Yuck! My day off in the sun was ruined by a nasty storm! I woke up this morning to find the sky gray and tons of rain. Hopefully it’ll blow over!
This morning, since I had all the time in the world (it’s amazing how we take for granted time in the morning!), I made oatmeal on the stovetop.
In this delicious and creamy bowl, I used 1/3 cup rolled oats, 3/4 cup lite vanilla silk, 2 tbsp UDI’S granola (LOVE it!), 1 banana and some almond butter. It was amazing.
Speaking of my good friend, Mr.Quaker, yours truly will be flying up to Chicago (!!) next month to attend the Quaker Heart Healthy Weekend! I got chosen as one of 15 food bloggers to attend this trip (I feel like I won the lottery!!!) to go and partake in tons of activities revolving around oats. I’ll be conducting interviews with RDs and Quaker corporate employees for the blog, having discussions with Quaker staff about new product appeal and nutrition, listening to speakers on the correlation of eating oatmeal and having a healthy heart, and of course, eating my fair share of oats! I’m SO excited about this amazing opportunity that I was given and can’t wait to share my new found oatmeal knowledge with yall!
This Florida girl better break out the boots and fleece…I have a feeling the temperature in Chicago in Novemeber is a tad different than here in Vero Beach. 😉
I’m off to shower and get ready to go to Church in the pouring rain. Hope yall have sun wherever you are!
VeggieGirl
October 5, 2008 at 12:26 pmAHHHH, so exciting about attending the Quaker Heart Healthy Weekend!!!! That will be amazing, especially since Chicago is such a fun city 🙂
Um yeah, it’s freezing in Chi-town during this time of year, for sure, haha – bundle up!!
Erin
October 5, 2008 at 12:38 pmThat’s awesome! I’m looking forward to that post! 🙂
Christie I.
October 5, 2008 at 12:39 pmHow exciting! I can’t wait to hear all of the fun stuff about one of my favorite foods!
Justy2003
October 5, 2008 at 12:45 pmA conference all about oatmeal?! Awesome!
monica
October 5, 2008 at 12:49 pmMan, I gotta say – the nut butter with the oatmeal is INSPIRED. I’m super jealous of your oaty getaway. I eat jumbo oats (“JUMBOATS!”) every morning with my Bircher muesli. I’m a fanatic. Can’t wait to hear how it goes. Say hi to Chi for me (it my hometown!).
hk
October 5, 2008 at 12:53 pmso cool 🙂 boo to the weather, it’s cold and grey here in Boston, too. Happy Sunday!
Heather
October 5, 2008 at 1:01 pmThat’s so awesome, congratulations!!! I love oatmeal! I lived in Chicago for almost a year and last fall/winter was my first non-Florida living. Let me tell you: it is NOTHING like you will ever expect! November isn’t super cold, mostly windy but the secret is layer, layer, layer. That way you can take off a coat/sweater/etc. and just wear long sleeves inside. There probably won’t be any snow on the ground (we got our first “light” snow on Thanksgiving and the first big one on December 5th or something) so you won’t have to worry about wearing 2746 pairs of socks due to freezing toes. Have fun!
Amanda
October 5, 2008 at 1:37 pmmmmmmmmmm that oatmeal looks delicious!
Janine
October 5, 2008 at 1:38 pmCongrats on the conference..it sounds awesome! I wish I could go. I am a born and raised Chicagoan. Be prepared for anything weather-wise..fall here is rather erratic.
Megan
October 5, 2008 at 1:42 pmLucky girl! I would love to spend 24+ hours thinking about nothing but OATS!
Andrea
October 5, 2008 at 2:24 pmohhh my goodness. oatmeal weekend sounds soooo fun!!! my roomie is from chi-town and i’ve always wanted to go visit there. i heard it’s a great city 🙂
Shelby
October 5, 2008 at 2:46 pmThat is so cool! Congratulations…I can’t wait to see the posts!
