WIAW: Blend Retreat food

 
I didn't get to do a proper review of the grub from the Blend Retreat.

Thanks Janetha, Lindsay, Katie, and the huge sponsors for all the yummy food. I was glad to see such big names like Laughing Cow, Vega, Blue Diamond, and Chobani as well as some new-to-me brands as well: 

I've been working my way through all the samples.

Vega gave each attendee a box with protein powder, pre-workout formulas, and savi seeds. I've wanted to try the savi seeds for awhile. Of course, the cocoa-kissed one was my favorite. Honestly though, the chocolate made them edible.

The all-in-one bars were rather good and very filling. I ate them for lunch twice because I was too busy to buy groceries. That never happens!

I needed energy for a day of testing. Would've been better had I blended it though.

The Simply Bar provided me with two flavors to try. I've tried them once before when they sent me a freebie. They taste like rice crispy treats, but the stats are awesome - 160 calories and packed with protein. Hopefully, they'll make it to our shelves soon.

Coupons from my swag bag

Groceries thanks to those coupons and 99 cent popcorn, bread, ice cream, greens, and strawberries

These Nature Made B-12 energy melts really did help this week.

And after all that hot yoga I did, the Kevita probiotic drink was exactly what I needed.


I got the mojito flavor that was a little too lime-flavored for my taste.

Fight bloating? Yes please.

What's your favorite protein smoothie/shake combo? I noticed that now that it's hotter, I want smoothies. They're also easier to digest!

WIAW: Gimme carbs

My greatest feat ever: oversleeping till 8 A.M., getting ready in 5 minutes, and being at work by 8:15 A.M. That's talent.

This weekend was full of drinks and eats. I limited myself to drinking on Friday and slept a lot to recover from Blend and a crazy work week. All that uninterrupted sleep made me forget that I had to wake up for work!

Okay, onto What I Ate Wednesday with the wonderful Jenn...

On Saturday, after yoga, I stopped by the farmer's market and Seabirds food truck for the best sweet potato fries. I was disappointed today by the size and the first one I ate was raw. :( 99% of the time, the sweet potato fries are amazing.

Clearance almonds - plain, jelly-glazed almonds, and buttery-glazed peanuts. These were a tad too sweet and thus, not a winner like the Blue Diamond almonds. Another :( face.

Applegate on sale was a winner! I got both hot dogs and bacon.

Clearance again! I'm such a bargain shopper.

Yes, this was on sale too. 99 cents!

Not on sale but recommended by the lovely Sweat the Sweet Stuff and the Mexigarian. I love seedy bread!

Not on any clearance or recommendation but this is one of my favorite ice cream of all time.

I used up all the coupons from Blend to nab most of this... save the greens, items on clearance, and avocados.

So yes, I'm not on 100% Paleo anymore and I saw some adverse effects like bloating, but my legs, particularly the pesky inner thigh area, has less flab! 

What is your favorite bread? Please tell!

High Five Friday: Post-Blend & fixations

High Five for not looking too shabby in the Blend Retreat photos. I'm self critical but who isn't?

 

(props to Heather for making this gif and for making my arms look buff)

High Five for going to Blend Retreat this past weekend and making friends in real life. I miss them like crazy.

Sonia, me, Mollie, and Alex

(via Alex)

High Five for eating healthy and normal. So, my "Blends" are probably a healthier set than most, but they eat Greek yogurt and carbs, both of which I avoided when going Paleo for a month. I already eat Paleo 80% of the time normally anyways so really, there's no need to strain myself. 

Blends eat pizza

 

Post-hot yoga, I wanted something cool. I had some Greek yogurt before I could prepare some Plant Fusion chocolate raspberry with frozen banana, Silk PureAlmond, and spinach. I wanted a cool pre-bed snack and made myself another one.

P.S. The Smart Kitchen wrote the perfect blog post on fixating on food and fitness. Blend and my new though temporary job has given me the opportunity to recall my other abilities and passions in life.

On that note, High Five for fixating on teaching. I work longer-than-I-should hours and come home and continue working and thinking about work.

High Five for getting through the weekend post-Blend. While Blend was one of the best experiences in my life and exactly what I needed (no joke) and I got some quality sleep, I didn't get much in terms of quantity. It was go-go-go.

High Five for finishing my homework. Yes, it was hard to even do a one-page reflection this week... and I have more to do for next week. Good thing there's a 3-day weekend.

 

High Five for sitting through an hour and a half meeting, which included almost 45 minutes of one teacher talking about nothing. I had to miss my class though so I was pretty upset.

High Five for attempting to make cool lessons for my U.S. history class. This would work better in a general education setting.

