Disclaimer: At the end of this post I’m giving stuff away. The giveaway is paid for by fairlife and I am receiving no monetary compensation for hosting this giveaway or for doling out my opinions. The things I say about fairlife, yoga and milk snobbery are my opinions. While I probably wouldn’t have given this company a shot without this opportunity my “review” is honest.

Everyone has that comfort zone that just feels…safe. It’s dependable, it’s easy, it doesn’t require much thought and it’s always there just waiting for you. It’s a nice place to have. But that comfort zone can also get boring. If you spent too much time hanging out in that comfy little bubble things get mundane and you get restless.

We all have two options - hang out in that comfort zone until we go stir crazy or regularly make an effort to get uncomfortable and try new things. I have done both but I have a definite preference for venturing out into the unknown. Sure, it might be awkward but awkward only lasts so long and you just might learn a thing or two about yourself. And usually learning about yourself eventually leads to actually liking yourself.

In a small way this was exactly my mindset when I jumped at the opportunity to attend a recent fairlife event in Denver. They sent me an email about meeting up with other bloggers to learn about the “better for you milk”, try a new kind of yoga and taste test a few smoothies made with fairlife milk. I’m not much of a foodie and I rarely do anything stretchy like yoga but I did know a lot of bloggers going and the farm girl in me is always happy to support legit dairy so I was on board!

Full Disclosure: Until I received the email I had no idea what fairlife was. After I got the email I started seeing ads all over the place. In case you’re an out-of-the-loop person like me fairlife is milk. Only it’s more than plain, old, regular milk…it does come from real cows but goes through fancy pants filters that allow the milk to keep all of its protein and calcium while striping out sugar and fat. You can get all the details on how that happens on the fairlife website.

Going into the fairlife event a The River Yoga Studio on Saturday afternoon I had no idea what I was in for but I was met with familiar faces and even got a few are-you-runaroundaroo’s. The toasty yoga room we walked into had me worried but I knew I was with the right people – regardless of what they had us doing it would be a blast. Few of us were yogis and we all knew how to laugh at our own crazy!

It took us a while to settle down and actually pay attention but once we shut up the fairlife crew did a quick run down of what fairlife is and how it’s different from the regular milk you get in stores. Turns out they created a process that takes real cow’s milk and changes a few components – namely the protein (goes up) and sugar (goes down) levels. They promised to give us a taste…but not until after we all gave yoga a try. And not just plain, old, boring yoga – partner yoga.

See how the “plain, old, boring” keeps getting ditched?! In the milk, in the yoga…and in day to day life. If you’re feeling philosophical.

Boom. Instant excitement in the land of Heidi. I tend to end up in rather boring yoga classes where my withering attention span is tested and my desire to either nap or punch people is dramatically elevated. That was not going to happen today! I’ve seen some awesome partner yoga poses courtesy of Patrick and his girlfriend…I wanted to at least pretend to be as cool as they are.


So many bloggers! And pushy, shovey Kait and me!

Things started out easy with some basic exercises that had us practicing weight transfer/distribution – this gave us a chance to figure out how to lean into each other and get friendly, er, make new friends. After a few variations of push/pull moves we got to try out some more challenging poses. Now, I warned you I wasn’t even kind of a yogi so I have no idea what these poses are called and I’m fairly certain my posture is whack, but bear with me, I was having fun!

The first pose we did was something similar to a flying bird of sorts. I partnered up with Lauren and we took on the pose, which we made into an awkward version of a trust fall – I was trusting her to hold me up, she was trusting me to keep my balance and we were both hoping we wouldn’t end up in a weird, tangled pile of sweat. It took a try or three but…


I’m a bird! A wobbly, dying bird!

There may have been lots of giggles during the first pose – it was a lot harder than it looked. It didn’t require a lot of strength but you really needed to trust your partner’s sense of balance. I trust Lauren…but it’s hard to keep your balance with your laughing at how ridiculous you’re certain you look! We may never win any “best form ever” prizes but we just might be the happiest crazies out there!

After we all mastered the flying-bird-like pose to varying degrees we moved on to the partner plank pose. Oh, planks. I will never, ever understand the appeal of planks. You’ll never see me timing my planks on a daily basis – mostly because I don’t do planks. I was a tiny bit worried I wouldn’t be able to hold a plank long enough to pull off this pose. Turns out planks aren’t *that* bad when you don’t have a timer staring at you. It also turns out that my interpretation of a plank may lead you to believe I was doing the downward dog. Oops.

