Hats Around the World: EPCOT World Showcase

I’ve always wanted to do this. Every other time I have tried to do Hats around the World I have failed. Eleven countries doesn’t seem like that many, but when you are walking and trying to enjoy all aspects of the country, you get distracted and tired and start to lose motivation. Aaron and I made it our mission to tough it out on this trip. We were up against a disappearing sun and my iphone that takes terrible pictures in the dark, but I’d say we succeeded.

Canada: Aaron dons a racoon, and I a Canadian flannel.

United Kingdom: a little Union Jack for me and a Trilby for him. (Couldn’t find him a flat top cap for anythng. Get with it Disney).

France: Berets for everyone! Very appropriate.

Morocco: Seriously. No hats. We scoured this place. I thought they would have a fez like Aladdin at least. This is Disney’s failure not ours. Get with the program Disney. Hats around the World is a thing!

Japan: Slacking a bit in the hat department. They had a lot of hats, but none very culturally representative. Aaron has a dragon. I tried to find a Hello Kitty hat or one of those furry animal hats with the hand pockets. No luck.

Murica!: Colonial tricorne for me and Uncle Sam for Aaron.

Italy: Some Italia mouse ears. There is a tiny gondalier hat on top, but you can’t appreciate it this picture. It’s there, guys. I promise.

Germany: Steins on our minds (Why am I so cheesy. Stop it.)

China: Rice hat for both of us!

Norway: Viking helmets! Aaron sans braids.

Mexico: Sombreros for novia and novio. So much fun!

I grew up in Belle’s house: A New Fantasy Land review

If you want to read more about my love for Disney World, check out some previous posts:

Disney post from 6 months ago, WHAT???…(just go with it)

French Fry Free Disney: What we ate at Disney World

Disney World and My Irrational Fear of Animatronic (previous visit)

On our most recent trip to Disney World we got to experience New Fantasy Land for the first time. We went to Disney at the end of 2012, but nothing new was really open then (that’s why I wanted to come back so soon. Haha!)This time I got the full Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid experience…and yeah, Dumbo was there too, but I’m really all about the princesses.

Here we are in front of the new Beast’s castle. In all honesty, when I heard there were going to be more castles built, I imagined they would be on the same scale as Cinderella’s castle. They aren’t. That could be disappointing, but I think I like that Cinderella is the main event. She’s my favorite anyway.

Before we ate at the castle we had to go hang out with Belle at her new attraction, Enchanted Tales with Belle. Upon entering her house I came to the quick realization that I grew up in Belle’s house. What is this style? French country? I’m not sure but it has my mom’s name written all over it. It was really hard to get a good picture because this is really just a themed line and the room was packed with people, but just take this snapshot and run with it. Wooden furniture with heart cutouts. Low dresser with a bowl and pitcher. I’m pretty sure my mom owns that lantern shelf.

One of my favorite characters!

This is where they asked for volunteers. I will go ahead and say that this is a very kid-centered experience. Don’t get me wrong and think I’m a non-participator…I’d have knocked a kid down to get the chance to have the wand choosing experience at Ollivander’s in Harry Potter World. But this was just holding cardboard and making animal noises. Maybe if they were passing out real costumes I would have been interested.

Lumiere was pretty cool. I think I watched part of a documentary about how they made him  look so real. It was impressive.

And then Belle came out! It was definitely more fun to go through this experience than just standing in a line. I also think that it’s a good way for kids to meet Belle and really interact with her. I think sometimes kids don’t know what to say to character when they meet them, and this had a purpose. They told a story together.

Personally I was a little disappointed because I wanted to take a picture and meet Belle, but I didn’t volunteer to hold cardboard cutouts earlier , so I didn’t get to.

Afterwards we ate at Be Our Guest for lunch. Such good food. You can read about the food here. The theming of the restaurant was beautiful. We ate in the room with the music box, but here is a picture of the main dining room. The cherubs on the ceiling are just like from the movie!

You could also eat in the West Wing if you fought hard enough for a table. That’s where everyone wanted to eat. It’s really dark in there, so I was happy eating in the other room and just exploring the West Wing afterwards. The rose was set up and petals would fall off.

And the Beast’s picture would change as time passed.Even more Beauty and the Beast stuff was waiting on us. We got immersive!

Aaron posed with Gaston’s statue.

And sat in his chair in Gaston’s tavern.

Then we moved on to Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid.

This was another “castle.” Which I didn’t think really deserved to be called “a new castle.” It’s very small.

This ride was just a typical dark ride. It’s cool. I’m glad The Little Mermaid has a legitimate place in the park now, but the ride didn’t blow me away. I’m sure I’ll still ride it every time we go back thought. At least it has good music!

That’s all of the New Fantasy Land that I have to show you. I’m excited for the new Snow White and the Seven Dwarves mine train roller coaster they are adding. I guess we will just have to back sometime soon 😉

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo

Things you should know:

1. I have a goal to get through all of my practical Pinterest recipes by the end of the year. I don’t have time to make one twice. I made this twice. It’s that dang good.

2. I feel like a real chef when I make this. I mean, come on. I am legitimately roasting my own red peppers. These aren’t from a jar. Nope I’m a kitchen master. I also use my immersion blender for something other than smoothies. And to top it off it’s actually a really easy recipe.

3. Don’t freak out about the goat cheese, guys. Be cool. It’s good stuff.

Ingredients

2 whole red bell peppers

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup fat free half & half

4 oz garlic and herb goat cheese

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 lb linguine, cooked al dente

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. (holy moly yes that is hot. I was surprised my oven went that high, but it did)

2. Place peppers on baking sheet and bake 20-30 minutes until peppers are charred.

3. Remove peppers from oven and cover with foil for 10 minutes.

4. That’s going to take some time, so go ahead and dice onion and mince garlic

5. Might as well get your noodles boiling too while you are at it.

6. Saute garlic and onions in olive oil for about 7 minutes or until soft

7. Add in half & half, goat cheese, and salt & pepper. Stir to melt goat cheese, and keep warm over low heat.

(I was worried about finding the right kind of goat cheese, but I used this from Publix…exactly what the recipe called for).

