Happy 10th Birthday, Collecting Postcards Blog (Something Blog-Worthy…Definitely)

Ten years ago today, on Sunday, April 13, 2014, I sat down at my laptop in the guest room of our former northern Virginia apartment and typed out a post called Something Blog-Worthy…Maybe.

I had been a candidate for the Foreign Service on and off since 2011 and had decided to start sharing publicly about my journey to become a diplomat. I reflected that I hadn’t kept any public writing presence since around 2004 when I’d finished my Peace Corps Volunteer service and let the website I’d had at that time lapse. But I wondered if I might be able to pay forward some of the wonderful things I’d learned from others’ blogs as I navigated my FS candidacy and build upon them in my own writing. I like helping others, and writing helps me to process and understand my own experiences.

I didn’t have any way to know then that I was only three weeks and one day from receiving my invitation to join the Foreign Service.

So quickly my blog became not only a compendium of my candidacy efforts between 2011 and 2014, but also a growing collection of stories, reflections, and what I will very loosely term guidance for those also considering a career in the Department or with Peace Corps. And since its inception, I’ve never missed a month in publishing at least one post, and often more.

I have been humbled time and again to hear both directly and indirectly that this blog has helped and entertained others. I am glad to know this and I thank you for reading. I’m glad to be a part of this organization, our work, our network of colleagues assisting U.S. citizens and the mission of diplomacy, and representing our country. And I’m glad to informally be a voice of encouragement to others not to self-adjudicate out of a job that can be incredibly challenging and intimidating to consider applying for, let alone doing.

I will write the blog as long as I continue to enjoy doing so and feel anyone besides me enjoys it, and I am looking forward to sharing more adventures as we head to our next overseas posting in Burma in 2025.

---

I ran some numbers to find the top 10 most-read posts and pages on the site of all time. These are not necessarily all my ‘favorite’ posts – with today’s post marking the 350th all-time post to the blog, there are certainly many others to choose from. But the ones below are the ones readers have visited the most, ever. So I hope you will visit and enjoy them too if you haven’t had a chance yet.

In the next few months, I am planning a theme change to make content on the blog better organized and easier to find. I’m also working with WordPress to correct a technical problem where a small number of the blog’s photos in posts from 2014 and 2015 won’t load, and that should be resolved soon.

In the meantime, thank you for reading.

---

Top 10 Blog Posts, April 2014 – April 2024

1. Tips for Authenticating Louis Vuitton Multicolore (2020)

2. Becoming an FSO Part II: The QEP (2014)

3. My Foreign Service Timeline (2014)

4. Foreign Service Housing (2019)

5. Becoming an FSO Part III: The FSOA (2014)

6. About the Author (2014)

7. Flag Day Recap (2014)

8. Becoming an FSO Part I: The FSOT (2014)

9. I Left My Heart at the Iberostar Grand Paraíso (2021)

Two posts I wrote during my beloved assignment to Australia received the same exact amount of hits as of today, so I’m calling 10th place a two-way tie!

10. I Love a Sunburnt Country (Wide Brown Land) (2019) and Cheeky and Curious: Australian Cockatoos (2019)

---

… and one to grow on, a bonus 11th place.

11. Foreign Service Cars: Buyer Beware (2018)

---