Hi, my friends! How are you? How was your week? What’s new?

We had an interesting and somewhat stressful week related to our upcoming vacation.

Over the weekend, Dave got an email that our flights to Jamaica for our upcoming trip were cancelled. After multiple calls, hours of waiting on hold and tons of conversations, we found out that our flight back from Jamaica on American Airlines was cancelled, due to the staffing shortage going on. While this wouldn’t normally be a big deal, there weren’t any other direct or any other reasonably priced flights available to us. We planned this trip quite far in advance, booking everything in a way that had us missing minimal work and had Brady taken care of by Dave’s sister, Gwena, who was flying in from San Francisco to stay with him. And we also coordinated with our besties, Grant and Bre, and they had already arranged their childcare and booked their travel to coincide with us. It was quite the mess dealing with this, because every place we called is currently understaffed and overwhelmed. But, we ended up moving our entire trip up one day and only losing a few hours at the resort — thank goodness.

And I must mention, even though this was a bit of a pain to deal with, I’m grateful for the ability to take our first ever adults-only trip with our friends and do some beach time. We leave on Wednesday, and I’m planning to have a new post up for you on Tuesday of next week and take a break from the current faves next Friday. Thank you for understanding!

Other than that whole thing, I did a lot of work this week. I taught two in-person classes at Life Time, I taught two virtual classes for Motus, I got my hair done, I went to the doctor for a check-up and did all the pre-vacation prep work one must do to get things in order. Yay for being on vacation this time next week! It’s long overdue!

Okay, let’s do those faves, friends …

Current faves

Book

“Text Me When You Get Home” by Kayleen Schaefer

I heard about this book on a new release list and decided to pick it up from the library. “Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship” by Kayleen Schaefer is a non-fiction title all about female friendships. I didn’t really know what to expect, and after finishing it, I have some mixed reviews.

The author, Schaefer, is a journalist, and for the book, she interviewed tons of women from all walks of life about what friendship means to them and asked them to tell their stories of female friendships.

It seems like Schaefer was trying to paint the picture that female friendships are essential, and historically very little importance has been placed on them. And if women don’t place importance on them, they end up regretting it later in life. She mentions multiple times that women are taught to go out in the world with a goal of finding a husband. And once they find a suitable mate to wed, their friendships can and should be pushed to the wayside. But she doesn’t think things should be like that. I agree. I am always down for more friend time, and that’s something I hope to get more of this year.

(“Text Me When You Get Home” by Kayleen Schaefer.”)

Schaefer tells stories about her female friendships throughout her life, and she also details the specifics of a lot of friendships on TV shows and movies. In fact, I feel like she gave too many examples from TV shows, but I think, once again, she was trying to prove a point about what the media and culture portrays about the female friendship. Rarely, is the female friendship the star of the show, when it’s usually just a side-piece while the women look for men. I was a little bit over all the TV show references, but I did like the real-world friendship anecdotes.

This book was a little over 200 pages, and I read it very quickly. I enjoyed it, but I kept waiting for more. I get what the author was trying to do, but I feel like it fell a little flat at times and then just sort’ve ended.

That being said, while I didn’t love it, there are certainly some redeeming qualities, and I’m all about any book that gives us a chance to reflect on modern womanhood. A book that did this in a much more significant way (which I read last year and reviewed here) is this one: “Forget Having It All: How America Messed Up Motherhood–And How to Fix It” — although it was more about the motherhood side of things, it hit on so many points about being a woman, and I would definitely recommend it.

“Text Me When You Get Home” was a different non-fiction choice for me, and if you’re into the topic of female friendships, I think it may be a good one to dig into. But don’t expect to love it. Real talk.

Fun

A rainy Father’s Day celebrating Dave

We had a nice Father’s Day last weekend, even though it rained basically all day. We went to First Watch for brunch, played around at home and even took a drizzly neighborhood walk in the evening. It wasn’t the most event-filled day, but I think we were both fine with some chillness. There’s not much else to report on with this one, but I wanted to share this cute picture of Dave and Brady at brunch in matching shirts …

Fashion

The best black biker shorts

I remember when I first started seeing people wearing biker shorts again (this was maybe two-and-a-half years ago, and I think it was a Kardashian who first sported them), and I couldn’t believe these were coming back.

Well, now, I’m so glad they are back, because they are so comfy, and the right styles can be extra flattering too. I’ve tried a ton of biker shorts over the last year or so, and oftentimes, the leg part can cut into your thighs, which isn’t comfortable. It took some time, but I finally found some good ones. And I’ve been wearing this pair of high-waisted bikers for the last few weeks, and I’m in love with them. I want them in every color.

