HLS – Day 3 Highlights

September 16, 2012 by

Here we are…the final day of the Healthy Living Summit. Yikes, a month later.

Hope no one minds that I posted these so far apart. I didn’t want to bombard people with HLS overload.

The final day of the summit, after the run scheduled, there was a final meeting held downstairs, where we were all able to eat, chat, and say goodbye to one another.

* My fellow Fitfluential ladies; Chelsea, Heather, Meg, Cait, and Lindsay, and I *

Cait and Heather had to leave early so came to my hotel room to say goodbye. This is where all the sadness happened. They said their goodbyes and I was still able to meet a few new people at the breakfast, which was great.

* Chelsea, Meg, Lindsay, and I *

We made such fast connections with each other, and it was definitely hard to say goodbye to them.

* Chelsea and I *

We met downstairs, where I grabbed a coffee to have since I had already ate. And we all chatted while everyone was getting ready to leave.

* Me and Meg *

I went back upstairs and packed most of my things up, and went downstairs to say bye to Chelsea and Meg.

Lindsay, Sara, Katie, and I ended up having later flights so after the girls left, we went out to explore some of Boston we hadn’t had the chance of seeing yet. The weather was beautiful, so it ended up being perfect for strolling around in.

This was my first time visiting Boston, so it was nice to have some extra time to view the city. We headed to Harvard Square, and had a look around some of the stores before settling down for some lunch.

We ended up stopping at Tory Row, where Meg said she had an unbelievable grilled kale salad. Lindsay, Sara, and I all ordered that and it was just as delicious as I thought it would be. It really was tasty, must recreate.

Lindsay had to leave through lunch to catch her flight.

So, Sara, Katie, and I made our way to the Curious George store that was so sweet to look at. We got a few views of some classic novels.

My flight didn’t leave until the next day, so I got a good nights rest and packed up and made my way to the airport. I only brought a few snacks, since I thought there would be lots of options past security. Turns out I was very, very wrong. And there was only a small stand that sold a few apples and some pre-packaged soups and sandwiches that looked pretty old. Not my style.

* Salad at the airport, with cucumbers, romaine, tomatoes, peppers, shredded carrots, pickles, grilled chicken, and hummus *

I stuck with the few snacks I had and after the plane to Toronto I was starving. I grabbed a salad while waiting for my next flight to Vancouver. It ended up being a fast wait and I was on the plane before I knew it, again I didn’t take enough food so I was quite hungry on the plane.

I ended up just eating a SoyJoy bar, I grabbed from the conference and having a diet coke (yes, I enjoy these once in a blue moon) on the plane. It didn’t do too much for my hunger and I got off the plane at about 9 PM and was tired from travelling all day.

* pretty sun set from the plane! *

I made my way to the next stop, where I learned I missed my last flight, and I just burst into tears. It wasn’t pretty ha ha. The poor lady working. I was able to catch the next flight to Victoria, which was only a 45 minute wait. And the 12 minute flight (yes, just 12 minutes) went by fast. By the time I got home it was 12 AM and I had been travelling since 11 AM. I was exhausted to say the least. I immediately got home and passed out.

* last picture I took at HLS! *

That concludes all my Healthy Living Summit recap posts. Hopefully it wasn’t too brutal for everyone to read. In the end, I am so happy I decided to go. I made life long friendships with blog writers and made true connections with each person I got to speak with.

Have you ever been to Boston?

Do you plan on going to HLS next year?

Hope everyone has a relaxing Sunday!

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HLS – Day 2 Highlights

September 1, 2012 by

Wow, finally I got to recapping day 2 of the Healthy Living Summit.

Way to get super behind on these.

This trip was some added stress on myself, and I think the stress got the best of me, because throughtout the night I got really sick, like sick to my stomach.

Not fun.

I ended up turning off my alarm clock, and just decided to let myself sleep in a little. Although, I did end up getting up at 7. I quickly ate and got ready to head downstairs and meet the others for the rest of the breakfast and ice breaker sessions that was held.

* Cait, Heather, and I getting ready for the Crossfit workout. *

* representing Fitfluential and our new Reebok shoes!  And yes, I ‘m wearing pants.*

All the sponsors were set out in an area outside the conference room, so we had lots of time to chat with all of them who set up in their booths.

It was great to get to know more about some companies I wasn’t too informed about. Reebok did an awesome job with sponsoring us, and along with our free kicks we got a Crossfit workout in as well.

They taught us the proper squat form, and we quickly did a WOD (workout of the day) that included 7 air squats and 15 jumps for 5 minutes AMRAP (as many rounds as possible).

* Heather, Brittany, Me, and Tessa after the workout *

* Meg, Cait, Heather, and I obviously had to get a picture with our awesome friend and Crossfit star, Rich Froning. *

Next up, we got to choose from 2 different sessions. I had such a hard time decided which ones I wanted to go to, because they all sounded fantastic.

