Grits in the City - discounts and faves

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

march faves

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It’s been a while since I’ve shared some monthly faves, but sliding this one in under the wire before we find ourselves in April! Lots of fun things popped up throughout March and sharing a few of the best of the best, below.

Current Read: Allison Winn Scotch’s Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing

I will confess this has been my Q1 read moreso than a March read. Reading has been very hard for me this year. Too much is going on at the moment, and I don’t have the focus to sit down and read for a prolonged period of time. However, I’m loving this book which is all about a female politician confronting some mistakes in her past, which I managed to score an advanced reader copy of. It’s always refreshing to have a strong smart female protagonist to root for (with flaws, of course) and even better that she’s showing politicians can have a heart. Looking forward to seeing how this one ends.

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making macaroons

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After my conversation with Arianna Brooks on my parenting podcast Mama’s Got This, I had to of course try my hand at making some of the tasty food items from the book. I was inspired to try making some macaroons with Q. They were super super easy – only requires 4 ingredients and something at the ready to clean-up your soon-to-be messy hands. Perfect activity for involving your little ones in the baking magic.

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mama’s got this: family traditions

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Mama’s Got This is back and will be bringing you some more interesting conversation with fellow parents sharing tips, tricks and lessons they’ve learned along the way to help you on your journey. I recently sat down with first-time children’s book author Arianna Brooks to discuss her book “My Mushy Matzah Ball.” It’s a fun read with your little one and was a great conversation about the sweet spot where food and family intersect.

Here we discuss a bit about how she’s approached introducing new foods with her little ones. Click here to listen to the full discussion.

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colorectal cancer awareness month

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March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Specifically today is Dress in Blue Day — a day to bring awareness to the disease and to honor those who themselves who have been impacted by colorectal cancer. Today I’m sharing a bit of a personal story related to it in the below video. Also including a transcript of the video, below.

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a goldbelly valentine’s day

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The snow came and it feels like it’s just kept coming since. In our household, it’s less about Valentine’s Day and more about a few days later — which is the anniversary of our first date. February 17th we met up at Six Degrees in the East Village for a maybe date and, well, here we are!

We booked our deliveries for around the 19th to bring us a little of NYC for the occasion. If you haven’t tried it yet, Goldbelly is a fabulous way to try a new restaurant that’s located in a different city or, in our case, that you’re temporarily unable to access. (Click here to get $15 off your first Goldbelly order.) T ordered us a fancy sushi spread from Blue Ribbon Sushi. I ordered us some desserts from La Newyorkina, a spot I will always fondly remember for their cart on the High Line I’d frequent on the summertime walks home from flying trapeze.

So I was honestly a bit meh on the idea of getting sushi. Ever since having the kids, my appetite for sushi has been pretty nonexistent. T wants to get it often and I’m always shaking my head no. I think we’ve gotten it a couple of times and we’ve always been underwhelmed. I’m definitely glad I let him convince me on this!

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peloton must have accessories

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Remember when we thought 2021 was magically going to be amazing? Yeah. That was cute. It’s been a rough month and one thing that’s helped to get me though again has been the trusty Peloton. The bike is legit amazing. Just thinking about starting your journey on your own Peloton bike? Use my discount code 26DYC2 to get yourself $100 off accessories for your purchase, like clip-in cycling shoes and weights.

I’ve found a number of things though that help to make your experience on the bike even better. Sharing some of my fave finds, below.

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2021: 365 days of self love

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I’ve taken my sweet time setting my focus for the year. I’m well-aware we’re just shy of February but believe me, I’ve had my focus set since the beginning of the month. It’s funny – I took a look back in December at last year’s resolutions and, as always, there were a lot of misses.

  • Moving more: Check. Even while my mobility was impaired, I managed to move my body in some form or fashion and before the injury, I was totally crushing it.
  • Pausing more: Ha! Well, related, the injury kind of forced me to do this. And I think the pandemic in general made us all stop somewhat, whether we liked it or not.
  • Smiling more: To be honest, I tried to make this a focus but I think I could do more. I’m giving myself a C.
  • Connecting more: I honestly didn’t make this an intentional focus for the year, but it just ended up being a natural one. I’ve found my posse of fellow Peloton riders and we’ve been encouraging each other and riding together from our respective corners of the world. A number of those are newer friendships. Love that I’ve been able to build new connections even in our weird current world.
  • More bravery: So my goal was to pick back up Mama’s Got This, my parenting podcast. That didn’t happen in 2020 – but I did continue the work on our Bachelor podcast (I’m still continuing it along with some guest co-hosts! Interested? Drop me a line!). Last year was one of the hardest from a parenting perspective, so having a hard time dinging myself here.
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2020 quarantine loves

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Not having much of anywhere to go made for a year of unusual wants, needs and discoveries. A number of my random purchases and splurges ended up being my favorites of the year — and to finding some overall faves I never knew I couldn’t live without.

Apple Watch

I held off on this one because initially, I wasn’t super excited about it. And then I got into running and thought the Apple Watch might be fun and oh my goodness, was. I surprised how quickly this became my new favorite thing. The fitness tracking (and the competitive layer to it) has honestly really helped get me way more active over the last 6 months. I follow a handful of friends and it sounds silly, but seeing them out and about doing their thing is yet another way to feel connected to my friends during this weird time. I’ve enjoyed just competing with myself and all the personal fitness data it begins to build for you.

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the magician, virtual edition

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We last saw The Magician Dan White at his usual show location, The NoMad Hotel back in May 2018 during our epic weekend in NYC. Not being a big fan of magic I was skeptical, but the show completely floored me. When a virtual option popped up this year (because 2020), I was intrigued. Thankfully Topher remembered that and surprised me with tickets to the January 2 show for Christmas! He didn’t just surprise me with the show, though. He surprised me with a whole night out in NYC from the comfort of our own home – from a nice dinner, to nice wine, to dressing up, the show and even dessert.

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cya, 2020

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Writing a year recap for 2020 is … something. Like has been the case for everyone else on the planet, this year has been challenging. I love going back and reading through because it reminds me of some of the good moments and things I accomplished — because who doesn’t need a moment to feel good about things that actually did happen this year?

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