Current faves: Sweets, fun, beauty and weekly workouts

I hope you are gearing up for a long weekend, my friends. Monday is Labor Day in the U.S., so we are. Dave’s parents are going to be here for a few days, as well, and our guest room is finally ready for visitors. 

This past week was a good one, and it was busy. It was also eventful on the Brady front, because he turned 11 months and got a third tooth. OMG!

I subbed BODYPUMP (woohoo — it had been a while), taught barre, did some freelance work, worked out on my own, made it through a full day of having a contractor working on a wall in our bedroom (wrangling a baby and a needy dog all day indoors away from the action is harder than it sounds), went out to lunch with a new friend, recorded a podcast interview with Gina (it will be out next week, so stay tuned) and went on a walk with another new friend, whom I met in our neighborhood. A social week, right? Now, let’s do some faves — totally unrelated, but ready to be enjoyed …

Food

Visiting Sweetgreen in Berkeley

Sweetgreen is a healthy restaurant with delicious food, and I wish we had one closer to us in Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill (I first visited one when I went to Chicago a couple of years ago). I’ve been wanting to head to the Berkeley location for a while (25 minutes from us), and Dave and I finally did that this past weekend. I love to go to Berkeley, and when we were driving through the campus of Cal, which is located there, it was apparently the middle of Greek life rush activities, and potential sorority and fraternity gals and guys were in front of the houses socializing. Boy, it brought me back. (Fun fact: I was in Delta Phi Epsilon for two years at University of Miami, but did not rejoin that sorority when transferring to University of Florida. I loved Greek life though!)

Anywho, Dave and I both thoroughly enjoyed our lunches — I had the warm shroomami bowl, with rice, kale, beets, roasted tofu, portobellos and all sorts of good stuff. And I loved sitting outside and watching people walk down the streets — it’s nice to get out of our immediate neighborhood sometimes. 

After lunch, we went to Berkeley Bowl West, which is an awesome grocery store with tons of produce and fun healthy options I had heard great things about. I picked up a few delicious items, however, it was really crowded (it was a Sunday, to be expected), so we didn’t stay for too long and skipped some sections of the store too.

I’ll probably go back during the week to really take advantage. Some of the highlights from my haul included organic coconut-covered dates, supergreen carob energy chews and a date cake shown below. I would highly recommend all of these items.

Frozen mousse dessert

I’ve got to be honest, the term “mousse” doesn’t excite me for dessert, because I prefer something more flavorful or decadent. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with this new dairy-free frozen mousse from So Delicious. I tried three flavors, chocolate chip, PB and strawberry, and I liked them all. 

Now here’s the thing — it’s light and airy and the pints feel almost empty when you hold them. I could MOST definitely (and did) eat a whole one in a sitting. If you’re looking for a slightly less caloric dairy-free dessert, this is a great option. But I mean, I’ll never give up my full-fledged Ben & Jerry’s.

By the way, the So Delicious isn’t the cleanest frozen dessert in all the land (has some sugar alcohols, as most desserts do, although it is non-GMO), but that’s not really why you’d be hitting it up anyhow, right? (Thanks to the So Delicious team for sending me a few pints to sample. It’s brand new, so will hopefully be available for purchase in a grocery store near you soon.)

Poke bowls al fresco

I love a good poke bowl, and I feel like poke bowl places are popping up all over in our area. On Wednesday of this week, I met Kallie for lunch at a brand new spot, Poke Bar, in downtown Walnut Creek. The service was so-so, but I was very pleased with my bowl.

You can usually choose from a few bases to go under the actual poke, so I went with greens, brown rice, salmon, tofu, and all the fixings on top. I loveeeeee ginger, wasabi and seaweed salad the most as toppers.

It was delish, and the company was great. I love a mid-week lunch outing, which gives me the chance to change out of workout clothes. And yes, of course, I had Brady with me, and he was as chatty as ever in his stroller while we dined outdoors. He also threw his toys on the ground over and over and over, which is his new thing. 🙂 

Beauty and Fun

DryBar visit, fresh manicure and a dinner out with friends 

Last weekend, my dear friend Judy was supposed to be visiting us from Orlando, but her kids got sick and she had to reschedule her trip. I was pretty bummed, so Dave thought it would be a good idea for me to head out for a few fun things by myself. I opted for a blowout from Drybar and a fresh SNS manicure too. Here’s the finished product of the hair …

I spend most days with no make-up, a messy bun and leggings, so it feels good to get out and get some beautifying. Oh, and that night, because we had already had a sitter lined up, Dave and I went out to a super fun dinner with our fave friends, Phil and Kicki, in downtown Walnut Creek. We hit up Pacific Catch, which is brand new and apparently a chain. It was good. We had lots of fun!

And we had our sitter take our picture before we left …

(My kimono is from last year, so I couldn’t find the exact one online, but here’s a similar one. And here are my pants.)

Challenge

Are you participating in the push-up challenge?

We’re officially five days into the 16-day push-up challenge taking place in the A Lady Goes West Friends Facebook group. And if you haven’t started yet, you can still jump in and finish with us. Basically, we’re doing 16 push-ups a day, working on our upper-body and core strength. The push-ups progress from half-range to full-range to on the toes. 

Quite honestly, push-ups have been a major weakness for me since coming back from pregnancy. I work on them all the time and am not seeing much progress to be able to do a lot on my toes, so I hope this challenge helps. 

Fitness

Weekly workout recap

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

• Monday: 1-hour legs and abs PWR weights workout, 11 a.m.
• Tuesday: 1-hour back and shoulders PWR weights workout, 8:30 a.m.
• Wednesday: Super light 25-minute bodyweight and weights workout, 11 a.m.
• Thursday: 1-hour walk, 8:30 a.m., taught 1-hour Bootybarre class, 12 p.m., 45-minute SoulCycle class, 6:30 p.m.
• Friday: 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 12 p.m.
• Saturday: Taught 1-hour Bootybarre class, 11 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This past week was quite similar to the one before, and I’m so happy to say that there were three full resistance sessions. It feels good to lift weights on a regular basis, and it also feels good to follow someone else’s plan with the PWR workouts from the Sweat app that I’ve been doing twice a week. (I have a free month of the app and will likely cancel before I have to pay. But who knows.) This past week, I also went on a walk with girlfriends and took a full rest day and had a really light day, so it was a good week.

Suggested reading

Best links from around the web

• Food. This is an interesting look at why eating farmed salmon isn’t all that bad. Good to know.
• Glutes. Have you ever heard the term “glute activation”? If not, you should look out for it! So many of us are not properly using those big butt muscles, because they are turned off from sitting all day. Here’s a good one on how to fire up your glutes before exercise.
• Push-up tips. With push-ups on the mind, this is a short and sweet article explaining things to avoid and things to do to improve your push-up form.
• Healthy recipe. I like breakfast foods all the time, so these veggie waffles sound right up my alley. Who’s making them this weekend?

A Lady Goes West Favorite archives

• Groceries. Have you considered these … “Seven easy and healthy grocery store swaps.”
• Morning routines. Because a good routine sets the tone for the day … “This is my actual must-do morning routine to start the day.”

Shopping

There are a ton of Labor Day sales going on. A few items that I love and that are currently on sale …

• This striped dress I wore to wine country a few weeks ago.
• Classic casual athleisure top, in my shopping cart.
• My favorite brand of jeans.
• This jacket in preparation for cooler weather ahead.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! Hope you get to kick back and smile like this little guy …

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Questions of the day

What are you up to this weekend?

Are you participating in the push-up challenge?

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Where did you (or do you) go to college?