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Partner planks – with a perfect photo bomb from Tiffany!

The afternoon ended with lots of taste testing, more blogger talk and a bag full of goodies. I’m kind of a milk snob so I was surprised to find out that I actually LOVE the chocolate fairlife milk! As in, I bought it on my next trip to the grocery store and had to fight Chris for it. That’s not normal…not in Colorado. I love this state but I’m pretty sure no one here knows how to make proper chocolate milk, until fairlife.

As for the skim and 2% fairlife…not my thing. But I’m not a fan of skim or 2% any kind of milk. I’m all about whole milk – that’s just what happens when you grow up drinking un-pasteurized, cream laden milk directly from the bulk tank in the barn. So, while I’m not loving the regular fairlife nearly as much as the chocolate it’s probably not fairlife’s fault, I’m just snobby!

Magic Bullet Giveaway

But enough of my embarrassing attempts at yoga and milk snobbery. You’re here because you read [giveaway] in the title, I can only hope you got at least one chuckle on your way down to the important details on how to win…and what you’re winning!

Thanks to fairlife I have a handy dandy Magic Bullet mixer up for grabs! If I was the one making decisions you’d get a big ol’ bottle of chocolate fairlife…but shipping milk can get a little dicey so you’ll have to settle for the machine that will whip up your smoothies. Or grind down your hummus if that’s more your style. Or, crush up the Oreos and Nilla Wafers for dirt cake. I’m not here to judge….

All you need to do is tell me what you have done in the recent past to break out of your comfort zone. It can be about fitness, or food, or work, or ice cream, or toothpaste. For an extra entry share this giveaway how ever your little heart desires — just let me know in the comments how you spammed your friends and it’ll get your name in the hat again.

The winner will be picked by random.org but my life can also use a smile…don’t let me down with the comments! The number generator of the interwebz will pick a winner on April 19th and I’ll shoot you an email — so be sure to use a legit email that you actually check!

You can also check fairlife out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest…but no extra entries, all I really want is your it-scared-me-but-I’m-glad-I-did-it stories! If you do get to try out fairlife and want to brag about their awesome online use the #BelieveInBetter hashtag, their social team is awesome about responding and re-sharing!


27 Comments

manda · April 10, 2021 at 9:55 am

I have allowed myself to let my husband take care of recent “moving activities.” Letting go is definitely out of my comfort zone.

Olive to Run · April 10, 2021 at 9:06 am

I have stepped outside my comfort zone this school year when I decided to drop down a few grades. [I’m a teacher :)] I’m pumped for my new adventure next year.

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    I’d imagine changing up the kids you’re teaching makes a big difference. But if you’re excited about it I’m betting it’s a good thing!

Kate · April 10, 2021 at 12:06 pm

Partner yoga looks so fun!

Last weekend was a biggie for me getting out of my comfort zone. Friday, I hiked to a bowl on Peak 6 at Breck and did my first double black run. It was a hellacious hike at that altitude but we went alllll the way to the very end before dipping in. On Sunday, I wanted more adventure so I finally went up the Imperial lift at Breck. These runs were all shown as double black and I was terrified for some reason. Turns out, it was a BLAST! Stayed there most of the morning in incredible powder, then left, then came back for more! I also went down Whale’s Tale on Sunday which I was scared of due to an in-bounds avalanche earlier this season. I probably had the most fun I’ve EVER had snowboarding. I was kicking myself for not having the balls so try these spots sooner.

So, I’ve gone into this week with great memories of a fun, boundary-pushing weekend for me 🙂

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 8:26 pm

    Um. That all sounds incredible! I haven’t been to Peak 6 yet but the terrain off the the Imperial lift is awesome! So glad you’re pushing it on the snowboard, it’s so rewarding to see how much you really can do!

Calli · April 10, 2021 at 9:51 pm

I pretty much prefer solo exercise: cardio and pilates. But recently my fiance has convinced me to learn volleyball, and i have never been athletic (hand-eye coordination is hard!) so it was really difficult for me at first! I wanted to give up, but we’ve been practicing at our park just hitting the ball correctly and this past weekend I didn’t do too bad when we played again 🙂

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    Uh, yea…eye-hand coordination is hard! I fail miserably at volleyball. And basketball. And sotfball. And… yea, major kudos for taking on volleyball!

Wehaf · April 10, 2021 at 11:26 pm

I am learning to drive, and it is incredibly scary. I can’t believe people do this every day!

