Innholdsfortegnelse for Bella Grace i Bella Grace

One of the great honors of serving as the editor-in-chief of Bella Grace is sharing the inspiring stories of so many incredible women. It’s always a pleasure to communicate with our group of talented writers as well as our readers, but most of it is done by email, which has its own set of limitations. I’m not always able to put a face with a name. Needless to say, I was excited when we announced our first self-portrait challenge. I wanted to see who all these wonderful women were. As the entries came in, I couldn’t stop smiling. Women of all ages and backgrounds sent us the photos they felt truly captured who they are. Some of these photos were silly, while others leaned toward the serious side. It truly…

I am from barefoot summer days ending with nights spent under a starry sky. I am from Arm & Hammer detergent and sun-dried laundry on the line. I am from baby things every direction I turn girly, colorful, my heart overflows. I am from sunflowers that brightened the altar where I wed my love. I am from Christmas lights and crazy, beautiful love. I am from two hardworking parents, and the youngest of my siblings. I am from helpers and laughter. From “Don’t sit that close to the TV” and “I’ll love you forever.” I am from Peterkin, living under grace. I am from West Virginia, queso on Thanksgiving and vegetable soup on Christmas Eve. From a strong family that raised me and another that accepted me as their own.…

The first Daylight Saving Time that caught me unaware was in 1975. I was 17 and in the old section of River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon, where our family plot held my grandparents, great-grandparents, and other assorted relatives. We had visited on many occasions to place flowers on the graves, but today it was just my mom and me. I was rather late in getting my learner’s permit, and she had taken me to practice driving on the narrow, twisting roads that ran through the cemetery. We must have turned on the car radio at some point and learned the clocks had been set forward. I was an hour late for my shift at the Newberry’s Snack Bar at Eastport Plaza, my first real job. Even back then, I…

1. I found a beautiful canister set for my kitchen recently and even though it was a little pricey, I decided to treat myself. When I made my way to the register to pay, I was surprised to find out it was half off! — @wendy_michelle_p 2. My daughter will be one-year seizure free. She has taken hold of her stress and overall health, and has accomplished a lot. — Amy Jo Newell 3. When it’s raining and cold, and you score the closest parking spot at the local grocery store. — Carleen Tisserand 4. I carried all the groceries to the house in one trip, including a watermelon precariously balanced on my hip. It felt very satisfying. — @faiththroughpcos 5. Recently I traveled alone to Hawaii to meet some…

Detoxes and sabbaticals fascinate me. On paper, I love the idea of purging toxins to re-energize the body’s systems and taking retreats to re-invigorate a flagging spirit. In reality, the follow-through of these sorts of enterprises often seems too daunting in the midst of laundry, fighting children, and work deadlines. But recently, I discovered how to mindfully recharge in a way that didn’t require family buy-in, my credit card, or a pantry overhaul. One morning, while winter played tug-of-war with spring outside my window, I emailed a potential source for an article I was writing about the importance of self-love for good health. “I am on sabbatical …, ” she emailed back a few days later. Her reply was muted, like a whisper arriving in my inbox, without punctuation and in…

1. I love to write letters, to fill the envelopes with dried flowers, and to seal the letters with a wax seal. Sending letters is my favorite way of bringing joy to someone’s day. — Julea Pehl 2. Recently, I compiled a tiny journal of compliments, quotes, and encouragements for a friend, and gave it to them to keep. I also try to be intentional in random text messages to make others feel thought of and considered. That’s important to me. — Cassie A. Green 3. I hand-knit shawls for dear ones, and there are so many who are dear. — @cozumelknitter 4. Whenever I go to the bookstore, I like to leave little notes of encouragement hidden in random books to brighten someone’s day. It’s like a small dose…

I connect with the quote by Charles Bukowski, “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” I can’t remember. Most of my accomplishments happened because I thought it was what I was supposed to do and the path that I had to follow. I graduated from high school, moved on to earning multiple college degrees, obtained a full-time job, and found the love of my life. All happy moments, and all of which I am incredibly grateful to look back upon, but I have always felt a disconnect from them. Even though I experienced bumps along the way, it all added up to a successful life. I still can’t help but wonder what my life would look like or where I would be…

