Grits in the City - Fitness. Family. Food.

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

5 exercises getting me through my foot injury

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It’s been a quiet month. I’ve been spending lots of time indoors with my foot propped up on the evening, trying to let it heal. It’s been a bummer of a month. It was my birthday this month and I was excited for it to propel me into a bunch of things I had planned. But all that wasn’t in the cards. And that’s ok.

I spent the month thinking of how I can pivot. How I could make the most of the unexpected. This month, I was signed up for Oiselle and Run 4 All Women’s Womxn Run the Vote Relay. I was worried about pulling my weight, since the total distance equates to the equivalent of just over 34 miles. It wasn’t until I started trying exercises that I realized how many I can still do. The list below have become my go to faves. Note: it’s all about trial and error. It will depend on your body and your injury what will work for you. Exercise caution and listen to your body with trying anything new. Of course, if it hurts, don’t do it!

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the one where we slow down

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I’d been working on a fun post outlining all the things I’m working towards. I’d signed up for two big things coming up — the Womxn Run the Vote Relay benefiting Black Voters Matter and Still I Run’s virtual half marathon. It’s been a busy month of training hard for both and things were going so well! I even celebrated a big milestone off the road with Peloton ride #400. All was perfect! Just according to plan.

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run the northeast corridor challenge

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I’ve said it before. I’m not a runner. Except, I guess now I am? What can I say. COVID kind of made me do it. The idea of walking out of our front door with so many options to explore at my disposal proved too enticing to pass up.

There were several options from which to choose. I went with the Newark to Trenton 48, a 48 mile challenge over the course of 2 months. Collectively a lot but when broken down over the course of 2 months, totally doable. And I liked that the challenge is a nod to my current state.

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[giveaway] chalk fun with chalkola

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I never thought we’d find ourselves working full-time and trying to entertain two children under age 4 for 4 months and counting, but here we are. I’m not going to lie. It’s been super challenging, giving me an added appreciation for all of the amazing people who typically teach our kids during the day. All of their activity sheets talking about short and long vowels and trying to figure out how on earth to explain that to a squirmy three-year-old have proved more challenging than anticipated.

One of the things we have found immensely helpful is to set a daily schedule, even if it’s a loose one, to give our oldest a bit of structure to his day. He’s used to having one at daycare and we’re trying to make it a priority more and more to give him that here as well.

When Chalkola reached out to give us the chance to try out their product, it was a perfect fit! Q loves trying out all sorts of art supplies and during quarantine, he’s really taken to chalk. Their chalk markers are a much more sophisticated take as opposed to the chunky ones he’s been decorating our sidewalk with, but he’s loving seeing the daily schedule come to life in vibrant colors on our new Chalkola chalk board. He admittedly hasn’t been able to keep his hands off of it, so it doesn’t always make it through the entire day. However, it’s been quite the hit for us.

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backyard sunshine and grid iron waffle shop

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It’s been a long 4.5 months. 4.5 months of the kids having no contact with other kids (aside from Q yelling across the driveway to the little girl who lives next door). It’s been hard on them. So hard. Some days Q is able to vocalize it. Mostly just to say “I’m frustrated” but not to say why. Sometimes he tells me he’s scared of Coronavirus. I listen, hug him and tell him I understand. I don’t tell him back that it scares me, too.

This weekend, we did something new to see if it would help and we let Q play with his cousin. We’ve been keeping ourselves so locked in that it was a pretty big deal. Yesterday, they played together for a few hours and watched TV for a bit. Today, we went over to their new house and picked up breakfast and then the kids played in a little pool in the backyard.

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midnight cheese danish

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Perhaps 9pm isn’t the best time to start making a recipe that involves yeast. Or maybe having a quiet kitchen and the first pick of a warm cookie sheet full of fresh cheese danish makes it the perfect time.

I’d been meaning to make my mom’s homemade cheese danish recipe for a long time. It’s not fully hers – she found it somewhere, where the recipe was listed as Czechoslovakian Kolachy. The label alone confirmed it didn’t originate in our North Alabama kitchen. But it was hers in that for many years it was our Christmas morning breakfast. She would make cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve and wake up early on Christmas Day to make these. 

I love the recipe itself, as I can hear her talking through some of the parts. Sharing, below, unaltered.  

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quarantine baking: all systems go

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I had kept my time in the kitchen baking pretty much in check, limited to occasional pancakes or waffles on the weekend — with my recent peanut butter bread being an outlier.

Until now.

We’ve officially reached the point in our time stuck inside that I’ve caved and broken into my limited stash of yeast and my what feels like a lifetime supply of flour from Costco to bake my way through my feelings. I held off as long as I could since I knew once I started, I might not be able to start!

I haven’t truly made bread I think ever, so I was curious to try out this recipe for no-knead focaccia from Bon Appétit. The recipe promised it was super easy, but I was skeptical. Surely I’d find something to mess up. And oh, I of course did. But it was so forgiving that it didn’t even matter. I also learned that anything with yeast is a bit like a mini-science experiment for a small child. Showing Q the way the bread continued to progress throughout the day was fascinating for him and made him felt like he helping to make the bread, too.

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7 lessons from 21+ active weeks on peloton

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Quarantine has been super rough over here. We have been fortunate in so many basic ways — we have a roof over our head, a household with two incomes and we are healthy. But beyond that, it’s been rough in every other way. Most days, I haven’t had much to say at the end of the day, which is why I haven’t been posting here, or much over here on Instagram. One of the few things that has helped to keep me sane is one that I fought for so long to embrace.

I’ll admit it. Exercise hasn’t been a big priority for me since becoming a mom. I have always claimed it to be one and tried to do as much as I could to workout here and there, but deep down I’ve known it really wasn’t. I knew it should be, like those vegetables we keep fighting the good fight with our kids on. Nothing I tried made it become a real regular part of my life.

Until now.

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peanut butter bread

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I know from how impossible bread and yeast is to come by these days that I’m not the only one who finds the kitchen therapeutic through this pandemic. I’ve been hoarding the three lone yeast packets we have like crazy but thanks to an accidental massive 25 pound of flour order from Costco, I’m still full speed ahead on the baking.

First up was this simple peanut butter bread I read about that has proved to be a quarantine fave from Reddit. The other plus on this one is no eggs! Pretty simple on the ingredient front and the flavor is quite good. It’s on the lower side on sugars making for a slightly sweet bread that’s perfect for anything from breakfast to dessert to snack.

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national zoo and bbq

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With everything going on, I haven’t had the focus to write here but working now to pick that up however I can. So here we are. I’ve had this post in the works for a while so I guess you could say it’s a bit of a lovely trip down memory lane of our last family trip of sorts.

While most people think of Black Friday for shopping, we have a several year tradition of a different sort. It involves getting out of the house and an activity of some sort to keep Q entertained. And now L, too. This year’s winner? A trip to the National Zoo!

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