And so it begins...

I moved to Buffalo with my husband in the summer of 2009 expecting to hate living here. I don't like cold weather and I've been most happy living in big, exciting cities like London. Even though I expected to leave after 4 years of grad school, I decided to learn everything I could about my new hometown.

By getting involved with nonprofits I saw one of the city's best sides. Now I work full time as the Volunteer Manager at Journey's End Refugee Services, and I get to connect people to rewarding experiences every day. Through my experiences with work and friends over the last few years I have come to adore Buffalo and I am staying in the Queen City.

I was inspired to start this site because I was gearing up for summer by gathering information about free and cheap things to do, and ended up with almost 300 things on my list. I thought there must be other people in Buffalo who also need to make the most of their "entertainment" budget and would get out and do things more if it were easy to find the information.

The content will follow my personal interests and I'll write a post when I do one of the things on the list. I plan on posting a lot this summer and then less so once fall starts. I'm not sure where the site will go from here, but I want two things for it: I hope that because of it my fellow Buffalonians will enjoy our city more, and that non-Buffalonians will see a vibrant side of Buffalo that is too rarely in the media.

Buffalo is not the city it was even ten years ago, and I'm honored to know some of the people and organizations making it such a dynamic and beautiful place. I believe it's important to make your community truly your own by working for the results you want: whether by volunteering for a nonprofit or by celebrating the work of others who care about Buffalo. Learn, invest, explore. Enjoy Buffalo.