ashleyd /

BlogHer ‘12

This weekend I spent my time between two places: an air conditioned hotel and Mexican restaurants. My BlogHer weekend started with a wonderful workout with Fitfluential friends at Physique 57 thanks to Well+Good NYC followed by a four hour long dinner with fellow bloggers at Agave. It was hands down the best part of the entire weekend and conference. I swear I learn more from my peers than I could ever learn in a conference alone. I loved getting to know Gina and Erika, new to me area bloggers, who were just as beautiful as their blogs!

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This weekend inspired me to think about how I want to take this blog to the next level. How do I want to meet my readers needs better than I have for the past few months. While my work schedule has been a bit crazy lately, that’s no reason to lose sight of my passion and all this blog has done for me over the past few years. The sessions I experienced on the Professional Track at BlogHer left me with a lot of information to think about and process. For now, the only thing I’d say you can expect can be summed up in one nice, clean bullet point:

  • In order to improve interaction with my readers, I will be more focused on comment response, Twitter and Instagram interaction, and sharing information via Facebook. 

Thanks to the ladies of Fitfluential and this weekend’s Video session, I thought that sharing my BlogHer thoughts via video would be more fun than a long, detailed post. I’m learning my way through video editing so they can only get better from here.

If you have specific BlogHer questions about the network or conference, feel free to email me or leave a comment!

Question: If you could hear from any living female during a keynote speech, who would it be? Why?

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ashleyd /

Key to A Good Night’s Sleep

Wake up at 4:15 for a 14 mile run 12.5 mile run through the streets of New York City just as the city is going to sleep and waking up at the same time, depending the neighborhood. IMG_3782 IMG_3783 Get ready for a customer meeting in 25 minutes flat, all while your body refuses to stop sweating thanks to the August humidity. Don’t forget to dash to grab a protein filled breakfast since protein oats just won’t do the job after a run like that.

IMG_3784Hop on the subway to finally see an event you helped plan come to fruition and say your lucky prayers for amazing brands, friends, resources, and bloggers!  IMG_3798 Spend an hour laughing and making faces with 15 other bloggers as we’re inspired to hold each move a little bit higher, a little bit longer, and use a little bit heavier weights since the co-founder, Tanya Becker, is teaching the class.

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Use some extra calories laughing since she and the other ladies are absolutely hilarious and you can’t help but smile through the burn even though your thighs hate you for doing this after a long morning run.

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Walk 1.5 miles through downtown to the West Village where chips, guacamole, cheese, and margaritas are waiting for us at Agave.

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Spend four hours hanging out with amazing new and old friends alike talking about everything from vibrators (yes they are being given out at #Blogher12) to relationships and things we’ve each experienced during our years of blogging. fosim.jpg

Walk a very long mile home at midnight sticky from the evening’s sweat and exhausted from the day.

Crawl into bed, forgetting to brush your teeth or even remove your makeup, wishing that you could sleep more than just seven hours.

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Olympic Inspiration

I don’t know about you guys but I am loving the Olympics this year! We’ve been recording them each night so we can watch anything we missed in the morning while we get ready for work! I spent this morning blow drying my hair while watching this adorable cutie win GOLD!

IMG_0852This guy is just as sweet and adorable in person as he appeared last night during his humble interview post win! I still can’t believe I swam with him back in February thanks to Team Refuel!

The Olympics also provided a much needed distraction from last night’s hill workout. Gia doesn’t mess around when she prescribes hill workouts, many of which are easily done on the treadmill. Last night’s 3.5 mile session left exhausted and humbled as I know the 4.0 incline wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been but still left be panting and counting down the minutes. Thankfully I was able to pass time watching the men’s synchronized diving during the entire run.

Tonight, I’m relaxing with Meghann, who is staying with me this weekend for BlogHer!  Much to my surprise, Meghann had the perfect long run dinner ready and waiting when I walked through the door.

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We chatted for over an hour while enjoying dinner. Living in NYC I feel disconnected from a lot of the wedding planning so it was great to talk about all the fun and painful details ranging from dresses, DJs, honeymoons, and suits! I can’t believe the big day and the bachelorette weekend will be here in less than six months!!

The pasta and Olympic inspiration will hopefully provide me with the perfect fuel and motivation for tomorrow morning’s 14 mile run. It seems that each year, during marathon training, there is at least one long run that begins at an absurd hour because I need to do it on a Friday before work. Tomorrow I have to be ready for a client meeting by 8am, which means that I’ll hit the street around 4:15 so I am back home in time to shower and be ready to go in a full suit and makeup by 7:30! Luckily, I have a great playlist and a book to keep me company. While Meghann has volunteered to log a few miles with me, I wouldn’t blame her if she slept in later and enjoyed a leisurely run at a more normal hour.

I’m so ready for the weekend to be here, kicked off with a Well+Good NYC and Physique 57 workout class and then a weekend filled with BlogHer events and enjoying the city with some of my blogger ladies!

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