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

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?

snapshots.

22 March, 2014 by Gracie 7 Comments

WOOOOOO.

Time to bring out the open-toe shoes.

After the horrendous winter, the onset of spring definitely called for celebration.

I’m a sucker for a good candlelit dinner.

The parts I was waiting for for the new Speakable collection FINALLY arrived!

More veggie bowls have been happening. This one with roasted eggplant, squash, and onions atop spaghetti squash, topped with avocado.

Thai with my bestie at Room Service.

NYC has it’s magical moments, and then its just plain terrifying ones.

It’s never too early in the year for a (homemade) pumpkin spice latte!

“In quietness and confidence…”

(from God’s Promises Day by Day devotional)

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How did you celebrate the onset of spring? Any fun plans this weekend?

a {birth}day in the life.

19 March, 2014 by Gracie 8 Comments

First of all, thanks so much for the birthday wishes! You all are the sweetest

My birthday started out as just any other Tuesday. I went to the gym super early and took in my beautiful city right after sunrise.

When I got home I had a breakfast of a green smoothie + one of these imploded (yet delicious) muffins I made the other day.

(Hopefully I can perfect these and share the recipe soon!)

The rest of my day was pretty standard, but with tons of birthday love via phone calls, social media, flowers, and emojis

As I mentioned yesterday, I got my laundry and groceries delivered.

It’s not me, it’s my walkup.

The rest of the day was spent doing the norm – working, Pinning, and getting excited for a birthday celebration with my friends.

When I was done work I spent a few hours listening to podcasts and just reflecting on the past year. I love reading back in my journal about all of the amazing things God has done!

Then it was time to get all dolled up. I wore this beautiful kimono Rachel got me from LF. Since it’s still technically winter I wore it with all black, but I can’t wait to rock this with some cutoff shorts and a messy top knot!

For dinner we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Candle 79. I hadn’t been there in about 4 years (since going with Gabriela), and had been craving it for…about 4 years, haha. It’s not always easy to find people who trust me when I say that the (all vegan) food there is incredible, but I knew my girl friends would be up for the challenge 😉

What we got:

Guacamole Timbale – poblano-guacamole, chipotle black beans, jicama-cucumber salsa, plantain chips, ranchero sauce.

Wild Mushroom & Vegetable Fricassee - soft polenta, truffled almond cheese. (unpictured)

Live Zucchini Enchiladas – cashew cheese, crunchy sprouts, avocado, cashew sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, cucumber-jicama salsa, chipotle-tomato sauce.

Chickpea Crepe - filled with sauteed wild mushrooms, grilled chili tempeh, butternut squash, and spinach with a garlic truffle aoli.

(Definitely the winner of the entrees.)

And for my birthday, we went to town on the desserts. From left to right:

Mexican Chocolate Brownie - caramelized bananas, french vanilla ice cream, candied pecans, chocolate-ancho sauce

Live Pear Pie - nut granola crust, vanilla-cashew cream, candied almonds, huckleberry ice cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss - chocolate & peanut butter mousse, salted peanut-caramel crust, berry coulis

Each and every bite was so, SO delicious. While I’m still a meat-eater, there’s just something about the flavors, textures, and freshness of vegan food that I love so much.

After dinner we headed back downtown to Rose Bar in the Gramercy Park Hotel. I don’t go to Rose Bar often, but it’s beautiful and more celebratory than our normal go-to bars. They also had live music, which I just love.

Some more friends met up with us for what turned out to be the perfect little birthday night I can’t remember the last time I *didn’t* have a big party for my birthday, so I actually enjoyed keeping it low key this year.

Thanks again to everyone for the birthday wishes! xoxo

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How did you celebrate your last birthday?

snapshots.

9 March, 2014 by Gracie 14 Comments

Gym things.

More Juice Press goodness. This time their Anytime Taco.

Sometimes ya just have to ditch the makeup for a day.

And sometimes it’s time to trade in all black attire for the lighter side.

On Saturday we had brunch at one of my favorite spots, The Fat Radish.

