Current faves: Concert, jewelry, social media and weekly workouts

Hi friends! How are you? Can you believe this is technically the last weekend of August? Where does the time go? Next month, we’ll celebrate Brady’s first birthday, and I literally cannot believe it.

Anywho, this past week was a good one for us over here, but a busy one. So let’s do some fitness, food and fun favorites (and don’t miss the challenge invite too)!

Fun

Midweek concert outing

You guys, I went out at night on a weeknight. Yes, I know, it’s crazy! Dave and I decided to throw caution to the wind and booked a babysitter for a Tuesday night so we could see Dispatch at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Dispatch is an East Coast Indie-type band with only a few popular songs, so you probably haven’t heard of them. We saw them once before when they opened for Guster, another East Coast Indie-type band. While this isn’t my favorite type of music (I like house, pop and country, to be exact), I actually love the songs and these kind of low-key concerts, and Dave introduced me to them both, so it’s fun for us to go together.

Dave was already at work in Oakland for the day, so after I put Brady to bed and our sitter arrived, I headed in to meet him, and we grabbed a quick casual dinner before the show at a ramen place nearby the concert venue. This was my first time at the Fox Theater, and it’s a gorgeous historic former movie theater with the most beautiful architecture inside. We had general admission tickets and stood in the crowd for the show. The best place to watch.

Overall, we had a lot of fun jamming out to live music on a Tuesday and may have stayed up slightly later than normal, but it was totally worth it. We kept looking around at all the young people in the concert hall saying — oh yay — we remember what it was like to be out and about all the time. Good stuff!

Fashion

Personalized necklace

Other than my wedding ring and engagement ring, I have rarely had a piece of jewelry that I wear every single day without fail until this necklace. I ordered this custom necklace for myself a few weeks after Brady was born, and I keep it on 24/7. 

It’s asymmetrical, and I have a D for Dave, R for Rudy and B for Brady on it. Every time I post a close-up picture on my Instagram stories I get a question about it, so I wanted to share this necklace here. You can fit a few more spaces and add hearts or other shapes if you wish. I love that it’s so dainty I can have it on for workouts or with basically any outfit, and because it’s real gold, it doesn’t tarnish at all. And if you want it for Christmas, start dropping hints soon, because it takes 3-4 weeks.

Social media

Favorite Instagram accounts

While this is probably worthy of a separate post, I find that I’ve been a little miffed with social media lately. There’s so much out there that just makes you feel bad. Just down about yourself. It happens to me a lot, and I feel so mixed because I know that I need to focus on Instagram in order to support my blog, but oftentimes I end up frustrated every time I open the app. Anybody else?

However, there is some good out there, so I wanted to share a few accounts that I think are valuable and that make you feel either educated or inspired, or just plain make you laugh.

1. Emily Skye Fit. I haven’t tried her fit program, outside of one workout, but Emily Skye is a former model, a beautiful woman and a new mom, yet, she uplifts her followers with her realness, rather than making them feel bad. I love to follow her and her little family, as well as her postpartum journey. 
2. Betches. This is humor. Straight up humor, and I often laugh out loud.
3. Coach Alyssa Chang. I had the privilege of meeting Alyssa in person at an event earlier this year, and she is so sweet. Her Instagram feed is all about how to get the body to move better. She’s not posting HIIT workouts, she’s telling you how to move confidently through life. Love that.
4. Happsters. I have also had the privilege of meeting Kelli, the creator of this happiness account, and she’s adorable. This account is all about making you feel happy with quotes and puppy pictures.
5. Bustle. More humor. Love it. Not always safe for work.
6. Seamus Obrien. Puppies and cute animals. So basically the best.
7. The Thirty. This is a new-to-me account that I’ve been enjoying, all about wellness for real people. So far I’ve liked it, but time will tell if it gets to woo-woo for me.
8. Blogilates. One of the original healthy living bloggers, who has now created a branded workout and an apparel line. Even though Cassey Ho is super successful, she keeps it pretty real on Instagram. I like how she isn’t perfect and is cool with that.
9. Overheard in San Francisco. I’ve shared this one before, but it’s just so good and so realistic when it comes to the kind of things you come across living in the Bay Area.
10. This account and this account are totally not socially appropriate, and I don’t condone much of what they post, but I do follow and I do laugh. And I’m not ashamed of it.
11. Kersten Kimura. Kersten has the blog, Urban Jane, and I’ve been interviewed by her before, because she helps women overcome hypothalamic amenorrhea. I wish I had found her before I struggled with it. Anywho, her Instagram is full of great tips for women who need help slowing down.

