Long February weekend and my weekly workouts

Hey, hey, people! How are you? We’re still over here enjoying the weekend, because today is President’s Day, and Dave is off. Woohoo!

I didn’t want to miss a chance to pop in and say hello, show you some pictures and chatter off about mindless things from the weekend, because that’s what I do on Mondays. And in case you’re new around here, I promise I write blog posts with more substance on Wednesdays and sometimes Fridays too! So let’s do the highlights of the past couple of days …

Friday afternoon BODYPUMP class

Yessss, that’s right. I got to go to an in-person class on Friday, because Dave was home from work. My friend, Whitney, whom I met while attending a Les Mills Advanced Instructor Module 2 a few years ago, was the teacher of the day, and she’s a great instructor — and she did some super-old tracks from past BODYPUMP releases, which is always fun for me as a long-time instructor!

Ashley and Whitney during my return to Les Mills BODYPUMP by A Lady Goes West

I totally miss teaching BODYPUMP and hope the stars (and child-care) will align so I can get back to it one day soon. Until then, I’ll be doing it in my living room and pretending there are 50 people in front of me with really loud music blaring through the overhead speakers.

Return to Les Mills BODYPUMP by A Lady Goes West

The rest of Friday was pretty standard, with a walk to Starbucks with the fam (wearing Brady in my K’tan, of course), a Target trip and sushi at home for dinner. What can I say, we’re creatures of habit.

Ashley and Brady at Starbucks by A Lady Goes West

Saturday barre class and an evening get-together

Saturday started as it usually does, and I went to teach my weekly Bootybarre class in Moraga in the mid-morning after hanging out with the fam at home. 

Ashley after Bootybarre by A Lady Goes West

After that, Dave, Brady, Rudy and I stayed around the home-front doing a few house things — like putting together an entryway table and laying out our brand new family room rug, which Rudy immediately got a stain on from one of his dog treats and Brady spit up on in less than 24 hours — good times. It was bound to happen, and we chose a patterned rug exactly for this reason.

Then, that evening, our friends, Phil and Kicki, came over for some wine and chatting for a few hours, which was laid-back and quite fun. We love them!

Red wine outside by A Lady Goes West

Ashley with red wine outside by A Lady Goes West

After they left, we got some take-out Thai food, watched the Olympics and prayed for a good night sleep from Mr. Brady, which didn’t quite come true. Ohhhh parenthood! 

Sunday family day and rest day

It was chilly outside when we woke up on Sunday — and I love that! Dave and I had all sorts of intentions of doing a million things, including separate gym trips to work out, but we actually ended up chilling at home until around 2 p.m. and skipping the gym the entirely. So a rest day it was!

In the afternoon, we went to Urban Plates for lunch, picked up some lattes at Peet’s, went to the hardware store and a paint store to look at wallpaper samples (yes, we’re doing wallpaper in a couple of rooms, and I’m super excited about it!), then we finished up with a loop around HomeGoods for trinkets. It was a success! I mean, I love HomeGoods.

Urban Plates lunch by A Lady Goes West

Ashley during an Urban Plates lunch by A Lady Goes West

Perhaps the most exciting part of Sunday is that we made a pizza in our pizza oven outside that evening, which is the first time we’ve used it. Pretty random and cool that we have a pizza oven behind our house — no, it was not on our new-home wish list — but it’s a welcome addition and makes one heck of a pizza. I’ll show some pics of it soon! Suffice to say, it was a delicious night. We paired the pizza with a bagged salad, red wine and some chocolate ice cream for dessert.

And that concludes the weekend report! 

My postpartum weekly workouts

As we do on Mondays, let’s look at how I’ve been exercising this past week …

Weekly Workout Recap by A Lady Goes West

At 19 weeks postpartum …

  • Monday: 30 minutes of full-body weights at home, 30-minute walk, 12 p.m.
  • Tuesday: 30 minutes of barre at home, 30-minute walk, 12 p.m.
  • Wednesday: 30 minutes of CXWORX at home, 30-minute walk, 12 p.m.
  • Thursday: 1 hour and 20 minute walk, 10 a.m.
  • Friday: Took a 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 12 p.m.
  • Saturday: Taught a 1-hour barre class, 11 a.m.
  • Sunday: Rest day

Another good week of workouts is complete. I did a solo workout at home on Monday and took it outside with my weights, and I even got creative and used our back porch ledge for step-ups — all with Brady watching me from the shade in his infant seat. Good times! And as I already mentioned, I made it to a BODYPUMP class on Friday when Dave was home, and clearly that was the highlight of my fitness week. Overall — plenty of balance in my week with some tough workouts, light workouts, stretching, a lot of walking and a full rest day. Don’t forget your rest day, friends, and here’s why and how to make yourself take one.

