NYC Welcome Wagon

When I landed at LaGuardia, there were two handsome men waiting for me at baggage claim.

What more could you ask for?! Neil and Nate loaded my bags in their new car. Then we drove to meet my new roommate, their friend Kurt.

My room is pretty small, so I tried to whittle down my wardrobe to the bare essentials. My summer and winter clothes are boxed up at Leigh Ann's for now, and she has one box of shoes and books to mail me. 

(If you live in Charlotte, I must suggest you get yourself to the Junior League Wearhouse pronto to pick through the clothes, shoes and jewelry I had to part with. There was some good stuff! But honestly, this whole moving process has been incredibly freeing. I think we all have more clothes than we really wear or need. It feels great to be down to the basics.)  

"This is a cute street!" I exclaimed as we got closer to downtown.

"I'm glad you think so -- this is your new neighborhood," said Neil. "We're in the West Village."

While Nate parked, Neil helped me lug my bags up the five floors to my new abode, a small room in the apartment where Kurt has lived for almost 20 years. It's hard for a photo to do the room justice, so I'll try to describe it. There is a wardrobe and a dresser for my clothes, plus several hooks on the wall for scarves and other sundries. (Kurt very kindly got some new furniture at Ikea to spruce things up for me -- he had to rent a Zip Car, drive to Brooklyn AND carry the goods up the stairs.) He had fresh flowers in a small vase on the dresser, and the bed was ready with new sheets and striped bedding from Ralph Lauren. The bed was so artfully made, I hated to mess it up!

Here's the view from my bedroom window.

I'll post more about Kurt and the apartment later, but for now I'll just say I couldn't feel more fortunate to have landed here. The West Village is loaded with cute shops and restaurants; it was sunny and in the mid-50s yesterday, so lots of cafes had set out tables on the sidewalk. We can see the Hudson River from the street, and I can't wait to get out for a jog on the greenway path that runs along the entire west side of Manhattan.

We walked by a farmers' market on the way to Cowgirl, where we all had burgers. (It was about 3 p.m. by then, so we were all starving.) Nate had a fabulous mango margarita, which I'll look forward to enjoying on my next trip. (When I got home, Kurt had a funny story about Cowgirl; he said Monica Lewinsky and Chelsea Clinton were both living in this neighborhood for a while and once ended up eating at Cowgirl at the same time. Awkward.)

After lunch, we stood in line at Magnolia Bakery, where Nate and I each had a cupcake and Neil got some banana pudding. I spent the evening unpacking and hit the bed pretty early. All of the goodbyes and packing in Charlotte had worn me out!

This morning, I found my way on the subway to meet N&N at Christ Church United Methodist, which several of my Myers Park UMC friends had recommended. After the service, we had brunch inside Barney's (veggie fritatta for me, club sandwich for Nate, huevos rancheros for Neil), then we wandered around Barney's and Ralph Lauren and walked along Madison Avenue back to their place.

Late in the afternoon, I met up with Kurt, and he introduced me to the Chelsea Market. Cannot wait to go back--an awesome fish market, great sundries store, handcrafted chocolate, cheeses, etc. Great meals await us! I forgot to mention that Kurt made some curried broccoli soup and a ham sandwich on a baguette with chutney and arugula last night. He has a whole row of gourmet cookbooks in the fully-stocked kitchen. Can you imagine a better roommate for me?

One final note: the yellow flowers in my room were in tight buds yesterday. I thought they looked like some kind of baby tulips. Some of you may know that my move was inspired in part by a quote from Anais Nin: "After a while, the risk of staying tight in a bud became more painful than the risk that it took to blossom."

This morning, I did a double-take when I looked I looked at the vase and saw the tight buds had transformed overnight into daffodils!

Here's hoping the flowers aren't the only things blooming in New York this spring.