FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

An Unconventional #HLS13 Recap

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Green Smoothie

I’m not quite sure how many times you have to tell yourself that you’re back to your old self before you’re actually back to your old self, but I’m determined to continue on that path until I am, in fact, back to my old self.  Back to my blogging self, baking self, yoga self, creative self, call my gramma often self, on-top-of-my-game at work self, giggly friend self, super dank waffle self.

I hopped on a plane to Minneapolis for the Healthy Living Summit and had a hard hope that leaving someone behind that I wasn’t ready to leave was exactly what I needed to get back to that self.  Perhaps a better version of that self.

Green Smoothie Ingredients

And although I thought I was getting what I needed out of the weekend, I kept myself too busy to know for sure.  A little too busy to think, but also a little too busy to be social.  I stuck mostly with my roommates, Jessica and Molly, and the rest of the HLS planning team.  I live tweeted sessions that I hadn’t signed up to live tweet.  And I live blogged a session, that I had signed up for, with all my might.  I handed out Just Good Chocolate brownies like nobody’s business (it was easy peasy, they were well received!).  And I topped the weekend off with one of the best dinners I’ve ever attended: 112 Eatery with my very good, but also Just Good Chocolate good, friend Justin and five chocolate loving bloggers (Jessica, Mindy, Alicia, Laura, and Stina).  And before I knew it, it was time to head back to Austin.  Was I ready?

Microplane Ginger

If ready meant exhausted, then yep! I was ready.  I came home and made some mac n cheese, Molly brought over a freshly blended juice concoction, and we watched Stories We Tell (which I LOVED).

Monday was a Monday.

And then the cloud of exhaustion lifted and all of the goodness that happened throughout HLS weekend sunk in.  Big time.

–  Diana’s session “Ride a Bike!” was my absolute favorite.  Even though I was initially interested in this session because I’d like to ride my bike more, especially to/from work, it inspired me in a gazillion other ways, all unexpected.  Diana’s energy and enthusiasm towards the simplest yet biggest things (like life, both simple and big, right?) was empowering.  Her “A Year of Minneapolis Nice” project was too great to be kept only in Minneapolis.  And to over-simplify what happened next, I felt the need to make this happen in Austin.  And I felt the need to convince bloggers in other cities to do the same.  Keep a look out for “A Year of XYZ Nice” projects popping up over the next month or so.  And if you want to be involved, let’s do it!  Email me at ATXnice365 at gmail dot com to get started.

– Jessica & Co.’s session “Self Care” also shifted my mindset.  Everyone knows you should focus on the positive, be the most awesome you that you can be and believe it, and make time to keep your whole self healthy, but we rarely put it into practice.  These girls provided life-changing suggestions at a time I was ready to life-change.  Like… a social media cleanse?  But I need social media to promote the blog I’ve so embarrassingly neglected for months!  I figured that it would be impossible and hobby-destructive to go cold turkey, so I decided to eliminate the avenue I felt was most toxic, Kristin Vrana Facebook.  We’ll see how long that lasts, but it feels pretty darn good at the present time.  I’ve also noticed a difference already in how I treat the previously weak FoodFash Facebook page and how I’d like to utilize this space for sharing music, quotes, and any other things I see fit on a more frequent basis.

– The People!  After three years of HLS-ing, I know that large groups and small talk still make me want to hide behind… anything.  So coming home with a hundred new business cards and new blogger friends like whoa was never on my agenda.  But what was on my agenda was catching up with virtual friends turned real life friends, in real life.  And also stumbling upon a few new faces that I hope to keep in touch with from this point forward.  At the end of the day, these girls wholeheartedly get a piece of me that is seemingly unexplainable to non-blogging folk.  And there’s a sense of cozy that is inherent when in their company.

Post HLS, I (enthusiastically) have a lot on my plate.  I spent the evening buying domain names, re-arranging web hosting, doing laundry, scrubbing the apartment, slurping down lots of green smoothie (spinach, cucumber, peach, ginger), and writing this novel of a post.  And post this HLS post, I’m welcoming the feeling of putting my energy towards the stuff that’s pulling towards me rather than pushing away.

#HLS12 – The Last Day

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After another yum-tastic Summit breakfast, my roommate from this year and last year (Emily), my roommate from last year (Krista), Mindy, and I, all decided to head back to Boston and spend the day in the city before heading to the airport.  Somehow amazing weather swept through the city last night and was still in full effect today.  I’m telling you, it was the best walking weather we could have ever hoped for.

