naturally ginger: Snowbird in the City

Before I moved to New York, I lived in South Carolina for 15 months.

I had left my job in Miami and moved in with Mom. I was experiencing, what I fondly refer to as, my quarter life crisis.

South Carolina is not where I grew up, so I knew NO ONE. I moved to SC broken, beaten, and bruised. I was angry with God and in need of some serious healing time.

Enter Lauren, Laura, Melissa, Lindsey, Allison, and Kathleen.

Through a series of God orchestrated events, I met Melissa. She introduced me to her friends and helped me get plugged into a church and an awesome community of people.

I'm so grateful when I look back at my time in South Carolina. It wasn't just a pause until God moved me to NYC...it was a molding, shaping, and encouraging season. It set me up to be prepared for so many things that I have experienced while living here in New York.

I will forever have a special place in my heart for these women. When I lived in South Carolina, we were all single and now many are married and one even as a beautiful little baby boy! Only a couple are still in the city we all lived in, but everyone does a great job of keeping in touch and making each other a priority...I'm actually the worst at it living way up here.

I get so excited when they come to visit me here in New York. So, you can imagine I went into planning mode as soon as Kathleen told me her and her husband Ian were coming for a weekend!

Ian and his business partners were visiting for a conference. He is a coffee roaster and partner in an awesome local coffee shop in Bluffton, SC (soon to be dessert bar too), The Corner Perk.

Kathleen and I got to spend Saturday together and it was a blast!

The next few pictures are from my time in South Carolina. I'm pretty sure all where taken during my going away celebration.

We often frequented the local piano bar, The Electric Piano aka EP.

Now onto more recent times. Kathleen and I met up in Union Square and walked over to Chelsea Market.

Chelsea Market is an indoor urban shopping mall and food court. It has everything from lobsters to international spices to an authentic Italian market.

It can get pretty busy on the weekend, but Kathleen and I pushed through the crowds for our Sushi lunch. We stopped in The Lobster Place to pick up a few rolls and luckily snagged a table to eat at.

We got three rolls - Rainbow Roll, Spicy Tuna, & another roll with eel inside and avocado on top (I forget what it's called) & a seaweed salad.

Fueled and ready to go, we walked up to The High Line. Kathleen is a landscape architect so this was the one and only thing she demanded that we see. The High Line is a park that has been constructed on an abandoned freight train track. It is located on Manhattan's West Side, between Gansevoort St in the Meatpacking & 34th Street in Midtown.

I've been to The High Line many times and it is incredible every trip. It looks different in every season, but is definitely the best during the Spring and Summer months.

After walking to 34th Street, we met up with Kathleen's husband Ian and their business partners. We got on the train and traveled down to the Financial District to get a view of the Freedom Tower.

We then walked a bit around FiDi, and caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.

Stomach's growling, we ventured to Panna II. It is a colorful Indian Restaurant in the East Village. With a BYOB policy, cheap prices and a quintessential NYC atmosphere, it is a must for locals and tourists. I always laugh a lot when I visit Panna II, and the food never disappoints.

Be warned...there are three other restaurants that will try to lure you in. NEVER go into them! Always wait for Panna II.

After a small wait (part which was stuffed in the back corner of the restaurant), 5 of us were ushered to a table meant for 4...but we made it work.

They refer to themselves as the restaurant "Where Chili Pepper Lights Meet Christmas Tree Lights".

The key is to not let them rush you and to order what you want!

So this is what we got:

2 orders of Vegetable Samosa
Lamb Curry
Chicken Biryani
Chicken Tandori
Chicken Tikka Masala
Vegetable Dansak
2 orders of Nan
Chicken Dansak

Our bill was $68.