Wordless Wednesday - Project Whisper

A perfect post for Wordless Wednesday!

Thank you to my many friends ~ :)





And a special thank you to the other half of the dynamic duo for my late night encouragement ;)

All the Way to 10k Party..the Twitter Version

I think it was March, 2009.  I signed up for a twitter account.  I had NO idea why, either.  I think my first tweet was something along the line of..

I signed up for twitter today because I thought the little blue bird was cool.

Yeah. Seriously.  I had NO clue what I was doing.  I had signed up for twitter to serve as an easy access to updating my facebook page.  I had a stupid phone at the time, so simple text messaging was all I could do.  It seemed to serve a purpose.  And then, as my good friend would say, I had my "a-ha" moment.

In September '09, I had applied to the WDW Mom's Panel & tweeted about it.   A few of my friends had responded to my tweet, but then I started getting new followers...and Erin Foster (@MomsPanelErin) started following me & wished me luck.

And I haven't shut up since.

Twitter had been crazy lately & accurate tweet counts had disappeared.  I was so excited when they came back Saturday morning...just a little over 200 before I hit my 10,000th tweet.  Thats a lot of communicating!  Later Saturday night, I decided to go for it..I would hit 10k Saturday night.  I sent this out to my "tweeps" :

And the party started!  Amanda(Disney Every Day)  suggested we sing a song (Ice Ice Baby). Charles tried to sing Kumbayah.  We talked upcoming Disney trips, Star Wars Weekends & Conventions.  We talked about vacations, kids.  We even joked about making t-shirts to commemorate the "event".  But, 90 minutes & 110 tweets later..

Promise me you'll always remember...you are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem & smarter than you think. ~Christopher Robin to Pooh

All in all, 10k tweets is an accomplishment, but its just a number.  Its more about the relationships & the people that have touched my life in so many ways.  The friendships that have been started.  The lessons that have been learned.  The community that has been so gracious to accept me...my random babbling, my proud mommy moments, my super awesome Disney missions, various pictures & links to various cheesy 80's You Tube songs.  The community that has accepted my super-DIS-functional (get it? DIS for Disney? lol..ok I *thought* it was funny) family..The Boy, Mini-Me, Future Headache & Princess Peanut..and has really taken the time to get to know them!  I so appreciate when y'all remember the things that we share that are going on in our lives!  It means a lot!

Every one of you has helped me reach the 10k mark...and I thank you!!  For those that were there that night to help keep me "tweeting" away, a super special thank you!!  Check these people out if you get a chance..and if you are not following them or tweeting with them, you should be!

And these are in NO particular order ;)

Nicole - @njoysiscaretti - Talk to this gorgeous chick abt scrapbooking, make up & dance

Briana -@BufferflyBrie - Get to know this aspiring new actress before she hits the big time!

Mark - @MHWeaver913 - Fun loving Disney Dad

Charles - @charlesaguillon - Great Dad, Hubby & Friend! Lives too far away from the Mouse..needs to move closer :)

Vanessa - @nessaaguillon - Charles's beautiful wife! You seriously could not meet a nicer couple than these 2!

Jim - @JimGarth - ok so he's a self-proclaimed #moron..but we love him anyways!!

Jared - @Jaredsward - Just a super great guy! Total fun!!

Scott - @bigdsp - another super fabulous Disney fan!

Shaene - @shaene_o_mite - great Disney lovin', adventure traveling, Village People look-alike friend

Amanda - @amandatinney - If you only follow one Disney gal, this is the one! She really is Disney Every Day!

Jillian - @JL_Davis - This girl loves her Disney Cruises, scrapbooking & NASA!  She went to a NASA tweet up, too!

Elisabeth - @itsmydinner - another great Disney fan ;) Not afraid to speak her mind & call out my fave 80's songs as cheesy ;)

Kathy - @Katly123 - This girl was brave enough to go thru high school with me & still talk to me on Twitter!! Loves NASA & her pets!

Brent - @the4orce22 - Resident Star Wars Expert, Disney Fan & great dad ;) Not afraid to "get his geek on" :)

Angela - @stitchlvr - The girl loves Stitch..what more can I say?

Traci - @TraciLeigh - This girl is my long lost soul sister! Ghost Hunting, Fondue eating, Sex & the City watching, Disney fan ;)

Jackie - @jjzmgailey - This gal is my soon to be a whole lot closer Toy Story Midway Mania riding buddy! Scrapbooking & Disney are her thing!

