And while our blood's still young.. It's so young, it runs.

This past month I have had the pleasure of experiencing the best activities that Birmingham, Alabama has to offer. The thing about coming home from college for a limited time is that you spend your hours wisely, sparingly, cramming as much as you can into a night, a weekend, a month, so that the beauty held in the memories of your childhood or the sanctity of your hometown will never lose its luster. We need this time at home to bring our hearts back to us, because so much of our hearts permanently resides in our very first home. This time at home makes us whole again, even if it's just for the night.

My time at home has been wonderful. I've been absent from the blogosphere for almost a month because I've been too busy reading / watching movies / cleaning / sleeping / catching up with old friends/ staying connected with new friends / preparing to close up shop on 2011. It's been a beautiful year, and I am ending it on a gorgeous note. My Christmas break has been one for the history books.

Alright, so hibernating in my room so that I could read Hunger Games and watching an ungodly amount of Gossip Girl may not qualify as exciting, but it's what I needed. A little time to myself to regroup and reconnect, in addition to other words with an r-e prefix.

One of my favorite things that I've done over the break is spend an afternoon in downtown Birmingham, one of my favorite places on this earth. It's no Nashville, no Chicago, and definitely no New York, but downtown Birmingham has more to offer than the average Birminghamian gives it credit for.

So, on a day that I was feeling especially hipster, my dear friend and fellow blogger Lucy and I headed downtown to get a little coffee from an independent coffeeshop that is TOTES our discovery, do a little vintage shopping on second avenue, and finish off our super artsy afternoon with a trip to our FAVE record store, Charlemagne.

(Hopefully you realized that the italicized words are sarcastic. 70% of the places we went Thursday we had never heard of before.)

The transformation from middle-class suburbian Birmingham to hipster cityville Birmingham is apparent from the You are beautiful declaration graffitied over Red Mountain Expressway. I know, that just screams indie-lovin, right?

The title of this blog comes from the song that we were listening to as we drove under this bridge en route to Urban Standard, Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap. You've probably heard it, but just in case you haven't, check out this wonderful wedding video featuring this equally wonderful song.

http://vimeo.com/31392836

I know, I am creepily obsessed with this couple too. It's just sick how amazing this wedding is.

Once in the heart of downtown Birmingham, we went to what is probably the greatest independent coffee shop in da ham, Urban Standard. 

Later, we stopped by a couple of precious vintage shops, and we closed our day downtown with a trip to the coolest record store I have ever seen (not to mention the fact that it's in Five Points, which is just a great part of town), Charlemagne Records. 

This is what Charlemagne Records looked like 50 years ago. Now there is an entire strip of restaurants and shops surrounding it. Amazing how great things are able to stand the test of time, isn't it?

Organized chaos.

The stairway leading up to Charlemagne.

In short, it was a great day. The best I've had in a while. And an equally great Christmas break. Thanking God for good friends and good family this new year.

Clumsy Kim.