Beehive Bungalows

Practically a hop, skip, and a jump of 80 miles northeast (way more east than north) of Chateau Hartman-Deitrich, past the graffitied streets of outer Brooklyn, past the beautiful sprawling Tudors in Queens, past Rachel's old stomping grounds (more on Rachel later), in a place from the conjurings of my adolescent dreams, delicately situated a narrow barrier of land in between Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, just across the water from Hart's (yes, Hart's!) Bay, lies a little slice of paradise known to the familiar as Beehive Bungalows, known to one very tight knit new group of friends as '496 For Life'!, and known to me as soul-refilling.  And refill my soul is exactly what I did.  Let me back it up a few days.

It's the Thursday before Labor Day weekend and I have not really thought much about it in regards to us not 'doing' anything for Labor Day, albeit our first in NYC.  Labor Day and Memorial Day have always had a special place in my heart.  These have historically been - or for the past 5.5 years anyway - weekends that my ex and I would take the opportunity to go on a fun mini vacation-adventure.  These weekends have included trips up north to explore Lake Shasta and all her geographically-eclectic sights, Lake Arrowhead and all of her serenity and legacy memories, Lake Havasu and all of the debauchery to witness (not take part in, of course!! We would never.....), and/or usually involves something to do with water.  So the three-day weekend apple did not fall very far from the tree this year with the Westhampton getaway that materialized in <48 hours.  

Erica, my work bestie, informed me Thursday that MoPub - a competing mobile ad serving company in our space - was to be having a party in the Hamptons over the weekend, and we both half-jokingly began daydreaming of going to the party and to vacationing in the Hamptons this weekend.  A few Craigslist + FlipKey inquiries and two RSVPs to one MoPub BBQ and we found ourselves with Labor Day '13 plans!  And much like the move from LA to NYC, everything sort of just fell into place after that.  Matt, our roomie, had been in LA working on The Biggest Loser show (he's in t.v. post-production work) and to get him to sign on and get involved took more efforts than for us locals, but he is otherwise one of the most responsive people I know so it was not challenging, just interesting.  Leaving plans, reservations, even something as simple as shopping in the hands of other people frightens the s#$% out of me.  Why?  Because I'm a control freak.  Some call it OCD, some call it leadership, I call it how it is.  I'm 100% a control freak.  When it comes to planning and getting S#$% done, that is.  When it comes to vacation, events, company culture activities, I. Like. To. Take. The. Wheel.  It's not that I don't think somebody else is not going to do just as good of a job, it's just exactly that.  It's not that I don't trust (yeah, what, okay, there, I said it) other people's choices and tastes, but it's challenging for me to let somebody else take the wheel of planning because I have such high expectations which leads to a high risk for disappointment.  So I'd rather take on what might become a burden of planning just in order to ensure that 'something' gets done.  I'm not going to go as far to say make sure it gets done right, rather, just get it done.  You see, if I didn't plan this weekend,we never would have gone.  Sure, I could have left it up to Matt or Kelly to plan the weekend, but it may never have gotten planned any farther than Saturday's Grand Army Plaza Farmer's Market.  Heck, it would have been fun to stay at home and I could have really used the time to get 'organized' (heck I have been trying to get organized for three damn years now) and to save rather than spend, but it's the expending of resources that results in the making of memories, new friends, and a darn fine new vacation spot!  

Who knew the Hamptons were only 1.5 hours away!  Somebody lied to me when they said that the Hamptons are 3-4 hours away.  Okay, maybe with more traffic and maybe if you're going all the way to East Hampton.  Who knows?  All I know and all I care about is how short the drive is from BK to WH.  Not far at all.  All five of us new NYC friends and weekend vacation warriors - me, Kel, Erica, Rachel, and Matt (Rachel being our new Brooklyn neighbor-friend that Erica brought on the trip and introduced to us this weekend) 

More to come later.  My eyelids are droopy, I'm falling asleep as I type (boy what great dreams I'll have tonight!), and my sleep-heavy words will not even do paradise the justice she deserves......TO BE CONTINUED..........

View looking back to the house from the shore. Kelly gladly waving to show her approval and happiness to be there. 

 
View looking out to the bay from the house. My oh my what a view, what a deck, what a cute little house that was. Went by FAR too quickly. Rewind, please!

Thanks to Erica for the introduction to new Brooklyn friend Rachel. Yay for new friends!

Accidentally caught a shot of our hunky property manager Harris. Sexy name for a sexy man. Happy. Labor. Day. Indeed. =D "Accidentally"....heeheehee. ;-)

Hartmans in the Hamptons. 

 Sister, sisters, la la la la sister!

 Sisters heading down the boardwalk to the Atlantic Ocean

 Sisters on the beach.....one of our all-time favorite and happiest spots to be! The sand was so pillowy and the water was warmer than the Pacific. Other than that, not much difference!


"Under the sea, under the sea, down where it's wetter, baby it's better, take it from meeeee!" Group singalong time led by Harris and Erica! 

Back on the ranch, er, Beehive Bungalow #7 aka the old "farmhouse". Other dwellings on this property include studios which used to be old WWII barracks; barber shoppe turned bungalow. Not to be blasphemous, but this slightly resembles what I feel Heaven would be like.

Hartman + Harris + Hamptons = HURRAY!

Spontaneous fivesome. 'New' NYC friends. Fun times. Great memories.