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"Just Bee"
- Frances Schultz
What's all the buzz about?! KGC has been busy as bees. The 2016 spring benefit luncheon, chaired by Anne Brown and Sue Cozzens, was a honey of a success, raising funds (including $2,500 in Angel donations!) for our KGC club-sponsored projects. This year's g
uest speaker, Frances Schultz (above), delighted the audience of almost 200 guests (including 45 KGC members, plus women from other local garden clubs, Lake Geneva Garden Club and all six GCA Chicago Council clubs) with her quintessential Southern accent, quick wit and self-deprecating sense of humor. Her lively portrayal of how she survived breast cancer and a divorce, narrowly escaped a second ill-fated marriage and ultimately embarked on a spiritual self-help journey,
kept the audience mesmerized from start to finish.
After leaving her dream job at House Beautiful for a not-so-dreamy alternative, and simultaneously calling off her impending wedding at the eleventh hour, Frances was left with the realization that her personal life and her professional life were both in shambles. "I was trying to be who I thought I should be, instead of who I was," she reflected. Full of regret and recrimination, she embarked on a personal odyssey to reconnect with herself and find her own direction.
After much self-reflection and soul searching, it became apparent to her that
her own situation mirrored that of her rundown
1920s East Hampton cottage -- both were in need of some serious therapeutic restoration. "Bee Cottage" and all of its quirky charm ultimately became her salvation at a critical time in her life. "Renovating Bee Cottage became a metaphor for renovating my soul," she explained. All of the tired and awkward aspects of the rundown cottage paralleled the way she was feeling about herself. The ensuing renovation was a spiritual journey and an integral part of her healing.
The tiny, neglected cottage would become the beginning of a new chapter -- "a place to recover, to create and to be outdoors; a place where I could just be," hence the name "Bee Cottage."
But with a project so vast and overwhelming, where does one begin? Frances decided to d
o the easy bits first and tackle the harder things later - "maybe they will fix themselves," she thought. As she figured out each room over a period of years, she found a new path in life, also a continual process. She came to realize that, like decorating a home, our lives must adapt to who we are and what we need at different points along the way.
Frances documented her soul-searching journey in the delightful book "
The Bee Cottage Story: How I Made a Muddle of Things and Decorated My Way Back to Happiness,"
which illustrates the before, during and after phases of the restoration (both hers and the cottage's) in engaging words and pictures. Frances is now happily married and living and entertaining at her vineyard in Santa Ynez, CA. She still spends time at her beloved Bee Cottage.
Frances left us with some self-reflective thoughts on which to ponder our own direction. "We're not wired to just let things be," she enlightened. "There's always pressure to do more, to be better. Sometimes that pressure is self-imposed and other times it's external. But we need to just relax and listen to our instincts and intuition." In other words, we need to "just bee."
Very special "bee"lated thank yous to our many worker bees:
∞ The "queen bees" -- Anne Brown and Sue Cozzens -- for co-chairing the event and creating the buzz!
∞ The "pollinators" -- Terri Lorenz, Shelley Galloway and their Floral Design team of Joan Senko, Anne Brown, Tina Rice, Elizabeth Drake and Jeanne Daniel -- for designing the "bee"autiful floral arrangements for the dining tables and throughout the event. Nineteen arrangements found loving new homes with event attendees!
∞ The "messenger" bee -- Marty Shaw -- for creating the lovely invitations and managing the reservations.
∞ The "scout" bee -- Lenore Macdonald -- for coordinating the venue and the delicious menu.
∞ The "honey" bee -- Polky Kibler -- for coordinating the Angel donations.
∞ The "bumblebees" -- Martha Spalding and Tina Rice -- for overseeing the "Bee Cottage" book sales. Every last copy was sold!!
∞ The "honeycomber" -- Mary Glerum -- for graciously hosting Frances in her sweet hive.
∞ The "guard" bee -- Kathy Elmer -- for overseeing the "bee"nefit funds.
And to all of our "Bee"nefactors (aka "Angels") for supporting the many important doings of KGC!!! You are heavenly!
Photo Gallery:
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Betty Engelmann celebrated her birthday!
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And finally, in closing, a few anecdotes to share from Frances' visit:
- When queried about her gorgeous, dewy skin, Frances divulged that her secret is twofold: 1)
electric charge facials and 2) a hot, new Korean facial care trend -- a moisturizing mask containing snail mucin! Check it out
here. (Also sold at Ulta)
- At the conclusion of our event, Frances was on her way to New York and then off to Paris with designer Carolyne Roehm to do some painting. Nice work, if you can get it!
- If you're an Instagram follower, check out @francesschultz to see what Frances had to say about her time with KGC!
- And for those interested in decluttering their life, Frances strongly recommends
"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up"
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