Grits in the City - Fitness. Family. Food.
Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!
This entire weekend is “Museums on Us“, a weekend sponsored by B of A and Merrill Lynch for their cardholders. For NYC, this means free admittance to the MOMA, Queens Museum of Art, Staten Island Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and the Whitney. Visit the website for more details. This Saturday is the Toast of Brooklyn. Tickets are available for $29 here via Pulsd. The event promises to be a fun mix of food, wine, spirits and arts. [Read more…]
Blame it on Daylight Savings Time, with our 4:49PM sunsets and bordering pitch blackness come 5:30. Or you can point the finger at all of the fall into winter displays at various stores, focused on dark browns, grays, and blacks. The combination of all of the above has me obsessed with all things bright and sparkly. If I’m wearing a black dress, you’d better believe I’m finding something bright to contrast. Here are some of my favorite sparkly things I’ve been eyeing. Good ideas to add to your Christmas “want” list, to maybe buy for a friend, or indulge in for yourself as well. If nothing else, to brighten up your day just a wee bit. [Read more…]
If you’re going the live route, well that’s an entirely different conversation (though not entirely unrelated).
It’s not just music. It’s the faint sounds of what you’re going to be listening to right up ’til the point you start down that aisle. It might not be that lengthy, but that aisle is going to feel like the longest walk ever. In the moments leading up to starting to make my way in, when I was so close to bursting into tears from the mix of so many excited emotions, the music really made such a difference to me. It was calming. Familiar. And a song that always for whatever reason, has always made my heart swell just a small bit.
We did our own music for all of the pre-ceremony, so for a thought starter, here you go. Check out our actual playlist, below. We went so far as to eliminate some songs along the way. You’d be surprised some hidden negative layers in some popular “romantic” songs. I think the end result is pretty awesome, though I know I’m entirely biased.) [Read more…]
Oh hello, Halloween weekend. Where’d you come from? One minute we were out on the beach, toes in the sand, and then BOOM. It’s cold and the trees are showing signs they won’t be clothed in beautiful yellows, oranges, and reds for too much longer. As always, there’s plenty happening across NYC in honor of the big weekend. Hit up Webster Hall for the official post Halloween Parade shindig starting at 8PM. For something different, the New York Botanical Garden also has their Dia De Los Muertos exhibition running Saturday and Sunday. It starts at 10AM both days. It’s also not too late to hit up the pumpkin patch. Check out these 6 spots that are actually reachable via public transportation. If you’re just looking to do something spooky-ish, this is a fun list of haunted bars across the US. I’ve been to the Ear Inn – can’t say I had anything creepy happen, but it definitely has an eerie vibe. Add people wandering the streets dressed in Halloween garb, and just might be a winner. If you’re bummed for Halloween to be here and done for the year, fear not. There’s Walker Stalker Con on the calendar for the first weekend in December out at the Meadowlands Exposition Center. Discounted tickets are available now via Goldstar. [Read more…]
Joking aside, there was a great deal of research that went into picking the right bakery. While I’m very into cupcakes, I also knew that wasn’t what I was thinking for our big day. That meant taking a look at additional options to select the final winner. I wasn’t aware of this going in, but many bakeries will charge you to taste. It’s good idea to first whittle down your list to the true contenders before you schedule with any – and the below considerations will help you start thinking through which ones best suit your needs/wants. [Read more…]
M suggested we buy the Gilt City special for aerial yoga, citing it would pair well with some post-yoga brunch. 5 classes at $35 is a steal, so I was in. If you haven’t tried aerial yoga, it’s pretty awesome. I’m a big fan of the classes offered through Crunch. Being active in flying trapeze, I prefer the classes be heavier on the silks/aerial work than the yoga portion. The class we took today through Sacred Sounds Yoga was great, though definitely heavier on the yoga angle. Just a matter of preference. [Read more…]
If you’re ready to get into the spooky spirit sooner rather than later, Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg is running a number of Halloween classics over the weekend. Greenwood Cemetery has a number of special appropriately creepy evening events, but as of now they are all already sold out. Saturday is the ever-popular Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade. You might not be able to handle all of the cute. Things get underway at noon. There’s also the Halloween Harvest Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, which kicks off at 11AM. There’s a full schedule of events, including the annual canine costume contest from 1-2PM. [Read more…]
And it’s not just them. This is pretty common for some of the more notable spaces in the city. If you have one particular venue you want, then a last minute, 6 months or less til wedding day approach might not be possible. If you are set on that one venue, then you should start with the venue and then plan the details from there. For us, going in we knew we wanted something that felt cozy and represented our relationship but that also had enough space to accommodate our wedding size. We ended up going with a venue that was a Brooklyn brownstone, beautiful and with enough space for our slimmed down guest list.
It wasn’t as simple though as just choosing the vibe we wanted. Choosing a venue boils down to a few main considerations you’ve thought about, and a number of additional ones that might not have yet crossed your mind. [Read more…]