Fitness Magazine’s #FitBlogNYC ‘13 Recap - Part 2

After all of the fabulous speakers at the Fitness Magazine Meet & Tweet, (you can read about it here.) We headed inside to check out booths from all of the event’s sponsors.

Athleta was there showcasing a ton of awesome styles from their summer collection.  They had a ton of great pieces and I might have to get myself a swimsuit… and about 12 other things!

Camelbak, as I mentioned in my first post, gave us all water bottles when we signed in and they also sponsored a “hydration station” to keep the H2O flowing all day!

Crystal Light has samples of their new Crystal Light liquid that you can squirt right into your water.  It’s great because you could control how much flavor you put into the water.

Ford Fiesta had a really fun photo booth setup – I swear, I haven’t been drinking in these pictures!  Wendy and I were cracking up because we kept missing the camera!

At the Marmot booth I met Paige Claassen, a rock climber who is about to embark on a year-long worldwide rock climbing adventure.  She will be raising money for a different non-profit each month with the Lead Now tour, Marmot and Fitness magazine.

Reebok had a great display of all of their fun, colorful, sneakers! I was so excited to find a new pair of their Sublite sneakers in my gift bag!

Saucony had a mini shoe store set up and I was fit for a new pair of Kinvara 4 natural motion performance running shoes.

The Smart Balance booth was a bunch of fun! They had out these amazing peanut butter balls out to sample and they were handing out free jars of peanut butter to anyone who put on a super-awesome #balancedblogger headband and balanced on the bosu ball!

At the Tonalin booth, we learned all about Tonalin CLA a naturally-sourced supplement that helps increase lean muscle mass.

 

Vichy let us view a hilarious video from their new campaign, #celluliteconfessions.  I am now pretty much obsessed with their Cellu Destock lotion and their foaming sunscreen!

After visiting the booths, I sat down for lunch and recharged my poor, dying, phone.  I grabbed a beet hummus wrap and a raw “ceasar salad” with kale and a soaked cashew dressing.  It was soooo good!

After lunch, I relaxed for a bit and chatted with some of the other bloggers and then headed off to my first ever group fitness class. I was a little nervous about it, especially since I picked the dance party class and I am completely uncoordinated.  A bunch of the other girls (everyone was so nice, btw) told me not to worry about it and just have fun. So, I checked my anxiety at the door and headed into the “movement” room at the Mercedes Club.

The founder of Mad Cool Fitness, Jennifer Turner, was our instructor for the Mad Cool Dance Party and let me tell you, it was mad cool.  She cranked up the music and told us to have fun.  Although, I couldn’t do all the moves just like Jennifer, I still had a blast.  She mixed dance moves with good ol’ fashioned moves like squats and lunges.  Her energy was was contagious and by the end of the class I was feeling empowered as we cooled down to Alicia Keys “Girl On Fire.” It was a great workout and I was feeling it the next day!

After the class it was time to grab our gift bags and say our good-byes. The gift bag was epic but, I will save that for another post!

I carried all of this for 17 blocks!!

Fitness Magazine’s #FitBlogNYC ‘13 Recap - Part 1

Last Thursday I was invited to Fitness Blogger Meet & Tweet hosted by Fitness Magazine at the fabulous Mercedes Club in New York City! It was such an awesome day and it was really well organized.  There was a ton of stuff going on, but I didn’t feel in the least bit overwhelmed… and I get overwhelmed easily!

My morning started off super early.  I wanted to give myself plenty of time to walk to the train station since I had never walked there before.  I made sure I was out of the house with plenty of time to spare… it took me exactly 16 minutes to make the walk.  I actually had to wait at the train station for an even earlier train than I had planned on! Which was great, once I got into Grand Central and walked up to the Mercedes Club, I was right on time. 

I was greeted at the door and quickly checked in and given a name badge and a sweet, brand new, Camelbak water bottle to stay hydrated throughout the day.  Then I was (thankfully) pointed in the direction of a selection of breakfasts.  Someone may have forgotten to eat breakfast before all of the walking and traveling and they may have been feeling pretty shaky by the time they arrived, especially after taking an allergy pill on the train.  I don’t want to name any names though…. okay… it was me.

I found my friend Wendy, a fellow Connecticut Blogger and sat down and chatted for a bit before the speakers started.  They had a great line-up of people discussing several different topics.  Everything they spoke about was relevant, interesting and entertaining.

