So…what is the Monday Poll?
Well, it isn’t exactly a poll… It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been doing every Monday morning for the past 11 (!) years. (It’s like a kick start for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments and getting my week off to a good start, and I hope you do, too.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
When I was a kid I did because I used to think that “Karen” was boring, so I tried to informally change it a few times, but nothing ever stuck.
In eighth grade — oh, gosh, and this is such an eighth grade thing to do — my friends and I chose “secret” names for ourselves to use in our letters, and I asked my friends to call me “Rennie” (both in person and in print).
Yeah, not such a secret name, right? 🙂 Needless to say, it didn’t stick.
And then freshman year college I went through a phase when I wanted to “rebrand” myself, LOL! So I had everyone in the dorm call me “Karen Tess,” which is a shortened combination of my first and middle name (Theresa)… That didn’t stick, either. And I also went through a phase when I lived in San Francisco in my early 20s when I introduced myself as “Kate” (my nickname at home).
Now I like my name. I definitely feel like a Karen.
2. Are you a cat lady?
100%
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Um…caught a cold? El Hub, Connor and I spent the weekend visiting family in Redding, which was nice, but I think we brought a cold up there from Baby Story Time down here.
Connor’s doing much better now, but I think it’s about to be my turn next… I feel that telltale scratchy throat. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it turns out to be allergies…
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Bring at least one bag of clothes to Goodwill, because I want to KonMari this house until it can’t be KonMari’d anymore, dawg!
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
I feel good about it, LOL! I feel good about it and use it often, especially if it’s easy to use like Tom Ford’s and Clinique’s.
Happy Monday!
You know what’ll wake you up on a Monday morning? Slamming a glass of Emergen-c. WOW. Anyway…hi! 🙂 How are you doing this morning? What did you do over the weekend? I hope you have a great week.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Here are the questions to copy and paste with your answers in a comment:
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
2. Are you a cat lady?
3. What did you do over the weekend?
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Yes I vaguely remember wanting to change it in middle school. Probably to something like Kelli or Tiffany.
2. Are you a cat lady?
YES!
3. What did you do over the weekend?
I had some friends over for a BBQ. Then we played Cards Against Humanity, it was fun!
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Till up my little garden strip where I plant tomatoes.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
I love Lancome Artliner because it stays on my oily lids.
Hi Rachel,
A BBQ, how fun! I take it the weather is nice out your way? What did you make for the BBQ?
I made a pasta salad and guacamole, and I just had everyone bring what they wanted to grill. It was nice but got pretty cool towards the evening!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
I really liked the name Chloe in middle school, or Abby. But now I dig my name. However, I wish I had kept my maiden name when I married. I hyphenated and it is a pain in the ass!
2. Are you a cat lady?
Obvs. And a dog and bunny lady.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
There was a show at the circus school I did stage tech for, it turned out really well! And then we saw Avengers.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Send in my passport renewal.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
Love it! It’s actually easier for me than pencil.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Nope, I’ve never had any issues with my name, thankfully. When I was growing up it was unique enough that I never knew any other Allison’s, but not so unique that it veered into “weird” territory. It’s also possible I wasn’t imaginative enough to think of anything more interesting!
2. Are you a cat lady? I’ve had cats before, but I’m an unapologetic dog person.
3. What did you do over the weekend? It was my husband’s birthday, so we went out for a nice dinner and also found some time for a walk with the dogs. It was a well balanced weekend!
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Clean and refill the hummingbird feeder (I’m keeping things manageable, clearly)
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? I like how it looks, but I’m completely hopeless at applying it. I stick with pencil liner so that if I screw up, I can just smudge it and say it was all part of the plan.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Not my first name, my last name. I had a one syllable maiden name and I always wanted a multi-syllable last name. I married a Smith. Willingly. Oh well, I love the man.
2. Are you a cat lady? We have four cats. Yes. But I also have a pug that is my third daughter, so I’m also a pug lady.
3. What did you do over the weekend? Hung out with family that are moving to FL from CA in 8 days. And grocery shopped.
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Hoo boy, I have a busy week. Running kids back and forth for school projects, going on my 6th grader’s field trip to Hearst Castle on Wednesday, Elementary school band concert, and this weekend is the Open House of Cat House on the Kings, it’s a no-kill cat sanctuary in central CA that has about 700 cats that you can cuddle and pet and love on all you what.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? I’m not mad at it, if I really work at it, I can do it, but I don’t. I loooooove it on other people, but a little tight lining is what rocks my world.
