Link Love no. 16

Holiday Card sneak peak.

Haven't shared any links I love lately, I guess that's because I just pin everything I want to remember, but here's a few links worth sharing, so enjoy...

Kid friendly slow cooker ideas.  Perfect during my pregnancy!

I love this postpartum print out, too bad I lost the source {please comment if you know!}

Sweet story of a celebrity home birth.

you know I'm a sucker for lists!  To Do printable!

My car WILL be this organized before baby gets here!

A great health article.  A little information about health and ecology and why you can't have one without the other.

I am loving this photographer.

I may have watched too many breech births on youtube last week, here is my favorite. I really needed to see how calmly each one was handled, as the concern of a breech baby is a little overwhelming to me.

You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Tumblr!

p.s. if you have a moment, I'd really appreciate your vote. Click the banner below and then the owl on the left. {No email required and no spam generated! promise}

Link Love no. 15

A lovely view for some lovely links.

Love this pregnancy series by Lesley Grahm

Medicinal Plants of the Southwest, guided tour.  So excited to sit down and watch this!

Another article about hospitals and homebirths, I LOVE the chart they have on this site for the risks of hospital births, most if not all are preventable if you know how to assert yourself, really great info for anyone having a baby.

The Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater.  I feel like we eat really healthy but this just makes me laugh so hard, because... well... it's true.  Everything in moderation, even health.

Are you still using hidden GMOs?  Here are 7 sneaky Genetically Modified Organisms probably making their way into your home and body.

Great acupuncture information for childbirth.  Pressure points on your body to relieve pain during labor.  YES, PLEASE!

Alkaline and Acid based diets.  I'm finding a lot of contradictory informaiton.  Do you follow an alkaline diet?  It seems like candida (yeast) would explode on this diet, something I'm trying to prevent... apparently an acid stomach but slightly alkaline body are the goals for a healthy body, here's another source for acidic and alkaline foods.  And this chart seems helpful in differentiating between acidic and alkaline items, I guess I'm still trying to figure out if it IS beneficial to eat a high alkaline diet, I think it can cause kidney stones too, anyone have any info on this theory??

For any other Candida sufferers out there this is a great blog with a few helpful recipes!

and because I'm trying something new, and you might want to too, check out my new Jux.  do you Jux? I'm still trying to figure out how I want to use it.  Like a glorified instagram?? Right now there are just a few maternity photos posted, but I'll be adding art and such later.



And those are the links I'm loving right now.  Do you share links on your blog?  If so, comment below!

You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Tumblr!

p.s. if you have a moment, I'd really appreciate your vote. Click the banner below and then the owl on the left. {No email required and no spam generated! promise}

Link Love no. 14

Hope you all are loving summer as much as I love these links!

If I had to write a birth plan for a hospital I think it would have to be something like this.  Laughing so hard, I promise you will too.

I think this is a great read about feeling like something is a risk and it actually being a risk.  People trying to scare moms, isn't helping anyone, including babies.

Can't wait to try out this candy shoppe, when we're in San Francisco.  If you have any other AMAZING San Fran suggestions, please, make them now!

This is the cutest kid stationary I think I've ever seen.

And what about these? also adorable!

I wish this was going on while we were in San Diego.  If you're in the area July 13 - August 12 check out this art event! and if you're a tumblr here's their link.

A really great read on kids in America and kids else where.  Why are Americans so spoiled?  

Um. I love this new found blog! check it out.  She makes stuff for sale too!

Really great information on how to handle a toothache naturally {for those of us without dental insurance or people who like to avoid toxic compounds}

I just didn't realize how bad fireworks are for the environment...

Great info. on how to save water for watering a garden.

Coconut black bean brownies?? I'm going to try them!

I have a bunch more links and pin on my pinterest board if you like what you see here, I haven't been doing much link love since I started pinning, but I'll make an effort if you all want me to!

Link Love No. 13

My favorite aisle at the art store, paint and paper, who could ask for more?

