I have been blogging for so many years that I often forget how much my readers truly don’t know about me. Majority of my close friends were met online through the social media world and often times during conversations something from our past will come up and we both are shocked at things we never knew. In the blog world you share current events and stories or tweet what’s happening at any given moment but we don’t always mention our past.

Did you know that before becoming a Social Media Strategist and working in the social space full time I was part of the corporate world? I used to work for the DFW Airport Board as an Inspection Coordinator for the Code Enforcement Department. After that I spent nearly four years working for Lockheed Martin on the F/A-22 Program. I loved my jobs in corporate and loved all the people I worked with. Fortunately I was able to realize those jobs were just that,jobs, and not my passion therefore not a career path for me. Even though they were amazing jobs! Becoming a Social Media Strategist has opened the door for me to be more available to Gabby once her special needs became more severe. That’s one blessing I’m thankful for daily.

Did you know that Go Daddy actively employs and promotes corporate women? The chief human resources officer, VP of PR and VP of marketing are all women, as are several high-ranking individuals in the legal department. I love to see companies have active female corporate roles outside of just being their spokesperson.

Most of my readers know that I feel strongly about community involvement. Giving back to charities, whether it’s with time or funds, is a passion of mine and something I’ve been blessed to witness first hand with my daughter on both the receiving end and giving front.

Did you know Go Daddy gives back in a big way? That’s right! In 2011, Go Daddy donated more than $5 million to 56 charities both at home and around the world. From the Arizona Humane Society to Hope for Haiti, you can learn more about the diverse array of charitable organizations Go Daddy supports at www.GoDaddyCares.com.

I love learning about what large companies are doing behind the scenes. There is always so much we never know about companies we do business with.

There’s a lot you don’t know about Go Daddy! Including all the tools they have for bloggers! Check out www.godaddy.com to learn more!

Join the conversation for your chance to win 3 year Unlimited 4GH Hosting from Go Daddy!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Go Daddy. The opinions and text are all mine.

Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday.  When thinking about a gift to purchase I always look for unique Mother’s Day gifts.  The standard flowers and card seem nice yet over played.  YesVideo’s transfer service offers the ability to preserve your old memories for future generations.

My mom was always the photographer in our family.  A total amateur but her passion behind the camera made most photos look professional.  She captured photos from every family event even if we were just walking around the Botanical Gardens.  She has albums and albums of photographs that are sitting on a shelf or in a box not being viewed by anyone.  The photos are starting to fade away and some of the memories can not be replaced since several family members have since passed away.  She also has VHS tapes with very little labeling on them from my childhood.  I can only imagine what all is on those videos.  I know years worth of my dance recitals that I’m not sure I even want to see, could be embarrassing…

When thinking of my favorite mom moments I started to browse through digital photos I had on my own computer.  The above photo was taken at the Yanni Voices concert I took my mom to for her birthday one year.  We had a great time and one of the perks from blogging is we were able to meet the performers backstage for a meet and greet with photos and autographs.  She truly loved the concert and it was a nice break away from work for the two of us alone.

My mom also attended the Disney Social Media Moms event with me and my kids in 2011.  I was given the chance to make some lasting memories with my own children as well as with my mom.  That’s three generations together on a vacation.  It was nice.

YesVideo has launched a new service for album transfers.  You ship in your full photo album, untouched, and they will capture all your old photos and digitize them on a DVD for you.  Without touching your actual photos and without removing them from the photo album.  None of their competitors offer this service.  Once your photos have been preserved in a digital format, YesVideo will ship your album back to you in the exact condition it arrived in.  This service is perfect for my mom since some of her photos are stuck within the albums and we know if we remove them they may fall apart.

Since Mother’s Day is just a few days away there is still plenty of time to purchase a gift certificate for your mom from YesVideo and preserve her old memories.  I bet some of those old home movies haven’t been watched in years!  It’s like giving the gift of time…

Don’t forget to follow YesVideo on their social networks to keep up to date with the new services and special offers.

• YesVideo on Twitter
• YesVideo on Facebook
• YesVideo on Pinterest
• YesVideo’s Blog
• YesVideo on Google+

Full Disclosure: This post is part of a Mother’s Day campaign for YesVideo.  All opinions are 100% mine.

