Website Whoopdedoo

Dear Friends,

Today I updated my website with new images and current information. Please take a visit!

Kick the tires, etc., at

www.patriciauchello.com

Thanks,

Patsie

Hillwood Estate

Hillwood Estate, the former home of heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, is open to the public in a posh setting in Washington, DC. 

Hillwood is set in a lush surrounding of acres of gardens and also features two clever outbuildings. One is an Adirondeck cabin and the other is a Russian dacha. 

Mrs. Post inherited the Post cereal fortune. She then went on to buy Birdseye frozen foods. Her life was complex and glamorous, featuring four husbands and three or more daughters, including the beautiful actress Dina Merrill. 

Seen in my picture is Mrs. Post's dining room table which she used originally in Mar-a-Lago, her huge estate in Palm Beach. 

The collection contains both Faberge' eggs and a stunning array of Russian Imperial paintings and bejeweled decorative arts, such as the crown of Czarina Alexandra. 

Modeling Beautiful Clothes

All clothing was hand selected by the personal shoppers Effie and Courtney at Tyson's Corners Bloomingdales, in McLean, Virginia. 

I do not look like a model, walk like a model, etc. I am not thin, not young and not tall. 

But when I walk around modeling fabulous designer clothes, I sure do feel like a model! I had a wonderful experience again this year modeling Bloomingdale's clothing by Ted Baker, Elie Tahari, etc.  Thanks to the Yacht Haven Garden Club's annual fashion show to raise funds for city-wide gardening projects, I was allowed to pretend that I could be a real model. How much fun is that?

St. Petersburg, Russia

We have such fond memories of the Imperial Russia that we encountered this summer in St. Petersburg, Russia. Originally a cold, windy swamp on the Baltic Sea, St. Petersburg was born when Peter the Great founded his government capital and created a city that is still stunning today. 

The 24k gold leaf domes seen here are the chapel at Catherine the Great's place, the Catherine Palace. The Palace is a lovely robin's egg blue.