Instagram 3 Jul 2020

Can you even believe this rose?! A lovely memory from a recent visit with my friends @rosestoryfarm …. Wishing you all a happy and safe Holiday weekend.


Instagram 1 Jul 2020

Nothing says holiday weekend more than gathering family and friends for a bit of sun, sand and food of course! BUT with everything going on in the world, I know most of us are opting to keep it small and keep it HOME. So, how do you keep it easy and entertaining? My friends @flowermag are showing us how to do just that with easy recipes, table decor….and my rich butterscotch banana pudding from my book California Cooking and Southern Style. Get ready to kick back on the 4th via my #linkinbio!


Hey Puddin’!

Butterscotch Banana Pudding from California Cooking and Southern Style, by Frances Schultz. Recipes Stephanie Valentine

Hey Puddin’! While this will be a 4th of July unlike any other, the pesky pandemic does not have to get all the glory. You can make your summer celebration memorable with the best Butterscotch Banana Pudding you’ve ever had. That’s BUTTERSCOTCH Banana Pudding, in case you missed, because it is all about the butterscotch.… Continue reading Hey Puddin’!


Instagram 30 Jun 2020

As we end one month and begin a new one, so we can do with habits and limiting beliefs that do not serve us. A treasured new friend sent me this card and I love the art and design of it by Ana Victoria Calderon as much as I love the message, a quote from Rumi. Let your heart be your compass and your soul your guide. Earlier this summer I read “Steering by Starlight” by Martha Beck, which I highly recommend to all you seekers out there. . #anamariacalderon #wordstoliveby #rumi #marthabeck

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Instagram 30 Jun 2020

This small “palette painting” from a series by Rhinebeck NY artist Rudy VavraI caught my eye. I love the movement and texture of it, oh, and the green! One thing Ive enjoyed during lockdown is exploring the work of artists both known and new to me. I am missing the museums and galleries but websites are the next best thing. Find Rudy’s “visual candy” shop at Rudyvavra.com. And hey, that dress or pair of shoes you didn’t buy…? Let’s support our artists of all stripes, visual and performing, as best we can! They need us now more than ever, almost as much as we need them. . . #rudyvavra #supportartists #green #paletteknifepainting

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Instagram 28 Jun 2020

One of the greatest effort-to-satisfaction ratios EVER has to be pancakes. Flour here, egg there, bit of milk, spot of other, and voilà! A stack of warm, moist, buttery, syrupy goodness that is as much good, heart-singing, soul-filling, tummy-yumming fun as you can have with your bathrobe on. These banana-hazelnut pancakes by @heartofabaker are just what I’m jonesing for on a mellow Sunday morning. Grab the maple syrup and join His Grace and me, recipe in #linkinbio

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Instagram 26 Jun 2020

⁠ Heaven help me I love a picnic, and I keep thinking I’ll write a picnic book one of these days… Is there anything more romantic than a glass of wine under the stars….minus the bugs of course, which we are blessedly scarce of in California. Then there is the planning and schlepping, which sometimes sends me back to the porch. But when the stars align and the spirit is willin’, picnic it is, and it’s always a fond memory. Dreamy summer picnic setup by @_foodstories_

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Instagram 26 Jun 2020

This ginormous (hard to tell from the painting so you have to trust me on this) was a souvenir of my delightful brief visit with dear friend Dani Hahn @rosestoryfarm One nice thing about all these phone and Zoom meetings is that you can doodle with impunity. I wonder if drawing while listening actually helps you listen better? It seems to. Anyone have any studies to report on that? . . . #rosehip #rosestoryfarm #watercolor #watercolorsketch #francesschultzart #francesschultzpaintings

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Instagram 25 Jun 2020

I looooove a bunk bed. I love the coziness of them and the clever use of small space. This one by @murphydeesign⁠ in this month’s @housebeautiful is a chic, grown-up, and slightly madcap guestroom. Look at the wallpaper on the ceiling (cool idea) and the oriental rug “headboard.” And the color! Brava Dee! Photo @jessicasample⁠ ⁠

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Instagram 24 Jun 2020

Wisteria is always wistfully beautiful, and nowhere more so than on this London townhouse I came upon on @pinterest. First brought out of China in the 13th century by Marco Polo, wisteria’s charms may be at their best when disciplined as they clearly are here. Left un-checked, wisteria grows rampant and will take over whatever world it inhabits. Hmm, but maybe that’s not all bad. ⁠ Photography unknown

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Instagram 22 Jun 2020

My lemon love is here to stay, and you know what they say. When life gives you lemons, make a brilliant olive-caper-lemon-herb vinaigrette that will take the humblest veg, the simplest fish, chicken, or pork somewhere new.⁠ ⁠ “Brilliant” is a strong talk for a simple sauce and not used lightly. I definitely don’t use the sauce lightly. I double the recipe and eat the leftover with a spoon. Olives, capers, herbs, lemon, olive oil and vinegar, boom. No cooking. Make it in advance. Make it at the last minute. Make it for your friends. Just make it. One of @chefstephvalentine’s most treasured recipes, via #linkinbio

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Instagram 22 Jun 2020

Good Monday to you all. This is the littlebitofeverything arrangement I did with the season’s first dahlias and other bits. There is a monstrous – well a few actually – climbing rose on one side of the driveway that Ive hesitated cutting for fear as I approached it, it might engulf me in its thorns, never to be heard from again… but I braved it yesterday as the branches form such graceful arches and the light scent is heavenly. Someone out there will know the variety… ? And while I am kidding about the bush engulfing me (sort of), it does prompt me to think in these ever uncertain times about how our fears and anxieties are often the result of stories we tell ourselves and not actual reality. Eg., “I’ll never meet anyone because we will never be able to date normally again” or “I’ll never see my grandchildren again.” #notetoself If we can all practice catching ourselves in the act of believing our stories, we can diffuse their power and hold over us. The reality is we cannot know that our stories are absolutely true or not true. We can only control how we perceive them, and stay in the now. Well goodness that was an earful I hadn’t intended but I went with it. Hope you all have a good week, in the now. Namaste

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