Grits in the City - Fitness. Family. Food.

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

taylor swift eras tour: movie

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On a bit of a whim, I decided to take the kids to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie — their first movie ever. I’m all about trying to instill in them our love of music so it felt like the right fit. I was a little worried about the length, but I took the pressure off by resigning myself to being okay with the money spent — even if we only managed to make it 15 minutes.

I made the most of it though. I bought them both friendship bracelets they managed to lose the same day. I got them fun heart-shaped glasses to wear as well. We got the special popcorn box they had just for the movie and sat down to see what would happen. How would it go?

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lesson learned: run smart

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This past Saturday, I was chased by a pit bull while on my run. It was absolutely terrifying. I was around the 4 mile mark into my 9 mile run. I saw a dark flash as the dog darted from their front door, running through their deep yard before catching up with me. I picked up my pace and she did too, lunging at me and coming within inches of my ankles. I succeeded in avoiding her somehow but only because she decided to finally turn back towards her home.

I wanted to give up and call someone to get me as honestly I was scared to go back by the house (as I had to do in order to get home.) But I kept on going. My breathing was so fast and every noise startled me as I felt like everything was coming at me.

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strasburg railroad and pennsylvania railroad museum

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It was a bit rainy one of the days of our trip, so it was time to get a bit creative to come up with some fun options that wouldn’t be entirely ruined if the rain lingered the entire day.

Breakfast at the Lancaster Beignet Company

I couldn’t resist working a visit to Lancaster Beignet Company into our schedule for the week. I loooooove beignets. With the exception for Cafe du Monde, I haven’t come across anywhere else that has been so focused on them!

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tori amos, a road trip and chocolates

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When Tori Amos announced she’d be back on the road in 2023 for a second leg of her US tour I was thrilled to see the venues in a travel radius of our house.

I elected to skip the Beacon Theater in NYC and Count Basie in Red Bank in favor of Wolf Trap and Hershey. I absolutely love Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia. I’ve seen both the Indigo Girls and Joss Stone there — and the opportunity to see Tori there wasn’t something I could miss.

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day trip to the franklin institute

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Our kids love museums. Philadelphia isn’t too far of a drive but we’ve only been there with them a few times to go to the Philadelphia Zoo. For a while, I’ve been wanting to take them to the Franklin Institute so a few weeks back, I decided to surprise them with a trip. What was the verdict? Read on to see!

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book review: romantic comedy

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I dare say I’ve found my reading groove? I used to read a lot but since having kids (so around six years) I haven’t been great about it at all. I set a low reading goal for 2022 on Goodreads and miserably failed. But I’m back, baby!

The Author

This month, I started and quickly finished Curtis Sittenfield’s Romantic Comedy. I loved her book Prep and two of her other books (The Man of My Dreams and You Think It, I’ll Say It) have been hanging out in my to-be-read stack for what feels like forever. I thought this one sounded like an interesting read so was happy it was my book club’s May pick.

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Race recap: United NYC Half Marathon

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I’m not a big cold weather runner. I don’t enjoy the layer upon layer upon layer required to bundle up to run outside, especially if we are talking 25 degree Fahrenheit or colder. I was kind of curious how it would go if I had to run during the winter? And then the more I read about the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon, I decided that I had to run it — and I was about to figure out how I could make training during the wintertime possible.

This was my first time entering the lottery to run. I threw my name in on a whim and realized how much I wanted to do it when I wasn’t selected. I didn’t want to wait it out over multiple years to get a yes. I decided to reach out to the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, supporting a cause close to my heart. They have a small team but happened to have a spot open. I was so proud and excited to get to be part of their team.

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igloo afternoon at bellemara

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Our dating anniversary is just after Valentine’s Day so we tend to celebrate it over the holiday. However this year we wanted to check out the January and February only thing Bellemara Distillery in Hillsboro, New Jersey has been offering — igloos! For $50, we were able to book a 1.5 hour time slot to have an igloo all to ourselves. We were in!

When we arrived, we saw the igloos took up the majority of their patio. The last time we were there, it was around summertime, and that space was filled with patrons at tables. Made sense with the cold to switch to this, even though the day we went it was unseasonably warm.

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