TestQ – This well of knowledge and career quiz site is brought to us by Monster, the job search company. TestQ is packed with various quizzes that help you make better decisions, see what career fields suit you best, and it can even help you decide what to major in at college.

Although the idea of having a website dedicated to quizzes might constitute a huge turnoff to some, scratching beneath TestQ’s surface reveals a most valuable job and career resource worth exploring every now and then. I actually found that I liked taking quizzes… My personal favorite here was What Motivates You?

Baubauhaus – Here’s a daily design feed you should RSS to even if you’re not a creative professional or artist. Appreciating aesthetics and creativity is just as important and therefore, Baubauhaus is a must site to add to your web favorites list. The site provides a daily dose of inspiration in design, illustration, photography, fashion and in all else art-related.

Exploring Baubauhaus made me feel like I could spend my entire day browsing the gorgeous and inspiring entries on the site. The site’s content is not always original, but it sure is pretty! Here’s my favorite photography post, Green by Linda Lundgren.

Unbound – Best selling books you see or hear about in the news are quite often the result of people and companies in high places pulling strings and taking away the true freedom from authors wishing to write about what and how they desire. This also means that as readers, great books and stories never see the light of day while we are missing out on great stories.

Unbound is here to make the lives of authors and readers easier by putting back the power into the right hands. As an author you can share your book pitch, and include a short video explaining what your book is or will be about. Registered Unbound users can then promote authors’ pitches and books by selecting a support level of their choosing. The higher the support, the higher the reward (lowest reward level translates into having your name included in the author’s e-book, highest support level can even mean having lunch with the author).

Although Unbound currently serves the UK market only, it’s a revolutionary concept that truly can level the publishing playing field. See the project of Terry Jones’ book, Evil Machines as an example.

xoJane – It’s always refreshing to find a genuinely great online source for women that’s well above the Glamour-Cosmopolitan standard. xoJane is a sophisticated, witty and downright helpful resource for women seeking a regular place to visit for bona fide tips on fashion & beauty, tech, relationships and other topics.

If you’re looking for wishy-washy content with ‘drive men crazy’ innuendos, xoJane is not for you. If you are, however, into boldly written content that hits the nail of women’s issues on its head, xoJane is THE place to go to. I’m already subscribed and loving it! Here’s a post I found totally right on: Riding in Cars with Insanely Windy Hair: Two Creative Solutions by Anya.

InspireFirst – Sources of inspiration for creative professionals are an absolute must. InspireFirst recognizes this ever-increasing demand in creative ideas and had thus created “a global source of inspiration for all the web-designers, painters, photographers, architects, fashion designers, and representatives of all the other professions and hobbies, where inspiration is treated as an integral part of a creative production process.”

The creative showroom-like platform makes InspireFirst an easily accessible and appealing spot for resourceful ideas in design and art, which is not an obvious thing online. It usually takes long, in-depth research to find worthy inspirations, and now InspireFirst has facilitated this mission. To give an example, here’s an image from the post Illustrations by Florian NICOLLE:

The Burning House – The concept of this beautiful and inspiring blog -a winning Weekly Blog, in fact, by Foster Huntington– is simple: “If your house was burning, what would you take with you?” Each post is the submission of a different person showing quite aesthetically his or her must-have objects.

See what Luca Cavallaro, a 34 year old designer from NY has picked:

Name: Luca Cavallaro
Age: 34
Location: New York
Occupation: Designer
Website: http://officineottiche.tumblr.com/

List:

• Alma Lou, she would even be enough.

If I have time:

• Hard drive, for memories that my brain failed to store.
• Sunglasses, I feel naked without them.
• Wallet, a gift from my wife.
• My father’s old camera, I promised him to take good care.
• Sneaker, emergency orange.
• In the black box, my vintage eyewear collection (favorite only).
• Phone.
• Vintage leather mask, in case I have to protect my face from the flames.
• Dieter Rams alarm clock, I don’t wake up on my own.
• Orange hummer, if i have to brake some windows during the escape.
• Life buoy ring, in case of flooding. In Italy we say:” le sfighe non vengono mai da sole”, misfortunes never come alone.

To submit your own photographed list of items you would take from your burning house, submit your own post.

Getaround – This innovative startup is the 2011 TechCrunch Disrupt winner. What makes it so special? Getaround has taken an existing concept -car rental- and made it better, more affordable and more accessible. The idea is simple. You find car rentals from real people, private car owners near you at an affordable rate, and you in turn can rent out your own car for someone else when you don’t need it.

Life + Times – Sometimes there simply isn’t an easy way to explain what a site is about except for exploring it by yourself. This is exactly the case with Jay Z’s fabulous Life + Times, “a digital experience” covering art, sports, music, fashion and culture.

Will My Dog Hate Me? – Writer, editor and self-proclaimed ‘dog slave,’ Edie Jarolim is the talented blogger behind this winning Weekly Blog about man’s best friend. Right from the get-go you can tell Edie has a gift for writing, and the blog is filled with beautifully written and engaging posts canine owners will fall in love with.

Although Frankie is Edie’s first dog ever, you would have never known that by reading the blog alone. Find great tips, interesting facts and lots of funny dog photos and videos on Will My Dog Hate Me? Here’s one of my favorite posts I’m sure applies to all the dog owners out there seeking leaner doggy treats: Healthy & Economical Dog Treats.

AHAlife – This upscale website is an “online discovery destination where you can learn about – and purchase – the best unique products from around the world, collectively curated by our group of influential tastemakers.” In other words, AHAlife (‘aha’ referring to the sound of discovery) features high quality products for you to admire and buy, ranging from fashion and home decor to food, travel and technology. Think of it as an online store offering a curated collection of items for people with exquisite taste.

To get an idea of the sort of things you can buy here on AHAlife, here’s the What’s New page.

What really makes AHAlife stand out from any other upscale store is its team of curators. This certainly serves as worthy added value you won’t find elsewhere. I strongly encourage you to register to AHAlife and be inspired by beautiful, meaningful things on a daily basis.

Simply Breakfast – Jennifer Causey loves cooking up breakfast dishes as much as she loves talking pictures, and that’s how this food-photography blog came about. If you want to expand your morning meal repertoire, Simply Breakfast is rich with new, healthy (for the most part) and yummy breakfast ideas you will love. No wonder this blog is one of the Weekly Blog winners. My only complaint is that I wish Jennifer would have made her breakfast recipes available – they’re too delicious to look at!

To learn more about Jennifer and her work as a photographer, click here to get to her professional site. If food is what you’re after, see the image below of my personal favorite breakfast ever!

Man Made DIY – This unusual yet intriguing blog (another Weekly Blog winner) by Chris Gardner is a cross between guerrilla-style craft making and modern day indie design inspirations. The range of topics you will find in Man Made’s posts varies tremendously, but one thing stays the same: interest and lots of it. I suggest starting out with Man Made’s Top 10. If you can’t wait, see the two posts below I decided to share:

How to Make a Back Yard Drink Caddy for $2.00

Sci-Fi IKEA Manuals