The Greatest Girls Weekend

When I set out to attend Blend the first year in 2012, I went in knowing no one. I knew of some of the bloggers that would be there, but I didn’t actually no anyone. It was scary but I swallowed my nerves, stepped outside my comfort zone and had a great weekend. I met some amazing women that weekend, got in a couple great workouts and in general, just had so much fun.

There was no question when tickets for Blend 2013 went on sale that I needed to get one. I made sure to buy them within moments of tickets going on sale, afraid that they may sell out and I’d miss out on amazing weekend. I got my ticket and we all made our way to Utah for what would be another amazing weekend. It was a little different having already known a few ladies and then getting an opportunity to reconnect with them, while also making new friends.

Once again, when tickets for Blend 2014 went on sale, there was no reason to question why I wouldn’t want to attend again. It became the girl’s weekend I could look forward to attending; the opportunity to reconnect with friends that I may otherwise not get to see; and making more friends that will be located all around the country. I’m not sure if it gets much better. Yet somehow, each year, it does.

Some may call me a “bad blogger” this weekend as I didn’t rip out my phone every 2 seconds to take pictures of the food and snacks or to document every moment of our weekend and I didn’t hand my phone to someone when taking a group photo but rather decided I could just get the photo from friends later to share. Instead, I decided to just live and enjoy the moment. Sometimes that means putting your phone down or keeping it in your purse.

Since I was representing RxBar this weekend, I was sure to share the love. I handed out bars and talked to everyone about the deliciousness of RxBars, took pictures of how we were fueling ourselves with the bars and goofed around with my roomies doing an awkward photo shoot with the bars. But even in the process of remaining loyal to my commitment, I was able to put the phone away, put the social media away and enjoy it all.

I’m not going to leave you hanging though on our weekend. It was so fun and if I hung out with you this weekend, I want to see you next year (back in Boulder!) and if I didn’t hang out with you, I want you to join us for the fun next year and see what I’m talking about!

I started my weekend on Thursday, flying into Salt Lake City, and then meeting a few of the girls in downtown Salt Lake City for lunch. After lunch, I left the group to make my way to Park City where I met up with the Lindsay, Janetha & Lauren to help unpack the truck of stuff and get started on sorting, organizing, setting up and stuffing swag bags. We were done by 11, went to bed and woke up bright and early for a quick workout before making our way to breakfast to fuel for the long day ahead of registration & fun.

Friday night we had a super fun & yummy cocktail party followed by dinner. We got to see who all was there, reconnect with & meet new friends, and taking funny photos!

It had been a long day and many of us were tired so we made our way upstairs and my suite mates and I hung out for awhile chatting before making our way to bed.

Saturday morning was bootcamp #1. I woke up hungry and fueled myself with half of an RxBar before getting my booty kicked with lots of burpees, squats, lunges and pushups. After our workout, we made our way to breakfast and shortly thereafter went on a gorgeous hike. We started the hike by riding on a gondola and let’s just say, that was not the highlight of my weekend. I’ve never been in one but I quickly learned it’s a bit too much of a “ride” for me and especially as we came to our final destination to get off the gondola, I was tearing up feeling like we were going to crash. The good thing? The other girls in my gondola were super sweet and kept me calm the whole ride up so I could just enjoy the view which was absolutely amazing!

The hike up was fun and when we got to our destination, there was a gorgeous lake where we stopped for a few photo opps and to just take in the scenery. It was absolutely incredible.

Me and my Blend BFF, Amanda – 3 years of Blend roomies!

The hike down was a bit scary as I chose to go with the group not taking the gondola and it often felt like we were going straight down. I was definitely nervous at a few different points and needless to say was happy to make it to the bottom safe and sound. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? 😉

After our hike, the rest of the day was ours for the making. I was feeling especially exhausted so after a snack with some of the girls, I decided to take some quiet time to myself and just relax. As much as I love hanging out with these ladies and want to enjoy every possible moment with them, at the end of the day I need some time to breathe. After my little rest, I met up with a few other ladies for a delicious dinner. We were all craving salads and veggies and that’s exactly what we all got. They were delicious and Lindsay got an incredible photo that just captures the beauty of our dinner. The company was perfect, the food was just what we needed and we all left happy girls.

We went back to the hotel for a little more social time and as it got late, made our way back to the suite for some initial packing and bed.

Sunday started with another bootcamp, this one led by GPP Fitness and it was AWESOME! We did a team workout that included running, burpees, squats, pushups, situps and dips. My team ended up “winning” but it was really just a fun way to get our sweat on! Followed up by breakfast, raffles, packing and the worst part of the weekend, lots of goodbyes.

It’s always bittersweet at the end of a weekend like this. There’s the part of you that’s ready to go home, eat your own food, sleep in your own bed and see the friends/family that you miss, but then there’s also the part of you that’s missing all of these wonderful friends already. You know there’s the possibility you may see some sooner rather than later, but you also know full well, most you may not see for another whole year and that’s never easy.

This may be a weekend full of healthy-living bloggers, food, sponsors and swag, but more so, it’s a weekend for friends – new and old. 🙂

**While it was a fun weekend, I know the girls put in a lot of time and hard work to make it happen and that it wouldn’t be possible without all of the sponsors that contributed to the weekend to make it happen. Thank you to all of the sponsors with a special shoutout to some of my favorites from the weekend Silk, Sizzlefish, GPP Fitness, and of course, RxBar!**