It’s hot over here at Women On Fire

by on July 8, 2013

Chances are you may be roasting in this heat wave! If you’re melting, as we are here on Martha’s Vineyard, I hope you have a tall, cool drink in your hand.

I just stuck glasses of lemonade in the freezer for an hour or so to make them all frosty and slushy. Have you ever tried that?  It’s refreshing relief on days like this!

We had a busy weekend here on our little island, and I was so thrilled to see a number of you at our Friday Night on the Deck party, co-hosted by Woman on Fire Ellen Wingard.

The evening featured our friend, the dynamic, inspiring author Andrew Carroll and his new book Here is Where: Discovering America’s Great Forgotten History. Read a fascinating interview with him in today’s New York Times.

One of Women on Fire’s most important aspirations as a community is to cheer on each other when we hit a milestone, move closer to a dream, or reach a goal.

*This Week’s Pinspiration*

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[pinit]There are Two Ways of Spreading Light- Women On FIre

Today’s SPARK! is dedicated to celebrating your recent news, achievements, joys and successes in following your dreams. Let the cheering begin!

Photo by Rob Berkley

At Calvin Klein, Holly Getty is moving on up!

Women on Fire Book co-author and fashion industry executive Holly Getty of New York City has been promoted at Calvin Klein to Vice President of Fabric.

Holly has worked in the industry for 19 years, nine at Calvin Klein.  In her role, she frequently travels to Europe and Asia to select fine fabrics for the fashion-forward Calvin Klein platinum line.

Many of you have worked privately with Holly, Women on Fire’s resident personal style consultant. She works magic in helping you to organize your closet, find your perfect style, and so much more.

Congratulations on your much-deserved news, Holly! You can send your best wishes to her at holly@hollygetty.com


Jaclyn Reilly performing at the Waltz Astoria in Queens, New York

Musician and singer-songwriter Jackie Reilly is appearing before audiences at venues near her home in Queens. She recently regaled us with her extraordinary talent at a Women on Fire tea in New York City.  Check out her youtube channel.  Or connect with her on her Facebook fan page.

Jan Allen of Columbus, Ohio will be speaking at The Transition Network’s “Celebration of Age — Wine and Chocolate” event in Gahanna from 6-8PM Wednesday, July 17. Her talk will be  “Claiming the Peaks: Embracing the Extraordinary After 50.”

She’ll be sharing inspiration on how to live the 3rd/3rd of your life. Register for your ticket here.


Jan Johnsen with one of her pool and landscape designs

Jan Johnsen of Hudson, New York, who owns Johnsen Landscapes & Pools, has signed a book contract with St. Lynn’s Press to write a garden book about design secrets to create serene outdoor spaces.

The book also will feature Jan’s original photography. I invite you to check out her latest feature in the Westchester Journal News.  Way to go, Jan!


Terri Cole’s beautiful meditation CD

Terri Cole of New York City, founder of Live Fearless and Free, and a licensed psychotherapist and transformational coach is hosting a webinar Monday, July 8 at 9PM Eastern/6PM Pacific.

The webinar topic is “How To Get It All Done (Without Undoing Myself in the Process).” Sounds fantastic, right!? I’m signed up and looking forward to soaking up the wisdom of this brilliant Woman on Fire member. It’s free!  Register here to attend.

 


Laurie Forster is at Caroline’s, one of New York City’s most popular comedy clubs

She started out at a software saleswoman and then became the celebrated wine educator known as The Wine Coach.  Today Laurie Forster of Easton, Maryland has parlayed her career into comedy!

The StandUp Sommelier will be performing Something to Wine About, her one-woman comedy show and wine tasting at 7PM July 24 at Caroline’s on Broadway in New York City.

Laurie is giving Women on Fire a special access code: SIPPING

You will receive a free copy of her book The Sipping Point when you purchase a ticket to her show. What a fun night to share with many other amazing Women on Fire who are attending! Purchase tickets here.

