fitbloggin flashback

I know.

I’ll bet you thought after this post you’d be spared my conference-muzings.

Alas.

You were incorrect.

More than anything I want to again thank my sponsor UGI.

They rock, People.

Their product is amazing.

They are smart, strong, funny, motivated woman working their collective-asses off to help us work our collective-asses off (yesIsaidit.).

ONWARD.

What I learned and re-learned over the past few days.

Bullet’ed for your reading pleasure:

The second time can, indeed, be as fab as the first. I wont lie to you or Roni Noone.  I feared. I feared. I adored the intimacy we had at Fitbloggin10.  I was happy to see with more bloggers in attendance there was the same level of kinship & unity.There is nothing like being greeted at the airport by two amazing stranger-friends. Ive known Tara & Colleen on twitter for a while & being met at the Baltimore airport by their energy launched Fitbloggin perfectly.

Somethings ARE worth the wait, exceed expectations and feel IMMEDIATELY comfy like an old shoe you’ve known each other forever. I was nervous-excited to*finally* meet the other Fit Chick (sans her microphone) and, well, I love her just as much in person as on skype.When you have a nice thought—share it. Some may call it losing my filter, but I like to think of it as spreading the love.  With a few words you can alter the course of someone’s day or entire conference. I was on the *receiving* end of this at Fitbloggin & hope my shared words made me on the giving end as well.Our tribe is warm, welcoming and MIND-BLOWINGLY supportive. I could ramble (& get choked up in the process)  instead Ill just say read this post.I really don’t workout when on vacation. Roni offered an veritable buffet of fitness activities.  I worked my mouth-muscles chatting instead.  Time with blogger-friends feels all too fleeting.The sessions I attended were so packed with information & discourse they could have spanned an entire weekend (Hello! Intuitive Eating panel).  We healthy living bloggers are a wise & talented bunch.That said, I still think I learned more outside the sessions than in. The stories shared.  The laughter.  The tears. The blogger melding of the minds & plotting of world domination. Bloggers uniting to effect national change. All of that happen in hallways or on escalators or during snack breaks or meals or late night and it inspired me.At 40+ I wont back down from peer pressure something that scares me. I ate my first oyster at Fitbloggin.  Never. Again. I dont understand the allure and have been informed some of this is the fact I gag at the mere use of the word horseradish.

The beef jerky I currently consume *stinks* and many of you love me enough to sit near me in sessions anyway.

I leave town & the Tornado gets snazzy new boots (!).

I possess the ability to commit to & indeed execute wearing nothing but toddler clothing jumpsuits for 4 days in a row (save your applause).An impressive number of you fancy ladies own and use flat irons on a regular basis.  Im in awe.

When asked by people, as I have been frequently since Sunday morning, what did I miss at Fitbloggin?! my answer is this:

Absolutely nothing (as thanks to Roni the sessions were all live blogged), LOTS (hugs, love-fests, first time meeting shrieks of joy & shared moments which defy words) and please to come next year.

I’ve attended many conferences where I return tired, depleted and a wee bit regretting I took the time away from my family.

I returned from Fitbloggin feeling more CONNECTED than I had in a while.  To know me virtually or in real life is to know that is something this misfit really, really needed.

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