Paul - @PaulChadkin - One of my super great Disney friends! A great friend to watch Fantasmic with!

Tracy - @tiggerlover75 - Fabulous stay at home Disney Momma :)

Puddintain  - @disneymom1218 - great Disney mom :) Always takes the time to check on ya & see how things are!

My 10k tweet is a quote from the original Winnie the Pooh stories.  I felt it was perfect. "Promise me you'll always remember...you are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem & smarter than you think."   Someone somewhere thinks the world of you.  You are brave & strong & smart.  Use these to do good in the twitterverse.  Make someone smile.  Its contagious & will help make the world a better place.  Promise me.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me!! Love you all!!  Looking forward to the next 10k tweets!

Going to see the Easter Bunny - The NDM version Part 1

The Easter Bunny is coming to town!

Well, of course he is. Spring has sprung & Easter is right around the corner. That can only mean one thing...break out those pretty Spring dresses & head to the mall for pictures with the Easter Bunny. (ok, keep in mind, I have a 2 year old).

But not this year. We would not continue our time honored tradition this year. We would alter this tradition & possibly start a new one.

The Easter Bunny (and Mrs. Easter Bunny, too) proudly reside on Main Street right next to City Hall! Thats right. My Easter Bunny pictures can now be done with Disney flair. *JOY*

As soon as I found out, I planned an impromptu trip to Magic Kingdom for the sole purpose of Easter Bunny pictures. Since I am getting ready to order the DisneyPhotoPass CD, it was perfect timing. I also decided since it was Spring Break (think, older kids home, too) I would bring Princess Peanut's 2 BFFs along for the photo opp. So, early Tuesday(well, early for us), we set out...3 toddlers, 3 strollers, 2 teenagers & me...for the Magic Kingdom for a few hours of fun.

As I was pulling into the resort, I noticed the Magic Kingdom directional sign had a "FULL" sign instead of the arrow. Panic did not set in, as I was sure they had not reached a level 4(closed to everyone). Not being able to be on Twitter for the past hour or so, I was unsure of what the status was. I decided to continue on. Then I noticed the large light up sign in the median that read "Magic Kingdom closed. Turn right to Epcot" with 3 cast members waving at us. Hmm..panic may have started to creep in at this point. Determined, I drove on. Finally, all cars were stopped & I realized why. It was the line for the toll booth.

I think I spent 30 minutes in this line. I used this time wisely to get on Twitter. Closed at a level 3(certain guests only), that didn't include me! I was going to get in. As I finally got to the toll booth, the man told me to hurry up & get inside..they would probably go to a level 4. Yikes!! Cast members were all over the parking lot counting as cars pulled in. I had to park in Sneezy 94. Basically, I was about 5 rows from the Petty Raceway. It was a long walk to the TTC!

Once we got to the monorail, the crowds were not bad at all. We got right on the monorail with no wait time at all. Getting into the park was not an issue either, as there were virtually no major lines to get in.

Not too bad for a level 3...

or was it??

TwitterTwip Weekend Recap - 3/28/10

Sunday Morning

Trying to get motivated to head to Disney for the day. Overheard a conversation at breakfast that inspired this tweet :

Good lord. Listening to @DavidOlmsted & @TeamSkellington talk abt us needing a Zombie Emergency Kit. They found a website.

Yup, they were for real, too. The things I put up with. Luckily, they did not pass the website on, so I unfortunately cannot pass the knowledge on to you. Just leave a comment if you really have a burning desire to know more & I'll get that link for you.

Ok..so on the road....decided I would try 4 square on my phone while at the parks. Tried a "test" check-in at this location :

Getting cough meds for the princess (@ Target)

Epic fail.....4 square is not (<-- blog link) for "not-so-smart" phones . But, look at what I did find ;)

Look what i just got for 6 bucks :)

Apparently, all Targets around us are "under construction" to add the grocery section. So, a LOT of merchandise is on clearance. *sweet* Funny thing, I saw this at my local Target for $24.99 today. LOL Happiness is a great clearance find!

Finally, we arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Mission #1 was underway.

The #Flatties are out looking for adventures!

Within 40 minutes, we were done with the day's mission....Pictures with the characters from Up ;)

Off to get lunch..

lots of lightening around here :) not as much rain as last week. going to Ikea for lunch and some dry time :)

The view from I.4. Glad i'm in my car. Just pray it stops by 7ish!

rain rain go away!

Finally, we were able to venture back out & accomplish the second half of our mission --> Starship featuring Mickey Thomas at Epcot!!

