5 Friday Favorites.

Picking out 5 good things from the week...

1. I took the dogs to the vet for a rattlesnake vaccine booster shot and got them another 6 months worth of heartworm medicine. I also got a print-out of their records. Meaning, we can check "vet" off the list of things that need to be done before we leave Laramie. With so many things up in the air, I'm checking off boxes every chance I get these days.

2. We've been watching Bosch. I watched season one a few years ago and recommended it to Scott and he never watched it. When he finished Poldark, Amazon recommended Bosch so then he started watching. We just finished season 3.

3. I started watching The Romanoffs last week. A new episode comes out every week on Amazon Prime on Fridays. The episodes are about an hour and a half so it's like a movie, really. You have to have a basic understanding of what happened to the Romanov family, because most of the history is just alluded to, not clearly explained. Basically, each episode is about a different person who believes they're descended from the family (going off of the premise that Anastasia survived). Matthew Weiner did the show and it's beautifully done in that Mad Men-way. The first episode kept me on the couch for 90 minutes, even though I didn't plan on watching that much. It was fascinating. The second episode wasn't as good to me, but the ending was fabulous.

4. This week is/was the Back to the Mat Challenge on The Balanced Life. Basically it's a free challenge, 15 minutes of Pilates a day, for one week. The videos are on Youtube and I can send them to you if you'd like. These were actually the first 7 videos I went back to after having a baby.

However, this isn't about that. This "favorite" is about the fact that Pilates is seriously life-changing and I will go on and on about that until everyone tries it at least once. Now, if you've been to a Pilates class and didn't like it, I would argue that it's a lot like yoga: some classes are terrible and some are great. In fact, I did a Pilates class in 2012 in Alaska and hated it so much. I also was really bad at it because even though I was in good shape when it came to cardio, I didn't have the core strength. So I didn't like Pilates. In the winter of 2014, I found The Balanced Life and started doing short, 10 minute workouts every day. And so it's been about 5 years. My core strength, 3 months after having a baby, is better than I was when I started in 2014 (when I was ironically at my thinnest). In fact, I did 9 months of Pilates when I was pregnant, and I legitimately feel like I'm almost back when I started strength-wise at this point.

Anyway, watch or listen to this video that Robin from The Balanced Life did earlier this week. In particular, if you are interested in the mentality of grace over guilt, you will like her message.
You don't need any prerequisites or equipment to get started. Half the time I don't even use a mat, just the bedroom carpet.

5. And, last but not least, a baby in an anorak.

This was my splurge, since he outgrows things so quickly. He's 3 months and this is a 6-12 month jacket.