I ended up going to Hosting a Virtual Challenge, Blogging with Brands, I am the Blogger in Your Neighbourhood, and Keeping Up with Social Trends.

They were all hosted by wonderful bloggers, who had a ton of knowledge on these topics (obviously). And I definitely learned and took away a lot of great things from each session.

After was lunch, a group of us decided to hit up Whole Foods again, since we weren’t sure what the food situation would be like, especially since it wasn’t that great before hand.

* Meg, Cait, Heather, and I *

I heard from a lot of people it was good, but I enjoyed my Whole Foods salad once again. I mean, it was only my second time there, so I had to make the most of it!

In between, I went back up to the room to get ready and rest a little, since my stomach was still a tad uneasy.

We ended up meeting for sushi later on, where I got to chat with so many lovely ladies I hadn’t really had the chance to get to know yet! Once again, the company was the best part.

After enjoying our sushi meals, the group decided to head for some ice cream/frozen yogurt. I’m not a fan of frozen yogurt, so I skipped on that, but wish I indulged in a little ice cream. Admittedly, this was more of a “choice” on behalf of my eating disorder, and I ended up not getting anything.

* group of us healthy living ladies, enjoying frozen yogurt and ice cream *

Later, we decided to head back to the hotel early and get a good nights rest before the last day. In the cab home Heather and I thought we were really cool by quoting the movie I Love You, Man for basically the entire ride back. I’m sure we were amusing.

Stay tuned for the final day!

Have you ever done Crossfit before?

Do you like sushi? What do you usually order?

Hope your all enjoying your Saturday!

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HLS Highlights – Cocktail Party

August 25, 2012 by

If you missed out on Part 1 see it here.

After dinner, we caught a cab back over to the hotel to attend the cocktail party.

The party was held at the hotel, in a small area for us all to socialize in and was sponsored by Rebootizer, who also gave us some pretty neat glasses I have stacked in my room at the moment.

* Heather and I *

Right when we got there, Heather, Cait, and I headed straight for the fun photo items including wigs, glasses, and hats.

Yep, we’re pretty cool cats.

I think we ended up staying around the photo booth for a good 30 minutes, before we finally decided to move along and get to chat with other people.

* Cait and I being super awesome. And Juliette, Tessa, Jocelyn, and Kaitlin.*

The night was filled with silly pictures, meeting blog friends, making real life friends, and discussing the night away.

Eventually, we pulled ourselves away from the photo booth area and grabbed ourselves a glass of pinot grigio, as we must.

I don’t believe the guy who took our photo really knew what was going on.

He decided it would be a good idea to kneel on the floor to get a great, blurry shot of us at the best angle ever;)

* Sara, Me, and Heather *

It was so fun to get to know the bloggers behind the blogs you read daily, and and see their real personality shine through.

It can’t really be described, but its nice to know these ladies didn’t turn out to be old, creepy men sitting behind the computer pretending to be them…

I feel like every conversation I had with anyone flowed effortlessly, and that we had tons to talk about.

* Tessa, Kaitlin, and I – photo from Kaitlin *

We were each given 1 drink ticket each, so the night didn’t get too crazy.

The party ended pretty early, at 10 and we just headed back to the hotel room to get a good night rest before the activities on schedule for Saturday.

I definitely wanted to get to bed early anyways, as I was still tired from travelling and I knew Saturday would be a jam packed day.

The night ended in friendships I know will last a lifetime. And the cocktail party was a nice icebreaker to start the weekend off fabulously!

What’s your favourite type of wine?

Have you ever met any bloggers before?

Hope you all are enjoying this beautiful Saturday!

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HLS Highlights Day 1

August 24, 2012 by

Good Morning and Happy Friday! I can’t believe the weekend is here already. Crazy talk.

Get ready for a picture heavy post!

I’m really happy I  made the decision to head over to Boston on Thursday night. As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I quickly ate a dinner I had bought at the airport and passed out, since I had been up since 4.

* I packed little pre-portioned bags mixed with oats, chia seeds, and flax seeds so I could have them for quick breakfasts in the morning. I just ran water through the coffee maker in our hotel room so the hot water could soak up in the oats overnight, and I just picked up a few bananas at the hotel so I could add them in as well. Served with a little protein frosting on top. And it was perfect fuel for the morning. *

I woke up quite early, and decided to get in a little movement, since I had plans to take the next 3 days off. I just did a quick pilates workout in the hotel (I’m still doing the low intense exercise thing at the moment).

I knew there were a few events planned for Friday, and I really wanted to go to both the Flour Bakery meetup and the Whole Foods lunch. I talked to a few of my blogging friends and ultimately decided to attend the Whole Foods lunch, we all met in the lobby to make the walk on over. It was about a 15 minute walk, where I made the bad decision to wear wedges (I just hate flat shoes!).

