Grits in the City - discounts and faves

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

september loves

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Getting this one in under the wire! This month has really flown by. With my birthday mid-month, there’s been a lot going on this month that’s out of the norm. Not that I’m complaining. Best thing about birthdays is the excuse to see people and to do things you might not always squeeze into a given month. I’ve definitely enjoyed all of it.

Fave kicks

My favorite shoes this month have been these Rothy’s salt honeycomb sneakers. I was so hesitant to get a pair of white sneakers. That sounded like a recipe for disaster. These have proven me wrong. They’ve stayed perfectly white after multiple wears and I’ve seen photos that have me confident that a simple wash as needed in the future can help ensure they stay this white indefinitely! So cute. Click here to get $20 off your first pair of Rothy’s to see for yourself.

Unexpected find(s)

I was looking for a cute skirt to go with my new Chelsea boots and found this bird patterned skirt on Amazon. With the $18.99 price tag, I wasn’t too sure this one would end up being high quality enough. Boy was I surprised! This skirt is super cute and it has pockets to boot. Definitely recommend this one!

I’m also obsessed with this brown flutter sleeve dress by Universal Threads from Target. It’s so cute and comfy, too. I like it much better with the simple brown belt I already owned. Helps to break it up a bit that makes it work. Can’t wait to wear this one with boots!

Listening on repeat

For my birthday, my present from T was a night out with the ladies — dinner and karaoke. What a proper nod to the weekends of the past! We tried a new spot for karaoke, Muses 35. Definitely recommend as a great spot for private rooms!

The night was a great mix of tunes, lots from the 90s. Take a listen through some of the gems we sang during the night.

Since the temps are cooling off, it’s looking like it’s the much overdue time to pull out those fall and winter clothes. I’ll be using part of our staycation week for that. Maybe at some point during that process I’ll come to peace with the fact that oh yes, summer is in fact gone.

experiential dining at the aviary

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I didn’t know where we were going to celebrate my 40th birthday, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to disappoint. T told me to dress nice but not uncomfortably so, and to make sure and wear comfy shoes. We were also going to stay the night in the city since we wouldn’t finish up until later, meaning a trip back to NJ would be too much. I was intrigued. 

When we arrived into Penn, we dropped off our luggage and took a brisk stroll up to Columbus Circle, where I learned we were headed for dinner. Of course it wouldn’t be a proper trip into the city without hitting an unexpected street fair all along 8th Avenue. I joked we should stop for some fried Oreos, but alas, we did not. 

We made our way to the Mandarin Oriental where we went up to the 35th floor to get to our destination, The Aviary. We haven’t been to a more experimental restaurant (that I can recall) since our trip to wd-50 back in February 2012. I was excited to give this new spot a try!

They took us to our table, a perfect one situated by the window. We were able to watch the sunset over Central Park as we made our way through the eight courses, giving the restaurant a different vibe throughout the course of the evening. 

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how to shop the lilly pulitzer after the party sale for your mini me

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I’ve been looking forward to Lilly Pulitzer’s After Party Sale all summer long — plotting which finds would make the cut for me this September. This was my first APS and have to say it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be and managed to score a few fun adds to my wardrobe. 

I found myself with an interesting conundrum this morning. I’ve loved having a few pieces to match with our Baby Girl, so wanted to grab at least something for us during the sale. But how could I start to guess what size to buy her? Sharing the below in case it’s helpful for you, too!

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project mommy + me at project physique

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Having a baby is no joke. It might be the biggest physical task you’ll ever endure — like your own mommy marathon. However once you get on the other side, it’s amazing how weak you feel. How is such a quick shift from your strongest to your weakest physical moment even possible?

During maternity leave I wanted to start to change that. I realized how spoiled I was when we still lived in Manhattan, where we lived during that much discussed fifth trimester with our first child. Options in New Jersey were more limited – even moreso when I tried to find options where baby could come with me to class. 

Thank goodness for Google, where I found mention of Project Mommy + Me, a series offered by Summit, NJ studio Project Physique. I sent them an email. Is this class still a thing? I quickly received a response back from them that it was and that there was space. Did I want to check it out? Obviously the answer was yes. 

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local color nyc

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We’ve been meaning to pay Chrissy a visit for a while at Local Color NYC and we decided our recent trip to Brooklyn was the perfect time! If you live in NYC, the name may sound familiar. She had a mobile store with the same name that she used to move around the city. Within the last year though she set up her first physical store in Brooklyn.

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beyond the streets

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T has been wanting to check out the Beyond the Streets exhibit since it opened back on June 21. If you haven’t been yet yourself, you’re in luck! There are still a few weeks left to grab tickets for yourself before it’s close on September 29th.

Occupying two full floors of the building at 25 Kent, the range of art is impressive. It includes both framed art previously created and artwork artists created within the walls of the space itself specifically for this exhibit. Once the exhibit concludes, the latter pieces will be gone.

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august loves

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How are we almost to September? The summer has totally flown by. I haven’t put my toes in the sand once and we haven’t introduced Baby Girl to the beach yet either. Both things I intend to rectify even if the sun’s heat has faded by the time we get there. I’m starting a new monthly series to share out some of my favorite things and finds from the month, so let’s get down to it before August is g-o-n-e. 

#AmReading 

My current read is “Life Will Be the Death of Me” by Chelsea Handler (shoutout to Theodora who passed her copy on to me). I’ve had an on again / off again relationship with Chelsea Handler. I saw her during her “Bang Bang” tour. Sometimes she amuses me and then I have periods where her humor doesn’t land with me at all. 

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honeymoon: first stop, riomaggiore

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I’ve wanted to visit Cinque Terre since my good friend Rachel went there at the conclusion of our Spain Summer abroad program in 2000. The photos of her time there with her sister looked like post cards. Magical. And T was kind enough to let our honeymoon be the time for us to finally plan to visit.

Booking Accommodations

Finding hotels in Cinque Terre was different from any other international destination I’ve visited. The options are not large hotels. Instead, they’re smaller, locally-owned guest houses. Having fewer rooms that are available meant options by the time we booked (even months in advance) were limited.

I ended up booking our round trip airfare and Genoa hotels on one site and booking the hotels we moved around to during the trip separately on a different site. As we were trying to book, options continued to disappear!

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chef’s table at common lot in milburn

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T and I love to sit at the Chef’s Table. Not only do you get the great meal but you also get to interact with the team and see a bit of the preparation and extreme care that goes into crafting the meal. We hadn’t eaten at one for years, until a few weeks ago when he surprised me with a visit to Common Lot in Milburn.

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