Disney Cruise Lines provides each stateroom with two mobile phones called Wave Phones, so you can carry them with you and make contact with one another, any other stateroom and all services on board such as the kids club, room service, guest services and others. It’s pretty awesome actually and we put them into good use. They also have the option of text messaging between Wave Phones.  T loved this option.

I was able to call T while Noah and I were at the pool to check on her and Gabby and determine when was the right time to head back to the room to meet-up. It’s also the way that the kids club reaches the parent when they need the children to be picked up. Gabby and Noah both knew if they ever wanted to leave they just asked the crew to call me and I’d come back to get them.

The Wave Phones held a charge since we truly didn’t need to use them much but the stateroom had a charging dock right on the desk that we would use at night anyways.  I was extremely impressed with this extra touch added to the Disney Dream.  When we cruised two years ago on the Disney Wonder the option of Wave Phones didn’t exist.  It was difficult to make plans where to meet at what time and keep track of it.  Especially if the teenagers wanted to swim and didn’t have a wrist watch on them.  They would have to ask someone for the time and use judgment not to be late for meetups.  The Wave Phones really put me at ease.

Way to go Disney!

Post originally written on April 28, 2012 while on a Disney Dream cruise.

We had such a great time at the pirate party. I think I had just as much fun dressing the kids up as they had being dressed up. The two of them looked adorable.

The evening started out with the Villains broadway style show, then a mini pirate party on top deck for 20 minutes to get the kids excited, dinner at Enchanted Garden and the final Pirate in the Caribbean party with a fireworks show over the ocean with dance party. Jack Sparrow and his crew made an appearance as well. It was amazing. The kids danced and sung along to pirate songs with smiles on their faces. None of us wanted the fun to end so I let them stay up later than usual. After all, it’s a vacation.

Do you save your kids’ Halloween costumes each year? Have you ever had a need to reuse them?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Post originally written on April 27, 2012 while on a Disney Cruise.

On our last Disney Cruise aboard the Disney Wonder we planned a shore excursion on the first day while the ship was at the port in Nassau. We rushed around that morning to get ready, eat breakfast and head down to meet the group that we were heading off the boat with. We took the small boat over to the island where we went swimming with the Stingrays. Although we had a wonderful time and I would say that swimming with the Stingrays was probably the highlight of the trip for Gabby, we were exhausted by the end of the day. Since our cruise was only three nights we truly never had a chance to enjoy the ship. We didn’t take time to swim in the pools or go down the water slides. It felt like we were rushing from one activity to the next, then hurrying around to get ready for the show and dinner. By the time we got to dinner each night Noah would pass out at the table before even eating.

I decided before even booking our next cruise that we would take advantage of the first day, while most people were exploring Nassau, by staying on board the ship. This way the kids could swim and play as much as they wanted, then rest and prepare for the pirate party that goes until late. I regretted that Noah missed the fireworks last time.

Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, is gorgeous and so much nicer for families than Nassau, in my opinion. You can take part in shore excursions as well as relax at the beach and let the kids build sand castles. So I didn’t feel like we would be missing out on anything by staying on board while at Nassau.

What was your family’s favorite vacation destination?

I love talking about travel and family with my community on Facebook. Are you on Facebook? Come over and join the conversation by liking MommaDJane Blog on Facebook.

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The kids couldn’t wait for the day to arrive that we would board the airplane for our trip to Orlando to embark on our Bahamian vacation aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship.  We left town on Wednesday, April 25th with the plan to stay the night at a location hotel before boarding the ship the next morning.  I was nervous to fly into Orlando the same day the ship left port just in case for unseen reasons the flight was canceled or delayed.

Noah was so excited to ride on the ‘big plane‘ again. His first time to fly was two years ago when I took him on his first Disney cruise. He was claiming the window seat two days before we even left. He made it clear to his sisters that he was riding near the window so he could watch everything become the size of a mouse. I never quite thought of it that way but he’s right, the view from the sky does make everything on the ground look very small.

This was our first time to fly Spirit Airlines and I must admit we really enjoyed the plane. The seats were very nice and comfortable. I used BestFares.com to find the best rates. After seeing which two airlines were listed as the cheapest for flights on the days we needed I went directly to each airlines’ website and checked their prices. Spirit Airlines was by far the least expensive.

