Sunday morning, September 18, was not a good day for me. It ended up being the best and the worst weekend, as well.

I woke up a little late for my 8am shift out on Lake Monroe, so I was speeding down West Third Street. I will admit to you now, I'm not a great driver. And by that I mean I speed at really inconvenient times and I have a bad habit of tailgating other cars, which results in road rage.

I was turning onto the road to run through the McDonald's drive-thru when I saw a cop behind me flash her lights just once, like she was getting my attention. I pulled over and as soon as she came up to my window, I could tell she was pissed. Apparently she had been flagging me down Third street, trying to get me to slow down, but I didn't see her. She lectured me for almost 30 minutes, telling me how I should be going to jail for reckless driving, getting a $250 citation, blah, blah, blah. She was exaggerating, I can tell you that right now. I wasn't driving unsafely - I just wasn't looking behind me for a police officer to be flagging me down.

Jokes on her, her printer wasn't working! So she couldn't give me a ticket! You must be thinking: wow you're lucky. Yes, I was. I saved myself $250 and another point on my license/driving record.

I went on my way. As I got closer to work, I noticed my temperature gauge for the first time ever, and the fact that it wasn't showing any sort of temperature on my car. As I turned onto my work's main road, my car stuttered, stopped accelerating, and made me pull over to the side of SR-37. Smoke started coming out from underneath my hood and I started freaking out.

My radiator was shot, all the coolant leaked out of it, and I come to find out later, there was no salvaging the car (without putting way more money in then it's worth).

There's karma, biting me in the ass for not receiving that ticket I deserved just half an hour before.

Fast forward 24 hours:

I've gotten my car to an auto care place, and let me mention that I walked probably 10 miles that next day (Monday) as I was carless, and soon found out that my car was totaled. Here are some pictures to show you just what I did to my poor Saturn Vue:

But how did my radiator get this leak, you may ask. Saturday morning, the day before the worst day ever, an ambulance was coming down the road I took to work so I pulled over. There was a ditch, and unknowingly to myself, I got corn, grass, mud, etc. all up in my radiator and destroyed underneath my car. Oops.

Not even 48 hours into not having a car, with the help of my magical mother, after hours and hours of searching, I found a replacement on Craigslist. Not having a car with the job I have is not an option.

Tuesday morning my mom went to meet with this guy to see my new baby, my 2001 Toyota Rav4. She said I should buy it. This also required me to use all of my refund check, and start my own car insurance policy (cue "Nationwide is on your side" tune). Gross. But okay, I'll #adult this one time.

*In case you were wondering, with my speeding ticket from less than 6 months before and an accident where I totaled a car in 2014, my insurance is about $100/month. Gross, I know.*

But, for only being carless for less than 48 hours, spending $4000 on a new car (new to me, anyway) that works perfectly and is super cute, starting my own insurance policy for $100, it wasn't so bad. When I woke up Saturday morning, I did not know this was going to be the result.

Some other adulting I did as a result of getting a new car:

1. Learned what the heck a title to a car is, and how to get one in my name.

2. Learned how to register a vehicle, get new tags and plates.

3. Spent a lot of money (that's the worst one).

But the car is in my name and if anything good came out of this, it's the rewarding feeling of purchasing your own car that in no way, shape or form, is associated with your parents.