What's in a Blog Name?

Yes, you are in the right place, it's just that I have changed my blog name for the fourth time. That's four times in going on six years of this blog's history. Five if you count the blog I originally started on Word Press.  Is that a lot? I think it is.


When I changed it to Pink Sunshine it felt right and I was certain that I would never feel the need to change it again but towards the end of last year a new name infiltrated my thoughts.  I couldn't get it out of my head and Pink Sunshine didn't feel like me anymore.  I would have felt weird having my blog name be my parent's address while they were living there so it never occurred to me that Mahogany Drive was the perfect forever blog name until after they moved to Vegas last year.  The move drummed up all the feelings of nostalgia I ever had about my childhood home.  I moved in when I was in 1st grade and didn't move out until the year I graduated from college.  Mahogany Drive is the last place that we all lived together as a family.  It's where I grew up.  There are so many memories and an entire era of my life tied up in that house.  To this day, the land line to Mahogany Drive is the only phone number I can recite without a hitch.  I've since forced myself to remember MJ's cell phone number but it still takes me a minute to string the numbers together from memory and sometimes I still forget.   I don't remember phone numbers like I used to, but I think the land line to Mahogany Drive will be etched in my memory forever.  It made us all a little sad to know that number was no longer 'ours' even though we had stopped using it after my parents got cell phones.

I pulled out an old flash drive in hopes of finding a picture of our old house on Mahogany.  I didn't find any.  I'll have to search the real photo albums.  You know, those books that people used to put pictures in?  I didn't find what I was looking for but I enjoyed the trip down memory lane that took me back to 2006.  That flash drive is a treasure trove of pictures and videos that I don't even remember saving.  I lost a lot of pictures when my Mac crashed last year but the ones I was most worried about are on that flash drive.  Our first date.  Our first overnight trip, the floor plan for our first home together that I saved off the website.  And the more recent lost photos (including our honeymoon) are carefully archived in photo albums on Facebook from back in the days when I consistently put everything there.  As I dug through the photos that MJ did recover from my Mac I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pictures that were there, especially because I can still remember the days before digital cameras.  I take pictures of anything and everything because it's easy, because I can, and my camera/phone is by my side 24/7.  Pictures are a dime a dozen.  It's nothing to take five shots just to get the perfect one so I have almost identical pictures of a lot of the same things.  I should delete the duplicates but I don't.  Just in case.  I have pictures of beef stew, pictures of my yoga mat, random pictures of the sky.  They flood my phone, consume all the memory and I become annoyed over having to decide which to keep and which to delete.  Which ones were real moments and which ones were just in case I wanted to Instagram it or blog about it later?

I took a Polaroid camera to 5th grade camp and in in high school I was always the one with the camera at every event.  I sent my rolls of film out for developing by mail because it was cheaper and patiently awaited my return packet so anxious to see how they turned out.  I have always had a love for picture taking because I want those memories but the over abundance of images has made me slightly indifferent to how valuable and precious these pictures really are.  Looking through that old flash drive made me realize how detached I had become.  Each photo back then seemed to count so much more than they do now.   Photo taking was reserved for special times and special things.  You had to make a point to bring your camera with you and if you forgot it all was lost.  You didn't take ten pictures of the same pose or five pictures of your wine glass because there were only so many shots. You wouldn't waste a frame on something so trivial and there was time, effort and money involved in seeing the finished product.  Even after digital taking pictures of chicken or a margarita still wasn't a thing.  Without social media nobody thought so hard about documenting the mundane because it was about the moment and the people you were with not when and how you were going to share it later.  I remember lovingly selecting each photo to place in my photo album.  Now they just sit around in a hard drive somewhere taking up space and if I did decide to put them in an album more than half of them wouldn't make the cut.

Blogging is not a passing fancy or a trend for me.  I plan to blog for years to come and once I got the new name in my head the old name started to feel like one I had already grown out of.   I'm not posting as often as I used to but I'm okay with that because it's reminiscent of the old days when it was less forced and more organic.  Less about numbers and more about writing.  Looking at those photos from before blogging made me remember how excited I was just to have a place on the internet that was all my own and a time when that was the only reason anybody did it.  It reminded me of just how precious each and every photo really is and why I started blogging in the first place.  Memories are precious and writing is what I love to do.  I want to get back to that. 

