it is to put the key in the ignition and know your car is going to start every time and not sound like it's coming apart at every bump and turn in the road. She doesn't have a name yet but her "official" color is Sand...so I'm thinking something tropical. I'm open to suggestions.

But I can't share the story of my new car without telling you about an old friend who lives in my cars: A.L.F.

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Yes, I am a grown woman with a suction cup A.L.F. doll that lives on the window of my car. A friend of mine gave him to me when I was 12 years old and I thought he was the coolest thing ever. I vowed he would be put in my very first car. He lived on my bathroom mirror until I was given the keys to my very first car, a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, and true to my word A.L.F. made his way onto the window. With every new vehicle he has made the transfer from window to window. You can tell from the pictures that he is very well loved, and has absorbed his fair share of UV rays. His fur is sun bleached and the material around his nose is brittle and cracked but I couldn't NOT put him in his deserving spot in the new car. He brings a certain quirky uniqueness to your everyday boring automobile.