This time of the year is not welcome in the Atchley household. Winter after Christmas seems like an unnecessary trial. We hate the cold…hate having to get bundled up just to take the pups outside…hate having to wake up early to scrap ice off the cars…hate having the season’s perpetual cold or cough. Fortunately, since Christmas, the weather has been mild, more like spring than winter. But I don’t trust it to last until actual spring arrives, global warming or not.

To adapt to our hatred of the cold, we stay inside and take part in a sort of hibernation. I become quite lazy. Most of my time is spent watching movies, reading, baking and cooking, eating soup and drinking tea. It’s this time of year where I fall back on my old favorites…The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Robe; The Hobbit; Jane Eyre. Anything that will take me far away from bare trees and monotony.

Right now I’m re-reading The Robe. John’s reading The Hobbit. This weekend I watched the movie Jane Eyre, which my parents bought me for Christmas (love that movie so much). What are you doing to cope as winter settles in? Or are you one of those people who loves this time of year?

Roskoe's got the right idea.

John had the day off on New Year’s Day, so we decided to start our own little tradition. We woke up, fixed a breakfast of Lindy’s Delights scones (banana chocolate chip, thanks to a good friend’s Christmas gift) and Trader Joe’s coffee and sat down on the couch to watch all three extended editions of Lord of the Rings. Despite my love of all things Lord of the Rings (as evidence by the name of this blog), this was not my idea. All John’s! And I have to say it was a great lazy way to spend the first of the year. Roskoe was content to be my cuddle buddy throughout the movie. Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off the screen when Gandalf fought the balrog (it was her first time watching). I do have to admit though, about halfway through The Two Towers, which was about 2-3 p.m., we were starting to doze off. And despite the epicness of Return of the King, we both decided we think The Fellowship of the Ring is our favorite. All this traveling to Middle-Earth made us stoked for The Hobbit, which the first part comes out at the end of this year! I’m not sure I can wait after watching this trailer! The Hobbit

How did you kick off the new year?

I want to be more intentional in all things. That is my goal for 2012.

I want to be more intentional in my relationships — with my husband, friends (near and far), family, co-workers, strangers. I want you all to know that someone is here for you and wants to be a part of your life.

I want to be more intentional in my life — my job, my writing (including this blog), keeping my home, exercising, eating right. I learned in 2011 that all the things I say I want to do in my life won’t happen unless I make them happen. A house, a job, travels to Europe — none of that just falls into one’s lap (usually). I want to try to give my life my best everyday so one day I can look back and say, “I did good.”

I want to be more intentional with my pups. They deserve better from me. Don’t worry, they haven’t been neglected, but we could go on longer walks together and learn some more tricks instead of cuddling on the couch all the time. Then maybe I won’t need to be so intentional about exercising

2012 is going to be an over-achieving kind of year.

1. I got my first big girl job.

2. I moved with my husband to Kansas City and finally feel like I’ve found a place I can call home.

3. I’ve cried a lot: some times good, healthy tears, some times just angry ones.

4. I got front row seats to see my best friend get married on top of a mountain.

5. I found a church and can finally feel myself recovering from post-college religion angstiness.

6. I learned the secret to awesome sandwich-making.

7. I’ve changed the way I look at food toward a healthier diet. Yay meat, veggies and whole grains!

8. I started doing yoga and tried p90x. I recommend both.

9. Saw Mumford & Sons in concert with 10,000 of my closest friends, watched Jason Sudeikis perform with Second City and saw Demetri Martin, one of my top 3 stand up comics, live. Bought tickets to see No. 1, Jim Gaffigan, in March.

10. Said good-bye to Harry Potter with lots of good tears at a midnight show and smuggled-in butterbeer cupcakes.

11. Wrote two children’s books, one for each niece starring herself, and then self-published them with the help of Ash and her beautiful illustrating and designing skills. More to come on that in the new year.

12. Came to realize that I’m not as grown-up as I thought I was, don’t have it all figured out and still have a long way to grow in life. (duh, Char)

Wow, it’s been quiet around here. But I promise we have good reasons for that. On top of our normal work and Christmas craziness, Ash and I have been working diligently together on a Christmas project that I’m sure we’ll share with you as soon as Christmas is over and the gifts have all been opened. Until then, shhhh…you never know which special someone’s parents or grandparents are reading this thing.