We’ve always been proud that Bella Grace is a reader-supported magazine. Each story in every issue has been written by one of you, and while we share your words, we haven’t often shared your faces. In each issue of Bella Grace, we will be shedding the light on the women who make this magazine what it is. ANITA PELAYO RIVERA (@les_dames_dabord) Photographer. Poet. Castle dweller. LAURA CEPEDA (@modestineteas) Tree-hugger. Plant mother. Tea maker. ALLYSON MARIE (@_brooklyndragonfli_) Path strayer. Moment capturer. Nature lover. SHANNON O’MALLEY (@shannon_kathleenphotography) True virgo. Voracious reader. Proud mom. HEATHER MORGIGNO (@heatherfeatherphoto) Jesus lover. Memory maker. Beauty seeker. JEANNIE GRAHAM (@jeanniegphotos) Flower lover. Nature appreciator. Still-life shooter. CAMILLA WINTER-MOORE (@camillawintermoore) Photographer. Videographer. Doula. Don’t see your self-portrait here? We will be sharing more in each future issue of Bella…

I discovered Bella Grace on my mom’s coffee table while I was home visiting for the holidays. I started reading it while she was busy making dinner for our family. Before I knew it she was calling us all to the table. I raced through dinner and finished reading the magazine before I headed to bed for the evening. I was delighted to find out my parents had gifted me a subscription of my own for Christmas! I can’t wait to get my first copy in the mail. — Jeannie Scrivens One of my resolutions for 2020 was to make more time for myself, even if it’s just a few minutes a day. As a working mom of four, sometimes all I can do is manage 20 minutes a day.…

I used to think there was something wrong with me. When my friends were in bed sleeping, I was sneaking out of the house. Not for reasons you might think. I snuck out to enjoy the night. I would go running for an hour or two as often as I could, my face pointed up at the sky to watch for falling stars as the soft crunch of gravel echoed beneath my shoes. In the late summer a blanket of dust and fog would sometimes carpet the ground, swirling between my legs, making me feel like I was exploring an exotic location. I spent hours each day dreaming of ways to ride horseback across the country and sleep outside. I loved dew, the smell of dirt, dancing in the rain,…

In a world that embraces bigger and better, we can find simplicity and contentment in not only being noticers of small but also by cultivating and enjoying small blessings. Spring brings a unique opportunity for us to notice small things: a bare branch suddenly has tiny buds of green that bring delight and hope, little triangles of green poke their heads through the crumbly dirt at our feet and encourage us that new things are coming, life is continuing, and growth is visible before our eyes. Noticing the small allows us to practice contentment and delight in simple, everyday blessings, and to consider how something small inside of us can grow and blossom as well. The green shoots bring hope because we think of juicy watermelons with sticky juice dripping…

Take a deep breath, pull the essence of wakefulness, of hope and possibility in from the air around you. Hold it for a moment … now give it back to the earth. Imagine if every breath we took was that intentional, that full. The human body was designed for renewal. Our blood cells have a lifespan of just over 100 days, our skin cells change over each month, and every seven years, every single cell in your body will have died and become replaced with a life that is brand new. We are designed incredibly, meticulously, and miraculously for restoration. Isn’t it astonishing to think that our cellular biology is glittering with revival. Each received sight and sound and feeling is sparkling within us, refreshing our spirits and purifying our…

I’ve been hard on myself this week because I haven’t been all that productive, at least not in my working/creative life. I was productive in home matters, like getting more settled into the new house and running errands and doing laundry. Stuff like that. But not the “important” stuff. Getting ahead in work, writing the first act of the novel, working out. I tell myself, “You had a migraine on Tuesday and didn’t feel well on Wednesday.” But then Thursday came and I still slept late and pottered around when I could have been working or writing or exercising. No, instead I read a bunch of articles online, took Stewie for a walk, watched Ezra graze in the backyard, ate lunch, and then played a computer game. I hate feeling…

Spring 1. Spend quiet time with your flowerbeds or pots, clipping out the old to make room for new buds to push through the soil and bloom. 2. Walk barefoot in the new, cool grass. 3. Take time to browse book reviews and choose your summer reads. 4. Try a new hobby you’ve always wanted to do, like painting, yoga, or scrapbooking. 5. Become a bird watcher. Baby birds abound in the spring, and their parents are busily arranging their nests, feeding them, and singing happy songs. 6. Instead of buying strawberries or blueberries at the store, go to a local patch and pick them yourself. It is so satisfying to be in a field of fresh fruit in the warm sunshine and fill up your basket. When you get…

