Hello, my friends! How was your week? Mine was a good one. My mom was here all week, so we had a lot of time together. We did daily walks, park visits, shopping and hanging out, and I also worked and taught a couple of virtual classes. After a week of no sweating while my brows healed, it was good to be back to my regular workouts.

With Grammie around, Dave and I were lucky to get out for our first dinner date together since February 2020. We had been using a babysitter for date-night activities about once a month, but that all stopped when COVID hit. While I don’t mind drinking wine in my pajamas and watching Netflix documentaries, it’s also nice to wear real clothes and go out somewhere too. We went to the Ballantyne Hotel for dinner and drinks, and it was the perfect outing …

(I’m wearing my favorite high-waisted skinny jeans from Everlane and Beautycounter red on my lips.)

Speaking of babysitters, we’re going to need to find some good ones in Charlotte one day soon. Okay, let’s get into those faves …

Current faves

Fun

Easter 2021

It had been so long since we had the chance to have a holiday with my mom, and we had a wonderful Easter together this year.

It was a perfect-weather-kind-of day in Charlotte, and we started it out by going for a neighborhood walk. Then we went out to Sunflour Baking Company in Ballantyne for an outdoor casual brunch. I had an oat milk latte and an egg and avocado sandwich on sourdough that was simple and delicious. There were so many things I wanted on the menu there, so I know we’ll go back again.

In the afternoon, after Brady napped (I napped too), we did Brady’s Easter egg hunt outside the house. It was the never-ending hunt — even though we had maybe 40 eggs, because he was having so much fun — Dave kept recycling the found eggs and re-hiding them along the way. It was adorable.

(My romper is sold out, but here’s a similar version.)

We popped open a bottle of rosé, took some family photos, and soaked it all up. During our walk that morning, Dave and I chatted about the previous Easter during the height of quarantine last year in 2020 — which wasn’t quite as magical as this one. A year certainly makes a difference in a lot of ways. We had no idea then where we’d be now.

We kept our Easter meal really simple, and had an incredibly decadent Southern Baked Pie beef stroganoff pie (which my cousin sent to us for a housewarming gift) with salad, home-made roasted sweet potatoes (at least something had to be home-made) and croissants. And because it was so nice, we sat on the porch together. The evening concluded with Publix carrot cake.

Publix carrot cake is some of the best (very good frosting-to-cake ratio), and we worked on this cake throughout the week. Carrot cake is my favorite dessert, although red velvet cake and cheesecake are close seconds. What’s your favorite dessert, friends? And if you celebrated Easter, did you have a good one? Hope so.

Fitness

Join Gina’s Barre Bootcamp 2.0 30-day challenge

Do you want to switch up your workouts and get lean with barre? You guys know I love barre.

My friend, Gina, of the Fitnessista, has created a super-fun 30-day workout plan with six brand-new barre-based follow-along workout videos, a workout calendar and an accountability group you can join for the duration of the challenge. The program begins April 19th. If you’re interested, head here to check out more information.

So what do you need to know about Gina’s Barre Bootcamp 2.0?

• All the workouts are 30 minutes.
• The challenge begins April 19th and lasts 30 days.
• All you need is a mat, a chair and some light dumbbells to get the most out of the exercises.
• The six follow-along workout videos include Cardio Barre, Barre Strength, Barre Booty, Upper Body + HIIT, Classic Barre and Pilates Core Fusion — what a line-up. Once you buy them, they are yours to keep forever.

It sounds pretty enjoyable, and I may hop in there too, because I love both teaching and taking barre — and Gina is a fun instructor. Sign up now to join Gina’s Barre Bootcamp 2.0.

Workouts

Weekly workouts 

Here are last week’s workouts …

• Monday: Rest day
• Tuesday: 15-minute Pilates via Peloton, 11 a.m.
• Wednesday: 15-minute Pilates via Peloton, 11 a.m.
• Thursday: 10-minute arms with light weights via Peloton, 2 p.m.
• Friday: 10-minute barre via Peloton, 1 p.m.
• Saturday: 10-minute light yoga stretching, 10 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This past week of workouts was totally different than a normal one, because I was purposefully not sweating. As mentioned, I got my eyebrows microbladed last week and had to take seven full days off of sweating while the brows healed. That meant I went on slow walks, did some foam rolling, and did super-short and light exercise sessions (shown above), without even breaking a sweat. I actually didn’t mind this week of less movement, because it was a nice reset.

Discounts 

A Lady Goes West recommended favorite products

I only share what I use and love in my own life, and here are some of the brands I swear by. And when you use my discount codes and links, you support me, so thanks for that …

• Carbon38. 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 superfood supplements. I’m all about the Organifi Complete Plant-Based protein powder. You can get 15 percent off your order on the Organifi site with the code ALADYGOESWEST.
• Four Sigmatic. These superfood coffees and teas are so good — I especially love the Cacao Chill and Lion’s Mane Latte. Get 15 percent off your order 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 streaming 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.
• Les Mills Coach program. You can get 15 percent off a 4-, 8- or 12-week guided coaching and accountability program with the code ASHLEY15.

Best reads

A few things from around the web 

• Dry brushing. Are you dry brushing? I ordered a dry brush a year ago and did it a few times, but now I always forget to pull it out — I should change that. Dry brushing is a great way to exfoliate your skin and stimulate circulation. This post tells you how and why to considering adding dry brushing to your self-care routine.
• Vitamin D. You’ve probably heard that taking vitamin D can help your immune system, and while this is true — there’s a lot more to it. This article tells you everything you need to know about vitamin D, including whether you should supplement or not. I had a blood test that said I was slightly deficient, so I do take a daily supplement these days.

Here’s the quote of the week from the Calm app …

A Lady Goes West favorite archives 

• Home fitness. This post is a super-thorough look at the similarities and differences between two popular home digital fitness platforms … “Les Mills On Demand vs. Peloton app: Everything you need to know.”

• Spring cleaning. Because a change of seasons is always a good time to take a look around and do some tidying up … “Five feel-good ways to clean up your life.”

As always, thank you so much for visiting A Lady Goes West today. Have a great day and weekend, my friends. Until next time.

Questions of the day

How was your week?

What are you up to this weekend?

When was the last time you switched up your workouts?