Focusing on Progress with Seiko

As the holiday season comes to an end, there is a lot of focus on resolutions and changes for the next year.  I prefer to first reflect and look at all the progress I made in the past year. As always, there is still plenty to work on, but I am proud of my accomplishments in 2014. 

To me, progress means celebrating your accomplishments while always striving for more. 

I  trained hard and PRed in my second full marathon, again almost hitting my goal time exactly despite setbacks.  I also worked hard on growing my blog and staying active in the Baltimore community. In 2014 I focused on networking with others, helping grow the November Project Baltimore tribe, and raising money for the Women's Health and FEED Run10Feed10 Campaign .  

As far as 2015, I want to only create bigger goals to strive for. 

It was fabulous to receive a watch from Seiko at the end of the year, especially since their message is about progress. 

I was sent the Seiko Core SSC877 which is a solar-powered chronograph watch with features such as split-time measurement, stopwatch function, and a date calendar. I usually take forever to replace a watch battery once it dies so I love that this Seiko model has a 6 month power reserve once fully charged by light.

Besides the innovation of the Seiko watch, I love the way it looks. It is beautiful and is just as much like a piece of jewelry as it is a functional timepiece. It mixes in well with my wrist full of various pieces and can be dressed up or down. 

Having it on my wrist during the holidays has been a great reminder of the progress I have made this past year. Despite a few missed workouts, many Christmas cookies, and a few lazy days, it is nice to remember how far I've come and to ponder what 2015 may hold for me.  

Disclosure; I received a complimentary Seiko watch of my choice through my partnership as a Women's Health Action Hero. I received no other compensation. As always all opinions are my own. 

Mint Chocolate Protein Bites and Winter Wellness with GNC PUREDGE

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by GNC PUREDGE. As always all opinions and thoughts are my own!

As a self-proclaimed sweet tooth, the holidays are a fabulous time for all sorts of treats. While I definitely don't shy away from enjoying Christmas cookies (okay,so really I seek them out), I love to make sure I'm getting some good eats in during the day as well to balance out my diet.  That usually means making sure I eat something green each day and get enough protein in during the holidays.

That's why I was really excited to try the GNC PUREDGE products. This line of products is a great source of whole-food-based nutrition that tastes great and makse eating healthy on-the-go easy during the hectic holiday season.  

I was always skeptical of products found in GNC because it seems there are so many things on the market today loaded with artificial flavorings, preservatives,ingredients I can't pronounce, and things as a chemist I know shouldn't be in food! 

I was really surprised by the ingredient lists of GNC's new PUREDGE line. 

The products have: 
-no preservatives
-no GMO1-added ingredients
-no wheat, yeast, fish or egg
-no sugar alcohols
-no artificial additives,colors or sweeteners
-no banned substances AND
-no gluten.   

Pretty much everything people look to stay away from, not that I know what else they could remove!

Christmas Sunrise Cocktail Recipe {made with Zevia}

Disclaimer:This post is sponsored by Zevia. I was given complimentary Zevia vouchers  in exchange for sharing a recipe on my blog.  As always all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Holy crap. I feel like Christmas completely sprung up on me. Thank goodness for online shopping- it helped me finish buying presents this past week. I totally have spent the last couple of weekends busy with holiday get-togethers, parties, and events. I'm really looking forward to spending time with family, sleeping in, and relaxing for a few days during the holidays.  

#Cheers to spending quality time with the ones you love without having work getting in the way.  

That also includes eating many Christmas cookies and enjoying  some holiday cocktails and big glasses of red wine, of course. 

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is Christmas morning at my parents' house with my siblings. We have a relaxing morning of opening presents, listening to Christmas music, and eating breakfast as a family with some mimosas.  I might have to switch things up this year with a different bubbly drink. 

I love Zevia soda because it has zero calories, no sugar (sweetened with stevia!), and no artificial sweeteners. I pick mine up at my local Whole Foods or Target. 

One of my favorite flavors is grapefruit citrus (it tastes just like Fresca!) and thought it would be perfect for a brunch cocktail. It's especially fitting because I usually start my morning with a grapefruit half with a maraschino cherry in the middle when I stay at my parents' house over a weekend-they always have them on hand for breakfast.