Anywho, it’s not super comprehensive, but here’s my Christmas gift guide in case you’re still scrambling. These are my go-to gifts when it comes to Christmas or birthdays, but I think all four of these are especially suited to Christmas since they all have to do with baking, hot beverages or wintery activities like reading. So without further ado, follow the link for gift ideas!

there’s more to this article. keep reading…

When I write, the thing that inspires me most is music. Listening to music that reminds me of the story I’m trying to write immerses me in that story and its emotions. In the NaNoWriMo situation, I need that kind of immersion constantly to be able to write 1500 words a day in a story.

The last time I did NaNoWriMo, in 2009, I finished a novel called Conversations Between Maggie and Bob, a story about a little girl who grows up being able to talk to God. The playlist I compiled to get me through all 50,000 words consisted of the following songs, a mix between songs that relate directly to the story or just generally put me in a thoughtful, writing mood.

“Eet” by Regina Spektor

“Laughing With” by Regina Spektor

“You Found Me” by The Fray

“Never Say Never” by The Fray

“Like Socrates Loved the Truth” by Bradley Hathaway

“Delicate” by Damien Rice

“I’m Not Alright” by Sanctus Real

“The Blues” by Switchfoot

“Happiness” by The Fray

This year, the playlist is still forming. I tried to go with a sibling rivalry story instead of a love story, but Glamour had a little one page article wondering why there aren’t more movies about average girls landing hot men but a plethora of comedies of average Joe’s winning over hot women. So I took that as a challenge and am applying it to my NaNoWriMo novel. And on top of that, my two main characters do the hate each other, then fall in love dance. Here’s what I have so far as far as a playlist goes for this story:

 ”Gonna Get a Long Without You Now” by She & Him

“You Don’t Know Me” by Ben Folds

“Gravity” by Sara Bareilles

“New Slang” by The Shins

“Breathe” by Anna Nalick

“Corner of Your Heart” by Ingrid Michaelson

Pretty much anything by Kat Nash and Lily Allen

What songs do you listen to when you need some inspiration?

This will be my third year participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In case you aren’t familiar, November is NaNoWriMo, and every year, people challenge themselves to write an entire novel in one month. That’s 50,000 words in 30 days. The first time I tried my hand at NaNoWriMo was in 2008, and I failed miserably. I don’t even remember what that stupid book was about, but I didn’t last very long at all. In 2009, I had a good idea, and I was motivated! I was in graduate school, working part time and a TA at the same time, and somehow, I finished that book in record time. I think I had two hours to spare or something. Here’s an excerpt.

If you’ve never done NaNoWriMo before, you should! It’s so exhilarating and fun. There’s nothing like watching a word count climb higher and higher and then stagnate, which will eventually lead to you begging your computer to grant you some inspiration to generate a few hundred more words. And the accomplishment of finishing feels awesome! You have written a novel. Not only did you write a novel, but you wrote it in one month!

Going into this year’s NaNoWriMo, having finished once, I’m taking with me some lessons I learned from 2009 that I think helped me succeed:

• Tell everyone that you’re doing this: I think that made a huge difference between 2008 and 2009 for me. In 2008, I had just moved and hadn’t started graduate school, so my social network was not huge. I’m not sure I told anyone other than my husband that I was attempting NaNoWriMo, so there was no accountability, no one rooting me on. In 2009, my fellow grad students knew, my church friends knew, my family knew. My Facebook friends and Twitter followers had to put up with my insane word count updates every day, sometimes multiple times a day. But I had no complaints. Actually, people seemed to love being able to keep up with my progress online. It was a blast being able to include that many people in my quest.

• Outline you’re store before you start: Knowing the basic plot points you’re trying to get to will help you get through those lulls where you don’t know what to write. Knowing the timeline, the goal, helps you figure out what comes next.

