Life in a Venti Cup and Life in a Sippy Cup are sister blogs for, as you might have guessed, the stylish adult and kid set. Blogger Franki Durban finds bits of style and inspiration around the web and posts them here. "I feel it is my duty to free the rest of you from tacky baby apparel, crappy baby shower gifts and trite design ideas," she writes. Recent kid-related posts covered cute food on a stick, handmade baby blankets, and scooters with storage, while adults might like office space inspirations and visual-based e-mail applications. Durban is generous about promoting the work of other bloggers and sells her own prints in her store.

Need a little pickup? It's hard not to get bogged down by endless depressing headlines, but even this blog's title gives a small lift. Things Are Good aims "to make positive news easy to find," and while the site's not oblivious to the bad stuff, think of it as a little internet corner of good news. Many posts revolve around the earth and sustainability (pennies can clean the air, wind power shelters sea life), and there's news about art, body and mind (naps help learning!) , and more. Or click "Random Good" for a random pick-me-up.

Since we're major animal lovers, we love Dolittler, "a veterinary blog for pet lovers, pet voyeurs, and the medically curious," written by real-live vet Dr. Patty Khuly. Some posts answer curious pet owners' questions ("Why do dogs eat grass?" "How cold is too cold for animals?"), while "Vet P.O.V." posts cover topics in the news like debarking and microchips, and "Vetcetera" posts look at random topics like pet poop and best pet presents. The regularly posted entries are fun tidbits to get in your Google Reader and might inspire you to look at your pet (or your vet) with new eyes.

Know Your Meme is a database and web series documenting internet culture: "viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, web celebs and more." If you keep hearing about something and aren't quite sure what it is, head here: Recent episodes covered Balloon Boy, "Nom Nom Nom," and Where the Hell Is Matt, and users can submit their own memes. Don't miss the top 2009 memes.

Written by a former Oprah.com staffer, The Budget Babe is a fashion and beauty site that covers clothes and products you can actually afford. Dress by Numbers posts break celebrity styles down into affordable components, while an ongoing feature allows readers to write in for fashion advice (recently: how to find multi-buckle belts on a budget). And Designer Looks for Less posts spot trends and find the best inexpensive knockoffs. The site also features occasional giveaways and posts detailed info on deals and sales.

The Job Bored is a careers blog devoted to tips and tricks to help you get ahead, both on a day-to-day basis and in your career in general. There are tons of great ideas here about getting organized in your career--the blog suggests creating your own personal personnel file and organizing your job search using the rule of thirds. Readers can write in and ask for career advice, too; recent questions included how long to wait for approval on a vacation request and what to do when your boss has "horrible time-management skills." And don't miss "40 things I wish I knew when I started my career" and "how to find a job using Facebook." By the way, it's also a great blog to read while you're at work.

Almost Frugal is a blog about learning to be more frugal. We love that the author, Kelly Rigotti, isn't an expert--she's learning along with the rest of us. "For me, being frugal doesn't mean deprivation, it means being smart with your spending, saving and money goals," she writes. Since Rigotti is an American living with her family in France, there are cool glimpses of her life and kids abroad, and many posts cover frugality in the home and with kids--recent topics included frugal pregnancy tips, childcare, and paying for kids' after-school activities, and one of the site's most popular posts is how to cut a little boy's hair. An ongoing series, This Is What Frugal Looks Like, interviews regular people about frugality in their lives.

Anyone who's searched for an apartment on Craigslist knows how deceiving (and occasionally downright hilarious) these ads can be. Lovely Listing is great for a quick laugh during the day--see the weirdest, funniest, worst real estate listings from around the world. Don't miss the T. Rex in the kitchen and Top Tips for Real Estate Agents.

Everyone loves Etsy, but the site's overwhelming amount of stuff for sale can make it hard to drill down and find what you want. That's why we love The Storque, which serves as a curator for the site, picking out the best stuff and featuring sellers you might never find yourself. The blog recently highlighted sellers from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK; "the serious art of cute"; and Sherlock Holmes-styled old-school gadgets and Victorian fashion. The blog's Shop Local feature finds sellers in your neighborhood, while Get the Look: Décor helps you find the perfect Etsy items to create a new style in your home.

