For those of you who are wondering when I will return to regular real-time housewife glamouring rambling, the answer is tomorrow.
For those of you who have enjoyed reading about my trip to Portland to attend a blogging conference called FitBloggin’, then you are in luck… it’s time one final recap post! 😉
If you are new to the blog this week, (HI! and) thank you for stopping by! Here are a few posts to catch you up to the final afternoon and night spent in Portland.
• New Friends and Finds in Portland
• FitBloggin’ Day 1 Portland: Day 1
• How To Find the Perfect Fitness Shoe
• FitBloggin’ Day 2 + Giveaway Winners
Lunch Break to Explore Portland
After a sweaty morning of jumping around on trampolines and completing a short CrossFit WOD, we had a scheduled three hour break in our day to get us out and explore the city for lunch.
I was very grateful for this, because I love to walk when I travel to new cities to see what they are all about (if they feel safe to do so in a group!). Portland totally did.
After we made our stop by Kure Juice Bar for the best smoothie bowl I have ever tried (see the monstrosity I will be attempting to recreate one day), we set off with a mission to find something cool and “Portland-y” to see.
After a few failed attempts to find a lulumon athletica store some of the girls wanted to check out, we aborted the mission and casually popped into a close hotel to use their restroom and ask where the local Farmer’s Market was located.
We all thought it was funny how we just pretended we belonged there, and were all two seconds from taking a granny smith apple from the reception’s bowl on the way out. We didn’t. (But… I think that would have been hilarious.) A few blocks later, we entered the heart of the Cultural District and found the Farmer’s Market!
It was late Saturday Morning, so the streets and lawns were poppin’ on such a gorgeous, sunny weekend day.
As we started walking towards the tents, the group of us got very eager and excited to see and smell the fresh market produce. The very first tent we came to sold berries, and we all sampled the white raspberries. I had never even seen them before, and they were wonderful.
They taste a little sweeter than regular red raspberries, so if you ever get a chance to sample or buy them, I highly recommend it.
Even though we weren’t able to buy anything, it is always nice to see fresh produce and browse around.
The flowers were stunning! They smelled incredible and the bouquets were very bright and colorful.
I even tried a gooseberry for the first time! Also, very good and something I recommend you try!
I have to admit that there were a lot of strange characters roaming around the streets nearby. With a city slogan of “Keep Portland Weird”, I guess out of the ordinary was to be expected.
More than anything, I noticed an abundance of food trucks lined up on the streets for regular business. It is a very interesting city with a lot of entertainment, if you are looking for it. Here is a complete list of free things to do in Portland, if you ever get the chance to go explore on your own!
FitBloggin’ Day 2: Afternoon Sessions
By the time we got back to the hotel, I had just enough time to shower and get dressed in my final Reebok sponsored outfit of the trip.
Pictured: PWR Legging, Dance UrLead 2.0 sneakers, and a new version of the Strappy Long Bra with a cut-out back. I am still working on information on where exactly to find and buy these dance/zumba tanks! I promise I haven’t left you high and dry.
Prior to coming to the conference, I had been conversing with SOYJOY, who had invited me to their discussion on snacking healthy and gluten-free eating with Tenley Molzahn!
(Me, Tina, Tenley, and Julie!)
The Bachelor fans out there already know she was a big part of Season 14, being the runner up. These days, she spends her time as the new spokeswoman for SOYJOY, and shares her gluten-free Sweet and Free Life blogging!
She is an absolute doll and is as genuine and sweet as I’ll get out. I could tell that she was just as excited to be at the conference as we were to have her there, and that was really cool to see.
We had just enough time between meeting Tenley and her discussion to grab a quick juice from Kure (again). I am telling you… we became one hundred percent obsessed with this place!
This final (fourth in three days!) visit, I introduced beets into my diet with the Farmer’s Favorite: carrot, kale, beet, ginger, and lemon. I decided to skip the ginger to make it sweeter with less of a bite, but I know a lot of the other girls like the taste as is. I also had a Eatin’ Alive peanut butter love bar on the side, which was ooey gooey and absolutely dreamy.
Both items were devoured pretty soon into Tenley’s discussion!
She had some great tips on how to eat gluten-free and snack healthy on-the-go that I will have to sneak in and share with you in the future.
After her session, we had a snack break sponsored by The Laughing Cow.
I had never actually tried their cheeses before, and have to share that they were delicious and full of flavor.
