Food Blog Forum Orlando
Gather round the laptop kiddos and let me tell you about my mini vacation!
Seriously, I am going to do this old school style. Pretend you are sitting in my living room and I have a box of slides out from my last vacation. Sure it’s annoying, but about 50% of these pictures wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t explain them… so here we go!
p.s. all photos (and video) were taken on my iphone and most were edited using instagram app
Last weekend Jorge and I went to Orlando to Food Blog Forum! It’s one of my favorite food conferences and this was actually my 3rd time attending one (I also blogged about the one in October in Nashville!). This year it was organized by my girl Julie of The Little Kitchen! Thanks for throwing the best FBF yet Julie!
FBF was actually sponsored by Walt Disney World this year and we were invited to bring our family along to join in the fun! Bean was all packed up and ready to go…but I had to explain that Disney didn’t actually count him as a child.
This is me at 8 am with a real Mexican Coke. It’s an addiction, don’t judge.
We finally got to the hotel (Disney’s Polynesian Resort) and couldn’t believe all the beautiful trees they had blooming. This bright yellow tree was right outside our window!
Then we headed off to the parks in search of sugar. I can only go a few hours before I need my fix.
Later that night we hooked up with the amazing Tina from My Life As A Mrs and her husband Mike.
Our first stop in Epcot was to Mexico!
We had dinner in Mexico (in Epcot at the San Angel Inn)! The boys worked on their budding bromance and Tina and I ate our way through a giant bowl of guacamole. 🙂
After dinner we rode Soarin’ and went back to the hotel to get ready for the conference on Saturday morning.
Your Food Story: Todd and Diane of White On Rice Couple kicked off the conference with a session on food photography. They made me laugh and cry and really think about what I am saying with my photos. They are my photography idols!
PRspectives: Rachel (of KitchenAid), Jaden (of Steamy Kitchen), Arianna (of Oxo) & Thomas (for Disney) talked about working with brands. In the end the biggest takeaway… Brands want to work with you! Reach out to them!
How to Write Bigger, Better, More Badass Food Posts : Daivd Leite is a badass. He started his session by saying “I’m on stage and there’s a disco ball, I’m home.” …and it only got better from there.
He also made us swear to start using other words for delicious. I’m trying David, I’m trying!
The amazing Chefs at Disney threw a swanky lunch party in the Epcot World Showplace.
The food was delicious and so not what you would expect from a theme park….but then again, Disney isn’t a normal theme park. 😉
Saturday night Jorge and I headed over to Magic Kingdom and we caught this view as we were running inside for the fireworks.
We rode the teacups and I made Jorge spin us as fast as he could…
…which was apparently a little too fast….
…but don’t worry, I caught it all on video for you. 🙂
P.S. For all the BBT fans: You can buy Jorge’s BAZINGA shirt off amazon for 17.95.
Sunday morning we had a delicious brunch sponsored by Whole Foods in Orlando. The food was perfect, the mimosas were exactly what I needed, but the company was better! Above is Tina (My Life As A Mrs), Julie (Table For Two), Katie (Katie’s Cucina) & Suzanne (Koko Cooks)
After brunch we started the drive back to Jacksonville. We put the top down and took the back roads through the Ocala National Forest.
It was a gorgeous day and the drive was the perfect way to unwind from the busy, no sleep weekend!
Well…that and sleeping in on Monday morning.
<3! 🙂 I could only watch the video for a couple of seconds. I'm so glad you were able to make it and I finally got to meet Jorge!! Sorry you weren't feeling well though. Love, love your pictures of the fireworks. Can't wait to see you again and spend some time together!
I am soooo jealous of all of you who attended! I wanted to go so badly. And my husband would have loved it as well. It looks like you had a great time!
And for the record, some of the best meals of my life were eaten in WDW. Yum!
Haha you are surrounded by furry friends in the last pic. I wouldn’t want to get out of bed either.
