Tomales Bay Oyster Company and Point Reyes Seashore [PHOTOS]

Exactly a year ago, I was wearing tights under my jeans, a heavy down jacket and making sure I didn't eat it on the scary black ice that covered my path to a warehouse show in Brooklyn. This year, I've got sunscreen on my face and am shucking fresh oysters at Tomales Bay in 75° sunny Northern California. I'm not trying to create weather FOMO - because I still miss NY very much - but am trying to illustrate how drastically different life is on the west coast.

Sean and I spent President's day weekend with two of my close friends from Hawaii and their boyfriends, exploring Point Reyes - disconnecting ourselves from commercial office parks, suburban apartment complexes and the internet. I realized that when you have sunshine, the outdoors and a car, you can have a different and broader type of "fun" - it's no longer restricted by restaurants, bars, museums, movie times, wait times or crowds - I now have full autonomy on how I want to spend my time. And how did we spend our time? We BBQ-ed for 6+ hours at an oyster farm, put together a puzzle that was missing pieces without looking at the final picture and "painted". It was a fun, two-day getaway that nearly beats USA's shootout win over Russia at the Olympics last year. Nearly.