Current faves: Florida fun, dresses, books and weekly workouts

Hi, my friends! How are you? I’m doing well! Back into the swing of things after a week away in Florida for Thanksgiving. We arrived home on Tuesday night to find the air had finally cleared, and it had rained in the Bay Area — two much-needed things.

It was back to business as usual, with unpacking, lots of laundry, a big grocery shopping haul, teaching a barre class, returning to the gym and even beginning to pull out our Christmas decor for our first holiday season in the house.

This week also included an unfortunate situation in the parking lot of Whole Foods, in which I got locked out of my new car through a technical fluke and found myself standing in the sun with nothing but my phone and Brady — who had a wet diaper, was hungry and approaching his nap time — totally stranded with no ability to get around without a car seat. Dave was stuck in an important meeting in San Francisco, so I didn’t even bother calling him. Thank goodness for the smarts of my dear friend, Kicki, who helped me figure out how to get remote access to my car with an app that I didn’t even know existed after about 30 minutes of panic — ahhhh! Good times! Fun fact for all you folks out there: If you put your bag with your key in it in the trunk of the car without first unlocking the car through the door, it will get stuck in there. I didn’t think it was possible with the way keyless entry works these days, but it is! 

Moving on, let’s get to our usual selection of random favorites as of late …

Fun

Hanging with friends and family in Florida

We spent a full week in Florida, which was relaxing and wonderful. There’s a new non-stop flight on Southwest between Oakland and Orlando, which we tried out and may do again. Because we always fly Southwest (racking up loyalty points for free flights, no baggage or change fees, YAY!), we are used to connecting, so it actually made the travel part seem not quite as terrible. Brady didn’t nap on either flight, but we were able to keep him busy and even strap him into the middle seat. With our 9th roundtrip flight under our belt with him, I’m thinking of writing a post on how to travel with a baby, so stay tuned for that and let me know if you have any questions about it.

One of the trip highlights? Letting little Brady put his feet in the sand and Gulf of Mexico. He’s been to Boca Grande beach before, but he was a little unsure the first time, so this time was a lot of fun for him. We went with my parents, and it was such a nice adventure. I love the gulf air!

We stayed at my parents’ house in Englewood for most of the trip, and we hung out with them, and my brother, Matthew, and his wife, Stephanie, (who came down from Atlanta) for a couple of days too, and of course, we all celebrated Thanksgiving together. I also got to see one of my dear girlfriends and bridesmaids, Kristen, on our last day in Southwest Florida as well.

Then, we went up to Orlando for our last full day and night in Florida. We walked around Winter Park and even toured Dave’s college campus, Rollins, which was a big trip down memory lane as we talked about the way our lives were when we lived in Orlando more than six years ago — boy, times have changed. (Even though I didn’t know Dave in college and met him after he graduated, it was still the perfect place for reminiscing about the city where we both started our professional lives, then dated and got married.) 

Then that evening, we hung out with our friends, Jess and Amanda, at their house in Winter Park. We stay with them every time we go back, and it was awesome to catch up and even introduce Brady to their son, Jack. Dave and Jess got to go out to a bar to see some other guy friends, while Amanda and I stayed at home in our pajamas while the kiddos slept. Fine by me!

I would have loved to have seen more people during our time in Florida, but I learned fairly early on in my visits that it’s not possible to see everyone. In the beginning, I would over-promise get-togethers and end up driving all over the state just to see people, and the visit would fly by, and I felt like I never sat down or relaxed. Not anymore. My priority is always my parents first, and then any other little visit that happens with friends — when it works — is icing on the cake! We had some good icing this time. 🙂 

Fashion

Family photos dress

I recently bought this dress for less than $50 for the purpose of wearing for our family photos. It’s super comfy and is that midi length that looks pretty flattering on everyone. You can find it here. I will definitely be wearing it again, probably with a denim jacket and flats next time.

Red ruched dress

I bought this dress a few months ago and finally got around to wearing it in Florida to the mall (where I used to work in high school and hang out a lot too). It’s a snug fit, but has a nice ruching on the midsection. The actual dress I’m wearing is currently sold out, but there are a few similar ones from this brand, which have great reviews.