8. Uncover pepper, peel off skin, remove stems and seeds. Chop up peppers.

9. Place peppers in sauce.

10. Add parmesan cheese. (The original recipe made a big deal about using fancy parmesan cheese. This is as fancy as I get. See. It says “fancy” on the bag.)11. Pour sauce in a food processor or use immersion blender to pureed sauce. If you use non-stick pots and pans, don’t be dumb like I was and use the immersion blender in the pot. It will make a scrape in the non-stick coating and ruin your pot. 😦

12. Puree until it gets to the level of smoothness you want in your sauce.

13. Add noodles and top with extra parmesan cheese and parsley.

14. Devour the deliciousness.

Thanks for reading. I found the original recipe for this pasta from here.

Disney post from 6 months ago, WHAT???…(just go with it)

Editing pictures can be tedious. And let me tell you…when you have a whole bunch of blog posts planned that require you to edit a bajillion Disney pictures…well, it’s no wonder I’ve put it off for so long. That coupled with all the stresses of daily life means it’s been a while since I blogged. I’m just going to pick up right where we left off because, like I said before, I have a plan.

Who cares that Thanksgiving is next week. Are you ready to check out my Disney trip from May? In this post I want to share just some of my favorite pictures and moments from our trip.

Our first night at Disney we went to Downtown Disney and of course World of Disney to play with some toys. Here I am as  Jedi/Samuel L. Jackson. Look at that intensity.

Aaron trained me up well.

After walking around Downtown Disney we did something new to us. We caught the river cruise over to Port Orleans to do a little resort hopping and eat at the quick service restaurant over there. (You should check out my post about all the food we ate on our trip!) It was so much fun riding the boat around and exploring the other resort.

I love walking in to Magic Kingdom for the first time every trip. I know I should follow crowd calendars and all that, but I just feel like I have to go to Magic Kingdom first. It’s just so Disney.

The iconic Cinderella’s Castle and the boyfriend and I all matchy-matchy.

The iconic shot of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT.

It actually rained on us pretty hard when we went to EPCOT, so we sought shelter in one of the Innoventions buildings. We walked around looking for something fun to do and stumbled upon this piggy bank game. I basically had to drag Aaron along to do this with me. He was all “This is for kids” and I was all “We are trapped here so we are going to entertain ourselves one way or another.” It was a game to teach kids about personal finance. Fun, right? Actually YES! We BOTH had a surprising amount of fun with it.

There’s our little piggy bank. When you get started you have to pick a goal to save for. The options were vacation, college education, or retirement. We picked retirement because 1. We were sure we would be the only people in the history of Disney World to pick that one and 2. We thought it was hilarious. Then you play games and stuff and your little piggy gets heavier…It was a grand old time. I highly recommend it. Haha.

Here we are on a prettier day at Animal Kingdom.

We went to Rafiki’s planet watch because neither of use had been there before, and I was so excited because I found a hidden Mickey.

Y’all. I do not look for hidden Mickey’s. I completely stumbled on this one and it took me by surprise. Aaron had gone to the bathroom, and I was leaning on a wall waiting for him when I saw it. I for real turned to a random lady next to me and said “Did I just find a hidden Mickey!!” I was so ridiculously excited.

Also on this trip, I figured out that I could zoom with my camera. Yep. Did not know how to do that until I was on the safari at Animal Kingdom. Glad I figured it out though, because we got up close and personal with some giraffes (my favorite!). I’m very proud of this giraffe hiney picture.

Aaron tasting the rainbow at EPCOT.

Phone booth in UK.

Aaron’s British Superman impression.

For the record Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin is rigged.

Look how happy he is with himself. He maxed out the level. It’s ridiculous really. Nothing to do with skill at all. This was in like the first room. Note my score here:

I just gave up.

After the fact we heard that you can get a special button for doing this, but we didn’t know at the time, so Aaron is buttonless and only has these pictures to vouch for his amazing space ranger skills.

More Disney goodness to come 🙂 You can always read about our last trip to Disney here.

Painted Drawers & Hart of Dixie

I didn’t go to Turbokick tonight. I don’t have a good excuse either. I changed into my workout clothes and was about to walk out the door when I realized I needed gas. I knew I wouldn’t make it to class on time if I stopped to get gas, so I just didn’t go. I also did not go get gas, so that will be fun on my way to work tomorrow.

Instead I continued working on a furniture project. I got really tired of sitting out in my hot garage to paint, so I made a set-up in my living room. Please tell me I’m not the only person who paints furniture in the living room. Here’s my set-up.

My “tarp” is an old rug I had in my college apartment. I just flipped it over so the carpet side is down, and the more plastic-y side is up. I guess my reasoning is I don’t want to get paint on the “good” side. I don’t know what I’m thinking. I’m never going to use this rug again except for as an indoor painting tarp. I just decided that I’m going to flip it over so I can sit on the more comfortable carpet side from now on. The plastic-y side hurts after you’ve sat on it for a while.

Let me tell you. These drawers are tedious. All that molding is going to be the end of me. Prior to moving my paint studio inside these were primed and had one coat of navy. The first night in I did the three simple drawers. It has taken me a whole evening to complete one of the more elaborate drawers. That means you are looking at three days of hard work…and I have two more elaborate drawers to go. Aren’t they pretty though?

