What I Learned | girl meets life.

cost approach, 12.

Five fake flowers from a tourist-filled convenient store on 34th street: $6.

Braving Midtown Manhattan on a Friday during rush hour to complete our Kentucky Derby Hats: priceless.

Enough Mexican food from Baja Fresh to feed a small army: over $100.

Ending the amazing weekend by celebrating Cinco De Mayo with friends:

on being inspired.

For a good majority of my life, I never thought of myself as being a creative person. Inspiration was a word that was used when there wasn’t a concrete answer to be had.

I wouldn’t even dare put my name and “art” in the same sentence. Drawing and painting never came natural to me. As

my {be me} plan.

Remember that time I posted about being yourself?

Well, I have a confession to make. Being myself – being fully and unapologetically Gracie – is not something that is entirely natural for me. It’s easy for me to get caught up in what I think my goals, likes, and role in life should look like

what i learned this weekend, 17.

There is one reason and one reason only to enter Whole Foods on a Sunday.

I spent way too long having a room without curtains. And blackout curtains are my new best friend.

I have bragging rights.

I have more food blogging opportunities than I thought.

(Brunch at Agave on Saturday and at

www.simplesharebuttons.com

no looking back.

Sooooooo. I may or may not have just spent about 45 minutes compiling a post that included my “25 highlights from my 25th year,” only to have Windows Live Writer suddenly close without asking me whether or not to save the draft. I told myself before re-opening it that if the post was gone, it

why blog?

Well here it goes. One of those posts I’m debating hitting “publish” on. In fact, this has been sitting in the drafts folder of my email for about two months…

Okay, maybe I’m overreacting. But the truth is that any posts that come from my heart make me a little bit nervous and…well, vulnerable. But

lessons lately.

In case your Instagram feed didn’t make it clear enough, we got snow. Like, a lot of it.

And apparently we now name snow storms. But not just any regular names…COOL names.

I never thought it would happen to me, but it seems I am definitely not safe from the black hole that

what i learned this weekend, 16.

The goal of playing darts is not to hit the bulls eye every single time. Who knew?

I really really really would like to have a destination birthday this year.

There is a way to take vitamins every day that doesn’t make me want to throw up.

(My friend Nicole who is a Fitness Specialist

www.simplesharebuttons.com

the little things.

Last year, Jessi and I started a tradition of meeting on the first of every month to pray and decide on a theme for the next 30 days. It really helps us to be present every day and intentional about what we think, say, and do. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so…well,