We did it, both of us. John made it through the itchiness of No Shave November, and I managed to write a novel in 30 days. My novel wrapped up at 52,829 words at 8:45 p.m. Granted, the writing still needs a lot of work for consistency, some more depth to some of the parts that I flew through, and research the parts that need research to make them more accurate.

Doing National Novel Writing Month has been incredibly educational for me. I’ve always been told by other successful writers that to be a good writer you need to write everyday, but I’ve never been able to pull that off. This novel forced me to take time to write everyday for the first two weeks of November and showed me that it was possible, and all my excuses for not doing it are lame. I don’t know if I’ve ever grown so much as a writer! This was the kind of growth spurt that leaves you in pain. Now comes the easy part: revising, finding an agent and then a publisher! That is the easy part, right? Click the link below to read an excerpt from this rough draft of my novel Conversations Between Bob and Maggie. This is the part where Maggie attends her first Sunday School class ever.

there’s more to this article. keep reading…

Finally! It happened! The haircut I’ve been waiting for for the last 14 months. Labor Day 2008 was John’s last haircut until Friday, Nov 20. What started as a fun experiment to see how long he could grow his hair turned into a Christmas present for his mom, a breast cancer survivor. He decided to grow his hair out to donate to Locks of Love. My enthusiasm lasted about a year, and then I was ready for it to be gone, and now it is! He made it! We made it! Nine whole inches donated to make wigs for children with cancer.

Then came the ponytails.

Being goofy with his hair.

I have my husband back!

All the women in the salon were hitting on him once the long hair was back! It’s like being married to a new man.Also, notice the scruff and consider this your No Shave November update. You’ll get another one soon as this picture was taken last Friday, and you deserve another update!

We’re inching closer and closer to the Christmas season (okay, barreling headfirst on jet propulsion is more accurate, if your life is anything like mine right now). Can you feel the excitement? Oh yeah. Christmas, I cannot WAIT for you this year!

In the spirit, the lovely Jessica over at Wayside Violet asked me to write a guest post about Christmas and giving. If you’re looking for some entertaining and fun ways to give your gifts this year, head on over and check out the post here…it’s full of tons of Geiger-family-tried-and-true methods for jazzing up your holidays. Trust me: gift wrap is only the very beginning.

And if you haven’t stumbled across Jessica’s blog before, definitely go give it a browse PRONTO. It’s fully of lovely finds, and is jam-packed with sweet interviews and incredible giveaways. LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL.

Who in the world writes this strip, and how did they infiltrate every design place I’ve ever worked for???

Story of my life! Amazing.

Love. Just love. From retrogalusa.

It’s been three weeks and the beard is coming in nicely. I know it doesn’t look much different from last week’s, but we’ve hit that point in the beard growth where results do not show as much, just like where I’m at in my novel, the middle where no matter how many words you type 50,000 seems so far away. I can attest from experience though that that prickly mustache you see has gotten pricklier and longer. John is also struggling to resist the urge to shave. He’s hit that point where its irritating him. By next week he should be fine.

P.S. Look for another manly post before next week’s beardage post that has to do with hair and a good cause. My husband will no longer look like he’s channeling “That Girl” before this week is over if I have anything to say about it.

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a week's worth of beardage

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Last week, amidst conducting my very first content analysis research, writing a paper on major Christian magazines, and setting up my future professional project I need to complete in order to graduate, I made a decision against my better judgment to accept a story assignment for Jefferson City Magazine. I write for them once in a while for clips, experience, a little extra moolah, but hardly ever during the semester because I get so bogged down with papers, grading and work, but when Jennifer Bondurant, editor of Jefferson City Magazine, emailed me a story assignment about local businesses using Twitter and other social media, I had to have, partially because of the subject and partially because of the word count and dollar worth of the article. I’m so thankful that I didn’t listen to the voice in my head telling me I was overloading myself.