I’m named Karen and I felt the same way! When I was 7, I begged my parents to legally change my name to Penelope. Now I’m glad they said no, lol. While we don’t have the most exciting name, I do like having an uncommon name. There aren’t too many Karen’s running around!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Yes! In 8th grade (I sense a theme?!), I didn’t like the sound of “Amy.” My mom was very supportive and suggested “Lindsay.” It didn’t click with me, though, and in the end – way too much work! When I was in my 20s, a friend commented how youthful “Amy” sounds and how much I’ll love the name when I’m 90. I realized that’s true, that it’s both classic and youthful, and I’ve loved my name ever since.
2. Are you a cat lady?
15% (though I had 8 cats once about a decade ago, so apparently this figure shifts over time!)
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Surprise party for my 11-yo. Ten fifth grade boys sugared up playing games… tons of fun! (Actually, it was! They are really adorable – but don’t tell them I said so, they are way too cool for it.) It was wonderful seeing super athletic and totally unathletic boys getting along, a boy with autism feeling included and having fun, lots of different cultural backgrounds (they could care less but that’s meaningful to adults), I was really proud of all of them.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Meet my next deadline. Be loving. Walk the dog at least 4 days. That’s three somethings!
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
Concept: 100% Execution: 20%. (My personal skill level, that is! This is in the “great on others” category for me.)
Hi Karen ,
Happy Monday !
My niece Michaelann used to call me “ Maurissa “ instead of Aunt Michele so it was a thought .
I do not have a Cat ? but I do like them . My son just adopted 2 opposite cats and they are adorable .
I actually went to a 5 year old party ? at Michaelann ‘s .
My to do list is to get a an outside walk in to continue my weight loss journey . Also, a movie ?
Liquid liner : I can do the upper lid but not the lower lid ?
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Yes! When I was in elementary school I wanted to change my name so I could get a personalized key chain. 🙂 But now I am happy with my unique name.
2. Are you a cat lady?
Cat ladeez 4 evah! Funny, I just posted a pic on FB today with my fave cat lady mug.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
I made some snacks and dessert for a last minute get together for a birthday celebration. And I had a few rum cocktails.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
I cleaned out my closet last week and I have a few bags of clothes to drop them off at Goodwill.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
I love the look of it, but I haven’t taken the plunge to try it myself.
I just got over being sick last week. I hope the Emergen-c helps! I made a new brownie recipe that is really good and easy to make. I’ll post the link in a reply.
Happy Monday!
Yummy brownies!
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/deep-dark-chocolate-brownies/
1. Not until recently. I took my husband’s last name when we married but now I wish I kept my “maiden” name. My maiden name is Spanish so I feel I lost a bit of that part of me giving it up.
2. 5%. Don’t hate me!
3. It was my birthday weekend! My husband arranged for a sitter on Saturday and we went to lunch at a taco and tequila place I’ve been dying to try. It was so good and we ate so much that we skipped dinner! After we picked up the boys we had a family movie night and watched Coco. My 5yo loved it. Sunday was church, then a playgroup, then a board mtg for a non profit! Oh, I also hit up a rummage sale Sat morning and scored 20 plants for $20!
4. Laundry. Always.
5. For eyes, sure. For lips, I’m giving it side-eye!
Jaclyn, have you thought about adding your maiden name back in as a middle name? You could use all three. Works for some people!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Yes! My name is Sylvia and while I like it now, as a kid I was bummed that my mom didn’t go with her second choice, Jessica.
2. Are you a cat lady? You would have to ask my 4 cats
3. What did you do over the weekend? Spent time with my mom, cleaned, tried to watch a movie, but was foiled by a power outage and resulting death of my dvd player, and tried to sort out my winter clothes.
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Finishing trying to figure out what to do with my winter clothes.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? Love how it looks on others, but feel it looks to harsh on me, also my eye shape doesn’t work for winged eyeliner.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? When I was a child, I wanted my name to be Elizabeth. That was my grandmother’s name and I thought she was the most caring and generous woman in all the world.
