Be Bella

New Year, New Me

You are not doing this for anyone else — you are doing it for yourself. New year, new me. That’s what we all say, right? Well, this year, instead of...

An Interview with Chris Najmola | From the Kitchen of Fuse Aiken

Chris Najmola, why be a restaurant owner? It’s just been a lifelong love story with food and its ability to bring people together and make them happy. The first time...

Scotch Cocktails | Lux Libations

At least 2020 is behind us. It’s hard to imagine a more absurd year than we just had. Usually around this time I like to sit around and reflect on...

Let’s Talk: New Beginnings

Life is full of unusual changes and journeys that affect people in different ways. I like to think of life’s voyages as seasons that change with various weather patterns, bringing...

New Year Superstitions

Do not put out the new calendar before New Year’s Day Open the door at midnight New Year’s Eve so the old year can go out Get rid of any...

Intention Setting for 2021

After a year of twists and turns, many people are eagerly seeking ways to influence 2021 positively. Instead of following strict rules or forcing well-meaning goals, intention setting may be...

Be Humbled

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. ~ Saint Augustine Happy New Year! Never...

Be Present

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because...

Be Challenged

Publisher’s Letter From Your Fearless Leader “Change does not change tradition. It strengthens it. Change is a challenge and an opportunity, not a threat.” Prince Philip of England What a...

Creating Resilience in Time of Chaos

It’s no secret that nine months of a world-wide pandemic has changed our lives in many ways. Perhaps, for the first time, we are working from home, limiting our social...

Finding Peace and Harmony on the Labyrinth

The labyrinth is viewed as a metaphor for life’s journey, offering lessons as we walk the path. Walking the labyrinth can assist us in addressing challenges, meditating, praying, and finding...

Take the Test! Don’t Let It Take you!

Should I cram before the big test or learn the material slowly so that it sticks? How much coffee should I drink to stay awake while I study? Will coffee...

Uke

In the fifty-one years we’ve been married, only a few possessions have followed us everywhere. There’s some sterling silver flatware, a set of china, Hank’s slide rule, one surviving Pyrex...

Growth mindset leads to more success and achievement because of the openness to self-improvement and acceptance of challenges. Painting, drawing, sculpting, improvisational jazz, composing music, cooking, and dancing are activities...

Football Fallout from a Female Fan

After months of wondering whether it will happen, we finally know — no football for us this season. Okay, no, not really. We do not know. What we do know...

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

The September Bella Book Club Review by Nichole Miller The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson Cussy Carter is not your average 19-year-old. She is a Kentucky...

Celebrating The Bruises

I have a friend who is wonderfully strange and tender, beautiful and wise. My friend’s name is Mar. "We are wonderfully resilient after all, you and I. From kicked shins...

Who is Bella 14 Reasons We Should All Strive to #BeBella

When I was growing up outside of the South, Southern girls fascinated me. The way that they sauntered around, the sweet tones that came from their mouths, and the effortless...

Publisher’s Letter From Your Fearless Leader “If ever there is a tomorrow when we’re not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger...

My Rocky Road From Analog to Digital

I’m an analog person. I admit it. As a young wife, I was content with my books, my three TV channels, and my corded telephone. Life was so simple! And...

The Reality Of Change

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). On a first reading that phrase seems so peaceful, natural. It speaks to...

The Honey Chile’ Sistergirl Playlist for Getting Your Life Together

This is one of those stories that should start with “OMG, so I was …” I was in the shower so I couldn’t get it written in the moment. Some...

Whine and Cheese

Excerpt from Rhinestones on My Flip-Flops “I’m hearing lots of whine; where’s the cheese?” I will never forget the one-liner quoted above. My family was on vacation in Litchfield Beach,...

Imagine being in stars with Butterflies

We can fill our time of living “in stars” with kindness and justice and all good things and right actions. They’re called “instars.” And they’re phases of time in the...

Change

I’m 18 so I’m still young and I’m at a point in my life where everything is changing. So this month’s theme of change is kind of perfect. Almost everything...

Be The Change

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves the tendencies in the...

Lessons From Nature: The Ocean

Oh, how I long to visit the beach, but with the current state of pandemic, the beach is not on my summer calendar. That, however, doesn’t stop me from reflecting...

COVID-19: A Slice of Humble Pie

My world is filled with standing on stages, meeting wonderful people, writing books, and living the dream … until March of 2020. Overnight everything changed — my full calendar became...

Hatching Stones

Most of us have had those situations in life, I suspect, when we have taken a stand, made a “hasty nest” and clung to it, regardless of its rightness or...

The New Normal

It’s August now. Which means back to — back to school, back to work, and back to life. Well, kind of. We are going back, but to what exactly? We...