Here are a few links I love right now.  I've pinned a few of these on my pinterest, but thought I'd share them here too.

Amazing yoga Photos!!

31 awesome uses for ball jars!

50 uses for Vinegar!

All Natural Cleaners, with recipes!!

Homemade disinfectants!

I REALLY love this ring!

Interesting, creativity tour, get into it.

Natural ways to get rid of a headache.

Finding a new blog to read.  Like I need anymore...

I love these raw bars from my friend Michelle's blog.  I'm making a serious effort to eatright4mybloodtype and to eat more of a raw vegan diet, without actually being vegan (meaning, I do organic local eggs and organic Greek yogurt but trying to focus on raw fruits, vegetable and nuts)

With all my friend's pregnant around me, I can't help but think about my future pregnancy (if and when it happens) and my evolving thoughts on the placenta.  I know I need to read at least one book about it.

While looking for items for Sonja's second birthday {LESS THAN 4 MONTHS AWAY!} I found the cutest party decor website.

And because I know many people are still choosing hospital births when they could birth at home, why women should fear homebirths!

Link Love No. 12

My current in house gallery, just to pretty up these links...

Are you kidding me?! I have yet to see something cuter, must make A.S.A.P.!

Tee Shirt Rug? yeah, that is fun too, but maybe I could do it even bigger as a comforter!!

Ordering these bamboo cutlery pieces! {ps. it's worth the log in they make you do}

How's this for a D.I.Y. collection blog? something to aspire to :)

Husband needs these, Anniversary? Birthday?

Manic Mrs. Stone giving some real talk, think before you call me "food-Nazi", "toy-Nazi" or any "______-Nazi" because for real, I could actually be much much harder on the people I disagree with... I am passionate about the things I love and will defend my beliefs, however, I will not kill innocent people to prove my point {like that one asshole in history}.

Loving all these posts!

This is almost enough to make me wish we used a crib!

Excellent vegetarian resource for pregnant and lactating women!

I have a LOT of things to say to this Elisabeth Badinter but I'll let you make up your own mind, because, you know,I think women are smart {even if they stay at home or work outside of the home}.

Link Love no. 11

a photo of a favorite place for some favorite links...

Why I won't be giving Tylenol to Sonja anytime soon, and it's not because of a recall...

and to go along with the link above, here's one about fevers in children and why they ARE A GOOD THING!

A short but sweet article about breastmilk sharing.

I think I love this blog.

Really interesting for growing potatoes.  I might try it.

Loving this artist!

Trying to find the perfect skirt and capri yoga pant combo, maybe this, this or this one. And if I save up this one.

Wildcrafting alcoholic beverages. Using nature to infuse into drinks? Yes, please!

Link Love No. 10

an image of sprinkles, I LOVE almost as much as these links.

This is truely impressive, I'm working on redoing our much larger laundry room and let me tell you. It's a LOT of work. Can you believe she only spend $300?!

If you haven't seen this calendar floating around on pinterest here it is.  brilliant!

While working on a roofing proposal for my Uncle's architecture firm I came across this! had to share.

My friend, Katie, is an amazing artist! can you believe she's only been painting for 2 years?!

The most tear wrenching story I've read all week, a natural miscarriage {not suggested reading for pregnant women}

I love these free printables! she's got LOTS!

Have you seen my D.I.Y. Pinterest board?  it's out of control!

And I think that's all I have for now.  I'll share more in a few weeks.
Happy Tuesday!

Link Love No. 9

A lovely day at the farm to go with some lovely links below!

I love the photographer my friend's chose to document their special day.

I can't wait to make some of these pies in jars!

Can you do all 50 of these?!  I'm working on them!

I love that this little girl eats like my daughter!  going to incorporate some of these yummy HEALTHY meals into our routine.

Would love to make this! or someone can buy it for me :)

I Love this filing cabinet makeover!

15 reasons why I love vinegar, there are more reasons but this list only has 15 of them :)

Have you seen this duvet cover?!  I love it!

