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

snapshots | 2.9.15.

9 February, 2015 by Gracie 3 Comments

1) Whyyy did I ever stop making Banana Soft Serve? Every time I make it I think “how is this just bananas?” I’ve also learned that using 2-3 bananas makes it way better - not just because there’s more (an obvious plus), but I’ve found it just blends a lot better.

2) On Friday we had a Red Carpet Manicure event at Paintbox nail studio. I had heard of Paintbox a ton but it was my first time there, and it is uh-mazing. Unlike any nail salon I’ve ever been to. If you’re ever in NYC and want to pamper yourself, this is the place to go.

(p.s. or if you want to give yourself a bomb-A gel manicure, you should enter my #GMLLOVE giveaway)

3) That’s my “please don’t make me go outside” selfie. This past week has been brutally cold in NYC. Oh how I miss having a car sometimes…

4) I’ve been loving adding fun sports bras/bandeaus to my normal workout attire. This one is from Forever21, but I’ve also seen them at LF Stores, Urban Outfitters, and Free People.

5) Post SoulCycle sweaty selfie with Sydney. She also just started a new blog with her best friend - check it out: WE Perceive.

6) As much as the winter can be a bummer, a surprise hour-long snow shower is still so fun.

7) These little breakfast arepas from Yerba Buena are my new JAM. Soooo good.

8) I recently shared on Instagram how much I love this little Bible Promise Book. You can find verses by topic (for me - whatever I may be struggling with on a given day). I’ve actually started carrying it around with me wherever I go - just reading a verse or two throughout the day has made such a big difference.

9) The big ol’ fluffy leopard coat is back in action. I reserve it only for the coldest of days…mostly because I look like a freak otherwise.

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What’s been a highlight of your past week(end)? Any particularly great meal, movie, etc.?

life lately | 1.31.15.

31 January, 2015 by Gracie 14 Comments

Happy Saturday!

Before I go on - I’ve been meaning to say thank you so much for your responses to my acupuncture post. It’s not easy for me to be so open like that, so it meant a lot to read all of your support + learn that I helped shed some light on acupuncture for you.

Anyway, it’s been quite a good week over in this life I’ve met. Here are some highlights of life lately.

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1) I joined ClassPass! ClassPass is basically an “open relationship” with exercise (ha), which is really great for my schedule/lifestyle. For $99/month you get unlimited classes at a ton of top NYC fitness studios and gyms without having to get a full membership.

I’ve taken three classes so far - Pilates, Cyc, and a yoga class at Y7 this morning.

My favorite so far has been New York Pilates. I absolutely LOVED it. It was my first Pilates class using a reformer, and I enjoyed it so much. I must admit that I don’t love strength training (no matter how much I try to lift weights, I just…hate it), but I genuinely loved using the reformer. It worked muscles I didn’t even know I had! And it was just so chill - I didn’t even break a sweat. We’ll save that for the spin classes 😉

2) You probably heard that the supposed record-breaking blizzard Juno fell flat. What was supposed to be 20-30 inches was a measly 8 in NYC. It was awkward.

Still made for a pretty city, though.

NYC winter

3) I FINALLY got around to trying the new Quest S’mores bar. I hadn’t been eating Quest bars for a few months because I just got really sick of them, but…you guys. The S’mores one is ridiculously good.

4) You may have seen me share this piece of artwork on Instagram. My friend Andrea made it - how beautiful is this?! You can’t really tell from the photo, but the texture/paint actually comes off the canvas 3D-style (ha, I clearly don’t know art terms). If you’re interested in seeing more of her work, you can check it out here.

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5) Last night Sydney and I had a nice little dinner date at Hudson Clearwater (one of my favorite spots - definitely recommend it!) followed by some bar hopping in the West Village. It was ridiculously freezing out, but we ended up having such a fun night!

6) After yoga class this morning Monica and I had brunch at Two Hands. I had seen it all over Instagram, and it definitely lived up to the hype. It’s a cute little cafe tucked away on Mott Street.

