All things that pertain to life and godliness.

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, bu which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your you faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are you and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of you Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

---2 Peter 1:3-11, ESV---

Sometimes you have to read a passage of scripture over and over (and over and over and over) again to really get it into your spirit. I've been reading this outloud to myself every day for the past week.

I plan to (eventually) get it all memorized (so many 'ands' and 'fors'!!!) {I used to be a beast at Bible memorization, but in more recent times I have been slacking.}

On top of my computer screen I have stuck a neon yellow sticky note that says, in bold and all caps, FAITH, VIRTUE, KNOWLEDGE, SELF-CONTROL, STEADFSTNESS, GODLINESS, BROTHERLY AFFECTION, LOVE.

What have you been reading lately? Have you, like me, been reading some passage over and over again?

*end note: for those of you who think I am inaccurate at typing at high rates of speed, I will have you know I typed that entire blurp from 2nd Peter, (not copy/pasted it!) while looking down at my Bible. And I did it quickly! HA!

Butterflies and Bears.

Meet MARIPOSA.
She is my latest Amigurumi, and shortly after this post she will be finding her way onto my Etsy and Artfire shops.

Mari is a cat, but her name means Butterfly in Spanish (I just love the sound of that word and she is so colorful and springy that the name fit her!).




Her head and body are made of Rowan Rumor alpaca yarn, and limbs, ears and tail are made of double strands of acrylic rainbow/black yarn. Her eyes are felt and brown buttons and her nose is a vintage pink, faux-leather looking button. She is looking for a home; maybe yours? Profits going towards missions!

And secondly, Meet Chloe's Bear.

My sisters friend Chloe requested a custom amigurumi; it had to be a bear, she liked dark blue and brown, buttons were a like and it had to be cute.

Well Chloe, m'dear. Here he is!



My favorite part about him (or her, I suppose, just because it has a tie doesn't make it male. Especially because I am, at this very moment, wearing a men's tie...) are the eyes; if you look closely they have daisies on them (okay, maybe it is a girl...).

****If any of you out there would like a custom amigurumi, contact me either on this blog, or convo me on Etsy! They usually run about $15-unless you want something really small or really large. Custom orders are actually my favorite! ****

Irish Incognito.

I've mentioned it before, and I will mention it again; I LOVE ALL THINGS IRISH.

There are few holidays which I get excited about (okay, I am not apathetic towards celebrations, it is just there are only a few holidays which make me giddy enough to jump up and down)
Saint Patrick's Day is one of those holidays (along with Christmas, Easter and my personal fave, National Talk Like a Pirate Day). I love it because it is the Irish thing to do.


*disclaimer; I, Bella, am not really Irish. I might be like.0006% Irish, but the majority of me is Italian/Hungarian (+ a little English, French and Blackfoot Indian). However, I like to THINK I am Irish (/Jamaican/Korean...).


I've Irish step danced for the last 11 years. When I was about 7 years old, I saw a video of Michael Flatley, the Lord of the Dance and I obsessed (I am very, very good at obsessing.) about dancing like him (I ran around the house trying to do the fancy stuff he did). Conveniently enough my friend's mom ran an Irish dance studio just a couple roads down from us. My parents, who still describe themselves as ANTI-dance, trying to get me to stop fixating, signed me up for an 8 week summer sessions. They had hoped that would get it out of my system...

Well. No such thing occurred.

I've been going strong for years and still don't want to stop. Because of school, work and other aspects of my schedule I am dancing a lot less these day, but I did years of competing (small 'feises,' regional 'oireachtases' and larger international things like going to Ireland), shows, and even teaching younger kids classes.

Now I look back and laugh at Michael Flately in his 'feet of flames,' sparkly pants, face paint and sweaty, bare chest and say "HA! What a desecration to Irish culture..." But I, in part, owe finding what I love to him. *More ha...

Irish dancing is an amazing feeling. I love it. I frequently say that I do it because it is the closest thing I can get to flying without wings. I have done lots of other kinds of dance and for me, none of them even come close to how Irish makes me feel. Chin up, shoulders back, arms straight, toes pointing, waiting that 8 count before my feet start flying; there is NOTHING on earth like it.


So Happy Saint Patty's, my Irish (or not so Irish) friends!

Quote-ables.

On the incredibly disgustingly rainy Saturday 2 days ago, my dad took sister #1 (aka Faz, Frebreezey, Tralalalala, and several other things), and I to go see ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

I was kind of excited to go see that movie, even though I KNEW Tim Burton would get it totally and entirely wrong. And I knew it couldn't be my new favorite because it had Anne Hathaway in it (and I cannot stand her. At all. Ever).
Somehow that was all justifiable because it was a Tim Burton film WITH Johnny Depp in it; I tend to like those no matter what horrific things they do to good stories from good books.

It wasn't my new favorite, it wasn't even my new 5th favorite, but I did like several aspects. Much of it was humorous, and I thought the costumes were fantastic. (Anne Hathaway, however, was not fantastic...typical.)