While I was painting away I put some Netflix on (major benefit to indoor painting). I just started watching Hart of Dixie.

I love this show now. I’ve only seen advertisements before tonight, and it was just one of those shows that I kept meaning to watch but never did. It is right up my alley. Sweet Home Alabama, but with Rachel Bilson instead of Reese Witherspoon. Precious. I love looking at what everyone on the show is wearing. Rachel Bilson always has the cutest shorts on. I also get a kick out of Lemon’s 50s housewife dresses. Yeah. You heard me right. There is a character named Lemon. And her dad is named Brick. Lemon and Brick.

I have this random hard-to-appreciate joke that I’m going to name my future son Plate (because if you say plate so many times it starts to lose meaning and kind of sounds like a good name). Anyway. I think my future son Plate would be a great character on this show. He’d fit right in with Lemon and Brick (except not a jerk).

Almost One Pot Lasagna

I have another Pinterest recipe to share 🙂 At this rate I may be close to making a dent in my goal for the year.

 

Almost One Pot Lasagna. This recipe is a winner. It’s quick. It’s delicious. And it’s actually pretty healthy. It’s so close to being a one pot dinner, but if you want to get everything going while your noodles are cooking you are going to need 2 pots.

Here’s what you need.

Ingredients:

about 6 ounces of lasagna noodles (I used whole grain) broken into thirds

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 (14.5) oz cans Italian diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup tomato sauce (I just used that whole baby can. What was I going to do with leftovers?)

1/2 cup skim ricotta cheese

1/2 cup part skim mozzarella cheese

3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

basil

black pepper

salt (or garlic salt)

parsley

Directions:

1. break lasagna noodles into thirds, boil, drain

2. chop onion and mince garlic

3. heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat, add onions garlic and let cook until soft

4. add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasonings to taste

5. add noodles to pot

6. add ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses, let cook until mixture is thick

7. Enjoy!

This recipe was delicious and one I will definitely make again. Here is the original recipe from the website I pinned. I omitted the mushrooms.

My Invisalign Experience Part 3: Daily Routine and Advice

This post is the third part of a series describing my experience with Invisalign.

Here is Part 1: Consultation to ClinCheck

and Part 2: Getting My Aligners

In this post I am going to talk about what you should expect with Invisalign on a day to day basis and my advice based on my experience so far.

Recommendations (In a Perfect World)

First I wanted to let y’all know what you are SUPPOSED to do. The actual instruction manual and all the Invisalign blogs I read were very strict.

• Wear your aligners at least 22 hours a day.
• Change into a new aligner every 2 weeks.
• Only take them out to eat and brush your teeth. Yes you sleep in them.
• When you are wearing them, the only thing you can drink is water.
• Brush and floss your teeth and clean your aligners after you consume anything (meals, snacks, beverages).
• Never wrap your aligner in a napkin. It will get thrown away.
• Clean your aligner with a toothbrush and water only. No toothpaste.

My Orthodontist’s Recommendations

Believe it or not, my orthodontist was pretty easy going in comparison, but it’s obviously ok because my teeth are looking pretty.

• Shoot for 22 hours a day. When that doesn’t happen, it’s ok. You may just need to wear them longer than two weeks.
• Change your aligners every 2 weeks. As long as they are starting to get loose, it’s long enough.
• Wear them all the time unless you are eating, drinking hot stuff, or maybe at a party or something. (haha)
• You can drink whatever with them in, just not hot stuff because that will make them warp.
• Do you like to snack a lot? That could be a problem with getting your 22 hours a day in. You might need to learn how to snack with them in. me: what!? 😮
• Brush your teeth after you eat.
• Here are these two fancy cases for you to store your aligners. Don’t lose them by putting them in a napkin.
• The instructions say to not use denture cleaner, but you can. Don’t use toothpaste because it will scratch the aligners and make them more visible.

My Routine

I honestly probably do wear my aligners 22 hours a day. However, that is mostly because I’m lazy when it comes to cleaning them. I’ve been known to just swish some water around in my mouth after meals and pop those babies back in right away. Probably not the best thing to do, but my teeth are getting straighter and I don’t have any cavities.

I change my aligners every 2 weeks. There was one week that I changed my aligners a day early because there was a really bad rough spot that developed that was driving me CRAZY. They are alway really loose and ready to be changed though. When I switched to my second set of aligners I was anticipating pain like I had the first few days after getting my first set (very bad), so I took some pain medicine and changed them before bed. It wasn’t bad at all, and I probably didn’t need the medicine. Now I don’t take pain medicine anymore, but I do change them at night. They are a little bit sore for a day or two, but it’s the good kind of sore that lets you know they are working (not the “I want to rip my teeth out”-sore.)

I mentioned that my aligners developed a rough spot. That’s because when I have new aligners in I want to chew on things like crazy. I’m like a teething baby. Apparently there are chewy tubes that you can get, but I don’t have those. I basically bite my teeth together a lot when they feel tight. I’m sure that’s bad, but I do it anyway. Another bad habit I have is popping my aligners in and out for fun. Aaron hates it and tells me I’m disgusting (true love). I’ve googled it and I can’t figure out if it’s really bad to do that or not, so I’ve just been telling myself it actually helps my teeth move faster 🙂 Don’t tell me if I’m wrong.

I drink everything with them in (I don’t drink coffee, but I wouldn’t do it with them in if I did). I eat nothing with them in. It honestly blew my mind when they told me I could snack with them in. I have no idea how anyone could do that.