Kelley Black of New York City is graciously offering to give any Woman on Fire free entry to one of her Naam yoga women’s classes as a first-time guest. These special classes are held every Wednesday from 6:30-7:45 at 141 W. 72nd Street, 2nd floor.

Naam is a practice that combines mediaton and yoga and Kelley is a very skilled and experienced teacher. If you live in NYC or will be traveling there, please email Kelley for more information and to claim a spot in her class. kelley@balancingexec.com

Kacy Cook of Columbus, Women on Fire’s book editor (including the newest Women on Fire book coming in late summer!) is an author in her own right.  Her delightful, award-winning, young adult novel NUTS (amazon link) is featured on Amazon’s summer reading contest.  NUTS is a story about a young girl who rescues an abandoned baby squirrel. Congratulations, Kacy!

Julie Quackenbush of Dublin, Ohio graduated from the Hudson Institute of Coaching on June 5. She completed an 8-month program and is now a certified transition coach with Next Chapter Transition Coaching. We are excited for you, Julie!

Beth Bryce of Saginaw, Michigan, and a co-author in the upcoming Women On Fire Book co-author, was recently featured in Forbes.com on the power of breaking through career inertia. We recently told you about Beth’s new job  with Northwood University. The article follows her path to leave her successful, 20-year career in financial management to pursue more fulfilling work. It’s an inspiring journey and I hope you’ll read all about it here!

Congratulations all!

I know you are working on your dreams, too, and I hope you have enjoyed hearing what your Women on Fire sisters are doing with theirs and sharing with the world!

Each month when I hear these stories, I feel motivated to stay on track with my own goals and dreams.  So thank you, everyone.

I’ll see you back here next week with healthy recipes from our recent Women on Fire cleanse with holistic health coach Amy Marzluff.  I think you’re gonna like!

I’m so happy you’re here and hope you stay cool this week.

Cheering you on with lots of love

[plinker]

Filed Under: Inspiration, Strategies, Support, Woman On Fire Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thriving on routine

by on June 4, 2012

Do you sometimes struggle to stay consistent?  To keep focused and stay the course?  I sure do.

With distractions at every turn, I am much more comfortable going with the flow and inviting — and even chasing after — something new and different!

I equate routine with being bored and that scares the daylights out of me! But I’ve come to realize I need a fair amount of regular, consistent activity — a routine — to get things done.

I am settled back on Martha’s Vineyard after a winter in Florida and travels these past weeks to Paris, New York and Columbus.  I’m out of my routine and in search of the right footing to accomplish the many dreams I have.

In my first hour home, I slipped into our backyard to see if our 10-year-old rock sculpture had kept her balance through the winter. Yup, she sure did!

And, after five months away, our Wilber immediately crawled back into his hammock (courtesy of Woman on Fire Holly Getty!) and resumed his own routine on Martha’s Vineyard.

It made me laugh to consider that even inanimate objects and animals stay the course better than I do sometimes!

Woman on Fire Sophfronia Scott and I were recently talking about another kind of routine — the struggles of the “sandwich generation” — men and women simultaneously caring for kids and elderly parents or relatives.

She recommended the book of a friend of hers Elizabeth Cohen called The Family on Beartown Road.

In it, Elizabeth describes having a baby at age 40 and taking in her 80-year-old father with dementia to live with her and her husband.  Well, he was her husband — until the baby turned one and he decided it was all too much for him and he left.

At that point, the only routine the author could count on for herself was a slice of time when Grandpa and the baby were asleep, and she would write her awarenesses of the two ends of life’s spectrum and her heartbreak.

“I am discovering that babies and old men have a lot in common. Both thrive on routine,” she wrote.

It was her own routine of writing that resulted in her inspiring and insightful book. I took note.

And, it was her routine of writing 15 minutes a day that led author Martha Beck, whose hands were immobilized by an auto-immune disorder, to a major accomplishment.

