Completely Different: Inspire Retreat 2013

When Carrian of Sweet Basil envisioned this retreat, her goal was to bring food bloggers together in a spirit of collaboration instead of competition, where we could learn and inspire each other. I was fortunate to be in attendance and it was indeed a most lovely and inspiring weekend.

Thirteen of us gathered in Park City, Utah where we were practically snowed in at a luxurious house within Deer Valley Resort. We bonded, we relaxed, we laughed, we skied and we ate.

A highlight of the weekend for me was spending a few hours each day on the slopes at Deer Valley. It was their opening weekend and the snow was great. It may have been incredibly cold, but that didn’t stop us!

Other great memories from the weekend include our meals at both Mariposa and Riverhorse On Main restaurants in Park City, a yoga session with Lole Salt Lake City, our late-night pajama party, hot tubbing in the snow, and all of the delicious meals we prepared together at the house.

I am often guilty of letting negativity edge its way in on my creativity, and can get bogged down by numbers and feelings of inadequacy. It was so nice to be reminded that we are all friends, and that working together instead of against each other makes us better bloggers.

This weekend was exactly what I needed!

My comrades for the weekend:

Barbara from Barbara Bakes, Becky of Vintage Mixer, Kristy of Sweet Treats and More, Carrian of Sweet Basil, Meagan of A Zesty Bite, Lauren of Lauren’s Latest, Ashley of Center Cut Cook, Lauren of Climbing Grier Mountain, Megan of Country Cleaver, Deborah of Taste and Tell, Nikki of Chef in Training, and Alyssa of The Recipe Critic.

Love these ladies, and I’m so glad to call them all close friends after this weekend!

A huge thank you also to our sponsors for the weekend, without whom the retreat would not have been possible:

Pacific Foods, Real Salt, Charming Beard Coffee, Real Foods Market, Anolon Cookware, Star Fine Foods, Hamilton Beach, Whole Foods, Gold Medal Flour, Krusteaz, Heber Valley Cheese, and of course, Deer Valley.