New car? New car!

So Julian and I have been discussing the state of my car recently. I have a 1997 Nissan Sentra, which I've had since I left for college. It's not bad for a 13 year old car, I think. Nothing really catastrophic has gone wrong with it, except for the air conditioning dying on a road trip back from Vegas. In August. I get the oil changed regularly and mind the tire pressures, and always keep the fluids topped up. The paint is pretty terrible -- like a lot of cars out here in the Valley, the clear coat has peeled away on the horizontal surfaces and there is a gigantic scratch down the passenger side. But there is nothing wrong with the car mechanically, and I have never seen the point in replacing it because I am actually really fond of him. (Yes, he's a him. His name is Nick.)

Julian... let's just say he is not so fond of Nick. Julian showed up very dramatically on my doorstep on January 2nd unannounced and looking to win me back after the tough times we had in 2009. (It worked.) Since he had never driven in America before, never even been to anywhere in America besides New York a few times, he hadn't rented a car so we used my Sentra. Since we didn't actually leave the house for a couple of days after he arrived (*blush*), he didn't have the chance to see my car until the 4th or 5th, I forget which. Anyway, he said, "Are you kidding me? You drive THAT?" I said there was nothing wrong with Nick, he was just a little old and worn at the edges. Julian said that no wife of his -- and at this point he hadn't proposed (for the second time round), so I got all goose-pimply -- would be seen dead driving in a beater like that.  Why didn't I take better care of it? Why did I leave all those bags and empty soda cans in it? Why did I appear to have an entire year's worth of Glamour magazine stored in there?

I felt kind of defensive about it at first. This was MY car that I paid for out of MY money. I had saved up for two years after I got my license to buy a car. It was only 6 years old then and it still looked pretty great. My parents aren't exactly poor, but they made it clear to my sister and me that we were going to need to earn the big purchases in our lives. I'm a little better than my older sister at not complaining about that! (Sorry Rachel -- it's true!) I'm proud of the many hours I spent working at the Gap to earn the money.

Julian always seemed to be needling me to think about upgrading Nick. It makes me still kind of sad to think about losing my trusty steed, which took me to college and back, and even up to Seattle once when I was dating a guy who had relocated there and I was thinking about going there too. However, once we got engaged, J became pretty adamant that his wife would not be seen driving something so "pedestrian" as a Nissan Sentra. (lol) I was worth so much more than that, and it would reflect poorly on him too if he had something new and I was still with Nick, like I wasn't worth anything more. So he has decided to wire me the money for a new car. Wow! He thinks I should get a Mercedes -- wow! I can't believe I'm going to have a brand-new car and it's going to be a Mercedes!

So after a while looking at all the info online, I am going to test drive the GLK350. It's a compact SUV. J wanted me to consider one of the more luxurious SUVs but I think the GLK is fancy enough for me! He spent a lot of time researching the model and he feels comfortable with it. He's given me a LOT of advice about how to behave at the car lot, and he's already called the dealership to tell them I'm coming in and that I am only interested in looking at the GLKs, and that I am a cash buyer who does not want her time wasted. I am so excited!

But then... it always seems to be coming back to money these days. Sigh. I'm not doing too badly in my job, and feel like I'm making a respectable wage for someone my age and experience. My little apartment is cozy and quirkily furnished and I go out to some decent restaurants, bars and clubs. But it's... well, it's nothing compared to Julian's family and sometimes I feel the weight of expectations. His mother doesn't seem to like me very much, although J always says that I'm just being overly sensitive. She is still pushing for us to do a pre-nup -- "Just look at that Paul McCartney! He wouldn't do a pre-nuptial agreement and now look where he is! How do you know Melissa won't do a Heather Mills on you!" she said to Julian. In front of me. J is refusing to sign one, and although I won't say a word to his mum about it, I'm glad he's standing up to her. The fact that we are now on our second round of engagement makes her even more suspicious of me, like I'm only after J for the money, and that somehow I charmed him back so I could get my hands on their money, when he was the one who came back to me.

She has said some truly unbelievable things to me in the past. One time, when we were in her kitchen and I was slicing some bread for a sandwich, she said, "Melissa, you do have rather fat calves for someone your size don't you?" I didn't know what to say. Once she came over to our house in Suffolk (I think of it as our house even though it's Julian's really) when he was out; we used to go to the house about once every other weekend for some quieter living than we got in London. I was sorting laundry and she offered to help fold, which I thought was so kind and maybe even a peace gesture. Instead, she looked at the label inside one of my skirts and said "Size 2? Really? I heard they did vanity sizing in the States and now I believe it." Julian said this was his mother's idea of a joke and I was supposed to have laughed. I was so shocked that I just kept folding.

Oh god, I don't seem to be able to shut up in these posts! I guess I should have been blogging for years! So... yay! New car!