Friday Favorites: Pants, food, shoes + links

Friday again! Here we are nearing the end of another week. Were you aware that there are only two more weeks in the month of October? Time is flying, and I’m super excited about next weekend, because I’m taking a little trip.

This week has been fairly low-key, outside of celebrating Dave’s birthday and going to an absolutely epic dinner last night at San Francisco’s House of Prime Rib. And this weekend, we’ve got very little on the agenda except for teaching my regularly scheduled group fitness classes and some dinners out. Does that get old to hear? I swear we do things other than eat. But I digress, it’s about time for my weekly chance to chatter on about basically nothing, in a post wrapped up with the title of “Friday Favorites.” 

My favorite new jazzy pants

My local Lululemon on Grant Avenue has been kind enough to invite me to events, and most recently, invited me to serve as a guest model. Not only did I get to play dress up in the latest Lululemon “to & from” line of lifestyle clothing, but I also got to keep the fabulous High Times Crop Tech leggings shown here, while I didn’t keep the Vita Racer Tank, I sure did love the way it looked. They used these photos in the local newsletter and on the local Facebook page, so A Lady Goes West got a nice shout-out.

Ashley in LululemonPhoto credit: Lexie Tiongson of Lululemon Grant Avenue. 

I wore these leggings out to a quasi-fancy dinner with Dave over the weekend, and they are incredibly comfortable and stylish. I can see these being a new staple in my wardrobe, especially because they are high-wasted enough to wear with shorter crop-style tops. Thanks, Lululemon. I don’t think my modeling career is going to take off, but I loved the chance to give my best squinty-eyed pose on the sidewalks of downtown San Francisco on a busy day.

My favorite new seasonal dish 

Butternut squash, my friends. I made some delicious snacks out of one butternut squash this week. How did I do it? I took the squash, I washed it up, I threw it in a glass baking pan, and I cooked it whole in the oven at 425 degrees for just over an hour. That was it. When it was done, I cut it into four quarters, without even peeling the skin. Just look at this beauty …

Butternut squashShown above: Two pictures of the squash and two pictures of the cooked squash with almond butter and hemp hearts.

The first meal included roasted butternut squash, topped with almond butter and hemp hearts. The second meal included mashed up roasted butternut squash, mixed with cottage cheese and cinnamon. Unfortunately, Dave was around for the second meal, and told me once again, it looked like gross baby food (as he does for some of my healthy concoctions like this zucchini “zoats” oatmeal), so I chose not to capture that photo. But believe me, it was tasty. If you haven’t jumped on the butternut squash bandwagon this season, go for it. So easy and so orange.

My favorite new shoes for him and her

We’re all about casual over here in the big city. This week, I picked up one of Dave’s birthday presents at my all-time-favorite-shoe-store-ever and just couldn’t help grabbing something for myself as well. If you’ve been reading my “Friday Favorites” for a while, you know that I’m nearly shoe loyal when it comes to DSW. I’m a Premier Rewards member, and I have a huge four-story DSW just blocks away from where I live. I’ve been wanting some Keds, so I couldn’t pass up these Keds Crash Back Slip-on Sneakers, and I’ve been wanting to get Dave some Vans, so I selected these Vans Bishop Sneakers

Shoes from DSWShown from top left: My Keds, Dave’s Vans, the shoeboxes and a free tote that came with my purchase.

Because we do a lot of walking and exploring, these sneaks should be perfect for us both. Now the closet space required to store them, that’s another issue. Oh well.

My favorite funny link

I wrote another post for The Class-ifieds blog this week, and it was a funny one. Not only did I enjoy the research that went into this, but I enjoyed writing it. Check out “This is What Happens When you Take Your Guy to Yoga for the First Time.” I wonder if any of you can relate?

Ashley and Dave at YogaThat’s what we call a Sunday-morning sweat session. Namaste!

Thanks for being a good sport, Dave. Yoga loves you (and me too)!

My favorite A Lady Goes West posts

So in case you only stop by on Fridays, I want to make sure you didn’t miss a few of my favorite posts from the week.

That’s it, friends! Go off and enjoy your day. 

More Friday Favorites 

If you’d like to see a few more “Friday Favorites,” see below or visit the the link-up hostess, Heather

  1. A snack, a purse and a ritual
  2. A delivery, a bra and a guy
  3. A sweet, a wine and a read
  4. A drink, a gadget and a plan 
  5. A time, a bottle and a powder
  6. San Francisco edition
  7. Beauty edition
  8. Beach vacation edition
  9. Hidden meanings
  10. Kicks, a book and a bowl
  11. The very best sweatshirts
  12. Party hosting and froyo
  13. Fourth of July daytime activity
  14. Beauty basics edition
  15. Workplace edition
  16. Shopping, sales and a show
  17. The foods I always buy
  18. Sushi, a game and pants
  19. Fitness apps
  20. Delicious and healthy products
  21. Comfort, fitness and function
  22. Beauty, buddha and blog events
  23. Dining, the city and gift ideas
  24. POPSUGAR, sweets and such
  25. A bunch of fun stuff
  26. e-book, food, picnic and tunes
  27. A link, a superfood and a mask

Questions of the day

What’s the best gift you’ve given or received lately? Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

Ashley signature

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50 Comments

    1. Hi Erin! I know! We did the photoshoot on a busy sidewalk, so people were looking at me like I was super cool. Little did they know … 🙂 haahah Have a great weekend!

  1. ohh best gift lately??? That’s tough! I’ve been treating myself lately, so I’d say a new gym bag from Lulu Lemon. My old one was just looking so bad and Lulu finally came back with their old school gym bag design and it holds everything I need an more!!!

    No big plans this weekend minus a baby shower tomorrow, hoping for cupcakes to mix in with the baby talk 😉

    Have a great weekend!

    1. Hi Fiona! So glad you’ve been treating yourself! And baby showers are usually full of good food. Hope it’s fun. Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend, lady!

  2. Love those leggings. I’m so sad they don’t have them in stock in my size.

    I’m also loving the look of that butternut squash recipe. I love the flavor, but I seriously can’t cut one of those things to save my life. If you just cook it whole are the seeds then edible or do you scoop them out after? I’m going to have to try that!

    1. Hi Nicole, Cook it whole, then when you go to cut it, it’s super easy. Scoop out the seeds and serve. There aren’t as many seeds in a butternut as in a spaghetti squash. I found it quite easy, and just ate around them actually.

  3. Man, now I have to stop by the Union Square store. I’m not as close to it, but it’s so much bigger than the other ones.

    I’d love to convince the boyfriend into yoga, but I’m pretty sure he’d need a few blocks to get into most of the positions. I’m still slowly trying to get him to say yes though.

    Have a great weekend!

    1. Hi Kay! Thanks for stopping by. And yes, the Union Square DSW is worth the trip. Hope you can get your man into yoga with you soon. Blocks and all!

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