Grits in the City - Fitness. Family. Food.

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

still not a runner

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I have been curious to visit Laurita Winery for a bit. It’s close(ish) to our house – enough at least to make a trip down and back in a day a doable idea. They have all sorts of fun themed nights and events and a number of races. When I saw they had a run through their vineyards (their Run the Vineyards 5K) I thought that was a perfect time for a visit.

I admittedly have been light on the training. The last 5K I ran involved zero outside training. That was the Chardonnay 5K several years ago, ironically with the wine at the finish line the only kind I absolutely can’t drink.

I tried to do this at least a touch better. I did at least one outside run a week for the last month and a half trying to ensure that I could make my way through a 5K without injury.

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tiny tattoo, big story: a visit to jonboy tattoo

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When I reached out to book with JonBoy Valena in August, part of me honestly didn’t expect to hear back. A number of the articles I read recommending him for fine line tattoo work were older. Before he’d built out his roster of celeb clients including Hailey and Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Post Malone and Noa Cyrus. Before he moved to his own solo studio over at the Moxy. After perusing Pinterest for around a year and a half, I finally found what I wanted so figured couldn’t hurt to ask. I was pleasantly suprised when I heard back in only a week. 

His books are indefinitely closed so I didn’t know where things would go, if anywhere. After some back and forth, we were able to land om some date options. I sent over what I was wanting. His team sent me back a price and a contract to lock in an early October date. Thanks to a stipend for reaching my fifth anniversary at work, this was something I could swing.  This was really happening.

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previewing the rothy’s wool line

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This week, Rothy’s held a special event in NYC to celebrate the upcoming launch of their wool line and I was lucky enough to score an invite.

Before making my way over to the event, I made a quick trip over to the new store location in the West Village that’s still under construction. Exact open date is TBD, but should be at some point this fall (fingers crossed).

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crayola experience

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We’ve been curious to check out the Crayola Experience in Easton, Pennsylvania for a while. A relatively short drive for us, we figured this would be an easy day trip to check out this week with the kids. Less than an hour’s drive and we were there with them to explore.

The upside to going during the week is that there were no lines or crowds to maneuver to check out the various activities spanning the four floors. Q is just really getting into coloring so it was a perfect time to take him. There were so many opportunities for him to color on each floor. 

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breast cancer awareness month

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It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a cause that’s close to my heart. Both my mom and aunt conquered breast cancer. Breast cancer stats say 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will be impacted by invasive breast cancer at some point in their life. It’s something that’s impacted so many women – either themselves or because of others they know. This month, here are some special things companies are doing and selling to help drive awareness of and raise money for this important cause. 

Rothy’s is doing a promotion that’s just for women who are currently battling or have defeated breast cancer. If you purchase shoes from their special collection (listed separately here or denoted by a ribbon throughout the site) you can gift a free pair of one of their two special edition shoes to either a woman currently fighting or one who’s successfully conquered. Love love this! Bonus, first click here and you can get $20 off your first pair on top of this great promo. 

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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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