That's how my boyfriend, a craft cocktail connoisseur, and I came up with the refreshing Christmas Sunrise cocktail. It is bitter, sweet, festive and bubbly all in one simple drink.  I like drink recipes measured in parts instead of specific volumes because I can just as easily make one drink or a few drinks all at once. 

Christmas Sunrise

Ingredients:

• 4 parts Zevia grapefruit citrus soda
• 2 parts clear tequila
• 2 parts grapefruit juice
• 1 part lime juice
• splash of grenadine (to taste) 

Directions: 

1. Fill a highball glass with ice.  

2. Add the tequila, grapefruit juice, and lime juice. 

3. Fill the rest of the glass with the Zevia soda. 

4. Add a splash of grenadine and enjoy! 

As always, you can make it a mocktail by omitting the tequila.   

Zevia is spreading the holiday cheer this season! Follow Zevia on Twitter & Instagram and share the little moments that mean the most to you with #CheersTo for a chance to win oodles of prizes through 12/31! You can check out everyone's holiday fun in the gallery and see the daily winners. 

This post was shared at the Tasty Tuesday linkup!

Do you have a favorite family tradition during the holidays? What's your favorite holiday morning beverage?

Fit Fab Fuel Swap 2014 Reveal

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is giving and receiving cards and gifts.  Of course I was really excited to participate in the Fit, Fab, & Fuel Holiday Swap hosted by Running with SD Mom and the Naturally Fit Sisters.  I love trying new fuel and receiving new ornaments for my tiny Christmas tree. It also seemed like a great opportunity to make a new blogger friend!

Click here to see all the linkup of posts!

 I was paired up with Esther from Chocolate Runner Girl to virtually meet each other and then send each other our favorite winter FITness fuel and a FABulous ornament.  

Once I saw Esther's blog name, I knew we'd hit it off- who doesn't love chocolate and running?!

5 Last-Minute Holiday Hosting Must Haves

With the holidays comes lots of parties and lots of guests. I find that people are travelling, events are happening, and everyone wants to get together. Sometimes you will find out you are having people over a day before or a minute before! Here's a list of 5 things I keep on hand so I'm always prepared to have a party!

1. Wine. duh.
Not that I ever seem to run out, but I always keep a bottle of cheaper wine on hand for spur-of-the-moment guests to drink. People usually bring wine and whatever they are drinking over too so there ends up being plenty to go around. 

2.  A full supply of paper products. 
My apartment only has one bathroom so if guests are over, it's getting some heavy traffic. During the holidays I try to keep it extra clean and stock it with a festive air freshener, extra hand towels, and extra toilet paper. Having a sink full of dishes the next day is the worst part of hosting. I try to have some colored paper plates and napkins on hand for guests to reduce some of the dirty dishes. 

5 Gifs that Describe How it Feels to Apply to Graduate School {Friday Five 12/12/2014}

Right now, I'm in the midst of applying to graduate school programs for occupational therapy because like many, I need to go back to school for the career I want. I just want to help people!  Sadly, the graduate program application process is  torturous-especially during the holiday season. It's been consuming all my time and brainpower! And it's ridiculously stressful.  

Here's 5 gifs this Friday that perfectly describe the process of applying to graduate school: 

1. You usually have to take the GRE.

It's a 4 hour admissions test with verbal, quantitative (a.k.a math you learned in high school and don't use like figuring out the degrees of an unknown angle in a triangle), and writing sections. I took it after work one evening (WHY), and I hope I don't have to take it again. It's long, tiring, hard, and stressful. 

 4 hours in a testing room with nothing but the test on a computer made me want to ask: 

Seriously, I couldn't bring snacks or a drink inside. 

2. Why do I have to take out a loan just to apply to graduate school?

Seriously it costs around $75-100 to apply to each school.  After I already spent money to take the GRE, take pre-requisite classes at a community college, and now I need to pay a bunch more? On top of still paying off my undergraduate student loans? 

LUNA bars are now gluten-free!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by LUNA Bar. I was sent a sampler pack to review for a paid campaign.  As always all opinions and thoughts are my own!

Many thanks to LUNA Bar for sponsoring today's post and creating delicious gluten-free snacks. 

I've always been a fan of LUNA Bars because they are delicious, snack-sized, and found everywhere these days!