Farewell Dinner
With just enough time to change, a group of us met downstairs to explore the city and it’s eats one final time.
Left to Right: Tina, Ericka, Julie, Anne, me, and Gina.
With dinner reservations at 8 p.m., we had time to finally check out the rooftop bar at the top of our hotel the staff had been raving about.
The view was fantastic, and the glass of pinot noir felt refreshing and well deserved after a long weekend of non-stop activity.
We had a ten minute walk over to The Picnic House, which was a restaurant recommended by one of Julie’s readers. Kudos to you… this place was just the environment what we were looking for!
As we sat down at our table, I took note of how each one in the place is entirely different. The table next to us looked like a log cabin set with tree stump stools, while ours felt like an outside fancy picnic set-up.
Since everything on the menu looked great, we ordered a sample of appetizers and split everything!
The brussell sprouts dressed in bacon were out of this world, and it was my first time really enjoying beets! <- twice in one day, no less.
I ordered a specialty pasta dish with mixed vegetables and grilled chicken. My body was craving the carbs, and it killed me to leave about half of it behind.
Everything was SO good!
As we walked back to the hotel, we said our final farewells and I thanked the group for being so nice and welcoming to me. Since I have only run this site for about a year and a half, I consider myself a relatively “new” blogger and had the best experience getting to know influential women in the industry. I left with more motivation and inspiration than they will ever know.
Especially by this one!
Julie, Gina and I rode to the airport together, and Julie and I ended up talking the morning away after Gina boarded her flight. I have been following her blog for a while now, and for those of you who have done the same… she is every bit of awesome in person as you think she is online!
What an amazing experience. I will certainly remember my first blogging conference well, and hope to attend a lot more of them in the future.
And, of course, a huge THANK YOU to Reebok for the generous sponsorship that allowed me to go!
GIVEAWAY CLAIM REMINDER
I still haven’t heard from my $100 Reebok Gift Card Giveaway winner!
• Entry #104 Laura Flan! You won by sharing what’s on your Reebok wish list and will receive a $100 Reebok Gift Card very soon.
*You have 24 hours to claim your prize, or I will be forced to pick another winner. I have the email on file and took a guess at the last name that coordinates with the email, so if you think this you, email me and I will tell you!

Fitbloggin’ and Portland sound so amazing! That farmer’s market looks awesome. I love all the fresh produce and flowers!
It was!! I hope to go to FitBloggin’ next year and would love more time in Portland, if I ever stop through the city again.
I feel like you and I hit it off from the moment we met. I absolutely LOVED getting to know you and chatting with you for as long as time would allow us to chat! 🙂 You are so much fun and I hope we can get together VERY soon in the future. Already loving our daily texts. 😀
YAY for this conference introducing us! I meant every word I wrote above. Keeping my fingers crossed HARD another opportunity comes up soon! 😉
It looks like you had an amazing time!
It was!! I hope everyone gets to experience a conference and one time or another 🙂
Great recap! Your photos are gorgeous! What was your one top favorite thing about the conference?
Hmm. That’s a hard question! Has to be a tie between meeting fun and awesome people in your industry, and learning tricks of the trade at the sessions. So much to learn + love!
Golden raspberries are awesome!! I tried them for the first time last night and I am in love :).
Note to self… “golden raspberries.” Thanks! 😉
Where did you get that amazing dress with the green front panel and black sides – love! want! 🙂 You all look gorgeous – sounds like fun!
Express! Thinking of doing a FitBloggin’ Fashion recap…? Keep a look out!
I definitely need to find some of those golden raspberries! I’m somewhat obsessed with raspberries… hence the name!
haha… you would love them!
I bet meeting the people is always the best part of the conference. That’s how I felt last year at HLS. It’s always amazing to get to know the bloggers behind the writing.
The whole weekend sounds super amazing.
I’d love to learn more tricks of the trade with blogging, I’m always wondering how some bloggers do it!
YES! Even just talking to bloggers in person is a huge help. I would love to attend HLS this year, just depends on my schedule. I would love to meet YOU! 🙂
Same here! Hopefully your schedule can allow you to come! That would be awesome 😀
Wow, what an awesome experience! Your recaps definitely make me want to visit Portland, (I never realized what a beautiful city it i!) and attend a blog conference! Maybe I will be at fitbloggin’ next year! 🙂
Hope to see you there!
Great recaps!
It was so nice to meet you and spend some time together last weekend!!
Thanks Tina! I hope we get to see each other again soon! 🙂