Through My Looking Glass- A Modern Mom and Domestic Goddess In Training

Ahh, the joys of potty training. My two year old wore her first pair of underwear the other day! I started out only letting her wear them for a couple hours to avoid accidents. On top of potty training our two year old, my husband and I adopted a puppy from the shelter. She is a 3 month old border collie and basset hound mix. I just can't seem to quit filling my plate with more and more responsibilities, haha. The first half hour we had her home, she peed about five times on the carpet. It has been a couple days now and only a few accidents. Well, yesterday was going great! Our two year old woke up, put on her panties and wore them all day! She ran to me to let me know when she had to go to the "pot". And our puppy, Panda, didn't have one accident! I took her outside about every half hour to hour though. I couldn't believe how smooth things were going. I texted back and forth with my husband to tell him how well the potty training was going!! I spoke too soon..M

Here are some the photos my husband and I had taken for our 1st wedding anniversary. The photographer was Sweet Pea Palace Photography.

Those that know me, especially my Mom, know that I was never the tidiest of people. My room was ALWAYS messy. Unless of course, my Mom told me I had to clean my room or I couldn't go out with my friends. Then it was a 2 hour cleaning job (and hiding stuff under the bed and in drawers).      Flash forward 8 years and I have my own home with my husband and two daughters. My home is now something I take pride in. Even though there still are some days were things are not in place (we have a 2 year old and 5 year old-you can imagine the messes), for the most part our house is very clean. My husband and I take turns with certain household jobs. I do most of them since I am the stay at home parent, but he is great about helping me when he gets home from work. I feel very lucky in that area. My husband hates to dust, which is great because that is my favorite chore! He helps with laundry and I make sure to have dinner ready for him when he gets home from work. And I love the smell of a fr

     My husband and I just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Here is a fun way we came up with a prop for our anniversary photo shoot. First, we picked out 3 different shaped wine bottles, emptied them, pulled off the labels and washed them.   Then, I sprayed the wine bottles with Chalkboard paint from a spray can.     After the wine bottles were left to dry overnight, I used some chalk to spell out "ONE" and then added some fake flowers for decoration.  Voila!       This is the setting where we shot our anniversary photos. My handsome husband :)                                           It was a gorgeous sunset that evening! No filter!     Ready for the photo shoot. <3     Another photo of the beautiful sunset.

   This year, I am part of the planning committee for the Mansfield Walk to End Alzheimer's. This walk is very close to my heart because my mother in law has had Alzheimer's disease for years. Watching and helping my husband take care of her and making sure she gets the best care, has really opened my eyes to the disease I use to know nothing about. It is heartbreaking. With Alzheimer's disease, there are a lot of other complications that happen other than just memory. My Grandma on my Mom's side is now developing Alzheimer's. I am happy she has moved from Arizona back to Ohio, so that I can help in any way possible. If anyone is interested in the walk in Mansfield, here is the site for it. http://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk/OH-NorthwestOhio?pg=entry&fr_id=1564 I look forward to continuing helping with the association and raising money and awareness.

For the month of July, my husband, two daughters and I "lived" in Manhattan. The month went by extremely fast! We kept very busy with all the fun and exciting things the city has to offer. The main reason for staying in the city was for my entertainment career. I was very fortunate to take Saturday classes with the T. Schreiber Studio. Actors such as Edward Norton, Maria Bello, Peter Sarsgaard and others, all studied there. I learned so much from my amazing teacher Pam Scott. I still contact her today with any questions I may have. We did repetition, cold reads, scenes, learning about and practicing the fourth wall and more. I definitely plan on taking more classes at the studio in the future. I also had 3 different photo shoots while staying in Manhattan (Central Park, Brooklyn and Union Square). All three were really fun and great photographers. Dave and I also were asked to be audience members for The Bill Cunningham Show. That was very interesting! We sat in the seco

         This past Saturday, I attended a group shoot in Bowling Green. There were three photographers, five models, and a jewelry designer. Models that attended ranged from having over four years experience to their very first photo shoot. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting the other models. The jewelry was stunning! Adikel Designs customized jewelry to match the three outfits I wore at the shoot. She has a great talent. Check out her website at: http://www.adikeldesigns.com/  .         I look forward to working with Randy Zalewski and Jason Miller again in the future. Here is my first photo back from the shoot.  And some behind the scenes photos: The first photo shoot for 2012. Looking forward to the other shoots coming up!