I Love Fall: Blue Ridge Mountain, GA

Hey hey friends!  How’s your week going?  I’m back in action after enjoying an AMAZING getaway to Blue Ridge Mountain, GA!  My classmates from Harvard Business School and I have an annual tradition of going on a “family vacation.”  We basically pick a random rural city and spend a few days cooking, engaging in conversations about life, making fun of each other and simply disconnecting from the craziness of our demanding careers.

We’ve each taken different career paths and culturally have very different backgrounds, but we’re connected by our values and senses of humor.  This year we rented a beautiful lake house about 2 hours outside of Atlanta in Blue Ridge Mountain, GA.  2 years ago we went to Asheville, North Carolina which was also a blast.  We even made a “Buddy Bootcamp” video at our lake house that year, haha – you can view it here.

I just wanted to share some pics from the trip, because during this time with my best buds I felt so grateful and content.  It’s crazy how simply taking some time out of the day-to-day can restore and rejuvenate your spirit.

Brit Rettig Blog- Harvard Business School Trip
View from our porch
Jen, Eric, Chris, Lakshmi and I starting the day with a homemade breakfast and coffee!
Hiking with IPA in hand
Family pic with the self stick after our hike!
Finishing a long day with a home-cooked meal and a puzzle.  Smiling from ear to ear after we DOMINATED the “Where in the US is Carmen San Diego” puzzle -we finished it just under 45 minutes – yeah buddy!

Overall, I think the Fall is great season to chill out a bit and reflect on how great life is.  I’m grateful for my awesome friends and for the time that we spend together. How do you reflect and rejuvenate?

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Buddy Boot Camp! 5 Super Effective Partner Exercises to do with your Fit Friends

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kpxvRHar4c&w=560&h=315]

Hey GRIT Gang! I hope that all is amazing in your world.  Very sorry for my sporadic blog posting – I’ve been doing lots of traveling the past 2 weeks.  On a positive note, last weekend I went to the Bryson City, North Carolina to a enjoy a weekend “ruffing” it with some of my best friends from business school.

In the midst of hiking the Great Smoky Mountains, cooking homemade meals, sitting by the camp fire and reminiscing on the good old days, I designed this “buddy bootcamp” workout.  During our vacation, my friends and I did this super efficient HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) circuit to ensure we got some strength and anaerobic training in .  Not only is the workout effective, it’s also very fun!  So next time you are looking for some fierce, fun exercises to do with your fit friends, keep these 5 exercises in mind…

5 Super Effective Partner Exercises

Before I leave you, I encourage you to not only enjoy the workout itself, but to more importantly enjoy and love the friend that you do the workout with.  And on that note, I leave you with this quote that one of my dearest friends, Lakshmi (staring in the front row of the instructional video above) shared with me:

“A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”  – George Eliott

ENJOY!  Lots of luv, Brit

Enjoing a nice hike in Great Smoky Mountains - Nothing says true friendship like matching beanies
Enjoying a nice hike in Great Smoky Mountains – Nothing says true friendship like matching beanies
Takin' it all in - life is good!
Takin’ it all in – life is good!
A picture is worth a 1000 words #breathtaking
A picture is worth a 1000 words #breathtaking
Grateful for good times and great friends! #blessed
Grateful for good times and great friends! #blessed
I love you and hope you have a great week! -Brit :)
I love you and hope you have a great week! -Brit 🙂
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