Now that gluten-free is a huge trend, you see brands just slapping the gluten-free label on foods, which makes some people think they are healthy. Gluten is just a mixture of two proteins that some people are allergic or sensitive to (source). Now I see junk food that happens to not contain gluten advertising that they are gluten-free as a marketing strategy. I try to limit gluten in my diet because it seems to help with my digestive issues, but even I know eating Cocoa Pebbles for breakfast isn't healthy (even though it's yummy!).

(Source)

LUNA bars have made all of their regular line gluten-free. You can recognize these bars by the pink gluten free label on their new packaging which is just arriving in stores.  Check out all of their flavors here-my favorites are the caramel nut brownie and chocolate peppermint stick bars.  LUNA also sent me one of their newer flavors, chocolate cupcake, and it was tasty!

Why I'm Doing the Runner's World Winter 2014 Run Streak {Take 10 Minutes}

I did the Runner's World Run Streak (#RWRunStreak) during the summer and never got around to talking about it afterwards. It was the first time I actually stuck to a daily challenge. Even though there were days I thought for sure it would be over, I managed to sneak in at least a mile every day.  

I'm in the midst of one of the busiest months of the year for me and already have a couple other fun holiday challenges on my plate so on Thanksgiving, the day the annual RW 2014 Winter Run Streak started, I figured I wouldn't be participating in winter run streak. However I've changed my mind.  

Why force myself to run at least 1 mile a day for 36 days from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day? 

Because I realized the busiest time of the year is exactly when I need to most. 

Getting myself back on a running schedule is a bonus.  I am doing the Run Streak because I need to give myself at least 10 minutes of day where I can sweat it out, force myself to breathe, and clear my head. (I convince myself to get a mile in by telling myself it'll only take ten minutes, by the way. )

 At least 10 minutes of watching Netflix on the treadmill. At least 10 minutes to center myself and focus on nothing else (but running at least a mile of course). At least 10  minutes without email, cell-phone, social media, or work. It's like my meditation time. 

A #kindawesome Thanksgiving {YMD Towson Turkey Trot Recap}

This Thanksgiving I ran my first organized Turkey Trot. It seems everybody and their mom (literally) runs these races Thanksgiving morning so it's about time, right?  I was offered to run the annual Y of Central Maryland Towson Turkey Trot Charity 5K by KIND Snacks, who were one of the sponsors of the race.  

I had such a great time running the Fiesta 5K with KIND Snacks in the spring and had wanted to run a Turkey Trot this year so it was a no brainer. 

It was quite a chilly morning in Towson on Thanksgiving Day.  I woke up, ate a banana with peanut butter, had some Nuun Energy Lemon-Lime, and got ready to go. I bundled up with my favorite Under Armour ColdGear tights and longsleeve shirt under my KIND shirt. 

Pre-Thanksgiving Gratitude

I've been having a rough week in my personal life, and my anxiety levels have been high.   It's already Thanksgiving tomorrow and now less than a month until Christmas.  Life's bumps, work, grad school applications, and a to-do list that only seems to grow longer instead of shorter are constantly on my  mind. I haven't even gotten to planning my 2015 race schedule!

 This morning in my inbox I received this email from Runner's World motivation, giving me just the reminder I need not only for running, but for life.

It's funny how sometimes the universe gives you what you need, even if it's in the form of a silly email subscription.  So as I try to re-center myself, breathe, and focus on the positive, I offer you some words of wisdom as we go into a holiday weekend.

Things happen but guess what? After that it's over, just like the RW quote says. There are consequences, but you can't go back and change a moment in the past. Dwelling on it and worrying it does nothing but make you more upset.  This is really hard for me and is definitely a work in progress.

Christmas Almond Roll {Favorite Family Recipes Virtual Swap}

This year I am joining the 2nd Favorite Family Recipe Virtual Recipe Swap co-hosted by one of my Fitbloggin' roommates from this past year, Susan of The Foodette.  I love holiday recipes and especially love trying recipes that are holiday traditions for other people.  

I received a lovely holiday family favorite from Susan at Love from the Kitchen.  She said they have this Almond Roll Christmas morning, but it's made with a sweet roll dough so I think it could also be great as a dessert. Her mom and her both customize it different ways-she tops with almonds and her mom tops with red and green candied maraschino cherries. I decided to top with some festive silver and green sprinkles! 

