Retreat Year Three: Malibu

Since founding this blog in April 2005, we have observed a tradition affectionately referred to around these parts as our Annual S&B Summer Retreat. The theme from this year’s retreat was ‘indulgence’, complete with good food, a great location and phenomenal company. We’ve been to a spa in Ojai, a boutique hotel in Manhattan Beach, and this year…we found ourselves at the beach in Malibu. We spent the weekend at the cozy hotel of Casa Malibu along the 101. Our room was literally over the sand with the waves breaking a stone’s throw from our balcony. And when you bunk three people (from three different households) into one room, this indulgence becomes surprisingly affordable (a big plus in my book)!

Since I find that often times a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few of our favorites from this past weekend.

View from the lobby towards the beach. You can see our room on the left (the door is open):

View of the courtyard:

The ocean (duh):

We lived at this table (and the patio's corresponding lounge chairs) all day on Saturday:

Remember when I said 'indulgence'...we meant it. This was our lunch on Saturday. We don't mess around!

Fun in the sun:

This, my friends, was the view from our room...I told you we were close. The roar of the waves was deafening at times, and yet soooo relaxing.

This weekend also saw a couple premiere events. I don't want I don't want this to be too much of a spoiler, but a couple shawls may or may not have had their FO photoshoots. Their official reveals are on the way...

And as usual, when we get together, we tend to be a little silly. See we try to have each other's backs and when whole (soft shell) crabs unexpectedly come in the middle of your risotto, sometimes you need some help de-spiderizing your dinner. I guess maybe I should give this whole kid thing another look because apparently I'm a natural at cutting up food for other people:

There was also a lot of knitting over the weekend. Nasus made some great progress on a cute baby top, cups and all (oy!). Nonnahs did some massive swatching for a new project. And I am one square closer to finishing my Manos blanket.

Opportunities to spend this much quality time together don't come often enough, but we've remained committed to making it happen at least a couple times a year. We're pretty proud of ourselves for keeping up this tradition. You could almost say it makes us giddy!