Melissa Jill Photography

Denise - Hey Melissa! Way to go! Along with being a photographer, I also work in the marketing department for United Blood Services so this cause is especially close to my heart :-) (I even made that sign that you posted a photo of :-) Giving every six months is a great goal, in fact you can safely donate every 56 days (depending on what kind of a donation you make). It only takes an hour of your time to give, but your donation can save several lives when your donation is broken down into components. This sounds crazy, but it actually take 700 blood donors A DAY to meet the needs of patients in AZ (that includes weekends, and holidays.) For more info on donating blood, visit www.UnitedBloodServicesAZ.org. Thanks for blogging about something SO important!

Natalie - Hey - for everyone who is low on iron, just buy one of those heavy iron skillets and use it once a week or so. It leaks iron into your food! I used to use it a lot and found out that my kids were too high in iron. Woops.

ashley bartoletti - i used to give blood about every two months in college... and haven't since i graduated four years ago. thanks for reminding me how important this is!

Shar Rundio - Yea, Melissa for checking off another item and for donating. I laugh that the vampires have been calling but they love me and I go every time they call. Have you looked into the "power red" donation. It requires 2 more iron points than the normal so I miss it periodically but it's the equivalent of 2 donations. I don't remember all the technical details but they take out the blood, filter it and then return what they don't need. I like that you have to go less often. If you need a friend next time let me know. Any excuse to see you!

Melissa Jill :) - Huh. That explains a lot Liene. I'm an orange juice FIEND. Reference--smoothy post: http://www.melissajill.net/index.cfm?postID=370

Liene - Lessons learned: Coffee limits the iron your body can absorb from food, but so can tea. Citrus juices help though, so apparently I need to substitute some OJ for all the pomegranate tea I drink. Also, earlier this year I cut back on my intake of meat, but not on coffee, so that imbalance can attribute to low iron counts as well.

john waire - great job melissa and awesome post! honestly, i think the finger prick is the most painful part of the process :) cheers!

Chung Nguyen - I keep getting denied (iron level too low). It makes it disheartening to try again and again (even after increasing my iron-heavy food intake). For you, MJ, I'll try again in the near future.

shawna - I used to donate regularly until I got pregnant. One and a half years later, I'm back in the game. I just donated two weeks ago and it was a great feeling! My 101 list has marrow registration on it, as that is very important to me, yet I have not yet made the appointment. Congrats on your goal accomplishment!

angie + matt - AWESOME! After the 2 blood transfusions I needed after I delivered Paisley I definitely want to start donating blood:)!

Tanya Mills - Yay! Another one checked off your list and for such a great cause. Thank you for the reminder to give blood. Unfortunately, I usually don't make it past the iron test. Maybe I should drink more of your spinach smoothies...