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Go Harrisburg!

fire-truckWell, I always knew my home was a great place to live. And now it’s pretty much been proven. According to one of the most recent reports from the US News and World, Harrisburg ranked at number 25 out of top 100 metro areas to lay your hat.

And why is that exactly? According to the report, Harrisburg’s cost of living is below the national average (great for divorcees like me paying alimony), one of the most affordable housing markets (see above), and “more of a small-town atmosphere than many of the East Coast’s larger cities” (definitely appreciated when I first moved into the area and didn’t know a soul). But truthfully, divorced, single, married or widowed, Harrisburg is great for everyone. And I’m going to tell you a little bit more about that in a moment.

What do we have? Well known is Hershey Park, but there is also the Gettysburg National Military Park and Amish country. And then, Travel Writer Malerie Yolen-Cohen pointed to a bunch of other cool places. These include:   Pennsylvania State Capitol, National Civil War Museum (where you can watch Roosevelt address elderly Civil War veterans at the 7th Anniversary of the War in 1938), Fort Hunter Mansion (getting an education on Victorian artifacts and rituals), Pennsylvania National Fire Museum (to meet Bert and Charlie – made up horses to depict the real ones that pulled the fire wagon), Midtown Scholar Bookstore (one of the largest bookstores nationwide), parachute at the US Army Heritage and Education Center, and so much more.

So personally I think we have it all!

Getting Clothing on the Cheap

clothing-storeSometimes I feel like thrift/consignment stores are a bit like how Forrest Gump compared life (to a box of chocolates): you never quite know what you’re gonna get. And that’s beneficial actually. Well, at least to my girlfriend anyway.

It seems to me that whenever she has free time, she’s searching web pages for different clothing. From dresses to sneakers, boots to hats and then everything in between, she’s always looking for “the perfect” something or other. So when I happened to read in the Harrisburg Magazine about the latest award our very own consignment store received, of course – being the good, caring, loving boyfriend that I am – I told her all about it.

Well that may have – in hindsight – been a bit of a mistake. Now she’s obsessed with Fast Cash Friday at Wears Like New. This store is already inexpensive but with the additional 20 percent discount on Fridays (when paying with cash) it has become an even more attractive location for the girlfriend to spend the beginning of her weekends. Well, at least I get to go down the pub Friday nights now without getting an earache as she is admiring her new purchases, or showing them off to her girlfriends at ‘girls night out.’

Truthfully I don’t mind. I was quite interested to learn that consignment shopping is also beneficial to the environment and to the global recycling effort. She showed me this article that was most informative.

Everyone’s a winner with Wears Like New in Harrisburg as far as I’m concerned. There are smiles all around.