2. Are you a cat lady? No. I like cats, but where we live, they’d just be tasty morsels for the coyotes. We have dogs—big dogs.
3. What did you do over the weekend? My husband and I tackled some plumbing projects—new faucets for bathrooms and kitchen.
4. Something on your to-do list this week? For fun? Take a dear friend out to lunch to celebrate her 75 birthday and then we’ll indulge in some serious retail therapy ?
5. How do you feel about liquid liner. It was the eyeliner of the 50’s so I’m very comfortable with it and know how to use it. These days, though, because I’m in my 70’s, I seldom do the crisp graphic line that is so easily achieved with liquid liner. I do like an intense line at the base of my lashes but then I blend it out a bit so the overall look is softer.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Back in high school I did – either go by Christi or by my middle name….never really happened!
2. Are you a cat lady?
Card-carrying! ?
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Omg, I was abnormally social. I had dinner with a friend Friday night, ended up with last-minute brunch plans with two other friends on Saturday, and then got drinks with someone else last night. I’m exhausted (#introvert4life).
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Cleaning the dining room table… We don’t actually use it to eat at, but it’s a dumping ground for mail and things when we get home from work.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
For a cat eye, love it! But everything else I really love my Stila smudge stick.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? No. I always liked having a unique name (I’ve only met a few people with my first name spelled the same way).
2. Are you a cat lady? Yes even with just one cat.
3. What did you do over the weekend? Went to a beer festival in Boston. 65 breweries and food trucks. It was a great time!
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Pick up a friend’s key for caring for their two kitties while they are on vacation.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? I’m not a liquid liner person.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Yes. when i was married and then divorced.
2. Are you a cat lady?
yes, my lovely cat is name ajax. cats rule , dogs are meh
3. What did you do over the weekend?
watch movies in my sweats. glorious , i did wear jeans to see the avengers.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
get my transcripts
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
if i could wear it like in my imagination , i would used it but no, its not for me .
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Yes! When I was in grade school, I wanted to be a Debbie. Don’t ask me why, but I did.
2. Are you a cat lady? Yes and also a dog lady!
3. What did you do over the weekend? Went to that dance party Friday night, recouped all day Saturday then went out to dinner with my El Hub Saturday night and then went to a Senior Mother/Son Mass and Breakfast with my baby yesterday. Can’t believe he’s graduating high school!! It feels like he was just going into kindergarten 2 weeks ago!
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Get back to shredding. We want to sell our house and I have bins of old paid bills, cards, etc. etc. to go through. It’s very time consuming.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? Love it. The Physician’s Formula Eye Booster is my favorite although I’ve been using the KVD Tattoo Liner I picked up during the VIB sale.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Oh hell yes I have! My name is often confused with the wrong gender. That really bothered me as a kid.
2. Are you a cat lady?
Yup, have always had cats since I was a kid.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
A whole lot of nothing productive. I was supposed to do yard work but I procrastinated.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Said yard work.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
LOVE IT!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
No. I didn’t love it when I was a teen but changing it just didn’t feel like an option. We don’t do nicknames much in France, long names might be shortened but only by close family and friends. Lulle is a nickname for my blog and and online activity but I don’t use it in real life.
2. Are you a cat lady?
Well yes! How can anyone not be!
3. What did you do over the weekend?
It was my birthday weekend! We went to Universal Studios, stayed in LA for the night and visited the LA County Museum the next day. We also went to the Farmer’s Market there, a big public market with lots of food vendors. It was fun!
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Solve the issue of a package that disappeared after USPS supposedly delivered it on Friday although I had put my mail on hold… The last 3 times I put my mail on hold they didn’t put it into effect even though I had a confirmation. I need to go to the post office and get mad but I don’t know if I have the energy, lol!
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
It’s not something I go for on a daily basis, but I feel like I’ve mastered the application, mostly. It really depends on the liner, how liquidy the formula is, if it’s a felt tip or a brush, etc.
