finally bought the car of my dreams! I have been wanting a MINI for about 10 years now.


My love and obsession with MINIs started when my co-worker (from about 10 years ago), Seth, was selling his MINI. It was that British brown color and so damn cute. (I've always loved small cars. I think its from growing up in the city and always having to maneuver around in traffic and fight for parking spots). Anyway, here was this tiny little car just screaming for a happy owner. But the problem was Seth used to race it at Thunder Road so it wasn't really going to be conducive to country driving at that point. Unless of course the owner was a mechanic or at least knew something about cars. So my better judgement told me this probably wasn't the best investment at this point in time.


So years passed and I took a job for about 4 years where they gave offered me a free car because I traveled so much. So my MINI dreams became just that, a dream. After that I pursued a career in writing and if you know anything about being a journalist you know that it doesn't pay jack. So at that point I just plain couldn't afford a MINI.


Well here we are in 2008. I recently got married, sold my condo and took a great job as the marketing manager of the Green Mountain Inn. So I have been ready to buy my dream car for months now and just took the plunge yesterday.


We found a used MINI Cooper S who needed a home. She was from Medway, Massachusetts and it was a deal we just couldn't pass up. She's Chili Red with white racing stripes, the sport and winter package, (which basically means to me 'heated seats'). She's beautiful. She also has this Dinan exhaust system that has increased her horsepower. The car truly "corners like it's on rails," to quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (I know, I'm such a girl).


So we got up early and headed down to Massachusetts to take a look at her. David (my husband) described our experience perfectly when he said it felt like we were adopting a baby and going down to meet her for the firs time. I was nervous and excited. We stopped only once to fill up on gas and get some food. And we drove 80 mph in my Jetta the whole way down.


We got there and there she was. Sitting outside the front of her current owners house like a puppy at a pound begging for a good owner to take her home. We were smart in that we called a mechanic in the area to see if they could take a look at it before we bought it. They looked at it and said it was clean and "pretty tight." So we filled her up with gas, drove her back to say good-bye to her owner, paid for her and headed on our long journey back to Vermont.


Though Massachusetts is only 3 hours away from Vermont, the climate is completely different. And so are the roads. What should have taken us 3.5 hours to get home took us much more as Mother Nature decided to test our driving skills in the snow. With summer tires. I drove her half way and then David drove her the rest. He definitely got the short end of the stick there. I got to drive her in Massachusetts where the roads are paved and the snow hadn't yet stuck. He unfortunately had to drive through the snow storm, with summer tires going about 30-40mph the whole way. Do you know how hard it is to drive a MINI Cooper S that slowly? It's pretty hard but we didn't want to push it, we didn't want to have our first experience with our new family member be a bad one. It was a stressful drive home but we made it safe and sound. Well at least to the bottom of our road.


You see we live at the top of this very steep road and although they really do a great job plowing it, there is still snow on the roads and with summer tires it's quite impossible to climb. So my poor little MINI had to spend her first night with us sleeping at the bottom of the road where she will probably remain until we can get some snows on her.


Well because MINI Cooper S comes with 17" wheels and run flat tires. You can't just put snow tires on her. You have to buy smaller wheels on as well so they'll fit. Unfortunately today is Sunday and she probably won't get her new shoes for a couple of days. And as I write this Mother Nature is sending us more of that beautiful white stuff. I'm certainly not complaining about the snow. We're having a great winter. I just wish it would let up for a day or so I can finally bring my MINI home.


As I sit and think about my purchase and our new family member. I'm a little concerned with her 2" clearance but my very supportive husband said "don't worry about it, it will be fine. We just might need to make some adjustments on her."


Well that's all for now. Tomorrow I head to the DMV to get her registered and hopefully make an appointment to put on some new wheels and snow tires. I can't wait to drive her. Summer time in Vermont is going to be a whole new experience.