Celebrating Six Years: A Give-Away

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  It’s the fifth of May, and the start of my seventh year of blogging Baby Names of the Day.

Appellation Mountain was launched in January 2008, and, desperate for ideas, I decided to profile a different name every day, beginning on May 5, 2008, with Juniper.

A few days into the experiment, I decided to ask the (tiny) audience for suggestions.  This was the beginning of the rich and vibrant community that I’m so privileged to be a part of today.

This week also marks a very important change: this is my last week as Director of Community Services for the City of Hyattsville, Maryland.  It’s the kind of job I always imagined I’d have when I grew up – incredibly fulfilling, constantly challenging, impossibly interesting.  It’s not just work.  It’s also home, and so I’ve had all the reason in the world to make sure that this small town, in the big ocean of metropolitan Washington DC, thrives.

But it has been increasingly difficult to have enough hours in the day for the demands of my job and this website, to say nothing of my opportunities at Nameberry, with the tremendous support and encouragement of Pam and Linda, as well as, well, life.

After much discussion with my husband, I came to a big decision.

The blog wins.

I submitted my official resignation last month.

And so I’m celebrating Cinco de Mayo, and my last week of juggling a little bit too much, with a give-away.  Yes, it is the ever popular win-your-own-week!

One lucky reader will get to choose all five of the names that will be featured the week of June 23rd.

You can enter three ways:

• Leave a comment on this post with a name that you would love to see featured
• Comment on the link to this post on the AppMtn Facebook page
• Tweet a name suggestion to @appmtn

Should you be the actual winner, you don’t have to include your originally suggested name in your final list.  And please make sure that I can contact you – so if you leave a comment on the website, please use an email address that you check occasionally!

The winner will be announced on Saturday, May 10.

I can’t wait to hear what you suggest, and good luck!