Hello from Jacksonville Beach!
I am staying at my parents’ condo for the next three days with my sister and my sister’s boyfriend’s mom and sister. (Got that?) We’re all in town for the SHINE Women’s Conference through Celebration Church and so far our experience at the conference has been wonderful!
Workout
From the moment I woke up this morning, things have been go-go-go!
With no morning shift at the gym requiring a ridiculously early wake up call, I opted to sleep in a bit and got out of bed a little before 7 a.m. for a workout.
I headed out to the beach to run four miles before everyone else was awake.
Dogs are allowed on Jacksonville Beach before 9 a.m. and I had the best time watching them run in and out of the surf. I immediately thought about Sadie and how much she would love starting off every day with a romp on the beach. Lucky dogs!
My run was a little sluggish, but it felt good to get outside and sweat a bit.
Breakfast
After my run, it was breakfast time. I assembled a yogurt bowl with Liberte coconut yogurt, cold oatmeal and raw pecans.
Have you guys tried Liberte yogurt? It tastes like dessert in a cup! Delicious!
Once I had food in my stomach, I hopped in the shower, got dressed and sat down to blog when my sister said it was time to go! We had a little miscommunication about our intended departure time, so I grabbed my purse and headed out the door with everyone to attend the morning sessions at SHINE.
This morning we heard from Kerri Weems, Dianne Wilson and Priscilla Shirer, three incredibly inspiring women who spoke with such passion and energy.
Priscilla actually opened the conference last night and I was thrilled to find out that she was speaking again today. She has such charisma and sass and is a phenomenal speaker. If SHINE ends up posting videos or sharing podcasts of the conference sessions, I will be sure to share links on the blog so that those of you who may be interested can check them out.
We just arrived back at my parents’ condo and it’s time to dig into a late lunch before we head back to the conference for the evening sessions.
Hope you’re having a great Thursday!
Question of the Afternoon
- What is the best conference you’ve attended?
- What is one conference you’d love to attend in the future?
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I love your necklace! May I ask where you got it? 🙂 Looks like a great event too BTW!
Thank you! My sister gave it to me a few years ago and bought it at Francesca’s. Here’s their website: http://www.francescas.com/
Love conferences! I especially love conferences that deal with health, nutrition, fitness and blogging 🙂 I just love hearing new approaches to things that I am currently doing and I love discovering new products that I am not aware of 🙂 Enjoy you stay!
I would LOVE to run on the beach everyday! That would be amazing! Funny thing is I only live about 15 mins from one, but its still to far for a before work kind of thing!
What a fantastic conference!! I’ve been meaning to try liberte yogurt, i’ve heard great things. You all look beautiful!
Glad to hear you are having a great time! Priscilla is AWESOME! I’ve never seen her live but have watched videos. I’ll have to be on the lookout to see if SHINE comes a little further south…
Sounds like a fun time!! I’d love to attend a Christian women’s conference someday. I always hear such great things about them. Enjoy your weekend!
How fun that all of you are there! I have attended conferences, but only because I was forced to, and I didn’t get much out of them. I have never heard of SHINE so now I have to check it out!
I just tried the Liberte Coconut yogurt this morning (I’m not usually a big yogurt fan in general) but this stuff was delicious!!! It totally hit the spot, and I’ll be getting more of it very soon! 🙂
What a great conference – can’t wait to hear more about it 🙂
I’m going to have to try that yogurt ASAP! Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to hear about the rest of the conference!
I love Priscilla. My favored conference I’ve been to is definitely to see Beth Moore at Living Proof Live. If she ever comes close I we’d HIGHLY recommend seeing her!
Hi Julie, this conference sounds like a wonderful event! How did you hear about it? I wonder if there are any similar or related events outside of Florida, I would love to look into them! Have a great time 🙂
My sister’s boyfriend actually told all of us about it! He volunteers at Celebration Church and heard wonderful things about it from the women who went last year.
Wow, looks like an awesome conference! Lisa Bevere and Christine Caine have both spoken at the women’s conferences my church holds every spring here in MI, and they are absolutely phenomenal! Enjoy!
I attended a Beth Moore conference last fall with my mom, sister, and grandma! She’s awesome! I really really want to attend a health and fitness blogging conference this year. Seeing this post has definitely reaffirmed you as one of my favorite bloggers. You may not directly post about your faith, but through things like this your faith “shines.”
I really enjoyed the Healthy Living Summit in Philadelphia! However, my favorite conference was a dental trade show I had to go to for work in Las Vegas. I met my boyfriend there and we’re still going two years later 🙂
Liberte is the only organic Greek yogurt brand we get in my part of Canada (no Chobani!) so I’m familiar with it. It is delish!
Looks like a gorgeous place for a run. 🙂
My next conference is the SCW/Les Mills Fitness Mania Convention in Chicago and I cant wait! I am hoping to attend some sort of blogging conference in the future too!
I <3 Les Mills! Have fun!!!
Wow, What a wonderful conference, so inspiring and full of energy from such prestigious speakers. I would love to attend. The sunny sandy beach looks so inviting, and dogs allowed before 9 is for sure a welcome bonus. Liberte yogurt is one of my favorites, I have it with mixed nuts, and pecans and almonds are my favorite and sometimes with fresh blueberry’s or a banana 🙂
I’m going to Blend TOMORROW!! Ok so itz not a conference, itz a retreat, but still!!!
