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Well I couldn’t say goodnight on that last post on the LOO now could I. That adventure aside, Im so happy to be back home and looking forward to home-cooked dinner at #rancholazaca with @chefstephvalentine !!! #californiacookingandsouthernstyle

Travel is so educational, so deeply experiential and engaging. Take for instance when you drop your phone in the airplane toilet, and it doesn’t stop in the top part of the bowl no no but goes straight down past that metal valve and into the blue goo. That is what it does. And then you have to come out and tell these two adorable sweet flight attendants what happened, and then somehow you just know the entire plane knows, and you feel like the biggest dingbat loser in the world because in that moment, hey, you ARE. And then all sorts of eventualities are discussed. The captain is involved. We land in Santa Barbara. More discussion, doomed scenarios, and possible returns to Phoenix for actual phone retrieval because I cantrememberwhy. And THEN I said let’s pretend this never happened and have you got a plastic bag. Yes they said. Quick I said before the captain comes back. I marched in that loo and put that bag over my hand and reached in there …. and got the sucker… Let’s just say it wasn’t Chanel No 5, but it’s here, inside this gray bag brandished triumphantly if gingerly by these two lovely flight attendants, whose spirits never wavered. As I was saying, travel exposes you to people and plumbing in ways you never imagined, and that is a beautiful thing. Also beautiful: the iPhone 8 is indeed waterproof (and mercifully other things-proof) And remember if you can, which I obviously couldn’t: Do not go to the loo with your phone in your back pocket. Just don’t. You know the saying: I fought the loo and the loo won.
I was lucky this time. Next time, well, it’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
@americanarlines @indagareceo @indagaretravel @cwhittravels @carolinetravelstheworld @therealwanderabout #whenyoudropyourphoneinthetoilet

Together 10 years and married 6. Gets better everyday. I love this photo and keep it on my dressing table in NY. It was taken at Christmas in Aspen at Frances Dittmer’s house at a fun party, as if she could have anything else. She was my husband’s first wife and mother of his children, though i claim them too ☺️. She was F1 and I am F2, and she was gracious to me from day 1. When we marry, we marry families, and I am so grateful for the one(s!) I have. Love you my cowboy, and all your posse. @tomdittmer @abdittmer @jasonjdittmer @alditty #happyanniversary and thank you.

Six years ago tonight we got all gussied up and went to our rehearsal dinner in the barn at #rancholazaca, which was pretty gussied up too. Here the peerless artistry of @mindyricedesign and the organization of @lisavorce made a magical evening. More to come in #californiacookingandsouthernstyle next summer ! #happyanniversary @tomdittmer #rehearsaldinner #seatingcards #barndance #glamorous #yvespiaget #yvespiagetroses

Love me some @carolyneroehm and celebrating her brilliant new book #aconstantthread #designandstyle just out from @rizzolibooks Brava Principessa and a beautiful night thank you @susangutfreund

There was no one else like Mario Buatta. RIP Mario, and may your inspiration, creativity, and zany sense of humor live on in the legions of designers and decor-lovers who followed and adored you. Photo by @scottfrancesphoto from @archdigest via @thisisglamorous

Back to Scotland for a bit – a story coming I promise – but I just loved walking around the remains of the stunning St Andrews Cathedral last week and wish I’d had time to paint there. So dramatic and sculptural, and moving to read about how the celebrants and congregants would have processed in, what it must have looked like, how freezing cold it was in winter… FYI there is a good piece in Oct 14 NYTimes by Jonathan Merritt about talking about God and spirituality, and how people don’t do it anymore, in part “because they don’t like the way it has been used…and abused by others. But when people stop speaking God because they don’t like what these words have come to mean…those who are causing the problem get to hog the microphone.” Hunh. I mention this because I notice that here on Insta, when I touch even lightly on the spiritual, there is always a warm and affirming response. Beauty, spirituality, and yes God, are all in one and all emanate from the divine. How could they not? Let’s keep talking. .
@jonathan_merritt @randallday @hollyejacobs @eslong @longstewart @christelnani @duvallfuqua @rosestoryfarm @carmeloblandinoart @carolyneroehm
#newyorktimes #standrewscathedral #remains #ruins #cathedral #pillarsoftheearth

The happiest, most soulful and heartfelt service I’ve been to in some time, particularly in this era of weddings as productions. Let us never underestimate the power of ritual and ceremony to move us in ways that can allow us to glimpse the divine, in ourselves and others. Amen. .
#stewartandwilliam #wedding #weddingday #weddingblessing #figureeightisland And what a beautiful #motherofthebride @eslong100

A moody, accidental vignette at the stables at @camboestate in the course of our lovely and lively workshop this past week with @cultivatedbychristin @hedgerow and @simplybyarrangement

For my butterfly friends, asters (?) and butterflies in the gorgeous Cambo gardens. I’ll post a story when I het back stateside. Love Scotland! Thanks for the brilliant workshop @cultivatedbychristin @hedgerow @simplybyarrangement .
@hollyejacobs #frollyetravel #frollye @camboestate #cambogardens #cambohouse #butterflies

An ode to apple picking day at Cambo, our centerpiece for today’s installation was a team effort by @rosestoryfarm @cultivatedbychristin and me. Things got a little testy but no punches were thrown. Flower arranging can be a feisty business. .
#camboestate #cambogardens #cambofarm #flowerworkshop @simplybyarrangement @hedgerow

The clocktower @camboestate as seen across the magnificent #prairiegarden. We are richly privileged to be able to forage from the gardens here thanks to workshop leaders @hedgerow @simplybyarrangement @cultivatedbychristin #iwanttopaintit