Grits in the City - Fitness. Family. Food.

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

Boston Marathon Giving Day: Win a Signed Football from Tedy Bruschi!

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Today is Boston Marathon Giving Day, a moment to allow all the runners for this year’s marathon to celebrate and share about the causes so meaningful and personal to them. I set the goal of trying to hit at least $1,000 in donations before the end of the day. Our kids are even rocking their own Tedy’s Team shirts to join the celebration! Overall, I have just under $4K left to hit my goal before my April 14th deadline. Let’s make it happen!

Donate through the link here and you’ll also get a chance to win a signed New England Patriots football by 3X Super Bowl champ and 2X stroke survivor Tedy Bruschi! Bonus, reshare my post on Instagram Stories for 2 extra entries! No donation is too small. Also please share this post with any Patriot super fans in your life who might love to get their hands on this football too!

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Stacks for Stroke Awareness

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Kick off your 2025 reading with a purpose! On International Book Giving Day I’m kicking off my raffle benefitting stroke awareness for Tedy’s Team. Enter for your chance at winning a signed copy of one of 9 books, or choose your own next several reads with a $100 gift card to Bookshop — the amazing online shop that both helps you find all the great books AND helps to give back to your local bookstore of choice.

Raffle tickets are $5 each or $12 for a pack of 3! Get em through a donation to the fundraiser on this post or through the link in bio if you prefer to checkout using Venmo instead. Raffle tickets open through March 2nd.

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My first marathon: NYC 2024

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This escalated quickly. I entered the lottery in February for the TCS NYC Marathon, knowing it could take years before I might be selected and if I wanted to do it sometime, it couldn’t hurt to start now. And then I donated to get some extra chances through the extra NYRR draw. Oh and now the NYRR members would be eligible for an extra “last chance” draw. Sure — let’s do that too. Somehow after all of the above, the idea of waiting to go through the same thing a second year felt too much. I was ready already!

Back in 2023, I ran the NYC Half Marathon with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. I started thinking — wonder if they have any bibs for the marathon? Before I really thought about it too long, I’d emailed to see about a spot and found myself on the team, trying to figure how on earth you train for a marathon! Shoutout to this amazing organization. So honored to run with you again and to help raise ~ $3.4K for the cause!

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2024 Black Friday Deals

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If you’re a big bargain hunter, ‘tis officially your season! If you are like me, it’s all about trying to get all the gifts checked off in November so December can be focused on festivities, family and a big ol’ dose of relaxation. Sharing a few of my fave finds over the last several days — and you can probably tell I’m gearing up for my next marathon with the running slant!

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Next up: Boston Marathon for stroke awareness

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It happening — I’m training for my next challenge, the Boston Marathon! After running NYC, I found myself trying to think of the next challenge I could work towards and it immediately struck me as my choice.

Somehow, once I got through my first marathon, I immediately found myself trying to find my next challenge. Why not try for the 6 stars of the Abbott World Majors? The hardest to check off seemed to be Boston — since as a slow runner, I would never time qualify (even by age 80+…) and it also has the highest fundraising commitment for a charity spot. I decided immediately that was going to be my next challenge.

I was reading about Tedy’s Team as I looked into the different charities and I immediately knew that they were the one for me! Tedy’s Team was founded by 3X Super Bowl Champ and 2X stroke survivor Tedy Brushci. Such a legend and the work Tedy’s Team has done to help support both stroke awareness and support for survivors on their comeback is so amazing. I’m thrilled to be able to play a small part of it all — and to run in our daughter’s honor.

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Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods

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When I learned there was an “official cookie” of the TCS Marathon and — gasp — it was one I didn’t know, I had to say “tell me more!”. I came into NYC the day before the race so I wouldn’t be rushed and, ideally, could get a bit of extra rest in a more peaceful and controlled environment. The latter didn’t quite pan out as hoped (more on that in another post) but I tried to make the most of the former.

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Birthday brunch at Stone House at Stirling Ridge

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This year we did something different to celebrate my birthday — a birthday brunch! We’d been to Stone House at Stirling Ridge in Warren, New Jersey before but only at night. I was so curious to see what brunch would be like and it felt like a luxurious throwback to the more carefree days when we lived in the city and brunch felt like a way of life. Plus? We didn’t know but they had live music. So fun!


We made reservations and I was thrilled to see we could even reserve their outdoor seating. It was mid-September — warm but with a slight chill in the air. They did it right, with their fire pits lit to take just a bit off of the crisp starting to be noticeable in the air. I told them that it was my birthday when we reserved and they surprised me with a custom printed menu wishing me happy birthday at the top. A lovely touch!

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See you someday, sweet Dixie

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I might be okay but I’m not fine at all…

Oh My Little Dixie Cup (as her registration papers read.) I found her at a time where I think I found myself — when I reached the point where I knew it was time. That if I didn’t finally get a dog, I was going to make some poor life choices. I held her close when I was threatened and had to move apartments, scared for us both and grateful to be safe. She loved the beach, and didn’t mind the weekend we got stranded in Long Island with friends since we were there together.

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Summer art strolling at New Windsor’s Storm King Art Center

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I’ve been curious about Storm King Art Center for ages so when we switched to a staycation, we decided it was a perfect time for a visit. We stopped for brunch on the way at Willow & Whisk in Wyckoff (so delicious — highly recommend.) That proved to be a wise choice as we then walked around a lot in the sun without easy access to food or drink. Note though you can bring your own picnic supplies to enjoy!

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Staycation brunch at Willow & Whisk in Wyckoff

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It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chance to try our a new breakfast or brunch sit down spot around here — so I took my challenge to find a great spot to try en route to Storm King very seriously. Thanks to Google and a lot of review sources I was able to find Willow & Whisk, a very extremely popular spot tucked into a shopping mall in Wyckoff. I was curious to see — would it live up to the hype?!

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