Balance with Nancy Naigle

Today I'm welcoming words of wisdom from author Nancy Naigle on balancing life. I ran into Nancy on the Sweeter Romantic Notions readers and writers loop, and fell in love with the covers of her new books. She's a small town girl at heart. And she says, "ya'll." What's not to love about that?

Nancy is giving away her new book to one of our lucky visitors who comment, so say something clever!

Take it away, Nancy...

I am thrilled to have the chance to join Danielle to chat about balance. This is one of my favorite blogs to read to help me remind myself just how important it is.

I’m Nancy Naigle, and I write love stories from the crossroad of small town and suspense. I live in Virginia with my husband of 17 years on a goat farm in the southern part of the state. By day, I’m a Senior Vice President with Bank of America.

Life balance, or maybe I should say the act of trying to balance life isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes some good things come out of that struggle.

Being out of balance is kind of what inspired me to finish my first novel. Let me explain. You see, I, like you, live my life at a microwavin’ drive-thru speed. I’ve always had to juggle my busy career with family, friends and everything life wanted to toss my way. Of course, what life tossed in the mix was generally in the form of one of those police nail-strips thrown under your tires to make you swerve to a stop.

Whew. Just thinking about it wears me out.

At a particularly rocky stage of my life I had escaped between the pages of a novel by Jayne Ann Krentz. When I finished that book, I closed it and sat there holding it in my hands. I felt relaxed and it was kind of an amazing moment. One I hadn’t felt in a while. I felt hopeful, too. That gal in that story, she’d overcome huge obstacles, and (Jayne hadn’t let me down) there was a fabulous happy ever after.

That feeling I had at that moment. That’s the one that inspired me to work towards publishing my stories. I thought, “If I could rescue one gal, for one little while, from her crazy-paced life and make her believe it would be okay...that’s the best gift ever.”

Many stories later, SWEET TEA AND SECRETS finally made its way to completion and debuted last month. It’s a small town love story with enough suspense to keep your mind off your day job for a while. The residents of Adams Grove are a wonderful group of folks that you just might grow to think of as friends. At least I hope so!

Now, back to balance. I’m not going to bend your ear with paragraphs of scientific quotes about life balance, or bore you with what we ALL know. It’s so much easier to say than to do, right?

I’ll tell you that only you can decide what the right balance is in your life. But trust me on this, when things get the craziest, if you’ll take just a little ‘me’ time – even just 10 minutes – it’ll pay off big. Lock yourself in the bathroom and soak in a hot tub with a novel, sit and do nothing, nap, whatever works for you. For me, novels work best because reading forces me to forget my own story if even for just a little while.

My momma use to lay in the back of my daddy’s pickup truck and not answer us as we ran around looking for her. I never knew that until I was in my late thirties. I still laugh about it. She was pretty creative, really. She said she couldn’t relax in the tub because we’d talk to her through the door or wiggle our fingers under it to say hello. I guess that would make it a little hard to relax now that I think about it.

I promise you, your kids won’t flunk out of school and your husband won’t starve to death, but you may just be a better:

mom,

coach,

cook,

maid,

planner,

employee,

cheerleader,

friend,

spouse,

nurse,

shopper,

listener,

family member,

super-hero

and all those other roles you play ... than you’ve ever been.

**To celebrate visiting with ya’ll today, and to say thanks for sharing in the excitement about the debut of SWEET TEA AND SECRETS, I’m hosting a little contest right here. Just leave a comment to be included in the drawing. We’ll draw one lucky winner who will receive a signed copy of my book (or e-format if you prefer) along with my very favorite tea to sip while you relax and read it.**

Hugs and high 5's!

Treat yourself to a little escape. It’s okay, really.

Nancy Naigle

Love stories from the crossroad of small town and suspense.

www.NancyNaigle.com

PS- You can stay connected with me on facebook and twitter @NancyNaigle. I’d love it if you’d join my newsletter. I’ll keep you to date and share a little trivia about the wonderful little town of Adams Grove, and the second in that series, Out of Focus, coming out in November. I also have a young adult suspense that I co-authored coming out in July titled, inkBLOT.

You can sign up at http://www.NancyNaigle.com/ncont.htm

Pineapple-Black Bean Enchiladas

Every week Atlanta's newspaper offers a meat free meal idea for dinner. Today we tried the latest recipe, and I thought it was tasty. My pineapple-loving son devoured it. I've made a few changes to the original recipe as I always do, but a good imagination can add all kinds of variety to this dish.

Here's the general idea:

Canola oil

1 chopped onion

½ chopped red pepper

½ chopped green pepper

1 20-ounce can of pineapple tidbits, drained, save juice.

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of chopped green chiles

1 teaspoon of salt

Fresh chopped cilantro (to taste)

1 to 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1 can of red enchilada sauce

10-15 flour tortillas

Sour cream for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a little oil and cook chopped onions and peppers just until soft. Stir in pineapple, beans, chiles, cilantro and salt. Once mixture is warm, remove from heat and fill tortillas, rolling and tucking in a greased 9X13 pan. In a separate bowl, stir the saved pineapple juice into the red enchilada sauce. Pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese to taste and bake covered in foil for thirty minutes.

Other ideas:

I served this with an avocado salad and lime-flavored tortilla chips on the side. Heavenly. The next time I whip it up, I will probably add another can of beans, because there was more fruit than beans. Another option would be to downgrade from pineapple tidbits to crushed, in a smaller container. Last, but never least, I may swap out the chiles for some banana peppers. Pineapple goes great with banana peppers!

Enjoy!

~Danielle Thorne

Mommies and Yogurt Bars

So I'm going to mom's house in a few days which is when my next blog will be posted. It's funny after all these years how different I feel about going home. When I was nineteen, it was back to oppressive safety; I was happy to be home and taken care of, but back to being told what to do. When I was thirty I was excited to show off my kids and how much I'd learned -- how independent I was. Now, another decade later, going to my parents' house means my parents need me. I'm filled with worry about their health, their finances, their future. I know in my heart, that the tables have only just begun to turn.



My parents are moving out of their home state this summer to be near my brother. It's comforting to know they will have someone nearby to watch over them. For me, it's just another six hour drive in a different direction. Ten years from now…that's a little hard to think about, but I'm sure that one thing will always stay the same: That feeling I get when I first walk through the door and call, "Mom?" and the few seconds I wait to listen for, "I'm right here!"

My Tasty Treat Find

The new "Jala" brand vanilla and pomegranate frozen yogurt bars are amazing. This is not a paid advertisement. I’m a couponer so I often try new products. They taste like cherry cheesecake, no kidding. And 1 gram of fat! I highly recommend them. I don't recommend trying to show your kids you can still do a back flip in the pool this summer if you're over forty. I'm limping today. Think I tore something.

~Danielle Thorne