Even though I’m studying media and journalism every day, I haven’t practiced journalism in a couple of months, and in all the horror that is graduate school, I had forgotten why in the world I’m here and pursuing this ridiculous education. Working on this story has reminded me how much I love journalism. I love learning new things, meeting new people, doing the research,  even coming up with the right questions. I love the delicacy of getting interviews, finding innovative ways to get information that I know is out there, but I just can’t get to. And when all the interviews and research is done, I love writing it all out in a beautiful 500-800 words spread that will later be gutted and then improved by an editor. And then I love seeing my name in print. It’s almost better than getting paid…almost.

I love my job, but I need to know more and get better before I go out there in the real world. I want to do this right and become the best I can. That’s why I’m still in school. I just needed to be reminded that I actually do love the thing I’m studying. Sometimes when you’re stuck in a classroom arguing about cultivation theory and framing and media effects, you start to forget that oh yeah, this is fun. So thank you Jennifer Bondurant and Jefferson City Magazine for reminding me that I really do like my job.

Again, the picture is late, but it was taken on Monday so this is one week of facial hair growth. I blame my late posting on the fact that I was writing a paper until 6 am this morning. It’s been hectic.

My plethora of papers is putting a damper on my NaNoWriMo novel as well, but I’m at 12,501 words after getting work on it today for the first time in a few days. I’m still way behind, but at least it’s some form of progress.

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three weeks of stubble

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Char and I are both ladies. Pretty obvs as you swing through just a few posts on our blog. But guys, you know it: the month of November is all about you! From the silly movements (like No Shave November)* to the serious (it’s Movember, didja know?), this month is all about embracing the masculine in this good old world.

Char is documenting her hubby’s No-Shave-November progress (the first is over here), but what about the ladies who love our men and want to support in other ways? No fear: I’ll be popping in throughout the month with a few mustached centric goodies that even us women can get in on! Without, you know, actually growing any.

So whether you’re the type of girl who simply enjoys the novelty of the idea, or if you wish to express solidarity for a significant other/buddy/bro/dad who is taking the month to grow a wacktacular bit of facial hair, or if you’re a dude who just cannot get enough of staches on your own, there are plenty of ways for you to celebrate.

Here’s a good starter: man up your compy with the Stache Screen Saver. Simply attach a sweet stache to your monitor and let the screen saver do the rest. Brilliant, hilarious, and oh so manly.

And just a reminder: ladies aren’t the only ones who should do timely checkups. Gents, be sure to check yourselves out and stay cancer free! Check out Movember for lots of great info.

*Okay okay, I know some of you gents (yeah, MANY of you gents) would take issue with the statement that beard-growing is silly. I realize it’s a very serious business. Just…not as serious as cancer. You get my drift. No offense was intended to your honorable hair growing.

Four years ago, I was standing in a parking lot at night, having a conversation with someone that would change my life. This person I was with had met me on the first day of our college classes, and he would be there for nearly every day between then and graduation.

Four years ago, Mr. Ace, you asked if I would be your girlfriend. We were different people then — younger, more naive, with many, many things to learn. But the only thing that mattered to me that night was the glimpses I had of you as a real, genuine, and good human being. Of course it didn’t hurt that you were always making me laugh, and that you could hold your own in deep discussions of classic literature. And that I looked forward to seeing you more than any other person in the world.

Somewhere around two in the morning, four years ago, I said yes.

And here we are now — a few bouquets of roses, too many movies to count, at least twenty blankets cuddled under, hours upon hours of phone bills, thousands upon thousands of written IMs and facebook posts, miles upon miles of walking around campus, countless laughs and tears, and lots of good food consumed later. Slightly older, perhaps slightly wiser, but still with a great amount of things left to learn, and still trying to grow up with some amount of grace. And still doing this crazy, messy thing called life together, in many ways the younger me had never understood were possible.

I am so grateful for the impact you’ve had on my life, through our many struggles and our many joys. You are the one person who stood by my side through all of college, and is still next to me in these adventures beyond.

This Friday, Mr. Ace, you are my favorite thing. And I love you back.