My two complaints would be their high rates for luggage. You must pay to check bags as well as pay for carry-ons. So when booking your flight always take into consideration the cost of luggage which could make other airlines cheaper in the end. Spirit Airlines does not charge for one personal item each so the kids were able to carry their small backpacks with activities, stuffed animals and snacks on board. My second complaint is they charge for beverages on the flights. They also sell snacks which is standard for most airlines but Spirit Airlines is the first flight I have ever taken where you do not receive a complimentary beverage. Luckily we took our own drinks on from the airport.

Which airlines do you usually fly when traveling? Are you loyal to one airlines or do you go with the least expensive at the time?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Table of contents for Quirky Things In Fort Worth

1. Fun and Quirky Things To Do In Fort Worth
2. Gypsies, Bonnie and Clyde – Fort Worth History
3. Exploring Fort Worth for History and Wildlife

Continued guest post written by Claudia Hall Christian.

4. The nations oldest district, the Fairmont Historic District, is in Fort Worth.

The Fairmount has gorgeous homes, great coffee houses, quirky places to eat, world famous vegan restaurants, and the first community garden in Fort Worth. What more could you want? The neighborhood is one of those places where artists and lawyers live side by side in community. It has one of the most active neighborhood associations in Fort Worth, so if you move there, you may have to deal with the “Fairmont Mafia.”

In the year that I was writing the Queen of Cool, the park in front of the main character, Lo Down’s house was completely rehabilitated. When I went to tour, they proudly showed off all of its new fabulousness.

Just on the edge of the Fairmont is Chase Court. Chase Court was a small gated street just off Hemphill. The houses are big, gorgeous, and deteriorating.

If you find yourself cruising down Hemphill and have a few minutes, take a left at Chase Court. These homes almost reek of mystery and romance. Of course, if I had kids, I’d load them up and drive over to wander the streets. This might not be as fun as chasing after the Goatman, but in the middle of the Fairmont is Arts Fifth Avenue. If you love looking at old houses, you could set the kids up for a summer class in theater or dance or painting or all kinds of cool stuff and wander the streets dreaming of a cool mint julep.

5. Just north of Fort Worth, you can find lions and tigers and bears – oh my!

The International Exotic Animal Sanctuary is about twenty minutes north of Fort Worth. There you can find every thing from American Brown Bears to white tigers and snow leopards. The preserve takes in animals that have been neglected and often abused and helps to restore them to health and well-being. These animals, many of whom are on the endangered species list, are sought after by private collectors. These private individuals eventually become overwhelmed and the animal suffers.

And seriously? I thought everyone knew about the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary. But in talking to people in Fort Worth, Dallas, and around, the sanctuary seems to be a bit of a secret.

If you have a chance, check out their website. You can book a tour for yourself and your family. The animals are amazing, the facility awesome, and it’s all available to you, just outside of Fort Worth.

I hope you enjoyed my quirky facts about Fort Worth and that you have a few different ideas for adventures around time.

Claudia Hall Christian is the author of the Queen of Cool. Set in Fort Worth, the Queen of Cool is an intoxicating ride across a landscape of insurmountable odds, covert government operations, and toxic weapons, where a courageous heroine who risks it all in the name of love. For the rest of April and all of May, you can download the Queen of Cool and set your own price at Smashwords. The book is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon and our store. The Queen of Cool will be released two chapters a month on the Queen of Cool website. For more information Go to the Queen of Cool Facebook page or follow the Queen of Cool on Twitter. You can find more photos of Fort Worth locations in the Queen of Cool on Pinterest.

Claudia is also the author of the intense Alex the Fey thrillers and the sweet and crunchy Denver Cereal. You can find her on Twitter or on her blog.

Table of contents for Quirky Things In Fort Worth

1. Fun and Quirky Things To Do In Fort Worth
2. Gypsies, Bonnie and Clyde – Fort Worth History
3. Exploring Fort Worth for History and Wildlife

Continued guest post written by Claudia Hall Christian.

2. Fort Worth is a hotbed for other elusive creatures – the Romani: Who? Gypsies.

Fort Worth is home to one of the largest populations of Romani in the country. Pushed for centuries from one country to the next, they come to the United States to seek asylum and live in peace. Unlike the usual depiction of a Gypsy as a thief or trickster, the Romani are hardworking people who blend into the background in Fort Worth. They tend to be highly educated business owners. When I was in Fort Worth doing research, a waiter (the only person who had any contact with them) told me that you could always tell the Romani by their expensive clothing, purses, shoes, and jewels. The Romani tend to keep to themselves with the hope of keeping their culture, language, and traditions alive. They live together in an area by the Naval Air Station called White Settlement.

