nyc | Girl Meets Life | a lifestyle blog by Gracie Gordon

snapshots.

26 June, 2014 by Gracie 8 Comments

Sooo these snapshots are going to be another regurgitation of my Instagram feed, for the most part.

If I’m being completely honest, I’ve stayed in a bit of a blogging funk since taking a break a few months ago. I wasn’t really going to address it because I sort of can’t stand when bloggers are all “woe is me, blogging is sooo difficult,” because the truth is that it’s an incredible platform and I’m lucky to even have people who follow me.

I think this funk is a mixture of a few things – mostly a) after over 4 years of essentially documenting my entire life, it’s very freeing not to and b) the time commitment involved to produce “real” content is just not something I can do right now, especially with my other job(s).

So – that’s that. I’m not going anywhere and will definitely continue posting, but if you’ve been noticing my posts being more sporadic/few and far between, that’s why. I’m sure I’ll get back to a place of blogging more, but I just never want to force it, you know? In the meantime you can always keep up with me on Instagram (and Tumblr, if anyone actually still uses that…?).

I wasn’t planning on sharing that at all, but I’m glad I did On to the snapshots…

The summer makes it very difficult not to snap pictures of this city…

The latest via Speakable.

Last weekend we celebrated Monica’s birthday. I love her. Like, a lot.

I don’t know what it is about photo filters that turn my hair blue…

Speaking of blogging being an opportunity, Jessi and I went to a pretty cool event last week.

There were hundreds of amazing products, but we found ourselves most excited about the fondue fountain. Oops.

(image stolen from Jessi)

On Monday we celebrated Parker’s (Jessi’s husband) birthday, by way of a surprise party at Cannibal.

If the name of the restaurant didn’t give it away, it was definitely geared toward the carnivorous type. Challenge accepted.

Last but not least are these devos from the past few days, which I just loved…

(both from “God’s Promises Day By Day”)

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What’s been a highlight of your week so far? Any fun summer plans coming up?

insta-lately.

17 June, 2014 by Gracie 7 Comments

I have a confession. My love for Instagram is competing with my dedication to GML.

In the past I would “save” photos for GML because – let’s be real – if you follow me on Instagram, it’s sort of redundant to see all of the same pix on the blog. BUT…that’s what I’m about to do. So if you do follow me on Instagram, feel free to skip this post 😉

Rewind to Friday where Jessi and I started one of our video shoots for Red Carpet Manicure. I got to wear this gorgeous Jolita Jewellery necklace (although, this photo doesn’t even begin to do it justice!).

Also on the necklace front – I can’t get enough of how my Speakable necklaces layer perfectly.

(I’ve gotten some questions about the lengths – FYI in this pic the nameplate is 16 inch and the bar 18 inch.)

Saturday was just about the perfect day. I slept in, relaxed all morning, and gave myself a mani. I thought I loved going to the nail salon, but doing a gel manicure from my own couch with a big cup of coffee is much more enjoyable!

Then in the afternoon Rachel and I went out and about all over the city (I’m not exaggerating – we hit about 5 different neighborhoods, haha). Gotta love a World Cup weekend!

During one of our 3348659 cab rights we hit the jackpot and got a brand new cab – complete with a huge sun roof, phone charger outlet, temperature control, and an intercom to speak to the driver. If you live in NYC…well, this is a big deal, people.

On Sunday I got a bit sentimental on Instagram, starting with a Father’s Day shout out to my main man.

Side note – my sister and I joke that this was my “garden gnome” baby stage, haha.

I also spread some love for Rachel, which appropriately turned out to be one of my most liked photos ever. This girl’s story is beyond inspiring and is going to change so many lives (already has!). I’m so blessed to know her!

Be sure to check back on her blog A Life Feast, where she’ll soon be sharing her blog entries from her cancer journey a few years ago.

Another side note – did you know Rachel and I actually met via the blog world? It’s true!

Even though I just blogged about this giveaway yesterday, here’s a little reminder about my Instagram contest – I’m giving away a gift box of Rawxies products! Click here for details on how to enter.

Last but not least is Psalm 73:26, which I shared this morning. This verse couldn’t be any more perfect/true…

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If you’re a blogger, how do you balance your Instagram photos with your blog?

snapshots.

3 June, 2014 by Gracie 16 Comments

…AKA, mostly photos of what I ate.

I like taking pictures of food, what can I say?

That would be avocado toast – the prime example that simple can be oh so better.

Also on the food front – delicious seafood apps from The Mermaid Inn. Rachel and I (late) lunched on these before proceeding to order a second serving of all of them.

Fish tacos:

Fried oysters:

Shrimp corndogs:

Lastly (and also seafood-y) – some new sushi favorites – Shrimp + Mango + Avocado Roll and Sweet Potato Tempura Roll.

