I Heart Ogden.

Looking forward to attending this event on Friday. I was asked to put together a pre-event post about how I got to Ogden. 

In the simplest of terms I am a transplant. I am a transplant to Utah since 2006. But, it wasn't until I moved to Ogden that I felt like I could actually call Utah my home.

For the first six years I lived in Salt Lake County and didn't enjoy it. It was an ok place to live but I didn't feel like I could call it home. There was no homesickness when I would vacation. I remember a number of people voiced great concern when I accepted a new job in Ogden in 2012. Their perception was it was ghetto and unsafe. However, I had visited here a number of times and really enjoyed it so I decided to give it a chance. I have not regretted moving here for one day. It is a cultural, passionate and giving community and the view is just as awesome. I have experienced more arts and cultural events here in two years than I did in six in Salt Lake and much of that is because of the great marketing and social media presence that local organizations and businesses have. I have also grown to love and appreciate the outdoors even more and might even give skiing a shot one of these days. It wasn't until I moved to Ogden that I gained a sense of urgency to buy local and support the businesses that were the backbone of our community. I am always encouraging my friends and family to come visit and they fall in love with our quirky railroad town as soon as they stroll down 25th Street and have a Bianca pie at Lucky Slice or some lavender lemonade at Rovalli's or Kym's famous and super duper delicious bread pudding at Roosters or Union Grill.

The moral of the story: I heart the 'hood and I never want to leave.

Until next time, my lovelies!

-R