Grits in the City - discounts and faves
Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!
Stirling Hotel has been a pandemic staple for us. We haven’t been dining out in person basically at all since March 2020. So restaurants that have been smart in how they’ve adapted in the interim (and continued their to go options even after tings started to reopen) have maintained their status as some of our faves. Stirling definitely qualifies!
We unfortunately just missed their recent dinner event but went this past weekend for a rare in-person meal for a belated birthday celebration for T.
Only one of our two kiddos under age five still consistently naps but that doesn’t mean my love of the art of the nap has faded. As someone who almost never gets to nap, did the Hill House Nap Dress mean I would magically regain the possibility of a nap? If so, take all my money right now. If not, maybe … just maybe … it would bring a bit of that “nap like” feeling into my life? I was curious enough to learn if it would live up to the hype and the pricetag to click purchase and find out. (If you’re tempted, click here for $20 off your first purchase from Hill House.)
[Read more…]A few weeks back, I ran my first ever half marathon. It was huge – not just because I had to restart after breaking my foot but also because I knew I was not only training solo but would be fully running the day of solo. I knew a virtual half marathon would be an interesting experience. Here’s what I learned.
Figure out what motivates you and make it part of your plans for the day you do the race. It sounds silly. It sounds obvious. But man I found it to be true. There will be no crowd cheering you on. No music possibly pumping as you pass by. Just you and the pavement. I took my cheerleaders with me for the fun — they go by the name of Matty, Matt and Selena (Peloton instructors if the names aren’t part of your routine like they are for me.) I knew that taking a series of Peloton runs would keep me motivated and so that’s what I did. Maybe it’s no music for you, or perhaps audio books. Whatever it is — try out your options and know what helps you the most and make that your plan.
[Read more…]I’ll admit, I was ill prepared going into buying a house for the first time. We spent a lot of time thinking about cities we were interested in and our must have house features, but finance? I’d only really skimmed the surface. I knew what our lender would approve us for, but hadn’t thought enough about the practicality of what we wanted to be spending
The offer you might have to go up to in order to win the bid in today’s market could have some unexpected added costs. Right now, 2/3 of offers are in competition with others. More buyers are buying in all cash. Those who can’t take that approach are taking all sorts of steps to try to make themselves standout, including waiving things like appraisal and inspection contingencies. These risky moves might get you the home, but at what cost to you?
[Read more…]Last weekend before we headed out on vacation, we got the chance to be part of a sneak peek weekend event at the Dino Dig Adventure at Liberty Science Center. This isn’t the first special event we’ve been to at the Liberty Science Center. We previously got to preview this fun Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle exhibit before we had kids. This new permanent exhibit just opened this week on July 21. With how much Q and L love dinos, there was no question about our answer to the invite. The 60 tons of sand proved to be tons of fun for our two.
The Dino Dig Adventure space is nice and open, and it has a fabulous view of the Manhattan skyline. The kids each got their own brush, which they can use in the sand to uncover and polish dinosaur bones. There are replica bones of seven different dinosaurs along with other bones, eggs … even some massive dinosaur poop! There are three different pits that the kids can explore to see what they can find just like if they were real life paleontologists.
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One of our favorite weekend activities with the kids has become hiking. It started a bit before but picked up in earnest when the pandemic was in full swing. When the kids were maxed out and cabin fever was intense, we could manage to head out on the Watchung Reservation History Trail and feel relatively safe. We would head out with our masks in hand so we were ready just in case and know we could go early and know we would likely only encounter a few others with us on the trails.
There are several options at the Watchung Reservation History Trail you can take – and one which gives you a longer route around it (6 miles), if you’re up for the journey. Of course with the little ones, the focus and stamina to do it has yet to be there. We really like it because we can go many times without it feeling too repetitive for the kids or us. There’s a deserted village (better to pass while hiking than to go just to see it.) There’s a lake (love that it’s called Lake Surprise — since nothing about it is incredibly surprising.) Most of the trails originate at the Trailside Nature & Science Center. However you can park at a few other areas and hit them as well, including the Deserted Village of Feltville and Lake Surprise.
[Read more…]I have a long history with runDisney’s Disney Princess Half Marathon that thus far hadn’t led to crossing a finish line. Quarantine, however, gave me a unique opportunity to finally get to do it in my own way!
Around 10 years ago, I decided I was going to get into running. Why not? I lived in Manhattan. There were so many places I could go. Running is cheap (or so I thought.) I wouldn’t need a gym membership! I just needed my own two feet and the open road! So much win!
Fail. Almost immediately I thought it would be a great idea to join Paragon’s mixed level group in Union Square for a run one week. I’d love to know how long we ran. Definitely longer consecutively than I had ever done at that point in time. We ran over to a track on the East Side down around Chinatown. Once there, we did drills. We ran around the track. I felt so excited and strong… until I woke up the next morning and couldn’t walk. Not exaggerating at all. My knees were completely shot and I ended up in PT for two months, unable to even leave my home to go to work. They gradually built me back up to running on a treadmill. I remember them asking if this was my normal pace, to which I’d responded “but I’m not really a runner!” Rehabbing a running injury when I wasn’t truly a runner yet just added to my frustration.
[Read more…]We recently celebrated our sixth anniversary! It unfortunately fell on a Monday and the weekend prior we had sick kids, so we ended up celebrating the weekend after. We had a reservation to dine outside at Summit House in Summit, NJ, but of course the weather had other plans this past weekend, raining on and off for a lot of it. They called to let us know that they were closing the outside dining but they could shift us to indoors. So, for the first time in almost 16 months, we ate indoors.
[Read more…]The fact is that I would like to own just about every item Free People has in their Free People Movement line. I started with one thing that caught my eye from one of the Peloton instructors wearing it. Then I found a number of other shirts that I loved … and here we are. I can’t do their shorts because they don’t seem to understand yet how awesome and necessary pockets are for running shorts. I won’t buy anything any more without them. But their tops? Aces.
[Read more…]I would say I can’t believe June is almost gone but a 97 degree day has totally underscored that we are clearly into summertime. This Bama native though far prefers warm to cool temps, so I’ll take it.
Recent Read: One to Watch
I can’t seem to get away from Bachelor Nation, can I? During the off-season, I couldn’t resist reading One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London. The show is trying to make some efforts to diversify all the people on it – both in front of and behind the camera. But there’s been one thing they’ve yet to address – body size.
The cast has always been very thin so this book centers on a different take, with a plus sized fashion blogger being the lead of a show called Main Squeeze. She agrees to go on the show on the heels of a painful breakup and what ensues is an imaginative take on a very familiar show, down to producer manipulation, surprise suitors and lots there (as always) for the wrong reasons.
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