Five Friday Favorites featuring my New Fave Nut Butter

I'm back with my Friday Favorites because it's so fun to share things I'm loving lately.  I am so glad it's Friday. This week has been rough for me but thankfully it's gone by semi-quickly.  I'm looking forward to a nice weekend and only a 3-day work week next week followed by Thanksgiving-a.k.a. all the yummy food. 

Five Friday Favorites

1. Favorite Foodie Find: Trader Joe's Peanut Butter with Flax and Chia seeds

My boyfriend and both agree that this peanut butter I recently found at Trader Joe's rocks. It is crunchy and gets even more texture from the flax & chia seeds. I think the chia seeds help soak up some of the natural oils so even though it's natural and not loaded with crap, I don't have to stir it every time I open the jar. Definitely my new favorite stand-by peanut butter. 

How to Get Help with Thanksgiving from Whole Foods Markets

In case you were oblivious like I was, Thanksgiving is NEXT week. Yikes!  Fortunately, my mother is an excellent cook and is still hosting a small Thanksgiving at my parents' house this holiday. I always offer to help out but she's a pro and by the time I arrive she has everything planned out and in progress ahead of time.  

Cooking all that food and hosting is definitely a big job though. I always tell my boyfriend that one year if we don't have anywhere to go we are just going out to eat and let

 someone else do the cooking and dreaded cleaning.  Now I'm also putting down a dinner from Whole Foods as an option for that scenario.  

A friend from Whole Foods Harbor East in Baltimore invited me to come check out their Thanksgiving Edition of Tasty Tuesday.   From 5-7 PM they had had tastings set up around the store in every department showcasing their Thanksgiving offerings. I also wanted to mention that when I walked in I saw all the beautiful flowers and arrangements that would make the perfect last-minute host or hostess gift!

2014 Holiday Challenges-Elf 4 Health,Holiday Sweat,& #RWRunStreak

I'm still in shock that it is almost Thanksgiving and that the holiday season is right around the corner. I almost pulled out some Christmas decorations this weekend but thought it might have been too early. Looking at the calendar this morning, I think I was wrong!

With the holidays come lots of parties, travelling, and plenty of distractions. That's what makes it the perfect time to get some support & accountability to keep your healthy habits from falling to the wayside.  I've got 3 awesome holiday challenges to tell you about that you should join me in!

The first challenge is the Elf 4 Health 2014, a really fun, free challenge run by Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean and Elle of  According to Elle.  I've participated in this challenge the past two years and love that it includes daily tasks and challenges in the categories of not only fitness and food but you and others.  You are assigned an elf buddy every 2 weeks that you are supposed to email twice a week with inspiration, recipes, and tips to form a great little support system and get the chance to meet someone new. 

A Skoop of Supergreens {and my Aloha Smoothie recipe}

I'm always trying to get more greens & superfoods into my diet, especially after returning from my post-marathon vacation and as the holidays approach. I love green juices, but sadly don't have the money to buy them everyday nor the patience to deal with working and cleaning a juicer. 

That's why I was excited when Skoop contacted me about trying their A Game superfood formula.  I also loved their company's mission about providing real whole foods nutrition and how they give back to the community by providing one fresh serving of fruits and veggies to a student in school for every serving of Skoop sold through Mission Nutrition. 

I was surprised when an really nice package of Skoop goodies arrived at my door!

What's Skoop?
According to their website, Skoop is a line of powdered, whole-food sourced super nutrition. Their products are all plant based and made with 100% whole foods including fruits, veggies without any GMOs. They include over 5000 phytonutrients to help fight stress & inflammation while boosting metabolism and immune support. Talk about packing a punch. 

The Ingredients
I'm always reading about superfoods and supplements I should be taking but honestly it gets exhausting. I can't take 40 things that are good for me each morning, it just won't happen as I'm running out the door.  I love that A Game has 10 servings of fruits and vegetables, probiotics, fiber, antioxidants, greens, and herbs all in 1 scoop of powder! 

When You Don't Know What to Do Post-Marathon

Well it's been a month since the big marathon, and time has flown by. After taking a couple weeks off from activity, I've been trying to get into the swing of things-it's hard.  Last year I discussed how to avoid post-race blues and below are some post-marathon tips I've put together this season. I've mostly been good at the post-marathon transition. 