Now that my teeth have moved stuff gets stuck in my teeth all the time. I carry travel toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss in my purse just in case. I do not brush and floss every time I eat anything because it’s annoying. I went to Disney World the first week wearing Invisalign. I started out so good. I brushed my teeth in public bathrooms. I didn’t eat snacks on the road trip to Orlando because we wouldn’t be stopping soon. Then I realized: ain’t nobody got time for that. I take a lot of care in the morning and before bed, but throughout the day I usually just swish water around in my mouth to clear any residue and pop my aligners right back in. Hey. What can I say?

I use the fancy cases.

 

I keep one in my purse and one at home. I use the home one when I’m at home (duh) so I don’t ever take the other one out of my purse. If I did, I would forget to put it back before going places. I have forgotten it before and put my aligners in a napkin (shame). I just make sure to put the napkin immediately in my purse so it doesn’t get mixed with trash on the table. I haven’t lost an aligner yet. Knock on wood.

Some people may be embarrassed to take them out and put them in in public. I am not one of these people. I am all about full disclosure. “By the way, I have Invisalign. I have to take them out to eat.” I know I’m not the first person anyone has ever seen take out a retainer.

As far as cleaning the aligners goes, I’ve tried a bunch of different things. I did just water and a toothbrush. I even used toothpaste a few times. Lately I have been letting them soak in hydrogen peroxide. That works pretty well. I really want to buy some denture cleaner tablets though. I usually wake up, let my aligners soak while I eat breakfast and brush my teeth, then rinse them off and put them right back in before I finish getting ready.

Aaron doesn’t want me to get the denture tablets because it already freaks him out enough that I refer to my aligners as “my teeth.” I work in a nursing home, guys. It’s funny. Someone offers me a doughnut or something–“I can’t eat it right now. I have my teeth in.” Or “Hey Aaron. Do you have a little container I can soak my teeth in?”

My Progress

One of my absolute favorite things to do whenever I change aligners is to compare my new one with my first aligner. I took some pictures so you can appreciate the difference too. I’m sorry for how terrible these pictures are.

Uppers. Left: 1/14, Right:8/14

Huge difference here. Still more work though.

Lowers. Left: 1/14, Right:8/14

Notice the difference in the two front teeth. Slightly angled in on #1 and more rounded on #8.

This next picture was really hard to take. I wanted to show you some more of the work that the lower aligners did. #1 is on top and #8 is on bottom. You can really see how the aligners moved my bottom teeth down more. The angle is gone and they are more flat now.

I don’t have before pictures except for the pictures I included in the Part 1 of the Invisalign series. Here are some “durings” though.

With Invisalign in:

Invisalign in, to the side so you can really see the attachments:

And no Invisalign in, still able to see the attachments:

Halfway done!

Note! These pictures were taken the day after I got IPR. I had noticeable spaces between my teeth yesterday, and they are already gone.

1

Frito and Corn Salad a la Paula Deen, Y’all

I have another Pinterest recipe to share! I made this one for a potluck at work. It’s not going to be healthy, but it’s going to taste good. It’s a Paula Deen recipe, duh!

Here’s what you need.

Ingredients:

2 (15 oz) cans of whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup of mayonnaise (Hello Paula Deen)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 (10 1/2 oz) bag of crushed Fritos chili cheese corn chips.

I interrupt this post to inform you that as I was typing up that ingredient list from the original blog I pinned, I realized I did not buy chili cheese flavored corn chips. I bought plain-o Fritos. Boring. I’m so disappointed. I bet chili cheese would have added a whole new flavor! Oh well.

Directions:

1. Chop pepper and onion

2. Drain corn

3. Add corn to pepper and onion

4. Add cheese

5. Add mayonnaise and mix it all together

6. It should look like this. Go ahead and put it in a pretty serving bowl. Don’t add the Fritos until right before you serve it.

7. Put Fritos in a ziplock bag

8. Crush with a rolling pin (or whatever you have)

9. Until it looks like this

10. Add Fritos when you are ready to serve, and mix it all together

I actually do not recommend mixing all the Fritos into the rest of the salad unless you know the whole bowl is going to be eaten immediately. The recipe made a lot of the salad…too much for the potluck at work. Normally we leave leftovers in the fridge to be eaten later, but the chips got really soggy and kind of gross. It just didn’t keep well.

I recommend keeping the crushed Fritos to the side and adding to each portion as it’s served. The salad was really good, and I was disappointed that I didn’t get to enjoy any leftovers.

Morals of this recipe story:

1. Chili cheese, not original Fritos

2. Serve Fritos on the side if you want leftovers

 

 

 

French Fry Free Disney: What we ate at Disney World

We went to Disney World in May and I’m just now getting around to posting pictures. That’s just the way life goes sometimes.

One of our favorite things to do in Disney World is EAT, so I thought I’d start my Disney World posts off by writing about some of the places we ate and share our absolute favorites with you. We ate at mostly quick service restaurants to save some money, but we did have a few advanced dining reservations for table service restaurants. I’m also going to include a few remarkable snacks we enjoyed.

I titled this post french-fry free Disney because I made it my mission to not eat french fries the whole trip. Aaron did, so don’t be surprised when you see a few french fries in the pictures of his meals. He can do what he wants. I really wanted to highlight how amazing the food is at Disney World and really show that there are so many more options that hamburgers, chicken tenders, and french fries. I found out that you can almost always substitute cucumber salad for french fries everywhere you eat.

QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS

Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom)

I was beyond excited to eat at Be Our Guest, the new Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant in the Beast’s castle! Let me just say the atmosphere and theming are amazing. I’ll show some pictures in my next Disney post. It is a table service restaurant at for dinner, but we ate there for lunch when it is a quick service location. Dinner and lunch menus are different, but when we were planning, the lunch menu actually looked better to me. It has a little different set up than most quick services. I read all about it before we went. You order your food at a little kiosk, and a cast member gives you an “magic rose.” I had a vision in my head of what our “magic rose” was going to look like (roughly based on a Barbie accessory I had as little girl) and I was a little disappointed. Here is our magic rose.