We got almond milk lattes and split the acai bowl and avocado toast.

Yes, us girls love splitting meals. It’s a scientific fact.

And now I’m here relaxing for a bit + catching up on some work! Gotta love that balance of a fun/productive weekend, right? 😉

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What’s been a highlight of your week?

scenes from the weekend.

25 January, 2015 by Gracie 18 Comments

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?!

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.

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?

SBC: a day in the life + 11:11 (sort of).

10 September, 2014 by Gracie 13 Comments

I’ve mentioned before how my schedule varies so much from day to day. On some days I’m in front of a computer for 8 hours, other days I’m running around the city for meetings, and others I’m doing nail polish photo shoots in the park.

I’m serious.

#SeptBloggingChallenge number 10: a day in the life.

Today was a pretty low key day in my life. I woke up around 7 and did work for my social media clients for about 2 hours.

Then I drank some green juice and got ready to head out for the day.

Around 10am I walked to Flatiron and had a 30 minute gossip session chat with my mom. Then I worked for a few hours + had client meetings with Jessi.

After our meetings we headed to lunch at Friend of a Farmer.

French press and cobb salads, please and thank you.

On my walk home I stopped for a mani/pedi because I’m my own boss and do what I want 😉

Just kidding.

But not really.

I also stopped at the store for the fixins for Cake Batter Blondies and bacon wrapped dates.

The occasion? Girls’ night at my place!

The girl friends and I decided to make an official weekly get-together, and I’m soooo glad we did. NYC isn’t exactly the easiest place to live, so to have good friends is 100% necessary, in my opinion.

I caught up on work and blog posts before and after our night before passing out around…well, 10 minutes from now. So…that’s that! A (Wednes)day in my life.

#SeptBloggingChallenge number 11: make a wish.

Yeeeeah totally not sharing my wish. I think it’s a combo of being superstitious and embarrassed about my wish(es).

Not to mention that I also consider myself much more of a “doer” than a wisher. I guess I probably should have thought about that before added it to the challenge, haha.

What I CAN say is that so SO many of my wishes/dreams have come true so far in my life, and I don’t see that changing any time soon…

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Your turn! What does a day in the life look like for you?
If you could have any wish come true TODAY, what would it be?

scenes from the weekend {+ SoulCycle review}.

7 September, 2014 by Gracie 12 Comments

Want to know the truth behind this photo?

It was taken 5 minutes after I thought I left my phone in the gym locker room, ran back to find it wasn’t there, bawled my eyes out like a lunatic on the street, then found that I had left it on the counter at Liquiteria.

Ugh. Moving on.

On Friday I went to our Liberty Sisterhood event with Sarah Dubbeldam, and it was SO GOOD. We sold out the entire theater!

But probably the most exciting part was the announcement of SHE IS FREE – a celebration of freedom happening in April, hosted by Andi Andrew. I HIGHLY suggest checking out the website (especially the promo video!) and considering making the trip to NYC for this. It’s going to be unreal…

Afterward a bunch of us headed to The Standard East Village for my friend Tia’s going away party.

On Saturday I did something I’ve been wanting to for a long time now – I took my first SOULCYCLE class. I was a bit nervous, to say the least.

My roommate Rachel is basically a SoulCycle enthusiast so I finally made it to a class with her. We took Jaws’ class at the SoulCycle Soho Studio. The class definitely kicked my ass…in the best possible way. I was really intimidated at first because SoulCyclists are quite the intense bunch (it’s definitely one of those cult-like fitness trends). The fact that I couldn’t even snap my shoes in the bike at first didn’t help either, ha.

BUT – as soon as the class started I totally understood the draw of SoulCycle. First of all – it is FUN. The studio is really dark, which I loved, and the music was 100% on point (super important to me). And then of course, it was a killer workout. I think there’s a misconception that spinning is just cardio, but SoulCycle has all sorts of strength moves throughout the entire class – pushups, squats, crunches, hand weights, etc.