Post-Marathon Tips

I'm trying to figure out my race schedule for the winter and spring. I'm definitely including a couple of fun races like the annual Celtic Solstice Race in there before the New Year.  As far as fitness I've been relaxing, going on easy runs, and getting back to trying fun classes like Floyo and spin again.  

Turkey Pumpkin Chili

A couple weeks ago I cooked this chili up for dinner after work, and it turned out amazing! I had read a couple recipes that used pumpkin as chili base, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much thicker my chili came out. The pumpkin flavor isn't prominent, so don't worry this won't taste like a pumpkin pie. It's the perfect fall dinner plus was on the table in less than an hour!

I make this on the stovetop, but you could also set this up in your crockpot before you leave for work, cooking on low for 6 hours.   

FloYo at Beachfit Baltimore

This past summer I tried FloYo which is a combination of SUP (stand up paddleboarding) and yoga/pilates for the first time in Annapolis with Jessie Benson, the founder and all-around awesome Baltimore fit lady, so I was excited to try a preview of her FloYoFit class at Beachfit Baltimore last week.  

I have taken a couple of Surfset , spinning, PiYo classes and at Beachfit this past spring before I started marathon training and love the friendly new Harbor East boutique gym with it's small class sizes and motivating instructors.
  

FloYo is a full body workout that incorporates yoga poses and a vinyasa flow which included warrior poses, sun salutations, and core work.  

Since the weather is quickly getting colder in Maryland, Jessie decided to bring FloYo inside by using the surfset boards , which are small, portable surfboards on top of a bosu ball-like base. It definitely is a core workout no matter what you are doing because you need to try to keep the board stable plus keep yourself from shaking all over the place.  I definitely was feeling the burn in my abs for most of the class!

5 Friday Favorites: My Favorite Things About Halloween {via gifs!}

I didn't think I would post today, but I'm in the Halloween spirit so I'm linking up with the Friday Five hosted by Courtney, Cynthia, and Mar.  I got in a chilly 10K run this AM and even spotted a few dogs already in costume-SO cute. 

I'm really excited to dress up as Wonder Woman, my spirit animal tonight and to have a few pumpkin beers, some candy, and have fun!

Think of the Possibilities: Mizuno Wave Rider 18 Review

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Mizuno on behalf of Fitfluential. As always all opinions and thoughts are my own!

This summer, I talked about how it was a big deal for me to switch to the Adidas Energy Boost 2 running shoes for marathon training since I had only been running in Brooks shoes for 2 1/2 years. Once you find a brand you like, usually you stick with them.  Also if I'm throwing down some dough for shoes, I don't have a lot of wiggle room to be adventurous in case they don't work out.  

I've always heard great things about Mizuno but just didn't think I was a Mizuno girl. 

Naturally I jumped at the chance to try their new Wave Rider 18 shoes when the Fitfluential opportunity came up because I was intrigued by the brand. In my post-marathon transition stage, it seemed like the perfect time to play around with a new pair of shoes. I could try on being a Mizuno girl for a little bit and see how it feels!

The Wave Rider 18 is a neutral shoe is said to provide a smooth and responsive ride while being a lightweight daily trainer.  They have been on sale since the beginning of the month for the MRP of $119.99.  They come in black/silver (what I received), blue atoll/silver, and white/fuchsia purple color schemes for women. You can check out the men's color schemes here. 

My New Fall Fashion Staples

It's been all about running on the blog lately but now that my marathon training is over, I'm taking some time to talk about other things that make me happy like fashion and beauty. I devour my monthly fashion magazines and love creating outfits so I thought I'd share some fall pieces that are becoming staples of my wardrobe as the weather gets colder.  

Chicago Marathon 2014: The Big Race Recap

My race recap of the Chicago Marathon is going to be long, and I'll probably think of a million details I wanted to mention right after I hit publish (le sigh). 

Since it's been almost two weeks since the race I mostly just have feelings from different parts of the race and my overall happiness with the Chicago Marathon left so this won't be a mile by mile breakdown if that's what you were looking for. 

The morning of the race I was lucky enough to crash at the apartment my friend was staying at on Michigan Avenue RIGHT across from Grant Park and the start line. This was a life saver since I was staying on the edge of the city and would have had a long train ride to the start and was still sick. All of my rest, medicine, and homeopathic immune boosters must have worked some magic because I woke up feeling pretty good Sunday morning.

