I love my city and a blog title

The New York Times posted this great article/slide show Nov. 19 called Raleigh-Durham: North Carolina's axis of cool. I was super-pumped when I read it. I love Raleigh. I'm so happy to be back in the area after being gone for about three years.


The article actually covers a lot of things I've either experienced or heard about. Here is everything mentioned in the article:

• Raleigh Denim - I heard about them a year ago when I somehow ran across a video about their handmade jeans while doing research for my job (an environmental website).
• King's Barcade - It's a bar, and I've never been there, but I know where it is. It's on my list of places to go. I know a guy who DJs there (I think) so I really should check it out sooner rather than later.
• The Pig - A restaurant in Chapel Hill. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there during my undergrad, but I'd be interested in checking out their country-fried tofu.
• Independent Weekly - A magazine I grabbed up as an undergrad at UNC that gives a lot of great info on the art/music scene in the Triangle. I follow them (@indyweek) now on Twitter (shameless plug - follow me @medfirecracker), but I should pick up hard copies more often since I do see them around.
• Onlyburger - Oh, man. I love food trucks. I started my food truck affair when I lived in NYC. I was really excited to read about a food truck I've actually eaten from!! I went to a food truck and concert "event" at Big Boss Brewery and tried their veggie burger. SO good. Great price, too ($4.50 according to the article). And the guy gave me free cheese!
• Mac McCaughan and Andrea Reusing: I'd never heard of this couple from Chapel Hill, but I had heard of their businesses. The husband founded Merge Records (can we say Arcade Fire) and the wife if the chef at Lantern. I always wanted a date to take me out to Lantern while at UNC, but it never happened. Guess I'll have to get myself out there to experience the food from a woman shortlisted for a James Beard award! I'm swooning just thinking about it.
• North Carolina Museum of Art - I have always adored this museum. Besides their great exhibits, I've seen some great concerts there (Tift Merritt and Jeff Tweedy and both under $10 I think!). I cannot wait to check out the new renovations. Their trails are one of my favorite places to be outside in Raleigh.
• Rock Paper Scissor Salon - Never heard of it! It's in Durham. I don't get up there very often unless I'm seeing a show at the DPAC.
• Locopops - Another local company I first found out about while working for my company! I took my mom to the Hillsborough Street location about a year or two ago. They really make some deliciously interesting popsicles.
• Raleigh Rickshaw - It's a nice service I've seen around downtown. I've never taken anyone up for a ride, though.
• Vintage 21 - A church downtown. I am so intrigued that this church is included on a travel list. I've actually run by their space before, but I had no idea what it was. I assumed it was a club or a bar. I would really like to check out a service.

So the thing that popped in my head when I read this article was, "If you don't totally love Raleigh, you're just not doing it right." I've decided this is a good title and theme for this blog... only I've made it more general, obviously. I shouldn't just think about enjoying my city (something I already do). I need to think about my life in these terms!

The Immortals

What is arguably my favorite band, Kings of Leon, released its new (fifth!) album, Come Around Sundown, yesterday. 


Quick anecdote: I throw the little fact about the fifth album in there because last month I was talking to my friend, W, about how I was seeing KOL in concert (yesss, they were amazinggg). I thought it was strange their show was on a Monday, but figured it might be to control the level of belligerency when people left the venue. She suggested it was because they're a newer band so maybe they wouldn't draw as large a crowd as a Friday or Saturday show would. So you see (fifth album!), they are not new. When I started loving them in the summer of 2007 thanks to my friend James playing Youth & Young Manhood in our shared office space at work, that album (their first) was actually released in 2003!


Anyways, I hadn't gone to a store in years to actually buy an album. Seriously, I think the last time I'd bought a hard copy was John Mayer's Heavier Things when I was a freshman in college. So I bought the Deluxe version of the album and was so giddy getting in my car to put it into my CD player and listen immediately. I then brought it home and played it through my BluRay player so I could hear it as loud as possible. I listened to every song while reading the lyrics that came with the album.


One song particularly touched me. It's track 6, "The Immortals." I saw a video interview with lead singer Caleb Followill, and he said he wrote the song imagining what he'd like to tell his future children. His fiancee cried the first time he read the lyrics to her. I didn't cry upon hearing it or anything, but its message resonated within me.


To me, the song is a reminder that life is fleeting. You don't get much time as it is here, so why waste it being fearful? If something isn't working for you, keep moving. Don't spend time trying to fix something that's not fixable. Or maybe it is fixable, but it's really not worth your time to fix it anyways. Prioritize.


I'm going to hope to make my priority in life this line: "Don't forget to love before you're gone."


Here's the song on YouTube if you want to give it a listen: