Hi, friends! As you know I just got back from the Food and Nutrition Conference in Chicago. It was the first time I have ever been to Chicago so that was really fun! Even though the conference events kicked off Saturday, I actually flew into Chicago Friday which gave me a little time to explore the city!
The flight was LONG and my back was not having anymore sitting so I decided to take the train to the convention center area.
I was feeling pretty proud of myself until I realized I took the train to the WRONG hotel. There are actually TWO Hyatt’s in Chicago which is SUPER confusing. I ended up having to take an Uber 3 miles but by then my back was feeling better so it was all good! It made for a REALLY good story. Friday night I went to a gathering at my hotel of LEAP RDs which was awesome. I finally got to meet my mentor who has been helping me with client results for the last two years! Saturday I slept in till 9:30 am, it’s crazy how that time change is so hard to get used to, hello jet lag! Then I got a workout in at the hotel, the Hyatt Chicago had a HUGE gym!
It was a good one, but my hamstrings were seriously SUPER sore the whole time I was in Chicago (actually they are still sore)! I’m so not used to hamstring activating exercise anymore, I need to work on that! After my workout, I headed out to meet a friend for lunch!
Susie and I met two years ago at Blogfest, you may remember her from her guest post on how to take your workout outside here at HH. I was super excited to see her I’ve been following her blog for the last few years and it was super exciting to get to see her and her 27-week baby bump! We met at D4 Irish Pub which was, of course, amazing, I knew it would be since she is local! I got a veggie egg scramble for my main meal.
Suz recommended that we share sweet potato fries which I was TOTALLY down for. She said they were the best sweet potato fries she’s ever had and I honestly can not argue. They kind of tasted like kettle corn sweet potato fries, plus there was a chipotle aioli that was TO DIE FOR!
On the walk too and from meeting her I got to see a little bit of the city was really fun! I actually got to see the opening and closing of one of the bridges, which would have been annoying (I needed to get accross) if it wasn’t such a novelty!
so much wind ha ha!
Saturday night I went to the opening centennial event celebration, another gathering of LEAP RDs, and the Dietitians in Business and Communications Cake and Connect event. I also got to meet up with a bunch of RDs who work in media (Amy, Juli, Erin, and Andrea) who I have never got to meet in person which was amazing!
Funny story, there is a ton of food at these events but I kept forgetting to eat it which may or may not have result in me paying 30 bucks for hummus at 11 pm at night. Luckily my roommate was such a sport about it, in fact, I had the best time tooling around to the events and Chicago with her. Sunday morning we headed to the Nutrition Entrepreneurs breakfast, we got there a bit late but still had a great time meeting people and enjoying breakfast.
Then, my roommate, Mandy let me tag along for a bike ride from the hotel to the convention center. PS I met Mandy at Blogfest this year, she is not only an RD but also a yoga instructor!
GPS took us the scenic route which took us way longer than it should have but it was SO SO SO fun! I was lucky I got to tag along because I couldn’t’ even get the damn bike out of the rack by myself.
I spent the rest of the day at the convention center at FNCE. Love that the expo had so many fun interactive booths!
Sunday night was JAM packed we had a Nutrition Entrepreneurs networking event and a social through the Food and Nutrition Magazine. It was fun to meet my editor for my recipes that were published this year in the magazine!
I kind of got worse at taking pictures after that. I sadly don’t have many pictures from the Monday or Monday night but I had a great time at the conference and connecting with other RD bloggers.
I had no idea the Trump tower was in Chicago. I mean not like I could care either way just kind of fun to see it since it’s so famous. Despite Tuesday being an extremely rough travel day, I was really tired and my back flared up on the flight really really really bad, I feel very blessed to have been able to go to FNCE this year. I actually got this reminder from Facebook today:
That reminded me two things. First, I desperately need to update my professional photos. Second, that I’ve come a LONG way in the last three years since I was a brand new RD attending FNCE in Atlanta. I’ve now been running Hungry Hobby LLC (the blog and nutrition services) for two years full time. I wouldn’t be able to do all the things I love (share new healthy recipes, provide info on nutrition, blog about Nala) without you guys, my readers and my clients. Sure, I hustle hard to make a living but without you guys that wouldn’t be possible. So, thank you for being there, for making recipes, for giving me feedback, and all the things you guys are the best. Now I’m off to sort through all my FNCE swag and goodies!
Looks like you had a good time. Forgot to ask you how it went with Suz!
It went great! So exciting to see her and her little bump!
Looks like such a fun trip, and those sweet potato fries look delicious! I love Chicago, its so beautiful!
OMG I wish I had some more sweet potato fries right now!
SO GLAD that I got to see you. And that you had such a great time at FNCE! Next time, you have to come back for longer so that we can go on a true food tour 😀
So glad I got to see you too! OMG A FOOD TOUR sign me up!
Hello! How are you? I am currently working on a RD database for my preceptor and stumbled upon your fantastic website. I love what you are about and what you promote. Just wanted to stop in and say that and tell you that I am excited to now be following you on your journey and learning from you. I was also at FNCE, my first one, and it was fantastic! I got to meet such great RDs and get some wonderful insight! I can’t wait for the next one!
That’s awesome! First FNCE is always overwhelming sounds like you handled it well!