Really helpful ideas for designing a bedroom and home in a way that fosters learning.

Just found this blog and I like it!

Also, I was going to wait a while to share this with you all, but I finally gave in to pinterest, I'm working on filling up my boards right now, so don't judge my half filled ideas yet!

Happy Monday!

Link Love no. 8

Not only am I loving these links, I'm also loving this tree at the DBG!

Want to make this!

and how cool is this upcycled milk/water jug?

Love these FREE daily "To Do" printables!

A fun quote from the ultimate midwife; Ina May Gaskin

Um, so stoked about this feature on picnik.com and thankful for this tutorial!

I could make this, but I'm not sure I have the time to do so, isn't it beautiful, for a shower curtain?

You may recognize linked up item number 84.  Isn't this blog just the best for D.I.Y. Furniture projects?!

I would love to get this for Sonja!

Thanks Danielle, for sharing this awesome photography idea for a wedding!

Awesome Gift ideas here.

Adoptive moms CAN breastfeed, and so can Lesbian mamas who want to co-nurse!

I LOVE these 5 Best Toys of ALL Time!

What will your last thoughts be?  I hope it isn't one of these, no regrets!

A helpful list of foods to avoid, for various reasons. read it! Thankfully we already follow this list :)

Hope you enjoy my link love. Happy Monday.

Link Love no. 7

These are the 6 free ways we avoid getting sick and therefore eliminate OUR need for vaccines, such a good list!

THIS.  is such good information about intervention free labor pain, you CAN labor without drugs and epidurals, here's how.

This made me laugh out loud. (although, SRSLY 20 kids? How about taking a break to enjoy the ones you have??)

Some Placenta talk (and my photographs (NOT of placentas)  in the background) on the news!

Loving this blog I just found AND THIS RECIPE for Deodorant!

Heartbreaking to see artwork removed or destroyed.  Public Art DOES include graffiti!  The 'public' are the ones putting it there!

Love this mama's blog and her personal, heart felt posts.

Katie's post about anxiety was just what I needed to read.  I've been having anxiety this past month and its  comforting to know I'm not the only one who feels like that.

For those of you who think making fun of Hitler is funny and also know a few things about Glocks. Enjoy.

Oh and of course, more breastfeeding debates. To cover or not that is the question... and I think you all know what my answer is.

I am loving this blog! you might have to use google translate because it's in spanish, but the photos of the D.I.Y. projects are amazing!

And the award goes to...

Me.  Well it did, thanks to Jennifer at So I Peed on a Stick.  She handed out 5 of these lovely badges to 4 other mommy bloggers and myself.  Pretty sweet of her, really.

So, why am I bragging? because now, I get to give out five of these bad boys {or girls} myself.

Here are the official rules:

To keep this award going and pass it along to other new deserving blogs, the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have really stood out in the crowd.

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

My winners:

 Desert Gypsy Mama- My friend Katie in real life is blogging and I love it.  So many things are said that we just wouldn't talk about while chasing our babies my baby around the park and what not.  I love that she shares her thoughts, her photos and her fashion, she's a great mama and her son is the cutest! don't believe me check out my pumpkin patch photos, adorable.

Tattooed Momma- I met Lael digitally when she messaged me interested in participating in my handmade exchange. She lives in San Diego but is from Phoenix area and I love her little posts about her family and projects.  She always has cute photos and nice little stories to go along with.  Most recently she posted a recipe for homemade butterfingers.  yum.

Blinded by the Light- This mama has a lot of info about vaccines, pregnancy and more.  Her blog is wrapping up now though, she just had her second child, at home and that was the point of the blog, BUT you can still read through everything there and enjoy what she's posted.

That Mama Gretchen {okay, she has more than 200 followers but not much more AND she didn't when I started following her, so I'm including her. deal. with. it} Gretchen was one of the first blogger mamas I found after starting my blog {besides the big names like Sometimes Sweet and Bleubird Vintage} and I just love that we were pregnant the same time and our daughters are days apart.  It's fun to read about someone who has a little one almost the exact same age.  She is always sharing stories and I'm reading them thinking, "yes. yes. so true. yes."