I had a stack of homework left to grade before classes that week and a deep sense of disappointment to accompany it. “I wanted a free evening,” I said to my sister through tears. The life of an English teacher means that marking papers comes with the job. During the school year and for a couple of weeks after, there are little wordy friends waiting for evaluation on punctuation, grammar, and structure. It’s hard to know how to balance the demand of helping students with the pull to have a life outside of work — a free evening to dream and feed your soul. From that moment of desperation, hygge night was born. I took a look at my week. Having every evening free was a sheer impossibility. The first…

Dear Car Thieves, I like to think you are like Liam Neeson in “Taken.” You were racing through the streets of my town to rescue your daughter, and you needed a car, and, of course, there was mine waiting for you. You may take my car, Liam Neeson. I like to think you are Ethan Hunt, and for some reason your spy activities led you to my little town. The bad guys were on the run, and you needed transportation. There was no motorcycle, 2016 Hummer, or Jaguar available, so you lifted my 1997 Honda Accord. You had to, really, because the world was about to perish from a nuclear bomb or contagious disease being released to society. You may take my car, Ethan Hunt. IF YOU ARE NOT ETHAN…

We all do them. The foolish things; the sacrifices; the efforts to be loved; the selfless gifts of time. Sometimes we love boldly; other times, cautiously. I have been careless with the heart of another and with my own. I have loved passionately, completely, selfishly. I have been changed, betrayed, and surprised by love. I have worked at and grown in love. And all within the same heart. The Ancient Greeks believed there were several types of love. They called the love for our friends, Philia. This includes the love between those who have endured decades of friendship, perhaps seeing each other through a lifetime of hurts and joys. I have friends like this. Those with whom I was young. Those with whom I’ve shared my strengths and failings. Friends…

There’s no need to worry. There’s no need to rush. Take a breath, a deep one, and let it out. Repeat. That’s breathing. You must remember to breathe. No need to be first. No need to be right. Let it flow over and through you. There is no end, no finishing, no arriving … only becoming, transforming daily into the being you are. Listen. What if it takes a year? A whole year? What if you spend this whole year focusing only on one thing? That thing. What if, after this year, it all begins? Love for self. Love for life. Love for others. What if you take the year? There is no lack. Only abundance. There is plenty to go around. There is enough for all. Everyone. No rush.…

I used to wear perfectionism like a badge of honor. As a child, somewhere along the way I got the message that if I was always the best, then I was worthy. I prided myself on being perfect from a young age — perfect grades, highest achievements, the ability to do it all — and it carried me through high school, to the Ivy League, and right into a corporate job I hated. A few years later, motherhood smacked me (and my perfectionism) right in the face and turned my world upside down. I’ve always been very nurturing and knew I would be a mother my whole life, and in many ways it felt like the most natural thing in the world, but it had happened very fast and I…

On our way home from town, the sun shining for the first time in days, my husband spotted three birds in an old apple tree out in a neighbor’s field. He pulled over, backed up, and dug out his binoculars. “What are they?” I asked. “Are they red-winged blackbirds?” I looked for the telltale red and yellow epaulets on their shoulders, but the birds were too far away. And really, it was early, the 8th of March, and it had been 9 degrees below zero the night before. At mid-day the temperature was still below freezing, a colder than usual early spring day. But after decades of record keeping, we know that we can expect red-winged blackbirds around the 15th of March. They are our first true harbingers of spring.…

I used to hate February, after all, my son died in February, and my father died in February. The shortest month of the year and I had to hold my breath just to get through it. But the cold and damp of winter pairs well with grief, the drab grey exterior matching the turmoil of grief’s interior. And although winter felt fitting for grief, spring felt like a betrayal. My heart can summon up that spring over 25 years ago where sadness and anger rocked with me on the front porch swing as I scribbled my sorrow in tear stained journals. Spring was just another reminder of how life goes on, the burst of nature in tiny details were one more nudge to remind me that I was the only…