Home From the Hamptons

And we finally arrived. The ocean was magnificent. And cold. We dipped our feet in, but that was about it. We spent some time sitting on the beach and collecting seashells. And we shopped. And ate. And visited. And laughed. It was a wonderful trip. And ended all too soon.

 

Here we are, Gerry, me, Mary, and Sherry. Yes, I know, my friends with the rhyming names. Gerry and I have known each other since our early teens, and actually found out that we are third cousins! Sherry organized our very first trip to England in 2000, and we met Mary on one of the later trips. These are my traveling companions and we also have had the most wonderful adventures. Sherry moved to the Hamptons last year and hosted our visit. She always knows the best things to do and places to see, no matter where we are! She knows where all the celebrities live and we drove by a lot of their houses,even though we mostly saw gates and hedges. There is a lot of privacy here. It's where the beautiful people come to get away, I guess.

Can you guess who this gate belongs to? Notice the monogram. So many people have homes in this area-Paul McCartney, The Barefoot Contessa, Jimmy Fallon, Billy Joel, Gweneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, and Jerry Seinfeld, just to name drop a few. The funny thing is, no matter where you go, everybody there looks at you to see if you are "somebody".
The shops are all big names. No chain stores allowed. And everything is so expensive. Just to think that some one  will actually buy $300 cashmere sweaters for their baby boggles my frugal mind. Our favorite places were the resale shops. We are so easy to please. The best was "The Ladies Village Improvement Society". This was started in 1895 and is housed in a home built in 1740. Loved it.
And the garden shops are all magnificent. I think several rent out areas for parties and weddings because they are just beautifully landscaped. I really liked The Bayberry in Amagansett.

We had movie night and immersed ourselves in the GrayGardens story. For those who may not remember, Big Edie and Little Edie were relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy. They lived in an old East Hamptons mansion that became increasingly rundown and pest-infected over the years. After it was condemned, the family tried to clean it up. Two documentaries were made in the 1970's and later a movie with Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore. The story is riveting and there is quite a cult of information available. Of course, we drove by the restored house.
My alltime favorite celebrity moment was meeting Amy Zerner and Monty Farber. They have a shop in the village and I just happened to find it. Any one who knows anything about the tarot will recognize their names. They have written lots of things and she is a textile designer. I really want one of her very,very expensive jackets. Their designs are based on her original fabric collages. They were so nice and we are now facebook friends.

(I took two of these simple sweater and dress combinations with me on the trip. I thought they would work well, but now I am just thinking.......Frumpy!!!. I think I will have to be my own next project. I see a makeover in my future, even without consulting the cards!)

The Hamptons were perfect. But as all good things do, this had to end. And just as we began our vacation with weather delays,  we ended it in the Chicago airport. It took us 26 hours to get home from New York, with several cancellations,flight postponements, and a night spent on very uncomfortable cots in the airport. Have I mentioned that Mercury was retrograde?