Latest faves: Florida trip, vitamins, food and weekly workouts

Hi, friends! And I’m back! I got home to the Bay Area on Tuesday evening after another VERY long day of travel solo with Brady.

Sadly, I didn’t make it back in time to be part of the Warriors NBA Championship parade and celebration through Oakland this year with Dave and the crew. I’ve been very lucky to walk in the parade two times before (2015 and 2017), and although I really wanted to go this year — I couldn’t find a babysitter for Brady (the parade is not really the scene for a little one, as it’s a long event, and we didn’t have much notice as to when it was taking place to plan ahead), and so I decided to keep my trip as scheduled, rather than move my flight up to be home for the party.

If I couldn’t be with all of our friends celebrating in one of the biggest events in the East Bay ever, I may as well be flying alone in an airplane across country with a very wiggly baby all day, right? It was a rough day of travel, complete with having to run in the Atlanta airport to make our connecting flight, holding Brady, a Boppy pillow, a backpack and a stroller in a bag (you heard that right — not even enough time to open up the stroller and put him in it) as I moved swiftly to our gate; two completely booked flights with no elbow room and both of us smushed in the window seat; and to top it off — only to arrive to Oakland and be the last person waiting at baggage claim to find out they lost my suitcase. That suitcase had everything I needed for Brady’s night-time routine when we arrived home, as well as my laptop charger and many other important things, so our first night back in our house was less than solid. The good news is that the suitcase was eventually delivered in the afternoon the next day, and I had calmed down by then too. 🙂 Anywho … let’s get to the faves, because we’ve got some catching up to do!

Travel

Florida trip fun

I was in Florida with my parents for six nights, and it’s never quite long enough. Perhaps my favorite part was seeing Brady play with my parents and meet so many people, who were all dying to squeeze his soft little bits. He spent time with my dad, met my mom’s coworkers, a couple of my mom’s friends (who have known me since I was just a little one too), and some of my dear friends too.

We took him all around town and even to put his feet in the water for the first time at Boca Grande Beach, and Brady was SUCH a good sport during the trip. He slept pretty well each night and mostly stayed on West Coast time too. He also tried avocado and apple sauce for the first time, and he liked them both. 

Our days were pretty leisure, with some short walks in the sunshine, a mani and a pedi and lots of good food — with alllll sorts of large delicious desserts each night, like my favorite carrot cake from Publix. I had a great time at home and have such a hard time saying goodbye, every single visit. Dave and Brady and I will be heading back for the holidays, so at least I already have my next visit on the agenda.

Health

Care/of personalized vitamins and new stick packs

Would you believe that not all vitamins are created equal? They aren’t, and I didn’t know that for a long time and used to be the queen of gummy vitamins. Well, I was excited to learn about the company Care/of, because they create high-quality vitamins and curate a personalized pack for you to take once a day based on your needs. You take a little quiz about your health and age and activity levels, etc., and they put together the pack with suggested vitamins. Then, you take one pack a day. (As a note though, you should be getting most of your nutrients from real whole foods, but supplementation is needed for some things.)

I’m into my second month supply of Care/of daily packs, and I love taking them. I had previously been taking a plant-based prenatal vitamin, but knew I needed to supplement magnesium and fish oil, based on being an active new mom, but wasn’t doing it. So I’m glad that my quiz confirmed both of those were in line with my needs. My daily packs includes prenatal (supports postpartum period), magnesium (maintains healthy bones and way more), fish oil (maintains a healthy heart), probiotics (supports gastrointestinal function) and B12 (supports energy) for a full line-up of good stuff and a total of eight pills.

Also, the daily vitamin packs have funny quotes or facts on them, which is entertaining. In order to remember to take the pack each day, I pair it with rolling out my feet with a lacrosse ball, so I never forget to do both. (Fun fact: All you have to do to massage/roll your feet is put a golf ball or a lacrosse ball on the floor and put your bare foot across it a few times and apply pressure. It’s magic.)

