News! Read All About It!

Hi Friends,

Alerting you that you will see this blog go through a metamorphosis during the next few weeks. I'm hard at work recreating a new version, all cleaned up and fresh, of my website. with new books coming out I needed a more comprehensive and easier to use option for you. In the process, my blog is going to go through some changes as it gets brought under the umbrella of my website. Finally ;)

You'll still be able to read blog posts, but this website style version of of blogger is going to morph into a more professional part of my entire branding and website. I hope you'll enjoy the finished product of a more cohesive spot to connect. But as you've already likely noticed, the additional pages that used to look like tabs have moved to links on the right side. Those pages will blend into my website duplicate pages so there will no longer be, um, duplicates. Whew!

Ultimately, it's going to be smoother for all of us. You'll no longer have to search extra pages and I won't have to update the same info on duplicate pages. I know. I know...novel concept, lol.

So a big thank you for hanging out with me :) I'll keep posting through the changes. When it fully integrates, I'll let you know if there's any change in the following factor so we can keep up our relationship. Other than how it looks, I don't think you'll experience any loss of data or connection.

And if you have any suggestions on something you would like included, please send them my way.

Appreciatively,
Angie

My Book Studio Edition II review

I have to tell you how much I really am enjoying the security of my new WD My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage system.  It's a special external hard drive for creative professionals. With my well over 3,000 photos, large website, blogs, articles, books, and book cover designs I needed something much more than the memory on my Macbook laptop.

WD (Western Digital) to the rescue! It took me only a few minutes to get it loaded and set up. Because of what I do, I need it to protect and back up my work often. It stores and protects without my noticing the activity. I can barely even hear it working! I love, love, love this back up/storage/hard drive.

The firewire works seemlessly (though there are other options) and I can find anything on my external hard drive as simply as if it's on my laptop. Wonderful product!! Just had to share. If there were a star system to use on this it would get 5 out of 5!

You can find more information at: www.westerndigital.com
My version is very compact and has a tiny footprint on my desk. It's about 6"X6"X4" and can hold the memory of my laptop so many times I lost count! My design software can store on it and not slow down my laptop. Happy, happy day! (A slow laptop costs me money as time ticks away from me.)

WDH2Q20000

Quad Interface

2 TB

Windows/Mac

Thank you for a great and simple product to use and special thanks to Western Digital for the opportunity to review this product for them in my business.
Angie Breidenbach, author/speaker/coach

Working Toward The Goal

lately so many projects and ideas compete with the must-do list. I started to feel overwhelmed. Then I sat down and made a list of what needed to be done and when. Short project to enable me to complete many larger projects.

To my surprise, I make lists all the time, listing the projects caused my production level to leap forward. Today I finished three main items I thought would take all week. Wow!

Making lists isn't new to me. But cleaning up odds and ends seems to make that list grow and grow. By writing only the names of the projects I grabbed hold of the bigger overview. Instead of overwhelmed, I was inspired and motivated. I knocked out those three projects in less time than I thought possible. Now I can move on to the next project with the confidence I built in the accomplishments of today.

What inspires and motivates you to become ultra productive?

Come visit the faith girls blog and see why I was so nervous to post!

Preparing for a New Year

Spring cleaning at the end of the year?

I'm doing that with both my house and my email accounts. One is being handed over to the next publicity officer for ACFW. I don't want either one of us to start the new year with a bunch of clutter.

At home I've finished my kitchen and the next room is my office. Scary! Seriously, I am working on cleaning it in order to have a clear head. With 2 big projects starting in January, I don't want all the old stuff stopping me.

Stuff. It just gets in the way of goals and dreams.

I work organically. My brain is on high speed almost every day of my life. So it's easy for me to pile things instead of file things. Every few months I need to file my piles. Then I have a sense of clarity and accomplishment. Nothing is pulling me in different directions. But the organic nature of my high speed brain will not let me stop and manage the stuff of each project while I'm in it. Somehow it stalls me. I've learned to honor that part of me too by cleaning up after each project instead. It also offers me closure on the project, both mental and physical. I think that's as important as feeling prepared and organized for the future, saying goodbye to the old allows space for the new.