Launched by a former Domino editor (so you know it's good), Lonny Magazine is an online-only home magazine. Read each free issue online, flipping the pages and all. The Winter 2009 issue is available online now and includes features on eco-chic fashions, tips for decorating small spaces, a gift guide, and more. We love that Lonny Magazine champions bloggers and takes great advantage of its online-only format--every product featured has a clickable buy link, for instance.

Edible Geography finds obscure, interesting food stories from around the world. Each story reflects larger cultural themes: North Korean food diplomacy, for instance, and an ongoing series on quarantine. We especially like the post on cupcake gentrification, which explains that "a spatial analysis of cupcake proliferation could also reveal the flow of capital investment in cities." The posts are quirky and fascinating and invite readers to think about food in new ways.

So your mother-in-law gave you a tropical bath-and-body set--the trouble is, you hate the smell of coconut. Can you pass it on to your beach babe best friend? Find out at Regiftable.com, which is the ultimate holiday re-gifting etiquette guide. "Regifting has gained in popularity since comedian Jerry Seinfeld first coined the term a decade ago," the site explains, and "[e]ven the etiquette experts at the Emily Post Institute approve of the practice in some circumstances." They lay out the info you have to have before you regift ("Some gifts that are good candidates for regifting include good (unopened!) bottles of wine, new household items and inexpensive jewelry") and explain what's absolutely not okay to pass along to someone else ("Do you have to be told not to regift free promotional items?") Send in your own regifting stories, and vote for your favorites. And make sure to play "Guess the Regift"!

Inexpensively combines ways to save, deal alerts, grocery best buys, and coupons into one very useful money-saving site. A network of bloggers covers ways to save on living, eating, shopping, sharing, and going green; we like the Christmas countdown with frugal holiday ideas (like gift wrap alternatives and inexpensive holiday decorating) for every day through December 25. And in the Grocery Best Buys section, weekly shopping lists match current coupons to grocery store sales. Each week, Inexpensively hosts Money Saving Monday, where bloggers are invited to share their frugal ideas about a given theme. The site is looking for bloggers nationwide to join its network.

Where did the word "dude" come from? Why is "front seat" two words when "backseat" is one word? Can you use "y'all" in writing? If these are the kinds of questions that keep you up at night--or if you just want a little trivia to share at your next holiday party--then The Grammarphobia Blog is for you. It's written by two former New York Times editors who are also the authors of grammar and writing books Words Fail Me and Woe Is I and columnists for the NYT's "On Language" column. It's a definite destination for the word-obsessed. Don't miss the e-mail IQ test and debunked grammar myths--for example, it's okay to end a sentence with a preposition (phew!).

"Living the First Class Life...at Coach Prices" is the motto for Upgrade: Travel Better. The blog is aimed at "the traveler looking to maximize comfort, style, and convenience, while getting a great deal," and what makes it so useful is that it focuses on "the mechanics of travel, seen from a consumer's point of view." There's no fluffy travel writing here. Instead, Upgrade: Travel Better focuses on deals (tips on finding discounted first-class fares, where to find cheap last-minute or emergency plane tickets), tips and advice (how to lounge in airports, how to avoid airport rental markups). Don't miss "Five ways to get an edge over other air travelers"--for example, try calling an airline's 800 number from the airport instead of waiting in a long line at the customer service desk.

Quite simply, reading Crucial Minutiae makes you feel smart. This group blog is "about the small things around us everyday. Some pieces are too small to take notice of, by themselves, but over time become part of the larger, crucial puzzle of culture and society." Contributors include journalists from Newsweek, the New York Times, and other well-known publications. Topics covered are incredibly wide-ranging, covering everything from a Texas teen sexual health summit to Obama and technology to swine flu to street art. It's a great place to get a little bit of knowledge about a lot of things.

