scenes from the weekend.

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Hey guys!

Before I go on - I just want to say thank you so much for the response to my bikini acceptance post. You all are seriously the best, and I absolutely loved reading each and every one of your comments.

Here’s a picture-heavy post of the weekend (so far), which I spent in PA for Erica’s wedding! If you’ve been following GML for a while you probably know that Erica is a good friend of mine and was my NYC roommate for 2+ years. She’s the best, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for her :)

I left early Friday morning to drive down with Jessi and her husband Parker. Our first stop of the mini road trip - Chick Fil A. No brainer.

We arrived in the town of Kutztown in the afternoon. Our hotel was an adorable inn on the main street of town. It was very much a bed & breakfast vibe, which I loved. My room was about the size of my NYC apartment (if not bigger, ha), complete with a balcony and a bath tub that just screamed bubble bath time.

I spent most of Friday just hanging around, then at night we went to a big bonfire at Erica’s parents’ farm.

The ceremony on Saturday wasn’t until 4pm, so Jessi and I spent the day just exploring town, running errands, and hanging out on the balcony. We also enjoyed the most epic “continental” breakfast ever - homemade quiche, potato casserole, maple sausage, creme brûlée French toast, and fresh fruit.

Then later in the day - it was wedding time! I went with my normal all black attire 😛

The wedding took place outside at Erica’s parents’ farm. The photos don’t do it justice, but the seating was set up in a spiral, which was SO cool. That way everyone got a great view of the bride and groom, and it just looked so fun and unique.

It was a perfect ceremony. Afterward we headed down the the tent which was set up right next to a beautiful pond for the cocktail hour + reception.

The reception was awesome - great food, dancing, and good company.

In addition to the cake, they set up a huge ice cream sundae bar with tons of candy + home made ice cream.

How cute is that?! It really was such a perfect day from start to finish. CONGRATS Erica and Ryan!

We headed home a bit on the earlier side because we had to leave at 5am this morning. Thankfully I squeezed in a few extra hours of sleep once I got back to my apartment, and now here I am ready to head back out for the day. Church + dinner + etc. on the agenda for my Sunday :)

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How has your weekend been so far? Been to any good weddings lately?

a weekend in vegas {part 2}.

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Let’s see - where did I leave off?

Rewind to Friday evening, where Sydney and I got back to the hotel from our day at the photo shoot. We did some quick exploring of the Wynn…it is seriously such a beautiful place. Can you believe that this hot air balloon is entirely made of real flowers?!

The Wynn Las Vegas

…and we played around with the fun Vegas Snapchat filters, of course.

Then we got all dolled up for our first night out.

We started with dinner at Yellowtail at the Bellagio. I don’t say this lightly when I say that it was hands down the best sushi/Japanese meal I’ve ever had. I didn’t snap enough pictures to do it justice! But if you go there, just please (please) get the Baked Crab Hand Roll and High Steaks Roll.

Yellowtail Las Vegas

Afterward we went to XS, which was SO much fun. Kaskade was playing that night, and I’m a huge fan, so I brought the old dancing shoes out of retirement for the night 😉

Even though we were out super late, I couldn’t bring myself to sleep in on Saturday. I didn’t want to miss the day! So I headed down bright and early to save seats at the pool and grab some coffee.

Then we just hung around the pool for most of the day. We ate, drank, laid out in the sun, and just soaked in every moment of being in the sunny, warm weather.

(For breakfast we split an Acai Bowl + Duck Hash, for lunch Sydney got a steak salad and I got a lobster bacon club + fresh orange carrot juice. It was all delicious!)

On Saturday night we met up with Rachel and Steven for yet another beyond incredible meal, this time at SW Steakhouse. Steven is friends with the chef, so he ordered us a spread fit for royalty. Lots of steak, lots of sides, and lots of dessert.

SW Steakhouse Wynn Las Vegas

Our outfits de choix for the night:

We were on the fence about being out late because we had an early flight today, so we wandered around the casino for a few hours before deciding it would be a shame to “waste” our last night in Vegas. So back to XS it was 😛

After a quite indulgent weekend, a pre-flight green juice this morning was definitely on the agenda.

