{Moonlight & Mason Jars} Monday Night Link-Up Party #5

Posted by Heather on May 6, 2013 | 41640 comments2013-05-06+22%3A26%3A04Heather

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Welcome to our Monday Night Link Party called Moonlight & Mason Jars!

We are 5 BLOGS that have come together at 5PM (CST) every Monday night for a little “show and tell”. Link up anything to our link party that you have created or written yourself and it will show up on all FIVE of our blogs! Please don’t link up any items for sale.

Each week we will choose 5 of your projects to feature at the next Link Party. We will also pin our 5 featured projects it to our group Pinterest board next week. The party closes at midnight on Wednesday.

1. Display our link party button (or text link) on your post or somewhere on your site. You will find them at the very bottom of this post.
2. Visit all 5 of our blogs & follow us in some way (Twitter, RSS, Facebook, etc.)
3. Visit as many fellow partiers as you can and leave comments. That’s what makes it fun!
4. If you have been featured, please display our featured button on your post.

We can’t wait to see all of your amazing projects!

Here’s the latest & greatest from your Moonlight & Mason Jars hostesses.

Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

1: Mother’s Day Dessert Ideas
2: Turkey Travel Tips
3: Cinco de Mayo Guacamole
4: Flowers in Bloom

1. DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea: Thank You for Helping Me Grow
2. DIY Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea: I’m One Smart Cookie

1. Etsy Shop Update
2. Baby Boy Modern Quilt
3. Lisa Leonard Giveaway
4. Recipe Oven Mitt

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1. Prepping For Yard Sale #2
2. How Infertility Caused Me To Look At Food Differently

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Thank you to those who linked up last week. We are pleased to announce our

1. Blackberry Lemonade Cupcakes @ One Sweet Appetite
2. Pottery Barn Knock-Off Clock @ Decorate Me Diana
3. DIY License Plate Map @ CRAFT Blog
4. Mother’s Day Printable @ Two Bobbins Later
5. Vintage Inspired Painted Mason Jars @ Live Laugh Rowe

We have pinned these to our Group Pinterest Board:

Now for this week’s link party:

Moonlight & Mason Jars - Monday Night Link Party

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.thenewlywedpilgrimage.com/moonlight-mason-jars" title="Moonlight & Mason Jars - Monday Night Link Party"><img src="http://www.thenewlywedpilgrimage.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/MMM-250-x-250.png" alt="Moonlight & Mason Jars - Monday Night Link Party" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

How Infertility Caused Me To Look At Food Differently

Posted by Kristin on May 2, 2013 | 38930 comments2013-05-03+05%3A44%3A01Kristin

via http://www.usda.gov/

Last week was National Infertility Week and it got me thinking about our struggles again. Have you ever wondered why so many people battle with infertility, and need to go through IVF? It almost seems to be an epidemic these days.

When my husband and I moved from the Midwest to the East Coast, we scoped out a great IVF doctor to assist us in getting pregnant. We had been trying on our own for 2 years, but nothing was happening. We went through all the testing and discovered nothing was wrong with either of us. We had almost wished the doctor had given us a diagnosis and a treatment, so we could wrap our heads around why we couldn’t get pregnant and fix the problem. Our doctor informed us of our options and we went from there. After the long emotional roller-coaster and numerous months of getting poked and prodded, we conceived our first daughter through our second round of IVF. We were elated!

We had decided to talk about IVF with our parents, but waited to tell our friends until after we had conceived (not because we didn’t think we would be supported by our friends, but rather we didn’t want to answer questions). It was just too emotional. Once we did start talking about infertility, we found out how common it was/is today. So common, in fact, that eight of our friends went through IVF (not including friends of friends)– four of which lived on our street!

How could this be possible?! I still can’t wrap my head around those numbers.

I feel like there is something in the environment which is causing a rise in infertility. But what exactly is it? Water? Pesticides and antibiotics in our fruits and vegetables? Preservatives and GMO foods???

Without knowing for sure, I want to protect my girls the best I can. I have definitely changed the way I cook for my family over the years. We eat a lot of organic foods, meats and dairy without antibiotics, and I read all ingredients and try not to buy any with preservatives. Living in the Caribbean poses it’s challenges with the supply of organic foods. I usually have to go with what looks fresh off the boat!

I know I am not going to solve the world’s problems or infertility, but I can’t help think that something in the environment is effecting our bodies. Educating myself and others on organic foods gives me the hope that more people will be aware. If you are interested, here are some of my favorite blogs that I read on healthy eating.

Food Babe
Organic- Health.us
Food Inc.
A Healthy Dose of Ali

And with Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, consider trying this GMO-free recipe for Mexican Pizzas from the Food Babe. Looks delicious!!

If you have any other blogs/Facebook pages on healthy eating that you would like to share, please let us know.

Prepping for Yard Sale #2

Posted by Heather on May 1, 2013 | 41450 commentsPrepping+for+Yard+Sale+%2322013-05-01+19%3A56%3A09Heather

This time last year, I was 30 weeks pregnant and getting ready to have my very first yard sale. I thought it was hard because of my… condition, but as it turns out, prepping for a yard sale is just plain difficult.

The sorting. The organizing. The cleaning. The deciding what stays and what goes. The convincing your 4 year old that he doesn’t need ALL THOSE TOYS. The pricing. The staging. The marketing.

