1) OKONOMI: 150 Ainslie St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 

I came here by myself with a mission in mind: to relive my childhood. I grew up eating savory Korean breakfasts: some sort of protein, soup, many dishes of banchan, and a bowl of rice. Once I moved to NYC 10 years ago, those dreamy breakfasts ended and it was replaced with gReEN sMoOtHieS and oAtMeaL! Ugh and ew.

How I still crave the calm experience of enjoying a savory meal with well though-out portions and unlimited options. While the food here is obviously Japanese, the concept is still the same. It’s a tiny restaurant with such a homely vibe. The waiter comes up to you to give you the options (which range from $18-$25) to choose from. There’s no rush, the food is so tasty, and you’ll leave feeling beyond satisfied and full. I’ve already decided that I’ll visit this spot once a month, if not more.

2. CAFE HENRIE: 116 Forsyth St, New York, NY 10003

I saw it on the ‘gram and whatever, I HAD to go. Those pink tables, come on!  I went with a girlfriend and we couldn’t stop raving about how cute this place is. Don’t you love a restaurant that has all of the elements laid out for you? And isn’t it even better when the food is super tasty? We both got the Dragon Bowls and felt guilt-free and super satisfied. If you’re looking for a hearty lunch that’s healthy and at a reasonable price, make a trip to Chinatown for this gem. So worth it.

3. TWO HANDS: 164 Mott St, New York, NY 10013

Another restaurant that truly understands the customer that wants to Instagram their meals. Aside from the cute aesthetics, the food is healthy (very important for me, btw) and hearty.

4. BLUESTONE LANE:  30 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014 

Okay, call me basic, but I think Bluestone Lane has the best avocado toast in town. The bread is hearty, so it’s not just a simple piece of sliced bread with smashed avocados on top. There’s a perfectly placed poached egg with sprinkles of feta and sliced tomatoes with a generous drizzle of olive oil. I love this as an actual meal or as a snack.

5. FREUD: 506 Laguardia Place, New York, NY 10012 

In a future post, I’ll share my love for Austria and Austrian food, and so when I stumbled upon this darling spot near my apartment, I couldn’t help but get nostalgic. The entire ambience was romantic and dreamy. The food was tasty; I got their special eggs benedict with artichoke and a fresh arugula salad. It was light but still very filling.

Do you have any new brunch spots I should check out/ want me to check out? What are your go-to dishes? Tell me everything! 

The post The Dish: The 5 Best New York Brunch Spots appeared first on DONNADAILY.

Jolene Hart’s book, Eat Pretty: Nutrition for Beauty Inside and Out should be a staple on everybody’s shelf. It should actually be a mandatory read in schools, but I’ll get into a rant about which books should be mandatory reads in schools in another potential blog post, some other time. 

I’d consider myself a pretty healthy eater. I never, ever forbid myself from junk food and a couple of glasses of wine, but generally, I’m proud of my food intake. However, I will admit, before I read “Eat Pretty”, I had no idea what some of these foods were doing for my body. For example, I knew that coconut oil was a “good fat” and that bananas help with digestion, but that’s pretty much the extent of it… I also am one of those people that will throw everything into a blender and feel accomplished afterwards, knowing I took in all of my fruit and veggie intake for the day.

So it’s really convenient and useful to have a book that gives you ALL of the explanations and beauty benefits of these ingredients that you’re always consuming.

My favorite part of the book is when Hart gives you the ultimate breakdown of the beauty benefits of certain foods.  IE: Watermelon has iron that helps maintain healthy red blood cell production, arugula can help protect cells from DNA damage, and cacao is just the ultimate treat for your complexion to help block wrinkle formation. You get the idea.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a fun and helpful read, go for this. It will help inspire you to make changes or at least give you some helpful insight to what you should be consuming on a day to day basis. For newbie health nuts like myself, consider this book to be your first step in the right direction! 

