What I’ve come to realize…

So, having lived in Birmingham for almost four years, I have come to realize and appreciate a lot of what Birmingham has to offer and the small gems that only locals know about.

We bought a loft downtown (to make living in Bham as metropolitan as possible), we shop and dine and locally-owned establishments as often as possible, we attend art exhibit openings and local theater productions…in essence, we are yuppies.

I do appreciate the local music scene and the hipsters we have around town. I love our more locally-known “dive” bars like The Garage, Metro Bistro and Speakeasy. And Birmingham has some killer restaurants - and coming from a New Orleanian, that is a big compliment. (Shameless plug for Veranda on Highland – Chef Roby is from Commander’s Palace in NOLA – if you haven’t been, you’ve GOT to go)!

So why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because I am scouring the Internet for something to do. That is my one major frustration with Birmingham – there are lots of lifestyle options out there and things to do, but you have to know where to look and research everything via three publications and over five different Web sites. It’s frustration when you come from a city where nightlife options are thrown in your face and you have to narrow it down to figure out what you want to do. Here you have to search for options (unless of course, it’s a Thursday in December before Christmas and there are three to four different events on the same night at the same time because that’s when everyone throws a party).

So what will we end up doing on a perfectly good, yet freezing, Saturday night in January? We’ll probably go to Surin West in 5 Points for Thai, then to J. Clyde because of its beer selection (I have a few choice guy friends who are self-proclaimed beer snobs) and perhaps a third stop to hear a great band (Red Halo is at Innisfree – not a fan of the venue, but dig the band).

My main point is that I feel there needs to be a one-stop-shop for things to do in Birmingham…perhaps, since I’m so passionate about it, I should take on this endeavor myself…hmmm that’s an idea…

*Reader’s note – I’d like to apologize in advance for my overuse of ellipses, starting sentences with “So” and abundant sentence fragments. I feel these aspects add to the character of my written works and help with inflection.