Relishments

Savoring life in the Berkshires

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • About
    • Start Here
    • Relishments Around the Web
  • Flexitarianism
    • Cookbooks
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Reviews
  • The Berkshires
    • Boothbay, Midcoast Maine and More
    • Adventures in Other Places
  • Technology
    • My Favorite Technology Tools
  • Contact
    • Sponsor

A Week Later, Many Words and Pictures On #HLS13

Published on September 23, 2013 By Emily. Updated on September 23, 2013

I’m a Healthy Living Summit veteran; I’ve attended four of the five summits,  every one since 2010.  For the first couple years, I always debated at the end whether I’d make the trip to the next one (and there always seemed to be debate among the organizers whether there would even be a next one), but when it came time to purchase tickets, the decision seemed like a no-brainer.  How could I miss it?

This year’s summit was unique in a number of ways.  It was held in the Midwest for only the second time, in the lovely city of Minneapolis.  This year’s summit was the first one to not include any of the original founding members.  Nevertheless, Julie and Heather and the rest of the Dream Team did an amazing job organizing a wonderful, jam-packed, fun and educational weekend.  However, even though the summit was super organized, I was not.  If you know me well, you know I live for lists and planning ahead.  But with this year’s event happening in September instead of August, I was so involved with school starting I didn’t have a chance to research things to do in Minneapolis, check out the attendees’ blogs, make sure my site looked perfect or even make a packing list for myself.  I wrote my mini-demo the night before and barely got my live blog preview up before I left.  I have never been so unprepared for HLS (or much of anything else, for that matter).

Still, I made it to Minneapolis without any problems.  The light rail trip from the airport to the hotel was one of the easiest and most pleasant public transportation journeys I’ve ever made with luggage.  I had just enough time to settle into my hotel room and meet one of my roommates, Stephanie, before heading to Chino Latino for dinner with a mix of 13 old and soon-to-be-new blogging friends.  As I mentioned in last Tuesday’s post, the food there was amazing and it was so great to be in the presence of some of my favorite people again.

Minneapolis sights collage

One of the drawbacks of HLS being held in September is that I didn’t get to explore Minneapolis as much as I ordinarily would’ve in the summer.  Even though I flew out on Thursday, HLS-related events were in full swing by the time I arrived.  I did enjoy wandering the area near the hotel; Target headquarters and the biggest Target store I’ve ever seen were just around the corner. How could I resist?  Shocking, I left the store without spending a dime, but that was mostly because I wanted to make sure I had room in my suitcase for all the summit swag I was going to be bringing home.  Seeing the Mary Tyler Moore statue was really neat, especially since I stumbled upon it accidentally.  On Friday afternoon, following my mini-demo and a lunch from Panera, a small group of bloggers and myself ventured to Fulton Brewery, which allowed us a view of some parts of the city that were farther away from the hotel.  The folks at the brewery were super nice to us, even after we all whipped out our cameras the instant the beer samples hit the bar.  I was the only HLS veteran in the group and it was really encouraging to share a few hours with bloggers who were newer to the community.

Fulton Brewery Collage

The summit itself was awesome.  My Friday mini-demonstration on IFTTT went really well, though it became very apparent that when given extra time I am prone to ramble.  I think it’s the teacher in me; trying to make the class last until the bell rings.  Regardless, it seemed that many of the 15 or so who attended the mini-demo session had never heard of IFTTT and I was so glad to be able to share it with them.  I also really enjoyed Katie from Peace Love and Oats’ presentation on PicMonkey – I think I’ll be making a lot of use of that site in the future (including excessively in this post).  The cocktail party venue was beautiful and though I initially arrived feeling physically not awesome, I found myself quickly feeling better and had a really great time meeting the other attendees.  A “find your match” ice breaker game forced us to talk to new people; I had to find the person assigned the “George” card that went with my assignment of “Martha”.  I made the most of the photo booth (which I infamously hated at 2010’s summit) even though squeezing myself, Stephanie and my other two roommates, Stephanie and Katie, into the booth was quite a feat.  And no, that wasn’t a typo, I had two roommates named Stephanie.  Saturday’s sessions were great.  I attended talks on growing my own food, using my blog to get my “dream job” (even though I love my job) and soaked up info about adding videos to my site.  Live blogging Katie and Mary’s session on Blogging with a Cause went better than I ever expected and I’m still thinking about some of the ideas they shared.

