Let's be honest: balancing the demands of motherhood is tough. Moms today juggle many things: kids, jobs, housework, family, friends, volunteering - the list goes on and on. Most often, trying to squeeze in some “me time” is challenging (sometimes it even seems impossible!) 

No doubt about it, it's not easy being a mom. Yes, it is certainly the most rewarding job you'll ever have - but some days the struggle is real and no matter how hard you try, it feels like you haven't done enough or that you could have done better. Some days it feels like you just can't win.

But Lisa Canning, interior designer from HGTV’s “Buying and Selling with the Property Brothers,” lifestyle expert, author and mother of seven, believes differently. She believes what every mom needs to know is that success within motherhood, work and life is possible, and you get to define what that looks like.

Lisa understands the demands of modern motherhood well. During a recent interview with Florida Family Fun Travel, Lisa told us that she nearly lost her own family while pursuing career success, "For the first five years of my motherhood journey, work was my number one priority. In my head, I didn’t think that it was. But if you looked at all of my actions during this period, I was working all the time."
 
"Everything came to a crashing implosion one day in my minivan," she continued, "Just days out of the hospital with my fourth baby, I had convinced myself that it was so important to show up at a house that I was renovating for my interior design clients. As I looked around my minivan, with goldfish crackers crushed into the floor, take out containers from every chain known to man, sippy cups, water bottles, a bag bursting with supplies for a newborn, and another bag bursting with supplies for work, it dawned on me, finally that day, that my priorities were as messy as my minivan."

That was the day that everything changed for Lisa. She said no more. "That was the day that I became obsessed with the notion that a mom should be able to pursue her personal goals and dreams, but not at the expense of her health and her family," Lisa told us.

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​After re-prioritizing her life and defining her own version of success, Lisa Canning now coaches other moms on how to live their best lives. She details her journey and provides life changing tests and exercises to get women started on their own motherhood makeovers in her “mom bible,” The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time.

​Described as a book to provide support, encouragement, and a plan for a mom to design her most ideal life, The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time is special because it is an honest look at the struggles of modern motherhood and gives real tried-and-true advice on how take control of your life and master the balancing act required of moms today.

"I wrote this book for moms like me," Lisa said, "moms who want to live life and live it to the fullest; moms who want to make an impact on their family and community; and moms who desire greatness, who dream big, and who want to do something meaningful with their lives but don't always know exactly how to achieve that."

The Possibility Mom is a "mom bible" for all moms: moms who feel stuck and discouraged, moms who want to quit their full-time jobs to be home with their kids and also moms who might be home full-time but want to pursue a career outside of the home. 

During our interview, Lisa was very honest and open about how she struggled with her work-life balance for many years and now she wants to help other women learn through her mistakes, "For so many years, I dealt with the consequences of putting work first and defining success by trying to copy other people around me. Because of this, I hope the advice I offer comes across like you are speaking with a friend, like you are having coffee with someone who really understands your situation."

While there are many books out there on the market that offer advice for moms, Lisa Canning's The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time is unique because it doesn't just stop at inspiration and encouragement - it offers moms everywhere a plan.

"There is no shortage of inspiration out there- there are a lot of places where you can find encouragement, and feel inspired to follow your dreams," Lisa adds, "But then how do you actually do it, when you get home, when you are changing diapers, when your husband doesn’t understand your dreams- that becomes more complicated when you are dealing with your real life reality. Sometimes no amount of cheerleading can get you through a tough situation. So I hope this book is a nice compliment to some of the inspirational and motivational resources that are out there. I hope this book gives moms who feel trapped a plan to chart a new course."

While changing how we view ourselves, how we deal with life's challenges and re-prioritizing what matters the most is admittedly not an easy task, it can be done. I admit it would be wonderful if we could take control to better our lives by just magically snapping our fingers, but the best change comes with dedication, time and patience.

Lisa agrees that it's important to be patient with yourself, “Giving birth to anything new—whether birthing a biological child, adding a child by adoption, starting a new business, leaving a comfortable job, quitting a bad habit, or finally saying no to people who take advantage of you—is full of uncertainty. We don’t have a clear picture of what our life will look like on the other side. But when we push through the pain and uncertainty, the fear of failure and risk of rejection, incredible things can happen.”

