Blog Brûlée Recap

My attendance at Blog Brûlée was partially funded by the Sponsors of the event. I was not compensated to write this post.

It is hard to believe that a whole month has passed since I had the privilege of attending the first Blog Brûlée in Vermont. It was an amazing weekend with a group of inspiring dietitians and healthy food bloggers that far exceeded my expectations. While the speaker lineup was incredible, I also learned a great deal from the other attendees.

Time for a smores break!

It is energizing to be with so many passionate woman and who all are gifted in their own right. There were some I had met before and many new faces I now count as friends. Sharing a condo with Jessica and Kristina (also a great walking partner) was a blast and I treasure the wonderful conversations I had with so many others, especially Jen and my travel buddy, Marisa. You’ll find me sharing everyone’s content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as they all have such amazing and inspiring ideas, not to mention mouth-watering photos!

Food styling with the incredibly talented Gretchen Brown

I have always been of the mind to support my fellow colleagues and not view them as competition. We each have unique skill sets and offerings. The synergy of sharing and learning from one another is so much greater. It was wonderful to be in the company of others who feel the same way. It is weekends like this where I burst with love for my profession and fellow dietitians.

I’ve had much time to think about my key takeaways from the weekend. There were so many, which I will begin working on here, but especially on My Menutrition for when we finally launch. (We are in the process of changing chefs to make our original recipe even better, but stay tuned for an update soon.)

Before and after applying #1 key highlight from below

Here are a few highlights:

The questions posed by Regan are constantly in my head: What do your pictures say about healthy eating? Are your pictures inspiring people to eat better?
Great ideas for when we launch My Menutrition such as pitching ourselves to brands we want to work with and information on ads
The importance of sharing, not just connecting, and really developing online relationships
Focus on bringing more structure into my writing and editing process

Overall, it was an action-packed weekend from the moment we arrived. Every detail had been thought out carefully and well executed. The event organizers, Regan Jones, Gretchen Brown, Deanna Seagrave-Daly and Robin Plotkin really outdid themselves and I’m sure it was no small task to keep us on schedule and the positive, upbeat vibe going all weekend long.

I was pleasantly surprised by not only how nice the accommodations were at Smuggler’s Notch, but the food was delicious too! With other sponsors like Cabot Cheese (love, love, love their cheeses), The Soyfoods Council (edamame hummus was divine!), Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs (with these eggs, it’s okay to sample the cookie dough or lick the spoon!), Kashi (can’t wait for new sprouted grains cereal to hit Costco store shelves) and Mountain States Rosen (I do love lamb and the lamb sliders were so good) we were well fed as well as informed. I also got a preview of information I’d learn from Welch’s on the vineyard tour I attended two weeks ago (more about this coming soon in another post). And one really fun outing of the weekend was to the gorgeous Boyden Valley Winery for a wine and cheese pairing. Who knew Vermont had such great wine? I shipped home half a case and have already enjoyed a few bottles with family and friends!