HLS 2013 collage

Sunday morning was a little more rushed than usual, as I was flying out of Minneapolis at 1:30 that afternoon.  Still, I made it to the 5k fun run/walk which culminated at the the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, home of the famous spoon and cherry sculpture.  The route was pleasant and I enjoyed that a large portion of it was through parks.  Upon my return to the hotel, I enjoyed yet another delicious meal (the food this year was awesome!) and helped myself to a chair massage provided by the Minneapolis School of Business.  Before long, it was time to stuff the last of my free goodies into my suitcase and get back on the light rail to the airport.

me in sculpture garden

The sponsors at HLS 2013 were the most generous of any I recall from past summits.  They came with tons of free products to sample and take home.  I don’t know if it was the quality of the sponsors this year or my personal journey with seeking advertisers for this blog, but I had some really great discussions about site sponsorships and getting involved with brands I love.  Special thanks to Wild Harvest, Musselman’s, Sargento, Ninja, Blue Diamond, Driscoll’s, CocoaVia and 360 Public Relations for being especially wonderful.

HLS 2013 sponsors collage

My weekend in Minneapolis reminded me of the importance of taking care of myself.  For whatever reason, I didn’t feel great for most of the weekend.  I don’t know if it was the amount of water I was (or wasn’t) consuming, the food I was eating, the level of stress (I was presenting and live blogging for the first time!) or the start of school exhaustion, but I just did not feel like myself.  I made it a priority to take it easy, make smart choices about what to do with my time and put into my body.  By the time I returned home, I felt fine on the digestion front, though I did quickly contract a cold from my students/husband.

I have made a lot of real life blogging friends through the Healthy Living Summit, but this year’s event was attended by more new (to me and to blogging) bloggers than I recall other summits having.  At first, this scared me a little.  Finding myself as an “old” blogger and veteran of HLS still seems odd to me and I knew HLS wouldn’t be the same without many of the usual suspects.  But in the end, it didn’t matter.  It’s so inspirational to meet people who are new to the blogging scene; they ask good questions and have creative new ideas and don’t carry around some of the baggage related to some of the drama that has occurred in the healthy living blogging community over the past five years.  It’s so exciting to be part of an event that has grown and changed over the past five years.  The bloggers behind HLS never seem to be satisfied with what they’ve done before and it just keeps getting better as a result.

Even though September summit’s make me a little crazy (and put me so behind that it takes over a week to get a recap of the event up…and I still haven’t caught up on grading), I’m definitely planning to be in attendance at HLS 2014.  For the first time ever I’ve even brainstormed a couple session ideas I’m thinking about pitching to the folks in charge.  The dates and location for the next event were announced at breakfast on Sunday: September 11-14, 2014 in Madison, WI.  Will I see you there?

As last week was super busy (catching up on things at work + meetings every night of the week) and I’ve just gotten rid of that cold, I still haven’t gotten a chance to read the recaps of the sessions or visit the blogs of the new friends I made.  I haven’t even made the time to look at the to do list I created during HLS as  I was inspired during the sessions.  Maybe now that I’ve finally gotten this post written and things seem to be getting back to the regular routine, I can start to tackle that to do list, follow the blogs of my new friends and get back to work on this site.

Related Posts

Celebration Week: Bama+Ry Necklace Giveaway
TECH: If This Then That
#43: Go to a wine tasting
Celebration Week: Terra by Gretchen Powell Giveawa...
Did you enjoy this post? Share it!

Filed Under: events Tagged With: Healthy Living Summit

« Twosday: HLS 2013 Edition
29 Superlatives for a Birthday »

Comments

  1. Katie says

    September 24, 2013 at 10:44 am

    I have been loosely following the healthy living summit for over 3 years, and last year I said that no matter what I would be attending in 2013. It was a fluke that it ended up being in Minneapolis (I live 3 hours north). I really noticed the difference in attendees, and haven’t had a conversation with any of the dream team, but it seems like HLS is going through an identity change, that I think it very positive. It seemed to be mostly new bloggers and I loved how eager everyone was. I didn’t meet one person who didn’t want to be a friend. I’m glad you are going to HLS14! I’m not sure what I’ll volunteer to help with (I led a few mingles this year) but I know it will be another success!

    • Heather says

      October 8, 2013 at 8:43 pm

      this comment makes me smile so big. xo

  2. Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut says

    September 26, 2013 at 10:40 pm

    I’m still working on my recaps, so you’re not the only one! I might try to do my session recaps tonight, though!

    It was really great to meet you and I’m glad you were my Martha! :)

Welcome!

Welcome to Relishments! Follow along with my adventures in flexitarian eating and cooking in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

The Berkshires
Recipe Index
CSA Menu Plan
First Time?
 

Support Relishments on Patreon

Just so you know…

I’m just a girl who loves to cook and eat. This site is not a source for nutritional information.

Relishments is affiliated with various sponsors. Some product links on this site are affiliates; I may get portion of the sale. All opinions on this site are honest, regardless of revenue opportunities. Find out more about my policies here

Relishments is affiliated with…

View my food journey on Zomato!

