"Oh reckless abandon, like no one's watching you"

Such a fantastic weekend.

Lately Ed and I have been discussing our plans for leaving CA more and more, trying to work out the details, and in the process, trying to appreciate what we have out here more. We've made up a short list of things we want to experience before we go and this weekend we checked one off the list:

• Visit Tomales Bay and eat fresh oysters

I'd been there once before with Dad and Debbie and had an amazing time. Well, mostly. The ride home was pretty miserable because of a combination of eating waaaaaay too many large oysters and the curviest roads I have ever been on. Horrible. Never, ever, order large oysters. They are bigger than you can even imagine. Medium is plenty for fanatics and small is good for most. But other than getting in over my head tummy-space wise, that first visit was fantastic. The oysters were salty and delicious and it's just a beautiful area, muddy, beachy, hilly... It's hard to pinpoint what makes it so invigorating.

The weather really cooperated, so much so that we left with a bit of a sunburn. The sun was bright, there was a cool breeze and you could smell the eucalyptus trees all over. Add the smell of all the grills and - so, so many hot pots! - and the brine, it was heavenly.

Man these guys had a ton of meats on their grill, and I don't think they ever stopped grilling the whole time.

We made it through about 50 oysters, with maybe 20 of them cooked? We were surrounded mostly by families and hipster gatherings who looked to be around our age. The young crowd came stocked: Champagne, olives, clementines, cheeses, prosciutto, fancy olive oils and balsamics. We were not quite as thoroughly packed, but our Triscuts, hummus, hot sauces, and olives were just as good! I mean, we brought organic lemons from our upstairs neighbor so... boom! We can hipster it up too ya'll. Many of the families were grilling up tons of different meats and using hot pots and piling toppings on the oysters. Everything looked and smelled delicious.

We remembered gloves! I thought so many people were going to impale themselves...

Post-grill, pre-opening...

Post-grill and pre-gullet :)

Nothing beats raw and fresh!

View of the farm

Ed testing to see how far he can get before the mud eats him whole

There isn't much more to add other than we drove up, ate, drove home on the 1 along the coast and had an incredible day. It just really framed why we love being out here so much. It's hard being away from friends and family, but living in California is such a dream when we finally get out there and enjoy it.

Pull-off on the 1 on the way home, in Marin Headlands

Looking towards S.F. and home

This past weekend was also packed with movies: Ted, Pitch Perfect and Mama. None totally disappointed, and one left me with solid nightmares to haunt my middle of the night bathroom trips. If Ed wasn't here at night, I'd be living with all the lights on... probably all the time. Although the ending of Mama was terrible, everything up until the last 5 minutes made for a fantastically scary movie. I can't get enough of Guillermo del Toro. If I haven't recommended you all read his The Strain trilogy written with Chuck Hogan, then I will say it again - it's creepy as hell. Rumor is it might be a show on FX soon so read up now!

Speaking of reading I finished two more books:
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
I'll try to do a write up of these later, but for now I'll leave you with this: Where'd You Go Bernadette is on my top 10 favorite reads right now.

Everything else is going well. Running is... going. I'm trying to get my time down but it's really fighting me. At least I'm getting out and doing it regularly, that's all I can ask for, keeping up with my measly 11-13 miles per week. Ed's workin' away, poor guy didn't even get today off. Next weekend I have a dentist appointment and I'm getting my first crown. I am terrified. Terrified. The weekend after that brings us February! The best month ever. I'm really looking forward to my birthday this year... just feels like a big one. :) That's all for now folks!

S.F. within sight!