Phew! What a week. I’m so happy it’s April. Making it through March always feels like an accomplishment. By the time I get to the end of the month, my mood can best be described as a loose tooth hanging on by a bloody thread of connective tissue. Aka Ugly Cry Season. Maybe it’s all that damp Kapha energy?
Luckily, this year, I got out of town for the last weekend of March to go to the Lady Project Summit in Providence. I was there to give a presentation on Self-Care for Entrepreneurs, and I also enjoyed sitting in on some great workshops too! It was one of those weekends where everything just magically went right—I felt like I was being looked out for or something.
Friday morning, an Amtrak derailment caused me to change my travel plans, and I wound up riding in a rental car with four other ladies. This was easily one of my favorite parts of the trip! Having an open conversation about life and work and what it’s like to be a woman forging her path in today’s wacky world was stimulating and inspiring.
Before hitting the road, I had a bowl of savory oats after a morning yoga class. I like to have a solid breakfast on a travel day because, well, you just never know what kind of crazy is going to come your way, and hanger is not helpful.
For lunch, I’d packed a salad with leftover veggies and cooked chicken. A half-empty container of greens is the perfect to-go container.
After checking into my hotel, I ate some Greek yogurt with flax I’d also packed with me. I had an event at New Harvest Coffee & Spirits, a whiskey and coffee bar nearby, and I didn’t want to get accidentally drunk. The event was wonderful! I sipped an Old Forester (neat) and enjoyed a discussion with a great group of ladies, including Jennifer Romolini, author of the upcoming Weird in a World That’s Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures
I was wiped out after the event and after hanging around to chat, I took a friend’s advice and went and had dinner at Rogue Island a few doors down. I love when people mistakenly think I’m a vegetarian just because I’m a dietitian. When I saw that adding braised pork belly to this fried brussels sprouts salad was an option, I said “hell yes.”
I slept really well Friday night. It was a good thing too! Saturday started early was packed with tons of activities. I’d found a great deal on a stay at the Courtyard Marriott, so I made good use of the hotel gym and picked up an egg white frittata from the cafe in the lobby. It came with spinach and avocado on top and had a LOT of cheddar cheese. No complaints here! It was the perfect brain food.
I took my own advice and had a bunch of snacks and a big-ass bottle of water on me. All-day conferences can be tricky because you often don’t know until you get there what will be available to eat. A few things that got me through:
- Organic beef jerky
- Sugar snap peas
- A clementine
I also picked up this Suja Uber Greens juice. They were one of the event sponsors.
I’m not usually a juice gal, but I enjoyed how not-sweet and refreshing it was. Perfect little 50-calorie pick-me-up.
Boxed lunches was provided by local Ellie’s Bakery. Mine had a Pastrami Spiced Roast Beef Sandwich—
pickled cabbage, smoked gouda, thousand island dressing, pumpernickel.
I ended up taking off most of the bread because I wasn’t feeling it—not because the bread sucked but because I was feeling tired and knew that carb overload would make me extra sleepy. Besides, why distract from the beauty that is smoked gouda? And pickled cabbage—one of my favorite weird-is-good foods. #priorities
The Summit Afterparty was sponsored by Chloe wines. I may have had a couple glasses of prosecco while talking more life and work and love. I wasn’t sure what to do for dinner—go with a big group in a few hours, or go off by myself and write? A friend recommended the Public Kitchen in the Renaissance Hotel next door, so what the heck? You’ll hear more about that tomorrow, but for now, here’s a picture of the delicious beet salad I enjoyed with salmon on top. It looks like someone almost dropped it on the way to me, but at least it tasted good!
When I got back to the hotel I stayed up writing for a wall and then fell happily into bed. It’s amazing how even a short trip can get the mind going. I slept great and woke up bright and early to head home to NYC to get ready to dive back into the next week.
What was the last trip you took? Any favorite Providence spots I should check out next time I visit?
To see more WIAW, check out founder Jenn’s blog Peas & Crayons or visit hosts Laura and Arman‘s blogs.
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