The Romani are not to be confused with the Irish Travellers, these people were highlighted in the television show, the Riches. While the Irish Travellers claim genetic links to the Romani, and call themselves Gypsies, they tend to be louder and more visible than the Romani. Irish Travellers live in Fort Worth during the winter months and travel the country doing (or not doing) construction work in the summer.

3. Bonnie and Clyde hung out in the Stockyards in 1930s.

While almost everyone in Fort Worth can articulate the date Elvis played the Colesium, January 20, 1956, very few remember that Bonnie and Clyde were born just outside of Dallas. While on the lam, they held up in the stockyards at the Stockyard Hotel. In a time when no one but the very wealthy had money and everyone felt desperate, Bonnie and Clyde robbed banks. This quote from Wikipedia best describes their appeal then and now – “The countryís money simply declined by 38 percent“, explains Milner, author of The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde. “Gaunt, dazed men roamed the city streets seeking jobs… Breadlines and soup kitchens became jammed. (In rural areas) foreclosures forced more than 38 percent of farmers from their lands (while simultaneously) a catastrophic drought struck the Great Plains… By the time Bonnie and Clyde became well known, many had felt the capitalistic system had been abused by big business and government officials… Now here were Bonnie and Clyde striking back.” Bonnie and Clyde were folk heroes to average people. They spent a great deal of time playing cards in the saloons in the Stockyards.

I was able to sneak one Bonnie and Clyde story in the Queen of Cool. I was never able to find out it’s origin but it was told to me as if it was fact: Bonnie loved to play cards. While the two of them were recognizable together, they were safe apart. Bonnie would play cards in saloon across the street from the Stockyard Hotel. Clyde could sit up in the window and watch her play. The person tell me this story thought he was watching to make sure she didn’t pick up a few men with her winnings. I personally believe they cheated at cards that way. With Bonnie’s back to him, he could easily see her cards and two or three other players around a round table. The question is how did he signal her. I pose an answer – moving the curtains changed the light – but I challenge you to check it out yourself.

Visiting the Stockyards is another great trip to take with kids. Round up the kids and head down to the stockyards during the day when the bars are quiet. Tell them the cool story and ask them to figure it out. There are waterways and paths to explore as well as great old West stuff to do in the Stockyards. The last scene of the Queen of Cool happens on the site of the Swift Packing Plant. This is a super creepy site that’s also worth some exploration.

Come back tomorrow to read more of my five fun and quirky things to do in Fort Worth.

Claudia Hall Christian is the author of the Queen of Cool. Set in Fort Worth, the Queen of Cool is an intoxicating ride across a landscape of insurmountable odds, covert government operations, and toxic weapons, where a courageous heroine who risks it all in the name of love. For the rest of April and all of May, you can download the Queen of Cool and set your own price at Smashwords. The book is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon and our store. The Queen of Cool will be released two chapters a month on the Queen of Cool website. For more information Go to the Queen of Cool Facebook page or follow the Queen of Cool on Twitter. You can find more photos of Fort Worth locations in the Queen of Cool on Pinterest.

Claudia is also the author of the intense Alex the Fey thrillers and the sweet and crunchy Denver Cereal. You can find her on Twitter or on her blog.

Table of contents for Quirky Things In Fort Worth

1. Fun and Quirky Things To Do In Fort Worth
2. Gypsies, Bonnie and Clyde – Fort Worth History
3. Exploring Fort Worth for History and Wildlife

Guest post written by Claudia Hall Christian.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m an author who writes quirky, fun fiction about good, strong women who find themselves in life changing situations. My specialty is writing traditional serial fiction. This means the story is published as it’s written, in this case, two chapters a month. Through a series of events that can only be called serendipity. I spent much of the last year working on a serial fiction, the Queen of Cool, set in Fort Worth, Texas.

Writing the Queen of Cool was a huge opportunity for me as I’d never written a story outside of my hometown, Denver, Colorado. I’d never been to Fort Worth. I knew only three people who lived in the Dallas Fort Worth area. So this was a big risk, a big challenge and just a freakin’ deal.

