Yoga retreat in Ojai, CA

Cheryl and Deanna in tree pose in between classes

Me meditating for the yoga photo shoot in an outdoor tea room

Cheryl in the tea room

Kathy and me- overlooking the resort's herb garden

Me and Cheryl with our coffees for an AM walk before class

Kathy's moment of meditation.

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At the end of last month, I went on my first yoga retreat in at the Ojai Valley Resort in Spa in Ojai, CA (http://www.ojairesort.com/).. this place is amazing!! I had been to this resort once before when Tim took me to get a massage here for a birthday present. The resort is amazing, and I was so excited when the gym at work had flyer's up about this trip retreat. I was wondering what a yoga retreat was going to be about, I imagined lots of yoga, but wasn't sure what else. Well, it ended up being just that. It was a fantastic mini vacation and such a relaxing time! I went with a few of my yoga buddies from my 6:15am morning wake up yoga class (Kathy and Cheryl) and one avid spinner, Deanna. The trip was over a Saturday and Sunday and there was 4 yoga classes on the first day and 3 on the second. We did all the classes in the resort's amazing fitness center, which had huge floor to ceiling windows of which you could see all the surrounding oak trees and rolling hills. One of the classes was a candle lit night class, where we did our yoga in the dark, except for a surrounding circles of glowing candles! Another great class was by one of my regular yoga instructors, Guy, at Amgen. His class ending with him playing guitar and singing as we melted into our shavasana.

Right after our first yoga class, we walked over the the Spa area that was in the same courtyard and the lady at the front gave us spa passes for the day, so we spend the time between classes relaxing in the sauna, steam room and outdoor jacuzzi. The weather was perfect, so we got to take full advantage of the entire private pool the resort had to. The best was the resort extended golf cart/shuttle that picked you us up everywhere we went.. talk about relaxing, we literally didn't even have to walk anywhere! Sunday after the last yoga class, I got a "Moroccan Mint Sugar Scrub" which was pretty "invigorating" (and I took a secret lick off my arm and it tasted better then it felt). I don't know if I would do a scrub again, prob just stick to the massage! I was really sad to leave after the weekend was over, it was a really nice way to spend some quiet time relaxing and doing yoga. Namaste.

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Lizard Rock Hike

Recently, I have been trying to do a lot of hikes with the Amgen non official hiking club. Its been really fun and every hike has been very different. The last hike was called Lizard Rock in Thousand Oaks. There were some beautiful vistas, streams, waterfalls, and amazing plants! It was a great hike and our little Elle is quite the hiker! Here are some pics of the day:

Surprise waterfall! We stumbled upon it!

Moving on upstream (Kathy, Kaitlin and Leonie)

Doesn't this plant look like it has black hearts?! I love it!

There's Elle playing fetch near the waterfall!

Surprise teepee?! Why does it look like Elle is cracking up at us? Ha!

There were many beautiful cactus

My little loves, Elle and Tim

Cheryl and Leonie working their way up the hill

Mammoth (Part 2 Storm Troopers)

The girls into the wee hours of the morning (after a long hard day of snowboarding).


Up the lift


Perfect powder conditions


Brian and Gloria, our new boarding buddies

The guys - Tim, Rick, and Brian

A view from our room of one of the hot tubs! We actually went in while it was snowing!!

Mammoth was fun for (for Tim) and everyone else, but me. Actually, I did have fun the first day snowboarding and once I was medicated it was pretty tolerable.
I haven't had the flu since I was 5, so to get it during a trip to California's best ski resort (fully equipped with a new snowboard and helmet) was pretty sad. Luckily we were staying in an amazing resort called the Village so the beds were comfy and I got a complementary ride to the Emergency Room to see a doctor! I am lucky Leonie took a break from her jammed packed snowboarding trip to escort me to the ER and then to Vons to pick up all my meds.. Unfortunately we had to walk from the ER to Vons -- it wasn't far but I felt like crap, and it was the worst walk in the snow ever. I will def keep this story for my future kids if they have to walk to school in the cold. There were some glimpse of fun for me too:

1. Snowboarding the first day (although I cried 5 times on the mountain cause I felt horrible)
2. Going in the hot tub while it was snowing
3. The humidifier in the room
4. Cholraseptic spray
5. Meeting new friends, Brian, Gloria and Molly's lil sister Carla
6. Finding out the dog sister was getting drunk and having a G-Rated playing card brothel at our house Sat nite
7. Watching Tim so happy to be having the snowboarding trip of his life!
8. Watching the "boarding footage" from Rick's hemi cam
9. Checking out THE man with the mustache pics - why are mustaches so hot right now?


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