Today is April 1, 2012 which means it is the start of this years A to Z Blogging Challenge. For those who are not familiar with it, welcome to the club. I had seen the badges on various people's blogs but never really knew what it was all about. As it drew close I heard more and more about it and realized it meant you had to blog everyday for a month and that sounded like too big an undertaking. Last night at the last minute I had a change of heart and decided to try it. At least I found out you do get Sundays off, after today. Each day the prompt is a different letter of the alphabet and it seemed to be the consensus that it is better to have a theme. So, without further ado...here goes. My theme is A to Z Memories.
For those who have wondered where the Kat came from that I use in my blog, it is my initials. My name is Karen Ann and when I married a Taylor, well, you get the picture. Early on when my initials became KAT, I always thought Kat would be a cool nickname, but it never caught on. Thus, when I started my blog that was my chance to become Kat. The rest of the title just came naturally since I'm a cat lover.
Names are a funny thing. Seems like when we are kids we are never satisfied with ours. It wasn't that I didn't like the name Karen, it was just that I liked Ann better. Or maybe it was really that I thought it sounded cool to be called by 2 names. I always wanted to be called Karen Ann. That never caught on either although all 3 of my sisters occasionally call me that. So, for the most part, I've gone through my entire life just called Karen.
There was one time in my teenage years when I did have fun with my name, though. A new song came out by the Hollies called Carrie Anne. I convinced one of my friends that they were saying Karen Ann so for a little while it was like I had my own song. Fun while it lasted.
Here, for your enjoyment is my first A to Z memory...
Until next time...that's my view.
Kat
I like the KAT for you, Karen! It fits! Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jeanne. It seemed appropriate for my blog.
DeleteAnne is a nice name :) welcome to the challenge!
ReplyDeleteThank you Claudia. I hope I can make it every day!
DeleteWhen I was a kid, everyone called me Beth Holly. In my mom's Indiana hometown, the name stayed until the last of my elderly aunts had passed away. I swear that even though I was a grandmother the last time we visited, she still looked at me and saw a little girl in a sailor dress with a mane of wild curls.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I love the name "Kat." It seems to suit you perfectly.
Thank you Beth Holly! What part of Indiana was your mom's hometown? You know I grew up in southern Indiana. I wish I had known the little girl in the sailor dress with a mane of wild curls. For the record, sailor dresses were always my favorite! ♥
Deletehmmm, Karen Ann. Sounds like a name of a character in a book! Love the A post. I've been trying to make peace with "Doris Ann" my whole life and have finally embraced it. I've added you to my list and anticipate your B.
ReplyDeleteThank you Doris. I'm so glad you stopped by. I like the name Doris Ann, but then, I'm partial to Ann! :D
DeleteI love the title of your blog, since I love cats too. Nice theme idea too; it will be interesting to see what memories you have for each letter.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kay. I'm so glad you stopped by. I have been a cat lover all my life. We always had cats growing up.
Delete♥
ReplyDeleteI love KAT and I could do the Karen Ann thing too. Either or because you are just a wonderful writer and friend.
Aawwww, thank you Jo. You are always a bright spot in my day!
DeleteIt would seem that a lot of us did not like our given names. Myself included. I went completely away from my boring "kimberly" to jesse. Ironically when I had children, I tried so hard to give them amazing names. Now that they are adults I hear, "why did you name me that mom?" Never ending! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the name Kimberly but I guess it is just human nature to not like our given name. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteSo fun to see that you climbed aboard this A-Z train. I like the tid bits of KAT that come out, and to me you are a purrrrfect Kat :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you k. I wasn't sure about committing to it but I caved at the last minute. It will be fun. It's already bringing back some fun memories trying to think of something for each letter. I hope you don't get bored with all the little tid bits! :D
DeleteI didn't like the way people pronounced my "old-fashioned" name--Janice. In college, friends started calling me "Jan," and I liked that better. Now I am back to Janice. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on a farm and notice that you live on a small dairy farm.
Anyway, looking forward to hearing your memories. Maybe we have a few things in common (cats, farm, who knows what else).
Janice is a pretty name. Glad you went back to it. Sounds like we do have a lot in common. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI think it is a rare person that likes their first name. Great first post!!
ReplyDeleteKathy
http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com/
Thanks Kathy. I think you are right!
DeleteI'm so glad you decided to join in! This is a fun first post - I think I enjoyed it because I, too, tried to change my name around a little when I was in high school. My parents wanted my name to be Dawn-Marie, but it was entered in my birth certificate as Dawn, middle name, Marie. So, in high school I added the hyphen. Unfortunately, my friends found the double first name thing a bit tedious, so it never caught on. The good news? Most of my family call me Dawn-Marie (but, of course, they always had), so I guess I still kinda got what I wanted, right?
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how we are never satisfied with things the way they are. I've always thought Dawn and Marie both were beautiful names. Thanks for your comments.
DeleteMy mother gave me the name Bethany because she believed it to be a beautiful name. I'm sure it horrified her when my dad nicknamed me "Boots." And then I insisted on shortening my beautiful name to the less beautiful Beth. Poor Mom!
ReplyDeleteBethany is a beautiful name, and I like Beth too. If I had been your mom I might have had a problem with the Boots too. Thanks for sharing. :D
DeleteI like your initials. How cool they string together for a cute nickname. We warned my younger sister, Andrea Susan, that she'd better not marry a Smith or something. ;) Last year I chose Memories for my theme. It lent itself to lots of options!
ReplyDeleteOMG! That would be horrible for your sister! LOL! Yes, the memories theme really gives me a lot of options. I'm glad I chose it for my first challenge. Thanks. :D
DeleteWhen I was a child, I LONGED to be called Anne, it was my favourite name for many years!
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of partial to it although mine doesn't have an e on the end so it isn't as elegant looking as the more formal spelling of Anne. My favorite fictional character is Anne of Green Gables. Wonder why? :D
DeletePaps stands for my initials too.
ReplyDeletewww.thoughtsofpaps.com
I like that! Thanks Paps.
DeleteI have a character named Kat, short for Katriyana. She's the youngest of 15 daughters, and goes by Kat instead of Katya as a way to stand out from the crowd. I took my pen name Carrie-Anne from The Hollies' song, as a matter of fact. I chose it for myself on 19 May 1993, at the age of 13, and have felt like it fits me ever since. I know I'd probably choose something a little more stand-out today, but after so many years, it just fits me. My real name is Anna Ursula, and I've always found my real first name to be so boring and overused (though I prefer it pronounced the European and Latin American way, with a long A). For a few years in my teens, I actually went by Ursula (which I was then spelling Uersula). I do like that my first two initials, AU, are the chemical symbol for gold, which just so happens to be the 79th element, matching up to the year I was born, 1979. I'm a Lucy Stoner, so I'll be keeping my surname even after marriage and won't have my initials changing.
ReplyDeleteThat is really interesting. Thanks for sharing your story with me Carrie-Anne. Sounds like the Hollies song has special memories for both of us. :D
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