Holiday fun and my weekly workouts

Hi, friends! I hope your weekend was great. Don’t I always start my first-of-the-week posts that way? Yes, I think I do. Sadly, my Mom heads back to Florida today after an awesome 12-day visit. We’re not happy to see her go, but we’re so appreciative of the fact that she made the cross-country trip to hang out with us and help with so many things for the second time in less than two months. She’s the best! Anywho, I’m popping in today for a few weekend highlights and my weekly workouts from 10 weeks postpartum. Here we go …

Another festive holiday weekend

On Friday evening, my Mom and I hit up three grocery stores (pretty glamorous, right?) in order to fill the fridge and pantry with all the things we need — Trader Joe’s, Safeway and Whole Foods, in case you were wondering. Then, we had sushi and wine at home with Dave, while I wrapped some Christmas presents (because yes, I finally did some of my shopping). Quite honestly, sushi, wine and TV time is my ideal Friday night these days, because I love to be at home with this group …

(Jacket and pants are brand new purchases from Fabletics, and I love them.)

Downtown Walnut Creek adventure on foot

On Saturday, Dave and Brady and I walked to downtown Walnut Creek for lunch and some shopping, while my Mom stayed back home with Rudy to rest and hang out. I’ve been walking to downtown with the stroller at least once a week lately (it’s just over a mile), and it has been so darn pleasant out to do so on the Iron Horse Trail, which takes us all the way from our house to downtown.

We had lunch at Lemonade, which used to be a favorite restaurant of mine, but unfortunately, it’s not any longer. There’s a weird smell when you enter the Walnut Creek location, and we’ve noticed it twice now. In addition, they stopped offering my favorite menu item (the glazed hot Brussels sprouts), and then there was a hair in my lunch on Saturday. So other than that … 🙂 

To finish up, we grabbed some holiday drinks from Peet’s for the walk home and had the Rockin’ Holiday Pandora station playing on our Jambox …

Oh, and I got 13,000 steps during our on-foot adventure that day, so I was feeling pretty good about my movement now that I’m wearing a Fitbit every day (this one!). Speaking of steps, did you see my post from last week about how to make fitness simple and what I learned from interviewing Harley Pasternak? I totally beat out his suggestion of 12,000 steps!

Holiday party with friends

On Saturday night, Dave and I went off to a friends’ holiday party in Lafayette for a couple of hours. Nothing too crazy, but it was good to get out and be festive and eat some Christmas treats. We didn’t get cell phone reception at the party, so we didn’t want to stay too long in case Brady needed anything, but we came home to find my Mom sitting on the couch with a very happy baby, not missing us at all. Still, this momma needed to put on some lipstick and drink this …

The Second City Show in Berkeley

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was seeing the touring The Second City improv comedy show that my Mom and I went to on Sunday. Dave had purchased the tickets for me a few weeks ago, and it just so happens that my Mom was visiting during this time and could be my guest. The “Dysfunctional Holiday Revue” show took place at the Berkeley Rep Theatre in downtown Berkeley, and I’d never been there before so was excited to check it out. We got a free hot spiked cider with our tickets too. Woohoo!

(Wearing my new favorite cable-knit sweater I got last week.)

By the way, I’m totally a fan of improv comedy, and Dave and I saw The Second City in Chicago back in March (when I was super newly pregnant and nobody knew), and it was hilarious. It’s a mixture of sketch and improv live comedy, with music and tons of laughs — and it’s where a lot of “Saturday Night Live” actors start out. My Mom and I had great seats, and we laughed the whole show. There were so many super realistic family-holiday-drama jokes that we couldn’t get enough of. Nice work, actors! Seriously, those improv folks are so talented.

On Sunday evening, we gave Brady a bath, did some face-masks (well, my Mom and I did the masks), then had grass-fed burgers wrapped in tortillas (don’t knock it until you try it) around the table and chilled, soaking up our last night with my Momma. Overall, it was a great weekend, with just enough activity and down-time — just what I needed after a very busy week! 

My postpartum weekly workout recap

Here’s a look at my latest workouts …

At 10 weeks postpartum …

• Monday: 20-minute bodyweight bootcamp taught by Harley Pasternak, 2 p.m.
• Tuesday: 20-minute walk, 30-minute yoga flow at home, 6 p.m.
• Wednesday: Took 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 9:30 a.m., 30-minute walk, 11 a.m.
• Thursday: 30-minute walk, 30 minutes of barre at home, 11 a.m.
• Friday: Took 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 12 p.m., 30-minute walk, 3 p.m.
• Saturday: Rest day (although I walked for an hour to downtown and back, leisurely)
• Sunday: 25-minute walk, 10 a.m.

Overview of the week of workouts

Well, it’s pretty clear that the big event in fitness for me this past week was that I returned to BODYPUMP. I was actually a little nervous to see how I would hold up for the whole hour class and the more than 1,000 repetitions, because I haven’t done a workout with such intensity since getting back into exercising four weeks ago.

(Rocking brand new sneaks!)

I’m happy to say that I had no problem getting through the class or the repetitions, but I did struggle with my weights on the bar. I used MUCH less weight than I was using even during pregnancy, and form-wise, I couldn’t get as low as I wanted to for squats due to some hip mobility. But overall, the loud music, energy in the group fitness room and the challenge felt amazing to me. I’d love to start going back a lot more, but right now, I won’t be making it to a ton of classes.

Oh, and I was happy to pick up weights two times this week, fit in some yoga and also do a lot of walking. Good stuff!

That’ll do it, folks! I hope you have a fabulous start to your week. As always, thanks for coming by the blog today. You’re the best! And don’t forget that! 🙂 

Holiday fun and postpartum workouts on A Lady Goes West ... Click To Tweet

Questions of the day

Did you do anything festive over the weekend?

Are you traveling for the holidays this year? If so, where are you going? (We’re staying put!)

How many grocery stores do you go to each week?