Undaunted, she rubberbanded her fingers together, stuck a pencil between them, and routinely wrote until she finished her award-winning book Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth and Everyday Magic.

I took note.

And, I have decided there is nothing boring about consistent, forward motion that eventually gets you to your goal, your dream, your success.

As skeletons are to our bodies, routines — consistent, regular, ongoing actions and practices — are the backbones to our success.

Now, I can hardly wait for Monday morning. Back to the routines I know work for me!

I’d love to hear what routines work for you?

And, before I go, congratulations to Woman on Fire Julie Quackenbush of Columbus, Ohio for winning the gorgeous KiraGrace yoga jacket, courtesy of Kira Karmazin. Julie looks sharp in it at a Michael McDonald Concert!

Thank you for being a part of this amazing, supportive and caring community.

Filed Under: Strategies Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The secret ingredient

by on March 2, 2012

I am on my way to California to attend a women’s conference that I will tell you all about next week.

Before I go, I want to show you a picture that delights me — of radiant smiles after a Women on Fire tea party.  Thank you, Renata Ramsini, for capturing the women at last week’s tea in Columbus led by Jan Allen. Today, I’ll tell you the secret ingredient that makes these gatherings so very wonderful and powerful.


Women on Fire Tea last week in Columbus — Front row: Erin Brewer, Kris Myers, Jan Allen, Mary Kay Purdy, Nanci Larsen, Phoebe Lapine. Second row: Jane Juergens, Lisa Everson, Sara Diehl, Laura Benton, Julie Quackenbush, Jessika Ferm, Mary Duafala, Pam Allen, Roxanne Crocco, Michele Hoyle, Julia McLemore.

Women tell me all the time they are surprised by what happens at a tea and how connected they often feel.

Maybe they’ve said something out loud they’ve never voiced before.  Or, maybe they sat next to someone they’d never met, but shared so much in common that they were sure I sat them next to each other on purpose!

What I know for sure is when women get the chance to connect in a safe and inspiring environment, magic happens.

How often does that happen in your life?  How often do you connect with people who make you feel good to be alive?

When we can vulnerably and authentically share what is on our minds and in our hearts, we feel connected. And, when we feel connected, we feel worthy of our dreams.

Radio talk show host Janette Barber, who has attended at least a million Women on Fire teas in New York City, frequently says, “the tea party always works.”

What she means is that no matter the city and no matter the women who attend, being able to be ourselves, to share what is authentic and vulnerable, and to feel connected “always works!”

Research shows that when we experience feelings of connection and belonging, it gives purpose and meaning to our lives.  So, that’s why I think there are big smiles and much happiness after a Women on Fire gathering!

Some of you may know the work of researcher and story-teller Brene Brown.  (She is both brilliant and adorable, I might add!)

If not, I hope you will take some time to check out her inspiring talk at TEDx.

She and her research suggest that “to let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen … to love with our whole hearts even though there is no guarantee … to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror … to feel this vulnerable means I am alive.

“When we work from this place, we stop screaming and start listening and we are kinder and gentler to the people around us and we are kinder and gentler to ourselves.”

This is why I love our teas and every single occasion where Women on Fire connect and we so often share what is vulnerable.

Dr. Brown inspires us further that “vulnerability is the birthplace of joy, of love, of belonging, of creativity, of faith and so it becomes very problematic when, as a culture, we lose our capacity to be vulnerable.”

Even though it may feel scary to tell another person our heart’s deepest longings, our fears, our insecurities, doing so is the very thing that will connect us and allow others to support us.

It is why I always encourage you to reach out and gather support before you embark on your journey.

And, vulnerability is the secret ingredient of why you feel so very good inside when you have shared your heart safely with someone who receives you.

Talk to you next week from sunny San Diego!

Have a wonderful week and let me know how you’re doing ~

Filed Under: Strategies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,