I was thankfully able to get some work (+ this post) done on the flight, so I’m not feeling entirely behind going into Monday, which is always nice.

Overall it was an amazing weekend from start to finish. I haven’t gotten out of New York much lately, so it was nice to escape for a few fun days.

But now…back to that daily grind 😉 Here’s to the new week!

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What’s the last (mini) vacation you took? Any getaways planned for this summer?

 

a weekend in vegas {part 1}.

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Helloooo from Las Vegas!

I don’t think I made any mention that I was coming out here this weekend, did I? Well, here I am - on a little work/play weekend :)

Sydney and I arrived here at about 9pm last night. We went straight to dinner at Andreas (luggage and all) where we met up with Rachel and a bunch of the people we’re here working with. After some crispy rice sushi and Baked Alaska, we headed back to our room and passed right out.

Today (Friday) we woke up bright and early and took in how cozy our hotel room is. Those of you who told me I’d be spoiled by the Wynn were right…

(More pix of the hotel to come in my next post)

Then we grabbed a quick breakfast at Tableau. I got a parfait and their famous juice flight.

Then we spent the day at a house about 20 minutes from the strip, where we helped work a photo shoot for a certain food brand/catalog. It was so interesting seeing the amount of planning and detail that goes into food photography! Just a few out the outtakes (that don’t do any of the actual photos, justice, ha)…

The house and views were so beautiful and…peaceful! You never really think about the outskirts of Vegas, so it was really cool to spend the day out there.

The day also included lots of delicious food, including some dessert taste testing. Cookies, tartes, cupcakes…I didn’t hate it, to say the least 😉

This was a Red Velvet Cupcake topped with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse.

Now we’re about to head back to the hotel to take a quick nap before the fun night ahead.

I’ll be posting the rest of my weekend soon! In the meantime, you can follow me on Snapchat, where I’m snapping up a storm 😉 “alagracie”

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Have you ever been to Las Vegas? What’s your favorite place/thing to do here?

 

a very work & play kind of day.

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Hey guys!

It’s definitely time for a little day in the life action, yes? I realized I haven’t done a DITL post since I started my new gig as a full time Social Media Director, so this will give you a bit of a glimpse into my new routine. Every day can be totally different from the next, but yesterday was pretty standard for a Friday-in-the-life for me.

7am: Wake up. Coffee. God time.
7:45 - 9am: Do my daily social posts + catch up on emails and Podio tasks.
9am: Get dressed, eat a banana, head to SoulCycle.

9:30 - 10:15am: One of the best SoulCycle classes I’ve had in a while. (Read about it here.)
10:45 - 12:45am: Went Hu Kitchen for a late breakfast. Caught up on more work.

12:45 - 2pm: Headed up to Midtown to pick up samples from two of our clients for a photo shoot next week.

2pm: Went home. Finished up more work (scheduling posts). Wrote blog post. Drank a green protein smoothie.
3pm: Wrapped up with work for the day. Got ready for a late afternoon rooftop party at Le Bain.

4:30pm - 6:30pm: Hung out there with Sydney and Martina. It was such a beautiful afternoon/evening!

6:30pm - 9pm: Went home, made myself breakfast for dinner (avocado toast + eggs). Washed it down with half a pint of this deliciousness 😛 Seriously - this stuff is UH-mazing.

9pm: Watched a little bit of TV. Got ready (again). Drank some coffee.
10:30pm: Headed down to Le Poisson Rouge for their weekly 90’s party + my friend Jenn’s birthday celebration.

If you’re ever in New York on a Friday (and a child of the late 80s/90s ;)) you’ve GOT to go to this party. It is ridiculously fun. Zero pretentiousness, fun people, and sooo much nostalgia. The cover band (The Bayside Tigers) is incredible!

2am: Way past my bedtime 😉 Headed home to end what was quite the perfect (work & play) Friday.

And now here I am on Saturday morning, coffee in hand, excited for the long weekend!

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Do you have any fun plans for Memorial Day Weekend?
What’s your favorite 90’s song?

scenes from the weekend.

