Seven Links

Tripbase's My Seven Links post has been making its way through the blogosphere, and it seems to have meandered itself over to Betsy Transatlantically via the lovely In the Left Lane - thanks for the shout-out!

This is a bit of a narcissistic exercise; there is necessarily a bit of navel-grazing involved in trolling through one's own posts to fill these categories.  But, hey, you know me, and so you know that I like nothing better than a bit of introspection.  Okay, maybe I'm being needlessly cynical.  I've discovered new blogs through this chain game and have unearthed never-before-read posts from some of my favorite bloggers.  Also, I think it does succeed in its aim to "share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again."  So - alright, here goes...

Most Beautiful Post: More from the Bishop's Garden
Many of the images on this blog have been sourced from all over the interwebs.  I spend hours slaving over my hot MacBook (literally - sometimes it burns me) to find you the prettiest pictures.  (Exhibit A: one of my 2010 Christmas posts.)  But this post is the most beautiful to me; while the photos aren't the most artistic - it was a case of point-and-shoot on a cooperatively lovely spring day - it contains wonderful memories of a gorgeous afternoon wandering around the Cathedral and its environs with two of my favorite and much-missed girls in DC.

Most Popular Post:  The Cost of Living in London
Raise your hand if you're surprised at this.  Anyone?  No, me neither.  This post has had by far and away the most unique pageviews of any on this blog - almost certainly because if you search "the cost of living in London" I show up on the third page of hits.  (Hey, only the third page?  That's a bit of a slap in the face, don't you think?  I thought you and me had an understanding, Google.  Humph.)

Most Controversial Post:  Missed Opportunities
This post has caused the most furor of any in the past year, probably because I didn't explain myself very well!  I do stand by what I said, but I recognize that my outlook is colored by my experiences - as all of ours are.  Very glad, though, that you engaged with me on this topic, dear readers.

Most Helpful Post:  Expat List - Forewarning
Everyone - expats and pure anglophiles alike - loves reading the nuts and bolts of uprooting and settling down elsewhere; it's key to know that other have gone through the challenges that you're facing and that they've survived.  I think that this post was most helpful because of the superduper graph I made.  (Yes, I am terribly modest.)

Surprisingly Successful Post:  How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Numbers
Also, everyone loves to read emotive posts; when you put yourself out on the interwebs, you're revealing yourself to potentially millions of strangers, and I think that everyone appreciates the candor of honesty on a blog.  I suppose the surprising part of the success of this post was how well it was received.  All the commenters seemed to understand what I was feeling, which in my book is a ringing endorsement!

Under-appreciated Post:  Edits, Continued
To be honest - and, again, terribly modest - I think that this post would have been more appreciated had I written it once I was into the swing of things.  After all, I had, like, half a follower in early June 2010.  But at the same time I don't know that I would have been able to write this blogging/identity post any later in my exploration of what it is to be a blogger.  Many of the questions I pose are still relevant, certainly, but I think that now I would approach them from a different angle, and I would definitely come away with different answers.

Proudest Post:  Preemptive Nostalgia
I am most proud of all of the posts I wrote regarding my short-lived (though nonetheless very painful) breakup with Jon, especially Breaking News.  But this is the post where I really first put it all out there; I do make an effort, even in my meta posts, to keep things light, but I think I owed it both to myself and to you to be brutal about what I was going through.  This was a very hard post to write, but I'm very glad I shared it with you.

And now - drumroll please - I have the honor of passing this game along to some of my favorite bloggers!  Ladies, prepare your engines, and have fun:

Beantown Prepster (the bar is over - come out, come out!)
Lemony Snippet
Milton's Manor
Texpats Abroad
Laura's Vie Quotidienne