17 March 2009

Buffalo, City of my Heart


(view from across the park/pond behind the Albright Knox Art Gallery)

Buffalo. Say the name and people conjure up images of the Bills, chicken wings, and tons and tons of snow. But there is so much more to this city than sports, fried food, and lake effect snowstorms.
(If you told me I would be saying that back in 1992- I would have called you crazy!)
I'm here to tell you that Buffalo is an awesome, culturally diverse city filled with great people, a unique arts community, notable architecture, lots of small businesses that add flavor and creativity to the urban fabric, lovely parks and TONS of potential for the future! There are so many cool things about Buffalo-- I wish I could list them all right here but that would take a really long time. Instead I'm just going to list some links that compile all the information already.
Buffalo Rising
Buffalo Niagara Visitors Bureau
Forever Elmwood
Artvoice
Gardenwalk
After visiting home this past weekend I had a vivid (day)dream.....Although I have made my home in Pittsburgh, I envisioned that in some alternate universe in the future, I will some day move back to Buffalo, buy an old house downtown to fix up, plant a garden in the backyard and open up a hip little gallery with artist studios.
ps. the new cafe on the corner of Grant and Lafayette, Sweet_ness 7, is a really cool, laid back spot to drink coffee and read or chat with friends! They used a lot of re-purposed materials to decorate and it's just a beautiful space that has obviously had a lot of love and thought put into it!
Here we are: Molly, me, and Amy-- NJP is behind the lens at Sweet_ness 7!

Check it out and tell me what you think!