In my coffee cup? The Starbucks Toasted White Chocolate Mocha made with almond milk, hold the whip. NOT a healthy drink, but a tasty one, and the one that Dave and I keep getting as a treat every couple of days. We had it for the first time before heading to Florida and are both hooked now. Goodie. 

Tiny Gator slippers

This fits into the fashion category, right? I try not to put too much baby stuff into the favorites posts, but I had to share these. My brother and Stephanie are SO generous with Brady and are constantly getting him presents. When we saw them for Thanksgiving, they had picked out a few books and these University of Florida Gator slippers for our little guy …

I try to keep Brady’s feet covered at home most of the time, because it’s a little cold in our house, so these are perfect. He reminds me of a little old man in them. Matthew and Stephanie (well, let’s be honest, probably just Stephanie) ordered the slippers here, and they appear to be sold out, but there’s tons of other cute baby gear.

Books

Super light A Lady Goes West Book Club Book

If you’re in the mood for something fun and light to read, then this is it — “When Life Gives You Lululemoms” by Lauren Weisberger. A few of you mentioned we should do some fiction for the next book club, so here we go.

I ordered this book and started it, and so far I’m enjoying the twists and turns of the story. It’s from the same author who wrote “The Devil Wears Prada” and is based on the character Emily’s life after leaving Runway and managing celebrity reputations. Not really a book worthy of discussion topics, but I’ll post more in the A Lady Goes West Friends Facebook group about the book in a few weeks, if you want to read and join along.

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: Rest day
• Wednesday: 15-minute walk/run and 5 minutes of bodyweight work, 11 a.m.
• Thursday: 30-minute run, 12 p.m.
• Friday: 30-minute Les Mills Barre class at home via Les Mills On Demand, 11 a.m.
• Saturday: 20-minute run, 11 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This week of workouts was much lighter while I was away in Florida, and that’s fine by me. I switched things up by doing some jogging/light running with Dave (and Brady in the stroller), and that felt okay. I don’t love running, but I do like exercising with Dave, and it gave us a chance to chat and move our bodies in the sun. I didn’t mind this break from the gym or from intense exercise at all, because it’s smart to take some time off here and there to reset. 

Here’s the light workout I did outdoors on Wednesday at home in Florida, which took 20 minutes total and was just enough to feel like I had moved, without taking too much time away from the day …

• 5-minute walk
• 10-minute jog
• Bodyweight superset, repeated two times through:
  • 20 walking lunges
  • 20 plank shoulder taps

Suggested reading

Best links from around the web

• Natural cold remedies. This is a really thorough and beneficial article on how to avoid colds this season the natural way. I need to jump on the Vitamin D train perhaps, but have always been a fan of my neti pot. Take a read.
• Gal Meets Glam podcast interview. I listened to this podcast episode over Thanksgiving break and loved it. I have been following Julia from Gal Meets Glam on Instagram for a long time, and she recently launched a dress line. She works with her husband and has such a successful business, so I was eager to learn more about her path in this interview on The Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. Super interesting stuff to me!
• IT band exercises. Need some help with your IT band? Amanda gives you three single-leg movements that are beneficial for everyone. Remember, it’s very important to work each side of your body on its own in your workouts every once in a while in order to fix potential imbalances.
• Plant-based protein. I love to eat so many of these different forms of plant-based protein. I have eggs most days and fish and grass-fed beef once a week each, but other than that, I’m pretty much plant-based when it comes to my protein. I think oats would be my favorite source. What’s yours?

A Lady Goes West Favorite archives

• Thanks for the love on our pictures … “Our 2018 holiday family photos.”
• Do you need this one right now after the holiday? … “How to get back on track after a break from your healthy routine.”

Have a great weekend!

I’m heading to an event in Marin on Sunday afternoon, but other than that, we’ll be getting some house stuff done and laying low over the next two days. See you soon, friends!

Questions of the day

Have you decorated for Christmas yet?

What are you up to this weekend?

How was your Thanksgiving?

Do you ever take time off from the gym?

What’s your favorite festive drink from Starbucks?