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Fun fact: I used to work at a high-end hair salon while I was in college. I was a receptionist and got to do makeup for some high profile celebrities and professionals at just 18 years old. I befriended the creme de la creme stylists and I was always so grateful that they used my mane to test out different curling irons, hair dye formulas, and products. My hair has been every color and cut under the sun and somehow it’s still all on my head. But as time passed, I started to notice the texture of my hair started to weaken. Cry face emoji.

But that’s fine with me; it’s the sacrifice I’m willing to make to try and test new products for posts and reviews. And when I do get the opportunity to color and cut my hair by A-list stylists, I’m grateful beyond words.

So here’s the challenge. Since my hair is naturally jet black, I have to bleach my hair in order for certain colors to pop. (Bleach = death to the hair) And a few months ago, I wanted to go bright blonde for the summer and while it looked super fierce, it unfortunately left my hair feeling and looking super crunchy (I just shivered thinking about this) whenever I was done styling it. No bueno!  Ammonia-free, semi-permanent at-home hair dye was the answer… or so I thought. I was too embarrassed to go to a salon to fix it. HAUTE MESS!

So last week, I went to go see my friends at Julien Farel at the Loews Regency Hotel in NYC. I was paired with the stunning Gynna Cayambe and she intuitively knew what she needed to do with my hair. My helpless look probably had something to do with it.

Rule of thumb: If your hairstylist has hair you love, TRUST THEM. 

The look of hope. 

After about an hour or so of hopefulness and experimentation, the results were spectacular. We did a deep conditioning treatment so my hair felt and looked extra bouncy and the color came out to be this gorgeous topaz-maroon-caramel. Perfect to frame the face and for the summer. Love and thanks to the amazing staff at Julien Farel! 

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For those of you who don’t know, ARITAUM is basically Korea’s SEPHORA. It houses a ton of different Korean brands such as IOPE, LANEIGE, AMOREPACIFIC, MAMONDE (my current obsession!), and MODI NAILS. I had a field day.

The kind folks at ARITAUM invited me to a wonderful evening with other beauty enthusiasts to check out their newest location in New Jersey at H-Mart. I’ve only been to New Jersey a handful of times, but never had the full Korean experience, so this was such a treat. It started off with a little mingling session and meeting the entire AMOREPACIFIC/ARITAUM North America team. We then learned all about the cushion technology and how it’s essentially revolutionizing and disrupting (in the best way possible!) the beauty space. AMOREPACIFIC created a new category in the foundation cosmetics space and it’s so wonderful and exciting to see the upcoming progress and newest innovations that they’re currently working on.

After the learning sesh, we all did a bit of shopping. Above is just a fraction of the things I indulged in, and a video blog explaining some of my top picks will be coming very soon!

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Finding the right products for my hair has always and probably always will be, an unsolvable mystery and challenge. Throughout the years, as I’ve tried close to a trillion hair products (not really an exaggeration), some products worked better than most. I do have to thank my parents’ (I get it from both my mama and my papa) healthy genes because admittingly, my hair is naturally voluminous and shiny. But regardless, the amount of heat and color I put on it, I’m surprised I don’t have any premature bald spots!!

So when I received the opportunity to customize my VERY OWN shampoo and conditioner from this amazing brand, Function of Beauty, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Here’s how it works: (all images via Function of Beauty’s website)

It’s a quick three-step process and I loved the step-by-step guide to getting it all done and square away for you. If only all makeup and skincare products had this type of customization! See below:

And once you’ve finished your hair profile, you’ll receive a gorgeous box of your CUSTOM shampoo & conditioner. Since my hair is so unruly, naturally straight, damaged, AND colored, I thought that this process and product is quite brilliant; I’m able to list all of the pros and cons about my hair and treat it with the TLC that it deserves. I always give new brands I’m testing about 5 days to 1-week to see results and I must say, my hair never felt softer and revived. I almost feel like I can skip the at-home treatment masks because the conditioner, especially, is SO good.