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    Good luck! I agree with you — there is a lot going on when you’re behind the wheel…and I drive hours every day!

lynne · April 11, 2021 at 4:02 pm

Outside my comfort zone? Kale salad (ha!) and rappelling down a (tiny) rock face! (actually, I kind of vote that 95% of mountaineering class is pushing my comfort zone.

Also, April 19th is Alex’s birthday…so winning would be a great bday gift…for me. haha 🙂

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    You need to make me a kale salad!

    And rappelling is my favorite part of climbing! 🙂

Krissie · April 14, 2021 at 1:27 am

I started eating fish. I never really liked fish and have still not grown overly fond of it, but I am trying.

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    I’m with you on this — fish is one of those out there foods. The right kind of salmon tho? So good!

Justin Fricke · April 14, 2021 at 10:06 am

Running…I’ve gotten out of my comfort zone and started running and got picked to run a 200 mile relay race in Oregon, starting at 6,000 feet. I live in Florida.

This whole running thing’s starting to grow on me and I’m really looking forward to this race 🙂

Stoked to see you gave yoga a shot!

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    I’m so excited for your race! Love the training you’re doing — you’ll be awesome at HTC! 🙂

Rich Kolb · April 14, 2021 at 10:11 am

Hmm, I got another dog, an older shelter dog this time, so now we have two kids and two dogs. I wasn’t quite ready for the transition yet, but opportunity knocked, so here we are.

That and I did start yoga recently and Isagenix shakes, so that makes three things.

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    Good luck with that…I have two cats, no kids and still lose my mind every day! But shelter dog = great choice!

Natalie @ Free Range Human · April 14, 2021 at 1:01 pm

Oh, I can just imagine how fun (and hilarious) this was to witness in person!

Let’s see, in the last year I’ve made some serious connections with some outstanding bloggers that is far outside my comfort zone since I’m socially inept. Since I call you guys my friends now, I guess it all worked out pretty well 🙂

    Heidi Nicole · April 14, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    Meeting internet strangers is…terrifying! I’ve been doing it for years and I still get all nervous — what if I’m not what they expected? Or what if they are crazy? But more so, what if I’m the crazy one!? Ha.

Leah · April 15, 2021 at 11:50 am

I’ve started doing a new workout routine (in addition to our daily practices) with one of the guys on my college rowing team. He’s helping me train for Marine Corps Officer Candidates School. Adding in the extra daily workouts has been wearing me down, but it feels good to know how much the extra effort will help me improve!

    Heidi Nicole · April 15, 2021 at 12:01 pm

    And it’ll be awesome to see the improvement as you keep it up! I kind of like that “good” exhausted, it’s worth the work!

Laurel C · April 16, 2021 at 10:12 pm

I’ve been training for a half ironman and swimming, which is SO out of my comfort zone!

    Heidi Nicole · April 17, 2021 at 2:30 pm

    Oooh…yes! So far out of my comfort zone! I took swimming lessons last year with a tiny hope of a short tri. The lessons taught me a ton but I never signed up for that tri. Maybe some day…

    Good luck with the half IM and all your swimming!

Michelle · April 18, 2021 at 10:17 am

I signed up for a marathon this fall. After my first marathon, I swore I’d never do another one, yet here I am ready to train.

    Heidi Nicole · April 21, 2021 at 10:50 am

    Make this your redemption marathon! I hated myself for about 25.2 miles of my first marathon and swore off the distance forever. Two years later I was registering for another — it was 137% better than my first! I’d learned a lot about myself as a runner and adjusted my training accordingly, made all the difference in the world!

    In short — go get ’em, it’ll be worth it!

Laurie · April 19, 2021 at 6:18 pm

In January I took my daughter to the shooting range as a birthday gift. While I didn’t think I’d like it, it turned out to be a lot of fun. We shot Glocks but the people in the lane next to us seemed to be something that sounded like a cannon. It shook our target every time they shot. We’ll go back again and try something with more power.

I like following your training. Good luck at Quad Rock and with the rest of your adventures!

    Heidi Nicole · April 21, 2021 at 10:51 am

    I grew up on a farm with guns — we went hunting for various game year round. I still freaked out when we went to a shooting range as part of my hunter’s safety class in high school. Shooting in an enclosed space is SO different than out in the country! Huge kudos for going, surviving the nearby “cannon blasts” and wanting to go back!

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