Call it an untraditional self-help site: Rather than sticking to a small set of topics, PickTheBrain Blog covers "anything related to self improvement." The blog chunks advice up into easily digestible lists--for example, the 5 signs your diet plan will last, 10 very common stupid tricks that wreck a good life, and 5 simple ways to increase intelligence. Most posts fall into a broader category: Motivation, Productivity, Psychology, Money, Health, Education, or Self-Improvement. PickTheBrain also reviews other self-help books and products and has how-to guides on meditating, learning a foreign language, and more.

Reading The Oatmeal is like reading the comics in the newspaper, version 2.0--except The Oatmeal's much more useful. The site is a really fun mishmash of comics, quizzes, parodies, and advice, and everything is written and illustrated by web designer Matthew Inman. The Oatmeal is your new resource for discovering how many germs live on your cell phone, 10 things not to Tweet about, how to use an apostrophe or  17 facts about your cat. Take a quiz to see if you could still pass a driving test or determine whether your loved ones are plotting to eat you. And don't miss the explanation of why people go crazy for Twilight.

The Penny Pinching Diva is the mom to four boys, and she writes that she started her blog because she wants "to help others out there, who like myself, live on one income and want to stretch their dollars as far as they will go. I love catching sales, finding amazing steals at yardsales, couponing, CVS'ing, frugal cooking and anything else that will make my family look like they're 'living large' on less then $10." The site features extensive upcoming coupon insert previews, deals at chain stores like Target and K-Mart, and other coupons available to print online. While these money-saving tips make up the bulk of the content on the site, the Penny Pinching Diva reveals a more personal side in her weekly "5 Things I am Loving" posts.

Money Changes Things is a blog about the good things you can do with your money, with a focus on "socially responsible investing, savvy consuming, [and] sustainable living." Much of the site's content focuses on changes you can easily make from your desk or within your home. Recent posts, for example, alerted readers to free-trade instant coffee and covered eco-friendly laundry strategies. The site also reviews philanthropic initiatives like micro-financing site Microplace and Join My Village and highlights readers' do-good efforts.

Clean Green Talk is a blog written by Leslie Reichert, who supervised a large cleaning service for years and turned to green cleaning after she saw the effects of chemicals in the home. Blog posts focus on how to keep your house spic-and-span without using those harsh products. This month, the blog features a countdown-to-Thanksgiving cleanup plan, which promises to have your house in great shape by the time guests arrive and even includes days to shop and a day to relax. Other useful tips include green alternatives to antibacterial soaps ("Fold some paper towels (recycled of course) neatly into a Ziploc bag and spritz with some water and lemon juice") and Teflon pans. Best of all, most of these tips require products you probably have around your house already, like baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice.

Written by Richard R. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge is a blog about "improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness" based on a popular book of the same name. Each post provides a great example of how little changes in perception can make a big difference. Plus, you'll feel smarter for reading. Recent posts cover ways to get people to take the stairs more often (think music and a view), a method for answering questions more accurately, and the benefits of using urinal flies when you have seven-year-old twins. The site's link roundups are especially interesting and will alert you to a scale that tells the world how much you weigh via Twitter and a recycling program that allows users to earn awards.

Lifestyle optimization blog LifeSnips just launched, but it's already packed with great tips for busy families. A recent post on surviving Thanksgiving offers tips to make Turkey Day go more smoothly...

A community-based wellness blog, SocialWorkout.com is based on the idea that "to get the best out of this world, we must stick together. Everyone can use a little help to fight the inertia, and to be our baddest ass selves, if you will. Hello 'social' workout. We can't actually wake you up at 6:30am (yet), but we can guide you to an emergency spinning class on Saturday afternoon, and pass along intel about life saving personal trainers and/or surf-yoga retreats in Costa Rica." The site regularly hosts "challenges" for members; the latest, Eat. Sweat. Blog., brought members together to blog about their experiences as they mastered "feats" of healthy eating like cutting out soda and being a locavore for a day. SocialWorkout.com is expanding its local sections; it currently has fitness resource guides for New York and Los Angeles, with more cities to come. And posts on topics like better workout buddies, the best fitness products on Etsy, and food/muscle pairings are useful and fun no matter where you live.