MizFit
October 5, 2008 at 3:00 pmooooh girl Im there with you!
Cant wait.
MizFit, the transplanted TEXAN but Texan nonetheless (read: wanna go fleece shopping?)
erica
October 5, 2008 at 3:08 pmoh wow, congrats on the conference! a weekend full of oatmeal.. can’t get any better than that!
Jenn (eating bender)
October 5, 2008 at 3:08 pmWow, I am SO excited for you and your trip to Chicago – especially since it involves QUAKER!! That is incredible, congratulations!!
I go to school in Chicago right now, and I can tell you that the whether will be plenty different 🙂 Let me know if you want any tips for packing – although basically all you need to know is LAYERS, haha!
mags
October 5, 2008 at 3:11 pmhey jenna!!
i’m a true chicago girl and so happy to hear you’re heading out this way!! it really is such a fab city, i have lived here all my life minus a brief stint in california for college! let me know if you need any tips on what to do, where to go, etc!!
BethT
October 5, 2008 at 3:36 pmNah, it won’t be THAT cold in Chicago in Nov. January is a different story 🙂 You’ll be able to warm up with the best pizza you’ll ever eat…
HangryPants
October 5, 2008 at 3:45 pmCongratulations on being picked to go to Chicago. You ARE a great food blogger. 🙂
lucy
October 5, 2008 at 4:23 pmoh, you’ll have so much fun in chicago. i was there for 6 yrs and its such a great city. and most importantly, an awesome food city. you will love it!
Josie
October 5, 2008 at 6:04 pmThat’s so exciting! Congratulations on being chosen, you deserve it!
Alison
October 5, 2008 at 6:27 pmSo fun! I live in Chicago and it’s a great city for a foodie to visit! So many wonderful restaurants. When is the trip?
LadyLara
October 5, 2008 at 7:19 pmSo many Chicagoans! Another Florida girl transplant here… you will love love love the city!
If you have a free night, I highly recommend Alinea, Green Zebra, or Blackbird restaurants. =)
runjess
October 5, 2008 at 7:59 pmI am so jealous! I love Quaker.
caitlin (seebriderun)
October 5, 2008 at 9:25 pmthat sounds so fun! i wish i could go!
if you need any winter gear, let me know!
Ellie
October 5, 2008 at 9:47 pmThat is super cool about the oatmeal conference. Who among us wouldn’t jump at that chance? Congrats.
I live in Chicago too and I agree that although there’s a chance it’ll be unbearably freezing, it doesn’t usually get that way until Jan. and Feb. You also have a decent chance of 70 degree weather.
I guess someone else hinted at this but if you have a free evening when you are here it would be incredibly neat to have a meet up with you & other Chicago readers. I know I’d be interested in that anyway.
Meghann
October 6, 2008 at 1:02 amWow! Chicago? I’m so jealous! Congrats on be chosen!
AlliJag
October 6, 2008 at 1:41 amThat is so freaking cool! You’ll have to take tons of pictures! (AS IF you wouldn’t) 🙂 Congrats on being chosen – that’s AWESOME!
shawna
October 6, 2008 at 4:54 pmWow! That’s so great about the Quaker trip. Can’t wait to hear more about it. Congrats!
LadyLara
October 7, 2008 at 3:48 amYes, Chicago reader meetup! Maybe even if our busy bee Jenna can’t make it… 😉 Any Chicago gals who are interested can shoot me an email and I’ll compile names.
laramann@gmail.com
WeightingGame
October 7, 2008 at 7:53 pmhiya!
Your blog is fantastic! I found you through the Quaker oatmeal weekend – I’m going to be attending too! Can’t wait to meet the woman behind those pumpkin whoopie pies 🙂
Leslie at The Weighting Game
Tanya Chadha
October 9, 2008 at 2:16 pmHi Jenna! It was great chatting with you the other day. Looking forward to meeting in Chi-town!