Durham is abuzz about a few recent sightings in national publications, all of which happen to be rather flattering. 

The one everyone is talking about is Durham making US News' Top 10 Places to live. To my knowledge this is the first time Durham specifically (not "Raleigh-Durham" or "The Triangle") made such an esteemed list.

Next, last Sunday's New York Times Travel Section profiled the "Triangle" - although most of the spots were in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, Durham got a couple of decent mentions.

The one that actually surprised me most (and made me happiest) was that my neighborhood (Watts-Hillandale) was listed in Men's Journal as one of "The Best Neighborhoods In America."  Hello, property value!

Back to the US News list.  We used to live in one of the other cities on that list, Austin.  But when we moved there 7 years ago, Austin had already blown up.  And now it has exploded.  I still love it, but it's losing a lot of what made it special, IMHO.  It's getting too big for its britches.

Durham, however, was not 'outed' when we moved here 4.5 yrs ago.  We liked it but didn't think it was the next 'Austin.'  Outside the city limits it still had a reputation for being a boring, somewhat dangerous city.  But the secret is quickly getting out that a lot is happening here, and most of it is very positive. 

The more I travel, the less I have to say, "Well, Durham isn't really what you think."  If it gets too much positive press, I'll actually have to start downplaying it so we don't have to pack our bags and search for the next Austin...or Durham, I should say.