Happy Sunday! Welcome to my weekly list of small good things. Hope you’ve had a great weekend so far! I’ve been catching up on stuff here in NYC and enjoying a mix of work and social things.
*Friday night I attended a gala to benefit the neurology department of the hospital where I’m the RD for the ALS clinic. It was a great event in a beautiful space, and it was wonderful to be able to share it with my colleagues and even some of our patients. I rented a dress from Rent the Runway and was happy to find it had pockets. Sweet! 
*I’ve been hearing so much about the Blend retreat so many bloggers go to every year, and it looks like so much fun! This year, I’m sort of there in spirit? General Mills was there, hosting a trail mix bar, and kindly enough featured my Ancient Grains Cheerios concoction—thanks to Tina from Carrots ‘n’ Cake for posting a picture!
*Speaking of General Mills, I spent a few days earlier in the week at their headquarters in Minneapolis with a small group of dietitians and bloggers. It was a great opportunity to have an open dialogue about health concerns and food trends and ways to address some big issues. I know I learned a lot, and I truly appreciated the opportunity to ask the CEO of the cereal division my questions and bounce ideas off of other RDs and discuss these things with people on both sides of the equation. I do tend to be cautious when it comes to working with food companies, but over the past year or so of collaborating and communicating with them, I have mainly good things to say.
I honestly feel that the best way to initiate positive change as a dietitian is to work together with food companies—within reason, of course. Complaining about what I don’t like without doing anything to address my complaints is not going to fix anything. Of course, I’m that person who always goes in with a mindset of, “Is this Kool-Aid they’re handing me? Am I drinking it? How do I feel about this Kool-Aid?” That said, I get so much out of hearing different perspectives. Another way to look at it, for me, is that these large food companies have monetary resources to actually lead a movement, so if I can play a little role in making that a positive movement, I find that a worthwhile relationship. 
*I hesitate to reveal hopes & dreams-type stuff on here, but I had to take a step back this week when a few works I wrote on a piece of paper last year “came true” in real life. It was a silly thing, really, but my secret little goal was, “write something for the New York Times.” Though it was only a few sentences in an article about drinkable beauty products, it was still a reminder to just keep putting those positive intentions out there.
So that’s it for today. I could go on and on, actually. So many little things about this week that made me go “Wow,” but more to come.
Have a great day!
What’s made you smile this week?