Hope you have a great week Karen! Here May Gray has started early this year so it’s a bit gloomy.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Oh yes, I wanted to have a different name. I kind of wanted the name Karen because apparently that was one of the contenders before my parents, along with ten million other parents having babies in 1970, named me Jennifer.
2. Are you a cat lady? Yes, from birth.
3. What did you do over the weekend? I worked, I took a super long nap yesterday because my teenager was sick with a bad cold/throat virus last week and thoughtfully passed it on to me and my husband. I feel like crap.
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Go a week without Sephora
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? Like I’m too young to be wearing makeup! Liquid liner scarifies me. I stick to Urban Decay liners. Those are pretty user friendly for ladies like me who don’t have the whole hand eye/eyeliner/eye coordination down yet.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Not really. I did change my last name when I got married. Old fashioned I know, but Dear Husband was sooo cute when he asked if I would take his family name.
2. Are you a cat lady? Yes. And dog and horse lady too.
3. What did you do over the weekend? Friday, dinner in city and ballet. Saturday, run with Dear Husband, Smashburger dinner and Warriors playoff game. Sunday, Avengers Infinity War and dinner at “Bird Dog”.
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Finish some illustrations, charts and diagrams for a client. Do some yard/gardening work.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? Don’t use them. Black just looks so harsh on me and I just never figured out how to get the line I want.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
No, never, my first name is great and only ever misspelled by one letter and I love my last name.
2. Are you a cat lady?
I identify more as a dog person, but I’m 32 and have had two different cats, nearly continually (one from birth to 14.5 and one from 15 to present), so probably?
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Get caught up on home stuff mostly.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Photograph some sale horses and pay property taxes.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
I love how it looks on others but don’t think I can pull it off on myself often. I like gels.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name? Not my first name, but I’m not fond of my middle name and always wanted to change it.
2. Are you a cat lady? Yep!
3. What did you do over the weekend? Got sick
4. Something on your to-do list this week? Laundry. Lots of laundry.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner? I like it, although it’s not my favorite form of eyeliner.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Many, many times. At first, I wanted something easier to spell like Emma, but now I sometimes would rather like to change my full name to the easier to spell Katherine orCatherine.
2. Are you a cat lady?
Only with Tabs or Tigger, the barn kitty. I really am more of a dog person.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Tried to get over a migraine and cuddled with Bree.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Take Bree on a walk. My dad usually does this, but I’d like to.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
It’s not as easy to do as gel and if you get it in your eye, omg girl, buuuuuuurn. Contacts, no contacts, ooooh the burn. Pencil or gel please!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Also went through a rebranding phase when we moved to a new state when I was in 5th grade. I wanted to go by Nikki instead of Nicole. And be all perky. Which if anyone knows me, I can’t really do perky. So Nikki didn’t stick and I grew to dislike it anyway, ha.
2. Are you a cat lady?
I enjoy cats and having them, but I don’t feel like I can really call myself a legit cat lady. 🙂
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Newborn duties, basically. But in the weekend, the husband takes the kids shopping etc while I stay home with the baby. Got a couple videos recorded and one uploaded, so it was productive and good to focus on my hobby a bit too.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Get the other video I recorded edited and scheduled for this coming weekend!
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
I’m not great at it and my eye shape doesn’t work well with wings but once I accepted that, I used it more often as just a lid liner. But with kind of loose eyelid skin I feel like I rarely get the smooth thin line I’m aiming for originally. Need more practice!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
-Yes! When I was younger. Savannah is a whole lot of letters for a little kid, lol. And no one, ever shortened it. No Anna, no Vanna. I’m Slavic, so I was always dying to be called Anyochka, which is a term of endearment if your name is Anna. But nope. I like my name now that I’m older, though.
2. Are you a cat lady?
-No. Husband is allergic. We have two chihuahuas.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
-work, work, and more work.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
– I should probably attempt to clean out my closet and resume that search for those pink heels I couldn’t find last week…
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
-I’ve always used gel. I’ve got shaky hands, something tells me liquid might be a disaster. Hah!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Big time. Constantly explaining how my name is pronounced (True-dah) definitely made me wish sometimes that my parents had chosen something else. But as I got older I really appreciated having something so unique (it’s not even very common in Norway!).