It really is clearing up. So ready to rock ;)

Tonight's concert snack courtesy of norway :)

I found a review of the Schoolbread from Norway (<--read it!)on the Disney Driven Life (<--be counted) . I knew I needed to try it. And, oh my...it was good!!

#Flatties in italy. :)

Concert time!!

Holy cow! Starship is AWESOME! I'm cryin! :) lol

- Of course @davidolmsted

taking way better pics! Totally rockin the world toNite

And for those of you that did not make it out to see Starship, they announced that they will be back in October for Food & Wine Festival! They are playing Halloween weekend. Guess I know where I will be on Halloween!!

Met back up with the girls in our traditional spot for fireworks.

Illuminations with my girls :) such a great way to start my week!

And there you have it..all my Sunday park tweets & pictures..all combined into one nifty neat blog post ;)

leave me some love, please ;)

til next time ~

make it magical :)

Making New Friends is Fun!

@al3xg, @Disneybigsis, @heavensent30 & @winterbabe98

February should officially be "Meet your Twitter Friends Month". I have been so lucky to meet so many people this past month!

I was very lucky to meet Lea (@MagicalMousecap) as she SOLO toured the World! What a fabulous person she is!! We met the weekend of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, so we had plenty to chat about! Have you seen her Twitter background? I love it ;)

Recently, I was able to spend an afternoon at the Magic Kingdom with some fabulous friends. This time, I met up with Alex (@al3xg), Heather(@Disneybigsis)& her hubby, James (@Disneyfotoblog) & his family, Barb (@winterbabe98) & her family & Garry(@garry83). Can you say excitement? And what a large group it was. Look for yourself!

photo courtesy of Alex (@al3xg)

Meeting over Dole Whips was fun! We just all kicked back & chatted for a while ;)

Our group ;)

I love meeting new people...especially the people I chat with daily on Twitter! Looking forward to meeting many more friends, especially with our David Cassidy Tweet Up coming up this next weekend (March 20th). If you are ever in the parks, be sure to let me know!

til next time ~

make it magical :)

Crashing the Disney SM Moms Celebration

Lets just start this off with "I *so* should have been there".

Disney hosted a first ever Social Media Moms Celebration (SMMC). And for reasons that make me the mommy that I am, I did not sign up to go. With that being said, I watched the Twitter-verse in envy the weeks & days leading up to the conference. A lot of mommy-bloggers that I have grown fond of...yes, shameless shout outs will be posted at the end ;)...Jen, Debbie, Lynne, Jackie, JL, Traci, Amanda..all were going to be there. How could I *not* have signed up to go & meet these fabulous people??

*cue "light bulb going on" type music*

I have an annual pass. These mommas were going to be in the parks enjoying some down time. I can go to the parks whenever I want....so, maybe, just maybe, I'll go on one of the days they are there..SCORE!!

*Ok, so it didn't take rocket science to figure that deduction out. Maybe a little of it (ok, maybe most of it) was slightly embellished for the purpose of interesting reading..but you get my point ;)*

In a completely unrelated coincidence, another Twitter friend of mine, Ali, was having a “tweet-up” Thursday night at the Polynesian. The SMMC itinerary had listed most of Thursday afternoon free. Perfection-Thursday it was! As the day grew closer, I realized just how important Thursday was. Disney was gearing up for a major press event for this conference & Thursday was the main event day. Yay me!

Just a few days before, I found out that another Twitter/blogger friend, Aurora, was also going to "crash the party". How exciting!! Now, I wasn't the *only* one to not be attending the conference!! I was so excited, but nervous too. I mean, online everyone got along fabulously, but what if we didn't "click". What if they had all bonded so much over the course of the first day of the conference, I was just an outsider? What if they thought I was an over-zealous nut just showing up & crashing the party? Oh, the things I put myself thru!! Still, it felt good to know that I wasn't the only one just "showing up".

We set out Thursday morning. I followed the Press Releases (ßDisney Blog Posts) all the way up. Things like

• 600,000 people already signed up/volunteered hours thru Hands On Network
• Ty Pennington was there
• He said "Move those balloons"
• The picture of the largest can sculpture does not nearly look as majestic on your cell phone as it does here
• Demi Lovato & Joe Jonas were at the park
• Did I mention Ty Pennington was there?

I think I am still floored that 600,000 people have volunteered already..and the program had only been in effect for 6 weeks. That is an incredible amount of man-power & community fellowship. But, we'll save that for another blog post.