Link love (Powered by a week of epic fails)

Boy, am I glad this week is over. The one good thing was…making the best chocolate chip cookies ever. And another thing which I won’t mention for fear of jinxing it.

To this week’s roundup, aka, my pick of the blogosphere:

LIFE

Jane asks whether you had pushy or laidback parents, and wonders whether she needed more of a kick up the butt from hers.

Revanche plays hostess and wonders what good hosting etiquette entails.

Karen at Living Well on Less on the downsides (real side?) of pregnancy.

My Pretty Pennies is starting a wedding fund. While that sounds like a great idea – weddings don’t come cheap – I think my travel fund has to come first. The wedding fund will just have to wait…perhaps slotted in before a house fund?

And on that note, Lacey wonders why people all too often label a wedding “the most important day of her life”. (To which I say, preach it. I’m sure getting married will be a blast, and a huge milestone occasion, but it’s just one day.)

Stephany gets some perspective and reminds herself how lucky she is to be healthy and able-bodied. For a hater of exercise like me, this really hit home.

Jenny from Dinner: A Love Story pens a love post to coffee dates.

Are you part of the smartphone brigade? Carrie Actually has some advice for iPhone users.

Stone Soup’s Jules presents a minimalist guide to cooking with herbs.

Katie asks what you would want your ideal autobiography to read like. (Yes, it starts off with a picture of Justin Bieber, but it’s for a reason). How about well-travelled and wildly successful in love, work, and the kitchen? Seriously, that would be great. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

Average Girl has some hilarious advice for surviving high school. Ah, how I don’t miss it. Although, jeez, life was a hell of a lot simpler sometimes. (Although if you read one of the trillion songs I penned back then, it might not seem that way.)

On that note…Not That Kind of Girl finds love and shares a poem written by her 12-year-old self.

Oooh, and Ninja shares his and Girl Ninja’s love story. AWWW.

WORK / CAREER / MONEY (that’s right, all three in one)

Well Heeled on pinching pennies, yet justifying splurges.  (Guilty)

Little House on the Prairie has a guest post from fellow blogger Jennifer Lou on quitting her job at Google and finding a new path.

Rachel (not Rebecca) asks whether you would leave your city for Just Another Job, if it would get you one step closer to your real dream.

Rainy Day Saver has some tips for freelancing through networking.

Working Girl asks which Sex and the City character you’re most like.

Finally Ramit Sethi, founder of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, guest blogs for J Money about why you should ignore traditional advice when starting a business.