Snapshots into my life right now:

• Someone posted our class photo from 2003 on Facebook and started tagging everyone in it. I can’t believe it’s basically been 10 years since we started high school.

• Bodies are funny. Not so long ago, I couldn’t eat peanut butter without breaking out in cysts, I couldn’t go a day without washing my hair and NOT look like a homeless swamp monster, and I had less of a face than I did an oil slick. None of these are true right now. Yay hormones righting themselves, eventually!

• Attending the Magazine Awards this week, it struck me just what a rich history and tradition the industry has. I hope one day digital media will host its own equivalent (and yes, I know there are the Webbys, ONYAs, etc, but one that’s purely editorial would be bangin’).

• I would quite like to be able to put the phrase “award-winning” in front of my name. Perhaps some day.

• I was finally, I think, getting comfortable with the idea of getting married in the next year or two. And then I wasn’t. My original life plan included getting married close to 30 or so, at which stage we would then be ready to buy a house and have kids. Marriage was a trigger, really, for that next life stage. Getting married at 24/25 means coming back post-honeymoon to years more of the same: renting crappy Auckland housing stock while scraping together a deposit. Someone I know reckons she was never this cold while living in Canada (where it SNOWS) because property there is actually properly insulated.

Links I liked this week:

Blueberry cream cheese pie with shortbread crust (via Poor Girl Eats Well). Drool!

Triple berry buttermilk bundt, by Smitten Kitchen

Stonesoup explains how to get more fish into your diet, even if you don’t live near the sea

How to learn a language in 90 days, at Zen Habits

Ask A Manager busts some myths about job interview thank-you notes

Aloysa shares her thoughts on the can-women-have-it-all debate

Earth and Money shares how to pull off a frugal, green wedding for $5000

Finally, TeacHer Finance voices something I’m feeling lately – that the financial journey never lets up

I know I just posted about the importance of giving, but it’s hard to muster up money and motivation to give to an acquaintance – who has lived the most privileged life you can imagine – who is now fundraising to go overseas on a charity mission. Just saying.

I’m a bad person.

Linky time

Thanks to American Debt Project for hosting the latest Totally Money carnival (I’m an editor’s pick!)

And Nerd Wallet for hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance (I’m in there with my post on charitable giving)

Susannah Breslin busts three myths about working from home.

Life, Etc talks blog envy, and features me in her latest Life as a Pie post

Some advice on talking to people who’ve recently lost loved ones, via Jessie’s Money

A timely post for me at Makeunder My Life about the reality of relationships – I guess the key is lowering your standards to be more realistic, without going too far.

Walking in Heels shared lessons learned from a decade of driving and dating

Brutally honest. Redhead Writing on admitting your fears

The dark side of budgeting is a scary place. I’ve been there (via The Happy Homeowner)

Lies that TV tells us, at Twenties Hacker

An expat’s lament, from Musings of an Inappropriate Woman

This (nail on the head) Editorialiste post made me depressed about my industry

On a happier note: Butter ice cream! Hungry and Frozen is a girl after my own heart

Or how about these chocolate swirl buns at Smitten Kitchen?

And finally, one of my favourite this week: Neurotic Workaholic’s post, When I was a kid…

I am always astounded by the sheer number of mechanics in the city. They are EVERYWHERE. Surely they can’t all have enough business to get by? Still, we are a city of a couple million; many of us have cars – and we also tend to drive older cars here – that need warrants and repairs and tuneups.

Likewise, the proliferation of creative agencies also baffles me. But business is business, right? Some of these guys are doing seriously stupendous work, be it for up-and-coming challenger brands or refreshing the likes of Nike and Fila. I wish I was more visually creative… I’d love to be doing work like that (although not working those crazy hours). Outstanding advertising is art in its own right.

To the point: I was lucky enough to be at Semi-Permanent this weekend, a creative and design conference featuring ad types, illustrators, artists, designers, filmmakers.  (I was stoked to see a lot of Asian faces in the audience – too many of us still get stuck following our parents’ dreams, and it doesn’t always go the Glee way with the kid standing up for their artistic dream and the parent coming around.)

