Last month, I flew to Miami to attend the Fresh Air Retreat with 11 other AMAZING food bloggers! Thank you to the hosts and sponsors of the retreat. It was truly an amazing experience and I’m excited to tell you more about it

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What is the fresh air retreat?

The Fresh Air retreat is a retreat for food bloggers that is hosted about twice per year! It’s put on by Liz Della Croce, the creator of the Lemon Bowl and Lauren Grier from The Curious Plate. They were THE MOST amazing hosts and I’m so grateful that they selected me to attend the retreat this year!

The retreat is in a different city each time and this time, we were in Miami! It was my first time visiting Miami and I loved it! I have a link at the bottom of the post if you’re a food blogger and interested in applying to attend future retreats.

We spend 3 days just chatting, getting to know each other, and swapping business tips. I learned SO MUCH from the attendees and walked away with lots of ideas to elevate my business. We also work with some sponsors who help put on the retreat (more about those later).

The retreat attendees:

  • Crowded Kitchen- Lexi and her mom run their food blog called Crowded Kitchen. They have some truly amazing recipes and she shared SO MUCH with us about strategy for growing on Instagram and Facebook.
  • Cooking with Cocktail Rings. this was my first time meeting Kylie and she was such a delight! Ireally love the aesthetic of her whole blog and I learned so much from her.
  • Aleka’s Get Together. I’ve known Aleka for a while and it was so great to officially meet her in person at the retreat! her blog is ALL about hosting and she has so many amazing resources.
  • Fit Slow Cooker Queen. This was my first time meeting Shannon and I REALLY loved getting to know her. She runs a blog filled with amazing slow cooker recipes that you should definitely try out.
  • Unbound Wellness. I met Michelle earlier this year at the Tastmaker’s Conference and it was so great to get to know her better and learn so many things from her. She referred me to her creative coach that I started working with this month and I’m so excited about that.
  • Grilled Cheese Social. MacKenzie and I are in a blogger mastermind together this year but this was out first time meeting in person. She is SUCH a delight and I learned so much from her. She introduced me to several new blogging tips that I’ve already dove into.
  • Kims Cravings. Last but not least, I’ve known Kim for a WHILE and she’s so incredibly sweet. She used to do some writing for me and she’s so good at SEO + writing. I really enjoyed spending time with her.

The Hosts of the retreat:

  • Liz at The Lemon Bowl. If you don’t already follow Liz, you NEED TO! She is the sweetest and posts AMAZING traditional Lebanese recipe that are all so good (she made several of them for us while at the retreat!).
  • Lauren at The Curious Plate. I’ve followed Lauren online for a while and it was so great to spend time with her! She did an amazing job organizing this retreat and I’m so grateful to her and Liz for all of their hard work!
  • Chef Trimell. Chef made us SO many amazing meals while we were in Miami. Every meal felt gourmet and I am very grateful that he was there to feed us so much amazing food.

The sponsors of the retreat:

Grocer’s List: Grocer’s List is a toold for food bloggers that allows us to use the “comment for recipe” feature on social media. I had actually singed up already before the retreat and I REALLY LOVE IT! It helps me connect with my audience on a deeper level and I love getting he opportunity to meet the founder and learn more about the new features that they have coming up.

Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau: I am SO grateful to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau for hosting us! They showed us a TRULY amazing time in Miami and took us to some of the best restaurants in the area. I really loved it!

Minutes Rice: hopefully y’all know by now how much I LOVE a good quick rice option. I grew up eating Minute Rice and I really love their microwavable options! I have a ton of them in my pantry right now and have been eating them nearly DAILY!

Flor de Cana: I was unfortunately late on the first day (thanks to the longest cross country flight) but I still got to try it and it’s SO GOOD! I can’t wait to make some delicious summer cocktails with it too!

Current: this is one of THE cutest grills that I have ever seen. We got the opportunity to play around with the grill and cook on it one night during the retreat. I’m hoping to get one at my house and I’m excited!

Interested in attending the next Fresh Air Retreat?

If you’re a food blogger, I cannot recommend this retreat enough. The next retreat is this October in Palm Springs (!!!) and you can apply for the experience of a lifetime here!

PHOTOS BY AMANDA KAMPPIEN– Amanda was amazing to get to know and she takes truly BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS! All of the ones that you see in this post are ALL from her.