Weekend adventures as told by food pictures and my weekly workout report
On Sunday evenings, I always scroll through the pictures on my phone to pick out which I will post in my usual weekend recap, and don’t you know this past weekend I only took a few pictures — and they were all of food. No people! But that’s okay. Let’s do a quick look back at the weekend and then talk workouts. Oh, and hello! Hope you had a great weekend, friends!
Whole Foods media preview
On a very rainy Friday, I had the opportunity to check out the brand new Whole Foods coming to Ygnacio Valley Road in Walnut Creek. While we already have a small Whole Foods in downtown Walnut Creek, the new WF is much bigger and has a lot more ready-to-eat food options. It opens to the public on November 2, and I got to tour the store and learn quite a bit about Whole Foods as a company while I was there.
This is the 463rd location, and Whole Foods has some pretty cool standards in place to keep its offerings healthy — for instance, no products with high fructose corn syrup are stocked on the shelves, no artificial coloring is used in the baked goods, and there’s a major push for local and organic food. Yes!
While I don’t do all of my shopping at Whole Foods, I love to stop in for specialty items and pre-made meals. But after seeing everything offered at this new location, I may need to become a more frequent customer. Hello, cheese section …
Perhaps the highlight of the tour that day? Trying caviar! There were tons of samples available to our group, and the caviar topped my list of incredible tastes. I had actually never had caviar before and clearly didn’t know what I was missing. Wow! So good! It’s soft and has a rich and delicious fishy flavor. I’m pretty sure it’s too expensive for a regular thing, but at least I know what it’s like now.
One more fun fact I learned: Whole Foods offers a Thanksgiving meal for eight people for only $99. Can you believe that? What an easy way to host, if you’re in need of a spread. You can even order it online.
Weekend adventures in Walnut Creek
On Friday evening, Dave and I went over to a friends’ house for dinner. There were four couples in attendance, and we sat around in the kitchen chatting over wine and appetizers, then moved to the dining room for dinner. (Girls on one end of the table, boys on the other, of course!) While we had fun with our peeps, Dave and I had to be the first to dip out, because I had to wake up early on Saturday to teach. Sadly, I’m never very much fun on Friday nights, and that’s the life of a group fitness instructor.
Saturday included all of the usual suspects: teaching BODYPUMP and hanging out with Dave and Rudy. Dave and I tried to check out the new True Food Kitchen in downtown Walnut Creek, but the line was pretty long, so we ended up at Lemonade instead. That was totally fine by me, because it is always oh-so-good — just look at my plate of deliciousness below featuring Brussels, curried cauliflower and roasted chicken with tzatziki sauce! I licked it clean.
Dave enjoyed his roasted chicken sammy too and was pleasantly surprised with the little restaurant. After that, we did a little shopping in the afternoon and were home in time to host Dave’s little sister, Gwena, and her friend for a brief hangout. They were heading into San Francisco for some Halloween fun by way of Santa Cruz, and we were happy to see them even if just for a bit.
On Saturday evening, Dave and I went to our old faithful spot, Va de Vi for some appetizers and dessert at the bar. We always sit next to interesting people there, and this time was no different — perhaps that’s why we always like to sit at the bar at restaurants — you get to people watch, chat with others and sit next to each other instead of across. While we were there, we enjoyed nibbling on a fabulous cheese plate, ahi tuna tartare, meatballs and a sweet and tasty dessert sampler platter with vanilla ice cream. Everything was perfect.
Who needs an entree when you can eat food like that?
Sunday was the epitome of nothing to report. We laid around, watched TV, booked our tickets to Florida for Christmas, did some stuff around the house, and the only time I left was to take Rudy for a walk on the trail. It was the perfect lay-around catch up on nothingness day, and we both needed it. Sundays are almost always my rest days, and I like it that way.
And that was the weekend and not a single person pictured! This week is going to go by in a flash, because I have activities every single night Tuesday through Saturday. While I usually like to reserve my evenings for vegging at home after work, a couple of events popped up that I’m excited about.
