Hi, my friends! Another set of favorites coming your way today. How was your week? I hope it was productive, but not too stressful. Everything was good over here — just the usual teaching classes, writing work and toddler life. I also went to Sonoma for a brand event, and it was a really good time — totally worth getting a babysitter for.

This weekend, Dave will be working quite a bit, and I’m subbing BODYPUMP on Sunday morning — not sure what else we’ll do to fill the free time. But that’s enough chatter, so let’s get to those favorites …

CURRENT FAVES

Podcasts

Talking fitness, health and hormones on the “All Gussied Up” podcast

I was so flattered to be invited to be a guest on my friend Lynn’s “All Gussied Up” podcast. Lynn lives near me in the East Bay, and we met at the gym when she was taking one of my barre classes while I was very pregnant a couple of years ago. She is beautiful, smart and has an amazing blog, YouTube channel, Instagram and now a new podcast too.

We recorded the podcast in person, which was a little more nerve-wracking than recording on the phone (which I’ve done before), because Lynn had some fancy equipment, and we even wore headphones so we could hear our own voices. I felt just a tad awkward, but once we got to talking, it was fine. 

Here’s what we discussed:

• How I got into fitness
• How to get motivated to work out
• How to start a fitness program
• What is hypothalamic amenorrhea and my story with it
• How women can protect their fertility
• Tips for overall health
• And more!

You can listen to the episode on iTunes or directly on Lynn’s site here. Let me know if you do!

Fashion

My first Everlane order

It’s not often that you feel so excited about ordering from a website. But when I heard about Everlane and started looking around, I knew it was perfect for me. Everlane is an online shop, where everything is ethically made, and the products are high quality but super simple in design. Also, Everlane tells you exactly why everything costs what it does, which is so transparent, I wish more stores did that.

These days, I’m trying to buy less stuff, but better stuff, so I was on the hunt for two basics from Everlane: a plain t-shirt for everyday wear under sweaters and jackets and a plain leather tote for everyday use. I found both. Both items arrived quickly and are so amazing. Here I am with my new favorite Italian leather tote, called the Day Square Tote. It fits my laptop, wallet, little diaper pouch and more, yet doesn’t seem overly large — plus, the leather is super supple. 

I like supporting brands like this that may not be as well known, but have great products. You can check out Everlane here. And by the way, this is my referral link, so if you use it, I get credit to order something else! 🙂 

Events

Yoga and lunch with Medlie Veggies

I’ve talked about Zupa Noma veggie drinks on the blog before, and now Zupa Noma is known as Medlie Veggies. The Medlie team invited me to an event in Sonoma this week at Viansa Winery, and I got to do yoga, see some lovely blogger ladies from around the Bay and have a veggie-filled lunch too. I hadn’t done yoga in quite a while, so it felt very good on my body and made me want to start doing it more, but I mean, I’ve been saying that for months … 🙂

Medlie has some new veggie wellness shots and other products coming out soon, which I’m excited to see. They are a great company, located in wine country, and the veggie drinks are organic, gluten free, high in fiber, no added sugar and tasty — a convenient way to get your veggie servings in when you’re on the go too.

Fitness

Weekly workout recap

And now we’re into the fitness.

Let’s look at my workouts from last week …

• Monday: 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 10 a.m.
• Tuesday: Taught 45-minute BODYATTACK class, 4:45 p.m.
• Wednesday: Taught 1-hour barre class, 5 p.m.
• Thursday: Taught 1-hour barre class, 12 p.m.; 45-minute SoulCycle class, 6:30 p.m.
• Friday: 25-minute full-body weights workout, 10 a.m.
• Saturday: 1-hour BODYATTACK class, 9:30 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This past week was class heavy, as most of my weeks have been lately. Once again, I was a little light on strength training, but I felt good in all my other workouts. Who’s been keeping up with their resistance workouts? If so, good on you!

Here’s the short weights workout I did this past week … (you can find more of these workouts on Instagram in my workouts highlight, or check out this post.)

Best reads 

Some things I enjoyed from around the web …

• Freezing food. I’m team freezer all the way and am always buying produce from the freezer aisle — and that’s good, because buying frozen veggies and freezing your fruit is a great way to reduce waste. Here’s an article with some other ideas for freezing food.
• Hair tips. Truth be told, I’m terrible at blowdrying my hair and always have been (which is why I love the Drybar membership Dave bought me). I found this article super helpful with a few technique tips for getting the perfect blowout at home.
• LOVE THIS! Wands for Wildlife: What do you do with your old mascara wands? Toss them? Did you know that you can donate used wands to Wands for Wildlife and they will be used to clean the fur of little wild animals to help them? It’s true! You wash the wand with soapy water and then send it in. Find out more on this website. And thanks to my friends at Beautycounter for telling me about this one.

A Lady Goes West Favorite archives

• Mom tips: I’m not a new mom anymore, so I felt like it was time to share some tips from the first 18 months of my momming journey … “Five essential things that truly helped me as a new momma.”
• Motivating others: Because sometimes your friends and family aren’t into it … “How to motivate others to work out.”

Have a wonderful day and weekend, my friends. Thanks for stopping by ALGW today! I truly appreciate you! Be good!

Questions of the day

What are you up to this weekend?

What’s the best thing that happened in your week?

Are you going to send in your used mascara wands to help the little furry animals?