What do you love, love, love?

February 13, 2011 By 9 Comments

Before I take one more breath, you know what I love, love, love?

YOU!

I love you for coming here week after week, sharing your heart, your struggles, your experience, your talent, your dreams.

Women on Fire is a community filled with such warmth, connection and caring that if we were to have our own official holiday it would be Valentine’s Day!


Celebrating love with cupcakes sent from newlyweds Maritza Parra and Jeff Herring!

I love when you tell me about living your heart’s highest calling; working toward and achieving your dreams; or being lifted up by one another.

Here’s a peek inside my world of Women on Fire this past week. I want to share with you some of the love:

*  Maritza Parra and Jeff Herring got married.  (And sent cupcakes to celebrate!)

* Mary Ellen Jones is joyfully and successfully engaged in orchestrating a  transformative Women’s Event (and a Women on Fire Tea!) in Alpena, Michigan. (I’ll be the keynote speaker at the main event and I cannot wait to meet all of you who are attending.)

* Andrea Dowding and Jerry Browning, along with Jan Allen, connected another group of fabulous, inspiring women to each other at a Women on Fire Tea in Columbus, Ohio.

* Janette Barber is being talked about on Facebook and Sirius/XM to host her own radio show when her boss Rosie O’Donnell leaves in June for Oprah’s network OWN. Please click on the Facebook link to lend support!

* Janina Serden Sebesky’s beloved musical CHICK SOUP has nearly sold out a 1,000-plus-seat venue in North Port, Florida.

* Sitting in a Parisian restaurant, Holly Getty wrote of the deep gratification she feels when she helps Women on Fire to create their authentic style.

* Women on Fire Book Co-Author Laurie Forster’s first shipment of wine from her exclusive Wine Coach Club arrived on our doorstep!  A dream-come-true for our former software sales executive who followed her passion and has become sought-after speaker and celebrated wine educator.

*  Author and coach Margie Warrell, of McLean, Virginia, completed a treatment of her proposed, inspiring television show about freeing people from their deepest fears.

* Dawn Greenfield, owner of YogaBorn in Manchester, Connecticut, is achieving her dream to reach families of Traumatic Brain Injury to share the profound benefits that yoga can have on TBI survivors.

*  Anne Thurston of Boyne City, Michigan published E-males, a book about her “lively search for love,” and she’s looking for someone to help her with distribution. She also reports she’s having fun writing a newspaper column.  And, she concluded her email to me with this:

“I succeeded in finding a second love. A wonderful man who like me cannot believe what has happened to our lives. We feel 16.”

He is 85.  She’s about to turn 88.

See what I mean about how I love, love, love Women on Fire?

And, finally…

Before you go, I know there are so many more of you “on fire” and in love with aspects of your life, too.  Please pop down to the comments section and let us know what it is you love, love, love!


Women on Fire Marketing Director Jamie Eslinger and I reminding you of the power of love and connection we share as you reach for your dreams and support each other’s!

Happy Valentine’s Day with lots of love ~

Debbie

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A Life-Changing Question

April 11, 2010 By 1 Comment

In a second, I’m going to ask you one simple question that might make a huge difference to help you get what you want in your life.  But first…

Welcome, all you wonderful women who are here for the first time.  Many of you were referred by friends; or you found us online through my ABCNews.com articles; or you listened to the inspiring teleseminar with Women on Fire book co-authors M.E. Jones and Laurie Forster sharing their successful strategies to find love and work they are passionate about.

We are so happy to have you join our circle of incredible, dynamic women making a difference in the world!  I hope to meet you at the upcoming Women on Fire Retreat in Chicago April 23-24.  This week is the last chance to register.

The question I have for you is deceptively simple. Yet, in answering it, depending on where things stand for you, it has enormous impact on your life, your health, your future.

ARE YOU HAPPY?

Take your time to think about that.  Feel free to use the grid below to consider your overall happiness, because it’s likely you’re happier in one area than another.

Rate yourself from 1-5 with 1 = very unhappy; 2 = unhappy; 3 = neutral; 4 = happy; 5 = very happy.  When complete, total up your numbers.  A total score of 40 is the highest.

No matter where you fall on the scale in each category, is it worthwhile for you to be happier?  Are happier people more successful?  Can you learn to be happy?  Yes! Research seems to indicate happy people do better in life.

Landmark studies also show happy people are healthier and more resistant to illness.

For more on the importance of happiness and how it can enhance your success, I highly recommend any of the books, questionnaires and research of Martin Seligman, the “father” of Positive Psychology as well as Gretchen Rubin’s new best-selling book The Happiness Project.

So, are you happy?  How happy?  Let’s say you gave yourself a 2 on “meaningful work.”  What is one, small step you might take next to move in the direction of a 3?  Go through your grid and consider what it would take for you to upgrade your happiness quotient at least one point in each category.

As Women on Fire, we have important work to do in the world sharing our gifts, strengths and talents.  Part of our self-care is to be as healthy and happy as possible so we have the energy to make the difference we so deeply desire.

Let me know your thoughts and feelings about your happiness.  I want to support you!

