More Change Than Expected

Well, before I blog about our fabulous trip to Alabama and DisneyWorld, I thought I should give an update on a couple of unexpected changes.
First of all, when I woke up the day after I ended my job I made a spontaneous decision to drastically cut my hair. I had been thinking about doing it for awhile, but I thought I would wait a few more months before actually going through with it. It ended up a little shorter than I thought I asked for (9 inches off the back), but I actually like it. And I loved having short hair for our hot and humid vacation.
This is my attempt at taking my own "before" picture.


And here is my new do, after a long day of errands and a fun evening of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows with co-workers. Not quite as cute as when I left the salon, but you get the picture.




And now for the next big change in my life. I am getting a new car, but it was NOT my idea. My car was stolen the night before we left on vacation--right from my covered parking stall in our condo parking lot. Don't ask me why they picked my 1998 Honda Civic when they had their pick of numerous nicer cars. We didn't discover it was missing until a half hour before we were supposed to leave for the airport when I sent Scott to get my sunglasses out of my car. I was so stressed getting ready for our trip that I didn't even call the police until we were on our way to the airport. My car was recovered the next afternoon in Taylorsville. All they told me was that the ignition was punched and it was undriveable. My sister went up a couple of days later to check it out for me, and it looked horrible. The insurance adjuster declared it a total loss because it would cost as much to fix it as it was worth. Scott and I and his dad stopped by to see it on our way home from the airport on Monday. It was really depressing. The morons did way more damage than was necessary, and they took several worthless personal items. I am most upset that they took my little Cubbie bear that I had hanging from my rear-view mirror. I bought that at my very first Cubs game after I moved to Chicago. Sad. As much as I complained about the quirks of my car, I really loved it. I bought it 8 1/2 years ago, and I only once had to do a major repair. It took me across the country a couple of times, and I just have many great memories in that car. May it rest in peace.
Well, here's a few pictures of the damage.





I'm now looking for a new car with the $4000 I got from my insurance. Any suggestions on what I should get? I'm thinking not a Honda.