Link love (Powered by setbacks and rain. Lots of it)

Ahoy! I neglected to post a link love last week, partly because I didn’t have many to showcase, and partly because I knew most of you wouldn’t read it. You were probably too busy gorging on chocolate, unlike me – I was too disorganised to buy any on time, and I decided in the firesales post-weekend that a) there is simply too much choice and b) I simply prefer a good old block or bar or plain chocolate. Forget those disgusting creme eggs, or the tiny solid thumbnail sized ones (I don’t know what those are made of – offcuts? Among the many things life is too short to put up with, is bad chocolate), or even the big hollow ones if for no other reason that they’re not worth $5.

It’s been a rough week around here, and it broke my heart when T said our flat doesn’t feel like home. Although when we first moved here, he was keener than I was. But he’s also the spontaneous type who gets super excited about things to start off with. Really, it’s too far away from friends and family for his liking (and dudes, we’re talking maybe a 20-minute drive, as opposed to 5 or 10. Not enough to convince me to budge, seeing as I now have a sub-30min commute as opposed to an hour-long one before).

But the fact is, crime happens everywhere. Almost everyone I know has a tale of burglary or similar. We were hit multiple times when we lived in a bad street. We’ve been targeted here in our nice neighbourhood (although that time was entirely self-inflicted). A friend in the staunchly middle-class suburb where we’re from just got wiped out entirely (he was uninsured, sigh). Another friend used to hide her laptop and jewellery under her pillow/bed every single morning as part of her routine before leaving the house. I suppose if you want to have nice things in this world, you better be vigilant as there are plenty who will take it away from you in a second.  (and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were organised thieves hitting up neighbourhoods on the long weekend). Aside from finding a house with hard-core electronic gates and a garage (so not within our price range) or – shudder – potentially moving back into an actual  apartment block, assuming one with more than one secure parking spot could be found, there really isn’t any type of dwelling that is inherently safer.

Anyhoos. For your perusal!

FOOD

Eggs, like steak and roast, still elude me. I think the first time I ever had scrambled eggs I was well into my teens (incidentally, I used to work at a caf which did wickedly rich eggs on toast; I don’t know what the secret was though) but for the life of me I can’t make them myself. Luckily, Amber’s tracked down a video guide to making the perfect scramble!

I’ll have to set aside some time to try Kevin’s latest Moroccan tagine offering.

Bacon = indulgent. Beans = healthy. Yes? Cate combines the two.

I do not especially like gelato, but this lemon poppy recipe! Ahhh!

WORK

A editor’s guest post on Make a Living Writing presents seven secrets writers need to know.

Meanwhile, Jasmine walks us through her writer’s resume.

Some preach the side hustle mantra, others, like Steph, prefer to channel all their energies into their main gig.

Passive Panda shares a tool to help you follow up on emails and contacts.

A Lotta Lettuce explains how she learned to like her job.

Mark blogs about balancing the professional and personal on Twitter.

MONEY

Investing Newbie pays tribute to the savings account.

Thousandaire reckons in some cases, leasing a car isn’t actually a bad call.

While bringing in more money is theoretically limitless, Karen explains why she’d rather focus on cutting expenses.

Ooh, a new take on marriage and money! Jenn asks why tying the knot prompts people to combine finances.

Outsmart the ATM, via Get Rich Slowly.

Everyday Minimalist has some suggestions on how to get past the mental hurdle of dealing with a “sunk cost”.

J$ outlines some instances when unautomating finances actually helps.

LIFE

I’m loving Kim’s latest Open Letter Friday.

And Revanche’s two part series on the high costs of parenting fails.

It’s a rare person who’ll admit to feelings of jealousy, but Neurotic Workaholic opens up about envying others.

Eye opening as always: a Yes and Yes true story of searching for spirituality.

Alexis urges us to take the leap now – because dreams change, as I’ve said before.

Finally, Nicole shares her frankly awesome new manifesto.