five hundred posts!

Today is my 500th post! Hooray! Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to join me on this personal journey…knowing you are out there, on the other side of this computer, makes the whole adventure worth while…being able to share with you my first visit to High Point Market or the wonder of NYC and the Architectural Digest Home Design Show, is truly a dream come true…too many pinch me moments to count! I hope you continue down this path with me…it just wouldn’t be the same without you…

To celebrate, I thought I’d post a few memorable photos from a thoughtful eye…when I look at these images, I’m taken back to a moment in time when I remember thinking to myself, it doesn’t get much better than that…

The Parthenon Friezes ~ watercolor on paper by Wendy Artin

The Oly Showroom ~ High Point Market, Spring 2012

DIFFA Dining by Design, March 2012

The Verellen Showroom ~ High Point Market, Spring 2012

The Breakers and Rosecliff, Newport, RI

photography by danielle boudrot for a thoughtful eye

Read Full Post »

ocean drive

For whatever we lost (like a you or a me),

It’s always our self we find in the sea.

~ e.e. cummings

photos by me ~ ocean drive, newport rhode island, 9/25/11

Read Full Post »

redford at rosecliff ~ the great gatsby

My recent visit to Rosecliff stirred up memories of the 1974 film The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway…the film, based on the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is set on Long Island’s North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922…the Rosecliff and Marble House mansions in Newport Rhode Island were used for Gatsby’s home while scenes at the Buchanans’ home were filmed in Buckinghamshire England…other scenes were filmed in New York City and Uxbridge Massachusetts…directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola, it won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Music…while researching the 1974 classic, I was surprised to discover that filming began this month (September 2011) for a new version of The Great Gatsby…directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, it is slated to hit theaters in 2012…I’m looking forward to seeing what Baz Luhrmann has up his sleeve (no doubt it will feature his trademark vibrant colors and fast paced-editing) but my heart will always belong to Redford at Rosecliff…

Read Full Post »

rosecliff

In 1890, silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs and her husband Hermann Oelrichs purchased the Newport property known as Rosecliff from the estate of historian and diplomat George Bancroft…the couple later bought additional property along Bellvue Avenue and commissioned architect Stanford White to build them a palatial home modeled after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles…completed in 1902, at an estimated cost of 2.5 million dollars, Mrs. Oelrichs hosted some of Newport’s most lavish dinner parties…in 1971, Rosecliff was given to the Preservation Society of Newport County by its last private owners, Mr. and Mrs. J. Edgar Monroe of New Orleans…

Our visit was accompanied by a warm hazy day…the perfect atmosphere and expressive backdrop for one of the grandest homes I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing…

photos by me ~ 9/24/11

Read Full Post »

the breakers

In 1893, Cornelius Vanderbilt II commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design The Breakers, a 70 room Italian Renaissance-style palazzo inspired by the 16th century palaces of Genoa and Turin…this summer “cottage” is the grandest of all the Newport Mansions and is a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence at the turn of the century…purchased in 1972 by the Preservation Society of Newport County, The Breakers is designated a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public for tours…this past Saturday, I had the privilege of touring The Breakers with my family…from the moment we stepped through the front gate, it was clear we were in for a visual adventure filled with artistic and architectural details beyond our wildest imagination…I hope you enjoy this look at The Breakers through my eyes…

photos by me ~ 9/24/11

Read Full Post »

one year ago today…

One year ago today, I published my first post for a thoughtful eye! Amazing how time flies! Looking back, I could have never predicted the impact it would have on my life…yes, it is a personal tool for learning and growth but what sets it apart is you…thank you for reading, commenting, sharing and most of all, for making a thoughtful eye part of your daily routine…this journey is all the richer for having you by my side

In celebration of this landmark day, I’d like to share with you some photographs I took this past weekend in Newport Rhode Island…for three days, my family united in Newport for a whirlwind vacation…15 in all (including mimi and bella!), we wined and dined, toured the mansions and drank in the ocean air…it was a glorious trip filled with laughter, singing and beauty…as with the blog, it was all the richer for having my family by my side…

above and below ~ garden statuary from the Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, RI

photos by me ~ 9/24/11

Read Full Post »