Photography by Elaine Ubiña

How many months a year do you spend in Palm Beach?
We stay on the "The Island" for seven wonderful months, from November to May.  It is bustling with activity during "the season" which begins after Thanksgiving and ends after Easter.

What charities are you involved with in Palm Beach?  In Fairfield County?
My husband, Edward and I have been involved with many worthwhile charities, including Dana Farber Cancer Institute, American Heart Association, Schepens Eye Research Institute, H.O.W., The Norton Museum of Art and The Everglades Foundation.

At this time, we have centered our support more in the direction of Children, Hospice and Animals.  We support Children's Home Society of Florida, Save the Tigers, and The Palm Beach Zoo, and Hospice Foundation of Palm Beach County.  I am passionate about animal rights and their well being.  We support (hands on) The Tri-County Animal Shelter, The Humane Society and ASPCA.  The Creed I try to live by is, "Be a Voice for the Voiceless."

When we are in New Canaan, it is mostly in the summertime and we live a much more laid back lifestyle.  We have an old carriage house with gracious old trees surrounding it...it is fondly called "Camp New Canaan."  I cherish it for many reasons, one of my dearest friends owns a wonderful boutique in town you may find lots of women "holding court" there every day (including me).  Diane Roth and L'Armoire in New Canaan make coming back to Connecticut lots of fun!  I guess the best thing I get when I return though is my beautiful, smart daughter... Alexis Vitti, (we adopted each other).  She shares her warmth and love upon me and immediately the world becomes a better place.  We have supported Greenwich Hospital, The Audubon Society, The Children's Blood Foundation, Strays and Others, Little Flower, and The ASPCA of New York.

Your home is beautiful.  What were your inspirations for its décor?
The Palm Beach Home is land marked and built in the 1920's.  It is an old romantic house, "it has bones" as they say in the real estate business.  When I first walked through the door of "Villa Banyan" I knew it was where I wanted to live for the rest of my life... I had come home.  This home has been decorated with love and care, it is a mixture of many layers of my husband and my lives.  Many people have shared ideas for decorating and paints and colors, but ultimately this house has been labor of love, and is not "the decorator show house, nor would I want to be.  It is a home with life, three big bouncing dogs and love that the most expensive furniture could not match.

What's your favorite thing about the time you spend in PB every year?
My favorite thing about Palm Beach is Everything!  From the Church Bells that ring all through the day on the island, the never ending ocean waves at the end of my street, the palm trees swaying out my bedroom window, the sun glistening through the terrace doors of my study.... life on an island which is like no other....

Tell us about your dogs.
My dogs, well my dogs are my little children... Jagger Fitzgerald, my big Golden (pictured with me) is called "The Big Man" for reasons no one seems to know.  He is very busy, and has a life of his own.  He swims all day and has little time for the women of the house, though he is loved beyond compare.  Emily Anne, my precious Chocolate Lab is a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. When I got her, she was very sick with heartworm and it took about six months to a year before she was well again.  She is still fragile at heart...but probably one of the sweetest and best dogs I have ever had.  Cornelius Reynolds just arrived from the shelter two months ago, (he came with the name Cornelius) we tried to change it but he likes his name.  He is five years old and is doing well and we love him as though he has been with us forever.  I wish I could take more animals...but I do my best to help shelters and beg you to please, think long and hard before you give up a pet, because you are breaking a heart, I know.