  
Ahalogy Badge

relishments

Emily
This week I - drove across the state for 4 days of This week I
- drove across the state for 4 days of 8 am to 4 pm professional development
- was incredibly impressed with the facilities and food at @wyliecenter and @tuppermanor
- wandered my undergrad campus at dusk
- started to wrap my head around @openscied
- spent quality time with @ryntintin12
- enjoyed several of Beverly's breweries and restaurants including @thecastlebeverly, @backbeatbrewing, @lavictoriataco, @oldplantersbrewing
- Enjoyed an evening with one of my closest friends from college
- took deep breaths and watched birds at the ocean 
- visited the mall and Whole Foods primarily to see what life is like for the other half of the state
- rediscovered a love of taking the scenic route, making unplanned detours and checking out small towns along the way
It was a cold and cloudy morning, but we made it t It was a cold and cloudy morning, but we made it to our second annual strawberry picking at @mountainviewfarm413, which included E's first tractor ride (she was very excited). We picked about 9 pounds of strawberries and I'm looking forward to eating them! 🍓
.
.
.
#igers413_food #strawberries #LocallyGrowjln #PickYourOwn #LanesboroughMA
#igers413 #BerkshireFoodies #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires

#NorthAdams #NAmazing
Scenes from this morning in Adams, featuring @shir Scenes from this morning in Adams, featuring @shiredonuts, Poseidon Coffee, the Ashwillticook Rail Trail, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Adams Free Library and beautiful flowers.
.
.
.
#AdamsMA #igers413_food
#igers413 #BerkshireFoodies #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires
I don't have clear words to express my feelings ab I don't have clear words to express my feelings about the state of the world lately. As a teacher and a mother, it has been extra difficult this week to be fully present in my roles without thinking about innocent lives that should have had longer on Earth. How what has happened in each of the many mass shootings this year can happen anywhere. If you are feeling sad and frustrated too, you are not alone.

I don't have answers, but I'm trying to take care of myself and my biological and school families. I'm saying "I love you" a lot to my children and my students. I'm closely following and sharing the work of @everytown while contacting my state and federal representatives and the president. I'm going for walks and getting fresh air and trying not to overload on news. I'm sharing good resources in my stories as I see them.
UPDATE: the giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats @aloh UPDATE: the giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats @alohr3!

 @thelazygenius' second book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen, is finally here and I'm so excited! I don't purchase many books, but I pre-ordered this last July because I knew it would be right up my alley and then I pre-ordered a second copy because I knew that I'd want to give one away.

Author Kendra Adachi has been one of my favorite voices in recent years. Her principles (shared through her first book, The Lazy Genius Podcast and her Instagram) have helped me focus my priorities and give myself more grace. 

This book is NOT a cookbook (it has just 2 recipes), it is a kitchen guide - to help you "have what you need, use what you have, and enjoy it like never before". It is beautiful (full color!) and thoughtful.

I'm very excited to send this book to one of you.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below with one of your greatest kitchen struggles. 
I'll draw a winner at 8 pm on Friday, May 6.
This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram or The Lazy Genius, Kendra Adachi.
.
.
.
#LazyGenius #KendraAdachi #NameWhatMatters #TheLazyGeniusKitchen #TheLazyGeniusWay #BookGiveaway
This morning we took advantage of @massmoca's Berk This morning we took advantage of @massmoca's Berkshire Teacher and Social Worker Appreciation Day free admission. After enjoying the student Art Invitational exhibit, the 4 of us took in several of the other galleries. Mass MoCA always impresses and it was delightful to be able to be out in the world with my kids.
.
.
.
#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #MassMoCA #ArtMuseum
Today I finally found my way into @plantconnector, Today I finally found my way into @plantconnector, in its new location on Main Street in North Adams. The shop is incredible - the displays are great and the plants are delightful. There's a refill station with bottles and jars for soaps, detergents and other products, a terrarium bar, and an abundance of sustainable and beautiful products. I'm now in the process of pondering who I can purchase Plant Connector gifts for in the coming months.
.
.
.
#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #ShopLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #PlantConnector
This is your periodic reminder that @berkshiremuse This is your periodic reminder that @berkshiremuseum is a great visit for all ages. The current Voyage to the Deep exhibit, which involves an interactive Nautilus submarine that my 5 year old spent literally hours in.  We also thoroughly enjoyed the Aquarium and Berkshire Backyard. Highly recommended - we'll be back soon!
.
.
.
#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #BerkshireMuseum #PittsfieldMA
My January and early February menu plans for my @m My January and early February menu plans for my @mightyfoodfarm vegetables are finally up on the blog. See how we're making use of these beautiful items, as well as the items from the other pick up we made in the past month. 
Link in profile.
.
.
.
#MightyFoodFarm #EatLocal #EatSeasonal #VermontGrown #CSApickup #CSAshare  #KnowYourFarmerKnowYourFood #MenuPlanning #MealPlanning #igers413 #igers413_food #BerkshireFoodies
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in