FitBlog 2013 and I'm Done with Law School!

Hi all!

This week has been crazy busy, if you couldn't tell from the lack of posts. Finishing up papers, taking care of graduation requirements, getting ready for some travel (I am so excited to share about this next week!), and taking lots of super sweaty classes.

I'm posting this from the sky, courtesy of $10-for-90-minutes wi-fi. This ridiculously high price seemed worth it because I'm an internet addict.

I'm away until late Monday night, but I wanted to recap the awesome day I had yesterday at FITNESS Magazine's Meet & Tweet at the Mercedes Club here in New York.

First, I have to say a huge thank you to FITNESS Magazine. This event was incredible. Not only did it expose me to a huge number of new brands that I’m eager to learn more about, FitBlog allowed me to meet "in real life" several bloggers I love, like Tina, Monica and Christine. 

I checked in and grabbed my name tag and free CamelBak... which I forgot at the event! I'm a tad bit heartbroken about this, since I loved it for the four hours I had it. I might need to actually buy one...

So official!! This made me inordinately excited, not going to lie.

The event started with breakfast. I’d eaten a bite before heading out, but I assumed they’d have food – breakfast is the most important meal, after all! – so I saved room to enjoy whatever was available at the event. I’m glad I did because they had juices, mini muffins, hard-boiled eggs, and coconut yogurt parfaits! I snagged a green juice and mini muffin. I have no idea of how healthy the muffin was, but it was delicious (I’m going with “not-so-healthy”).

Healthy blogger heaven right there.

While waiting in line to check in, I introduced myself to the girl in front of me. Kayla's blog is adorable, and we chatted while eating breakfast. I love seeing undergrads get into health and fitness! That was certainly not my number one priority, and I yo-yo'd up and down up to 25 lbs throughout college. I saw Kara arrive, and we all three decided we needed a picture with the FITNESS Magazine sign.

Me, Kara, and Kayla

Since Kayla's blog is titled Blondes Have More Run, the fact that this photo is all blonde runners seemed appropriate.

Most of the event was held outside on the Mercedes Club's deck, which was great since it was lovely spring weather and it would have been a shame to be cooped up inside.

Around 9:30, Betty Wong, the Editor-in-Chief of FITNESS, kicked off the day before the first panel started, welcoming us to the event. I loved her perspective on healthy living. And her awesome camo pants. 

Top Left - Heather Muir and Sarah Lucero, Top Right - Lisa Haney Dr. Jennifer Ashton
Middle - Christie Griffin, Dana Weiss, Deb Perelman, Jill Hanner, Erin Whitehead
Bottom Left - Brett Hoebel and Mary Christ Anderson, Bottom Right - Pam O'Brien and Rocco DiSpirito

The panels began with Sarah Lucero, the Executive Director of Global Artistry for Stila Cosmetics, being interviewed by Heather Muir, Beauty Director for FITNESS. Sarah spoke about her battle with breast cancer and gave her advice on makeup for the hot, humid summers we get in New York. 

One of Sarah's tips was to match your makeup to your clothes, i.e. if you're wearing light clothes because it's hot out, you should wear light makeup like a tinted moisturizer. Heavier clothes = heavier makeup. Another one was to match your lipstick to your blush. This sounded obvious to me, but then I realized I tend to use lighter blush (when I wear it, which is almost never) and berry-colored lip tints.

Next, Senior Editor Lisa Haney interviewed Dr. Jennifer Ashton, an ob-gyn, about her holistic approach to health. Dr. Ashton urged women to consult their ob-gyns about their total health, not just their pelvic region. 

Dr. Ashton also advocated the "5 and 2 day" approach to eating -- straightforward healthy eating on weekdays and more indulgence on the weekend. I love this idea and *basically* follow it, although as a student it can sometimes be harder to keep the 5/2 approach and it becomes more like 4/3. Getting to that 5/2 ratio is a priority for this summer!

The third panel had me extremely excited -- it was a discussion with four influential bloggers entitled "my blog is my business." One of them was Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen fame!

I get so excited when I meet someone like Deb. Her blog is one of the first blogs that I ever followed – her recipes are uniformly fantastic yet pretty easy and she has a great writing style. The fact that she is responsible for multiple wonderful dinners, desserts, and brunches makes me love her even more. 

Deb doesn’t write “healthy” recipes, per se, rather she uses lots of whole foods and is big on cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients. If you don’t already follow her, you need to add Smitten Kitchen to your reader. She’s my first stop whenever I want to make something awesome and (relatively) foolproof.  


All of which is to say, I basically pounced on her and begged for a photo, telling her how much my bff Katie and I adored her. Sorry for being a creeper, Deb!

One of the panel's biggest points they emphasized was writing good, original content and not writing in order to make money. Of course, money could follow and they all suggested that bloggers should advocate for themselves for freelance writing, product samples, etc., but all four women strongly believed that good content was key to turning a blog into a moneymaking venture.

Brett Hoebels was then interviewed by Deputy Editor Mary Christ Anderson. Brett was a featured trainer on The Biggest Loser, season 11. He emphasized the importance of pushing yourself past that comfort threshold, saying people needed to "get breathless" in their workouts. 

Finally, the panels portion of the day concluded with Rocco DiSpirito, the award-winning chef and author of Now Eat This! Italian. The cookbook focuses on recreating Italian recipes in healthier ways. Rocco discussed spending time in Italy with Italian home cooks and how much he'd learned from the experience. He also gave tips on healthy eating, such as advocating for yourself at restaurants and asking for things to be changed in order to be healthier.

Peanut butter-fueled shenanigans

After the panels, lunch was available and we could walk around and meet with all the sponsors, which included Athleta, CamelBak, Crystal Light Liquid, Ford Fiesta Movement, Marmot, Reebok, Saucony, Smart Balance, Tonalin, and Vichy. 

We received samples at a lot of the sponsors' tables, which was amazing, and it was great to learn more about the brands. 

I am definitely a creature of habit, so being exposed to new brands and products is a great way of getting me to try new things. I'm looking forward to using the samples we were provided!

The Jens!
(Photo credit: Jen)

After checking out all the sponsors and eating lunch with friends, I grabbed the bag full of goodies we were given and left an hour early. 

Insane, right? THANK YOU FITNESS!!!

Leaving a bit early meant I missed the end-of-day workout. I wanted to take part, but I had a paper I needed to finish and submit, in addition to packing, before I took Sourabh out for a celebratory movie and early dinner. Yep, yesterday was his last final! He's officially done with his first year of law school, which is by far the toughest. I'm so proud of how hard he's worked the past nine months!

And oh, by the way... after I submitted that paper yesterday, I am officially done with law school and am graduating in less than a week. Craziness! I still have the two month, extremely intensive Bar Review course and, oh yeah, the Bar exam at the end of July. But at least I'll have a J.D.?