First up was Insider Beauty Secrets to Get You Glowing with celebrity makeup artist and Executive Director of Global Artistry at Stila Cosmetics, Sarah Lucero.  She shared her top 3 beauty tips with us - get plenty of rest, use a good tinted moisturizer and use the same tone on your cheeks & lips. We also learned a hot trend for summer is a “power pout,” a bright, vibrant color on your lips.  My favorite advice from Sarah was her after-gym advice.  You know, if you are going to meet up with friends after the gym? She recommends a fun bun (or messy bun,) a headband, a little dry shampoo, blush and wither highlighting your eyes or lips (not both.)

 

The next speaker was the lovely and down-to-earth Dr. Jennifer Ashton.  She is the ABC News Senior Medical Contributor, an ob-gyn, triathlete & author! She told us how important it is that your ob-gyn is like your bff and you should be able to talk about anything with them.  She also talked about women’s health and the 3 things you need everyday to stay healthy – movement, rest & nourishment. Easy enough, right?

 

Up next were the bloggers! Fitness Magazine brought in a diverse group of bloggers to talk to us about the business of blogging.  Dana Weiss from Possessionista, Deb Perlman from Smitten Kitchen, Jill Hanner from JillHanner.com and Erin Whitehead from Fit Bottomed Girls told us about how their blogs came to be and offered up some great tips. The two things that everyone could agree on? – Don’t blog for money, blog for yourself & don’t pay attention to what others are doing, just be yourself.

Brett Hoebel, a trainer from Biggest Loser Season 11, spoke about the Extreme Fitness trend.  He said that extreme forms of fitness create competition and that people want bragging rights.  I completely agree with him, if I have just finished an awesome race or have done some sort of extreme fitness, you better believe I am posting about it on facebook! I am proud of myself, I think bragging about it is good. Plus, you might even inspire someone else to go outside their comfort zone!

 

The last speaker was Rocco Dispirito, the star of Now Eat This! He had recently traveled to Italy and learned about real Italian cooking for 26 different “Mama’s.” He talks about everything he learned and shares healthier versions of old-school Italian recipes that he created alongside the “Mama’s” in his new book, Now Eat This! Italian. I can’t wait to check it out!

All the seminars were moderated by the knowledgeable staff at Fitness magazine and it was great to listen to the back-and-forth conversation rather than a lecture. They also did a Q&A with each guest, another plus!

This was just the beginning of my day at #FitBlogNYC stay tuned for more posts about the sponsor’s booths, my first ever group fitness class and the fabulous gift bag!

Mamavation Monday–Busy, busy!

This post is sponsored by Simple Self Defense for Women and Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway.

Happy Monday! I’ve been super busy and I don’t think I even wrote a Mamavation Monday post last week, which is really unlike me.  I really enjoy writing my post each week to keep myself accountable.

Sooo, this will sort of be a re-cap of the past 2 weeks! My “baby” turned 2 on Mother’s Day and we celebrated with a party for him on the Saturday before and had a nice Mother’s Day/Birthday dinner on Sunday. 

I also started working a little bit with my mom, doing some gardening.  It’s been nice to get out in the fresh air and it’s slightly a lot more relaxing than what I had previously been doing – babysitting!

On Thursday I went into NYC for a blogger event at Fitness Magazine.  It was such an awesome day and I had a lot of first-time experiences.  It was my first time going into the city by myself, my first conference-like event and I also participated in my first group fitness class! Oh, and I also received my first ridiculously awesome swag bag! I will be writing all about this fabulous event later this week (probably in about 4 different posts!)

Friday night I went out with some friends for wine and fondue. 

Saturday night was spent watching my older son have a blast at a friends 5th birthday party at a gymnastics center.

And, Sunday we took the kids to the local children’s cabaret theatre for a showing of “The Wizard of Odds.” We all had a blast! (Thanks for the tickets, mom!) 

I’ve also been going to the gym, when I can, and running on the treadmill.  I’ve just been trying to run a mile as fast as I can.  My best time so far was 9:05. I’ll have to see how fast I can do it outside, but I am still waiting for the air to be less pollen-y.

This week I’m going to try to do my pilates DVD a few times and continue with the running, I have a 5K coming up on the 31st!