2. Are you a cat lady?
I appreciate them, but I wouldn’t call myself that. 😉
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Saturday was chores and hang out day, and yesterday I got the apartment ready for our weekly hosting of Dungeons & Dragons. 🙂 My husband has Mon-Wed off now (he works four tens), so that’s more the weekend for us.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
I have to get my car smogged so I can do the registration, and I really really need to wash my makeup brushes. Other than that I just got a major thing checked off my list, so I’m off to a good start!
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
I like it more for evenings out, as it can go very harsh on me since I’m so fair. But I love a good cat eye when I have time to perfect it!
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Yes, and I kind of still do. How can Suzanne possibly be the same thing as Susan? How hard is it? Apparently really hard, because it happens all. the. time.
2. Are you a cat lady?
No, I’m definitely a dog person.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Took my youngest three nieces on a picnic at the lake.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Making curtains for the living room.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
Very intimidated. Although I’m starting to like Clinique’s Pretty Easy liner.
1. Have you ever wanted to change your name?
Oh, from about third grade through my mid-twenties, I was desperate to change my name. Susan, so boring. I dislike my natural nickname, Sue, which to me just sounds like litigation. The “Sue” songs are bad; “If you knew Susie,” “Runaround Sue”…then there’s the Black-Eyed Susan (an abused plant), the Lazy Susan (a turntable for sluggards), and “Susan, you’re cruisin’ for a bruisin.” What were my parents thinking?! (Actually they nearly named me after my grandmother, who had a beautiful name that was often misspelled. My cousin has since bestowed that name on her daughter, who uses the super-cute nickname that goes with it. Grrr.)
I used to fill out various mailers so I would receive catalogs in another name. I tried to pick something similar but with some pizzaz (Susie, Susannah, Sasha, ZsaZsa) but nothing fit. Now that I’m officially middle-aged, I still think my name is boring. At this point, almost any Susan, Debbie or Linda you meet is about to go through menopause or recently did.
2. Are you a cat lady?
I appreciate the kitties, but at heart am a crazy (currently dogless) dog mom.
3. What did you do over the weekend?
Hmm…went to Kohl’s, bought up half of Ulta (hellooooo Smashbox + Vlada), made the inevitable Target run, lit a roaring fire in the fireplace, and baked cookies. Oh, and did several loads of laundry. Good times.
4. Something on your to-do list this week?
Ugh, I need to see the dentist and get two fillings.
5. How do you feel about liquid liner?
It’s cool, looks amazing, has great staying power, and I haven’t figured out how to apply it so I don’t look stark raving bonkers. Bette Davis in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” comes to mind.
1. Yes. I have a weird first name, which people have mispronounced throughout my life. And as the only girl, I got the only weird name. (Women should NEVER give their daughters names that sound like a stripper’s or porn star’s name.)
2. No, I haven’t had a cat since I was 9. However, I think I would like to have a cat again if I could also have a dog at the same time, and the cat was Siamese.
3. Rest, shop, house and garden chores. Fret over my scan result appointment, which was on Monday. (Good results so far.)
4. So many things!
5. I like how it looks on other people, but I doubt I could ever get it to look right on me. Even if I could conquer the application, my eyelids are just droopy enough that a true wing would never look right.
I always wanted to be called Claire when I was little. Every story I wrote, the heroine was called Claire.
When I went to a new school at 11, I put my first and middle names together and everyone from my senior school still knows me as Sarahellen, which makes me sound like something out of The Waltons…Needless to say, when I went to college, I went back to Sarah.
I’m so late on this but your name story made me laugh. Before I met the Hubs, I was footloose and fancy free and out with my friends. I was dancing with the cute younger brother of a friend of ours (who was not with us) who didn’t really know us (and I would never have dated said younger brother because he was waaaaaaay too young for me – must have been a whole 3 years younger – haha). Anyway, he asked my name and I didn’t want him telling his brother we were hanging out, so I said Kate. The whole night, my friends would have to hit me and be like “KATE! Your DATE is talking to you”. I’m sure he was wondering what kind of dummy doesn’t answer to her own name. Good times. And there was no harm done, btw.
Aww, how funny! I love how back in the day you could do stuff like this. Now with social media it’s not nearly as easy to escape! lol