One for the record books...

Two weeks ago our car, Penelope, was stolen from our drive-way. We were given very little hope of recovery...most cars are stripped and sold for parts or taken to Mexico. Awesome. Nick and I braced ourselves for having to buy a new car (not in the 2012 budget.) Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon. Hannah and I head out to piano lessons while my sister-in-law stayed home with Paige and Audrey for me (thanks again Michelle!!) As we are pulling up to a stop light I notice a car just the same color/make/model as Penelope. I pull up next to and notice a few details which make me certain I am right next to my car!!! I start yelling and pointing "That's our car Hannah!! That's our car!!" The lady, who was riding in the passenger seat, looks over, sees me flipping out, and says something to the driver. I, in the mean time, pull out my phone and call Nick to confirm if it is indeed our car. The light turns green and Penelope slowly pulls out in the intersection. Nick tells me to stay behind it, so I do. After Penelope makes it thought the light, the driver takes off. I'm freaking out a bit, Hannah is freaking out, and Nick, very calmly, tells me to try to follow the car (he later told me at this point he still wasn't 100% sure I really found our car.) I follow it up a hill and notice it turing right. By this time I'm about a block behind and worried I will loose the car. I take the right and am looking everywhere for Penelope. After a few blocks I spot her, turned on a side street, abandoned by both driver and passenger. I give Nick the plates and sure enough I had found Penelope!!! We hung up, I called the cops, and then waited 3 hours for them to show up (next time I plan to tell them the driver is still in the vehicle and hope it speeds up their response time!) The nice thing was Nick was able to catch a ride from work to wait with me. Here is a picture Nick snapped with his phone when the cops and forensic van arrived:

Whoever stole it sprayed the entire car with something which made it impossible to pull prints anywhere on the outside of the car. The cops were able to pull a print off a pop bottle to run...very CSI. Poor Penelope had not been treated well on her week and half adventure...both inside and out!!

The back of the driver seat was ripped off:

All the seats were covered in yucky black stuff:

Three of the doors need completely repainted due to damage to the paint. Weather stripping around the doors were torn off as well as damage to the hatch door. The ceiling had burn marks and were slashed up pretty good. Penelope is now in the shop getting repairs and (keep your fingers crossed) loosing her smoke smell.