365 Degrees-  I can't remember who found who first.  Thanks to top baby blogs I've met a lot of mamas and Darcy is one of them.  Another San Diego mama with a uber cute baby boy. She writes letters to her son and shares photos, along with some posts about cloth diapering and making her own baby food.


And there you have it, my top 5 mommy and baby blogs... and of course So I Peed on a Stick but since I already mentioned her and she already won the award, I thought I'd share the above 5 with you.  Hope you enjoy checking each one out.

Happy Award Winning!!

Link Love no. 5

A few veggies from our fall garden, just for fun.

The Links I Love...

Just one more reason to grow your own food, or better yet, find it naturally in the wild!

I LOVE these Men-Ups like pin ups but better! laugh for yourself here.

Phoenix Restaurants are about to get even better with a new Bianco resturant coming soon!!  yummm, pasta. {and a whole food less than 5 minutes away soon too?! at least if I can't save on groceries, I can save on gas}

An artist I like, featuring another amazing artist.

As we approach toddler-hood, I find posts like this extremely helpful.

Love this birth story, hint, it involves a car ride.

Desert Gypsy Mama

So, my friend I.R.L. Katie has started blogging!  I love her little thoughts on life and since you're reading this you might too check her out here.

...and spread the love if you're into her natural parenting, thoughtful living outlook.

desertgypsymama.blogspot.com

Link Love no. 4

Grandma spoiled this little one year old with a new outfit from Target.

Hello Kitty and a Tutu?!  How could I say, "No"?

1. VBAC has a special place in my heart, I was" lucky"* enough to have a vaginal birth with my daughter but when I watched the women around me heal from their first c-section and then their repeats it broke my heart, why should they have to be in so much pain?  Birth pain, labor pain isn't scary, recovering from major abdominal surgery is.  I love this little quote posted by my midwives former assistant, who assisted at my birth.

2. Haven't done yoga in months, but this is too funny!

3. I think I'll stick with real food flavors, thanks though. Gross.

4. Try not to laugh.

5. Would love to display my photography like this at an expo.

6. Fall yummy goodness.

7. Upcycling packing tube so cute!

8. I love these Herb Hand Stamped Spoons!

9. Shouldn't be on Etsy while I'm so hungry.

10. Creative Composting? as a non-traditional gardener I love seeing what others do!

11. Pink washing?!  Know what you're supporting and what they're doing with your money!  This is why I personally, don't support cancer research, prevention is key and spreading that awareness is free!!

*{p.s. I said "lucky" because when explaining my birth to many people; I'm responded to, with, "you're lucky you had such a great birth," and when they say that, I can't think of a worse way to 1. discredit my research prior to my birth, discovering home birth was the best option for a healthy first time mom, 2. discredit my work during my birth, an active birth, 3. discredit my midwife, who had the skills, knowledge and history to recognize something as normal or not, and 4. discredit women, women are meant to birth babies, not all have to and not all want to, but (extreme medical circumstances excluded) our bodies are incredible, powerful and capable birthing vessels. So, if you've ever thought someone was lucky with their birth experiences, don't say so, it's the worst backhanded complement they'll ever receive}

Downloading Fonts

So, this weekend I had a few minutes to myself, and as I have been working on personal event invitations over the past month I realized I needed to dress up my font choices, so I downloaded a lot.  These are some of my favorites. Click the image to download it yourself, and at the bottom of this post I've included instructions for installing a font on a windows PC {I'm not lucky enough to have a mac, yet}

{my favorite font from picnik!}

and while I was searching for fonts I found this, this and this.  

To install;

Open "Download' folder

Select the newly downloaded fonts

Right click

Select "Extract All"

Open "Control Panel"

Open "Fonts" Folder

Copy the extracted font documents into your "Fonts" folder.

