Planners & drag queens & sex toys, oh my!

I'm sure everyone that starts a blog has their reason for choosing that specific blog name. This name didn't just fall in my lap either (I wish. Although finding the name didn't take too long, it was just mentally taxing, as you'll find out below). So let me take you all on a little trip through my thought process of naming this blog and hopefully, by the end, you'll see why I chose it.

Now, since this is a personal blog I wanted to choose something that represented me.

My dad gave me the nickname squirrel when I was a baby after I kept climbing out of my playpen on multiple occasions. It was a nickname that stuck because he and my brother have called me squirrel on and off throughout the years.

My brother even bought me a little blue glass squirrel (that I still have. *See said squirrel below*) around the same time the nickname was given to me. So it's an old ass squirrel, just like me. It's a fitting nickname today as well but for not for climbing, but because I "squirrel" and get off track, a lot. Like now. Anyway.

(me and this squirrel had a photoshoot y'all - And don't come at me for my grammar either, I know what I sound like. Cornbread. TYVM)

Since I'm so scatterbrained, I thought, "Scatterbrained Squirrel is too long but Scattered Squirrel would work!" (insert wrong buzzer sound because when I looked up onomatopoeia [I didn't just happen to know that word by the way] for "wrong buzzer sound" nothing looked like what I was looking for). ScatteredSquirrel.com is a planner, printables and organization blog that I should probably use, if I'm being honest with myself. So scratch that name.

Alright, what else. Think brain...

Nanny use to keep her spices in the bottom drawer in her kitchen and for what ever reason I would always open the drawer and sit in it, playing with all the spices. (If I knew where that picture was, of me in her spice drawer, I'd posted it because I'm absolutely adorable in it)

I can't do "the spice girl" either, that's to "Spice Girls" for me . But what about The Spice Squirrel? Well that name was available but I guess Spice Girl Squirrels are a thing and they're also on a pair of socks? What...

Also that google search displayed squirrelsandfriends.com. Which, if you didn't know, is a fantasy drag race simulator, drag faceoff, + (I love it).

Education moment coming up ***the cute nickname "squirrel friends" is often said by RuPaul on his show, RuPaul's Drag Race. Apparently a "squirrel" in the drag community is named so because squirrels hide their nuts and so do drag queens. ***

Alright let's keep looking....

"I'm just a squirrel" I thought. Justasquirrel.com would be great but they wanted over $2k for that domain name and I'll be damned if I pay that. I didn't want to use a .net, but I was desperate for something to work so I tried it with Justasquirrel. uhhhh. Turns out that domain name is taken too and its a bit NSFW 😳 (I audibly laughed when I got to the site. Why, WHY would they name their site justasquirrel.net?? I can't. I mean...I'm all for those products 😏 but that name sent me. 😅)

Okayyyy, so no more squirrel names. Got it.

Lord help...I swear my brain felt like a tornado at this point, spinning around ideas.

I felt like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Planners & drag queens & sex toys, oh my!

After that excitement I decided to think of a more "normal" name, like my own. I mean, why not use my actual name, CandiceJordan. It's simple but it would work. Nope. Unavailable. Of course.

I got a little silly at this point and being that the name I usually go by is CJ Underwood I thought, "what about I flip my whole name around and use JC Overmetal. It's hilarious since it's my name but literally the opposite. Even though it was available I decided I wanted something with more meaning behind it than just being funny.

Then, it dawned on me.

Back around 2017 or so (I'm approximating here) I was working at a restaurant and having a particularly rough day. I had recently failed out of nursing school (y'all, pharm is hard), I was living at home with my dad (that's still the case now, but for different reasons) and just overall depressed at my situation. My friend Paige happened to notice and I opened up to her about it. What she said to me that day has stayed and will stay with me forever.

Paige said, "Think of everyone like trees. You've got your pine trees, they grow fast but when a storm comes along their roots aren't deep enough to keep them grounded, so they fall. I myself am an oak tree. Strong, sturdy and able to withstand the storms. But you, you're a magnolia. You maybe slow to grow and last to bloom but you're worth the wait."

I was in tears and speechless that my friend saw me like that.

And when that memory of what Paige said came to mind, I knew without a doubt what I wanted to name my blog...

I am a magnolia in the making.

Slow to grow, last to bloom, but worth the wait.

So stay a while, and grow with me...

-CJ