Because this shampoo and conditioner duo is not family size, I’d suggest using this for special occasions or if you feel you’ve damaged your hair too much in one week. Aside from the wonderful benefits of the product, can we talk about how adorable the packaging is? (I’m SUCH a sucker for great packaging). This makes for an amazing gift for your friends and family? Love it!

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Hi, friends! It’s been a minute and I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday and your bellies were stuffed with delicious turkey, tofurkey, ham, spam, and sweet potatoes galore! But let’s face the ugly truth–  we all know it’s time to slowly get it together and get back on track with your daily food intake and routine.

I find that it’s always tough during the colder seasons to curb your appetite and to manage your snacking. I admit, I always want to reach for a cheesy warm slice or a glass of mulled wine or two.. or three!  Food just tastes better when you’re cold, right?

But the past few months I’ve been monitoring what I’ve been eating more carefully than usual. I’ve felt more in control about how I manage my food intake, my exercise routine, and my overall health. It has helped me tremendously with my mood, work ethic, and internal confidence. So when Graze snacks approached me about a fun collaboration, I couldn’t have thought of a better fit AND timing!

Read the fun interview here. They asked some brilliant questions about how I manage my snacking, what inspires me, and tips on how I stay healthy inside and out. Sneak peek:

How do you stay healthy both inside and out? 

I believe your mental and physical health should be the highest of priorities. I have to admit, I rarely paid attention to my health up until this year. It’s SO easy to get burnt out and lazy- especially when you live and work in a fast-paced environment like New York City. And in the past year, I had gained a ton of excess weight, felt so lethargic and was really hard on myself. So, in order to combat those feelings, I got strict with myself and I made it my top priority. I always make sure I get at least 8 hours of sleep, surround myself with positive people, practice meditation, and only eat foods that will nourish me. It’s changed everything!

Hope you enjoy! Also, if you’d like to have try out these yummy snacks, you can get your first box free with my promo code: DONNADAILY! Let me know which ones you love! My faves are: Cranberry & Hazelnut Toasts (with a rich cocoa dip), The Cheese Board, Cherries & Berries, and Scrumptious Blueberry Swirl! 

xx

Photos: The beautiful and talented Claire Esparros

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Can we all take a moment to soak in that brilliance? I stumbled upon Ms. Niequist’s readings through Instagram (per the usual) and am anxiously awaiting the four books to arrive in my mailbox. Thank GOD for Amazon Prime!

Click the image to buy her books!!

A lot of people ask me how I find these quotes for my #DDInspire feed. The short answer, law of attraction. The long version? Well, I’m constantly on the hunt to finding the best texts and quotes that provide a deeper meaning and/or an opportunity for you to really reflect and think — because they do for me. And because I’m always focusing on that, I am never short on finding gems to share with you. I constantly have to pace myself when uploading these quotes because the last thing I want to do is clog up your feed with countless quotes and not provide the space and time to fully soak in the meaning of it all.

In these past few months of recalibrating my brand and my physical and spiritual self, I’ve been able to focus my energies on the new projects and ideas that I have planned for the future. So this quote in particular struck a nerve. I just had to share it and I really believe it can provide a lot of insight into how to center yourself to appreciate the moments and changes that are currently occurring in your life. It’s easy to compare your current situation to your past and your hopeful future and we all know, this can cause an enormous amount of anxiety and self-doubt. To remain sane and to feel confident in your daily life, appreciate all of the confusions and the unknown and focus your energy on how you can make your day the best day, under any circumstance.

I’m excited to blog again and I hope you can all stay patient with me on this journey of becoming. I’m personally undergoing a ton of change and I have a massive project in the works and I cannot wait to share that with you in the next (hopefully few!) months.

Hope you all had a lovely week. As always, your thoughts and opinions always matter and they keep me inspired and going.

Love and light, Donna

The post It’s the Season of Becoming! appeared first on DONNADAILY.