• Your novel is going to suck: Don’t worry about quality, writing style, witty dialogue or plot holes. The point of NaNoWriMo is just to get the story out. Just write words. 50,000 of them in 30 days. You don’t have time to make sure every metaphor is perfect and every action fits with the character’s motivation. That’s what December is for. November is just about cranking out the words. Every time I feel myself start to delete and rewrite too many times, I make myself move on. Whether that means jumping settings and time to check on other characters, introducing new characters or killing one of them off (if you’ve never read my stuff, I have this slight obsession with killing off all my best characters), just do something to shake up the rut you’re in and move the plot forward.

• Immerse yourself in whatever inspires you: For me that’s music. During November, my earbuds become a part of my anatomy. When I write a story, I usually am seeing it playing out in my head like a movie, so music acts almost like a soundtrack, helping me to know what comes next.

• Have fun, duh: NaNoWriMo is just for fun. There are no real prizes other than tshirts, printable certificates and coupons. It’s all about celebrating writing and literacy. It’s a chance to try something completely new and crazy, just to see if you can. And if you don’t make it, relax. It’s not like there was anything at stake. It’s all just for fun and writing exercise. And you don’t have to be a writer to participate. Anyone can, and it can be fun for people who have never tried a hand at creative writing and people actually striving to get published. Again, it’s all for fun and trying something new and crazy. So just remember…relax. Make it a game.

Hope you join me! Follow me at NaNoWriMo as mae.lewis. If you’ve done NaNoWriMo before, what tips do you have for finishing?

I recently read this post at For Me, For You on wordless posts, blog posts that feature just pictures, and I’m super intrigued. It’s been hard to keep up with posting regularly with my mind consumed with non-blog worthy things like work projects, grocery lists, apartment cleaning. I haven’t had a ton of wonderful, insightful things on my mind to share. I’ve found some peace with my faith crisis. Major declarations and attitude changes have subsided. All that’s left right now is too enjoy the quiet before the storm that is the holidays.

During this lull, I think I’ll start doing some pictures only posts. I love having pictures, looking at pictures, but I never take any pictures. First, because I’m not much of a photographer. I don’t really have an eye for it in everyday life. Plus I have the hardest time pausing my life-living to stop and take a picture. Usually the moment has passed before Instagram or the camera app on my phone can load. Despite these things, I’m always vowing to take more pictures, and I never really do. Maybe if I had a reason to, a deadline (because journalists work best on deadline) or commitment, I would take more pictures. So throughout the lull be looking for picture-only posts. Hope you enjoy them! There will probably be a lot of pictures of puppies.

But don’t worry! There will be word-filled blog posts coming soon! There are lots of exciting things on the horizon that I can’t wait to share with you. Here’s a list of things I’m thinking about:

First ever fall reading list
NaNoWriMo 2011
Thanksgiving food
Christmas shopping on budget
A super secret project Ash and I are working on together!!!!!

It’s been really busy at this KC apartment the past few weeks. Family has been in and out visiting, business trips have been traveled and our pantry and fridge have been wiped as our eating habits have completely fallen by the wayside in all the chaos. Yesterday, an attempt to get back on the eating in/saving money horse resulted in a huge grocery trip. However, I opened my fridge this afternoon to make a sandwich for Sunday lunch and realized I forgot all veggie basics for sandwich-making. Usually, my lunches consists of leftovers because they are cheaper than all the sandwich fixings, but my meal planning skills were rusty, so I just grabbed some Trader Joe’s oven-roasted turkey for emergency lunches in case the leftover well runs dry. But the turkey was all I grabbed. No tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, fancy cheese, nothing but mayo, mustard, apples and sweet pickles (bleh! We bought them on accident. Read those labels carefully!).

I was resigning myself to a sandwich of turkey, mayo, mustard and sweet pickles on toast when I remembered the massive bag of honeycrisp apples. If I love me some apple/cheddar sandwiches, who’s to say I can’t put slices of apples to jazz up a turkey sandwich? So I did. And it was delicious! Whole wheat toast, mayo, mustard, sliced honey crisp apples and oven roasted turkey. I highly suggest using a honeycrisp apple or another sweet variety as it complements the tanginess of the mayo and mustard.

...and leftover apple slices with peanut butter for a side, winning!

A year ago I would have never been adventurous enough to put apples on a sandwich in place of veggies, but here we are. What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever put on a sandwich.

*Here’s why I’m blogging about something as simple as a sandwich.