My weekly workout recap
Let’s take a look at all of the ways I’ve been moving lately …
Weekly Workouts
- Monday: Did 45 minutes of Bootybarre at home
- Tuesday: Taught a one-hour BODYPUMP class
- Wednesday: Did 45 minutes of Bootybarre at home
- Thursday: Taught a one-hour Bootybarre class
- Friday: Did 20 minutes of full-body weights
- Saturday: Taught a one-hour BODYPUMP class
- Sunday: Rest day
Overview of the week
What stands out from this week of fitness? A whole lot of barre, right? I was practicing and learning the choreography to teach my first Bootybarre class on Thursday, so I spent a lot of time doing it. While I will continue to practice it as I get better, it probably won’t appear this often in my week again. The good news is that I also taught BODYPUMP twice and lifted weights very briefly on my own once, so I got my three sessions of resistance training in. Sadly, my month of free yoga at CorePower is over, so I didn’t fit in a yoga class this week, but at least there is a decent amount of flexibility work in the barre class. It all balances out!
Lots of good #food from the #weekend and a #weeklyworkout report by @apstyle ... Click To TweetP.S. Thanks to Meghan for today’s “Week in Review” link-up. See you back here later this week, my friends!
Questions of the day
What are you most looking forward to in November?
How was your weekend?
I am looking forward to reigniting my drive this November. Or at least getting back to some of my goals. I kind of went with the flow for October, and it was great, but these past 2 weeks were more recovery than production!
I wish they had done media previews when they opened up the new WFMs here in Chicago. i guess they just opened so many at once that they couldn’t? But I think it was a serious misstep!
Hi Susie! New goals for November? Awesome! Good luck with those, lady! And maybe you can demand and after-the-fact WF media tour hahahah. At least to taste some food, right? Happy Monday and Happy Halloween, lady!
Yay for a Whole Foods! My closest one is about 45 minutes away, so I don’t go often, but love it when I do. And yes their cheese section! YUM! I am so excited for Thanksgiving in November. We usually don’t travel home so we have friends over our house. I just love cooking, drinking wine, and hanging out with friends, and eating delicious foods. That’s my kind of holiday 😉 Have a great week!
Yay for Thanksgiving ahead, Patricia! Sounds like you’ve got a good routine down for the holiday. We always travel for it, which can be hectic! And 45 minutes to Whole Foods? That’s a long trip!
What a great weekend!
I feel like I’m going to blink and it will be the New Year. I host Thanksgiving and November always flies by getting ready for that! Maybe I should just do that Whole Foods thing… haha! Much cheaper than what we do making all that food from scratch!!!
Hi Julie! Hope you had a great weekend! 🙂 And yes, the last two months of the year are bound to fly by!! Let’s hold on tight!! hahah!
Looks like a fun weekend!
Those media previews always get me stuck on new stores, too. The last one I attended was a recent event for a new Sprouts nearby… and now I can’t buy enough turmeric from their new location, ha!
Hope that you guys have a happy Halloween!
XO, Jessica
http://www.semisweettooth.com
We have a Sprouts near us too, and they have a great selection of nuts, dates, bars and healthy items. I also like to find my purple sweet potatoes there! 🙂 Hope your weekend was great, Jessica!
YES. I could spend all day in WF. Looks like so much fun!
Sure was, Erin. It’s a nice Whole Foods too — much bigger than my normal one. Hope you enjoyed your weekend, lady!
I can’t wait to hear about your weeknight adventures. You did a lot of teaching this week!
I cannot wait for November – it means the holidays are near and I’m a teacher, so holidays mean time off. Yay!
Lucky girl!! Holiday break sounds awesome! And yes, I’m back to teaching three classes for now. Yay!!! Happy Monday, gal!!
My favorite part of Whole Foods is the cheese section, although the produce is pretty glorious too. Whole Foods has actually become my new shopping grounds since my old mom and pop grocery store is closing. Insert teary face emoji here.
Happy Monday. Thanks for linking up.
The produce is great too for sure. Sorry to hear you are losing your local shop, but I’m sure WF will play a good sub role. Happy Monday, Meghan!!
NOTHING gets me more excited than seeing a sign for a NEW WHOLE FOODS opening! LOL!!!!!!
**Grocery Store Geek HERE!!!**
As a foodie — a new healthy grocery store is like my Disneyland. You too, Gigi. ahahha! 🙂
Where do you teach classes? I would love to attend one!!! I live in the Bay area, so I think it would be feasible. Also—- this is so my kind of post! BRING ON THE FOOD PICS. That restaurant is less than an hour from us too- we will definitely have to give it a go!
Hi Mackenzie, I teach at 24 Hour Fitness Walnut Creek Super Sport on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. for BODYPUMP. Come give it a try!! 🙂 You can get a guest pass on 24HourFitness.com. Let me know!! 🙂
im so looking forward to finishing up my paper so i can focus on my life…
Hi Dixya! Good luck to you! You’ll feel so good when it’s done!