Yoga Journal Conference at Estes Park is the original yoga conference: tons of teachers, tons of students, and a big expo with lots of yoga and eco-minded gifts and tools for the path.

Products for review received free. Our honesty re how we like them or no, however, is priceless. ~ ed.

Our first stop in the bustling expo hall at the Yoga Journal Conference wound up being with Sarah Tomson Beyer, owner of MeSheeky: a line of women’s clothing, cover-ups and active wear based out of Park City, Utah.  Sarah gave me a cute little purple number to try out during my next session on the mat.  The short, stretchy skirt fit right over my tights and immediately added a little oomph to my otherwise boring outfit — not to mention it helped to cover up the harvest moon that is my ass.  I see the advantage of wearing something like a MeSheeky cover-up if you’re front and center in yoga class and don’t want your asana on display for everyone to see, or to accentuate an outfit or a look.  Being a bargain hunter myself, I found the price to be out of my range, especially for something that’s not a necessity to my wardrobe; but overall, a cute little number to spice up your ensemble? Totally.

After Sheeky-ing it up with Sarah, we headed over to the ToeSox booth, where we bounced around the idea of having Waylon pose for a ToeSox ad in nothing but — ahem — ToeSox, and maybe even the logo shaved into his chest hair (Disclaimer: that part not my idea! ~ed.).  Yeah, need a different visual? (yes, please. ~ ed) How about me rocking my pink Kathryn Budig toe-less ToeSox while I practice without a mat on my living room floor. The nubbly dots on the soles of the socks offered a sticky, mat-like hold, and the fact that they’re toe-less allowed my toes to do some of the gripping, too.  Shameless plug aside, I’m a huge fan of these socks, because they double as house slippers on a warm day.  ToeSox also gave me a pair of Five Toe Sandals that spread apart one’s toes, which I honestly found torturous at first — I’m on day four and I can happily say that I not grimacing in agony or hobbling around like a gimp anymore; I’m hoping that tomorrow will bring the podiatric enlightenment that I’ve been waiting for.

The third stop was to the Three Minute Egg booth, where they offered a funky little yoga block that’s ergonomically designed, touting “you’re not square, so why should your block be?”.  I don’t use blocks in my practice, so Waylon will be reviewing them whenever he gets his lazy mesheekyless butt on the yoga mat.

Our last stop was to Third Eye Threads, where Chad Satlow chatted with us about life in Indiana and the company’s yoga-inspired designs. Chad gave me a short-sleeved blue burnout shirt with a big ol’ pink elephant stitched on the front, which I thought was apropos for being the newest elephant intern.  I wore the t-shirt during a recent practice at a local yoga studio, and got a couple of compliments on the color and the elephant.  Because it’s 100% cotton, it breathed really well, and — even though I’m consistently one year behind when it comes to fashion trends — I loved the longer, tunic-like length of the tee.  Again, because of my bargain shopping tendencies, the price tag made my eyeballs bulge a bit, but that’s just me.

Thanks to all the vendors who chatted with us at YJ’s great conference!  We had a blast.

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Laura Hobbs: Yogini, cook, wife, writer, blogger, dog lover, cheese fanatic, gardener, wino, travel addict and occasional grumpy pants who lives in aria-inspiring Boulder, Colorado. She’s an intern at elephantjournal.com and the Ambassador and social media guru for Yoga Pod. She’s flattered you read this far.