Three things that are totally making me happy right now

Hi, friends! Sending all sorts of Happy Friday thoughts your way. And if you’re about to launch into a long weekend for Labor Day in the U.S., then here are three cheers for you!

I hope you’ve been having a great week up until now. We saw the temperatures increase back into the 100s here for a few days, which was not fun. And my hand nearly fell off from writing thank-you notes to all of the sweet and generous people who have sent baby gifts to Dave and me (terrible problem to have, right?). Another couple of highlights were when I met a friend for a sweaty and fairly aerobic walk around the Lafayette Reservoir (Rudy got to come along) and a mid-week dinner date with Dave to True Food Kitchen (I picked the restaurant, obviously). Overall, a good week. And just look at Rudy’s little teeth in this pic …

(Here’s a similar tank, my sunglasses and a similar hat.)

Before we get started with today’s favorites, if you’ve been meaning to donate to help the flood and disaster relief efforts in Texas, here’s the Hurricane Harvey Relief website, full of ways you can provide support. And off we go …

#1 Fit and Fertile on the POPSUGAR Fitness site

I was so excited a few weeks ago, when the POPSUGAR Fitness team reached out to me and asked if I would write an original piece sharing my story about healing my body and what I learned about the relationship between fitness and fertility, (all of which you can read about in detail in my ebook “Fit and Fertile“) for their site.

I loved being able to get this piece out there to a wider audience, so that more and more people and women can know about this important topic in the fitness industry! 

In case you missed it, here’s the story: “Can You Be Too Fit to Be Fertile? One Fitness Instructor’s Story of Healing and Discovery.” Thanks, POPSUGAR!

#2 Delicious Ben & Jerry’s One Love Ice Cream

Oh look she’s talking about ice cream again … eye roll. Yes, I’m a creature of habit and have taken on an insatiable craving for ice cream since getting through my first trimester of pregnancy. And for all of you special and patient readers who haven’t gotten too annoyed with me yet, the ice cream pictures and chatter continue today. But with this recommendation right here, well, it’s worth the mention, believe me.

I love to try all the healthy new ice cream varieties, and eat them a lot, but I also like to eat the completely not healthy varieties of ice cream, because sometimes that’s the whole point of dessert.

Every Sunday, Dave brings me home a new pint of Ben & Jerry’s, and it’s usually one of the same small rotation of flavors, like red velvet or strawberry cheesecake. Well this past Sunday, something new appeared. At first I was skeptical, because it didn’t sound as decadent as I normally would like. But it is now my new favorite pint of ice cream around, because the banana flavor mixed with caramel, graham cracker and fudge is beyond delicious. Bob Marley’s Limited Batch One Love is the name, which has a little ring to it, wouldn’t you agree? Do yourself a favor, ice cream lovers, and try this one out. It literally makes me smile. Is that bad?

#3 A super fancy Miele appliance and event

Okay, so you know you’re an adult when you start getting excited about appliances, but hear me out with this one: A few weeks ago, shortly after Dave and I got back from our babymoon to Santa Barbara, I attended an event hosted by Miele USA appliance brand at a local appliance center. Glamorous, right? But the thing is — it was. There was valet parking, a red carpet entrance, a step-and-repeat for pictures, fancy finger foods and even a cooking demo by popular Top Chef‘s Casey Thompson, who just happens to be based nearby in Napa. Recognize her?

The event was being held to celebrate the opening of a new “Miele Innovation Center,” which is basically a store-within-a-store showcasing all of the high-end Miele appliances for potential buyers in Pleasant Hill (the next town over from me in Walnut Creek). I honestly didn’t even know how to pronounce Miele when I went to the event, but I learned a ton about the company while I was there and came away a fan. The head honchos from the company’s German headquarters were in attendance too, and they were all very tall and well dressed and gave some nice remarks to the crowd.

While there, I learned how Miele rigorously tests all of its appliances, like ovens, stoves, fridges, dishwashers, wine coolers, vacuums and washers and dryers and more, as well as has proprietary German engineering standards. I also learned that they design their products to last at least 20 years, and all of that testing and quality is what makes the price point a little higher than your average appliance. Basically, it’s good stuff, and it looks good too …

And here’s the best part: The Miele people are so darn nice, that they let me pick out a vacuum cleaner as a thanks for coming to support the event. And in order to figure out which one would work for me, I used their online vacuum quiz to get the best match for my needs. How cool is that? I took the test, and it showed that a canister was the one for me — the Miele Complete C3 Alize. And it just happens to be a shade of one of my favorite colors — cream! 

So I had never tried a canister vacuum before and had certainly never used anything as high-quality as this Miele deal. It’s so powerful, well-designed, light, quiet and basically useful for any type of space. Dave and I are BIG fans of our new toy — although I must admit there is a smaller and furrier member of our family who does not like the new addition at all. And I won’t call him out by name, for the sake of his privacy.

Nonetheless, we’ve effortlessly vacuumed the stairs in our townhouse, our wood floors, and even the interior of our cars with this one contraption (and I’ve never owned a tool good enough to really clean out a car, and sometimes find myself at the gas station pay-per-minute vacuum just to get the job done).

Sorry for being a dork, but this new vacuum makes me one seriously happy gal, particularly as I continue to tidy, organize, clean and nest as my pregnancy nears its end. Woohoo! Thanks to the Miele folks! 

More of my favorite links from the week 

Always a reading machine, here are a few things I loved from around the Web …

• BODY REALNESS: My blogging friend, Gina, opened up about some surgeries she recently had, including having her breast implants removed and getting her abs fixed after two pregnancies. Super honest post, which I loved to read. The comments are great too!
• WELLNESS: This is interesting for all you lovers of anti-inflammatory pills out there. That medicine could be messing up your muscle growth.
• FITNESS: Don’t forget about your back, people. I was happy to provide a little bit of input for this article on exercises to improve your rear view.
• FOOD: Who isn’t excited about Whole Foods dropping their prices? Here’s a side-by-side comparison of a few products showing how Whole Foods stacks up against Trader Joe’s now.

And I hope you didn’t miss any of these posts from A Lady Goes West …

• How to create a better sleep environment
• Celebrations, Eat Drink SF and my workouts at 32 weeks pregnant
• How to motivate others to work out

Also, congrats to Courtney and Patricia, who won copies of “Blogger to Author” from last week’s giveaway in this post.

And if you’re planning to check out the Labor Day deals this weekend, looks like Gap is offering 50 percent off (best place to buy maternity activewear, if you ask me!), and Macy’s is offering free shipping and 15 percent off too! Shop away!

I hope you have a great weekend, my friends! I’ll see you over on Instagram until we meet here again. 🙂 

Just a few fun things to read and smile about on A Lady Goes West ... Click To Tweet

Questions of the day

What are you up to this weekend? Do you have an extra day off?

What’s something honest and open you’ve read recently? Share the link!

What’s one thing that’s making you happy this week?