It’s official…
I’ve been home from Blend Retreat for over 24 hours…
And for the last 26 hours, all I’ve been thinking about is how INCREDIBLE of an experience it was!
I don’t know where to start other than from the beginning…
When slowly, I watched as the clouds that hovered over my little part of Tennessee
Parted and made way for an altogether different terrain
And I had my first view of snow-capped mountains!
Do you see them?
I met up with Jillian and Ashley at the airport and waited for the shuttle to carry us to Chautauqua. I knew from the beginning that I was with “my people” when we started in on a conversation about our significant others eating coveted foodie items without a second thought…that’s right guys….if you are lucky enough to love a foodie, you better ask before swiping up the last few bites of sunflower seed butter for your next sandwich! 😉
The hour and a half van ride flew by and before we knew it, we were pulling up to the Missions House…
Our home for the next 2 1/2 days!
I could never say thank you enough to all the people at Chobani for making this weekend possible…nothing but good and nothing short of amazing! 😉
And I couldn’t get over the beauty that surrounded us at Chautauqua!
As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by Lindsay, Katie, and Janetha with hugs, smiles, and fitness class waivers! Lol
(Totally ganked this photo from Janetha’s amazing stash of pics on Blend’s FB page)
I was so excited to FINALLY meet Janetha for the first time! I’ve been reading her blog since I got started with KMB back in 2010 and I can’t even begin to explain the feeling I got when she sprung around the corner and greeted me with one of the biggest hugs ever!
I knew from that point that this was going to be a great weekend!
Oh, and the huge bag of tricks they gave us helped too…
In my best Wayne & Garth impression:
 “Schaaaaaaa-wag!”Â
Wanna see? Wanna see? Oooooooooof course you do!
But before I allow you to peek inside, let me give you a few details of that bed:
Queen, wooden, cozy, warm.
And now…covered in swag!
It’s like the fit foodie version of a Halloween bucket! 😉
There were so many incredible things stuffed inside, I surprised myself by having enough restraint not to try a bite of everything…well, except for the organic face masks. 😉
I could not believe the amazing generosity of our sponsors!
Or how this fudge literally tasted like birthday cake!
Um, my next birthday…I’ll take a candle in 28 of these babies…
please and thank you!
I was also paired up with my roommate for the weekend, Amanda (who is planning on started a blog in the VERY near future…and if she doesn’t, I will be driving to Denver to hunt her down! Lol!)
We’ll just pretend that I had better foresight and took this photo on the first day of the retreat and not the last, mmmkay?
Over the next couple of hours, everybody got checked in and there were plenty of squealing stereotypical “girl” moments as most of us met each other for the very first time.
As night began to approach it was time to get all dolled up and head to dinner…
But that’s a story I’m going to make you wait for!
Hint: Juicy chicken over quinoa, crisp white wine, and mini cupcakes that make you want to smack yo mama!Â
Ohh, the suspense is killing you isn’t it?
Check back tomorrow for a recap of dinner and all my other delicious eats for What I Ate Wednesday…BLEND style!