The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time is filled with practical and life-changing tests/exercises such as:

• How you can meet your dreams of having a family and fulfilling work - you don't have to sacrifice one or the other - but you are in control of how that looks and it is different for everyone.
• A no-holds barred discussion about choosing to be a stay at home parent or work - pros and cons from interviews with life coaches.
• Strategies to manage your energy and time.
• Listing your priorities - having priorities out of synch with your values and goals leads to unhappiness (you can fix that!)
• "Strengths Finder Assessment" - strategies to stay within your natural strengths and how to shift them to lead the best life you can.
• Relatable categories on where you stand in evaluating your life and time spent: spirituality, marriage, children, work, family, friends, home, self-care, volunteering, etc.
• Identifying the limiting beliefs holding you back and keeping you stuck from your best life.
• How you can reclaim your me-time and get rid of guilt.
• Teachable habits to make your changes stick!

In exchange for our review, we were given a copy of Lisa Canning's The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time ​scroll down to read what we loved about this book and why we think you will love it too!

What We Loved About The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time by Lisa Canning:

I absolutely LOVED Lisa Canning's The Possibility Mom!  I admittedly am an always-on-the-go-mom who is doing my best to balance kids, work, family time, volunteering, church, housework, friends (the list goes on and on) and like most moms, I often suffer from "mom guilt" because balancing everything day-to-day is tough.

I found The Possibility Mom to be a very approachable, honest and realistic look at the struggles of modern motherhood and I loved how every chapter offered a challenge. The challenges and tools given in this book really helped me understand issues that I hadn't realized I was giving myself and come up with a plan on how to refocus those things in a healthier way.

I especially appreciated Chapter 3: Believing Change is Possible. In chapter 3, Lisa identifies four common "Limiting Beliefs" every mom has, how to honestly look at the limits you may be giving yourself and how to reframe them. I admit I have had many Limiting Beliefs in my own life; and reading this chapter really helped me realize that I was the one limiting myself. It helped me to come up with a plan on how to healthily pursue my dreams, still be a good mom & do it all without the "mom guilt."

Although I loved the entire book cover-to-cover, I also found Chapter 7: Making This Work: The Importance of Your Schedule extremely helpful. To quote a line on page 77 of The Possibility Mom, "Saying no is hard but necessary if you wish to make room for the things that matter most." I really loved how this chapter clearly & simply broke down so many issues that make a moms day-to-day life too busy; I found it helped me sort out my own priorities and helped me manage my time better - which benefits not only myself (hello less stress!) but it benefits my whole family too.

I really loved Lisa Canning's The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time and I found it to be an extremely helpful and empowering tool for modern moms everywhere.

The struggle of #momlife is real - but it doesn't have to be, thanks in part to the great advice, empowering challenges and helpful tools found in Lisa Canning's The Possibility Mom. 

About Lisa Canning
Lisa Canning is an interior design and lifestyle expert who helps moms design their lives around what matters most. Lisa’s passion for moms to overcome perpetual overwhelm and constant mom-guilt, in favor of a life that is fulfilling and abundant, is apparent in everything she does. Lisa has become a recognizable face in the interior design and entertainment industry, as the designer on HGTV’s Marriage Under Construction, working on the design team of “Buying and Selling with the Property Brothers”, and hosting regular live lifestyle segments on shows like The Marilyn Denis Show. At the same time as growing her design business, Lisa grew her family to seven children, all within nine years. As a result, Lisa has developed a unique approach to time management and productivity, which she shares in her online courses and coaching programs. 

Connect with Lisa Canning on Facebook @lisacanningthepossibilitymom, Instagram @lisacanning, Twitter @lisa_canning, and Pinterest @lisacanning, and visit www.lisacanning.ca.
The Possibility Mom: How to be a Great Mom and Pursue Your Dream at the Same Time is available July 16, 2019 in paperback and e-book on Amazon and other retailers.

Steffany Skelley Gilmer
FloridaFamilyFunTravel.com

The world first met fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1887 novel, A Study in Scarlet. At the time, A Study in Scarlet was one of the first (possibly the first) detective novels. 

Over the last 130+ years, Sherlock Homes has become one of the most beloved and iconic characters of all time. The world's favorite fictional detective has inspired thousands of stage and radio plays, television shows, movies, books - not to mention countless imaginative adventures for people all over the world. 

Two of the people inspired by the Great Detective's timeless legacy are authors Charles Veley and Anna Elliot. Charles has loved Sherlock Holmes since his was a boy. As a father, he read the entire canon to his then-ten-year-old daughter at evening story time. Now grown, his daughter, historical novelist Anna Elliott (the Twilight of Avalon trilogy; The Pride & Prejudice Chronicles) has worked with him to develop critically acclaimed adventures in The Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery Series!

