After a bit of a flight delay (#deltadrama) I arrived back in NYC after what can only be described as the most phenomenally fantastical weekend of all time time time… I’m imagining that being said by an announcer in an arena so that everything echoes, but you got that, right? Cool.
Why was said weekend so phenomenally fantastical? Because I spend it at the Blend Retreat!
Blend Re-Wha? Let me explain. Actually, let me quote from Blend itself:
The BLEND Retreat (named so because we wanted to combine “blogger” with “friend”) is a relaxed, laid-back weekend retreat for healthy living, food and fitness bloggers from across the United States and Canada. Instead of focusing on seminars and formal speakers, our focus is on friendship and having a weekend away to get to know and connect with one another in real life.
I had such a blast at my first ever blogger retreat that trying to recap the weekend in one post will be impossible, so today is all about Blend Day One!
After landing in Salt Lake City, I headed off to the Hyatt Escala in Park City with a few other girls that landed around the same time as I did (big thanks to Lindsay for organizing our shuttle). On the way, I chatted with Nicole, Ari, and Katie about food, racing, and dogs (because what is a good conversation without some good puppy pics?) and met one of my awesome roommates, Erika. I also gazed out the window at all the beautiful mountains. We don’t get much of this in NYC:
Erika and I headed up to our room, where we met the lovely Jayne and were greeted by our first spill of swag from Organic Valley, Hail Merry, and Detour.
Erika, Jayne, and I had some rumbly tumblies, and lucky for us, a bunch of chicks with cars were heading into town for lunch. We hopped in a car with Kate, Mollie, and the other Nicole and ended up at Café Rio. Leave it to a group of healthy living bloggers to make a beeline for the salads!
Then, it was back to the hotel for a run around the resort. Janae led us to a beautiful stream and up some hills. I was dying about 5 minutes in. This was my thought pattern:
Why is this so hard? I know I haven’t been running much due to my injury but I… huff puff… can barely… huff puff… breathe…Huff. Puff.
Cue Janae…
How are ya’ll doing with the altitude?!
The altitude! That’s why I can’t breathe! Fitness, I still has you. Janae, you are my angel. Some scenes from the run:
When we got back to the hotel, our fourth roommate, Tori, had arrived! Yippee!
Then it was off to a snack break sponsored by Arctic Zero. Ice Cream? Smoothies? Cookie Sandwiches? Yes, please! We got to sample their Vanilla Maple flavor and three new ones: Sea Salt Caramel, Coconut, and Orange Cream. These definitely don’t taste like normal ice cream, but they aren’t a bad low-cal alternative. I still love me some homemade banana-based “ice cream” though.
After the cool refuel, the roomies and I headed up to our room to unpack the giant swag bag we received. This thing had to weigh AT LEAST 20 pounds. No. Joke. I mean, look at all this goodness!
(Erika on the left, Jayne on the right)
Is this heaven? I can’t wait to try all this stuff (and let you know all about it, of course!). Thanks to all the incredible swag bag sponsors!
After allowing the swag excitement to die down (who am I kidding, I’m still excited!) we got all dolled up for a cocktail party sponsored by Sizzlefish and Fluro Water. Fitness bloggers know how to clean up after a good sweat!
The spread of appetizers was delectable. I adored the little carrots, the black bean cakes, and the salmon from Sizzlefish!
I had a cocktail made with Fluro Water, but I made the mistake of getting rum in mine. Not sure why. Jack Sparrow can have my rum. I did, however, like the Fluro Water, especially the Kiwi Cucumber. So instead of my rum, we took healthy shots of Fluro!
I got to chatting with a bunch of great ladies at the cocktail party, including Julie and Brooke. Then it was off to a pizza party for dinner. Afterwards, we headed to the photo booth. Bad news: the photo booth was broken. Good news: there were props. The result? A blogger modeling sesh.
From left to right, back row: Amanda, Nicole, Me, Ari, Katie, Erika
From left to right, front row: Stephanie, Mollie
What could possibly make this day better? We discovered there was a fire pit! What makes a fire pit better? S’mores! The amazing people at the Hyatt Escala gave us a s’mores pack. We sat around the fire and chatted lightly-toasted-mallows vs. burnt-to-a-crisp-mallows. I like my mallows charred to perfection, but I think I’m the only one. Ah, well, more burnt mallows for me!
Orlando from Onnit (one of our bootcamp sponsors – more on that tomorrow) stopped by and confessed that he had never had a s’more! Say, whaa?? You’re killing me, Smalls! We toasted him up a nice mallow, served it up on some grahams with chocolate, and watched in anticipation as he took his first bit of bliss. Welcome to a whole new world, Orlando.
(photo courtesy of Mollie)
The warm glow of the fire made me realize that I’d be up for almost 24 hours. So off to bed I went!
Stay tuned for Blend Day 2!
Have you ever attended a blogger retreat/conference? Discuss!
Blend Blogs Mentioned in this Post (check them out!):
Lindsay – Cotter Crunch
Nicole – The Marvelous Misadventures of a Foodie
Ari – Ari’s Menu
Katie – Peace Love & Oats
Erika – For The Love of Peanut Butter
Jayne – Busy Barrista
Mollie – Mollies Sprinkles of Life
Janae – Hungry Runner Girl
Tori – Life of the Landos
Julie – Julie Goes Healthy
Brooke – Wrecking Routine
Amanda – Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Stephanie – Wholesome By Design
And don’t forget! Today is the LAST DAY to enter the Blogiversary Bonanza GIVEAWAY!! Hurry on up and get those entries in!
