BlogHERFood11 ~ RockHER The Pre~ Party!

Happy Friday all!  We were up bright and early to head out for all the BlogHERFood11 festivities!  Props to The Husband for getting up with me at 3:30 AM so we could catch our 6 AM flight.  I am a total morning person and the excitement of it all had me up before our alarm at like 230 am LOL.

This was probably my ONLY normal meal all day ~ everything else was just bites.  Two eggs over medium with 1 slice dry wheat.  It was too early for me to eat the bacon (shocker!) so I gave it to The Husband.  I had about half the fruit.  (6 points+)

My BEST travel idea ever!  I filled up my water bottle before we left in the morning, drank it, then, dumped it out before security.  Then, the restaurant refilled it for me before we go on the plane.

SCORE ~ I saved $5 and the environment a little by not buying my usual 32 oz bottle for the flight.

It’s totally normal to drink a coke at 7 am with your licorice straw

One of the few times I drink juice is when I fly because I feel like you never get enough fruits/veggies.  I was SO EXCITED when the lady said they had Biscoff!!

Can I just say Atlanta is HUGE?! I think it might be the biggest city we have ever been in…maybe   I know we are staying at the highest hotel we have ever been at.

The Peach Tree Westin.

I snapped a few pics of our room.

My FAVORITE part!

We are on the 62nd floor – the view is amazing!

But, we are SO HIGH up!

I think we stared out the window for like an hour chatting it up last night and just looking. 

After we got settled into the hotel, we did some exploring on foot.

I totally LOVE how so many things are named with “Pig” and “Peach” ~ I honestly think that will be what we will remember Atlanta for.

We didn’t have much time but I knew I needed to eat since all I had since breakfast were my Biscoff and some peanuts.  We stopped in Hooters (it was close to the hotel) and got salads plus Fried Pickles! 

I LOVED them, but, definitely could only eat about 4 or 5.

After some coffee and changing, we headed over to the Hard Rock Café Velvet Lounge for the RockHER Party Hosted by the Susan, the DoughMesstic Goddess, Brandi of BranAppetit and Leslie of The Hungry Housewife.

These girls did a great job at getting a bunch of sponsors.  This will explain all my tweets yesterday.  We all played along by tweeting the sponsor for our chances to win one of the 50 prizes they were giving away.

LOVE!

TJ ~ I totally thought of you when I saw these ~ look at the yellow!!

Dole was there whipping up Banana Pina Coladas and Margaritas.

I went with the Pina Colada and it was pretty tasty.

Both Amy and Liz came to the party so we could finally meet up!  It was so nice to finally meet them in person.  They are both so nice and I have to say I LOVE your accents

After chatting it up a bit, we sampled away.  There were several passed appetizers that I took pictures of and somehow never grabbed any to eat.

Shrimp Cocktail (and yes, The Husband totally eats the lemon too!)

Mini Burgers!

This was probably my favorite station of the night ~ the Pasta Station!  You pick and choose your sauces, veggies and pasta then, they cooked it for your right there.

I picked Pesto & Marinara with spinach, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, chicken and “curly” pasta.  I shared mine with Liz of the Meal Makeover Mom’s. 

I actually met Liz at the very first Foodbuzz fest so it was pretty cool to run into her here.  She is speaking at the Vlogging Session.

Dole set up a salad station with their new salad kits.

Summer Cherry Almond Bleu with stinky cheese, cherries and almond slices.  Marisa, I actually thought of you when I tasted this one (the Bleu wasn’t so bad!)

Endless Summer ~ I am not sure what was in this one.

Next to the Meat Carving Station was a SWEET POTATO STATION!  I couldn’t resist making up a glass topped with brown sugar and pecans ~ AMAZING!

I actually really wanted to try the desserts but their presentation looked so pretty were weren’t sure if you should eat them

It’s probably better that I didn’t…..

We finally took a picture together ~ I always forget this part

There was a lot of fun things for everyone to do after they were done eating and tweeting.

These girls are awesome (they were at our Pajama Ice Cream Party!)

When we left the party, we all got a pretty cool swag back!  The Husband is letting me give his away to one lucky reader so stay tuned for that giveaway

After the party, we took Liz’s suggestion and headed to the top of the Westin for drinks and to see the city.

Oh and to share a Pizza Margherita because we were still hungry.

The entire top floor rotates 360 degrees (slowly!) as you sit there.

We watched the sunset and it was so beautiful.

We had a little bit of time to kill before the Ice Cream Pajama Party so we decided to explore the hotel.  The gym is very nice for a hotel gym.

The Husband is completely afraid of looking at how he is…..like when we went to the Grand Canyon he wanted to stay in the car to look 😀

Then again, this is pretty high up and we were only on the 8th floor.

One cool thing about the hotel is that they have cool lights like this on every floor.

We found ways to entertain ourselves on pretty much every floor.  Here he is the “Karate Kid” with the star in back 😀 I couldn’t resist posting him in his PJ’s ready for the party!!

Such a clown ~ LOVE him!  Brandi of Bran Appetit invited a bunch of us over to sample the new Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Bars.  I was all over the Dark Chocolate covered chocolate. 

REAL ingredients!

5 points+ and totally worth it.  I sampled the vanilla too but definitely think the chocolate is creamier.  They are currently for sale at Whole Foods only right now.

GIVEAAWAYS!!!

* Enter to win a copy of Charbroils America Grills Cookbook – it’s awesome!

* Enter to win a $50 Fitness Shopping Spree!

Off to the final demo of the day and then the welcome reception! 

Catch you all later tonight or tomorrow with a recap of day 1!