This blog is now 10 years old – and it’ll be driving before you know it. Here’s the very first post from (April 2013) right before I moved to South Korea but it’s just a GIF. Here’s the first real post with text from May 2013; published 3 days before I flew out. Apparently it’s also known as the Aluminum Anniversary but all I hear is Jony Ive when I read that and I can’t seriously call this the al-yoo-min-ee-um post.

Rereading that makes me feel so excited for her. For me. 25 years old and ending that post with “I hope I’m ready.” Girl, you were and yet there was no way you could be. Who would have guessed you’d love Korea so much that you stayed another year? You were bold and ridiculous and traveled solo to the Phillippines and Japan and all over the country on sometimes just a day or week’s whim. You loved deeply and jumped to Chicago for 7 years on the spine of the bravery you built during those 2 years in Korea, leaning into the discomfort of having to ask for help all the time! It’s been a wonderful decade.

I’m proud of all those jumps. And last week I celebrated another one; 1 year back in Washington state, in my hometown. One year since traveling with the cats (shudder), one year since becoming a car owner again (I love my lil’ Jeep), one year of consistent family time (first Thanksgiving at home in 16 years). There have been some big milestones since moving home; sometimes they feel like they’re coming so fast that I can’t catch my breath and write about them, but I’m going to try and post shorter, more often.

Here’s a snapshot since the last post in November:

• February – took the FSOT – Foreign Service Officer Test – as planned and passed! There’s no pass/fail score anymore (they did away with that in June 2022), but I found out I was moving forward in the process via email!
• What happened in March/April? I dunno, looking at my calendar it was a lot of improv, wedding showers, bachelorettes, gym, repeat?
• May – Best frand got married, I was the maid of honor, it was beautiful and 90 degrees in a velvet jumpsuit outside of Portland and we danced the night away! My first ever MOH speech!
• June – Littl’st sister got married to her cactus prince (I’m sorry to whichever of the two of you reads that first and I mean it with so much love) and I got to be co-maid of honor so yes, another MOH speech!
• Also June – Visited Victoria, BC with B (my other sister/roomate) – AND I FLEW A PLANE! YES I WILL WRITE ABOUT THIS IT WAS INCREDIBLE! And we also kayaked with sparkly plankton at night that was *insert Pam Beesly taking a photo memory because it was too dark to actually take a pic
• July – recovered from June slash prepped for mArAtHoN August (see below)
• August – Produced (and played in) my first show! A one-night-only short form music improv show that hopefully happens again in the future – at the Upfront.
• Then the next AM I flew to Chicago for 5 days to watch RIFF and hang with work folks….
• And then I had 3 days at home before I flew to DC for my FSOA – Foreign Service Officer Assessment – this is the in-person next step to becoming a diplomat and it’s an all-day in-person interview, broken up in a few different sections. ……..and I PASSED Y’ALL. More to come!

So that’s the rundown, and here’s 2 quick announcements:

1. The next time there’s a post on here, it’ll look different. I’m investing in this blog with a new theme that honors the past 10 years, reflects my current voice, and looks forward to the next steps.
2. I passed the FSOA – so now what? Now…we wait. I’ve filled out my clearances paperwork and we have anywhere from 6-18 months until we know the next steps. If you’ve ever known a Foreign Service Officer or Specialist (and there’s 30,000+ of them) or their family you (and I) owe them a thank you. Because this is a tough process with a lot of waiting and uncertainty. Some days I feel excited daydreaming about it and others I feel like I want to back out of the whole thing (reading all the candidate guide stuff the past 2 weeks has been more the latter scary feeling).

But there’s no need to worry. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. So raise your Diet Cokes with me; *clears throat* to succeeding where you thought you wouldn’t, to weddings and joy and rebirth, and BaileySayWhat 2.0. Happy anniversary, y’all! 🥂✨