After a crazy 9 hour wait in the airport, a red eye from Colorado, and 2 days of work – I can finally sit down and reminisce about this past weekend at the Blend Retreat. Many have said it and I will repeat it, It was honestly probably one of the best weekends of my life.
Everything was perfect! I left Blend feeling Honored and Inspired to be among such a great group of women.
Ashley’s Photo
(Lindsay + Gina, Bobbi + Katie, Brittany, Tina, Jillian, Jessica, Lena, Laura)
I will have to work on my collaging skills
Laura, The Other Heather, Me, and Ashley from Edible Perspective was one of my first blogs back in 2010!!! So happy I met her finally.
(Ashley’s photo)
Uplifted and connected. The conversations with fellow bloggers never hit a lull. It is great to discuss how much you have in common, and then to learn what everyone does/ and their background outside of the blog world. Heather (far right) was the first new friend I made, and we immediately hit it off. And I owe good friends Jillian and Katie (both center) a huge thank you for helping me talk through some things. Could not have asked for a better roommate with Jill. Love you girls.
Relaxed and At Ease: Chautauqua and Boulder, CO was the perfect venue.
Stuffed! There was a healthy balance of well balanced meals sprinkled with good beer and some sweet treats.
(Jillian’s photo)
That homemade jam and almond butter at the Xagave breakfast was the shit! This breakfast is seriously what dreams are made of. Thank you Steve and Amy!
Love Grown – best granola ever!
Mahi Mahi Tacos for Cinco de Mayo
Sweet potato tots + beer at Avery Brewing Company
Rosemary hummus at Mountain Sun
Strong, Invigorated, and Satisfyingly Sore. Two 7 am bootcamps, a 4 mile hike (that kicked my booty) , and Sunday yoga at Core Power
Check out the view at this 7 am bootcamp
(Janetha’s photo)
The winning team from Saturday’s bootcamp! – Team Awesome because we just can’t help it. We were lucky to have Lindsay the fit ambassador from Chobani.
Hiking with Miss Smart
Laura’s fitbit said we took 17,000 steps and over 170 flights of stairs on this hike…phew!
Love Gina!! Y’all need to run over to her site and check out her recipes – now!
Grateful and Pumped about all the swag and all the sponsors!
(I swiped another of Jillian’s photos – figured only one of us needed to empty out the swag bag)
We were showered with so much stuff the entire weekend! This isn’t even the half of what I brought home.
I want to do a special post just to thank all the sponsors. Here are a few:
- Chobani
- Xagave
- Ftimixer
- Cheribundi
- Bob’s Red Mill
- Cascadian Farms
- Attune Foods
- Lara Bar
- Love Grown
- NuNaturals
- Core Power
- Mix 1
- Pop Chips
- Beanitos
- Nuts about Granola
- Pure Bliss Eats
- Twin Cakes Bakery
The only thing I could think of to change would have been to make the weekend longer. 4pm Friday to 11 am Sunday was just not enough time to squeeze in all the blogger love. And this recap doesn’t do the weekend justice.
Many hugs plus a huge, massive thanks to Katie, Janetha, and Lindsay.
I’m a wiped from the weekend, but feeling great and motivated about my life. I really needed this trip with recent events. Words cannot describe how much Blend 2012 gave me. Can’t wait until we meet again!
Share a feeling word that describes something from your weekend!
Ashley, your post hit it right on the spot. Blend 2012 gave me a world of new friends and helped me to work out some issues I had in my head.
I definitely need a fitbit. And knew I received a good workout cuz my calves have been hurting the last 2-3 days! LOL.
And Xagave’s jam WAS the bomb. Need the recipe!
So glad to meet you Ashley. Can’t wait til next year.
It was so so so fantastic to meet you. I’m really glad we got to hang out so much! xoxo
P.S. Add another “0″ to that number of steps we took.
It was so good meeting you, Ashley! That hike kicked my booty, and I live here, so good job kicking ass on it!
your post is dead on! Blend was really amazing. It was great to be around so many wonderful ladies and the fellowship that was felt was very uplifting. It was great getting to meet you and cannot wait til the next time our paths cross again
Love you re-cap, and loved meeting you!! I feel the exact same way as you- super inspired and motivated. The only thing standing in my way right now is that pesky full-time job…
xoxo
What is BLEND an acronym for?
Haha, Blog + Friend. Its always better in real life.
So happy I met you this weekend!!! I agree – next year needs to be longer. I need more time with everyone. Miss you!
Yes! You should add NYC to all your travels : )
So glad I got to meet you!
It was fun hanging out on Saturday night … even though we didn’t manage to get any fro-yo (which I mentioned in my WIAW blend recap today).
And I too need a fitbit. That would make my day.
Haham I talked about froyo all night. And I did get some amazing 16 handles with Katie here in the city yesterday.
I asked for a pedometer for my bday this Saturday!
Great photos + recap!! It’s been so much fun reading what everyone has to say and seeing all of the different photos. I’m so happy we got to meet this weekend!
I would love if you could send me some photos from the weekend! Or are you posting them all somewhere. Just to have the memories. Thanks for joining us at dinner on Saturday. You and Katie are great – miss you already!
Grateful — for the time to spend together and meet such wonderful women!
Good choice! I used grateful too..It is such a perfect word for the weekend.
you are precious! and so are these women! next year i am there!
Everyone was incredible. I would love to meet you! Do you ever come to NYC??
Also, it is funny that you say precious because one photo I didn’t put up was me in the arch and I looked like Gollum from lord of the rings.
I miss it sooooo much! Great recap! See you soon lady!
Thank god you are close so we can still hang out. I will in touch to schedule brunch – maybe 2 weeks or so!
WOW what food! i drool.
Looks like a great time!! Glad you had fun; such an experience and great group of people
Yes! It was an amazing weekend. Can’t wait to do it again.