A back-in-the-Creek weekend and my weekly workouts

This was my first weekend back in Walnut Creek in three weeks, and it was nice to take it easy at home. With just a few weeks until Christmas, my weekends are totally full from here on out, so Dave and I both enjoyed the past couple of days with a light agenda.

Decking the halls, working out and a date

On Friday evening, as planned, we went out to buy a Christmas tree. While we attempted to get one at Target, they were basically sold out, so we ended up with a fake pre-lit slim beauty from Home Depot. We also stopped by Sprouts Farmer’s Market to pick up our favorite oven pizza for dinner. Once we got home, we put on the Christmas tunes, set up the tree, had pizza and watched some TV. 

Christmas tree in the Pitt house via A Lay Goes WestYes, there’s only one stocking hanging, and it’s Dave’s. I plan to get personalized stockings for both Rudy and for me before the next holiday season, but I don’t think I’ll get them in time for this one.

On Saturday morning, after sleeping in and having some protein pancakes, Dave and I went to the gym together for a short resistance session. I hadn’t been to the gym to do my own workout (outside of teaching a class) in a long time, and boy it felt good. In the afternoon, Dave watched the Warriors game, while I did a little online Christmas shopping. Then we hit up a few stores ourselves, which was unsuccessful.

Finally, in the evening, we went out to dinner in downtown Walnut Creek. Our first stop was Sunol Ridge, which is a pretty trendy spot that’s always busy. We were able to score some seats at the bar and ran into the lovely Anya, the owner of Yoga Treat and her boyfriend. We all sat together for a while chatting. During this time, Dave and I ordered beverages and some incredibly underwhelming appetizers. I mean, just not good and certainly not for the price. Not wanting to experience any more of the food, we ended up paying our bill and changing venues to have a delicious dinner at our new favorite, Walnut Creek Yacht Club. I ran into people I know from the gym world there as well. Small world!

Ashley and Dave dining at Sunol Ridge in Walnut CreekTrue story: As I was getting ready on Saturday night, I discovered some of my long necklaces became tangled in my jewelry chest. The necklace I ended up wearing is not the one I was fighting for, and that mess is one that I will need to conquer soon. Food shown includes two subpar appetizers up top and two totally delicious plates on the bottom.

On Sunday, Dave and I did some relaxing, laying around, chores, more Christmas shopping, made tacos for dinner and that was the weekend. A good one for sure! Now, let’s switch it up and get into the fitness …

My weekly fitness and workout recap

Each and every Monday, I like to show you all of the ways that I’ve been active. So let’s get to it …

Weekly workouts via A Lady Goes West(Photo credit to Leah Bentley Photography, 2015.)

Weekly Workouts 

  • Monday: Rest day
  • Tuesday: Rest day
  • Wednesday: Taught a one-hour BODYPUMP class, foam rolling
  • Thursday: Taught a 45-minute BODYPUMP and 30-minute core class
  • Friday: Took a one-hour FlyBarre class 
  • Saturday: Did a 30-minute full-body weights workout
  • Sunday: Rest day

What was good about my week of workouts?

While this past week only included four workouts, they were pretty diverse, so that’s a good thing. It wasn’t easy to jump back into teaching a full hour of BODYPUMP on Wednesday after more than two weeks away from the gym, but I got it done. I also picked up weights all four days this week, which is more than I have been doing lately (of course, not all weights sessions were focused on the same muscles, so it was mostly okay to do them on consecutive days). The highlight of the week was definitely the weights workout I did with Dave on Saturday. He lets me make up the routine and then I also get to coach us through, which is always fun for me.

What could have been better about my week of workouts?

This past week was still pretty light for me and didn’t include any yoga or any real cardio sessions either. I usually strive for six workouts and fell short by two, but that’s not the end of the world because of my travel and cross-country return threw me for a loop.

Hope you have a wonderful day, my friends! (P.S. Thanks to Meghan for hosting today’s “Week in Review” link-up.)

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Questions of the day

What did you do this weekend?

Do you like to decorate for the holidays?

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35 Comments

    1. Our apartment the last two years wasn’t big enough for any sort of a tree, so we were super excited to get one this size! 🙂 Happy decorating to you, Megan.

  1. Your living room looks so festive and joyous! Love how tall your tree is. I typically lean toward the super fat ones, but I like yours a lot.

    Happy Monday! Xo.

    1. Hi Courtney! Even though we have more space now than we had in the City, we still couldn’t go too wide — so it was a forced decision. I think I’m into the slim trees for the long-term now though! Love it! Hope you had a nice weekend! 🙂

  2. Your tree looks great! I like the tall skinny ones 🙂 I have a few decorations up, but we don’t really have too many yet. I’ll stock up when we have a house, but for now we just don’t have much room!