I had thought about going but didn’t and after seeing so many blog posts about it, I am kicking myself!! Looks awesome and glad you were able to attend and meet all these fabulous ladies in person!
Man! I love Disney World…seeing all of these pictures makes me realize I need my Mickey fix SOON!
I’m giggling over the last pic. Even the furbabies were worn out for y’all!
Looks like so much fun! I’m sad I couldn’t make it but hopefully will see you again soon!
teacups are no joke!!
LOVE THIS! So great to see you and to chat (albeit briefly). Hope we can catch up again soon! XOXO
Love, love, love your recap! It was great meeting you this weekend. I just added your blog to my google reader so I’ll be commenting often 🙂
What fun!!
How awesome that you could drive their and not go through all the airport crap. I love Soarin, we have it here in California Adventure. Jorge looks like he might let go of his dinner on that tea cup?? Wish I could have made it. Trying to stick to the West coast events right now…
Take care
Thanks for making me almost hurl up my coffee and Biscoff cookies while watching that video! Motion sickness at best. 😉
Great recap! LOVED meeting you and can’t wait to see you again! We’ll Skype it and wine it soon!
xoxo!
Love this 🙂 so glad we got to meet and your pictures tell a great story! I can’t go on teacups, I’d probably barf. That video already made me nauseous haha 😉 hope to see you soon!!
Sounds like it was a ton of fun! I’m super jealous of Jorge’s Bazinga t-shirt!
I love this post! I only wish we had the chance to hang out at FBF! The whole weekend was so busy, I’m so sorry I didn’t get the chance to find you. I saw you from afar though 🙂 Next time for sure!
It sounds such a blast!
okay i loved your hot pink dress from valentine’s day, but now i’m loving your polka dot dress!! where’s it from?!
looks like you had a blast- wish i could have joined you guys!
Girl it was nice to see you again! Apparently we are making a habit of just seeing ourselves in Orlando during FBF Conferences! And there was so much going on, and so many people to connect, we got lost in the shuffle!
I’m totally buying Jorge’s T-shirt in Amazon.. because, well just saying “Bazinga” makes me happy – the spinning video made me dizzy!
Love your story telling *wink*.
1. i freaking love you.
2. i freaking love that our husbands love eachother.
3. when are we going to vacay together?
🙂 had a FABULOUS time with you guys!!!!!
Way too cute you both 😉
LOVE IT! So wished I could have been there to hug your neck!
It was a GREAT time – thank you for sharing your photos! It was a GREAT time and it was terrific seeing you there!
Looks like a great time! I really want to go to a conference some time!!
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Ohhh I love Orlando. When i gone there was wonderful, but i gone for Disney parks whit my daughter.
I love your cats and dog in bed, haha.
Greats
Hell to the Yes on Mexican Coke!!!!
Looks like such a fun trip!!
What a great trip! I so wished I could have gone this year… next time for sure!
Love your “insta-weekend” It’s always nice getting to hang out together! 🙂
We rode Soarin’ too! I loved it! Wasn’t it an amazing conference!
This looks like a blast!! I’m bummed I couldn’t attend. 🙁
Every.single.post. I read about this makes me MORE jealous! I need to get my rear to the next one!!!
Looks so fun! I am JEALOUS! 🙂
come check out my new blog
http://www.foodwinemine.com
xoxo
Meg
i am sooooo glad we got to meet and at the time soooo annoyed we didn’t spend more time together. next time!!
Love your recap of the conference. The pics are perfect. I am so glad I got to meet you, much to brief for me though. Would love to go for ice cream or cupcakes together next time. This was my first conference so I think I spent most of the weekend looking like a deer in the headlights. Next one I’ll be all chill and cool and Rico Suave for sure!
wish we could have talked more!! It was so good to see you
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Joanne and I are going around to all of the FBF recaps and they are amazing! Looks like you had a lot of fun 🙂
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