A New Year, A New State

Well, as my previous post stated, we have moved from Pennsylvania down to North Carolina. So we have a new year in a new state; many new places to explore and new experiences to experience. I can’t wait to get started!

The Mountains have:

• camping
• hiking
• scenic views
• zip lines
• state parks
• Biltmore Estate

The Triangle has:

• museums
• historical sites
• lakes
• shopping
• festivals
• zoos

The Coastline has:

• beaches
• lighthouses
• camping
• shopping
• fishing
• aquariums

2017 will be full of new things for me. What will it be full of for you?

I wish everyone a prosperous New Year with new experiences and activities. Be sure to let me know what they are in the comments 😉

Successful Move to North Carolina

I’ve been quiet on this blog for a little while because, if you follow me on Twitter and Facebook  you already know, my husband and I have pulled up stakes from Pennsylvania and moved south to North Carolina. We are beginning the section of our lives called “empty nesters” with one son finished with college and the other halfway through college.

We sold our house that we lived in and raised our family for 30 years.

We are planning to downsize from a four bedroom house to a one story, two or three bedroom house. I don’t want to clean such a big house anymore 🙂

We packed up our stuff (after de-cluttering and making ten donation trips to the local thrift store), drove south through the mountains of West Virginia & Virginia and two tunnels to sunny North Carolina.

After driving for eight hours this sign was a welcome sight!

Now we are settled into our temporary home until we find a house to buy and put down roots again.

No more five months of winter with snow piles reaching from three to five feet tall. No more shivering with temps in the single digits. And I’m looking forward to experiencing a Christmas Parade, which is unheard of up north 🙂

The only glitch in our otherwise smooth move was the untimely death of our beloved Aggie Girl. RIP sweetheart. We miss you!

Has anyone else made a big move? What were your experiences? I’d love to hear about it.

To read other posts on moving or North Carolina:

What Does The Mountains Say To You?

Selling Your House Is Like Picking Your Nose In Public 

Relax At The Zoo To Help De-Stress

 

Which State Buys the Most Romance Novels?

In the October 24, 2014, issue of Entertainment Weekly they posted the stats for romance sales in the United States.

California purchased 40% of romance sales in 2013 with New York and Pennsylvania (my home state) purchasing 30% each. Makes you wonder why California sales are the highest of all fifty states? Do they have more women than men, since women purchase 84% of all romance sales? Is it the warm and sunny climate that stirs those romantic desires?

Delaware, D. C., Vermont, North & South Dakota, Hawaii, Arkansas and Wyoming all rank the lowest of 1% romance sales. These states are quite varied in size, population and climate so it’s harder to imagine the cause of the low sales percentage. Perhaps these states are male dominating (in population) or prefer a spine-chilling mystery or thriller to love and romance. We can’t even say they are not interested in romance because many mysteries and thrillers (not to mention other genres) do contain a romance among the characters.

The article also stated that romance novel sales totaled $1.08 billion! Second only to thrillers which totaled $1.09 billion.  Paperback sales still topped the list with 51% but ebooks are gaining with 38% of sales.

So what did I gain from all these stats? That America still loves a good love story! So bring on the muscle clad heroes. Bring on the heart pounding desire and sensual touches. America, like me, will soak it up whether in paperback or ebook format.

How about you? Do you read/buy romance novels? Or do you prefer another genre but will take a romance among the characters?