I plan on getting the office cleaned up and then spending time (a few hours to a few days) determining my achieved goals from last year and setting the new ones for this year. I have a 5 step plan for annual goals, how to make New Year resolutions actually happen. So I'm going to sit down and follow my own advice.

 I'll post a photo of the cleaned desk just to be accountable :-) Hmm, I wonder when? By next week for sure...

Do you do anything to prepare for new goals?

Angie

Feeling Loved: Connecting with God in the Minutes You Have

Angie: I'd like to welcome a guest post today from Marnie Swedberg. She's definitely on my radar because she ministers to super busy women. Hmm, know anyone like that? Come on along :-)

A few facts first you don't want to miss and then into the guest post:

Book Release Party – November 8-11, 2010

http://www.Marnie.com

About the Book

Feeling Loved: Connecting with God in the Minutes You Have

Reading this book is like spending a few hours with Marnie over lunch. It is a conversational “how to” book sharing her relationship with God, the feeling of love it generates inside her and how you can experience God’s love in a personal way as well.

Because she believes that every relationship begins, grows or dies based on how we handle our emotions, much of the book deals with feelings – what they are, why we have them and how God views them as a trigger to constant contact and closer connections with Him.

About the Author

Marnie Swedberg

Mentor to super busy women from around the world, Marnie Swedberg was described by one regional newspaper headline as the, "Wonder Woman of the North Country." She hosts mega websites, manages the family's restaurant, assists with the family’s retail store and espresso café. She is the author of eleven books and eBooks, a public speaker and consultant for religious, business and government organizations and has been interviewed on radio and TV talk/news dozens of times. In her new book, Feeling Loved, Marnie shares her relaxed and doable approach to growing closer to God in the minutes you have.

Excerpt from Chapter 5 – Dealing with Feelings

I’ve always loved Winnie the Pooh, especially little Piglet. He is so scared and timid. When he is blown away by the wind, I can feel myself being pushed around by forces bigger than life.

The following is my simple analysis of how my feelings play out:

1. Feelings are. They come plowing into my life without warning, permission or balance. They simply show up and take over my brain.

2. Feelings can be easily manipulated both from internal and external influences. They intensify based upon circumstances, my understanding of the facts or a perceived threat of any kind.

3. Feelings are important. I always want to be able to laugh and cry. If I’m afraid, I want to know it and admit it. If I feel hurt when wronged, that’s wonderful, because it proves I’m alive. Feelings in themselves are not wrong. They are vital to a healthy life.

4. Feelings are often inaccurate. They are based on individual pieces of information funneled through my limited knowledge and experience. Upon collecting the rest of the facts, or viewing a situation from a different perspective, my feelings about it can change.

5. Most importantly, feelings are the number one thing “triggering” me to talk with God. Every intense emotion is an invitation for a conversation with God.

Every time I bring my emotions to God, He cares. He shares His perspective with me providing the balance I need.

Nancy Missler, author of “Way of Agape,” says this about spiritual maturity and emotional self-life,

“Whether we have been a Christian one year or 51 years, our self life will never improve with age. It’s still as ugly and as self-centered now as it was the first day we believed. We cannot tame our self life…. I believe a mature Christian is one who recognizes his self life and makes the appropriate choices to give it over to God.”‚

Emotions are usually the flag-bearers of “self life” or self-absorption. They can be volatile, intrusive, exasperating and out of control. But if we choose to view them as gifts, they can serve as a water slide straight down to a deeper, more loving relationship with God.

We will always have to pay close attention to our emotions. A good goal is to get faster at identifying them and running our feelings to Jesus with the words, “God, help me understand this from Your perspective.” When He does, it changes everything for the better.

Conversation Starters.

The book can be a quick, two-hour read or a leisurely, ten-week group study. Each chapter ends with a set of conversation starters for a personal chat with God or a lively group discussion. Two of the questions for this segment include:

-       With which Winnie the Pooh character can you best relate and why?

-       Do your feelings usually prompt you closer or farther from God? Why do you think this is true?

FREE Stuff for You!

