Francie spent 20 years working for Southern Accents magazine and then as a freelance writer. She has written articles and lectured on Southern antiques, artists around the world, color trends, and decorating ideas. She loves attending workshops on dating and identifying antiques, wood, in all its iterations over the past 250 years, floral design, and quilting in the Gee’s Bend tradition.

It’s hard to say whether travel inspired Francie’s love of art and antiques or vice versa, but she’s spent much of her adult life with annual trips to France to visit family. Her husband and children are French, and they spend their time connecting with relatives and exploring different regions during each trip.

For her favorite flower, she says “I love all the lush, colorful, spring blooms, but my favorite is a gardenia, which blooms in the summer in Alabama. Its crisp white, tender, almost flesh-like petals contrasted with deep green leaves and fresh, light scent make me happy every summer.”