Congrats on the greater ease! Were you diving with a core warmer or a jane/jacket combo? The jackets can have either the beavertail (which I hate because the velcro tears up the wetsuit) or a step-in, like the wetsuit I own now. The thing I call a core warmer sounds like a different thing.
I started diving with... well, I think my first dive was 28 lbs, and went to 26 for multiple dives after that due to the problem of getting under the surface. Problem was, after I got past 15', I'd hit the bottom like a piano dropping. I discovered the key thing to do was to RELAX before I went under, and concentrate on letting air out of my lungs. Even now, I find when I'm distracted or tense underwater and I'm breathing in without breathing out the entire last breath, I drift up.
By relaxing in the water, paying attention to my breathing, minimizing counter-movement on the way down (unconsciously doing things like finning slightly in an upright position when you're trying to get down, doing mainly head down descents now (that extra little kick works quite well), and swapping to a PST tank, I'm now diving with 14 lbs, and don't have problems with a runaway ascent on an empty tank.
But sounds like you're already shedding that extra poundage! Good for you! It makes the diving so much more enjoyable, and prolongs your tank air by a lot, both because of the effort you save and because you don't have to use half of it in your BC to get off the bottom.
I dive NorCal too. If the water temp stays unseasonable high (~57-60), you may be in for a treat.