Top Ten {Tuesday}: Northern Pride

Earlier this month I noticed a fun list over on another blog for Top Ten {Tuesday} -- "Top Ten Reasons I Want to Be Southern." As a daughter of Northern parents and one of only a few cousins in the whole family raised in the South, this post made me giggle. My relatives laugh when I say "y'all" (it's more rare than common, I promise) and at my silly high heels that I wear off the plane at Christmas when it has blizzarded overnight in New Jersey. They have no idea what kudzu or brunswick stew are, and have never tasted the goodness of a Chick-fil-a or Waffle House. 

But even yet, this Southern-raised gal (or a G.R.I.T., Girl Raised in the South, ugh) knows what it means to be a Northerner, and there are countless things of which to be proud. I may be a G.R.I.T., but I also claim Northern blood whenever possible. For this, I will contribute my own version of the list :)

Top Ten {Tuesday}: Reasons I'm Proud to be Northern-Born and Bred

1.The pizza. Oh my goodness. The pizza.

2. No-prisoners-taken approach to life. You lost your spot in line? Too bad. You got cut off? Cut someone else off. Stop whining and do something about it. Speak your mind. You are in charge of your own destiny.

3. Snow over the winter holidays happens more than once every few hundred years.

4. Helloooo New York City, Boston and Chicago. Haven't been? You should be ashamed. Get thee there ASAP. You haven't been to a real U.S. metropolis until you explore each one.

Image Source

5. Forget the GTL. Think instead about the Tea Partays out at the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard and the Cape. This is prep city 101. Including the nicer places on the Jersey Shore than Seaside with those hooligans from Long Island above :P

6. Leave the gun and take the cannoli. Were there ever more true words spoken? The North is home to landmark movies like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Departed.

7. Most of your neighbors can find their names on the history-rich walls of Ellis Island. Third-generation Irish-American pride right here :) :)

8. Lobster rolls. New England Clam Chowder. Taylor ham, egg and cheese. Italian food made by someone's actual Italian grandmother. I am Southern-raised, so I do love me some pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes ... but I would easily be 20 pounds heavier up there because I'd be feasting left and right on their local amazing foods.

9. City streets that are designed in the grid system. Where this protocol got lost down here while city planning, I have no clue. Our Southern cities have been plagued with horrid traffic ever since.

10. Speaking of getting around, Northern cities also know how to do it with mass transportation options. Whether you are on the L or the LIRR, you can get from point A to B without spending a lot of dough or time. I won't even get into the issues with MARTA here in A-town, it's not worth our time!

Northern friends -- what would you add to this list?

And my Southern friends -- what about you? Any to add to Michelle's original list at This Little Light?