Visit the Feeling Loved  book release party this week, November 8-11, 2010, during National Pursuit of Happiness Week at http://www.Marnie.com/FeelingLoved.php.

When you register to win one of the free books being given away, you will also gain instant access to three free gifts: 

1) Marnie’s copyrighted Personality Type Test

2) Marnie’s Two-Hour Time Management Course for Super Busy Women (an online, instant access audio including PDF workbook)

3) Marnie’s Scripture Memorization Tool, which is designed to help “slow learners” memorize Bible verses quickly.

Be sure to visit http://www.Marnie.com/FeelingLoved.php today!

Confidence When Plans Go Awry

Have yours? Have your plans for the day ever gone awry and it felt like the day was lost?

Have you felt the tightening of your chest and wondered where your day timer  or some other important information was last left?

Oh yes, today is a day like that for me. I about had a panic attack when I realized I had a full schedule today but no schedule to follow. I follow a day timer every day or I get lost in my long to-do list of duties for ACFW, teaching classes, taking classes, book projects, and even appearances as Mrs. Montana International.

So when my husband asked me for an important set of documents and I turned to pull it out of the non-existent day timer... well, you can imagine the horror!

In addition to the list above, I'm a Weight Watcher's leader & ambassador. Uh huh, guess where I left it? At the Weight Watcher's Missoula center!

Once my husband and I retraced my weekend schedule, we figured out where it was and had a good laugh. But I tell you, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with my entire business and personal schedule missing.

One thing that helped? Having my husband think through things with me. It kept me calm and confident to be able to lean on his support. I didn't leave it all up to him, I searched the house, my car, and all my business materials from last week's speaking events. But ultimately, it took standing still and talking it out with someone else to jog my memory.

I am working on being a more organized person, but it takes daily practice.

New concept: Remember that you don't have to be all confident and courageous all by yourself. Stop. Tell someone your worry. Listen to feedback. Where there are many counselors plans succeed, even plans to find something you've lost :-) It helps us to bounce ideas and worries off someone else.

What have you lost that caused your stomach to land in your shoes?

How did you solve it?

Angie
http://www.MyGemOfWisdom.com

What Would You NOT Want To Leave Behind

What would you NOT want anyone to find if you died today?


I started a little filing and cleaning. My desk was in need of a serious filing block of time. I pulled open a drawer and it was full of... doodads. A bunch of junk taking up space.


I suddenly thought of someone else having to go through my things if I were no longer here. (Several people I know have lost loved ones this week and so my thoughts weren't maudlin, simply a recognition that all life ends.)


Did I want them to open drawers and find junk? What would they do? Seriously, wouldn't you just turn it over a garbage can? Was there anything in my home that would bother me if my grandson found it? You know he has a habit of exploring all my cupboards and drawers passionately!

But the filing had important insurance documents in it. What would my family do if they couldn't locate the insurance that would pay for all the expenses I'd incur?


Wow! That thought stopped me in a mid-air intention to sit down. I launched back up and over to the pile. I began the chore of filing.


A little later while researching verses for a chapter I'm working on in Courageous Beauty, I found a verse, James 3:16, that says For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.


Consider that from a slightly different angle, evil practice and disorder are a result of envy and selfish ambition. Oh my! I skidded to a halt. Was disorder a sin and equal to evil? What was appropriate ambition for a Christian? (Here's a tool I found to help.)


The more I thought about it, the more I felt convicted. The time I've wasted over the last several weeks while I searched for this paper or that could have been spent writing pages and pages of a book or in creating materials I need for speaking. Instead, I wasted precious time looking through a messy desk. Time that I can't get back. Time that was given to me by God to live out the purpose and calling planted in my DNA. 


So I've been just handing this precious gift of time right out the door. It's my choice.


My Lenten season won't be dedicated to giving up a food or even regular fasting. (I'm a Lutheran who practices lenten discipline.) It will be spent dedicated to creating a sense of order because God is not a God of chaos but of order.


How will you observe Lent?


How does this concept affect you?


Is there anything you wouldn't want to leave behind for others to deal with?


