{Blend Retreat 2013}

Health & Fitness Me

Happy Memorial Day Friends!

I hope you are having a nice relaxing Monday!

Last weekend, Madison and I were lucky enough to attend the 2013 Blend Retreat at the Canyons Ski Resort!  We registered for the retreat before I knew the extent of my back/neck issues, so I wasn't sure how much of the weekend i would be able to participate in. 

We arrived on Friday afternoon, and checked in to the GORGEOUS Hyatt Escala Lodge.  It was so beautiful.  We shared a beautiful 4 bedroom suite with these awesome girls:

Lauren, Lauren, Mollie, Alex, Sonia, Christine, Julie and Laura

They were all so awesome, and I am so happy to have met them all!

Friday night started out with a Cocktail Party, sponsored by Silk.  In addition to having a full bar set up, Silk had a few signature cocktails made with their soy and almond milk.  I stuck with my trusty Chardonnay, but Madi tried the Strawberry Mint Slush.  It was delicious!

After the Cocktail Party, we had a fabulous 4-course dinner buffet in the ballroom.  The dinner was delicious, and we got to spend time mingling and getting to know the other "blends"!

The next morning, GPP led a group workout, which was awesome.  With my back/neck issues, I wasn't able to do much of the workout (only the squats and push-ups), but it was still a great workout for  me!

 Photo source here

Breakfast on Saturday was sponsored by The Laughing Cow and Muesli Fusion.  HOLY GOODNESS!

The weather over the weekend was rainy and wet.  We had a hike scheduled for late morning, but with the weather, we weren't sure if it was going to happen. Fortunately, the rain subsided to just a drizzle and we were able to get our hike in.  Living in Utah, I sometimes take the beauty of the mountains for granted.  I live a short 20 miles from The Canyons, and we don't make it up here often enough.  The hike was gorgeous.  I wasn't sure how well, I was going to do, but I'm so glad I just went with it.  Even though  my arms were numb most of the time, it was worth it.  GORGEOUS!  The hike was sponsored by Pro Bar.  Fabulous protein bars and chews!  I could seriously, eat those chews like candy!

Photo source here and here

 The rest of the day we were on our own.  Madi and I did a little shopping at the outlet stores and stopped by downtown Park City for a bit.  By the time we were done around 5:00, we were exhausted.  Madi felt like she might be coming down with a cold, so she crashed for a few hours.  It was nice for both of us to be able to just chill in our suite.  We did grab a takeout pizza from Drafts, which was really good! We called it a night early!

On Sunday morning, GPP hosted another workout which I didn't make it to. I was sooo sore from Saturday and knew that I wouldn't be able to do much of the workout with my neck issue, so I slept in.  From what I heard, Neil put together another great workout!

Breakfast on Sunday was sponsored by Chobani, which is a FAVE of mine! 

I can't even begin to explain how fabulous this breakfast was!  Omelet stations with all the fixin's and Chobani yogurt sauce, Chobani Smoothies, Chobani Pancakes (YUM!), and Oatmeal with Chobani too!  Plus a huge assortment of Chobani yogurt, including their new Flips!  So good!

After our awesome breakfast, we all packed up our rooms, etc. and headed to the last event of the weekend.  The Raffle, which was sponsored by Blue Diamond.  Have you tried the new flavored almonds?  If not, you should!  The Coconut Almonds are amazing! I can't believe how many fabulous items were raffled off!  Everyone went home with at least one raffle item, and sometimes two! 

I won the entire Smooth Sensations Cream Cheese line from The Laughing Cow!!

Love that stuff!  I couldn't be more thrilled!

After the raffle, it was time to say Good-Bye to everyone.  What a great group of women, and a super fabulous weekend!  This was exactly what I  needed the weekend before my neck surgery!

Thank you so much Janetha, Lindsay and Katie!

I had the time of my life!

Ali