The Hamptons, Dahling

You need a certain amount of activity to provide fodder for a blog, but too much activity, and there's no time or energy to blog! This week has been a whirlwind. Besides work being consistently busy (still so thankful to have a good job in this economy), I've had dinner with an old colleague, been keeping up with exercise, seen a fantastic concert, and cleaned my apartment in preparation for my mom's visit. (I usually clean up on the weekend, but since I've been gone the last two weekends, it was sorely needing scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming!)

Last weekend, I got an amazing invitation to a house in the Hamptons from one of my vendors. The Hamptons is a collection of towns on the eastern edge of Long Island, most of which end in "-hampton" like South Hampton, East Hampton, Bridgehampton. I was actually in Sag Harbor, but it's that same general area and so is considered in "the Hamptons."

We've been experiencing very strange weather here in the northeast with temperatures so mild they are bordering on cold and a seemingly endless supply of rain. It doesn't feel like summer at all. But I'm not complaining because most of my family is sweltering in the Texas heat. Last weekend we had a few patches of sun, but it was still pretty cool, with highs only in the low 70's F (22C). So, due to the weather and the accommodations, I never left the house we were staying at.

I took a three-hour train ride out there, and the masses of people trying to cram on the train was overwhelming. But I didn't want to miss it and have to wait for the next one in two hours, so I pushed my way into the car, finding a middle seat and a place for my suitcase. It seemed like everyone from NYC was headed out there!

I overheard two girls talking on the way there, and at one point, one said, "It would be so lonely to be on this train alone!" But I didn't feel lonely. I enjoyed the quiet time, time to myself.

The house is beautiful, with 5 bedrooms, 6 baths and two dens with extra sleeping space (aka sofas), a clay tennis court and a heated pool. It's surrounded by trees and has an eclectic collection of artwork. There were only a few of us who got there on Friday night, and we played Rock Band and an American Idol game. (I love to sing and blew everyone away getting perfect scores on singing. Ha!) Saturday started out nice weather-wise, so I "played tennis" with some of the other guests. I put it in quotes because I've never played tennis before although I used to watch it on TV with my dad. We just focused on hitting the ball back and forth and didn't keep score or worry if the ball bounced twice. We played for a couple hours, and it was a great workout!

Then we headed down to the pool, and while originally I was so hot from playing tennis, the warm, heated water wasn't as refreshing as I'd hoped, as the afternoon wore on and the wind grew colder, the warm water was comforting. We stayed in the water to avoid getting out and being too cold!

I have to say, though, it was the first time I can remember feeling confident in a bikini. I've lost a total of 24 pounds through all the diet changes and exercising and training for the triathlon. And I finally feel good about my body. Oh, and all the single guys there were flirting with me. :-)

One of the guys grilled tuna steaks for dinner on Saturday, and they were SO good. We all hung out and talked and played games until late into the night. Sunday was recuperation and travel home, but all in all in was a great weekend.