It kind of looks like a tomato. The rose is “magic” because you take it to your table and it helps your server find you to deliver your order from a little rolling cart. Be Our Guest really feels more like a table service restaurant than quick service. You get real silverware and everything!

I ordered the braised pork with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Aaron had the carved turkey sandwich (and french fries)

I won this round of “who had the better meal” hands down. SO delicious and the price was very reasonable for how huge my meal was. I don’t think I would be able to order anything else on the menu if we eat there again.

My only complaint is that I really wanted “The Grey Stuff.” You know…from the song…It’s apparently a cookies and cream mousse thing that they bring around if you are celebrating something. We were technically celebrating Aaron’s birthday on this trip, but he forgot to wear his button. I’m not even sure if they would give us the grey stuff for lunch. Is it only a dinner thing? I tried to google it and found nothing.

Columbia Harbor House (Magic Kingdom)

We also ate at Columbia Harbor House which is a much more typical quick service experience.

I had the lobster roll.

And Aaron had the fish and chicken breast nuggets plate. Like I said. He can do what he wants 🙂

I think I won this round too, simply because I had lobster and Aaron had chicken nuggets. For some reason I wasn’t expecting my lobster roll to be a cold sandwich. It was good, just not what I was expecting. If we ever eat here again, I think I would try the lighthouse sandwich instead. Hummus with tomato and broccoli slaw on multigrain bread. It looked pretty good when people carried it past us in line.

Flame Tree Barbecue (Animal Kingdom)

We loved eating here. We found a lovely little spot to sit right by the water with a great view of Mt. Everest. No competition here. Aaron and I ordered the same thing: 1/2 slab of St. Louis ribs with baked beans and coleslaw.

Do you think Aaron was happy?

It was so good we tried to eat here again later in the week for dinner, but it didn’t work out because Animal Kingdom closes so early.

Sunshine Seasons (EPCOT Future World)

We didn’t plan on eating here. Normally if we are in Epcot we would want to eat over at the World Showcase. We actually got stuck in future world because it was monsooning outside, and we were starving. But you know what? Sunshine Seasons has a whole lot of really tasty looking options. We ate here for a late dinner, so it wasn’t that crowded. We saw what it looked like at lunch time, and I would probably avoid this at all costs then. It was a madhouse.

I had the slow roasted pork chop with cheddar mashed potatoes and barbecue sauce. The cheddar mashed potatoes are what sold me, but they were not as cheddar-y as I would have liked. They basically tasted like regular mashed potatoes. Still everything tasted really good!

Pardon my bite out of my pork chop. Like I said we were starving.

Aaron had the spicy cashew chicken with vegetable stir fry noodles. The chicken was really spicy.

I think Aaron won that round. Mine was good, but I was disappointed by my non-cheddary potatoes. His just looks better too.

Tangierine Cafe (EPCOT World Showcase-Morocco)

We did get to eat at the World Showcase during our trip. Morocco! We had my sister, brother in law, three nieces and one nephew with us, but we scrounged up a table inside away from the heat.

Again, no competition here because Aaron and I ordered the same thing: the lamb wrap with couscous salad and lentil salad.

The wraps were excellent. Aaron and I LOVE gyros, and that’s basically what we had. If I remember correctly, my wrap was so big I couldn’t finish it, but Aaron was happy to. As for the salads, Aaron and I preferred different ones, but I can’t really remember which. I think I preferred the couscous and he preferred the lentil. We’d totally eat here again.

Captain Cook’s Snack Company (Polynesian Resort)

Good memories here, y’all.

We did not stay at the Polynesian resort, but that didn’t stop us from eating at almost every restaurant there during our trip. Captain Cook’s is great because they have an interesting menu and they are open pretty late (11pm). We came here for a late dinner on a park day because sometimes it’s nice to escape from the parks for a few minutes. Captain Cook’s is just a quick monorail ride away from Magic Kingdom.

I ordered the grilled cheese with Asian Slaw.

Aaron ordered the Aloha Pork Sandwich. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of his. I think he inhaled it before I got a chance. I’m going to call this one a draw. Both meals were SO good. Not if, but WHEN we come back here to eat I may try something else because the menu is so good. Aloha Pork Sandwich, Pork Nachos, Stir Fried Noodles with Chicken…Mmmmm.

We also ate at Sassagoula Floatworks (Port Orleans French Quarter Resort). I didn’t take any pictures. Bad blogger. We both had jambalaya.

TABLE SERVICE RESTAURANTS

Ohana (Polynesian Resort)

Hands down our favorite restaurant. I cannot imagine us ever going to Disney World again and not having a reservation at Ohana. This was the first time either of us have eaten here, but it was also the first time Aaron had ever eaten at a “Family Style” restaurant (the best kind). You eat as much as you want. They bring it to you. Kind of like a buffet but way better.

I tried to take pictures, but then I got overwhelmed by all the deliciousness. Plus with wings and peel-and-eat-shrimp my hands were a little messy to be pulling my camera out. All you get is a picture of our appetizer with our welcome bread in the background.

Here you see honey coriander chicken wings and pork fried dumplings.

They bring out a big plate of stir fry vegetables and noodles as your sides. You also get a couple dipping sauces to try out with everything. Oh yeah. I think we got a salad too. Here’s my advice. Don’t eat the salad or the bread. Save room for all the other deliciousness.

The skewers. The servers bring around these GIANT skewers with meat and just pile it on your plate. Chicken, pork, steak, peel-and-eat grilled shrimp. It’s like they never stop. I’m pretty sure Aaron and I ate our weight in shrimp.

