Grits in the City - discounts and faves

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

race recap: cranford cupcake 5k

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There are lots of reasons for running races and I’ll admit a big one in favor of this one was the cupcake at the finish line. Even bigger though was the cause. The 5K put on by Live Run Give LLC benefitted Metavivor. I didn’t know about Metavivor until a good friend of mine was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and then I learned that Metavivor was the only organization with the mission of researching for those living with stage 2+ metastatic breast cancer. If you’re not familiar with them, I definitely recommend you check them out and consider supporting them.

The race took place in Cranford in Nomahegan Park. If never been to the park, but there’s a nice lake in the middle and pathway running alongside it. The course went through the park, around it and into the neighborhood before coming back in.

The course itself ended up being pretty flat, which I appreciated after the 10K I did prior had a surprise hill at the start. Love me a good flat course.

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turkey hill experience and vacation to hershey, pennsylvania

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Between COVID and the general craziness that comes with two kids under age under age five, we haven’t taken a trip in 17 months. And by trip, I mean going anywhere that’s more than an hour away. We decided for T’s birthday to take the week off of work. We recently celebrated our sixth anniversary. One of the traditional sixth anniversary gifts is candy so T had the perfect idea: a visit to Hersheypark!

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dinner at stirling hotel

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Stirling Hotel has been a pandemic staple for us. We haven’t been dining out in person basically at all since March 2020. So restaurants that have been smart in how they’ve adapted in the interim (and continued their to go options even after tings started to reopen) have maintained their status as some of our faves. Stirling definitely qualifies!

We unfortunately just missed their recent dinner event but went this past weekend for a rare in-person meal for a belated birthday celebration for T.

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hill house nap dress: thoughts on 3 styles

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Only one of our two kiddos under age five still consistently naps but that doesn’t mean my love of the art of the nap has faded. As someone who almost never gets to nap, did the Hill House Nap Dress mean I would magically regain the possibility of a nap? If so, take all my money right now. If not, maybe … just maybe … it would bring a bit of that “nap like” feeling into my life? I was curious enough to learn if it would live up to the hype and the pricetag to click purchase and find out. (If you’re tempted, click here for $20 off your first purchase from Hill House.)

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lessons from a virtual half marathon

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A few weeks back, I ran my first ever half marathon. It was huge – not just because I had to restart after breaking my foot but also because I knew I was not only training solo but would be fully running the day of solo. I knew a virtual half marathon would be an interesting experience. Here’s what I learned.

Figure out what motivates you and make it part of your plans for the day you do the race. It sounds silly. It sounds obvious. But man I found it to be true. There will be no crowd cheering you on. No music possibly pumping as you pass by. Just you and the pavement. I took my cheerleaders with me for the fun — they go by the name of Matty, Matt and Selena (Peloton instructors if the names aren’t part of your routine like they are for me.) I knew that taking a series of Peloton runs would keep me motivated and so that’s what I did. Maybe it’s no music for you, or perhaps audio books. Whatever it is — try out your options and know what helps you the most and make that your plan.

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home search financing: digging into the numbers

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I’ll admit, I was ill prepared going into buying a house for the first time. We spent a lot of time thinking about cities we were interested in and our must have house features, but finance? I’d only really skimmed the surface. I knew what our lender would approve us for, but hadn’t thought enough about the practicality of what we wanted to be spending

The offer you might have to go up to in order to win the bid in today’s market could have some unexpected added costs. Right now, 2/3 of offers are in competition with others. More buyers are buying in all cash. Those who can’t take that approach are taking all sorts of steps to try to make themselves standout, including waiving things like appraisal and inspection contingencies. These risky moves might get you the home, but at what cost to you?

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dino dig adventure at liberty science center

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Last weekend before we headed out on vacation, we got the chance to be part of a sneak peek weekend event at the Dino Dig Adventure at Liberty Science Center. This isn’t the first special event we’ve been to at the Liberty Science Center. We previously got to preview this fun Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle exhibit before we had kids. This new permanent exhibit just opened this week on July 21. With how much Q and L love dinos, there was no question about our answer to the invite. The 60 tons of sand proved to be tons of fun for our two. 

The Dino Dig Adventure space is nice and open, and it has a fabulous view of the Manhattan skyline. The kids each got their own brush, which they can use in the sand to uncover and polish dinosaur bones. There are replica bones of seven different dinosaurs along with other bones, eggs … even some massive dinosaur poop! There are three different pits that the kids can explore to see what they can find just like if they were real life paleontologists. 

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hiking the watchung reservation history trail

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One of our favorite weekend activities with the kids has become hiking. It started a bit before but picked up in earnest when the pandemic was in full swing. When the kids were maxed out and cabin fever was intense, we could manage to head out on the Watchung Reservation History Trail and feel relatively safe. We would head out with our masks in hand so we were ready just in case and know we could go early and know we would likely only encounter a few others with us on the trails.

There are several options at the Watchung Reservation History Trail you can take – and one which gives you a longer route around it (6 miles), if you’re up for the journey. Of course with the little ones, the focus and stamina to do it has yet to be there. We really like it because we can go many times without it feeling too repetitive for the kids or us. There’s a deserted village (better to pass while hiking than to go just to see it.) There’s a lake (love that it’s called Lake Surprise — since nothing about it is incredibly surprising.) Most of the trails originate at the Trailside Nature & Science Center. However you can park at a few other areas and hit them as well, including the Deserted Village of Feltville and Lake Surprise.

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race recap: 2021 virtual disney princess half marathon

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I have a long history with runDisney’s Disney Princess Half Marathon that thus far hadn’t led to crossing a finish line. Quarantine, however, gave me a unique opportunity to finally get to do it in my own way!

The History

Around 10 years ago, I decided I was going to get into running. Why not? I lived in Manhattan. There were so many places I could go. Running is cheap (or so I thought.) I wouldn’t need a gym membership! I just needed my own two feet and the open road! So much win!

Fail. Almost immediately I thought it would be a great idea to join Paragon’s mixed level group in Union Square for a run one week. I’d love to know how long we ran. Definitely longer consecutively than I had ever done at that point in time. We ran over to a track on the East Side down around Chinatown. Once there, we did drills. We ran around the track. I felt so excited and strong… until I woke up the next morning and couldn’t walk. Not exaggerating at all. My knees were completely shot and I ended up in PT for two months, unable to even leave my home to go to work. They gradually built me back up to running on a treadmill. I remember them asking if this was my normal pace, to which I’d responded “but I’m not really a runner!” Rehabbing a running injury when I wasn’t truly a runner yet just added to my frustration.

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anniversary celebration at summit house

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We recently celebrated our sixth anniversary! It unfortunately fell on a Monday and the weekend prior we had sick kids, so we ended up celebrating the weekend after. We had a reservation to dine outside at Summit House in Summit, NJ, but of course the weather had other plans this past weekend, raining on and off for a lot of it. They called to let us know that they were closing the outside dining but they could shift us to indoors. So, for the first time in almost 16 months, we ate indoors.

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