So this past weekend I was in Park City, Utah, attending my first event blogger event. And it couldn’t have been more amazing.
I first heard of Blend thought other bloggers like Heather and Sarah who both attended last year, and knew I just had to attend this years. So on a jet plane I went. . .
As soon as I arrived to SLC airport I went to find Gena, who was giving me a ride to the event as well as Lauren and Lauren. Soon we gathered up and headed out of town. We stopped by a bakery first before driving up the mountains to Park City. We arrived at the Hyatt Escala Lodge.
We got our rooms and surprisingly, I was in the same suite as the Laurens! Here are some angles of our suite.
We then headed downstairs to officially check into Blend and received our insane swag bag that our hostesses and their families put together.
all unloaded at home (ignore the husbands creamer)
Special thanks to all our sponsors and those that donated some amazing products:
Chobani, Muesli Fusion, Green Mountain Coffee, Laughing Cow, Silk, Onnit, Blue Print, GPP Fitness, Living Proof Fit Gear, Bob’s Red Mill, Vega, Justin’s Nut Butter, Blue Diamond Almonds, ProBar, Core Power, Attune Foods, Healthy Bites, Zevia, Swanson’s Vitamins, Fitmixer, Larabar, Erewhorn, Simply Choices, Dry Soda, Soy Joy, Nu Naturals, Wildtree, Plant Fusion and Drink Chia . . .
My new roomies, Gena and I were hungry so we headed off to downtown Park City to grab a bite to eat. Not too much was open, but we ended up at a lovely Italian Cafe Tirino, and had a yummy late lunch.
Once we returned, we hit up our suite as our other room mates began to arrive.
Alex, Christine, Lauren, Laura, Me, Madi, Julie, Lauren, Mollie, Ali.
Very sweet gift from Ali and Madi. My first ever LuLu product! A great headband 
Soon, it was time for cocktail hour and we made our way down to mingle with many more bloggers and drink some of the Silk inspired drinks.
sorry for the blurry photo
I got to meet several new to me bloggers and have since added them to my blog feed. One of which was Candice who was very kind and helpful with advice on how to tackle the bootcamp with my hip injury.
Then it was dinner time with some amazing food. I sat with Lauren and Lauren in a group by the bar.
Great food and more mingling, which, to be quite honest, for me is very hard to do. I am a nervous wreck when it comes to meeting people [omg, what if they don’t like me? what if I say something stupid? what if my speech impediment rears its ugly head and makes me even more unintelligible?] and Blend really pushed me out of my comfort zone. In a good way.
There may have been some trips to the photo booth too. I know my copy of photos is somewhere in my stack of papers. . .
By 10:30 I was exhausted and went upstairs. The suitemates and I chatted some more before I headed off to bed, wishing Laura good luck on her marathon in the morning.
Next morning, the majority of us went downstairs and met our fate with GPP fitness bootcamp.
It was a fun experience. He used a deck of cards to tell us how many burpees, sit ups, push ups and squats to do. I did the workout with caution as I didn’t want to overstrain my hip. It was the first time I had worked out in 2 weeks since my injury. When the group was supposed to run (in the rain, as it did the majority of the weekend) I walked along enjoying the cool fresh air.
Soon after getting our butts handed to us by burpees, we waddled our sore bodies over to breakfast hosted my Muesli Fusion and Laughing Cow.
In the photo I had Muesli with some almond milk and a side of fruit. It was soon followed by a cream cheese spread on a bagel and then some more muesli on the chobani yogurt. I was fueling up for the hike to follow.
It was a muddy trek to the trail head, and drizzly, but nothing too bad. We made our way through the single track trail from brush to trees to rocks and snow. An adventure indeed.
group photo courtesy of Fitcupcaker
Sarah, Lauren and I painted our faces with some mud. A trio of kick ass women who conquered the trail.
Soon after I got back to my room I learned of my grandmother’s passing from my cousins on FB. Best way to distract myself from grief? Join in the festivities and mingle with people.
Yes, she is really Miss United States and very cool.
I sampled some Onnit goods like the protein shake and nut butter, which I really enjoyed. And checked out BluePrint cleanse drinks which were all very very good. I’m going to look into it more as I am interested in trying it out for a few days.
Some of my roomies went shopping at the outlets and I figured I’d hang around the lodge. Soon enough I found myself downtown with a large group of Blendie’s and we overtook Park City I sampled some beers at Wasatch Brewery, then hung out at No Name Pub and then back at Wasatch to inhale a bison burger and more beer.
There were soooo many group’s of Blend ladies that it was a little difficult to figure out which one to hang with. I wanted to be able to talk to more people and get to know my fellow bloggers. There was some that I didn’t even get their names!
But the days events caught up with me and I headed home with Laura to relax and pack the majority of my bags to be ready for Sunday’s check out. Seriously, the days flew by insanely fast.
There was a small scone aka “pillows of heaven” party in the suite above mine. . .
. . .hosted by Janetha and “Mama B”. Sooooo delicious! And so very kind of them to open up their room and to make such a yummy treat for the Blendie’s!
After my second pillow, I was full and hit my limit and headed upstairs to land face first into a bed pillow.
Early the next morning we had another bootcamp, which was in doors due to the rain. I sat out most of it since I worried about the sprints, jumps and other crazy moves and how it’d affect my hip. Though I did do some squats and some lunges and even joined in on the cartwheels on the last round. I haven’t done cartwheels since I was in my teens!
It was followed by breakfast hosted by Chobani. So much yummy food. Pancakes, shakes, yogurts and even an omelets bar which by far was the most popular thing. So popular that I waited about 40 minutes in line to get that hot breakfast.
You know when a group of ladies are hungry when the chit chat quiets down and all we can do is stare at the cook as he serves the people ahead of us. haha.
After breakfast was closing ceremony. A raffle was done and everyone got to walk away with a prize and some even two!
We also got to stuff our pockets with some yummy Blue Diamond almonds brought to us by Lindsay, from Lean Green Bean.
And then, just like that. . . we slowly said our goodbyes to each other and Blend was over. It was a whirlwind of activity and over all too soon.
Several of us ladies from my room met up in SLC and had lunch at a local brewery before the airport. Julie and I quickly went out to the Great Salt Lake, just to say we went there and then headed back to the airport to wait for our flights.
I really wish I got more photos with people than just of my randomness and food. I also wish I didn’t let my insecurities hold me back, and talked to more ladies. Everyone was just so kind! Damn it. Next time. . . I better start saving my money because I so need to be there again!
photo courtesy of Christine
Thank you to Janetha, Katie and Lindsay for putting together such an amazing and fun event. I am looking forward to next year You ladies really do know how to put on a party!
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