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Link love (Powered by doughnuts and endless emails)

Reading through some of my old posts recently, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia. For the bloggers I used to read, who’ve stopped writing. Many of them were once commenters here, but no more.

When I first started reading blogs I was a lot more discerning. I limited my reading; I liked to feel I knew the basics about each person I read about – age, occupation, family, location, etc. But bloggers come and go – especially in the personal finance area, where so many are anonymous, or eventually come to the end of a financial journey, and simply fade away.

Now I’ve added more and more fresh blogs to my reader (I’m up to 432, though that includes old feeds to blogs that are no longer active, like some of those below). I’m still picky. I often find myself visiting a blog multiple times through links from elsewhere before taking the step of subscribing. But I’m going to take a moment here to mention some of the bloggers I miss:

Girl with the Red Balloon

Katie/Red was a fellow (ex) journo who quit the profession because it didn’t offer the right kind of lifestyle and pay. I was seriously envious of her writing chops and her dedication to minimalism, fitness and debt payoff.

Fabulously Broke

Since her blog was bought out, it just hasn’t been the same. There are still plenty of pre-written FB posts, but that’s not going to last forever – and the posts that aren’t by her very obviously stand out. Luckily she has a new blog: Mochi and Macarons (two things I do not care for, but I do love her style!)

The Anti-Socialite

One day her posts stopped showing up in my reader. Upon checking the link, though I found out it’s gone private (so maybe she’s still blogging quietly!).

Dog Ate My Finances

Dog was brusque and I didn’t agree with a lot that she said. But I admired her chutzpah and am sad that her blog seems to have been sold to some crappy company trying and failing at SEO (hence why I’m not linking).

SF Money Musings

Loved her because she was another introverted, creative, Asian girl making it in the big city. Again, her blog seems to have been sold to the lowest common denominator.

Frugal Dreamer

A down-to-earth Canadian girl whom you just couldn’t help but warm to.

Blonde and Balanced

She started out on WordPress as Carrie on the Cheap, then came out as her real self and moved over to B&B. Now she’s gotten married, bought a house and stepped back from the blogosphere.

An English Major’s Money

I’ve already done a fan post about this girl. So much smarter than I’ll ever be.

Special Snowflakes and Other Myths

I still think this is the greatest premise for a blog ever. My dad was definitely guilty of cultivating this in me. Despite having terrible self esteem and body image issues, I used to have an inflated perception of my own abilities. Writing – I thought this would surely lead to a great writing career. Music – I thought I could sing. I wrote songs (mostly lyrics, a few actually set to music). All things I thought the world would embrace. All things that millions of others are also vying for, every day.

How many blogs do you read? Any blogs you’ve seen disappear you wish would come back?

Links I liked this week:

Some excellent life advice from Just a Titch.

Bullish advice on asking for more money.

A lovely, bittersweet post on life and death by Kara.

What to do after making a career switch, at Life Etc.

Tips for the first time cruiser, from Stephany Writes.

My post on getting back into your groove, How to reclaim your work mojo, was in the last carnival of personal finance.

And more recently, Journalism lessons for the rest of us (on thinking like a journo to get ahead) made it into the Yakezie carnival.

Blast from the past

One year ago…
I pondered the impact of class in the workplace;
Outlined why I have no management aspirations;
Talked about having a communications degree;
Shared some of my favourite cheap eats in Auckland;
Blogged about peak creative times.

Two years ago…
My childhood best friend found me through Facebook;
I struggled with some relationship imbalance;
And blogged about the plight of the journalism grad.

Three years ago
I recounted some of my early jobs;
And asked why YOU blog.

7 thoughts on “Link love (Powered by doughnuts and endless emails)

  • Reply Kara E May 7, 2012 at 04:38

    Thanks for the Link Love!! I’m glad you enjoyed my post – it was a tough one to write.

  • Reply Michelle May 7, 2012 at 07:01

    There are so many blogs out there that I miss, especially Reds!

  • Reply Revanche May 7, 2012 at 07:48

    I’ve also been limited in my ability to throw the net wider around how much I can read and comment on, and every so often, I’m thrown by how many names I don’t recognize anymore. But going back in the archives, I was struck by how many have now been and gone since those early days, and I am nostalgic too.

    I do miss some of those writers we’d gotten to know, to whatever degree they’d shared themselves.

    Oddly enough, I did notice a few comments by someone claiming the moniker of Dog ate my Finances with the same icon, I suppose that might be the person who bought the domain?

  • Reply fromshoppingtosaving May 7, 2012 at 14:03

    I was just thinking of how much I miss Amber from Blonde & Balanced. It’s sad to see all of these old blogs gone. They were still around when I started blogging but they slowly started disappearing.

  • Reply Sense May 7, 2012 at 19:40

    It is equally shocking to see how far many have come since they started blogging. I remember when The Simple Dollar and Budgets are Sexy started, not too long after/before I started my blog, and I’m in awe of how they have cultivated their readership to such big numbers!

  • Reply AM I A BLOGGER « MY LIFE THROUGH MY LINES May 8, 2012 at 23:59

    […] Link love (Powered by doughnuts and endless emails) (eemusings.wordpress.com) […]

  • Reply Life [Comma] Etc May 9, 2012 at 09:28

    Not sure how I missed this, but thank you so much for the link love!

    You’ve basically given me a whole set of great blogs to check out… so my RSS reader thanks you for that, as well!

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