Ladies Ojai Weekend: Business Is A Game And It's Fun!

After a traumatic personal and business meeting, I got to escape to Ojai for a retreat with the girls.  We wanted to take a weekend out to relax, take stock and make some vision boards.  It was amazing.

We started out with a cozy dinner at Azu.  What you see above is my french onion soup.  Nummy.

 

Apparantly, real women confiscate brown rice cakes to enjoy with said soup.  When you're not doing the flour thing, rice cakes are your friend.

 

 

 

My goat cheese and dried cranberry salad.  Pretty good, not amazing.  The dressing was overly oily.  I added more vinegar to balance it out.

 

Tessa's Syrian chicken salad.  Not pictured:  Arden's beet salad with sausage.  Because they forgot the sausage the first time around.

 

One of our lovely rooms at The Emerald Iguana.  I cannot wait to go back with husband.  This inn is romantic, immaculate and completely comfortable.  You feel like you've come to your favorite aunt's house.  The aunt who has a pool, jacuzzi and wine and cheese parties every afternoon.

 

Tessa wanted to make dinner for everyone on Saturday.  What you see in the background is the oven that got very smoky, and very hot, but produced a delicious meal.  I was the sous chef.

 

Roasted harvest veggies:  garlic, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, yams, red onions, carrots and parsnips tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and a few splashes of balsamic.

 

 

This rice was delicious.  A wild and brown rice blend, which was cooked in chicken broth and finished with a small jar of pesto.

 

A mix of chicken and pork sausages.  We eat like men.

 

Sidewalk judge.  Yeah, inside joke, and Cris is losing it in this picture as Arden describes the many, many desires Sidewalk Judge enjoys.

 

We will reconvene in the Spring to see what our vision boards (or boxes) have gleaned.  Can't wait!

I did not take nearly enough pictures.  As I said, I'm in a bit of a fragile state these days.  It's all good and I'm so grateful for my big, juicy life.  Just need to pace myself, be nice to myself and take some breaks.

Weekend workouts:  Saturday morning jog around town, Saturday morning yoga with Tessa and several Saturday afternoon walks in the Indian Summer heat.