Angie
http://www.MyGemOfWisdom.com

Confidence Color?

Do you wear a lot of colors? Are there colors you won't wear? Some topics I'm going to explore in the book Courageous Beauty now since I began playing in color a few weeks ago.

I began asking myself these kind of questions lately as I remodeled a bedroom to become my new office. As a writer, speaker, and the new president of Full Spirit Magazine, I had to have a place to work.

I chose to use the color purple because of the amethyst glass Swedish pitcher and tumbler set I inherited. If it were green or blue or brown, I would have used that palette. I'm even planning a fiction story with this heirloom as the focal point in the future. (Scroll down to see the heirloom set after the story.)

But in the meantime... the office.

Purple is bold, confident, and ... scary when you think about painting it on walls and window sills. It's one thing to wear it and another to swipe it on brilliant white walls. (Some people won't wear deep, vibrant colors in order to avoid attention.) I pulled the colors of purple, blue, and white out of the pitcher set and went to town with my daughter on the creative painting.

Oh my goodness! It's vibrant and I love it! I walk into this stunning room and feel cheerful, creative, and inspired. Here's a few photos of the transformed bedroom to office.

                                         From this:

To this:

The L shaped counter is a light gray and speckled with blue that matches the toll painted flowers laced on the pitcher and tumbler. (Right now the filing is the next project for the new office.)

The closet is a study in artistic opposite relief to the accent wall...

The closet is now a resource book case too. So handy and helpful. I need to add a few more wire racks. (Mariah and I had no idea how to sponge paint prior to this. I found it took me tremendous courage, but like anything I've ever truly wanted, the desire outweighed the fear.)

But wait! There's more:
                                        From this:

To this midpoint with new windows and white as a base color paint:

To this final version with purple window trim and a quilted hanging made for me by my step-mom several years ago that accidentally and perfectly matches the Swedish heirloom:

Then notice the beginnings of a reading nook for book reviewing:

I'm looking for the perfect tea table for that corner too :-) But that's not all. My daughter, Mariah, helped me sponge paint 4 colors over the white base. Here's our fun-loving artists signature:

We spent 2 days working on the creative space for me and we felt that we needed to commemorate it, beyond the music and dancing in the middle of the room to old style Sinatra sung by Buble'. We then used a chopstick to write our names and the date of our artwork with a confidence color.

I found it incredibly bonding, unique, and something I can use to remember our very unusual project together for years to come. I actually show it off to everyone! We put it behind the door (you can see the size and placement in the 3rd picture in this post.) My daughter is 20 and I am 45 yet this is a masterpiece in creative cooperation and memories. It HAD to be signed and dated as far as  we were concerned, lol.

Though there are touches yet to be added, my office is a wonderful, happy place for me to work long hours on computer and conference calls. It's, as my family says, me. Very much me!

Here's the Swedish pitcher/tumbler set that inspired it all and will soon be on display opposite the quilt hanging, nearest the accent wall. It'll be above the reading nook, mounted in a glass case. I tracked it back with the help of a glass museum curator to the 1850's. It's a common household piece for Sweden at that time. In fact, the value is only about $150 US according to my Swedish source because everyone had them back then. But to me, it came from Amalia to Maybelle to Eva to me and connects me to my family history.  Priceless.

The actual gifting to my grandmother, Maybelle, happened when she was 16 from her aunt she called Mama Peterson. She was told it was her family inheritance and that she had to go make her way in the world. Imagine that at 16! This heirloom represents confidence earned by having to make a way in the world in 1920 as a Swedish American (whose first language was Swedish) teen-aged woman. There were 13 children in a very complex situation. At 16, Maybelle had to find the courage to strike out on her own and learn to support herself. Do you know she became a nurse? How many teens get sent out into the world and do that? Where would she get such confidence as a 16 year old homeless girl to become a nurse in the 1920's? My Swedish grandma inspires me with the courage and confidence she had to learn FAST!

So the question is: Would you wear these vibrant colors?

OR

Would you paint them?

OR EVEN: Would you go all out and sponge paint without every having done it before with colors this intense?

THEN:

Would you sign your work?

