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Famed designer/author Hutton Wilkinson visits Boca Raton

Posted on 04 March 2019 by LeslieM

By Rachel Galvin

Famed interior designer, jewelry designer and author Hutton Wilkinson left California to pay a visit to South Florida. First, on Jan. 31, he went to the newly opened Jay Feder Jewelers (at 6859 SW 18 St. in Boca Raton) (www.jayfeder.com/bocaraton), where a party was held as he launched his Tony Duquette Jewelry Collection in style. The following day, he went to the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum to present his newest book, “Tony Duquette Dawnridge.”

Guests were delighted to hear stories about how his once-partner designer Tony Duquette got his start and about his famous home. The home was built in 1949 by Tony and his wife Elizabeth. It was a simple structure — 30 x 30. But the home he created would become the go-to place for many of the Hollywood set, including Fred Astaire, Marion Davies, Loretta Young, Arthur Freed and Mary Pickford, among others. Tony had some luxurious parties in his home, complete with everything from Indian dancers to Chinese acrobats, bringing an exotic flair. When not living in the home, they rented it out to famous tenants like Marlon Brando and Eva Gabor. They soon bought the home next to Dawnridge, which they also rented out, but it burnt down in 1974. When the home was torn down, they used the land to create beautiful garden terraces. The expansion of Dawnridge would continue. The home — its interior and exterior — looked like a faraway land, like Japan, Austria or South Asia rather than Beverly Hills and it was used for many fashion shoots as well. The couple also bought other properties.

Hutton worked with Tony and, after Tony and his wife’s passing, he and his wife Ruth decided to purchase the home and to remodel it. Today, Hutton maintains the home and continues to run the jewelry company that he had with Tony.

People can now purchase his “Dawnridge” book, with its 256 pages and 300 color illustrations, and see the transformation of the home through the years and read more about its history.

For more information on the book, visit https://tonyduquette.com/tony-duquettes-dawnridge.

For more information on the Boca Raton Historical Society, visit www.bocahistory.org.

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Laura Duksta Envisioning success

Posted on 09 January 2017 by LeslieM

By Rachel Galvin

With 2017 upon us, many are ready to declare their intentions for the new year. But announcing your goals and making them happen are two different things. There are so many ways to set goals and make good things happen in your life. Many have watched the popular film The Secret (or read the book) and learned about the Law of Attraction but were left feeling that a step was missing. Why did they spend time visualizing but nothing came to fruition? Those who really study these types of self-help practices know that to really transform themselves they can’t just think about things to make them happen, they have to take action. But a first step is not only thinking about something, but also putting it on paper, or creating a “vision board.”

Author Laura Duksta knows all about creating something from nothing and utilizing a vision board to focus her intentions. Today, she is the best-selling author of three books, has traveled around the country promoting her book and travels back and forth between Ft. Lauderdale and Nashville.

But she didn’t always have this life. At age 11, she lost all her hair to Alopecia Areata, which caused her to wear a wig, hiding herself from the world. She withdrew and thought she would never be able to do the things she wanted in life. It wasn’t until her 30th birthday when she decided to give up the wigs and come out as “the bald chick,” a hip moniker that would help in her new life.

Her first book came about when she was praying for her sister, but something told her to pray for her nephew instead. From that experience came the idea for her first book, I Love Your More, an illustrated flip book for kids that focuses on the relationship between mother and son. She self-published it. At the time, she was a bartender in South Beach so becoming an author certainly was a departure and the first step on her journey to finding herself and spreading the message of love around the world, something she had in her heart deep inside when she was a young girl.

One of the manifestations from her vision board had to do with a number — 11 million, which she had put on her board as an intention of how many lives she hopes to touch, how many books would be eventually out in the world. When she switched her publishing to Sourcebooks, at the first meeting, the owner, to the surprise of everyone in the room, said that the vision for the book was 11 million copies sold, a number for which seemed way too large for a first-time writer. But, to Duksta, the number was no surprise; after all, she had it on her vision board.

I love vision boards, because I am a visual person. I have become a big fan of visioning,” she said, adding, “The power of a vision board is connecting your goals and dreams to what it actually looks like in life. One of the key ingredients to achieving your goals and dreams is being able to see it as already so — feel and believe it in your mind and heart, to the point that it draws a tear of inspiration when possible.”

What is a vision board? Usually, it is a poster board with cutout images and words from a magazine or newspaper that you hope to manifest.

Duksta said, “Put that photo-shopped picture of you accepting that Oscar on your vision board, and take five to 10 minutes every day to imagine yourself accepting your Oscar and reciting your speech. What does it feel, sound, look, taste and smell like? Making this real is why Einstein said ‘Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.’

Our mind cannot discern between reality and virtual reality; so placing ourselves into the scenes of our life we wish to manifest puts the Universal Laws of Attraction, Appreciation and Vibration into motion and we draw to ourselves what we think, and thank, about, and resonate with.”

Duksta went on to write two other books: You are a Gift to the World and now I’ll Hug You More. She goes around the country doing book talks and motivational speeches, especially for children.

For more information on this dynamic and inspirational author, visit www.lauraduksta.com.

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