1st Annual S&B Retreat Debriefing

Well, we are back and we had a great time at the Oaks resort in Ojai. Nasus and I left first thing in the morning on Friday from San Diego and met up with Whirlypurly in LA. Since we were starving and had been so good practicing our time management skills, we decided to stop for breakfast in LA. We ended up going to the Le Pain Quotidien. This ended up being the most expensive breakfast I have ever had, but yum! We all had soft boiled eggs with their fresh bread and a brie cheese plate. Nasus and I also enjoyed Cafe au Lait and Whirlypurly had a hot chocolate. I think the latte bowls were the best part as well as being able to sample some truly yummy orange marmolade - definitely going to have to get me some of that!


We stopped by a cute little yarn shop in Ojai on the way to the Oaks. The shop was litterally in the owner's front yard! But very cute and Nasus used it as a great opportunity for a little stash enrichment. We made it to the Oaks in time for their relaxation and stretching class in the afternoon and the prescribed dinner. In case, you don't know anything about the Oaks, all of your food and classes comes with the room. It is a spa that it designed around relaxation, but also jump starting a new fitness or weightloss life style. We didn't really go to lose weight, but picked it out mainly because it got us the most bang for your buck of the places we looked into. Although the Oaks apparently does not believe in salt, the food was fresh and the portions were very decent - considering the meals totaled 1000 calories per day! We also got dessert with every meal. You also had broth break at 10:45. They can keep their broth.


Fortunately we thought ahead and brought plenty of supplemental snacks and unsanctioned beverages. The highlight of Friday night besides sharing our soon to be posted 100 lists, was sharing a peanut butter cup doughnut from Stan's in LA. YOU HAVE TO GET ONE OF THESE IF YOU ARE EVER IN LA! It was rich and absolutely glorious! That's the white bag from Stan's in the picture below.


After breakfast Saturday morning we took their mind body awareness class, which is spelled P-I-L-A-T-E-S. Great, but not good on a full stomach and especially not good after drinking a bottle of wine the night before :-( But, after the headache went away and the sun finally came out, we made it to the pool where we enjoyed knitting in the shade, floating in the pool, reading and getting a little tanned (but mostly burned).


We all worked on our Kyoto sashes this weekend, so here is a little update shot.


We made back to LA in time for lunch at Whirlypurly's favorite Mongolian BBQ place, which was very yummy and a visit to the Knit Cafe. This was a cute little shop that had a great selection of yarns. The only problem is that I fell in love with a Blue Sky Alpaca cotton that I want to use for the Cable 8 Sweater from Interweave Knits Spring 2005 issue, which would cost me $80. So, I had to put it off for now :-( But I did find a great Rowan book with some wonderful sweater patterns for the fall. Great, that's all I need, more projects!

All in all, we had a great time at the 1st Annual S&B Retreat. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we drank and we plan to do it again as soon as we can.