Scenes From New York | girl meets life.

scenes from the weekend.

Floral duty.

Mandatory selfie.

All set up.

Off she goes!

Who smiles anymore?

The beautiful newlyweds.

Sunday brunch, first course.

…second course.

Brunch buddies.

“We can only give what we have received.”

Tell me the best part of your weekend!

scenes from this week.

What was the best part of your week? Is May off to a good start for you?

Apparently I’m way more affected by the weather than I thought. These past couple of days in New York have been absolutely gorgeous, and I’ve been one happy chick. I may be an autumn girl at heart, but this spring is definitely making a good impression.

Dinner outside with a view? Yes please.

Using my break from work to lounge out a bit in the sun? Don’t mind if I do.

Taking the floral prints and springy patterns out of hibernation? Gladly.

What’s your favorite thing about spring? What’s your favorite season?

scenes from new york, 13.

{one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve}

let’s be adventurers.

Don’t you love the days that you think are going to look a certain way and end completely differently? Because I do. Thankfully for me, the past couple of days have been just that.

First of all, I’ve come to a whole new appreciation for nights out where I’m not working some sort of party or event.

And my appreciation for adventures in Brooklyn grows every time I visit there. Williamsburg sure knows how to do thrift stores right. I could get lost in there for hours!

Yesterday I thought I was going to spend the majority of the day working from home and instead did…well, just about everything but that. Jessi rented a car for a different special adventure for today and ended up getting it early. Let’s just say that taking a break from public transportation is a luxury I didn’t realize I missed so deeply.

Today, though, I think I’m going to pendulum swing and have some lazy, get-caught-up-with-life time at home…during the day, at least.

Do you enjoy spontaneous adventures or prefer structure/routine?

extra special.

Do you ever have those weeks? Those weeks that include extra special additions?

Because for me, this week is one of them. It all started on Sunday when we arrived at The Leadbelly to find this extra special touch welcoming our guests.

It turned out to be such a great brunch! If you’re ever in New York on a Sunday and looking for a place to enjoy good food, a cozy setting, and meet some new friends – we’d love for you to join us.

Also to make note of from Sunday – the No Pants Subway Ride day. I don’t know I’d call this “extra special,” but it was definitely…um, different.

Nothing extravagant happened on Monday and Tuesday other than working from home and enjoying the simple comforts, like sipping tea in an extra special over-sized mug. Seriously – what is it about these huge mugs that makes tea/coffee taste so much better?

Oh, and then of course there’s my Fresh Diet meals. They make me feel so spoiled! Extra special x10.

(Walnut Crusted Chicken Apricot Roulade with Roasted Kabocha Squash, Wild Mushrooms, and Sauteed Kale)

Yesterday was an extra special day for myself, Jessi, and FreelyBe. I can’t go into too much detail, but we have some really exciting things in the works right now. Fingers crossed! I’ve really grown to love our Wednesdays, which essentially consist of walking all over the city from meeting to meeting. Our destinations aren’t too shabby either. In this case: Hudson Hotel.

I don’t know exactly what the rest of the week will hold, but with the plans I have in place I have a feeling there will be some more extra special things in store…

What little things take your week from being average to extra special?

the bright side.

This is going to be the obligatory “I’m sick, woe is me” post. You have been warned.

But I do have to say, I’ve got it pretty made when it comes to being sick. I may not be feeling up to going outside much, but thankfully…nature comes to me.

Talk about the bright side, right?

And I may not have my mom nearby to cook for me, but I do have the glorious addition to our technologically-advanced world: Seamless. Thanks to Seamless, I was able to enjoy a delicious delivered meal from Blossom Du Jour.

That would be the Blossom Bean Burger (with guacamole and lettuce) on a brown rice wrap. SO good. Although I’m far from being vegan, I’ve yet to meet a vegan restaurant in the city that I didn’t love. Blossom Du Jour is definitely near the top of that list.

‘

The only not-so-great thing about being sick?

You see, since I already work from home, I’ve got to be really sick to let myself take the day off. I’m still pretty functional, so no excuses here.

Even though I’m still working, the bright side is that my sick day(s) have consisted of reading on my new iPad, and tea upon tea upon tea.

(Thanks to my BFF Jessi for this fine assortment )

I’ll be honest – after 36 hours of not leaving the apartment – I’m feeling quite stir crazy. Recently posted photos of a party we threw a few weeks ago at BOW certainly hasn’t helped…

BUT. With the weekend rapidly approaching, getting better is my top priority. Right? Right.

Any other sickies out there? How are you nursing yourself back to health?

a visit from chrissy.

This past month has been full of visits from a handful of my favorite people, and this past weekend that visit was from none other than my (other) college roommate, Chrissy

It’s always fun having people visit around the holidays because I get to do things in the city that I might not have done otherwise. Like yesterday, where we started off our day by heading up to the American Musuem of Natural History.

I feel the need to confess that we actually spent a bit of time in the wrong museum next door. Haha! I haven’t been to the AMNH in years so…yeah. That’s my excuse. But once we did make it there, it was so much fun. I love museums and don’t get to go to them nearly enough, so I really enjoyed it.

Afterward we went down to Union Square to walk around the holiday market and stop for lunch at Panera. Sometimes I feel the pressure to take my visitors to more local restaurants but…whatever. Panera is my jam.

To wrap up the day we stopped at Rockefeller Center to see the tree and holiday decorations around Radio City.

Tip: if you’re visiting NYC soon, the crowds are getting crazier by the minute. You have been warned.

We headed home for some much-needed rest before heading out to dinner around 9 with Erica. We tried a new spot – Eatery. I love restaurants that highlight a New American version of comfort food, so Eatery was right up my alley.

We started with Tempura Calamari (hijiki, fresh mango & white ponzu sauce).

For an entrée I got the Eatery Winter Salad (bibb lettuce, frisse, red and golden beets, artichokes, peppers, coach farms goat cheese, pistachios and tarragon vinaigrette) + added avocado.

It was another dessert sort of night, so I went with the Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake (ginger snap pecan crust).

…and that was a pretty great way to end the day, if I do say so. Chrissy headed home about an hour ago, and now I’m relaxing for a bit before heading to brunch (if you’re in NYC and looking for brunch plans today, email me! gracie{at}girlmeetslife{dot}com).

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

never too old.

The older I get, the more I realize how much of who we were as children plays into adult life. Even though I’ve matured and learned more about life and myself, deep down there’s still that inherent “Gracie” who – for the most part – is the exact same person.

Then there are the more trivial things that don’t change much at all either. Sure, there’s the updated adult-versions of everything, but there’s no denying that the kid inside of all of us never really leaves.

…like how you’re never too old to kick off a Friday night by bowling with friends.

…or never too old to enjoy macaroni and cheese for lunch. Plus, adding spinach makes it like, totally un-childish.

You’re never too old to play dress-up with a group of girl friends. Now you just make more of an event out of it.

And you’re never too old to feel like a rebel for eating frozen yogurt on a freezing cold day. Topped with as much cookies and candy as humanly possible, of course.