* (From Katie) - the group headed to Whole Foods *

When we got to Whole Foods I was SO excited, like so pumped up it was borderline sad. I’ve never been to a Whole Foods before, since the closest one is over in Vancouver. Come on WF, get yourself over to Victoria!

Anyways, after I finished jumping up and down with joy, we made our way to the salad bar, even though I really just wanted to look around.

* Amy, Min, Katie, and Me – Photo from Min*

I met Amy and Min for the first time and were such lovely and sweet girls! It was such a pleasure to meet you guys:)

This is where my first bound of anxiety came up about food choices. I looked over the items, and started freaking out about certains foods, wondering whether this or that was cooked in oil, how much, all blah eating disorder nonsense. I think I was probably the last one to finish putting my salad together since I was procrastinating adding anything “new” to it. Eventually, I decided, and ate away happily. It ended up being delicious!

* My first Whole Foods salad; with tofu, romaine, kale, roasted zucchini and red peppers, cucumber, edamame, and hummus *

The company was the best part, obviously!

After our meal, Meg, Chelsea, Lindsay, and I decided to walk on over to Newbury Street and do a little shopping. We obviously had to stop off in Lululemon.

Back at the hotel, we all made sure to check in and pick up our swag! It was wonderful.

Tons of samples along with new Reebok shoes! I was pretty pumped about getting a pair of these babys. I went back up to my room to unpack the swag, snack on an apple and a homemade protein bar I brought along, and get ready for dinner that evening.

We didn’t know what the food situation would be like at the cocktail party later on, so a group of us decided to go on over to Figs and try out their dinner. It was a really cute, very small restaurant. Where they made amazing looking pizzas.

I looked at the menu and I’ll be honest in saying my dinner choice was based out of fear of ordering something different and “unsafe”.

I stuck with a salad, dressing on the side, and grilled chicken. I can’t judge the restaurant based on the food choices I made, I mean does a plain salad with grilled chicken taste much different between each restaurant? Probably not.

Everyone else said their meals were delicious though! So, I take that as a good sign.

Poor Heather though, they didn’t have anything vegan so she couldn’t enjoy a meal with us! Anyways, I ended up having a minor (major) freakout over the fact that the chicken was cooked in oil and I ended up asking the server about it. After talking to her and the others, I decided to eat it anyways, even though my head screamed at me to not finish it.

It was so much fun to actually get to sit down with all these ladies and talk about everything. We all got along famously and had such a blast. I knew that we would all connect right away, and we basically blabbed the whole time and I just adored getting to know each of these ladies better. They are all such amazing and kind-hearted people!

After we finished up dinner, we were all set to head back to the hotel for the Cocktail party. More on that next! This is getting way too long!

Do you have a Whole Foods where you live? Favourite things to buy there?:)

What do you usually order when you go out to eat? Or does it depend where you go?

Hope you all have fun plans for the weekend!

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Healthy Living Summit Reflections

August 23, 2012 by

Good Morning!

I feel like this week has just flown by! No complaints there. I guess going to Boston and not arriving home until Monday night (technically Tuesday morning) made the week pass by faster.

As promised my recaps from Boston will start today, I will be talking about my reflections from the entire conference today and than probably doing the daily recaps from there. I just felt I wanted this recap to be very honest and go from there!

* Before I get started, I need to talk about my breakfast this morning! I received a sample pack of Love Grown Foods granola at the Summit and made a pancake out of it using the sample package of apple walnut delight, an egg, a few tablespoons pumpkin, stevia, baking powder, and a handful of blueberries, cooked in coconut oil. Holy delicious. This was so awesome! Must eat this again. Now, I just need to find this granola in stores. I topped this with creamy almond butter, and it ended up being a super filling breakfast *

When I decided to purchase a ticket to the Healthy Living Summit, I was immediately excited. You don’t often get presented with the chance to go on a trip with a ton of other Healthy Living Bloggers to discuss you passion of blogging, social media, food, and fitness. So when the chance arrose I knew I wanted to take this opportunity and really connect with some of the people who I have become close with through this blog.

I knew that this trip to Boston would be a huge challenge for me. For one, I hate stepping outside of my confort zone, I don’t do it often and only create discomfort in my life is if I “have to”. I thought by the time the Summit rolled around I would magically be fixed and I wouldn’t be having such hesitations.

* Me, Chelsea, and Lindsay - photo from Meg *

I was actually extremely excited, but I was very anxious about what was to come up. I knew that I would be eating different foods that I didn’t have control over preparing, that I would be socializing a lot, and that I would be uncomfortable with the idea of travelling by myself.

If you haven’t already read Tessa’s post on her recap, I urge you to do so. It was a great recap and I can relate to a lot of her thoughts that she explained! I was worried others would be judging me on factors like “I am too fat, ugly, etc.” These are all horrible things to be thinking, but in honesty I was concerned about what other people would think of me.

