This is a recount of my experience at Fitbloggin’ 14. Previous posts covered the pre-conference events and Friday sessions.
Saturday was another early morning that kicked off with 6 am yoga led by the awesome Kia Riu from Bodhi Bear. (I’m on the far left in the picture above in all black). I wasn’t fully awake when we started so it was a gentle way to wake up .
Kia gifted us all with a cool Soybu headband at the end.
I headed straight to breakfast and more coffee after the class. Breakfast was great as usual but I forgot (again) to take a picture.
Next I went to the Fitblogger Tough Love session. It’s about accountability which I shared earlier this month. You might notice I’m still downing the coffee in this photo.
At 9 am I headed outdoors for the Walgreens Way to Well van. After checking in, I had a chance to make a video with a health tip (can’t wait to see these) and then went into the van for screening.
After filling out a short form, we were weighed, had body fat analyzed and some blood drawn. I will be sharing specifics later but for now I’ll say I was pleasantly surprised by the results and can see progress. It’s not all good news but there was enough!
Staying through the screening meant I missed the Zumba class at 9:30 am. I was so sad!
We had a long break for lunch so I got into “real” clothes so I’d be ready when my husband, son and daughter-in-law arrived for lunch.
We walked over to The Olde Pink House for lunch. The building was built as a private home in 1771 and still has the original wood floors. It was elegant and a wonderful dining experience.
The food matched the ambiance! We all loved our dishes.
The fried green tomatoes are on the left. The four of us shared this appetizer so each had half a slice. I didn’t know what I’d been missing all my life!
Next was the she-crab soup. I first had this when living in South Carolina thirty years ago and it was as delicious as I remembered. My “main” course was a fried chicken salad which was just right.
All too soon our meal was over and we said good-bye to our “kids” before heading back to the Hyatt.
I went to the Media Kits session led by Katy Widrick. One of these days I’m going to make one! I liked that she showed examples of do’s and don’ts.
The next session was Make Wearable Fitness Devices Work for You led by Drew Edmonds. I must confess I didn’t know who he was but learned he was the trainer for Ruby Gettinger of the show “Ruby” and has also trained Paula Deen.
I didn’t really learn anything at the panel session but since I won a Fitbit Flex it was a worthwhile hour plus!
My last session before dinner was Tech Tools (And Free Plugins!) You Need To Build Your Blog To The Next Level led by Shannyn Allan from Frugal Beautiful. I had to leave early to make our dinner reservation but have already implemented one of the tools mentioned so this was definitely worthwhile.
My husband and I joined Denise and her husband for dinner at Paula Deen’s The Lady and Sons restaurant. This is a three story restaurant and each floor is a duplicate meaning there is a buffet, restrooms, etc. on each floor. We were on the third floor and lucky enough to be seated at a window table.
The ambiance seemed like a big cafeteria designed to get large volumes of customers in and out. I don’t know why but I was expecting a nicer atmosphere.
After waiting at least 10 minutes for service, our waiter introduced himself. We had our bread five minutes earlier but apparently no one gets you any beverage except your server.
The bread consisted of a wonderful biscuit and a pancake (hoe cake?). Finally the server arrived and we all ordered off the menu. Denise’s first choice was already sold out. This was at 5:15 pm in the evening.
The food arrived quickly yet they didn’t have a steak knife for the steak entree. It took 10-15 minutes for a steak knife to be found and brought to our table. By then the entree was cold but there was no attempt to remedy this lack of service.
I ordered shrimp and grits and it was delicious! I ate all the shrimp and just a third of the creamy, rich grits. My husband had a fried shrimp salad.
He enjoyed it. I didn’t get pictures of the other entrees but they were also good. We ended the meal by sharing a slice of pecan pie. I just had a bite of the filling and it was very good. A lot of pecan pies are overly sweet but this one was not.
We rushed back to the hotel because there was a photo session for people who’ve attended all five Fitbloggin conferences AND a special guest.
Arian Foster, the NFL Houston Texans running back, is an investor in Health Warrior. That’s why I’m standing holding a Health Warrior Chia Bar in the picture above with Arian. We spoke briefly and I shared I was from San Diego (Arian finished his high school career here). He was very nice and took selfies with all who wanted.
The goodbye reception had a dessert bar so of course I had to try it!
I ended up just eating the taffy and fudge (which was thankfully a little bite). The rest was just too sweet. It’s amazing how your tastes change after you cut down on sugar.
I stayed for most of the problogger panel but the long day caught up with me and I headed up to the room knowing my favorite blogging conference is almost over.
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