(Thanks to Woman on Fire Diane Torrisi who provided the “happy” red velvet cupcake above that made me oh-so-very HAPPY!)

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Something to “wine” about!

July 23, 2009 By 2 Comments

New York, NY – An invitation I couldn’t resist!
Who:   Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach
What:   Wine tasting!
When:  A steamy summer evening in NYC
Where: Astor Wines 399 Lafayette Street, NYC (in their gorgeous new facility!)

If Laurie Forster is involved, you’re assured of three things:
1)    Wine will flow
2)    You’ll learn something (or many) things you didn’t know about enjoying wine
3)    You’ll have fun!

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Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach, superbly demystifies wine one glass at a time!

Laurie is a Vision Day alumni and Women on Fire book co-author.  With great love and pride, I’ve watched her transform her passion and knowledge of wine and food into becoming nationally known as The Wine Coach® and author of The Sipping Point.

(She used to be in software sales.  You can read about her inspiring journey from software to sommelier in Women on Fire: 20 Inspiring Women Share Their Life Secrets (and Save You Years of Struggle!)

Back in the uber elegant, wine-tasting kitchen at Astor, Laurie chose a selection of summer wines for us to taste.  Even though I can’t even pronounce most of their names, Laurie takes the mystery out of wine so you can just enjoy!

I also had my good friend and Woman on Fire member Melissa McClain there to share in the fun with!

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Melissa McClain swirling her wine while listening to The Wine Coach!

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Both Women on Fire, Melissa McClain and Laurie Forster met in person for the first time

Weeks of no bread or cheese (Rob and I have been following Dr. Mark Hyman’s no-wheat, no-dairy eating plan since early June), I sipped wine and savored every morsel of bread and cheese☺

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Here are Laurie’s 7 summer picks from white to blush to full-bodied and sparkling red:

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Tastings of the featured 7 wines -- prior to empty glasses!

Gruner Veltliner “Wogenrain” Soellner ’08 – Austrian white wine nicknamed “Groovy” and known for its “pucker” factor has green apple, citrus, white pepper flavor; good pairing for asparagus and artichokes (two veggies that are apparently tough to pair with wine…who knew? See what I mean about having The Wine Coach® for a guide??)

Burgans Albarino ’08 – Spanish white wine, crisp and peachy; very yummy!

Susana Balbo Torrontes “Crios” ’08 – white from Argentina made by famous female wine-grower; Laurie pointed out this full-of-apricot flavor wine has a “big personality.”

Puzelat “KO” Rose ’08 – French wine; light pink in color, cherry, berry, earthy flavor; good with salads and seafood.

Glatzer Zweigelt “Riedencuvee” ’06 – Austrian red; good to pair with spicy, Mexican, Spanish food.

Juan Gil ’06 – Spanish red with hints of chocolate, coffee, vanilla; good with burgers, steak and chicken.

Brachetto d’Acqui “Rebecca” ’07 – A sparkling red dessert wine; if  you nibble a little  chocolate with it, you’ll swear you’re in Heaven!  (But we had no chocolate, so I just ate the rest of the bread basket…works with that, too!)

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So fun to experiment with different taste combinations of wine and cheese

Best news of all?  Each wine was fantastic and no bottle cost more than $18.99.

If you don’t know her, I hope you get a chance to meet The Wine Coach® or visit her website where you can register for her free wine tips.

Cheers to you for a happy and spirit-filled summer from Melissa, Laurie and me!

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Three Women on Fire toasting The Wine Coach after a very fun and successful evening!

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I am not a foodie. But I am tonight.

April 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
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Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach, and a co-author in the Women on Fire book and me in Washington, DC.

You found me in Washington, DC.

I am here to launch the first-ever (in DC) Women on Fire Tea Party tomorrow at the Willard Hotel, right around the corner from a certain big white Where I am camped out (or rather luxuriating) is a few blocks away — at the French-inspired Sofitel.  Rob and I always stay here when in DC.  If I were to marry a hotel, it would be The Sofitel!  I have never been let down; it has always been for the better; and all visits here have resulted in living happily ever after (for the most part!).  I’m also richer than poorer because The Sofitel is often reasonably priced as it was this visit ($225 per day)  for impeccable accommodations.

I say I’m not a foodie, because, well, food actually kind of  bores me.  But not so if the food has anything to do with France!

So far today, there’s been coffee, a chocolate croissant, homemade granola, a mini-yogurt smoothie and caesar salad.  I’ve always wondered why food in France, the exact food we have here, tastes so much better there? Being at the Sofitel is like stepping into France!

Chicken and Mushroom Crepes

Take my dinner tonight, for instance.  Oh, how I wish you could have a bite of this.

It is a chicken and mushroom crepe with a glass of Trimbach Riesling, which I knew would be a perfect pairing.  (Thanks to Woman on Fire Laurie Forster, the Wine Coach, who has me trained!)

For one brief shining moment here in Washington, DC, I am a foodie caught up in the possibility that I could be one of those French women who savors every single delicious morsel of her meals— and never gains an ounce!

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