Stars Fell on Amanda from Mouzekateerz

Welcome back to "Stars Fell on Disney Fans from Alabama!"  I'm excited to introduce my newest Disney Fan from Alabama!  Amanda is a fellow mom from south Alabama.  She is a photographer and teacher.  Hopefully she can teach me how to take great pictures!!  I "met" her when we both joined as writers for The Disney Moms and now we are also both writers for Chip & Co.  I have learned over the past few weeks that we would make great WDW companions: we both could live on a diet of cupcakes, burgers and fries! :)

My name is Amanda Major from mouzekateerz.com, and the essential part of my Disney vacation, my Nikon camera, is held up by a red Mickey Mouse camera strap. How fun to be featured on A Disney Mom's Thoughts in the “Stars Fell on Alabama Feature.” Last year I was reading blogs, and now here I am writing for them!

I'm pretty new to the writing scene, and I arrived there differently than most true bloggers. While my kids were riding Disney roller coasters, I was standing around taking photos of buildings and flowers and places that I loved in Disney World. When I looked at these images, I felt like I was back at Disney again, even if it was only for a few minutes in my mind. Pictures became a way a way to hold on to that vacation magic.  After collecting these Disney photos for several years, I thought I had some examples of good photography that other people might like to see. 

My ten-year old-son and I took a walk one night, having just looked through some vacation scrap books, and we talked about me sharing my photos with Disney fans outside our family. That night last October, I set up a Facebook page, and in trying to spread the word about the Facebook photos, I started writing for a web site I personally read every day for Disney information called Chip & Company. A couple of months later, with tremendous help from Mike at My Dreams of Disney,  I started my blog, mouzekateerz.com, as a platform for more people to see my photography and read an occasional thought I had on Disney architecture or snacks.  I started writing each week for Mike’s My Dreams of Disney , so while I didn’t start out to be a writer, I have suddenly developed into one.  Natalie got me involved as a writer with her Meet the Magic and  The Disney Moms blogs. I have just recently become "the Photo Diva" for Kristin at Tips from the Disney Diva . Three months after I talked 16 of my friends into joining a facebook page featuring my Disney pictures,  I now have almost 1,000 Facebook fans and nearly 2,000 people have visited my blog.  How fun is that?! I'm now doing a lot of daily writing, and I'm still taking a lot of pictures I'd like to share when we make it to Orlando. Every year I tell my students to get out of their comfort zone and take a risk. Putting my thoughts in writing and my photography out there for possibly thousands of people to see every day was my way of taking a big risk. I do believe every photo has a story.

I am a high school Leadership teacher at Foley High School in Foley, Al., just miles from the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.  I am essentially southern born and educated. I grew up in the Alabama town of Fairhope, where I graduated from Fairhope High School. I went to college at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Ms., where I earned undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy. I have a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of South Alabama in English Education. I have taken additional graduate level classes from the University of West Alabama.  I love to read, and I join in reading contests with my students each semester. I’ve never finished less than 5^th place, which is a personal accomplishment with everything I have going on.

I’ve been married to the love of my life, fellow educator and band director Carl Major, for almost twenty years. We have three vacation-planning children and a Katrina rescue dog named Willi Baby.  A self-professed “Life Coach”, I really enjoy pushing my 9^th grade students to reach their personal potential as I strive to reach my own. Recently, I have also discovered a great sense of enjoyment seeing people find entertainment through my photography.  I’ve developed some amazing relationships within the on-line blogging community.

If you find yourself in need of a mental Disney vacation, I have just the spots for you. You will find me on facebook at Mouze Kateerz, where you can take a virtul Disney vacation in photographs each day. For a larger collection of pictures in one convenient location, stop by Mouze Kateerz on Pinterest.  If you have some artistic Disney vacation photos you would like to share, send me an e-mail of your favorite architectural location to mouzekateerz@chipandco.com.

Thanks again Beth for the opportunity to stop by A Disney Mom's Thoughts. Ya'll be good!