Barney butter, Amazing Grass and Glo bars, Oh my!

The Healthy Living Summit was so much fun! When I arrived at the Radisson on Saturday morning, I was super excited for a full day of events. At check in, Heather hooked me up with an adorable summit t-shirt (YAY for ladies sizes!!!!) and my swag bag.

Let’s just say that thanks to this bag, I don’t have to buy snacks this week! It was teeming with stuff I have been wanting to try, like Barney Butter, a Glo bar from Angela’s Glo Bakery, Peeled fruit snacks, a Pro bar, Pop chips, and much more. PLUS it included an Amazing Grass shaker cup full of different packets of Amazing Grass and 2 bars. Since I am down to about 5 scoops of my Chocolate Superfood, I was psyched to have a bit more to last me until my next order.

Look at all of this stuff!

The breakfast bar, provided by Stonyfield Farms and Mix My Granola was fabulous. I actually wasn’t feeling too hungry, so I had a juice and an Oikos honey yogurt.

Katy from Silly Tater Tot at the brekkie bar

 I liked the taste and texture of the Oikos, until I mixed the honey part in. It was just too sweet for me, and was a weird consistency, a bit watery. I would love to try Oikos plain yogurt, and luckily I have some free Stonyfield coupons!

The summit kicked off with a welcome and then an informative nutrition session from Janel Ovrut. I loved her emphasis on moderation! The late morning session was Blogging 101 by Zesty Cook, and it was funny and really helpful. I came out of it more excited than ever to blog and to think of ways to improve and better market my blog. I also discovered Windows Live Writer in this session; if this is posted, then my first try with it was a success! I am going to start trying to set some time aside to look into new social media and driving traffic to my site.

Zesty’s session was followed by a Q & A with Bloggers, and all of the questions were great! The answers were so interesting, that I thought I would throw one out for all of you:

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Mine would be guac and salsa, extra spicy. I can’t get enough!

Right before we broke for lunch, the planning committee told us to reach under our chairs for a slip of paper that was stuck there. Whatever the paper said was the prize that you won.

This was mine:

Woooohooo!!!

Lunch followed, and I got to sit with a bunch of fun bloggers including Leslie , Rose, and Jesse. I also met a lot of great not-yet-bloggers. 🙂

Allie from Live Laugh Eat getting a shot of the lunch buffet.

I had a whole bunch of grilled veggies, a great multigrain roll with mustard, salad, and two pieces of cheese. The food was fab!

After lunch, we had an absolutely fantastic presentation by Regina Beidler, organic dairy farmer. Her presentation was eye opening, and though I try to buy organic milk, it is definitely now, more than ever, worth the extra couple of dollars to me. I would LOVE to visit Regina’s farm in VT. Her stories and background were heartwarming and interesting. She answered a lot of great audience questions, and just reminded everyone how important not only organic farming is, but how important small family farms are. I am definitely inspired by her and want to do some research on New England farmers.

Following Regina’s presentation was a Body & Soul magazine discussion about green beauty products. It was truly scary to think about all of the chemicals in the products that I use! We did talk a little bit about homemade beauty products, and I for one an a big fan of oatmeal and water as a mild exfoliant and facial cleanser, egg yolk to clear up my breakouts, yogurt as a mild lactic acid mask, and mashed bananas with honey as a moisturizing mask.

The afternoon break was sponsored by Pom, and it was wonderful 🙂 Everyone got a bottle of Pom, plus coupons for a free bottle and a few delicious-looking recipes. I am looking forward to trying more Pom products and to incorporating them into my own recipes. I already know that Pom + seltzer= the best post-running refresher ever!!

I was able to stay for most of the Fitness for Everyone panel where the planning committee shared their own fitness ideas and struggles. I unfortunately had to duck out a bit early, so I missed the group photo and goodbyes. I am definitely hoping to run into many of these ladies again soon and look forward to discovering some new blogs.

Congratulations and a big thank you to the summit planners, Kath, Heather, Tina, Meghann, Caitlin, and Jenna ! If you need any behind the scenes help for next year, I would love to be involved.

Busy day ahead: visiting my dog and cat friends at the MSPCA, running, a bbq to celebrate my niece Fiona’s 5th birthday, and then a girly night out with my sister in laws (sisters in law?) Five out of six of us are in one country for once, and we always try to ditch the guys to catch up. Fun! 🙂 Have a good one!