One of the most interesting conferences I’ve attended was one my university held a few of years ago featuring a number of body language experts, explaining how to tell if people are being dishonest. Very interesting!
Have fun! You all look so pretty 🙂
I’ve really liked some of my work conferences actually (I’m a health coach). Exploring the ins & outs of being a good coach–it’s fascinating!
I would LOVE LOVE to go to a Les Mills Quarterly or Mega Quarterly conference. So so bad! one day, I will!
And tomorrow, I go to BLEND Retreat! Kind of like a conference… 😉
I hope you have a blast at BLEND! It looks like it will be incredible!
I missed having your post to read during my morning break but am glad you’re having such a great time!
Conferences and retreats are definitely not my thing. Too many new people! I would probably get really nervous or exhausted and just stay in my hotel room.
I would give my left pinky to be able to run on the beach every morning! Seriously! Looks like youre have tons of fun!
I attended the Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, and Priscilla Shirer conference in Louisville, KY last year and it was beyond amazing. All three of those ladies blew me away…Their passion when speaking and their knowledge of scripture and how to interpret it left me absolutely speechless.
Hope you all have a great time with the rest of it 🙂
What a blessing to get to share this experience with your family!
How awesome! I work at Celebration Church in Wisconsin and we’re knee deep in planning our women’s conference this July! Hope you have a great time. 🙂
Good luck to you as you plan!! I’m sure it will be incredible!
Where in Wisconsin?! Im ftom the central area and a conference sounds great!
It is in Green Bay! Here’s the website 🙂 http://www.buttkickingwoman.com/
A run on the beach sounds amazing! Hope you have a great time!
Did your Mom hurt her foot? It looks like she is wearing a post-op surgery boot on one foot.
Just curious!
I recent went to a regional National Academic Advising conference for work that I LOVED! It was a great experience!
P.s. Your green blazer is rocking!!
Sounds like you are having a great time. The last conference I went to was a few years ago when I still worked in recruitment. The conference was in New Zealand.
Priscilla is my absolute favorite speaker! Gives me goosebumps everytime. She came to our church to speak at a women’s conference once, and I thought I could die. 😉
I’m attending BLEND this weekend, the first blogger meetup/conference event I’ve done. I have been to one writers conference in Portland which was really fun.
I love Liberte yogurt. I first had it when I was on my honeymoon in B.C. We stayed on this island out off of Vancouver area and the bed and breakfast served it. So delicious. It really turned me on to yogurt and sadly I can’t find it anywhere here in CA!
i LOVE liberte coconut yogurt, its so creamy and the flakes of coconut are the best. I treat it as a special occasion or dessert yogurt because that stuff is rich! But I take my time and really savor the cup.
the liberte mediteranne yogurt is absolutely delicious! i love it so much. i also like their greek yogurt that isn’t quite as rich
Unfortunately I only make it to boring work conferences. I’d go to blend this weekend but I’m at a work conference instead. I’d love to go to fitbloggin or healthy living summit
Women Of Faith (Amazing Freedom and Infinite Grade) were the most powerful and emotional conferences I’ve ever attended! I’ve been to a few other Education oriented conferences which were very informative and passionate. However, the Women Of Faith conferences topped them all! There have been some changes in the organization, however, and they are no longer offering the same quality of options, which is disheartening. I look forward to finding other faith-based conferences which I can lose myself in in the future!
This seems like such a wonderful and empowering conference, you ladies are gorgeous! Enjoy your time at your parents’!
I’ve only attended one conference and that was the Healthy Living Summit this past summer! Haha it was pretty great if you ask me!
I have attended Passion for the past three years. Passion is a college-aged (18-25), missions-focused conference held in Atlanta over winter break, though it will be a little different this year. Last year we packed the entire Georgia Dome, where the Falcons play, with close to 65,000 students from around the world. Getting to worship with that many believers is a feeling that I will never forget. Every year is very Spiritually rewarding and I am never disappointed when it comes time to leave. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.268generation.com/3.0/
Hi Julie, I really love that green blazer, where is it from?
My pastor is at that conference too! Pastor Taryn Stine from DC Metro Church – I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s a speaker 🙂 Enjoy – I wish I could be there!
OH EM GEE I LOVE Liberte Yogurt. It tastes like icecream… and practically is I guess 🙁 260 cals for that teeny tiny contaner.
You are so lucky that you are so close to attend a conference like this, not to mention your mom and sister are also close enough so you can travel together! This would be a dream! I’ll have to look into it next year!
Love Priscilla Shirer. We have done 2 of her Bible Study’s at our church and she is alot of fun. Her “Jonah” study is well worth doing – I did not know knew there was sooooo much to Jonah. I continue to be amazed through studies like that. Beth Moore will always be my favorite bible study lessons …but Priscilla is a good close 2nd!
I would love to hear more about this conference and the types of topics it touched on! Also some of the stuff you and Ryan did in small group. I’m always interested in hearing what others couples do to strengthen there relationship as a married couple!
Sounds great! Running along the beach would be nice change from the gym environment.
Liberte coconut yogurt, cold oatmeal and raw pecans – great simple combo.
Sounds like a great conference.