So bottom line – I loved it! I probably won’t be able to make it to SoulCycle a ton just because it’s expensive and I already have a gym membership, but I’m going to try to treat myself to it once a week or so if I can!

After SoulCycle we headed home and got ready before heading back out to brunch with a group of friends. I embraced the disgustingly hot weather to rock cutoffs and a crop top one last time…

(top – American Apparel, shorts – Necessary Clothing)

As for brunch – our go-to De Santos never fails!

Then we spent the rest of the day hopping around some of our favorite bars in the West Village.

I’m all about the tablescape shots, can you tell?

On Sunday (today) I spent a few hours catching up on work/blog stuff then hit the gym. I powered through with my new Nespresso VertuoLine machine, which I was gifted at that Nespresso event a few weeks ago.

I. am. OBSESSED. with this machine…! Seriously – it makes better coffee than some of my favorite cafes in the city.

Other Sunday things…

Went to church. Was an incredible message and exactly what I needed to hear, as usual.

Did the whole grocery shopping/errands thing.

Tried to organize my life before the crazy week ahead.

Aaand got ready to introduce the new Speakable limited edition DARLING necklace. You saw it here first – details to come in the morning!

And that’s a wrap! Hope you all had a fab weekend 🙂

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What was the highlight of your weekend?

a {long} weekend in the life.

1 September, 2014 by Gracie 3 Comments

I can’t believe summer is (unofficially) over. AHHHH.

Even though fall is my favorite season, I must admit I’m sad to see this summer come to an end. It was one of my favorite summers yet – full of highs, lows, lots of fun with my friends and family, and just some personal growth that I’m really excited about.

I decided to stay in town over the weekend, and it turned out to be a great few days! The city was definitely a ghost town, but I still managed to have a weekend balance of fun and productivity (aka the best weekends).

Rewind to Friday, where I gave myself the day off from work 😉 Gotta love being your own boss!

I started the day with a visit to Arrojo studio to get my hair done.

I’ve mentioned a handful of times how much I love Arrojo. The salon itself is great (complete with a café)…

…and I love their line of products as well.

And don’t even get me started on my stylist Nadia! I’ve been going to her for about 2 years, and no one gets my blonde ambition quite like she does 🙂

(If you’re in NYC and looking for a stylist – she’s your girl!)

The finished product:

After the salon I headed uptown to the Refinery Hotel for lunch with a friend.

Watermelon salad with pork belly – don’t mind if I do.

Followed by a celebratory Friday prosecco on the roof.

On Friday night we celebrated my friend Trish’s bachelorette party with sushi, lingerie, and my gorgeous friends.

On Saturday Jessi and I met up in the morning to do a quick video shoot for our client Red Carpet Manicure. Working on Saturday made me feel less bad about being such a spoiled brat on Friday, haha.

Then we headed to Williamsburg for Leah’s birthday brunch at St. Balmain. Happy birthday, Leah!

I’m kiiiinda sorta obsessed with St. Balmain. Last time I was there I got their avocado toast (bomb), but this time I went with their Breakfast Bowl - kale, spinach, red quinoa, toasted almonds, avocado, halloumi cheese, a soft poached egg. I think it may be one of my favorite breakfast dishes ever…

After brunch I headed back into Manhattan to meet up with Rachel and Martina for some Saturday adventuring. It was a bit of a gloomy day, but that wasn’t going to stop us!

We ended up at Epsteins for a few hours with all of the other “stayed in the city this weekend” rejects (I mean that in the nicest possible way, haha).

We went back to Martina’s for a few hours and watched The Devil Wears Prada (naturally) before heading back out for a late dinner. We tried to rally to go out afterward, but after being out for about 14 hours straight I figured it was probably best to call it a night.

Sunday was spent being productive – organizing the apartment, catching up on Speakable stuff, gym, etc. Then I went to church at night, which was 100% what I needed to start the new week.

And now here I am today – tempted to go do something fun BUT going to spend at least a few hours working. I have a crazy week, so gotta get ahead of the game!

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Did you do anything fun for Labor Day weekend? Are you sad to see summer go?