Would you dare to dip your hands in paint and smush them on the wall?

What room do you want to transform with $100 in paint?

Angie

Please visit http://www.MyGemOfWisdom.com for jewelry that supports the Sanctuary of Hope orphan homes. Thank you for considering these beautiful pieces of jewelry as gifts or for yourself to build personal growth or simply wear for the significance in a child's life.

What's Mrs. Montana International up to these days?

Hi all,

I've been getting lots of fun questions about what I do as Mrs. Montana International and how I am preparing for the upcoming Mrs. International competition in Chicago at the Skokie Performing Arts Center. (It's July 17-18th in Skokie.)

Here's some of the recent questions :-)

Tiff asked: So, how are things going as you gear up for Mrs. International in 2 weeks? I've never personally met anyone who has represented a state for those competitions. How exciting!

Angie: Really great! I want to do my very best so I am paying attention to even the finest of details. I want people to know they can count on me to bring 100 % to the table, not just for the judges, but for the people I'll serve through the year should I be honored to win Mrs. International. I actually schedule in prep time and have a list that I'm checking off to be ready. A little done every day layers the professional readiness and fuses it into a natural expression of who I am and what I am accomplishing. I think if I were to try and race it all in at the end, something would be forgotten and that would distract me from my goals. So checking off that list makes me feel I've done everything possible to be ready and fully present when I get to Chicago. Thanks for asking, Tiff!

Tip:
Regardless of what big event you are planning toward, make time to write down all the details. For some reason it is always the little one that gets forgotten that buzzes around you like a pesky fly. Supersede it with great planning.

Misty asked: What kind of appearances do you do as Mrs. Montana?

Angie: I've been doing several appearances here at home for my platform charities. We've had the U of M Capstone Dinner in May to raise scholarship funds for culinary students.


My job at the Capstone Dinner was as MC. I love it and feel doubly blessed that I was asked again this year! (That's the band, several U of MT music students, setting up behind me.)

In May I also had the privilege of acting as hostess for a women's event called Smart About Life with author Deborah Dunn. We held a teleseminar available on the internet, in person at Atonement Lutheran Church and by telephone. I was again the MC for this event and the fun dessert social afterward. The focus was on teaching women to improve the relationships with the men in their lives. Awesome time!


Then I ended May as the Women of Faith coordinator for our church and area. I had the honor of leading and coordinating 25 lovely ladies to travel over for the Spokane event the last weekend in May.

This is the Mandisa concert from Women of Faith. Very moving testimony and a wonderful addition to the whole weekend! She told us all that she'd already lost 80 pounds! Now she is fully committed to continuing toward a healthier lifestyle. Whoo hoo! What an excellent example of personal growth and reaching out to share that gem of wisdom with others!

The Jadyn Fred Foundation has had the annual live auction where I assisted in acquiring auction donations prior and then had a blast playing "Vanna" as I helped show the items during the auction.

I made this one a little bigger so you could see the painting by Larry Pirnie, a local Montana artist. (I'm sure he has no idea, but we are actually neighbors, lol. I've walked by his house on my 5 mile route often and never met him.)

Then the Jadyn Fred Foundation also had their annual golf tournament. It was so, so cold, but the golfers showed in force and opened their hearts to help children with expenses that insurance doesn't cover. My job was to welcome the golfers while selling raffle tickets at the check-in table! How fun that I met Kraig Michaels there as my work buddy and on my right (your left in the photo) one of the board of directors for the Jadyn Fred Foundation who also delivered my grandson! He's Dr. Mark Garnaas. Wonderful men and such fun personalities to banter with during the check-in for the tourney.

I'll add more of my appearances in later posts as I've gotten quite a few questions about them. Upcoming, I'll tell you about my own teleseminar, a television appearance, and interviews :-)
Thank you,
Angie
PS
Please come if you are in Missoula on Sunday, June 28th, 2-6p.m. for the Neema Children's Home Biga Pizza for a Biga Cause. We are raising funds to dig a well. Biga Pizza is on Main in downtown Missoula. $10 all you can eat and you help the children have all the water they can drink!