The postcards from the past continues, this one from Portland, in August 08. I had shorter hair and a definite thing for denim and stripes.

We stayed at The Ace Hotel, which is close to the Pearl District and has a Stumptown Coffee next door. Three things I love: Portland, The Ace and Stumptown Coffee! Our room had a view of indie bookstore Powell’s books, and there were awesome matching Jörg & Olif bikes to borrow, which we did. Every day.

Breakfast next door to the Ace, at Kenny & Zuke’s, followed by more bike riding over the steel bridges and dinner at Clyde Common, on the other side of the hotel entrance. Really, we could have stayed on that one street the whole time.

It was late summer and still hot. To follow that theme we went to a hot rod show (where paisley scarves were banned) to ogle some shiny, brightly colored cars and passed by classic Mary’s strip club every night on our way home.

We also visited Nike’s headquarters (where we were tempted to park in Michael Jordan’s assigned spot, got to peek into the top secret innovation kitchen and shopped til we dropped at the company store), drove in circles on a mountain going to visit friends (thanks GPS), and scored some thrifty finds. I think there were pineapple drinks somewhere in there too. Before heading to the airport, we had one final lunch at Clyde Common, and took a box of their to-die-for spiced popcorn to go.

When looking back at the year that past, I spent some time going through photos. It’s nice to sit down and relive great moments, which is why I’ll be sending you a few postcards from the past. This one’s from January, 2010 — a gorgeous long weekend in Ojai.

We flew into LAX, rented a convertible and drove up the PCH. It’s the best drive in the entire world. The further inland you get the hotter it gets, and there are more cacti.

We arrived at Casa Barranca, an organic vineyard/yoga retreat high up in the mountaintops. Our room had a fireplace and a bath tub. We did yoga and some reflective reading. It’s so quiet up there.

The estate also has an incredible citrus grove, where you pick oranges, grapefruits and clementines right off the tree. I ate so many I was about to turn orange. We also petted dogs and drank lots of delicious organic wine.

We got up early in the morning to go for a hike over the mountain — a very LA thing to do. Morning chill turned into desert heat very quickly.

We also went for long walks, had big group dinners on the porch, went for a nighttime swim in the pool, played ping pong and formed a spontaneous jam band, but none of that made in into the camera. This is one of my favorite places in the world, I have been twice and hope to return soon. Read more about Casa Barranca here and see more photos here.