Then they bring out dessert. Bread pudding with icecream, bananas, and caramel sauce. Amazing. We ate ourselves sick.

We love Ohana.

Via Napoli (EPCOT World Showcase-Italy)

We almost didn’t use this reservation because we were trying to save some money on this trip, and Via Napoli can get expensive. We kept it because we decided we could get a pizza and it wouldn’t be much more than it would cost for us to eat quick service.

We couldn’t decide between the Quattro Formaggi and the Piccante (with Italian sausage), so we asked our server which one was better, or what he would recommend. He actually said his favorite pizza is a mix of those two. Basically a four cheese pizza with Italian spicy sausage, so that’s what we got. I think we ordered the medium size and it was good for two people to share.

It was a good choice 🙂 We also got some Italian singing and a free dessert because Aaron remembered to wear his birthday button.

We really enjoyed our pizza, but it’s not a must do for us.

Kona Cafe (Polynesian Resort)

And we’re back at the Polynesian! Maybe one day we can afford to stay at this resort, we love it so.

This is the regular table service restaurant right next to Ohana. When people were trying to get seated at Ohana without a reservation, it was suggested that they try Kona Cafe instead. Two of my nieces came with us to eat here, so you get to see three entrees.

I had the Grilled Teryaki Steak with Grilled Pineapple Salsa, sticky rice, and pasta salad. Mine was good, but the pasta salad seemed a little bit out of place.

My nieces ordered the Asian Noodle Bowl.  I was trying to decided between this and my steak when I was ordering. It wasn’t exactly want any of us were expecting (humongous bowl), but it was good. This is a terrible picture. It looked really good.

Aaron was the winner of this round, by far. He got the Kona Surf and Turf Burger Deluxe with sweet potato fries. It’s a burger with shrimp and this cheesy stuff on top. I had a bite, and it was amazing. I never order hamburgers, but if we ever eat here again I will totally order this burger.

We also ate at Sci-Fi Dine In (Hollywood Studios) and the ESPN Sports Club (Boardwalk). Sci-Fi Dine in had a cool atmosphere, but the food wasn’t anything special. I take that back. Aaron ate the picnic burger, which is a burger with a hotdog on top of it. That’s special, right? I had the reuben with cucumber salad.  I didn’t take pictures because it was really dark. The restaurant is set up like a drive in movie theater and you eat in cars. It was only the two of us so we sat on the back end of a car with a family of four in the front part.

ESPN Sports Club was good, but just like a regular sports bar you would find at home. We ate there because we got hungry while we were exploring the Boardwalk area.

SNACKS & TREATS

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake (Hollywood Studios-Starring Rolls Cafe)

Don’t underestimate the size of this cupcake. There needs to be a name for something in between a cupcake and an actual cake, because this is way too big to be considered just a cupcake. People were seriously staring at me while I ate this. It got to the point where I felt like that kid from Matilda. Cookie made it with her sweat and blood.

It’s a chocolate cupcake with chocolate chips in the cake part, chocolate peanut butter icing filling, chocolate peanut butter icing on top, and giant curls of milk chocolate decorating the top. It is something to behold.

You need to buy one.

Dole Whip (Aloha Isle-Magic Kingdom & Captain Cook’s-Polynesian Resort)

Pineapple soft-serve. Delicious. We got this at both locations, but I recommend getting it at Captain Cook’s because it’s self-serve, and I can get a lot of soft-serve in my little cup 🙂

One treat I wanted to try that I wasn’t able to find is the Peanut Butter Cupcake that was once available at the Boardwalk Bakery. I read about it on the disneyfoodblog. They said the icing tasted like cookie dough. COOKIE DOUGH! That’s actually the main reason we ventured over to the Boardwalk one day. Sadly, the Boardwalk Bakery did not have it. I’ll have to hunt it down next time 🙂

I was also curious about School Bread from Kringla Bakeri og Kafe in Norway at EPCOT World Showcase. I found this one and then realized it had coconut. I’m not a fan of coconut, so I passed on that treat.

Hope you enjoyed reading about all our Disney World Eats!

SLP Advice: Finding my First Job (CFY)

Some people can probably skip right over this post, but I really just wanted to write a little bit about job-hunting as a new SLP graduate. Why? Because I was desperately searching for advice while I was job hunting, and nothing out there really helped me. I want to share my experience and what I wish I had known.

For the record. I graduated with my Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology in May 2012. I have been at my current job for over a year, and it is where I completed my CFY (Clinical Fellowship Year). I work at a skilled nursing facility (SNF), so some of this will relate to that setting, but most of the information is more general in nature.

WHEN TO START

Come January of my last year of grad school I was ready to start the job search. Here’s the problem with that. Very few places are going to hire an SLP five months in advance. Don’t get me wrong. There are a few people from my program that were hired very early on, but I found that looking for a job was really a poor use of my time at that point. Looking back I wish I had just relaxed and waited more patiently. I remember spending hours online applying for jobs. I was contacting people and hearing the same thing over and over again. “It’s too early, but call us back later. We will keep your name on file.”

As months passed and it got closer and closer to graduation, so many more job opportunities opened up. I was going crazy sorting through jobs come the end of March and beginning of April.

WHAT TO DO FIRST

Here is what I did do very early on that seemed to be the best use of my time. Start doing these as soon as possible.

• Write your resume. Do this as soon as possible so you can take your time and do it right. Nothing is as frustrating as seeing a job opening and not being able to apply right away because you don’t have a resume yet. I used this article from ASHA as well as a bunch of sample resumes like this one to get started. The sample resumes helped me the most, and there are tons of others. Just use search words like “slp,” “cfy,” “resume,” “example,” “sample,” “template,” or anything along those lines.