    1. You don’t need much, Gretchen — so it’s good you put at least a few things out. We never had much room until now to do a lot of decorating, and now I want a lot more decorations than we have! 🙂 Hope you had a nice weekend!

  3. Sounds like such a relaxing weekend! I plan on doing that next weekend before I am booked up until mid January!
    The highlight of my weekend was seeing some Christmas lights for the first time this season! Nothing beats lights and horse carriages running around the city on a Saturday night !

    1. Sure is, Jill! We weren’t able to decorate the last couple of years in Nob Hill (due to space, obviously), so it was fun to get a tree this year! Hope you had a nice weekend! 🙂

  4. I’m pretty sure I saw Dave at the gym on Saturday! We just joined that one as I’m moving on up here officially soon! I agree with you on Sunrol Ridge’s appetizers– they are WAY too pricey and not very exciting. Dane and I haven’t really found that many great restaurants in the nut- there is always something missing at every single one… bummer

    1. YES you did! I was there too. That’s the gym I teach at on Monday nights, and we go together sometimes. 🙂 So glad you joined!!! And so far, our favorite Walnut Creek spots are Sasa, Walnut Creek Yacht Club and Corner’s Tavern.

  5. The tree is looking gorgeous, lady! So excited to see the great gifts you picked out for friends and family. 🙂

    This weekend was a busy, but GREAT one from my side. Group workouts (BBG meet-up), trying on my wedding dress for the first time, and finally hitting the ski slopes filled the days with some of my favorite activities. But I think that I may need a weekend from my weekend, ha…

  6. We had a busy weekend – my husband’s work party was Friday night and mine was Saturday. It certainly put me in the Christmas mood though 🙂

    I love decorating for Christmas!! Because we’re away for 3 weeks this year and only get back home Jan 10th we decided to skip decorating because we knew we wouldn’t want to take down the decorations in mid-January. I miss having a Christmas tree to admire … I find it so relaxing sitting in a dark living with only the Christmas lights turned on.

    1. This is our first time decorating in three years because our last apartment was WAY too small for a tree or anything else, so it feels good. But I know what you mean about being away and it not quite being worth it. Three weeks is a long time! You can at least put on Christmas tunes and watch Christmas movies though. 🙂 Glad you had a festive weekend!

  7. I’m so glad you didn’t stay for dinner after getting bad appetizers… it’s so easy to feel “bad” and stay. We had the same thing happen a couple weeks ago seated at a table and were so happy we had the cajones to leave after some very sad apps and terrible drinks (despite being very hangry!).

  8. Your tree is adorable! And I’m sure you will get stockings soon. It looks like you had a fun date night! I’m excited for Scott to get back into town… there’s only so many Christmas movies and things you can do around the house on your own before you get bored! 😉 Have a great week!

  9. Such a bummer your first restuarant was subpar. I hate when that happens and because I’m so picky, it happens a lot for me ;-( Glad the second one was better though. It sure looks good! Hope you have a great Monday!

    1. It SOO does! And we couldn’t decorate in our shoebox city apartments the past couple of years, so this is very nice to be able to do. Hope you had a great weekend, Becky! 🙂

  10. Hello! Your tree looks great! They got a shipment of real trees over here on the base and they were all sold out in like 3 days! Good thing I got one when I did. And it wasn’t easy either! Basically I had to have a friend help me load the tree into a grocery cart, then push it about a half mile to our towers, then up the elevator and into the house. That was a workout in itself! We had a nice relaxing weekend since the hubby just got home on Thursday. We did take a train up to Yokohama, which was about an hour train ride from Yokosuka. They live in a Japanese house and it made me realize again how happy I am I didn’t end up in a Japanese house. They are just so small! Also, it’s just so nice to have the hubby home!

    1. Hi Melissa? Small like a tiny house? Dave and I joke that we lived in a tiny house when we were in Nob Hill in SF for so long heheh. YAY for a real tree!! Good work, lady! Sounds like a major workout getting that thing in the house!

  11. I love Christmas decorating! My mom made all of our stockings ( her’s, my dad’s,sister’s and mine) when I my sister and I were little and I know I’ll cherish mine forever, even when I have a house and family of my own 🙂

  12. So far I have zero decorations up, other than a card that is looking quite lonely on the mantelpiece.. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas at all here at the minute, it’s like we’re still stuck in Autumn in Ireland. The trees still have leaves on them which is quite strange, and it’s about 13 degrees with rain.

    I think Santa will need a raincoat here..

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