(The best black bikers.)

I’ve worn them for workouts and for athleisure too, and they fit like a glove. I’m wearing a medium, and I highly recommend them, especially because the price is right. The fabric is so soft, yet they stay put — which is a hard combination to find in leggings/shorts. And if you choose to get these shorts from Carbon38, don’t forget to use my code ASHLEYPITT for a discount on your order of more than $100.

Also, a quick thing about wearing shorts: I’ve heard a lot of people say lately that they don’t wear shorts because they don’t like their legs. Or they don’t like that their legs have imperfections. Ladies, I’m here to tell you to wear the shorts. I have cellulite on my legs, my legs are very much not perfect, but I like shorts, so I wear them. And I would encourage you to do the same. 🙂 

Workouts

Weekly workouts 

Quick disclaimer: This section of the post is where I share all the workouts I did the previous week. And please remember that my workout schedule works for me, and it may not work for you. Your workouts should make you feel good and leave you feeling energized. If they don’t do that, it may be time to reassess what you’re doing regularly. 

I’ve gone through periods of doing too much and doing too little, and I’ve always found that the body and energy levels will clue you in if you need to readjust. And by the way, I work as a fitness instructor, and I probably do more than you need to be doing. Bottom line for you: Make sure you get some rest, some resistance and some cardio in each week.

• Monday: Taught 1-hour barbell strength class at Life Time, 9:45 a.m.
• Tuesday: Taught 45-minute virtual bodyweight Barre Burn on Motus, 3 p.m.
• Wednesday: 20-minute cycle on the Peloton bike at home, 12 p.m.
• Thursday: Taught 45-minute full-body weights/cardio class at Life Time, 10 a.m., taught 45-minute virtual bodyweight Barre Burn on Motus, 3 p.m.
• Friday: Took 1-hour barre class with light weights at Life Time, 10 a.m.
• Saturday: Took 45-minute lower-body weights class at Life Time, 8:30 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This past week was a good one. I taught four classes, took two classes and even got back on the bike for a quick cycle at home too, which was fun. No complaints in the workout department right now, and I have several days off of exercise coming up with our trip, which should be good for me. I do not plan to do any formal workouts on our vacation.

Promo codes

A Lady Goes West favorite products

There are certain brands that I swear by in my own life, and so I like to share them with you. If you choose to try them too, and if you use my links or promo codes, you will be supporting me. Thanks for that!

• Carbon38. I’m always wearing stuff from here, and it’s the coolest activewear around. Get 15 percent off your first two orders of $100 or more using the code ASHLEYPITT. 
• G2G protein bars. I love these tasty and minimal-ingredient protein bars. You can get 15 percent off your order on the G2G Bar site with the code ALADYGOESWEST.
• Organifi supplements. This is my go-to protein powder brand. You can get 15 percent off your order on the Organifi site with the code ALADYGOESWEST.
• Beautycounter. The best safe skincare and makeup. Send me a message, and I’ll share a 20 percent off code for your very first order.
• Les Mills On Demand workouts. My favorite fitness brand. You can do a whole month of workouts during a free 30-day trial by using my special referral link here.

Best reads

A few things from around the web 

• Voice health. You probably don’t think about the health of your voice, until you lose your voice from illness or overuse, and then you wish you paid attention to it sooner. As a group fitness instructor, I use my voice a lot, and I need to be careful with how I treat it — hello hydration and rest. This is a helpful article with some tips on how to keep your voice health in check.
• Diet rules. There are so many rules out there on what you “should do” to be healthy, and the funny thing is, many of these rules are not about health at all, but instead about restriction. I like to remind you often that you likely do not need to cut out entire food groups or count your macros, but yet, many people do not agree with me on these points and continue to preach them. This is a simple list of diet “rules” to toss out in your life.

Here’s the thought of the week, which I posted to Instagram a couple of weeks ago and felt like sharing here as well …

A Lady Goes West favorite archives 

• Self-care. This post was a reader request, and I also included some crowd-sourced tips too … “Small and realistic ways to take care of yourself as a busy lady.”

• Nutrition. Because eating healthier is not as hard as you think … “Five healthy eating habits to improve your nutrition.”

Have a great day, my friends! I’ll be back on the blog with a new post on Tuesday before I head off on my vacation. Be good out there! 🙂 

Questions of the day

How was your week?

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this weekend?

What’s one diet rule you definitely do NOT follow?