Hello from the air on the way back to D.C.! I had such a great time in California the past couple days – I was sorry to say goodbye this morning!
Yesterday was busy but really fun. I started my day with a little work on my laptop (yay for being on east coast time!), then headed to Urth Caffé to meet my college friend Christie for breakfast!
A bunch of you guys recommended Urth Caffe, and it was just as good as you all said it would be! I had a dish with poached eggs, smoked salmon, and arugula on top of brioche. SO good. Plus one of their famous green tea lattes!
I loved the vibe at this place – so cute. It was great to catch up with Christie, too!
After breakfast, it was off to the main event and the reason I was in Los Angeles to begin with – the Jamba Juice FiTrends Expo!
The event was held at the beautiful Annenberg Community Beach House – it was right on the beach with stunning views of the water and the distant mountains. Beautiful spot for an event!
Shortly after our arrival, it was down to business – we had some serious working out to do! Jamba Juice used the event as a way to showcase some of the latest trends in fitness this year; to do so, they had instructors on hand to lead participants in 8 different workouts that were 15 minutes each.
First up was Cassey Ho of Blogilates to get the event kicked off.
She led everyone in an awesome workout – the hardest of the day, in my opinion! It involved squats, lunges, side planks, and more. I was very impressed with her ability to wield a microphone while in a side plank!
Cassey’s intro was followed by a ton more awesome mini-workouts. I loved that the Jamba Juice Banana Man participated in a lot of them while in full costume. He was an awesome dancer! 
We did the following workouts:
Bokwa, led by Brian Mavi
- What’s Bokwa, you ask? It’s a dance-inspired workout in which participants draw letters and numbers with their feet. I really liked this, despite the fact that I’m slightly challenged when it comes to choreography.
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CrossFit, led by Charles “Chuck” Stumpf
- You guys know I was all over this one! We did a 3 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of the following: 5 burpees, 10 pushups, 15 air squats. Then we rested for a minute and did it again!
Broadway Bodies, led by Joseph Corella
- I was surprised by this one – I’m normally not into dance workouts, but I loved this! Joseph made is really fun – he was hilarious and had great energy. Broadway Bodies is a a high-impact, dance cardio workout to your favorite Show Tunes, Movie Musicals, and Pop Videos. Fun!
Piloxing, led by Cortney Gornall
- I completely missed this workout because I was outside chatting – oops! I heard it was awesome, though. Piloxing = pilates + boxing!
Physique 57, led by Sarah Pfeifer
- Physique 57 is a barre/ballet inspired workout – lots of small movements that tone your butt, hips, etc.!
LaBlast, led by Jodie Patterson
- Another dance-inspired workout! I found this one to be a little hard to follow in terms of choreography (I’m so not a dance workout person), but it was high energy and everyone had fun with it.
In between the 15 minute mini-workouts, we had time to recharge with some Jamba Juice goodies.
We were able to sample their latest smoothies, juices (I loved the carrot orange fresh juice!), and their steel cut oatmeal, too! It was all delicious.
I loved those cinnamon apple chips pictured above – I just enjoyed one as a snack on the plane!
We also had a chance to mingle in between the sessions. It was great to see some old friends and to make some new ones, too. Also, guess who showed up to surprise everyone – Tony Horton, the guy who invented P90X!
Monica, Brittany, Laura, and I all snagged a photo and some chat time with him. I love P90X workouts so it was really fun to meet him – he’s ridiculously fit in person, too! I used to do the P90X Yoga X and plyometric workouts all the time at home – they’re killer.
I also had a great time talking to Jane, a fANNEtastic blog reader who was the only one able to take me up on the offer I shared in a previous post for locals to attend the event along with me!
Jane is a fitness instructor and is currently finishing up her internships to become an RD, so we had a lot to talk about! She had actually emailed me recently about shadowing/interning with me in DC but the timing wasn’t going to work out, so I was glad to have the chance to meet her. She was super sweet. Thanks again for coming, Jane!
The event closed with a chance for us to meet Venus Williams, who works with Jamba Juice (she owns a few of their franchise locations) and is also extremely tall.
Having played tennis in high school, it was really cool to meet such a famous tennis celebrity! Venus shared that working out is all about having fun – I couldn’t have said it better myself, Venus.
I have to say another big thank you to Jamba Juice (who covered my travel/lodging costs while I was in CA) for having me out for this cool event! It was an honor to be there.
After the event was over, I had a couple hours to kill before dinner, so I decided to hit the beach! It was a gorgeous day – a complete 180 from the gray, cold weather from the previous day.
I had dinner last night at my hotel (I was put up at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, which was lovely) with my cousin Willow and aunt Carol who live in the area. It was great to see them! Great food, too.
Carol was sweet and hung out in the lobby for an hour after dinner while Willow and I had a little one-on-one girl catch up time. We took a stroll on the beach while chatting – beautiful night.
This morning, I was up bright and early for a run on that same beach!
My legs were tired from all the adventure the day before and I didn’t want to overdo it since I’m running the Nike Women’s Half Marathon on Sunday, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t get out to enjoy the beautiful views and weather!
Yep, totally worth it. 3.5 casual miles, plus a walk down to the water to stick my hands in the ocean before saying farewell.
After my run, I treated myself to breakfast at Urth Caffe again – this time, I got the poached eggs on brioche with prosciutto! Also delicious. And another of those awesome green tea lattes.
You guys know I’m very social by nature, but I have to say it was really fun to just spend a morning by myself, getting in a run and relaxing over breakfast while reading the paper. I seriously can’t remember the last time I had such a relaxing morning, and it was lovely.
I land in DC at 9 p.m. so I’ll be enjoying the in-flight wi-fi until then. Farewell, Santa Monica, and thanks for the good times! I’ll miss you!
If you could meet any fitness or sports celebrity, who would it be?
Santa Monica Adventures Continued: Jamba Juice FiTrends Expo & Meeting Venus Williams! originally appeared on fANNEtastic food on April 26, 2013.
The post Santa Monica Adventures Continued: Jamba Juice FiTrends Expo & Meeting Venus Williams! appeared first on fANNEtastic food.