We’ve all been there. I certainly have at least. The constant desire or need for outside validation to ensure that what you’re doing in your life (both personal and professional) is “right”. But who really knows the answer to these things but yourself? Sometimes we ask others simply because we don’t want to look inward and we’re afraid to possibly fail. But I’ve always TRIED to look at the glass half-full. Failure is an option, but I’d rather think about succeeding and trying.

You see, I’ve been in situations where I’ve failed and gotten rejected but I never let that dumb down my own confidence. I used to seek the approval of EVERYONE just so I could get a little bit of confidence. But what I realized is, no amount of outside validation is going to equate to your own reassurance about something.

Find out what fulfills you. A few tips on how to discover that is simply by feeling from within. What brings a smile to your face? What makes you feel so happy inside? What’s the thing that makes you want to pick up the phone and express excitement to your loved ones? What’s the thing in your life that makes you excited to get up in the morning and get the wheels moving?

If you don’t know, don’t fret – it’s all good. I think if you’ve stumbled upon this post, you’re in the process of wanting to know how to or (ironically) you may want to seek some validation that you’re on the right track.

Amirite? There’s just no way that anyone’s life is flawless and perfect. You’re supposed to endure hardships and rejections so you can fully understand what it means to succeed and to recognize happiness. Recognizing your feelings (both good and bad) is going to help you understand your internal compass and therefore make better decisions on what YOU need to do- without the approval of others.

Appreciate the good and the bad. Trust in yourself and in your journey.

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If you’re a maximalist like me, you probably have way too much jewelry and random accessories (this is a good thing, folks). I believe it’s important that those PYTs have equally pretty homes. I’m not really a huge fan of lucite boxes because while they’re very helpful in order to see the jewelry —  sometimes I think those gems need to be stored in something prettier.

SO, I round up four of my favorite ways to store jewelry. Some are not conventional, but hopefully it will help you broaden your scope on how to store things. Not everything needs to be put into a velvet box or in a clear case – be creative and have so much fun!

#1 are actually candle holders. Warning- I am NOT condoning lighting a candle while your jewelry is hanging because that is obviously stupid, but the candles UNLIT would be such a chic way to hold bracelets. The beak of the bird is sharp enough to store rings .. it’s just a much clever and fun way to house your jewels.

Tiered trays are also one of my favorite ways to store jewelry. Because the dishes are all different sizes, you can throw your pieces according to the size. I LOVE the gold detail on this one.  (#2)

If you have fine jewelry or pieces that you don’t typically wear on the daily, I’d suggest a box like this.  It also makes for awesome coffee table decor, too.

And lastly, this votive holder is an unexpected but still excellent option to hold your jewelry – especially dangly earrings. In the area where the candle would be, you could throw in cocktail rings!

Again, make your house a beautiful and spunky place. I always love to think outside of the box when it comes to decor, and you don’t need to break the bank to make it look amazing. Hope this helps and you enjoy it!

The post 4 OTHER WAYS TO STORE JEWELRY appeared first on DONNADAILY.

Meryl Streep has always been one of my favorite actresses- not just because of her extraordinary talent but because she knows who she is and unapologetically speaks her mind about everything. How inspiring is that?

I saw that meme or quote many months ago, and after a couple of unfortunate consequent events in my life recently, I recalled this speech. Meryl took the words out of my head and I couldn’t agree more. It’s helped me reinforce my inner beliefs and strengths as well.

Here is my stance- I no longer have the emotional, physical, and financial capacity to waste time and energy to people or experiences that do not serve me to grow and develop to become a better person.

You should only surround yourself in situations with those who appreciate you and don’t take your time and love for granted. Negativity has no place in your life. When you’ve done the work (and I mean ALL of the grunt work of paying your dues and enduring failures) demand to be treated with respect and care- because you deserve it. Here’s my favorite part of her statement:

“I do not adjust either to popular gossiping. I hate conflict and comparisons. I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities. In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or a word of encouragement.”

When you know better, you do better. Life is always filled with curveballs but knowing how to swerve is the key to maintaining peace and sanity. What’s your stance?

xx

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