Hi, my friends! How are you? Here we are finishing up week 13 of quarantine in the Bay Area, and things are looking up. We now have outdoor dining options, and we are expecting our gyms to open July 1. Yes! It’s been a long road, but I know that we are going to be finding a new (and hopefully better) normal, armed with all the lessons and appreciation we’ve gained during this hard time — on all accounts.

We had a good week over here, full of all of the usual … home workouts, working, playing with Brady and trying to soak up all the family time. Even though we don’t leave the house much, the days fly by, and that’s a good thing.

This weekend, we’re going to take advantage of outdoor dining at a restaurant, and that seems like a major luxury. Ohhh the little things.

Now, let’s get to the faves … 

Current faves

Food

Introducing Daily Harvest’s new Scoops frozen treats

*I’m an ambassador for Daily Harvest, and I receive my complimentary shipments in exchange for sharing with you. Thank you for using my affiliate code in support!

Healthy ice cream that’s actually delicious? Not an easy feat! But I’m always down to try as many brands as I need to, because I love dessert.

Truth be told: I’ve actually enjoyed everything I’ve tried from Daily Harvest, so I had no doubt that I’d feel any different when I received the brand’s new Daily Harvest Scoops frozen treats “ice cream.”

Here’s a little more about Scoops: It’s like ice cream, but it’s much healthier. It’s all dairy free, gluten free and free of artificial sugars and fillers. It’s basically made from fruits and veggies, and each pint also has a little extra nutritional goodness in it, in the form of adaptogens, probiotics or superfoods (but don’t worry, you can’t taste those additions).

By the way, these are not low-calorie, they are dense and so much more satisfying than a low-calorie treat.

The four flavors include:

• Vanilla + Salted, Swirled Black Sesame 
• Strawberry + Rich, Rippled Berry Compote
• Mint + Dark, Melty Cacao Chips
• Chocolate + Ooey, Gooey Midnight Fudge

I loved them all, but the Chocolate + Ooey, Gooey Midnight Fudge is my favorite. It’s made with avocado, and it’s so incredibly creamy, I didn’t want it to end.

Usually, treats that include nothing but healthy ingredients don’t taste like a “treat.” But I can assure you that these do. I’m pretty pumped to have discovered them and will be enjoying them all summer long. Summer = ice cream.

A little more about Daily Harvest: It’s an online-only delivery service. And they do it right. The food is super high quality, the ingredients are clean, and you know you’re eating really good stuff. When you order from Daily Harvest, you can select from a range of healthy frozen foods (like flatbreads, smoothies, bowls, oats and more), and they are delivered right to your doorstep, shipped in dry ice. Then, you pop them all in your freezer until you’re ready to eat. The prep is super minimal once you pull them out of the fridge. For the Scoops, all you do is let them sit out for about 10 minutes to soften.

Head to the Daily Harvest site to check out Scoops.

And use the code ALADYGOESWEST to get $25 off your first order of anything from Daily Harvest’s selection of delicious and healthy frozen foods.

By the way, you can read my original review of Daily Harvest here.

All about oat milk

I love trying different alternative milks. Anyone else? And because I use these milks in my morning and afternoon tea lattes, I go through them quickly. (I like a lot of milk in my lattes.)

For quite some time, I’ve been all about Ripple pea protein plant-based milks. But, I thought it may be time to switch it up, and now I’ve moved on to oat milk — you don’t really taste the oats. It’s super creamy and feels almost decadent. Also, it froths up better than Ripple.

These are the two brands I’m enjoying currently … Planet Oat and Califia Farms. Both of these have pretty good ingredients, and they are super tasty. They are also dairy free, gluten free and soy free.

Skincare

Beautycounter Father’s Day deal

Do you have a dad in your life you want to gift some high-performing and nontoxic skincare to? (You totally should! Dave loves this line, and it’s all he uses.)

Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 21, so you still have a little bit of time to shop. May I recommend the Counterman shaving line?

Right now, if you buy anything from the Counterman line, you get a free extra Counterman charcoal body bar with your purchase. Shop Counterman here.

Workouts

A super-fun 90-minute outdoor bootcamp

As a group fitness instructor who used to do nearly every workout with others, you can imagine I’ve been missing people during the last 13 weeks of quarantine.

Well, last weekend, I finally worked out with others. A local training studio, Everfit Motion, hosted an outdoor bootcamp, so I invited a friend with me, and it took place on a sunny weekend morning.

The workout was 90 minutes long, and we were outside keeping our social distance in the grass. We did a lot of cardio circuits, running and a little bit of resistance training. (Everyone brought their own weights to use, so we also incorporated small weights into the work.)

Even though it was hard, I think I smiled nearly the entire time, because I enjoyed the energy of being around other people so much. I hope to attend more of these in the future. And I also hope to get back to teaching my own live in-person classes one day soon too.

Weekly workout recap 

Here are my workouts from last week …

• Monday: 30-minute Les Mills GRIT Strength via Les Mills On Demand, 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday: 30-minute cycle, 11 a.m., 20-minute upper-body, 6 p.m.
• Wednesday: 30-minute BODYPUMP, 30-minute CXWORX, 5 p.m.
• Thursday: 30-minute cycle, 5 p.m.
• Friday: 30-minute full-body weights, 20-minute cycle, 10 a.m.
• Saturday: 90-minute outdoor bootcamp, 8 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day (20 minutes of super-light yoga stretching)

This week was a great week of workouts! I’m so excited that I actually got to work out with people at the outdoor bootcamp. It was much needed! Otherwise, I picked up weights more than three times, did three cycling sessions, a core session and took a rest day. Pretty complete.

Speaking of workouts, if you use the Peloton app for cycling, I highly recommend Tunde Oyeneyin’s 30-minute Speak Up Ride. It was incredibly intense, in the right way. During the ride, Tunde spoke about equality and shared quotes from some black members of the Peloton team. It was uncomfortable and moving all at the same time. 

Discounts 

A few A Lady Goes West recommended products …

• G2G protein bars. I love these tasty and clean protein bars. You can get 20 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, the RED powder and the GOLD powder. You can get 15 percent off your order on the Organifi site with the code ALADYGOESWEST.
• Daily Harvest frozen foods. I’ve loved every single thing I’ve tried from this healthy frozen food delivery service, including the smoothies, flatbreads, desserts and bowls. You can get $25 off your first order on the Daily Harvest site with the code ALADYGOESWEST.
• 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.
• Beautycounter. The best clean beauty, makeup and skincare. If you’re a brand new customer to Beautycounter, you can get 10 percent off your order by signing up with your email address here to get a special code. 
• Carbon38. The coolest activewear around. Get 15 percent off your first two orders of $100 or more using the code ASHLEYPITT. This is my newest affiliate code, and I’m SO excited about it.

Best reads

A few things from around the web …

• Fitness accounts. There are some super motivating and inspiring black trainers and fitness influencers on this list worth filling your feed with.
• Grocery list apps. I’m embarrassed to say that I re-write out a grocery list every single time we go shopping. It’s often so similar, and yet I redo it each time. However, it seems like there are all sorts of resources out there we could be using. Here’s a list of apps to make grocery shopping a breeze.

And here’s the quote of the week from the Calm app, which I use to do my daily morning meditations …

A Lady Goes West favorite archives …

• Workout scheduling. Because the variety of workouts you include in your routine matters … “How to schedule your week of workouts.”

• Breakfast inspiration. I need to make this again, because it’s so darn good … “Make this cacao baked oatmeal for a week’s worth of breakfasts.”

Thank you, my friends. I’ll see you on Instagram! Be well! Be kind!

Questions of the day

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

What are you up to this weekend?

What’s your favorite dessert?