Oh and one more: Me. I mean, are you following? While my IG stories are a look at my meals, workouts and behind-the-scenes life, my main IG feed pics are usually whatever tips I feel like sharing for the day, pertaining to balance, healthy living and life. Would love to connect with you on IG, if we haven’t already.

By the way, if you find that you’re following people who do NOT make you feel good, then I recommend unfollowing them. I really do.

Food

Tender Greens take-out for lunch 

Tender Greens salmon is so mouthwateringly delicious. I can’t. And I’m usually more excited about the fall root veggies, rather than the summer squash and corn, but this little corn on the cob was quite tasty. Must’ve been all the olive oil and salt and pepper.

Ben & Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake

Maybe it’s a little too soon, but I was quite happy to polish off this over the weekend. Ben & Jerry’s does it right. It would be hard to choose a favorite flavor.

Almond butter Larabar

You know I love my Larabars, and I buy them at Target for the best prices. Well I recently stumbled upon this flavor, and I think it’s new. It is delicious. Dairy free. Gluten free. Vegan. Six ingredients. Give it a try if you like almond butter and chocolate chip. I sure do. Dave knows this flavor is off-limits in the pantry, because I like it so much.

Salmon bowl at Itani Ramen

I’m not a big ramen person, so when Dave and I went to dinner at Itani Ramen before the concert, I was excited to see a rice and salmon bowl on the menu. It had three different kids of salmon and cabbage too. Mmmmm.

Fitness

Weekly workout recap

Here’s a look at my workouts from last week. 

• Monday: 1-hour legs and abs PWR weights workout, 11 a.m.
• Tuesday: 1-hour back and shoulders PWR weights workout, 11 a.m.
• Wednesday: 1-hour walk, 10:30 a.m., 10-minute of chest, 20 minutes of yoga, 4 p.m.
• Thursday: Taught 1-hour Bootybarre class, 12 p.m.
• Friday: 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 12 p.m.
• Saturday: Taught 1-hour Bootybarre class, 11 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This past week was a total departure for my workouts, and I loved it! I shared a bit more about the Sweat app, which I used to do the two PWR workouts from the beginning of the week here. Basically, the PWR workout program includes pyramid training using a lot of gym machines. I don’t spend much time using machines, so it actually felt good to try new things, which were so focused on strength. So it’s safe to say I hit my goal of doing three resistance sessions and then some, which is awesome, and I hope I can keep that up moving forward. This past week also included taking and teaching classes and a short yoga session making it nice and diverse. I decided to continue the PWR workouts and did a couple more this most recent week as well. 

Challenge

Join the push-up challenge

It’s time for another challenge in the A Lady Goes West Friends Facebook group. I found this 16-day push-up challenge through Les Mills, and I think we should do it together. We’re getting started on Monday in the group, and I’ll explain it all in there. Come join the fun!

Suggested reading

Best links from around the web

• Friends: I like this post from Gina about how to cultivate female friendships. Spoiler alert: You have to put yourself out there as an adult to make new friends.
• Wellness days: I’ve always wanted to go on a wellness trip, and it’s so cool these mini wellness days are coming to major cities soon.
• Showers. Are you a morning or night-time shower-er? I do both, mostly nights these days. Here are the benefits of each.
• Mobility. This selection of moves is unique and diverse and is the perfect pre-workout warm-up to get your body ready to move through a full range of motion.

A Lady Goes West Favorite archives

• Because not everyone is as excited about the gym as me … ““What you should know if you don’t love fitness and what you can do about it.”
• Active mom stuff … ““All about breastfeeding: How I keep my milk supply up while working out.”

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! Stay hydrated, move around, be nice and be well! 🙂 

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Questions of the day

What are you up to this weekend?

Have you visited a friend recently?

What are your favorite accounts to follow on IG?