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It’s been for-ev-er since I did a scenes from the weekend post! A lot of you have been requesting more “daily life” -esque posts, so I’m going to start doing more of them again…starting now :)

Rewind to Friday where I spent the day with Jessi, lunching + working. We spent a few hours doing a photo shoot for Ben Amun jewelry, which I was also able to take home with me to wear later in the weekend (perks).

How gorgeous are these pieces?!

Ben Amun | gracie gordon | girlmeetslife.com

We had lunch at Friend of a Farmer (one of my faves), where we unintentionally celebrated National Pie Day. Shepherd’s Pie for me, Chicken Pot Pie for Jessi.

eats

Also on the EATS agenda for the weekend was:

* mixed berry smoothie bowl topped with shredded coconut, raw oats, cashews, and flax
* thee BEST version of Eggs Benedict I’ve ever had at Saxon + Parole (Virginia Surryano Ham, crispy potato parmesan cakes, poached eggs, yuzu hollandaise)
* sushi on sushi and tons of other deliciousness at Lure Fishbar for Rachel’s birthday dinner

Earlier on Saturday (I’m bouncing all over the place, oh well) we kicked off Rachel’s birthday celebration with a group of us taking SoulCycle together. It was my third class in a week, who am I?!

(BTW - pictured below are my good friends Natalie and Sydney. Not sure if I ever introduced them on GML yet :))

I spent most of today (Sunday) in bed getting caught up on a bunch of work + blog stuff. I wasn’t planning on doing that, but I’m really glad because a productive Sunday = a better Monday.

I fueled through with a healthy lunch from The Squeeze + this INSANELY good “Squeezuccino” of theirs. Definitely a new favorite.

The Squeeze

Then I did the normal Sunday thing - church, errands (stocking up for the big blizzard coming, eek!), and now I’m going to watch a movie and call it a day.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! xo

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What was a highlight of your weekend?

insta-lately | 1.3.15.

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Every once in a while I realize that I’m posting more about this life I’ve met over on Instagram than here on the tried-and-true blog.

So here are some things I’ve been up to lately, with a bit more of an explanation than you’ll find over on Insta.

instalately

1) These Chocolate Covered Coconut bars are the bomb.com, you guys. Never let me say that again. But seriously - these healthy-ish/Paleo treats have totally won over my entire family, which is sort of a big deal. They’ve even started calling them “Gracie bars.” I certainly can’t take the credit though - here’s the original recipe.

2) Yep, I’m going old school. I got a (new version of a) Polaroid camera for Christmas, which I chat about a bit more over on my recent vlog. It might not be the most practical gadget in the world, but it’s so much fun!

3) I got these patches from Best Made a few weeks ago because a) they were cool and b) I heard patches are going to be like, totally in for 2015. I’ve got to say, though, that sewing patches on is a pain in the ass. You’ve been warned.

4) These were surprisingly some of the best nachos I’ve ever had. I say surprisingly because they were vegetarian (real cheese, sans chili). There’s this vegetarian restaurant called Blue Sage near my home in Pennsylvania, and it rivals some of the best veggie joints here in New York.

5) Straight from this photo’s caption pretty much sums this up: I was thinking about how everyone (myself included) loves the new year because it symbolizes a clean slate. a fresh start. a new beginning. for me going into 2015, though, I’m not so sure I want a new beginning just yet. 2014 has led me into some amazing things that haven’t yet been seen through, so my view of this upcoming new year is more so to keep on keepin’ on…to push through the things that scare me or seem impossible.

6) I had thee best few days with my sister Katie over Christmas. We’ve always been pretty close, but as we get older we’re getting closer and closer, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

7) I got tagged in a #StopDropAndSelfie, so that’s my selfie. I was in a cab from the train station to my apartment, and full disclosure that was the favorite of about 10 selfie attempts.

8) The oh so curated flat lay of my NYE look. I went to a wedding where the color theme was black, white & gold. I added a pop of red with my lipstick because I’m tacky like that.

9) One of the only photos I got at the wedding, with Leah and Jessi. About 30 minutes later I headed to a masquerade party at The McKittrick hotel. It was a fun night.

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What’s your Instagram? Let me know and I’ll follow you! :)