Now that I’m all rested back up after my day of driving to NYC. Let me share with you one of my favorite events of the year that I was honored to be invited back too this year!
#FitBLOGNYC the 2013 edition! Fitness magazine does a great job with this event. With panels, speakers and of course amazing bloggers from across the country.
I was excited for this event for several reasons, #1 I was finally going to get to meet Samantha from Cupcapkes and Running in real life (squeel!) AND of course see many of my favorite bloggers. #2 the speaker list was incredible.
The event was held at the beautiful Mercedes Club and started right on time! I know this because I met Samantha at Grand Central and we decided to walk the 1.2 mile to the event. Welllllll….Siri doesn’t like us and my phone thought I was in Texas so needless to say we got a lil’ bit lost. But arrived promptly at 9:29 for the 9:30 start.
My traveling adventure had started at 2:30AM when I jumped in my car and drove to Poughkipsee to catch the train. I’m not sure if it was being tired or just really bad at directions that caused the mix up. While walking around though we did get to see Jerry O’Connell and Kal Penn which was a perk.
After an introduction from Fitness Editor in Chief Betty Wong. (love her!) The first speakers for the day took the stage. Celebrity make up artist Sarah Lucero, director of Global artistry at Stila! She was super sweet and gave great summer tips since COLORS are big this year. I never would have thought to go with an orange citrus lip but she’s saying that will be the bees knees this season. Coming from the woman who works with the style icon Victoria Beckham I’m trusting her 150%.
The next seminar was Jennifer Ashton MD. You may recognize her from Good Morning America, I did! I was actually really excited to learn she is a still practicing ob-gyn who focuses on holistic approaches to medicine. She is a breast cancer survivor and was an incredible speaker. She offered tips on diet, nutrition as well as becoming BFF’s with your doctor. She has a new book out called Your Body Beautiful. And spoke at great lengths about her 5 days clean eating 2 day moderate eating plan to stay healthy in your 30′s, 40′s and beyond. After my experience with whole30 I think she might be on to something here.
The My blog is my Business was up next. I adore all of these ladies. In order (l-r) they are Christine Griffin the Digital Director at Fitness Magazine (love her too!) Dana Weiss from Possessionista, Deb Pearlman from Smitten Kitchen, Jill Hanner, You Tube Queen and Erin Whithead from Fitbottomed Girls.
I loved these ladies especially since Smitten Kitchen and Jill’s youtube page are regulars on my blog reader! They gave great tips for moving your blog from fun hobby to a business. And Christine is amazing, she even taught her first group class at this very event!
After this seminar it was time for the boys! First up was Brett Hoebel featured trainer from the Biggest Loser season 11 talking extreme sports! I enjoyed his presentation since there was a lot of talk about Warrior Dashes and Tough Mudders! (Hear that Warrior Dash I’m coming for you this year!) I liked thought that he understands that HIIT workouts are extremely popular because they work! He talked about how most people claim they don’t have time, but everyone has 20 minutes.
And last but soooo NOT least was Rocco DiSpirito from basically everywhere but you would know him from Food Network, Top Chef, and his new book Now Eat This! Italian. He was incredibly charming and spoke about this journey through Italy learning to cook from Italian Mommas! I have to say best tip of the day was get a whipped cream maker. He also gave great tips about serving sizes in America being just out of proportion to show value not because it is what you should be eating. AND I learned that basil should be added at the beginning of cooking not at the end as I always do…who knew? I can’t wait to try it out. You can tell he is extremely passionate about food and health and both just exuded from him. He was throwing out recipes the way I can throw out celebrity gossip. It’s a gift 
This amazin day never would have happened without the sponsors which included Athleta, CamelBak, Crystal Light Liquid, The Ford Fiesta Movement, Marmot, Reebok, Saucony, Smart Balance, Tonalin and Vichy.
After the presentation it was time to mingle and get to know the sponsors! Thanks Smart Balance for making me a balanced blogger on the Bosu Ball!
Athleta was rocking their entire collection and asked what’s the perfect summer workout outfit. I say NEONS! Crystal Light Liquid was fantastic if you are a fan of water but want to add a flavor kick these little bottles are the best. I tried the pomtini flavor…YUMMMM! Although I don’t have a picture of it Vichy had a hilarious video about cellulite that made me laugh out loud you can view it here.
At the Reebok booth I lived with fire and purpose:
Samantha and I had some fun in the photo booth:
I was so excited to see Kara from KaraRuns, Jen from Moms Gotta Run, Michelle from NYCrunningmama and give her a huge hug after reading about her NJ marathon, she is just an amazing lady, I adore her! Although I don’t have photos of all these lovely ladies it was great to meet Bex from BexLife, Toni from Running Loving Living, Ashley from the RunningBun, Pamela from SparklySoul, Jill Hanner of course! Wendy from WeightsOver, Amber from ExsoyCise, Courtney from TreadmillRunway!
Kara and I
Kara and I decided we might need to meet more than just once a year…so look for another meet up sometime soon! 
Jen from Moms Gotta Run
Pamela from Sparkly Soul with Samantha and I. Where is my headband…booo Renee serious booo!
After a wonderful day of meeting, learning and mingling it was time to catch the train back home! But first as we were leaving we were HOOKED up with the most amazing swag bag EVER!
Holy goodies…two yes TWO new pairs of sneakers! Along with countless amazing health, beauty and fitness goods! I have to say sooooo many thank you to the amazing people at Fitness Magazine for this incredible opportunity!
Question of the day: What’s the best event you’ve ever attended?
