In pictures: Having an oatilicious time with healthy living bloggers

Thanks to Quaker Oatmeal and their Living Proof blogger event, not only did I get to eat and learn more about oatmeal than I could have ever imagined, I got to finally meet in person some very cool rock star healthy living bloggers whom I, and you all, mingle with quite often in the blogosphere. And before I forget, Quaker has nicely offered up some coupons for you all to have your own oatastic oatmealpallooza.

This was my first time to the windy city of Chicago, and it wasn't windy, but it was surely frickin' cold for this admittedly spoiled Californian. I really am a cold wimp people. In fact, there was some beginnings of a Charlie Brown Christmas snowfall.

But instead of typing more, let me illustrate some of the trip with pictures. I'm kinda bummed because many of my pics came out blurred so here were the ones that came out the best. First, here I am trying to make out with "Larry" the Quaker man. Really, that is what they call him internally. All I could think is "Larry the Oatmeal Guy: Git-er-done!" Seriously though folks, I need some major help finding a new squeeze because now I am resorting to coping a feel with statues of mascots of cereal. You gotta admit though that the puffy shirt action is kinda hawt! And, who doesn't love a man with a tray serving you breakfast in bed, yes?

Without further adieu, above is Anne of Elastic Waist who sat next to me, Jason from Twit2Fit with his synopsis (and I give Jason serious props as the solo male blogger amongst all that estrogen), Jennette of Pasta Queen who happened to take a cool shot of the faux snake skin lounger in our hotel rooms along with a shot of the other side of the room with the other bloggers, Mo Pie of Big Fat Deal, and Roni of Roni's Weigh who took some great pics too.

So, let me show you some healthy living bloggers actually working out...

Here in the gym at the hotel, is some shots in order of Lisa aka Workout Mommy, Leslie aka The Weighting Game who btw was creatively ergonomic with her laptop using cereal boxes, and more MizFit and those arms.Look how strong! Miz Fit sharing her nekkid story and Wokout Mommy did a workout video which I filmed channeling my inner Martin Scorsese. That's why I did all the shots in B&W here with some grain to make everything feel edgy and W magazine feely. I'm so arty.

 

 

And I some how took this cool action shot of MizFit and Workout Mommy mid pushup.

And of all coolness, here I am with Stephanie Izzard the Top Chef 4 winner. I wrote more about Stephanie over on Noshtopia and the fabulous oatmeal pancakes she made us plus I got her to do something really cool on video.

And lastly, here I am with Jennette and Heather aka MamaVision whom I finally got to meet in person after knowing her over 2 years via blogging and hanging out in the blogosphere and on Skype. And thank you to all the readers who came out to hang out with us on Saturday & Sunday. It was fabulous to meet all of you and yes, I did the hug fest!

Amy of Super Healthy Kids has a great synopsis of cardiologist Dr. Volgman's preso, "How to be heart smart." Jenna of Eat Live Run and Kath of Kath Eats Real Food did this cute video of the weekend. Lyn from Escape from Obesity has some great pics including one in the Quaker Sustainability Center. Here's a cute pic of Anne Marie of This Mama Cooks with Stephanie Izzard. And Tanya of I Ate Pie reviews Quaker's Chewy Bars with Protein.

If you want to get all the Twitter action about the Quaker weekend and activities, check out #quaker.

And as a final word, I do have to mention that I did give the Quaker folks a good Facebook super poking about their organic products, or rather lack of organic products, and their very limited all natural options.

They do have the organic instant oatmeal in plain and maple brown sugar flavor, but it's in "limited distribution" aka in PR speak as "you gotta look high and low for these puppie." and that's it. The number of products that Quaker makes without any artificial sweeteners, food coloring, or high fructose corn syrup is "limited selection." But I have high hopes for Quaker, as Whole Foods continues to grow like weeds, and more people want cleaner foods.

After this weekend, oatmeal will never look the same to me ever again, and that's an awesome thing!