Adventures with the Skinny Cow

I'm so behind in my posting that the Blogger interface has changed since my last post. Has it been that long? No, it hasn't, but I am indeed behind.  It's not a reflection of my journey - I've been exercising and eating healthy food and taking care of me.  It's all happy-life-stuff that has kept me distracted - work, prep for fixing the bedroom, cooking, and even planning for the next SC600!

This week's adventure was a perfect one for Finishing the Hat.  It involved fashion... low-calorie food... friend-makin'... and, of course, adventure!

A few months ago, my friend Joanne (who works out with me at Slimmons) invited me along with some of our mutual friends to join her for a Girls' Day Out, with lunch after class and a visit to a Skinny Cow event called "The Perfect Cup," offering free bra fittings (get it?) and samples of their ice cream cups.  I am a fan of lady-dates, so naturally, I accepted and secured my spot at the event ASAP.

I had a delicious and light lunch with Joanne, Mia and Alexa at Le Pain Quotidien, and then Mia headed home while the rest of us went over to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, where the Skinny Cow event was held.

Skinny Cow - if you haven't heard of them before - is a low-calorie snack company owned by Nestle.  I regularly enjoy their ice cream sandwiches. At 140 calories, they're a tasty way to sooth my sweet tooth without being triggered to pig out.  But I hadn't tried their ice cream cups before, and I was looking forward to a sample.

It was a terrific event, and extremely well-managed.  We checked in at the entrance to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, and each of us were handed a little remote buzzing pager (like they use at chain restaurants) which called us when our bra fitting was ready.  Then Alexa, Joanne and I stepped into the very chic-looking, pink-lit space. 

I felt immediately welcome.  There was a lovely range of ages, sizes, and ethnicities in attendance, and everyone seemed to be in a terrific mood.  The guests were being pampered, and the Skinny Cow team members were all smiles, too.  We headed for beverages while we waited for our pagers to buzz - which didn't take long.

We've arrived! With beverages in hand, and scarf on neck. That scarf played an important part in my day.
I enjoyed my white wine with mandarin oranges. (It was unexpectedly delicious.)

Alexa and Joanne recline.  Joanne's sipping fizzy water with lime.

My fitting went well - I'm nearly exactly the same size as I was the last fitting, though I'm sort of between a D and a DD now.  I was surprised to find out that we were also given a coupon for a free bra by the event sponsor, Olga's Christina.  FREE BRA!?  We had heard that there were free bras, but we'd assumed they were some poorly-constructed one-size-fits-all they handed out in swag bags.  This was an entirely better reward! I'm going to redeem mine at Macy's this weekend. 

While I was standing at one of the tall tables, a woman complimented me on my scarf.  She was adorable herself, wearing a polka-dotted retro outfit that looked like something I'd put together on Fashion Friday!  I told her so, and we struck up a conversation that lasted for, well, pretty much the rest of the event.  Cassandra and her friend Jennie also chatted away with Joanne and Alexa, and all five of us were excellent company on that unexpectedly friend-makin' Saturday.

With Jennie and Cassandra.  Aren't they cute?  Cassandra's holding one of the Skinny Cow cups.

  
Cassandra's ice cream looked yummy, so I headed to Skinny's Ice Cream Bar to snag a cup of my own.

Two good cups, indeed.

  

Even the ice cream freezers behind the bar were themed.

  
I had the strawberry cheesecake flavor, and it was surprisingly yummy - and a surprisingly large portion - for 150 calories.  Thumbs-up, Skinny Cow.

Along with the samples, beverages, and bra sizings, there were a number of other attractions, including a museum of historical bras...

I'm amused by the name of the 1930s falsies.

Plus they had raffles at regular intervals.  Cassandra won an iPod, and others won books, bags, and even makeovers.  Oddly enough, the makeup artists were often without a makeover winner.  It would've been great if they offered more of them, or even let us pay for them.

Makeover in action.

Alexa tweeted about the delightful time we were having with our new friends, and moments later, it was up on their real-time social networking screens!

It really was meant to be. 

  

The five of us even posed together with the Skinny Cow herself - accessorized for the occasion.

  
As we headed out, we received swag bags including coupons, a sample of their new candy flavors, and a t-shirt (that, unfortunately, is going to be too small for a few months. Skinny Cow, consider your audience!)

Alas, the Los Angeles event was the last on the tour, but if Skinny Cow hosts events in the future, I definitely recommend going.  The ice cream was motivation enough, but a free bra and a professional sizing? Drinks? New friends?  Far more than I expected.

All right.  I'm off to test the fifth new recipe of the day (yes, five. More on that very soon!)  Keep adventuring, and take care of you!