But the absolute best part was a quote from Alice at the beginning while they are still in England. She is in a carriage with her mother, who is scolding her for going to a party (at which a creepish, yucky man named Hamish plans to propose to her) without a corset and stockings; it just isn't proper!

Alice responds "If wearing a codfish on your head was proper, would you do it?" and she goes on to say that, to her, a corset is very much like a codfish.

I enjoyed that. A LOT.

I personally like making my own fashion rules, and I do not wear whatever it is that people/media/the mall tell me to wear. I have created the fashion philosophy of "If you don't like how I look, shut your eyes and it all goes away."

Not that my clothing is at all IMPROPER- far from it!- it is actually a whole lot more "proper" than most normal clothing. I don't do normal. I don't do anything with a visible, and well known brand on it. I especially do not do 'little embroidered moose' clothes. And I normally don't even do clothes from 'normal' stores. I don't do it to be different, or rebellious, or to gain attention, I just do it...not to be normal. Plus it is way more fun to dress like me.
And if someone told me to wear a codfish upon my head, I would most certainly decline.

My own little wild thing.

Animal.

I love him.

I grew up watching The Muppets (and a lot of other Jim Henson) and Animal, the drummer for the Muppet band "Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem," was always (and still is) my favorite.

*(I have always had a strong desire to play drums {my parents didn't feel that same desire. No drum lessons for me and I gave up on self -taught because my drum set was so busted it fell over sometimes. Fun while it lasted.} Maybe someday I will learn...)

Anyway, Animal is at the top of my 'all time favorite characters of all of ever' list.
When I "played" drums I had a plastic version of him-an action figure, if you will- (about a foot tall) that I sat on top of my kick drum (he fell a lot too...). I have at least 3 shirts with him on it. I also have earrings. Kinda a fanatic...

But look at him, he is just so AWEEEESOMMMMMMMMME! How could you not love him?


Through the magic of the Internet I came to meet my friend Rowan, of Out of the Frame.
She makes Amigurumi (she has an etsy!) and was my original inspiration for my own Amigurumi creations. She is British, but lives in Bosnia with her husband as a missionary.
On her blog she posted an amigurumi ANIMAL that she had made as a birthday present for a drummer friend of hers. I left her a comment asking if she would make me one.

Long story short, she DID. And I adore him.





He is potentially the cutest thing I own. The mouth, the drum sticks, the crazy eyes, even the chain around his neck; he is perfect! Rowan, you are fantastic!

One-eyed, three-horned, non-flying purple dude...

Last Friday my friend Sam turned 19.
Sam(antha) is an amazing girl who is very artist; she loves poetry, music, thrift stores, and things like finger painting. I love her a lot. Not just any gift would do. Plus she is going to be doing a mission internship in Greece this summer and I wanted to give her something that might be able to accompany her on her travels.


I began thinking Amigurumi.

What could I make for Sam? I pondered slugs (she likes 'em) but couldn't quite figure how I'd make one...(glad I didn't because apparently someone knit her a snail for Christmas) and then I thought perhaps a hamster (she likes them too) but couldn't quite get my mind around that either.


A MONSTER!!!!!!


I would make Sam a monster and it would have one eye and a smirk. And she would appreciate that.

She was very excited upon opening him. He was one-eyed, three-horned, and purple (and doesn't eat people. He is a lover not a fighter/eater).

I'm pretty sure she named him Sven. And he and the knitted snail are going to be BFF's.

Happy (1 week after) your birthday, Sam!

"...Life is beautiful around the world."

I love traveling. A LOT A LOT. I've been a lot of places. I've have had 3 passports in the course of my life; I got my first in kindergarten.

I've been on missions trips to Chile, Mexico, and Costa Rica (going back July 9th!).

I've been on 3 trips in the USA in the state of West Virginia.
I've hit up quite a bit of the USA; I've covered pretty much all the east coast plus a couple other places. I've been to Hungary (added a family member...).
I've been to England; TWICE.
I've danced in a competition, and turned 16, in Ireland.
I've celebrated Columbus day *like their version of thanksgiving* in Canada.

At some point in my life I will make it to Australia or New Zealand. Might need to hit something in Africa (Egypt or some place with really cool historical things and traces of ancient civilizations.) and Asia, just to have done it. Going Antarctica is questionable. Jamaica is on my list. I've been told Iceland is a good time, but I have my doubts. And Italy is a must, but if I go there I will come back 100 pounds heavier, so I might need to wait on that and not eat for 2 years prior to the trip...

Currently, according to the Internet, I have visited 3.55% of the surface of the world.


I obviously need to cover a lot more. *and it says that I've covered all of the US. Lies.

visited 8 states (3.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World




Visited US States Map from TravelBlog


Where have you been? Where would you love to go?

*speaking of people and places, this is YOU. ALL OF YOU! ALL YA'LL!
blog visitors, to date;

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