Other than eating, my weekend was spent adventure-ing around the city, and only having this one photo to show for it. Apparently “Manhattanedge” was all the rage last week.

Oh, and I finally played Cards Against Humanity for the first time, by way of some strangers/new friends Rachel and I made on Saturday. So raunchy but soo entertaining.

Last but not least, if you follow Speakable you may have noticed I’m trying to get a bit more creative with imagery.

I think it really helps to see the necklaces actually on people, don’t you?

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What’s the best thing you’ve eaten lately? Any other avocado toast freaks lovers?

snapshots.

27 May, 2014 by Gracie 13 Comments

The weekend started out on the gloomy side…

…but it improved. Drastically.

On Saturday I bopped around the city with Jessi. I threw on one of my favorite outfit as of late – cut offs with a tank top and kimono. Easy, cute, and comfortable.

We started the day with breakfast at the diner. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE diners?

Then we headed down to Big Gay Ice Cream Shop for what was supposedly (and truly) the best ice cream cone in the city.

We both got the famous “Salty Pimp,” which is vanilla ice cream injected with dulce de leche, coated with sea salt, and dipped in chocolate. It was unreal.

All of the cones/sundaes looked incredible!

Then we headed to Prospect Park for a birthday party.

Saturday night ended up being a rainy mess, so I had dinner with a friend in my ‘hood then called it a night.

On Sunday I bummed around for most of the day before heading out into what was probably the most gorgeous day of the weekend. I grabbed a quick smoothie…

…then headed to a church meeting in Tribeca. Afterward I headed back uptown to Union Square for a quick lunch at Whole Foods, followed by church.

Then on Sunday night Rachel and I went out to some fun Memorial Day parties around the city. I’m usually out of town for MDW, so it was fun to stick around and enjoy one of the things NYC does best – rooftop parties.

We rounded out the night with dinner at Tortilla Flats – a definite new favorite of mine. As if it weren’t festive enough, they had rounds of trivia every 20 minutes or so. How fun is that?!

Not to mention I’ve never met a Mexican meal I didn’t like.

On Monday I headed up to Central Park for a fun picnic with my friends/church crew. I barely ever make it up to the Park, so I really enjoyed embracing what “nature” NYC has to offer.

And then somewhere in the mix, I’ve been able to become sucked into my latest TV series addiction – The Tudors. It combines so many of my favorite things – 16th century England, royalty, romance, scandal, Henry Cavill…

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Any other fans of The Tudors? What was a highlight of your weekend?

snapshots.

13 April, 2014 by Gracie 13 Comments

Shipping out Speakable orders is my new favorite way to start the day.

Okay fine…there’s a better way, and it’s called brunch. Even if it doesn’t “start” the day until 3pm.

A la Essex…

The other day I got these Amy’s Sandwich Rounds to give a try. They’re really tasty, but really small.

If you look really closely, there’s one hidden under there…

But it’s all good because I got the extra carbs I needed from a green smoothie.

Why do smoothies taste better in a jar…?

My summer wardrobe is growing at a much more rapid pace than most years.

But…how much do you want to bet I’ll never wear those crop tops?

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Have you started getting summer clothes yet? Any colors/trends your especially loving lately?

girl meets: 4.10.14.

10 April, 2014 by Gracie 15 Comments

I haven’t done one of these “girl meets” posts in a while, huh? Back to it, I guess!

Starting with…

food.

I made this Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip again the other day, just ‘cause. Seriously, you have got to make this stuff. It’s a definite crowd-pleaser.

Also on the food front - I tried Hu Kitchen for the first time a few days ago. It’s one of NYC’s new healthy (Paleo) spots, and it was pretty good! I got one of their bowls with quinoa and Moroccan chicken. It was clearly so good I inhaled it before snapping a pic…

fun.

I don’t want to jinx it, but I think the spring weather is finally starting to set here in New York.

(with a sunny selfie to prove it.)

Just walking around the city on a nice day is probably one of my favorite things to do. It’s crazy how much more beautiful New York gets when spring rolls around.

friends.

Yesterday Jessi and I spent a solid 3 hours in Le Pain Quotidien catching up, eating lunch, and talking business.

And yes, fine, this pic is just to show off my fresh mani 😉

Afterward we went to The Uncommons for our weekly Community Group. Game night, anyone?

We ended up playing some random game called Schmovie, where you basically compete to make up the best movie titles based on certain cards flipped/di rolled. It sounds strange (and sort of was) but turned out to be bizarrely entertaining!

…aaand those are some of the highlights of my week so far. Kind of all over the place but…that’s life, right?

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What’s been a highlight of your week so far?
What’s your favorite (board) game?