In 2017, this father-daughter author duo released their first collaboration - Remember, Remember - in The Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery Series. Their debut novel provided readers young and old with a fresh yet faithful re-imagining of the Great Detective and has quickly earned praise from Publishers Weekly, The Historical Novel Society and more!  

In the Sherlock & Lucy series, Holmes - as brilliant and engaging as ever - is the father of Lucy James, an independent, modern-minded American actress living in Victorian London who inherited her father's intelligence, bravery and detective skills. 

Each book in the Sherlock & Lucy series centers on Sherlock and Lucy as they collaborate on solving a crime, and contains exciting conflicts, clean language and imaginative mysteries similar to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tradition. 

"While the Victorian era looked in many ways very different from our own - corsets! Lack of indoor plumbing! No iPhones! - there are human themes like love and family, and darker themes like crime and hate, that are still universal," author Anna Elliott says, "Our books are built on absolute love and respect for the original Sherlock Holmes canon, and yet give the reader a few more glimpses of theat humanity hinted at in the Conan Doyle stories."

So far, The Last Moriarty, The Wilhelm Conspiracy, Remember, Remember, The Crown Jewel Mystery (a prequel), The Jubilee Problem, Death at the Diogenes Club and the Return of the Ripper have been published in the popular Sherlock & Lucy Series. (All of these books can be enjoyed as 'standalone' stories or read in consecutive order.)  

The newest adventure, Die Again Mr. Holmes, was released on January 2nd, 2019 in paperback and e-book formats and soon as an audiobook as well. 

As an avid reader myself, I always loved exciting mysteries and crime-solving so naturally I loved reading Sherlock Holmes novels and watching movies about him. Sherlock Holmes' is a timeless classic full of mystery, excitement and intrigue that I just never tire of. Considering I'm such a fan of adventure/mystery novels & Sherlock Holmes, I was especially excited to be given the offer of sampling Charles Veley and Anna Elliot's newest novel, Die Again, Mr. Holmes (read what I loved about this book in just a minute!) 

About Die Again, Mr. Holmes: 

​Legendary detective Sherlock Holmes makes an uncharacteristic mistake when a young woman begs him to help find her missing fiancé. Sherlock’s daughter, Lucy James, has a missing-persons case of her own, with a strange and aristocratic English lady as her client. But Lucy must also protect Becky, her ten-year-old sister-in-law, from a vicious criminal.

​No one expects the devastating news that Sherlock Holmes has been murdered. 

The newest adventure in this popular mystery series takes us from the depths of the Old Bailey courthouse and the seacoast lairs of smugglers to the splendor of a grand British country estate and the posh financial headquarters of Lloyd’s of London. For Watson, Sherlock and Lucy, survival will require valor, sacrifice, and even acts that go far outside Victorian law.

 What We Loved About Die Again, Mr. Holmes:

As a fan of Sherlock Holmes novels, I felt right at home reading the newest of the Sherlock Holmes & Lucy James Mystery series. I was completely hooked from the moment I began Die Again, Mr. Holmes until I read the the very last page. Die Again, Mr. Holmes took me on a thrilling adventure full of mystery, exciting plot twists, and unforgettable characters.

Speaking of unforgettable characters, I absolutely loved Lucy James! Lucy James is truly her father's daughter - she is intelligent, courageous and confident. She fits perfectly into the Sherlock Holmes "world" we've all come to know and love, and yet she also brings something new and refreshing to Sherlock Holmes' story which readers of all ages will love. 

Die Again, Mr. Holmes was my first taste of the new Sherlock Holmes & Lucy James Mystery Series and it was a  phenomenal read that left me hungry for more. Die Again Mr. Holmes was perfect on its own and can be easily enjoyed even if you haven't  read any of the other books in the Sherlock Holmes & Lucy James Mystery Series.

If you or your child are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, mystery novels, or crime-solving novels this is definitely a book you will want to put on your "Must Read" list for the Summer (we also love that this book has clean language so it's totally safe to read with the kiddos!)

As parents ourselves, we are excited to share Die Again, Mr. Holmes with our own children over Summer break and introduce them to the exciting, new adventures of the Great Detective and his brave daughter. 

Read more about The Sherlock Holmes & Lucy James Mystery Series here: www.sherlockandlucy.com

Order your copy of this "Must Read" for the Summer!
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Click HERE to order a copy of Die Again, Mr. Holmes on Amazon for just $4.99 on Kindle or $18.99 on paperback!