Greetings, lovely people! How are you? Happy Friday to you! I hope you’ve been having a great last week of January 2020. Let’s do a quick catch-up, then we’ll get into the weekly favorites round-up.

This week, I subbed an extra BODYPUMP and taught my first POP Pilates class too. I promise to do a class review of POP Pilates soon, but I want to be more familiar with the program before doing so. This weekend, I’m getting my hair done and taking the weekend off of exercise, because I’m in need of some rest days.

Now here are the current faves, and we’re keeping it super light today …

Current faves

Food

Trader Joe’s just beet chips

I picked these up at Trader Joe’s recently thinking that I’d try to give them to Brady, because he loves crunchy things. However, I took one bite and knew I’d be keeping them all to myself. I finished the bag quickly (there’s not a ton in there, to be honest) and got another bag and finished that too.

These have a delicious beet taste, the ONLY ingredient is beet (no fillers or preservatives), and they are reasonably priced too — thanks to that Trader Joe’s price-tag. I’ve been adding them as a little crunch to my lunch bowls with mixed veggies, guacamole and eggs. Such as I’ve got right here …

I recommend this snack, if you’re into beets and have a TJ’s near you.

Self-care

Back to red

Maybe it was because I was getting over the flu or because I was mourning the end of the holiday season, but when I got my nails done at the first of the year, I went with black with one silver sparkle nail on each side. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I ended up getting sick of it quite quickly. So when it was time to get my nails done again late last week, I went back to red, with a tid bit of a gold sparkle, and boy it feels better. 🙂 

(Find my shoes and my joggers.)

Now, I’m all for branching and trying new things. But with my nails, red just feels right. Anyone else have a staple color?

Fashion

The best animal print top

I can’t seem to get enough animal print these days. I bought this blouse when my mom was visiting and finally wore it this past weekend on a double date with some friends in downtown Walnut Creek. It’s super loose and a little see-through, so I wore a black tank under it, and paired it with my favorite leggings, which are finally back in stock.

I don’t get to dress up all that often, but I think this top will be repeated quite a bit when I do change out of workout clothes. It’s supposed to be oversized, and it felt really comfy, while also cute. I’m wearing the smallest size in it.

(Find my top, my leggings and my lipstick.)

And to show you that I’m all about animal print, here are two other recent purchases I made that I’m loving …

• Midi dress – I wore this to Dave’s holiday party and can’t wait to put it on again
• Turtleneck – I wore this to another holiday party and may even put it on this weekend

Cozy casual sherpa sweater

If you’ve seen me during the week, you’ll know that I have a rotation of about four jackets/sweaters I wear every single day over various workout outfits right now. Well, good news: I have a new cozy sweater to add to my collection, so I don’t have to repeat Monday through Friday with outerwear. 🙂 

(Mine is Warriors branded, but here’s a similar one without any logos.)

It’s sooooo cozy. In fact, when Dave brought it home for me, I put it on the couch, and Rudy immediately curled up onto it, like it was his bed. 

Fitness

Weekly workout recap

Here’s my latest week of workouts …

• Monday: 1-hour BODYPUMP, 10 a.m.
• Tuesday: Taught 45-minute BODYATTACK, 4:45 p.m.
• Wednesday: Taught 1-hour barre, 5 p.m.
• Thursday: Taught 1-hour barre, 12 p.m.
• Friday: Taught 1-hour BODYPUMP, 12 p.m.
• Saturday: Practiced POP Pilates for 1 hour, 10 a.m.
• Sunday: Taught 1-hour BODYPUMP, 8:30 a.m.

This past week was super full with workouts again, and that’s two weeks in a row, but I’ve been cramming practicing and teaching (I taught my usual four and subbed an extra). The good news is that I’m taking this entire weekend off of movement and won’t be exercising again until maybe Tuesday just so I get a full break.

Unfortunately, as much as I preach about rest days, I’ve had to use my gym kid-care time and weekend time to get the remainder of my prep in for classes. I think I’ll talk more about this in a future post, because it’s not ideal (and it’s not doing my body any favors) — but it’s the life of an instructor at times. Anywho, I’m not only in need of rest days, but also of solo weights sessions, so hopefully I fit both of those in soon. I will!

Best reads

A few things from around the web …

• Inspiration. This is an episode of Rachel Hollis’s “Rise Podcast” in which she interviewed an adventurer named Colin O’Brady. I had never heard of him before, but he’s been the first to do some extreme things like cross Antarctica alone and unassisted. But that’s besides the point, because this interview, although it has some info about his adventures, is mostly about going after things, appreciating those in your life, using Google to teach yourself, and the best part — how much his own mother shaped his life. This guy is so well spoken, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this while getting my nails done last week.
• Detox truth. I feel like I cringe a little when I hear people say they are going on a juice cleanse or a detox. Based on what I’ve read, the human body actually does a really good job of detoxing on its own. And oftentimes, the only benefits someone may feel from a cleanse or detox is the fact that they actually stopped over-eating or over-drinking or whatever they were doing before starting. Here’s a great article on why you don’t need to do a cleanse or a detox. 

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 …

• Life talk. This post from earlier this week is one I had been thinking about writing for a while, and I’m so happy that so many of you liked it … “Five things you should be doing in your 30s for your life and health.”

• Group fitness. Sometimes getting away from something is the best way to truly improve in it … “What I learned from taking time off from teaching group fitness.”

We’re all done here for now. I appreciate you!! Have a great day!! 🙂 xoxo

Questions of the day

How was your week?

What’s some NEW thing you’ve tried recently?

What are you up to this weekend?

Are you an outfit repeater too?