Hey Juliegoddess -- sorry I lost track of this thread momentarily! I ride a 59cm (center to center) seat tube with a 54cm top tube. Crazy in a world where most men's bikes have "square" geometry! But that's actually roughly the same as what the Terry Symmetry is. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/terry/geometry.html

I know this is still out of your budget, but I searched for the Symmetry just to see what's out there, and was amazed to find that Sierra Trading Post has a closeout on 23" inchers for $765 + shipping. Pretty great for a Tiagra-level bike with an excellent steel frame.

HOWEVER, I just found a interesting deal you might look into on the Terry trading boards (which is how I found mine). http://www.terrybicycles.com/trade/browse/sell. Check out the post for a Trilogy - she's 5'10", so it could be the 23" or maybe the 21.5" frame size. It's their entry level road bike from the early 90s it seems, so maybe 8 speed components? If it fit, could be a very good match, since it's listed for $300 - even with shipping you could fit a good tune up and even few parts swaps/upgrades and stay in your budget.

Before you do much else, though, one thing I recommend is checking out your fit -- you're stating your inseam as 32", but is that your actual inseam or your pants inseam? A fit at a good shop is best, but use that fit calculator that lo123 mentions -- it's very good.

And lo123 - thanks for the rundown on models! I looked at that top end model and wow....but after seeing not all the models had 58s got sidetracked. Awesome to have in my pocket if I go test riding some nice spring day.