Being me, I spent the year immersed in the deeply weird, dark, and wild places of Fort Worth. (The whys of this would require hours on the couch. Suffice it to say that being a little… erm… quirky, the weird tends to find me in a kind of like finds like manner.)

Over the course of the next three days I’m going to share my top five fun and fascinating facts about Fort Worth.

1. A documented sighting of a Bigfoot/Mongollon Monster like creature at Lake Worth or The Lake Worth Monster or Goat man:
In the summer of 1969, there were a number of sightings and incidents involving a half-man, half-goat creature. It was said to stand seven feet tall. This photo was taken by Allen Plaster near Greer Island. Before you dismiss the Goatman as a hoax, here are a few things to consider -

• 40 – 50 people saw this creature over the course of six months. Many unrelated people saw the creature at the time.
• This type of creature have been seen in Texas since the 1800s. There is one described in the “Legends of Texas published by the Texas Folklore Society in 1924. The creature was described as covered in short brown hair and was very fast.” (This link has a great round of the historical sightings of these creatures.)
• The Goat man sighting is considered by actual Bigfoot researchers (yes, there is serious scientific research into the phenomena) as one of the true sightings of these elusive creatures.

Honestly, if I had little boys, I would hype them up with the Goatman story and set them loose on Greer Island. They could run around for an afternoon or ten and you’d all have a blast.

Come back tomorrow to read more of my five fun and quirky things to do in Fort Worth.

Claudia Hall Christian is the author of the Queen of Cool. Set in Fort Worth, the Queen of Cool is an intoxicating ride across a landscape of insurmountable odds, covert government operations, and toxic weapons, where a courageous heroine who risks it all in the name of love. For the rest of April and all of May, you can download the Queen of Cool and set your own price at Smashwords. The book is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon and our store. The Queen of Cool will be released two chapters a month on the Queen of Cool website. For more information Go to the Queen of Cool Facebook page or follow the Queen of Cool on Twitter. You can find more photos of Fort Worth locations in the Queen of Cool on Pinterest.

Claudia is also the author of the intense Alex the Fey thrillers and the sweet and crunchy Denver Cereal. You can find her on Twitter or on her blog.

The kids and I leave next week to embark on the Disney Dream Cruise.  We all cannot wait for our family getaway.  In preparation for our vacation we have been doing a little shopping for spring attire.  I used Polyvore to put together some style boards for the cruise to join Fashion Friday hosted by The Centsible Life.

Gabby has developed a new love for Rapunzel.  She watches her DVD of Tangled all the time and reads the story book daily.  Matter of fact she even says she is growing her hair out long just to be like Rapunzel.  The first style board I put together is of items Gabby received for her birthday this month.  She plans to take her Rapunzel doll along for the cruise to sleep with.  The nightgown featured along with the summer outfit both came from the Disney Store at our local mall.  Summer attire is not complete for Gabby without her Crocs.

While shopping at the Disney Store I came across this gorgeous Rapunzel evening gown.  I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money on something I knew Gabby would only wear once but I wanted to share the full outfit with you guys anyways.  It truly is an amazing dress and would make the perfect formal dinner wear.  This would also double as a great costume to wear for Halloween, dress-up playdates or even for a flower girl in a wedding.  The dress itself was priced at $150 which was a little steep for one dinner, for my ten year old.

I put together a fun style board for Noah’s cruise attire as well.  Most of his spring/summer clothing came from Old Navy and JCPenney.  I did buy him a couple of t-shirts from the Disney Store that I thought he would enjoy wearing on the ship during play time.  One night there is a deck party that is pirate themed so of course we can’t forget the pirate eye patch.

On the Disney Cruise you do not have to go formal for dinner if you don’t want.  It’s completely an option.  During dinner it is custom to at least dress nice and they do not allow swimsuits or men without shirts.  A simple spring dress is completely acceptable as well as wearing formal attire.  The choice is yours and usually one night is designated as dressier than the others.

Noah has a new found love for the color purple so I bought him this suit from JCPenney.  I also found Gabby this beautiful blue dress there as well.  I purchased my dress shown in the style board from Dress Barn.  This dress works perfect because it can be dressed slightly down with wedges or dressed up with heels.  The material of the dress is not overly casual so it will go perfect with Noah wearing a suit.