I can’t not get their avocado toast…

Epstein’s is always fun for some Saturday silliness.

lol Mon.

Fuel to keep the fun going into nighttime…

A random pup in a cup. Clearly blog-worthy.

Last but not least, this…

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What’s been the highlight of your weekend so far?

#LEAN14: juice press {raw food} review.

7 March, 2014 by Gracie 11 Comments

One of the things I love most about my new neighborhood is that I’m pretty much surrounded by healthy places to eat. One of those places is Juice Press, which I had previously only tried their (yummy) cold-pressed juices. Over the past two days, though, I finally had a couple of their raw food options. And let me just say…oh my raw.

First up was their Raw Falafel.

ingredients: kale, cucumber, tomato, sunflower seeds, almond, buckwheat, filtered water, lime juice, jalepeno, red onion, sea salt, garlic powder, coriander, parsley, cilantro, spices, tahini sauce on the side (filtered water, tahini, lemon juice, coconut sugar, sea salt, spices).

taste: delicious! It definitely had a different texture than baked/fried falafel, but I personally loved it. The flavor was great, and the meal (falafel + salad) was a lot more filling than I anticipated.

The next day for lunch I got the Ravioli, which is actually made from turnip and filled with a basil cashew cheese. Served with sun dried tomatoes over an arugula salad with a scallion vinaigrette.

ingredients: arugula, turnip, sun dried tomato, basil cashew cheese (cashew, sunflower seed, basil, olive oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, spirulina, sea salt, garlic powder, black pepper), scallion vinaigrette (lemon juice, olive oil, apple cide vinegar, agave, scallion, black pepper, garlic powder, sea salt), rawmesan (sunflower seed, nutritional yeast, sea salt, black pepper, tumeric).

taste: AWESOME. I wasn’t sold when I first learned that the ravioli “pasta” was actually turnip, but it totally worked. It had a bit more of a crunch than regular pasta, but the flavors and creamy consistency of the basil cashew cheese still made it taste like real ravioli.

Finally, for dessert I got the Sin-O-Bun. OMG.

ingredients: buckwheat, date, golden flax, cinnamon, vanilla, topping (irish moss, coconut, coconut sugar, vanilla.

taste: Let me just say that I’ve tried a lot of “healthy” desserts in my day, and this is by far one of the best I’ve ever had. Not only is it rich and decadent, but it tastes…real. Not like it’s loaded with fake ingredients. It was a really satisfying dessert that didn’t leave me feeling sluggish afterward.

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Have you ever eaten raw food? Are you a fan?

my new tattoo.

6 March, 2014 by Gracie 27 Comments

Tattoo #5 – check.

On Tuesday Rachel and I headed over to Inborn Tattoo in LES to get (slightly) matching finger tattoos. I’ve been wanting to get a new tattoo for 2 years now, but on Sunday we got chatting about actually making it happen. Less than 48 hours later…

Inborn is definitely the best tattoo shop I’ve been to in New York. We were referred to our artist JonBoy by a friend, and I couldn’t recommend him more!

Not only is their work some of the best I’ve ever seen, but the shop itself is clean, professional, and welcoming.

If you’re into the tattoo sort of thing 😉

I’ve already gotten a ton of questions and comments about why I chose to have “Jesus” written on my finger. I actually went back and forth for a while deciding between some of my favorite words, verses, symbols, etc. before realizing that the meaning behind them always pointed back to…Jesus! And I couldn’t get that off my mind.

If I’m being fully honest, the only thing holding me back was the fact that it’s quite the bold statement to put smack dab on my hand. It’s something that might make some people feel uncomfortable, or at least curious. Like I said, it’s already gotten many interesting reactions from people I meet in public and brings up questions/comments, and…well, that’s sort of what I’m going for.

Bottom line – JESUS is the word/name I want to look down and see every day. Without JESUS I would be a mess of a human being, to say the least. JESUS is alive, and He’s…everything.

Do you have any tattoos? If not, do you want any?

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