So my bff from college recently got engaged(yay!) and decides to have an engagement party labor day weekend at her parent’s beach house in Long Island. The hubby and I are stoked to go, but when I attempt to book a hotel 3 months before the party I find that every hotel in the area has a 3 night minimum stay for labor day weekend. And we can only go for 2 nights… sigh. I called at least 50 options(hotels, motels, B&Bs) and they all tell me the same thing– 3 night minimum stay even though they weren’t quite full yet. Ummm hello– last I checked the economy sucked and they should be happy to get anyone at all. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the same thought process… I finally get smart after about 2 weeks of calls(sometimes it takes me awhile) and called the local chamber of commerce to ask for suggestions. They immediately recommended the Blue Heron’s Nest, a brand new B&B that was opening 4th of July weekend. I placed a call to them and the lovely owner, Rich, says he’d be happy to let us stay 2 nights since he had just opened. HOORAY! I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this place before arriving. I’m a huge hotel snob(my hubby isn’t much better) and the thought of staying in someone’s house kind of freaks me out, but after staying at Blue Heron’s Nest for the weekend I have grand ideas of B&B tours throughout the US. Yes, this place is that FABULOUS! The house is just so charming and so well decorated that I asked the owner, Rich, if he’d want to accompany back to Chicago to decorate our new condo. There are 2 rooms to stay in and we chose the Squire’s Chamber, which is a very spacious room with a king sized bed and lots of sitting room. However, the real gem of the house is the downstairs movie theater Rich has built in his basement– I’m talking about a huge movie screen, 1250 movies to choose from, a bar, a popcorn maker, and even a concession stand. My husband’s eyes got so big when he saw this room that I feared I wouldn’t get him out of the house all weekend cause he’d want to sit around and watch movies with Rich as weekend. And that would actually be quite a pleasant way to spend a weekend cause this older gentleman is such a doll. And if the charming house and inn keeper aren’t enough to get you excited I should also mention that Rich cooks up a full service breakfast– I’m talking bacon, eggs, sausage, bagels, cereal, fruit, etc. And once you’re full and happy there’s lots to do right in the area — beaches, wineries, good restaurants, etc. All this for under $ 200/night. When can we go back???