• Get your professional references lined up. I already had a good idea of who I wanted to use as my references, but you need to start thinking about it early on. Go ahead and get their permission. I used people who spent a good deal of time with me and knew me pretty well. For my list of references I found examples online like this one and modified it to fit my needs. One thing I did differently was list their professional title as well as their professional relationship to me.  (ex. Professional title: Associate Professor, Professional relationship to me: Thesis Advisor)

• Get your priorities straight. Start figuring out what you want in a job. Here are some things to think about: setting, location, age group, schedule, flexibility, work environment, salary, benefits. This will be different for everyone, but I started out with a very open mind as far as setting goes. I was willing to work with kids or adults, in-patient, out-patient, whatever. I was open to working in a school, but really as a last resort. (The schools in my area actually pay SLPs relatively well compared to other schools, but not compared to other settings). I knew the level of supervision was important to me, and I wanted to have my CFY supervisor available on-site. My biggest priority was location. I wanted a job along the Gulf Coast, preferably in my home town. As you start really getting into the interview process and comparing different companies, more of your priorities will become apparent.

• Get a game plan. Here is where I think a lot of people get frustrated with the job search. They get on the computer and only type “slp JOBS” into Google. After doing that over and over again, I decided to change my tactics. I started searching for SLPs or speech therapy in the area as if I was a parent or patient looking for a place to get therapy.  I went online and made a list of all the facilities in the area that employed SLPs and their contact information. Another great place to look for facilities is in the yellow pages of the phonebook under “speech-language pathology,” “speech therapy,” or “rehabilitation centers.” Honestly, I found the facility that hired me from the phonebook. You can also just look for facilities as you are driving around town. It’s amazing the places you don’t notice until you are looking for them. Make a list and keep it handy for later.

STARTING THE JOB SEARCH

Ok, so as graduation starts getting closer and closer you can really kick the job search into high gear. Positions are going to be available, and employers are going to be looking to hire you. Here are some tips:

• You know that list of facilities you made. Call them. Who cares if they don’t have listed a job opening online. Call them and ask to speak to the therapy director. If no one answers leave a message (I hate leaving messages). It got to the point where I had this little speech I said over and over again: “Hi, my name is Haley Bee, and I am going to be graduating in May as a speech therapist. I am looking for a CFY and I was wondering if there will be any job openings at your facility.” If I had to make an estimate I heard back from about 3 out of every 5 facilities I called and about 2 out of those 3 were looking to hire someone.

• Staffing Agencies. They sure are annoying aren’t they? Don’t get me wrong, some of the people I talked to were very nice and helpful, but others gave me a bad feeling. One I talked to tried to get me to tell her all of the other companies I was in contact with. Maybe that’s normal, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it, so I lied to her and told her no one. I called a few agencies when I saw some job openings online, but by the time I got to them the jobs were never available anymore. They always had wonderful opportunities available halfway across the country. I would be extra cautious with all of these agencies because when it comes down to it, they are trying to make money by hiring you. Now here I go being a hypocrite. I was hired through a staffing agency. Here’s the difference though; most SNFs use an agency to hire therapists. I contacted the SNF first, knew that I liked it, and then was sent to the agency for that specific job.
• Just to be extra thorough, keep an eye open for job postings online. I bookmarked the ASHA career center and  therapyjobs.com and checked them periodically. Here is why this is not my number one recommendation for job searching. For almost every job you apply for, you have to set up a profile and fill out a long application. And all of this, just so someone can call you to tell you the job you wanted isn’t available and to harass you about taking a job 1000 miles away. This seemed like the biggest waste of time for me. You may want to have a cover letter template ready, because a lot of the online applications required one.

INTERVIEWS

So, you found an opening, applied for a job, and heard back with good news…they want to interview you! While I was job searching I had a couple different types of interview experiences: phone interview, long drawn out direct hire interview, and SNF interview though a staffing agency. The most important thing I did for interviews was make a list of questions for employers. During each interview I looked at this list to make sure they told me everything I needed to know. Then when they asked for questions from me I was prepared. That’s what I started with, but of course I asked more questions based on what they told me. Here is my list:

1. What’s the typical caseload? (# patients, types of patients)
2. How much of the day would I spend doing therapy vs. evaluations?
3. What are the typical hours?
4. What happens if a client does not show up for their appointment? Do therapists still get paid for time?
5. Is there a productivity standard? If so, what is it?
6. What paperwork/documentation am I expected to complete on a regular basis?
7. Is there time dedicated to paperwork?
8. What technology resources are available to me here?  (ex:  laptop, AAC devices, iTouch, iPad, etc.)
9. What type of support will be available to me as a CFY?
10. Do you have a CFY mentor available for me? Have they had a CFY before?
11. How many other therapists work here?
12. What types of support for continuing education do you offer (Does the company pay for CEUs)?
13. What opportunities would I have to become specialized in something such as FEES, Vitalstim etc.?
14. What about license/ASHA reimbursement?
15. Therapy materials?
16. How does time off work? Do you offer paid time off?
17. If I completed my CFY here, would I be able to continue working afterward?
18. At what point in the interview process do we talk about salary? What is the salary range?
19. I don’t graduate until May. What is an estimated start date?
20. How often can a therapist expect a raise, and how much would it be?
21. Benefits package?
22. What do you feel is the biggest benefit for working for your company?

Also as you leave, be sure to ask when you should expect to hear back from them.

As for questions all the interviewers asked me, they were pretty straightforward. They didn’t ask me any hard questions (no one in any of my interviews quizzed me on speech pathology). Just the usual strengths and weaknesses questions, describe your experiences, what population do you want to work with the most? Basically I just repeated my resume to them with more detail.