And there were so many great quotes shared by Florian of design agency Hi Res I just had to share here with you:

Be passionate about your work but remember there are other things in life

Learn to separate sense from nonsense

Learn to question, but don’t question as a reflex

Fail better

You learn balance by losing it

Life is trying new things to see if they work

Experience is something you get just after you need it

Other highlights – Kelli Anderson (you might know her for her stunt creating a paper record player), cute as a button, doing amazing graphic design work for huge brands like JC Penney and infographics for Wired and Fast Company to things like Google Maps hacks and mapping income equality over a map of NYC; and Wallpaper magazine in London – I had to marvel at the creativity of their covers (letting 22,000 subscribers design their own; printing every issue with a unique range of hues) and how they’re pushing both analogue and digital boundaries, integrating their print and online properties.

Tell me, what’s inspired you lately?

And in meantime, peruse this jumbo edition of links:

WORK

The topic of passion and work continues to intrigue me. Following your passion – it’s easier said than done. Try asking these questions to get to the heart of yours, via Grow.

The real secret to making money by following your passion, via Get Rich Slowly.

Kyla Roma on what she wishes she had known about finding/following her passion.

And Sense to Dollars expounds on how passion always pulls her through at work.

A nice post for freelancers on cracking online business markets. Wise words. I often see blogs advising freelancers to get their sales calls out of the way early in the day. NOOO. We do not have the time to deal with pitches in the morning – yours will likely get ignored or lost.

Sean Ogle blogs about how to extract more enjoyment from your day job.

Rachel Hills on getting started in the world of writing (something I touched on this week)

Freelancing isn’t for everyone, says Krystal.

Don’t assume you need a prestigious career, at Afford Anything.

A Cat of Impossible Colour has some fantastic quotes to reinspire the writers among us.

Two stories from the Billfold also caught my eye: insights into the life of a professional cellist and an interview with a Wall St journalist. Favourite quote: “Really high finance has very little to do with personal finance. The things that companies do, we would all get arrested if we tried.”

LIFE

Erika ponders what happens when the recipe for successful 21st century life fails.

Penelope Trunk argues that more than anything, we’re in the age of personal responsibility.

Diary of Why explains why she’s better off alone.

Suburban Sweetheart has a lovely post on family, heritage and identity.

Also at Grow, a reminder about being social – and genuine – on the social web (pretty much what I was trying to say here)

20 and Engaged reflects on her first year of being a wife, and loving to the maximum of your capability.

How to get the respect you deserve, by Betsy at Married with Luggage.

Amelia Pontes on the things she’s learned about time.

I loved this post from Zen Habits on finding contentment in small things.

FOOD

A Wandering Food Lover shares her recipe for afghan biscuits.

Love this! 15 sorta-truths about dinner, at Dinner: A Love Story

A fresh take on asparagus by Not Eating Out in New York.

And finally, Iowa Girl Eats whips up some open faced chicken caprese sandwiches

Winter has officially swept into town. Boots. Scarves. Stockings. They’re all in, and my sandals and thin cardigans are out.

This is our first winter in our current house and I can see my breath in the mornings in our bedroom. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be damp and the kitchen gets a lovely ray of sunlight in which I bask while eating my toast. It’s quite pleasant, really.

This week’s links

On my Tumblr: Don’t be one of THOSE comms/PR people. Or we can’t be friends anymore.

Hannah Katy dishes out some tough talk on making a difference in the world.

10 reasons NOT to trust dudes with finance degrees, via Ms Career Girl.

Can you really pull yourself up by the bootstraps? 20s Finances tackles a touchy topic on the Yakezie blog.

Cassie at Digging Out and Up lists all the things she could buy if she didn’t save.

Mmmm. Lemon + blueberry + yoghurt + loaf = a recipe I must try. Via These Little Moments.

Two Degrees shares some of her personal blind spots.

Zen Habits on how to be happy. Word.

Like Cait at Stratejoy, I’ll admit to at least a partial belief in manifesting. I definitely don’t think positive thinking and visualising desired outcomes can ever be a bad thing.

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.