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As a devote thrift store shopper, I come across some awesome finds every once in a while. Last week, I found a Vera Wang wedding dress at the Goodwill on Roosevelt Avenue.

Price: $20.

As many women know, Vera Wang's dresses are among the most coveted (and expensive).

The dress I found is probably one of her earlier dresses. It's not silk -- it's polyester. It's not long -- it's rather short. The bow? Well, it's better than most bows seen on dresses circa 1980-90, that's for sure.

It would make the perfect dress for a city hall wedding in the winter. It has two layers (both with Vera Wang tag). The inside is a cream sheath dress, form fitting, but modest. The outside (the fluff you see in the picture) is a sheer white cape that closes at the top near the bow. Not my style, but I can see someone pulling it off.  

The dress is tiny. It's a wedding dress size 4, which translates into a size 0 or size 2 in normal clothes. You'd need to be less than 100 pounds to pull it off, I am sure.

I've told a couple people about the dress, and all have asked if I bought it. I decided not to. First, it would sit in my closet unloved and unworn. Secondly, sometimes I like to leave good finds for people who will enjoy them more than I will. I mean, if someone with a size 6 foot found an amazing pair of size 8 leather boots (for example, fall is coming) I would hope they would leave them for me.

(Click on the jump for more photos. I took the with the phone, so they aren't the most wonderful photos ever, but they do the trick.)

So, to update on my last post, I went out to pick up my packages and met the UPS driver.

I told him I was sorry for missing him twice, and he was great about it. He told me to leave him a note next time, and it's not a problem to swing by my office because it's on his route.

Awesome.

I didn't catch his name, but that is terrific customer service.

So, I ended up answering my own question about how to get packages delivered if you can't be home to get them -- talk to the city UPS driver because he is the best.

Last week, I was expecting a package from UPS.

We kept missing each other, mostly because they insist on delivering during times when I have to be a work. Sorry UPS delivery guy, it is not possible for me to sit around from 10:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. waiting for my mail.

Anyhow, I signed the back of the "missed you" post it note UPS leaves, indicating it was OK to put the packages inside the first of two doors on my apartment building. The UPS guy wasn't having it, so tonight I make a trip out to Willow Court to pick it up at the warehouse. (UPDATE: He didn't see my note. See above.)

I have a question for city residents who can't sit around all day waiting: How do you get your packages delivered?

Is there an easy way to accomplish this -- preferably one that does not require me driving out to the township to pick stuff up four days after it actually would have arrived had I been home to get it? (Again, see the update where I answer this question.)

Last evening after work I went for a walk downtown and noticed a three new businesses.

First, on North Queen Street we saw a sign advertising restaurant space. It would be great to have a neighborhood place to grab some grub. Here's to hoping it's open after 6 p.m.




Less than a block after the restaurant space, there's signs all over a vacant warehouse right next to the train tracks. More loft apartments. Sounds like a cool idea. Here's to hoping the rent is less than $1,000.




Finally, we were walking up North George Street and saw a sign saying a new restaurant is coming to the former MB & Company, 19 N. George St. There's a press release taped to the window that says the new place will be called Bistro19. I took a picture of it (I didn't have a notebook with me) but it turned out a little blurry, so here's a staff file photo of MB & Company, which opened in August.




 

If you love gardening (or have been inspired to start by our First Lady) but don't have a yard, here's some info on a community garden as written in a news brief by my co-worker Teresa Boeckel.

This community garden isn't located in the city, but not having a place to garden seems like a city issue to me so I am putting it up on this blog. Not to mention, in these times stretching a budget with healthful foods is an idea we all can rally around, no matter your zip code.

Garden plots can be rented at the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education, and food from a garden could help people save on grocery bills.
    A 20-foot by 20-foot plot is going for $25 this season. Gardeners can rent up to four additional plots for $15 each.
    The season runs from April 15 to Oct. 31. The deadline for registration and payment is March 31.
   Renters can receive the following benefits:
   The initial plowing of the plot in the spring.

•    Advice offered at Master Gardeners work sessions at The Gardens at John Rudy County Park, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Mondays and 5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Thursdays.
•     Additional advice from Master Gardeners available for gardeners who come in or call the Penn State Cooperative Extension Office at 840-7408 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.

    For more information or to register, call the Horn Farm at 757-6441.

Sometimes we complain about it being noisy in the city, but this weekend I sort of missed it.

I was visiting my grandmother on her farm in Clearfield County. She lives back a dirt road and there aren't any neighbors, much less traffic.

I woke up a couple times in the night, wondering why it was so dark and quiet. I forgot what it's like to be out where there aren't street lights and noise. It was so dark. So peaceful.

(Photo is from a google search, and I thought it was funny. We don't have this much snow in York.)

This morning, when I woke up at 6 a.m., I heard cars driving through something that sounded suspiciously like snow.

I doubted it, because the last time we were foretasted snow we only got ice and flurries.

But when I looked out the window, there it was: fluffy white snow, the kind that's a breeze to sweep off the car. It kept coming, and continues to fall as I write this.

When I was walking to the car I noticed a few people out clearing sidewalks, which got me curious about the city's rules about snow removal. If you are curious too, click on the jump and keep reading.

Last month I got some pepper spray as a just-in-case sort of thing.

After reading the instructions, I've often wondered when I should use it. I mean, what if the attacker has a gun? Will the pepper spray only serve to anger the attacker(s), thereby putting me in a more dangerous situation? The instructions say to cover your eyes if it's windy. I'm not sure I'd be able to think that fast.

Today on the city police log I noticed a woman used pepper spray Sunday on the 200 block of Union Street on some people who attempted to rob her. Then the attackers took the pepper spray and used it on her. Sounds awful.

After reading that I've decided I will have to do some more research on when and where to use pepper spray. In the meantime, do you have any advice?

(Photo credit: Max Whittaker for The New York Times)

I read an interesting story Sunday in the New York Times about a program that enlists city garbage collectors to report crime tips to police.

Seems like a great idea in these hard economic times. To read the story click here.

While on the subject, I have to give a kudos to the York trash collectors in the city. There was a day a couple weeks ago when the wind picked up a couple garbage cans overnight. I planned to get out there early to put the stuff back in the cans, but before I could the collectors did a bang-up job cleaning up a mess. Thanks, guys.