* Whole Foods salads – the best! Meg, Cait, Heather, and I – photo from Heather *

When I first walked down to the lobby to meet the others I was so nervous to finally be meeting some amazing people! I wanted to meet the bloggers who share the same passions in life. Who get equally excited about new workouts, recipes, and fun ingredients;) Its a very unique situation and I was immediately relieved when I walked out of the elevator and was greeted with hugs and excitement!

All of the concerns I had previously washed away and I felt like I really connected with all the people who I talked with. I finally had other people to discuss creative recipes with, workouts, blogging, and even getting into deep conversations about experiences with eating disorders and issues we’ve had surrounding this.

* Sara, Me, and Heather *

Blogging has really changed my life for the better. I get to write about my experiences with anorexia and dealing with recovery, while sharing a passion for health and fitness that others may find weird. While meeting and talking with all these fabulous people was super awesome, I experienced some not-so-awesome feelings.

I was quite surprised when I saw a few people who were very, very tiny. From what is presented in some blogs, it makes them come off as they are recovered and doing fine, or others who have not even said they have eating issues, but are still quite ill looking.

* Cait, Me, and Heather representing after the Reebok sponsored crossfit workout *

I’m not one to judge so who knows if they even realize they are in a place where others are aware of their sick like appearance. Its a hard thing to acknowledge and accept, because you don’t know if you are in a place to say something to them. It is their journey and not mine to get involved with.

I’m probably in the minority with stating I do not mind if people give their opinions about me, saying that I need to work on things, or to give me constructive criticism. The only way I can truly get better is if I allow people to give their criticisms and really take them into account and try and change to better myself as a person! I value what other people say about me.

I had plans to go into Boston and enjoy my time away from home and my routine, but sadly I did not. I ultimately got very stressed out, and ended up skimping on meals and snacks and not allowing myself to indulge in any new foods while I was away. Sadly, I let comparisons enter into my mind and felt I was “too big” compared to other people and that I didn’t deserve to indulge in treats.

* Heather, Brittany, Me, and Tessa after our WOD *

In no way did I want to look like I did back in those horrible times, but I did allow the anxiety and negative thoughts to overcome and make choices based on what was safe for my eating disorder. I wanted to enjoy myself and the interactions with people at HLS, so I decided early on I wasn’t going to work out.

I am very happy with this decision to take those 4 days off from working out, as to develop more of a connection with people and the city. I didn’t want my mind to be consumed with what workout routine I’d be doing in the morning and I didn’t let it.  We can’t undo all the progress in fitness we have made in 34days, so I didn’t find it a big deal to skip out on the workouts.

Attending Healthy Living Summit, I assumed the food would be amazing, so didn’t pack too much. I honestly thought they would have more nutritious options that focused on all types of dietary needs. Sadly, there weren’t too many options that I would have liked anyways. A lot of the things were heavily processed. While I have no problem in indulging in these things occasionally, I don’t think I would enjoy to eat this way for every meal. And that is just my opinion.

* Last picture I got at the Summit :( *

I do wish that I let go of my “clean eating obsession” and allowed myself to enjoy the delicious food Boston has. A lot of the people whom I went out with ate amazing meals, while I stuck with my “safe options”. Its something I clearly need to work on, and that is one of the realizations I have made once coming home.

The best part about this conference though was not the food or the workouts obviously, it was making true connections with the people I have communicated with on my blog for the past months. From this experience, I have truly met some of my greatest friends and could not ask for a better weekend with people I truly and deeply care about.

I connected with every person I met with and was so sad when it was time to leave. The relationships I have built with people are one of a kind and I feel that I am great friends with many people in this community. I felt everybody was genuine, kind, and just felt blessed that I was able to be experiencing this.

* Meg and I *

This weekend has changed my life and perspective for the better, I learned I want to, more than anything truly get over this disease and that I have made some of the greatest friends a girl could ever ask for. I only wish the conference lasted longer than the 3 days! I could have easily spent the next 3 weeks in the same room with these people and building even stronger friendships with them. I also have amazing and supportive people who are helping me through this hard and lengthy journey and really appreciate them throughout this difficult time!

Oh boy, this was a long post! I didn’t mean for it to be so lengthy so thank you if you actually read all of that! Don’t blame you if you didn’t though;)

Tomorrow I will actually recap the days and share more of the daily musings at the conference!

Have you ever been in surroundings that were hard for you to deal with?

Do you ever experience forms of disordered eating?

What was the best part of being at the Healthy Living Summit for you, if you attended?

Tell me something exciting about your weekend, if you didn’t attend!

I hope everyone has an amazing day!! I just want to thank everyone for reading and being part of this journey with me:) You all are truly amazing people!

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