High Five for not freaking out about not working out enough this week. Same with eating, I am guilty of fixating on working out. All in all, I went to a long hot yoga class on Tuesday and yoga again today. That's it, and I have no time for anything tomorrow. I do want to show my face at my standard boot camp and CrossFit at some point this weekend though.

Top from Gap that Lauren suggested

This weekend, I'll be...

• working at job #2 on Friday. I haven't gone to work since coming back and I need the job this summer so I should probably stay on top of things there.
• hanging out
• watching "Fast 6" and am prepping with a marathon of the previous movies
• sleeping
• eating at Blackmarket Bakery's open house
• making recipes, especially Kitchen Queen Eats Clean's Vegan Mac and Cheese and some of Sweat the Sweet Stuff's plum crisp and mug cakes!

What are you doing this weekend?

What I learned at Blend 2013

The Blend Retreat officially ended, but I got to hang out with the roomies for a little longer.

We started off at Trolley Square.

 

We had lunch (+ beers) at Desert Edge Brewery

I wanted the chile-rubbed chicken - not a fan of tostada though.

The Mexigarian and I headed to downtown Salt Lake to see the famous temple. I drove so she took pictures for us (to be seen later).

We had to stop by the Great Salt Lake on the edge of town. Thankfully it wasn't too far.

 

Back to the land of palm trees

When I came back on Sunday night, I realized I had NO food so I drank a CorePower protein shake. It was perfect.

I didn't take a picture of my swag bag since I got in late.

 

Unpacking and organizing

What I learned at Blend:

• Iowa gets snow. A lot of snow. Don't I feel dumb. Thanks Alex!
• I'm a beast/I'm stronger than I think.
• I like to talk to everyone.
• I will talk to everyone.
• Be open to everything.
• I drink and eat fast.
• Why did I ever give up Greek yogurt? 
• I feel okay not being Paleo.
• People are nice.
• You don't need to be a pro blogger to go to Blend. We don't talk about blogging all that often.
• BAMR bands actually stay on my head.
• I love the mountains more than the beach.
• I want to hike more, but I need to bring sunscreen.
• I should stick to skirts and dresses.
• Sundays are not the day to be out in Salt Lake City.
• I can get attached to people in just 2.5 days! I miss the ladies!
• I need to work on my blog!

Blend Retreat Recap #2

So after a day of fitness and shopping at Blend 2013, we needed some food and beer.

We stopped by Wasatch Brewery when we "saw" everyone else's pictures.

There was already a group of blends there, including our suitemates.

Alex and I partook in some beer. She likes them dark while I like them in the middle. I went with the apricot hefeweizen that smelled glorious and almost like an air freshener. I suppose that could be gross huh?

We were set on Vinto for dinner. What better to go with beer than some pizza?

Full Sail isn't really local - it's from Oregon - but I loved it. Dare I say I liked it more than the apricot hefe?

We heard about Java Cow and headed back up Main Street after dinner. It was a tough walk after some beers, but we were entertained by Park City's finest stores.

I've never met so many people who liked coconut and chocolate, and Java Cow delivered with Almoond Joyus.

We headed up to Janetha's suite for Momma B's Utah scones, which are essentially delicious beignets! I had a couple as well as some cookies Christine brought from Milk Bar in our suite.

The Laurens (that would be Kitchen Queen Eats Clean & Sweat the Sweet Stuff) and I headed down to the hot tub. Such a great idea! Not only was it steamy, it soothed my sore muscles.

I had no plans of waking up early for the GPP Fitness workout, but everyone was awake so I headed down barefoot - I ditched my muddy shoes after the hike.

(via Bobbi from nHerShoes)

The Living Proof tanks in our bags were so comfortable as was our Blend shirts. Don't you love our soccer team-esque pose?

I'm going to need another one!

Also, thanks to Ali and Madi Moll, our amazing Salt Lake City/Utah-based suitemates for giving us all lululemon headbands.

Chobani provided breakfast, including the Chobani Bite and Flip. I loved the fig with orange zest bite, and hope we get them in stores soon.

While in line for an omelet, most of us ate the rest of our food - I nibbled on Chobani perfect pancakes and berries. I inhaled the chicken sausage, goat cheese, and veggie omelet within 2 minutes of sitting down.

We packed then headed downstairs to the closing ceremony.

Lindsay brought Blue Diamond almonds and we loaded up!

I had such a fantastic time with these ladies, most of us first timers.

I was so sad to see the retreat end. It went by too quickly - another day would have been nice.

But wait, I have one more recap of post-Blend and lessons learned.

Check out Amanda's blog and link-up of Blend!