That’s all I’ve got for you, peeps! Have a wonderful day! 🙂

P.S. Are you on Instagram? Don’t miss this giveaway I posted, which closes today!

Questions of the day

Are you off of work today?

How was your weekend?

What’s something you miss doing that you used to do regularly?

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20 Comments

    1. Thank you, Heather! The workouts are shorter than they used to be, but I’m getting them done — that’s just how we have to do it! Hope you have a great Monday and start to your week, lady! 🙂

  1. I love your posts and always get excited when they show in my inbox! I would love a WIAW and/or pics of food, like you homemade pizza. Just a thought ? Have a great week and praying for sleep!

    1. Thanks, Laura! I will DEFINITELY be doing a WIAW soon, because you’re not the only one who wants to see those return! 🙂 Happy Monday, my friend and THANK YOU for reading! 🙂

  2. Hi Ashley,
    Glad you are enjoying you extra weekend day. You are lucky because us retired people when there is a holiday like today it is just another day to us. All of our days are holidays.lol
    The last two weekends we have been planting plugs in our yard. A total of 162. I dig the holes and wife plants the plugs. Not sure who has the hardest job. Going to be awful disappointed if the plugs don’t do the job this summer.
    We are having summer here. Temperatures in the 80s again this week. Spring training games start next week. Watch it cool off in the 60s for the games.
    Love to see Brady. His eyes are always looking for something. He must be very curious.
    Have a great week after your long weekend.

    1. Hi Richard! It sounds pretty nice to have every day be a holiday when retired hehehe! 🙂 I hope your plugs work too, and I love that you and wife work together to get the yard stuff done! Happy Monday!

  3. You have a pizza oven outside!!! We have always talked about how we wish we had one because oven pizza just does not compare.

    And I love the idea of wallpaper, there are so many beautiful patterns now. Can’t wait to see pictures of the house 🙂

  4. Ashley — I have just loved following along with your blog! (I found it a couple years ago but I’m pretty certain this may be the first time I’ve commented.) Totally get all the home improvement stuff. We moved into our first house at the beginning of November and between the holidays and having a small child (we have a 16 month old) we are still spending lots of weekends at the hardware store/paint store. It is a fun (and tiring) season of life mixing new babies and new home ownership! Brady is a real doll.

    I’ve also appreciated your encouraging words about finding enjoyment in working out at home and for shorter sessions. That has been the hardest part about new motherhood for me (16 months in and is still feels “new”) finding time to fit in workouts that keep me sane. I recently got a Peloton and that’s been working out well, but finding that mojo when you prefer working out with a community is tough!
    Also, totally random — I still remember the sleep struggles we had with our little one and how hard those days/nights were. Solidarity, sister! We ended up hiring a gentle sleep coach 8 months in because that was kind of my personal breaking point and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I live in Sacramento but I have a good girlfriend who lives in Walnut Creek (who actually encouraged me to hire one) and she also had a great experience with a sleep coach and if you ever are interested in hiring someone to help with baby sleep I’d gladly pass the name of the coach along since she is local. [I feel like I need to add a disclaimer because this is the internet: I mean that totally judgment free. We all do the best thing for our families! Just planting a seed in case it was something you are thinking about. I’d be happy to share my experience.]

    1. Hi Holly! Well helllllo! I love this comment! Thank you for reading and for saying hi! And you are SO right about this being a tiring season of life for us with the new baby and the new house too! It’s all good stuff though, and I try to catch myself when I complain and remember that both things are blessings for sure! As far as a sleep coach, I just finished reading a book about gentle sleep training that we may try to institute soon, but if it doesn’t work, I’ll want to hire a coach in a few weeks or months — so maybe I’ll reach out to you then for the rec. No judgment taken ahahah! Have a GREAT Monday, lady! Keep up the good work with your workouts, and enjoy that Peloton! 🙂

  5. Homemade pizza is THE BEST! My husband and I make it at least once every 2-3 weeks. That + ice cream is my perfect meal <3 Happy Monday to you!

    1. Hi Kaitlyn! Yessss! We love a good home-made pie, although it’s quite a bit more work than store-bought ahahha! Pizza and ice cream ARE a great combo! Hope you had a nice weekend, lady! 🙂

    1. Hi Whitney! I usually get a salmon/avocado roll with white or brown rice, then I also have miso soup — a lot of miso soup! 🙂 If I’m at a restaurant, I usually get a roll with salmon or tuna and I always like to get a ginger salad and some sashimi pieces of just fish too.

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