You many need to restart your computer after intalling them into the "fonts" folder, but I did not.

Happy Font Downloading!

Link Love no. 3

I'm not saying there's a right or a wrong, but I do believe there is a CHOICE and why not let that little boy make the choice once he's older, if you choose to cut, he can NEVER undo it.


why you might not need a STD vaccine for a newborn, or at least why this mom thinks not.


I might have to have another baby just to use these baby shower invites!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE paper-source and this is my favorite paper at the moment.  Always accepting gifts ;)

Women {and Men} you are NOT crazy, you are not over reacting.  This culture is crazy this culture is destructive, this culture wants you to feel like you're the problem.

Almost time for us to decorate for Halloween around here!

Going to do this with the bread bags you can't recycle at the store, maybe make some shade for the garden, or as a giant "canvas" base....

Can we all stop being so wasteful and start being awesome?

Can not stop laughing. (tumblr is not very source friendly sorry, please take credit for this if it's yours)

sweet use of mod podge and cookie cutters!

My belly (and my photography project) mentioned here.  How cool is that?

Why I hate our culture/society/government, no woman should be forced to labor and deliver a baby with her legs shackled together, not only for her safety but for that of the baby's! and what of that of a healthy breastfeeding relationship. I am in tears over this.  And all because of a non-violent "crime"

Link Love No. 2

Here's some links I've collected over the past few weeks, hope you find them as interesting as I do.

A little article about musicians named Wayne, by an author named Wayne {my Brother-in-Law}.

Lactation Intolerance in the U.S. and some thoughts about breastfeeding.

...and speaking of breastfeeding here's my first published images on the internet from the Latch On America event at Midwives Rising. over at The Examiner by my friend Angie.

Watch this community come together to create a keyhole garden, and learn how to make one yourself!  I wish I could get this type of involvement for my community {sister, brother, and friend} garden.

Watch these women and what they're doing to their bodies, no one should ever find this sexy, my daughter will know food nourishes her, and know she is beautiful {and so are you}.

thanks to That Mama Gretchen for sharing this idea!  LOVE it, going to make them with my scraps!

Those are all I have right now, but you know I'm always making lists so there will be more soon.  enjoy.

Link Love

I've collected some more links I'd like to share...

So proud of my bestest friend, his modeling debut.

Home Births on the Rise? Who wouldn't want to stay in the comforts of their own home while having a total NORMAL bodily experience? If you can pee by yourself, poop by yourself and have the flu by yourself, don't you think you can birth by yourself? or at least with the support of a skilled midwife?? I do!

Don't wait! Someday may never come. Inspiration and gentle real talk.

Ever wonder why organic costs more?  it's not because it's chic, it's because it's responsible.

HEY! that's my belly! Creative Motion Photography; Images by 2 talented photographers.

10 Breastfeeding mistakes you can easily avoid, by reading this!

A great book for any kid that won't go to sleep.

I don't feed sonja processed anything, so making our own baby food is a must, Darcy does it too, and shows you how EASY! it is. here.

An amazing story, twins reunited after midwife holds one hostage for payment, thanks to American midwife stepping in.

A huge shameless plug for my mum and baby photography project; Mumby Photography.  Recently updated.

Vocabulary Term: Upcycling!

Here's a new vocab term for you; upcycling.  It's like recycling except you don't throw your unwanted item into a bin and let some company break it down, you take that item and YOU turn it into something "new" and functional.

Here are some links to various project ideas, of course I'll be trying some of these out and inventing some of my own, but where better to bookmark websites I want to utilize than my own blog? now you and I both have them in one convenient place :)

80 ideas for your dorm

50 blogs for upcycling inspiration

100 upcycling ideas for anyone

those three are somewhat repetitious but I think they each have something to offer.

Now for the crafty jeweler : Junk to Jewelry

or Recycled Crafts! some of these are just okay and some are amazing!

here's one I found: Crafted!

Have fun finding project inspiration!