Sharing By The Shore Northern Michigan

My trip to Northern Michigan to visit Traverse City and my time at Sharing by the Shore blogger retreat. A fun weekend full of food, wine and laughter.

Back in July I made my way up to Michigan to get together with some blogger friends for a little Sharing by the Shore blogger conference dreamed up by the fabulous Rachel and Erin. Growing up in Ohio you would think we spent a ton of time in Michigan but you would be wrong. Apparently the whole college football rivalry goes for vacations too. Why go to Michigan when you have the beautiful islands of Lake Erie?

Well, as much as I love Ohio I hate to say this Lake Michigan has Lake Erie totally beat. I mean just look at that water above. I had to stop on the side of the road to take a picture because it reminded me of being in the Caribbean but with more trees. I also had to stop on the side of road and buy a giant bag of cherries because they literally just sell them on the side of the road. It was the perfect healthy car snack. Michigan cherries = crazy delicious!  

After I arrived at the house I had a few minutes to unwind before hopping into the car and taking off to to Mawby for a little bubbly taste test. Can we talk about how much I love sparkling wine? It always makes me feel so fancy when I’m holding a glass in my hands.

Plus how can you not have a blast when surrounded by friends, fresh breezes and that view!

When we got home I took over the grill and set off to make all the protein for our fajita dinner. I’m not gonna lie – I was nervous. What if the meat didn’t turn out? What if it was overcooked? You would think as a food blogger I would be super confident but really when I cook for a crowd I get just as nervous as a novice.

Luckily everything turned out and all that meat was delicious! Plus the kitchen crew {crew = bloggers} did an awesome job on all the vegetables and toppings for the fajitas.

{A big giant thank you to Door to Door Organics for providing almost all the fresh food and meat for the retreat!}

In the morning I woke up to the smell of waffles, eggs and bacon. Ummmmmm I wish I woke up like this every single morning.

After our breakfast I taught a session on food photography. Now while I do not consider myself a pro I do have a big fat love for taking pictures of my food. As always I was nervous but I’m happy to report that I actually pulled it off! I had so much fun laughing and passing on tips to all my friends. Seriously, if all my worked involved being around this group I would never complain.

Before dinner we hit up downtown Traverse City and I have to admit I’m totally smitten with upstate Michigan. Our first stop was the totally awesome Cherry Republic where they had a thousand different cherry filled products. Because I’m irrational I wanted 1 of everything but reigned it in and instead just picked up a big bag of sour cherry candies for the hubs.

They are legit. Get a bag. Trust me.

Side note: Look at that beach! I could seriously set up a blanket and sit there all. day. long.

After all our walking around town we had one of my favorite meals of the summer! The awesome folks at Aerie really know how to put on a show! I ate my weight in clams, red meat and of course dessert. I’m actually sad to say I ate all my dessert before I took a picture. Seriously, what kind of blogger am I?

This was our totally adorable house we stayed at…aren’t you jealous? It was so cute!

Now it’s time to get all mushy. I seriously love these ladies. Being a food blogger is sort of a weird career. You can spend hours trying to explain what you do and how you can make money actually being a blogger. You have a huge group of friends but the majority of them you have actually never met before in real life. How many jobs boast highlights like that? I have seriously met some of my best friend through blogging. I have friends I text every single day and even ones I talk to on Facebook at least once every hour I’m awake.

You cannot beat being a food blogger. I will say sometimes it’s a little lonely not having actual co-workers but it’s worth it. You will never find a more awesome bunch of people than a big group of food bloggers.

I know, I’m a dork. But I seriously mean it. I love each and every single one of these ladies.

Bonus: I can be my true weird self around them and they still keep texting me. So I guess that means they love me too.

{Make sure to say hello to all my blogger buddies that came on the trip! Rachel from Rachel Cooks, Erin from Well Plated, Monique from Ambitious Kitchen,  Kristen from Dine and Dish, Katrina from In Katrina’s Kitchen, Krista from Joyful Healthy Eats, Aggie from Aggie’s Kitchen, Liz from The Lemon Bowl and Deborah from Taste and Tell.

A big fat giant THANK YOU to the awesome folks at Milk Means More for sponsoring this event. Seriously dairy is my life {no really I use Greek yogurt for everything and love cheese almost more than life itself} and if it wasn’t for their generous sponsorship this retreat wouldn’t have been as awesome as it was. {You saw that breakfast spread right? Hello Michigan dairy happiness!} You can also follow them on social media- Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.