Care/of also just launched a new product, called Quick Sticks, which are packets of nutrients that you pour directly into your mouth to target specific health concerns. I was totally skeptical at first, but decided to try the Pocket Protector probiotics for immunity after I got home from my trip, and it tasted like berries … so good. I also have a pack of the Extra Batteries sticks, which contain caffeine and B12 to provide energy and alertness, which I will be digging into soon. Quick Sticks also come in Gut Check, Dream Team and Chill Factor, which all do exactly as they describe.

I can see the Quick Sticks as being great for travel or busy times, when you need a little boost. And of course, the vitamin daily packs are travel-friendly too, and I had them with me in Florida. 

While this is mention is not sponsored, I did received two free months of Care/of. If you want to try out Care/of products, use the code ALADYGOESWEST for 25 percent off your first order. You’ll feel pretty cool getting vitamin packs with your name on it, because I sure do. 

Food

Lunches at First Watch

I look forward to visiting First Watch whenever I’m in Florida, and my mom and I went two times. First Watch has a big menu, with a ton of options for breakfast, brunch and lunch only. It’s not fancy. It’s not expensive. It’s not organic. It’s just good solid food.

I had the kale salad and a fresh fruit tonic, and both were nice and flavorful, although the bread stick wasn’t as toasted as I would have liked …

And I had the avocado toast, which is so darn tasty, although could stand to be a bit bigger and perhaps used to be bigger but has dwindled in size over the years — good thing my mom let me eat off her plate too … 

I’m back to my usual lunches at home this week, and they haven’t been quite as pretty.

Fitness

Weekly workout recap at 35 weeks postpartum 

Now on to fitness. Here’s a look at my workouts from last week …

• Monday: 30-minute full-body weights workout at gym, 11:30 a.m.
• Tuesday: 20-minute full-body weights workout at gym, 4 p.m.
• Wednesday: Rest day
• Thursday: 30-minute yoga flow, 11 a.m.
• Friday: 30 minutes of CXWORX at home, 12 p.m.
• Saturday: 30 minutes of barre at home, 12 p.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This was the lightest week of workouts that I’ve had in a very long time. Although I technically only took two days off, the other days were all very light, with nothing more than 30 minutes and no intense work at all and not a single in-person class.

I did a little bit of weights at the gym the first two days of the week before I left for my Florida trip, and once I was in Florida — no gym access, no problem. I just wasn’t super motivated for too much exercise on my trip, and that’s totally okay. I am excited I did a yoga session from POPSUGAR that I have done many times before, because it had been far too long since I had spent that much time flowing — it felt great on the bod. Now that I’m back home, I’m already back into my routine, teaching and taking classes.

Suggested reading

Best links from around the Web

• Social media: Social media boundaries. Do you need them? I’m starting to think that I do. While I don’t have much time for scrolling Facebook and Instagram, I still seem to do it too often — mindlessly, and I don’t like it. I love how this gal cut back on social.
• Barre: Barre and ballet is so beautiful. I love this simple tutorial on some basic barre moves.
• Food storage: I must admit, I’m guilty of storing milk in the fridge door. Here are some useful food storage rules to help your grocery haul last longer.

Favorite A Lady Goes West archives

• Yes, you can buy healthy snacks straight from the store … “Top 10 simple and clean healthy store-bought snacks.”
• Fitness doesn’t have to be all that difficult … “Five things you should know about fitness.”
• This was a fun one to write this week … “How to show appreciation to your favorite group fitness instructors.”

That’ll do it! I’m off to a CPR/AED class this morning, which I need before I take my NASM personal trainer exam next week. This weekend, I’m teaching barre, getting a much-needed massage and celebrating Father’s Day on Sunday. Happy Father’s Day to any fellows out there reading this (because I bet there are a few of you) including Dave, my dad and Dave’s dad too! Take care, peeps!

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Questions of the day

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