Brutal.

All for what, about $200 and some change (if you’re lucky)?!

But yet, I love to do it! That’s why I’m gearing up for Yard Sale #2 this weekend.

I wrote a great post last year with tips for planning a yard sale, based on my experiences from Yard Sale #1, and I am definitely following my own advice. And I’m finding it is easier to part with items I don’t/barely use because I have felt the glory of a much less cluttered house. If you are planning your own yard sale this spring/summer, please do take the time to check out my super helpful tips. But for now, here is a quick Heather’s Notes key-visual version.

{Super useful, right?!}

The biggest topic on my mind, however, is whether or not we’re going to have another baby. What does this have to do with a yard sale, you ask? Well, we have a ton of baby stuff that we are storing in our loft that we can get rid of if we aren’t going to need it again. And I do not want to hold on to all this stuff for no reason. Nor do I want to move it all back to Chicago when it’s time to return home.

Decisions, decisions.

Today I am linking up with some fabulous Link-Up parties, like “Wow Us Wednesdays” on Savvy Southern Style and “Whatever Goes Wednesdays” on Someday Crafts. If you’re hosting a link-up party that you think we should join, please let me know in the comments. We’d love to come check it out!

Are you having a yard sale? Any tips you’d care to share with our readers?

{Moonlight & Mason Jars} Monday Night Link-Up Party #4

Posted by Heather on Apr 29, 2013 | 41410 comments2013-04-29+22%3A32%3A12Heather

Welcome to a new Monday Night Link Party called Moonlight & Mason Jars!

We are 5 BLOGS that have come together at 5PM (CST) every Monday night for a little “show and tell”. Link up anything to our link party that you have created or written yourself and it will show up on all five of our blogs! Please don’t link up any items for sale. Each week we will choose 5 of your projects to feature at the next Link Party. We will also pin our 5 featured projects it to our group Pinterest board next week. In order to get featured, please follow our party rules:

1. Display our link party button (or text link) on your post or somewhere on your site. You will find them at the very bottom of this post.
2. Visit all 5 of our blogs & follow us in some way (Twitter, RSS, Facebook, etc.)
3. Visit as many fellow partiers as you can and leave comments. That’s what makes it fun!
4. If you have been featured, please display our featured button on your post.

We can’t wait to see all of your amazing projects!

Here’s the latest & greatest from your 5 Moonlight & Mason Jars hosts:

DIY Magnetic Chalkboard Spice Tins

1: Flat Cake Tutorial
2: Seattle Travel Tips
3: S’mores Cookie Cups
4: Delicious Pasta Ideas

Why I Love My Fit Foods: A Giveaway

Baby Bunny Plushie

1. Create A Functional Kids’ Space
2. Refresh Your Beauty Products
3. Cleaning Up Your Virtual Space
4. Spring Clean Fling Week Link Up

We are pleased to announce our 5 Featured Winners who linked up from last week’s link party.

1. Cowboy Muffins
2. How To Make An Oreo Cake
3. Mothers Day Makeup Bag Gift
4. Vegan White Bean Salad + Vegetarian Caprese
5. Faux Capiz Shell Chandeliers Tutorial

We have pinned these to our group Pinterest board:

Now for this week’s link party:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.thenewlywedpilgrimage.com/moonlight-mason-jars" title="Moonlight & Mason Jars - Monday Night Link Party"><img src="http://www.thenewlywedpilgrimage.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/MMM-250-x-250.png" alt="Moonlight & Mason Jars - Monday Night Link Party" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

{Spring Clean Fling} Friday Link-Up Party

Posted by Heather on Apr 25, 2013 | 41130 comments2013-04-26+06%3A09%3A37Heather

Welcome to the Mama Dish Spring Clean Fling Week Link Up

(try saying that 3 times fast!)

If you’ve been following along with us all week, we are so grateful! We’ve had a great time bringing you tips on how to “Spring Clean” a variety of different areas of your home, and your life. Today we want to see what you’ve been doing!

This is a great way to get new ideas for sprucing up your personal spaces, and a fantastic opportunity to get new viewers to your blog. Not only will your images be visible to anyone who visits our link-up party, but we will also pin an image from your post to our Spring Cleaning & Organization board on Pinterest!

Here are the “rules” for the Spring Clean Fling link up:

1. Link directly to a specific blog post on cleaning and/or organization, not to your blog’s main page. Please do not link to posts not related to this topic. Giveaways or reviews are okay so long as they are related to cleaning and/or organization.

2. Link back to Mama Dish in your post by grabbing our button above (Spring Clean Fling) or the Mama Dish button in our side bar. Text links are okay too, but buttons are so much prettier, dontcha think?!

(To use our buttons: right click on the image and save to your desktop, then insert to your post as an image.)

3. Please consider following Mama Dish on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram/Bloglovin. It’s not mandatory, but it’d be mighty nice of you. We promise that if you follow us, we’ll follow you back.

4. Check out other posts linked up in the Fling. If you see something you like, share it. And for the love of Pete, comment on it! Everyone loves comments. Us too, so don’t forget

Thanks again for participating. Don’t forget to link up with us every Monday night for Moonlight & Mason Jars with these 4 beautiful ladies (Jennifer, Hilary, Thuy & Taylor).

Have a great weekend!