I wasn't sure how my sinuses would feel once I got running, but the lack of feeling like a congested, sniffly mess like I had been all week was a good sign. 

All my gear laid out-Flat Lauren is ready to race!

Chicago Marathon 2014 Expo: Before the Start Line

I still have so many thoughts about the Chicago Marathon so here's a little pre-race recap. 

If you missed it, read about how I took a walk break last week and Skechers great Breast Cancer Awareness campaign going on this month.  

My last training update discussed how I had gotten sick the week before the marathon. Unfortunately the day I was flying out, a mere 3 days before the race, I started feeling worse. I was tired, worn down, sniffly, and dealing with sinus congestion & headaches. I decided to get the expo out of the way Friday morning (and I sadly felt worse) so I'd have more time to rest later. 

I must say it was one of the most organized and nicest race expos I've ever been to! It also wasn't too crowded Friday morning, and there was plenty of space in between rows of vendors so you weren't constantly being forced to move out of the way for people. 

When you walked in they had a little photo op with the start line and a countdown until the race.  All I kept thinking was I had 44 hours to feel better.

One of the coolest things was how when you walked up to a row of people with your confirmation page you were given a number and directed towards another desk area with those numbers. As I walked up to my desk number, a volunteer said "Lauren? Here's your packet." Pretty cool. 

The only lame thing was that the marathon shirts were just plain gray Nike tech tees that said Bank of America Chicago Marathon on the front in white. Pretty underwhelming, but I suspect it's because Nike wants you to buy all their other pretty marathon merchandise.  

Walk Not Run and Skechers Breast Cancer Awareness

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Skechers. As always all opinions and thoughts are my own!

Seriously THANK YOU to every person on social media who gave me shout outs, commented on my last blog post, and who helped cheer me on before the Chicago Marathon. Reading all those messages from people who believe in me was what powered me through my the race after being sick up until the night before. More on that later but spoiler alert: it was GREAT!

After the marathon, even though I was really pumped and exciting about running more, I took a walk break. 

Yep, I traded my running shoes in for walking shoes this week. 

Staying active and healthy is clearly important to me. I truly believe it makes me a happier and healthier person inside and out.  Especially since my body was fighting an illness all week before the race, and I wanted to stay as healthy as possible afterwards so I could have fun on my trip, I decided to take it extra easy this week. That means no runs, no interval circuits,no spin classes, no Crossfit classes-even though I was itching to get strong again. 

Sleeping in, indulging in many beers & doughnuts, and NOT following a training plan felt great. It doesn't mean I was sitting on a couch all day though. 

 

How to Get Over Being Sick Fast: Marathon Taper Update

So I've been in taper town and everything was going great until I woke up sick yesterday. Yes sick, as in I'm supposed to run 26.2 miles on Sunday and I've caught a cold from my boyfriend.  Don't worry I already yelled at him!  

I also JUST realized it's my second blogiversary. The celebration will have to wait until after Sunday I'm afraid! 

Once I felt the scratchy throat and post-nasal drip in the morning I immediately broke down in tears. Tapering makes you extra emotional, don't you know?  My first thought was how I spent 17 weeks and all summer training for a race that I'm not going to run. Or one that I'm going to try to run and suck at/it will suck. I'm going back and forth between telling myself I'll be fine by Sunday and the race will suck.  Trying to breathe deeply and smile, most of the time though!   

ON THE ROAD TO 26.2-WEEKS 15-17: TAPER

Expo East 2014 Trends and Favorite Products

I was lucky enough to be able to attend Natural Products Expo East 2014 right in Baltimore a few weeks ago. Last year was my first time attending and was super overwhelming. Expo East  is a huge expo where brands and exhibitors come to showcase all of their products including brand new ones to industry professionals, retailers, distributors, and the press. 

This year I knew what to expect and made sure to bring a big bag for all my goodies. I thought it seemed less crowded on the floor even though I had less time to spend at the Expo than last year. I still got to try some amazing products, talk to great brands and companies, and leave with bags of swag. 

I left stuffed from samples each time and made sure to snap some photos of my favorites!  I spent most of my time in the supplement and food sections of the expo.