California Love

Good morning from Anaheim, CA! Man, do I miss the sight of those babies.

Palm trees, I love you!

The last time I was in California, I was about thirteen years old for a summer dance intensive at The Edge Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. Want me to date myself even more? I remember visiting a brand new, trendy, and extremely affordable women’s clothing store that only existed here and in New York. You might have heard of it before… Forever 21?

Ha! I totally remember being amazed by this store and buying all of my back-to-school clothes there before I came home. I also recall introducing a new pant style called “capris” to my friends and raving about this cool style concept and store to anyone who would listen. It was a great place to catch onto what was up and coming in the world of fashion I suppose!

Although we aren’t in Los Angeles or either of the San’s I am dying to visit, I am still very happy to be here in Anaheim. I took a leap out of my comfort zone and came out for my first IDEA World Fitness Convention and BlogFest that kicks off in just an hour or so.

I have four days with a jam packed schedule and will be sure to share all of the details on the workouts and sessions when I return!

But first, I glad to spend a day enjoying sunny California. And it’s just as beautiful and humidity-free as I remember. (Can we move here already?)

After a runaround in flight reservations, I made it to my hotel just after 12:30 p.m. yesterday. That is 3:30 p.m. E.S.T., which means I landed with a raging appetite after a breakfast at sunrise.

I grabbed the best thing at my hotel that I could find in a chef salad and side of kettle cooked salt ‘n vinegar chips.

I would be lying if I said that I ate all of the salad and didn’t eat all of the chips. The Pomegranate Blue Honestade was good too!

I was tired from the early wake up call, but chose to pass on a nap and joined Gina, Julie and Katy to check-in to the conference and spend the afternoon aimlessly roaming around the hotel while running into both old and new blogging buddies.

We had plans to check out the sights around Anaheim, but didn’t get too far at all. At one point, we sat right down in the middle of one of the hotel lobby floors and chatted for at least an hour before deciding it might be more socially acceptable to take the party into one of our rooms.

Our big outing for the night turned into a mile walk to Target and back to stock up in some last minute snacks to refuel with in-between workouts and lectures for the rest of the week.

We were also in search of a cool local spot for dinner, bad sadly were unsuccessful in finding something story-worthy. Staying right in the heart of Disneyland, it was franchise restaurants on all horizons.

They’re great and all, but when I travel I really prefer to check out something that also offers a bit of the city’s culture. Something less of a chain and more like a local hot spot.

Needless to say, we are still on the hunt for a fun and unique restaurant to visit later on this weekend. Any and all suggestions in the Anaheim area are welcome!

After dinner, we walked back over to the hotel and caught the tail end of the Disney fireworks. That brought me right back to Scott and I’s old condo right on Turkey Lake in Orlando. Every night, like clock work, we saw the fireworks from both Universal and Disney at 9 p.m from our balcony. New Years Eve finale’s were always the best!

Well friends, it’s time to get a move on. If you would like to see what we are up to, you can follow the official conference social media hashtags of #ideaworld and #sweatpink.

Considering we have about two seconds of down time later, I have a feeling that the next time you’ll hear from me will be in the morning for Friday Favorites. Don’t forget to stop back in and link yours up as well!

Have a great Thursday!