Inspired by Daikon

Family in Flowers

My dear friend, Lauren Cunningham arranged these gorgeous flowers for me and delivered them to the 9th floor at Brackenridge Hospital here in Austin. Lauren has become part of our family in the past few months-we love her so. She has already gone through so much with us-the birth of Woods, the growth of The Byrd Collective, and the recent car wreck that led to these flowers. She has been an incredible student-my best yet. Hardships, if you are lucky, turn into celebrations of the heart. They also let you know who your biggest supporters are in life.

Oyster Stew

Recipe and Styling by Libbie Summers Photography by Chia Chong  Until I went from spinster to wife, I had never eaten fresh oysters. I grew up in small-town Missouri and […]

A Lesson in Geography and Modesty

There’s nothing like a worldly person to remind you you’re not.

When I meet Merveille Kasongo, her body language reads like one of those signs on the back of a semitruck that warn: “Stay back 200 feet.” Her arms remains locked at her sides and without smiling she looks directly at me with big dark eyes lined with lashes so thick I wonder how they could be real. My brassy American sensibilities are, of course, injured.