• Phone Interview. I had one phone interview while I was job searching. It was for a small private practice pediatric therapy center about 2 hours from where I live. Overall the interview went well (they liked me and wanted me to come tour the facility), but I ended up stopping the process because it was too far away, and the salary and benefits just didn’t compare the the other places I was looking. They contacted me and scheduled when they would call me for the interview. I read a little bit about preparing for a phone interview online, but did not follow any advice. I mean it just seemed a little ridiculous to “dress professionally” when talking on the phone. I think I was wearing workout clothes, but I was able to turn my “professional voice” on just fine. (To be honest I make professional calls in my pajamas all the time. No one can tell.) I was super nervous that I was going to forget about the call, so I taped a giant sign in my room with “PHONE INTERVIEW @ 5:30 on THURSDAY” written on it. I had my laptop opened up to a word document so I could write down important information. I also had my giant list of interview questions for them pulled up on my computer. When they called, I was on speakerphone talking to the two owners and therapists. I have never talked on a conference call, so it was a little weird to get used to. Overall it was a great interview. I preferred the other interviews where I met people face to face and got to tour the facility right away though.
• Long, Drawn out, Direct Hire Interview. This interview was all kinds of ridiculous, but I really liked the facility and therapists. They emailed me to schedule the interview, and included a questionnaire. I thought the questionnaire was kind of redundant to my resume, but whatever. They wanted it, so I did it. I was also an over-achiever and printed out samples of evaluation reports and therapy plans I had written. They liked that, but I wouldn’t say it was necessary. The interview went well, but it was really long. Like 2 hours long. I got to meet all the therapists and they seemed like a great group of people. Again I asked my long list of questions. They told me they had a lot of other people to interview, but I should be able to hear back from them after the first round of interviews at the beginning of the next month. Next month rolled around, and I got a second interview. This one was a lunch interview with all the therapists. I dressed professionally as usual, but lunch included sitting on the floor of the therapy gym, eating barbecue, and chatting with the therapists about The Hunger Games. It was a nice time, but totally not what I was expecting. Afterward, I got to ask the therapists a bunch of questions about working there, before meeting with the owner again. I only talked with her for a few minutes, but she told me I could expect to hear back from her by the next Wednesday. Well next Wednesday rolls around, and I get a text from a friend from my program who I knew was also applying for the job asking me what I wore. She had an interview that day! I was a little confused. Later that evening I got an email from the facility telling me interviews were taking longer than expected, and I should hear back from them by the following Wednesday. Well I didn’t hear anything from them on that Wednesday either. By the time they got back to me (about a month and a half later), I had already accepted the job I have now.
• SNF Interview. I had two interviews with SNFs, but the process was similar for both. The interview was scheduled through the staffing agency.  I showed up dressed professionally. Got a tour of the facility. Then we went to the therapy office and they asked me the typical questions and answered all of my questions. Easy as pie. The only thing different about SNFs is that the interviewers can’t answer questions about salary and benefits. That is all answered by the staffing agency. I left the interview and called the staffing lady to tell her I liked the facility. She contacted the therapy director and made sure they liked me. Then she called me back the same day with an offer. There is usually some time frame to accept the offer.

One of the main issues all of my classmates struggled with during interviews was negotiating salary. Salary is a big secret that no one will talk about. It’s very frustrating. Obviously I am not going to post my salary online, but it wouldn’t really mean much to you unless you were looking for a job in my same geographic area and in my same setting. I wish I could give you really great advice about this, but this is all I have.

• Talk with a few of your closest friends about what they have heard is a typical starting salary, what they are asking for, what they are expecting. Don’t put people on the spot. It makes people very uncomfortable. When classmates hear that someone else has been given a higher wage than them they start to get secretive because it really stinks to hear that someone with the exact same qualifications as you is going to get paid more than you.
• I had very specific criteria for my first job. I had to realize that it doesn’t matter that that one classmate got paid a few extra dollars an hour to take a job 4 states away. I needed a job in my hometown. You can’t compare salaries from 2 different geographic areas or even across settings. If you want to work for the school system it really stinks hearing people working in SNFs talk about salary because you will make less. Take a job that fits your needs and is what you want to do.
• You are worth more than you think you are, and more than companies will make you think you are. (This may not be true, but this is what I have gathered from my work experience.) Don’t think of yourself as less qualified just because you are a CFY. Most places really prefer a CFY. Do you know why? You are green. You can be taught to do the job exactly how they want it done. You are not set in your ways. AND you are cheaper labor than someone who has been working for 10 years. Companies want to make money and Medicare pays the same amount for therapy from a 30 year veteran SLP or a newbie graduate CFY.
• To share my own experience, I had two interviews for different SNFs on the same day. I was negotiating salary back and forth, and I was open and honest about having another offer on the table. Company A offered what I thought was a good hourly rate with a sign on bonus. Company B offered me the same rate with a higher sign on bonus. Both companies had very similar benefits packages. Out of the blue, Company B contacted me and offered me $5 more an hour. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse and that was the job I currently have.
• Make sure you know if you will get a raise after completing your CFY. I think you should, but I did not. In my situation I got the higher rate, and an opportunity for a raise after 12 months instead of 9 months which was more ideal for me.

ACCEPTING A JOB

Hopefully all of this advice pays off and you will be accepting a job in no time. My biggest advice for immediately after you accept a job is to apply for your state licensure as soon as you can. It’s different in every state, but in Florida I had to have a provisional speech-language pathology license before I could start work. I waited until after I graduated to apply and that was unnecessary. I could have gotten the process started much sooner. Waiting resulted in me not starting work until the middle of June after graduating at the beginning of May. (It was actually kind of nice having time off. Consider it.) Other classmates started the day after graduation.

That’s all the job search advice I have for you! I worked very hard trying to include all of the information that would have been the most helpful to me when I was looking for a job.