Emily went to college in Boston and still lives in Massachusetts, so we left it up to her to lead the way.  She suggested lunch at Quincy Market since we were all hungry for a solid lunch before our upcoming travel agendas.  The walk to lunch lended itself to quite the picturesque path.

I trailed behind the group, taking in the oldness of Boston.

Growing up and Florida, and Texas being the only other place I have ever lived, historic downtown architecture is something that signifies vacation for me.  I totally look forward to it!

The picture of the older gentleman playing an unidentifiable instrument with his pup was my favorite of the day.

When we arrived at Quincy Market, we quickly realized it was the perfect lunch spot as we were all craving something completely different.  We parted ways to browse and made a plan to meet up on the steps so we could eat together in the sunshine.

Emily had Greek, Krista had Italian, Mindy had Thai, and I…

I had Boston!  There were three places in the market that served lobster rolls, so I checked each of them out and settled on the place whose roll looked the most lobster-rich.  If only this hot dog bun was a warm crusty sourdough roll, I would have been in heaven.  I ate half the sandwich as-is and picked the lobster out of the second half in order to save room for pastry.

Mindy hadn’t been to the North End yet and wanted to sample Mike’s Pastry before leaving town.  After posting about Mike’s Pastry, my mom let me know that Maria’s was her favorite and suggested getting the sfogliatelli.  We went to Mike’s first so Mindy could see what all the rage was about and then headed to Maria’s to order my mom’s fav.  Mike’s definitely had a better selection, but the quaintness of Maria’s was undeniable.  We munched on our sweetness as we headed back to the hotel, gave hugs, and parted ways.
I’m so happy to report that my second Healthy Living Summit was even better than the first!  I’m going to miss everyone SOOO much but know that it will be time for HLS13 in the blink of an eye!

#HLS12 – Strolling Through Boston

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After three days of Summit happenings on the Cambridge side of town, I was antsy to cross the river and see what Boston was all about.  I convinced four other exhausted bloggers (Mary, Danielle, Emily & Kelly) to join me for a dinner adventure.  We hopped on the T and made our way to Scollay Square.

Scollay Square was decent, but it wasn’t nearly as special as anything I’d eaten on the Cambridge side.  We finished our meals at record pace and decided to walk around the city and take advantage of unseasonably cool weather.

We made our way through the bustling North End on Mission: Dessert and found ourselves in line at Emily’s favorite, Mike’s Pastry.  The line was so out of control that you just knew anything would be amazing.  And knowing this, made it impossible to settle on just one sweet.

I ordered an eclair, a cannoli, and a neopolitan, perfectly aware at how ridiculous the order must have seemed.  And honestly, the over-ordering me had little intention of sharing.  But the post-few-bites me recognized that I was seconds away from a total food coma and would need to give away the extras.  I curled up in the covers and sent Emily and Danielle downstairs with my Mike’s Pastry box so they could spread the food coma love.

#HLS12 – @Wild_Harvest Breakfast

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As exciting as trying local restaurant hot spots has been since arriving in Cambridge/Boston on Thursday, for bloggers, the first meal of the Healthy Living Summit is just as exciting!  Yummy food that doesn’t make you feel rotten is always a win.

There was a super huge spread of fruit, yogurt parfaits, muffins, and a few savory hot meals.  But my favorite part of breakfast was Kelly’s Greek inspired egg scramble , which had spinach and feta.  Now that two hours have passed and I’m already thinking of lunch, I’m wishing I had gone back for seconds!

After breakfast, we separated into small groups for icebreakers.  Heather asked me if I was willing to be the head of the purple sticker herd and naturally I said yes.  Not only do I enjoy this sort of thing but Heather is the kind of person you want to be around, always, and it’s darn near impossible to say no to the Heathers of the world.

We went around the circle, answering randomly ridiculous questions about each other.  It’s always so interesting to see how people respond to the unexpected.  It was giggle-inducing for sure.  And at 9 AM in a room full of tons of people you’ve probably only met in the virtual world, giggles are good.

While the bulk of the Summit dabbled in some Crossfit action, my roommates (Emily & Rachel) and I went on a stroll to Boston.  It was a little dreary out, but it was a welcomed change from the typical August heat.

Time to go back into HLS sessions!