Current faves: Family fun, NYE, hair, beauty and weekly workouts

Welcome to 2019, my friends! I hope your year is off to a great start! Are you staying hydrated? 🙂 

We’ll be back to our regular schedule of posting next week, but today, it’s another batch of favorites about life, fitness and more. I’ve been enjoying a little extra time away from the computer through Christmas and the New Year, but it’s time to get back to the swing of things. 

This week started with the holiday and then moved on to feature all the usual stuff. I took some classes, taught barre, worked on some writing projects, played with Brady a ton and took down all of our Christmas decor and got our lives organized for the new year. I can’t believe the holidays are over, but I’m excited about new things in 2019. How about you? Let’s do those faves …

Family

Taking Brady to the Little Farm

Another Saturday afternoon, another little adventure for us in the Tilden Park area near Oakland and Berkeley. I think we’ve hit all the major spots there for the time being, so we won’t be going back for a while. This time, we took Brady to The Little Farm, which, just as it’s named, is a little farm, where pigs, goats, sheep and cows live. It’s totally free to the public, and you can bring your own celery or lettuce to feed to the animals, so we did just that.

It was a cute place, and there were a few animals in different stable areas hanging out by the fence so you could feed them. It wasn’t exactly crowded, but you did have to wait a bit for your turn to feed the animals. Brady, as expected, LOVED it. He was giggling and he wanted to hand the celery to the animals. He was also saying “Roo” which sounds more like “Woo” and that’s what he calls Rudy, so I think he thinks all animals are “Woo” for now. 

I tried to put his hand on the cow’s back to pet the cow and he was NOT a fan of that, but other than that, he enjoyed his Little Farm experience. So did we! For all my local friends, there is a playground, walking trails and plenty of picnic tables at The Little Farm, so you could totally make a longer adventure out of it if you wanted. We were there just under an hour, which works well for Brady’s attention span these days.

Fun

Hosting our friends for NYE

We kept it small this year (well, we kept it small last year too with a new baby around), and had another couple over for New Year’s Eve — our friends Phil and Kicki, who also came over last year. We got take-out sushi, popped a few bottles, played Cards Against Humanity (so fun, so inappropriate) and Scrabble and laughed a lot. It was perfect! And somehow, no pictures were taken, as the phones stayed away. Yessssss! I love to do that and hope you do that sometimes too.

On New Year’s Day, Dave, Brady and Rudy and I went on a walk around Lafayette Reservoir, took down all of the Christmas stuff and laid low. After Brady went to bed, Dave and I actually spent a little time writing down some wishes and goals for 2019, and I’ll share more about that soon.

Beauty

Easy hair styling with hot rollers

I think hot rollers are a bit of a thing of the past, but that didn’t stop me from putting them on my Christmas list this year. My mom sent me this set of hot rollers, and I am a big fan so far. The reason I wanted the hot rollers is because they get a good curl in your hair without the need for quite as much product and heat as is necessary for curling with a curling iron alone. Not to mention, you can put them in your hair, then do your make-up or go on about your day while your hair styles itself.

(Conair hot rollers.)

I need to perfect my craft with them, but I was pleased with my first couple of runs. I’m going to try rolling the curlers in different ways to see how that makes a difference with my hair. But overall, it’s a totally easy way to get extra volume and a good wave in the locks. And my hair in The Little Farm pictures above was styled with my hot rollers, BTW.

Last few days for the Beautycounter winter sale

Don’t miss out on major discounts on the last of the holiday stock and select Beautycounter products, with the winter sale ending on January 7 — I just ordered this eyeshadow duo.

And in case you don’t know why I keep mentioning Beautycounter, that’s because it’s awesome stuff. Beautycounter is safer and cleaner body, make-up and skincare products, and it’s the wave of the future in beauty. If you want to check it out, head to this link and select what you want, or let me know if you have questions.

Fitness

Weekly workout recap

And now we’re into the fitness.

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

• Monday: 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 10 a.m.
• Tuesday: 1-hour leisure family walk, noon (active recovery day)
• Wednesday: 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 9:30 a.m.
• Thursday: Taught 1-hour Bootybarre class, 12 p.m.
• Friday: 45-minute SoulCycle class, 10:30 a.m.
• Saturday: 30-minute full-body weights workout, 11 a.m.
• Sunday: 13-minute gentle yoga flow, 9 a.m. (rest day)

This past week was pretty standard for me in terms of workouts. I did some classes, taught a class, did a solo workout and went on a walk. Boring, but consistent. So it’s all good. 

Here’s the short weights session I did … (If you want to see these in real-time, I share them on my Instagram Stories the day I do them, and then save them in the Instagram Story highlights under “Workouts.”) 

Favorite reads

Best stuff from around the web 

• Yoga flow. This is a good short and sweet flow for a day when you need some stretching. I did it on my rest day in the playroom with Brady crawling all over me. Good times!
• Health lessons. I really like this simple article on what one health editor learned over the course of the year to improve her overall wellness. Easy and valuable stuff.
• Fashion. I think Lauren Conrad’s clothes are so cute, and I recently bought a sweater from her line. This is a great list of fashion trends for the year. Which one do you want to jump on first? I’m all over a few, but I think getting a phone bag (like this) may be next on my list.
• Magnesium. I’ve shared a few articles on magnesium before, and this is a good one on why you may need to get more magnesium in your diet and life in order to function properly — most people are deficient. I am currently supplementing with this topical magnesium spray, which I spray on my skin and rub in almost once a day. I’ll report back soon on the results.

A Lady Goes West archives

• Fitness. It’s not just exercise, right? … “What does your workout mean to you?“
• Motivation. It’s not easy to get moving when you don’t go to a gym … “How to get the motivation to work out at home.”

Have a fabulous start to the year, my people! See you soon! Be good! And I hope you have something fun to look forward to this weekend. Dave and I are heading into the City for a show, and this little man will be staying home with a sitter …

🙂 

Questions of the day

How did you ring in the new year?

Do you have any goals for the new year?

Where’s one place in your neck of the woods you’ve wanted to check out but haven’t yet?

Do you have anything exciting planned for January?