Shop Birmingham–And a Giveaway!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge proponent of shopping and dining locally. Alabama has an unbelievable wealth of local merchants, artisans, and restaurants, and the more we support these businesses, the more of our money stays in Alabama and makes it an even better place to live. I do better dining locally than I […]

Are You Eating Local?

Are you Facebook Friends with an employee of one of your favorite restaurants? Has your kid ever been photographed by the chef because she was the unofficial restaurant mascot? Do you go to any restaurants and immediately feel like you’re family when you sit down because the waitress comes over and gives you and your […]

Discovering The Magic City in America’s Oldest City

When I was very young, there was a brick-paved street a couple of blocks from my house.  It was really just a brick intersection – a tiny slice of leftover history that somehow got missed by the modernization of Birmingham.  I loved when we drove over it and I had the opportunity to pretend that […]

What You’ve Done for Alabama.

If anyone still doesn’t believe that “Internet Friends” are just as real as “In Real Life Friends”, then they’ve never been in a crisis situation. To help with tornado relief, you have ordered over $1,200 of items off of the Christian Service Mission’s Amazon Wish List (you’re part of the reason that UPS had to […]

How To Be a Tornado Relief Hero By Using Social Media.

We all know that in the past, disaster relief has been a disaster.  Katrina, Ivan, the Oil Spills – they’ve all been a nightmare of unhelpful help.  There’s administration.  And paperwork.  And too many people wanting to help with not enough people being able to point them in a direction.  And politics – different relief […]

My “How to Help” Recommendations.

I’m going to go back to “normal” blogging next week, although I’ll still be, I’m sure, in tornado-mindset personally. However, many of you have asked how you can help, so I wanted to compile a list of a few easy ways to help the many hurting people of our state. But first, here is a […]

The Aftermath.

First of all, thank you SO MUCH for all of your thoughts and prayers last night.  We had no power, no television, no phone service on our home phone or cell phones, but we could get spotty Twitter, Facebook, and email on our phones, and it was really wonderful to be able to focus my […]

Alabama

** Update: we’re okay but the damage to the state is devastating. I don’t ever remember tornadoes hitting three major metropolitan areas in one day. I’ll share more when we get our power back, whenever that may be. Cell phones also aren’t working so if you’re in Alabama, let me know you’re okay, too! *** […]

Scoff, All Ye Northerners.

I drove in my first snow storm yesterday. Yes!! It was a snow storm!!  As in, snow was blowing from the skies!! And some of it was even sticking to the ground! And the more bizarre part was, it was TOTALLY unexpected.  Which, I thought, was impossible in Alabama. You see, when there’s even a […]

Pure Magic – The Bright Star

With a nickname like The Magic City, you would expect there to be many magical places in the Birmingham area.  And there definitely are – the top of Vulcan, The Patio at The Club, Argyle Road overlooking the city at night, and Sloss Furnaces, to name a few. But my pick for the most magical […]