Guest Author Friday - Regina Andrews

I'd like to welcome Regina Andrews to the blog today. Regina is a resident of Providence, Rhode Island --- she grew up in nearby Barrington and still belongs to her church family in that town. After graduating from Providence College she attended the University of Delaware, eventually earning her Master's Degree in American Civilization from Brown University. She is inspired by the seashore and the song of the birds... anything to do with nature. She and her husband enjoy visiting nearby Cape Cod.

Regina's latest book is "Destiny's Designs" with Desert Breeze Publishing and she enjoys writing inspirational romance.

Welcome, Regina!

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Destiny's Designs: The Fabric of Faith


You know the moment: when all of a sudden, you realize that your most cherished dream, your most treasured ideal is about to become a reality. It takes your breath away, doesn't it?

That's what happened to me when Gail Delaney from Desert Breeze Publishing told me she had accepted my inspirational romance novel, Destiny's Designs, for publication.


The first novel I wrote, Destiny's Designs is a fast-paced, international romance about finding our path in life by listening to God's message of love.

Set in Newport, RI, the hero and heroine are Neil Lamont, a sailor, and Lisa Machon, an interior designer. Each has had a hurt in their past that impedes them from loving in the present.

Lisa is working for Neil's aristocratic mother, and while doing so she and Neil join forces to help out Neil's sister, Bliss. Their efforts take them to France and Italy in a social whirl, but their hearts are at home with each other...once they learn to trust each other, and to trust God.

Actually, I was working for an interior designer when I began writing this book. Still living at home, I would read my newest pages to my parents nightly around the kitchen table.

You might say I had the most supportive writing group in the world, back in those heartwarming days. When those days ended I put Destiny's Designs away in the drawer. Maybe if I kept it in, I could preserve those sweet times together around the table and they would never go away.

Of course, life is all about change and having the faith to move on. For some reason,
I felt I could trust Gail with this book. So I took a leap of faith and let it go.

And I know my parents are smiling now, happy that Gail's gentle touch propelled Destiny's Designs into the light of day.

You could say this novel is about what it's like to live the phrase, "Let go, let God." What is your "Let go, let God" moment?

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Thanks for popping in, Regina.

Here's a link to her Desert Breeze Page: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-68/Destiny%27s-Design/Detail.bok

A bite of New England - The Breakers

It's Sunday again and time for my New England tidbit. This one is a bit personal for me - The Breakers.

The Breakers is a manison in Newport, Rhode Island that was built at the turn of the century by the Vanderbilt's. I discovered The Breakers in 1985 when my American Studies class went there on a field trip. American Studies was an honor level class that combined American lit & English. The Breakers, of course, embody American history.

What do I remember from that field trip? Two things - I was finally gaining acceptance from my classmates. I was never much of a popular kid, and I pretty much stuck to myself, but I found myself making friends with the kids in my class - finally - and I was happy about that. I had someone to sit with on the bus and someone to eat lunch with. I was happy. Simple things, I know, but back then...

The day was overcast, I remember that. It didn't rain. It was April, I believe, but I could be wrong. The Breakers was HUGE. It was square and majestic, and it embodied everything I thought high society was all about. On that first trip, the Breakers left three impressions with me - The Great Hall was magificient - tall, deep, wide, it belonged in a movie. The view from the 2nd floor overlooking the ocean was amazing and it only deepened my love of the sea. The last thing - the Breakers was my favorite Newport mansion. It had an elevator - an elevator at the end of the 1800's. I was impressed. It's a testiment to it's time.

I've been to The Breakers since, but not recently. I took my husband in the early 1990's, because I wanted to show him a place that was beautiful to me. My friends, Idgy & Alyssa went along with my sister and cuzzin' Emmie. What I liked about this trip was the freedom we had to explore. One of my favorite pictures is that of me and Idgy imitating fish statues in the gardens. hehe.

Just a little history:

The Breakers was completed in 1895 by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, but he only lived to enjoy it for 4 years - dying in 1899 of a cerebral hemorrhage caused from a second stroke in 1899 at the age of 55. He left the manison to his wife, Alice.

The previous manison on the property owned by Pierre Lorillard IV burned down in 1892 and Vanderbuilt bought it from him, using the most modern fireproofing at the time.

Vanderbilt's youngest daughter, Countess Gladys Széchenyi (1886-1965), leased the high-maintenance property to the non-profit Preservation Society of Newport County for $1 a year in 1948. The Society bought the Breakers outright in 1972 for $365,000 from Countess Sylvia Szapary, the daughter of Gladys.

Today, an agreement with the Society allows the family to continue to live on the third floor, which is not open to the public.

Countess Sylvia died in 1998, but her children still summer there to this day.

Interesting facts: Although the mansion is owned by the Society, the original furnishings displayed throughout the house are still owned by the family.

It is now the most-visited attraction in Rhode Island with approximately 300,000 visitors annually and is open year-round for tours.

Controversially, in April 2009 the museum stopped offering personalized tours by tour guides due to a decision by management. Patrons now receive standard audio headsets.

The Designer:


The Breakers is also a definitive expression of Beaux-Arts architecture in American domestic design by one of the country's founding fathers of architecture, Richard Morris Hunt. The Breakers is one of the few surviving works of Hunt that has not been demolished in the last century and is therefore valuable for its rarity as well as its architectural excellence. The Breakers was Hunt’s final work, and is the singular house that has withstood the vagaries of time to be remembered as the monument that was the architect’s greatest achievement. The Breakers made Hunt the "dean of American architecture" as well as helping define the era in American life which Hunt helped to shape.

Info for this blog entry was taken from Wikipedia at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Breakers

If you ever get a chance to visit The Breakers in Rhode Island, I highly recommend it.