Blend Retreat 2014: What Healthy Living Bloggers Eat on Vacation

So there’s this pretty generally accepted notion that if you’re on vacation, you can’t eat healthy.

While it’s definitely harder to watch what you eat – and much easier to overeat – when traveling, I don’t think it’s impossible to come back from a trip weighing the same you did when you left.

That being said, I ate a LOT this weekend at Blend Retreat. And my favorite part about eating with these ladies is that, before every meal, we ALL whip out our phones to take pictures of our food. Healthy living bloggers, you are so my people.

Anyway, I digress. I definitely ate a lot this weekend. But I also kept my booty movin’! I took 14,000 steps on Friday and 20,000 steps on Saturday..dang!

But this post is not about exercise. That post is forthcoming. This post is about not feeling guilty, it is about indulging (but not too much), and it is about balance. Balance, people!

Fitness Friday – on Vacation

Something I’ve never been great at is exercising on vacation. Who’s with me? (99% of everyone, I’m guessing :-P)

When we come to New York on vacation to visit family, we know we’ll be eating the whole time, so, to be honest, my “healthy diet” often goes out the window…and I’m okay with that. It’s called vacation!

(These are the snacks my brother and I bought for the hotel/plane. Only the essentials!)

But to offset some of that eating, I decided to make an effort to exercise this time around. I wanna look good in my dress today….it’s wedding day!

Happy wedding day to my beautiful cousin Kimberly and her fiancé Brian, who has pretty much been in our family for 10 years anyway 🙂

Anyhizzle, on with the workouts!

I got my elliptical + abs in on my lunch break on Monday, amidst a crazy 2 days at work that included scheduling 30+ meetings for my bosses (to take place over 2 days) and training my temp.

The next day, we were taking an 11:50pm red eye from Sacramento –> NYC. I decided to go for a run in the evening, thinking I’d wear myself out enough to sleep on the plane.

It worked! Kinda. I was exhausted by the time we were at our gate. Then, we were delayed 20-30 minutes, and the anxiety associated with that mess just woke me up more. I slept about 45 minutes out of our 5-hour flight. Lets just say I was not the happiest camper to deal with when we landed at JFK at 8:30am. Our waitress at IHOP got my order wrong and I was pretty much crying in our booth….drama queen! Needless to say, I didn’t have the energy to exercise on Wednesday, and that was A-okay.

Yesterday morning I hit up the elliptical in our hotel gym, but couldn’t do much more than that since the gym was tiny and occupied by 2 wannabe guidos.

So I improvised and did some ab stuff on the floor in me & my brothers room, complete with my boom box iPad. Depending on whether its raining outside (it has been SO humid), I will either go for a run this morning or repeat my elliptical sesh. Definitely wanna work off some of the drinks we’ll be having later!

Do you work out on vacation?

What’s your favorite no-gym-required workout?

New York City by iPhone

Museum of Natural History

In line for Jon Stewart!

Mike Huckabee was the guest. We got his book fo free, then ate some cupcakes.

Washington Square Park

Hitchin a ride on the LIRR

Katz’s Deli

Vertical panorama of the new Freedom tower (that’s why the other buildings look a little janky), with one of the World Trade Center reflecting pools at the base

Times Square at sunset

Us, now, at JFK. I hate how I look (took a jog this morning and went straight from shower –> car) but T-Man’s sad face is too good!

See y’all back in California!

Weekend in Photos: New York Edition

Hello from New York! After making an appearance at a 90’s Power Hour party on Friday night at my apartment (my roomies birthday was last week), we headed to T-Man’s mom’s house in Napa to get a bit closer to our early morning San Francisco departure!

We flew Virgin…..awesome!

After landing we went into the city for dinner at Stout NYC with my best friend Joanna…the biggest trooper I know! My favorite wandering jew (She and her roommate have still not been allowed back in their downtown apartment)

Deelish burgers & beers!

My aunt we’re staying with lives in Amity Harbor in Long Island, where they saw a lot of devastation from Hurricane Sandy. These photos are all from within a mile of her house. Luckily, she had pretty much no water damage to her home!

These photos are of water damaged furniture people have been piling outside their homes, and gigantic trash piles in a nearby park.

Yesterday was family day in Smithtown, complete with bocce ball (Standard…we are Italian after all) and family canoodling time (pictured: my grandpa, second cousin, cousin’s fiancé, mom’s cousin and his son {another second cousin})

As I type, this is my view….

Driving in to manhattan! Look for us on the Daily Show tonight!

Memorial Day Weekend + Grilled Corn

It’s grillin’ season, folks! I feel like Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer, and for me, summer = time to grill. Summer definitely started for me last weekend, when I went up to a beach house in Mendocino with my boyfriend and his family for Memorial Day. Then, I came home & broke out the barby to grill corn that I added to a Tamale Pie.

Here is a belated chronicle of the weekend in its full un-doctored iPhone photo “glory”…

Driving in the strange rain/sunshine that Northern California got doused with on Friday.

Our View, with a capital V…. amiright?