Can I just say how excited I was to claim the name for all of my social media accounts without having to add any funky underscores or additional numbers? This name was just sitting there waiting for me to take it.  The only thing I have not switched over is my feed burner feed name.  I actually have twenty-one precious subscribers that I will probably lose forever if I make them update it so I'll sit on that for a minute before I make a decision.  If I know me, I'll probably end up changing it because it's going to bug the heck out of me that it doesn't match everything else.

So what's in a blog name?  Everything.  Once upon a time Mahogany Drive housed my family and everything I loved and owned.  It's also who I am.  I can't think of a better name for a blog that will continue to house my pictures, memories and thoughts for years to come.  I'm never changing my blog name again.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

21 comments

  1. I absolutley LOVE your new blog name!!! I love the name and I without a doubt love the meaning behind it. I've been reading your blog for years and I've actual like all of your previous names as well but this one for sure fits after hearing your explanation..Whats in a name and I say EVERYTHING..This blog post was SO right on time for me-I have been blogging for years and I have struggled with a name for so long, its something that I feel strong about I think because it is a place where WE as bloggers house our personal thoughts and personal pictures. So since I never was able to come up with a name I just have kept it The Williams Family-because I want the perfect name. And, after reading this post I feel even stonger about that. I actually was thinking of names this morning for my blog so this post just has my mind over here thinking a hundred miles a second.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the new name. For some reason it reminds me of a song called Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard. It's just such a feel good, summer song about nostalgia and so that's what Mahogany Drive feels like to me! So glad you've found your forever name! Sometimes I feel like I'm still waiting for mine to come along :) Also, how amazing is it to go down memory lane sometimes! I found a bunch of things I wrote back in high school and had a good laugh. But I was also kinda proud of myself. Weird.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Perfect post and introduction to the new blog name!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the new blog name! I am looking forward to reading about your adventures. I know what you mean about all of the photos. I am the family photographer and have tons of photos to go through.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the new name and I love it even more because of the reasoning behind it. It also sounds like it can be the name of a book or a movie. Wink, wink..

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this. Great name and great story!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the new name and the memories are what I think about when blogging and when I review years from now I will be glad I did record memories with words and a few pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Blog names can be so difficult to find. I went through an evolution with my blog name and now I'm settled on my real name and I'm happy because that tell where I'm at with my life journal.

    I hope your new blog names marks that important stage you are in your life

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great story behind the name!! Seems meant to be if all the social media names were available :) I like it! So true about how much taking pictures have changed! I remember buying disposable cameras at camp and it was fun to have them developed after the fact, it was such a surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am loving the name change and the reason behind it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the new title of your blog and I enjoyed hearing the story about why you changed it. I've been wanting to change the name of my blog and even giving my blot a new look, but I'm not sue when any of that will take place. (I think part of the reason is my having cold feet, though).

    Enjoy your week... :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is so cool, I really thought I was in a different place. We evolve and grow and it is only fitting that our blog do the same. I love that you gave us the background and introduction and everything.

    Well hello there Mahogany Drive

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have been meaning to visit to find out what MD was all about and it's definitely more meaningful than I was thinking. I love it! Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to see what Mahogany Drive has in store!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. love the meaning behind the new blog name! and i sorta feel the same way about photos too. i took soooo many photos when i was younger and it was so fun to wait to get the photos developed to see how they turned out, so they meant so much more!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love your new blog name and I think it is great that it has such a wonderful meaning and memories behind it. Sometimes I think I would like to change my blog's name but I cannot come up with another name for it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think the new name is perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love the way you write and think, Cece, and your new blog name sounds so fitting.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is so emotional! I hope you find some pictures of the old home soon. Kisses!
    www.chicfromhair2toe.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. The new blog name caught my attention on IG, but reading how the name came about, priceless! How cool is that this was the street name of your family home! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I love the new name! I say feel free to change anytime you want. IT'S YOUR BLOG.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I feel happy and comforted after reading this. MD is a special place. I wish I knew a place like it. Such a sweet post Cece.

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments! Thanks for being part of my blog.