Journal Entry: Visitors, Palm Coast, and Disney World:

My dad, step mom, and baby brother all came to visit me last week. We had an awesome time. Of course, after I've been telling them how beautiful the weather has been, they happened to visit on some of the only cold days that we've had this entire winter. That was a bummer, but we still managed to have fun.

After I picked them up at the airport, we stopped at Julie's Waterfront, a quaint little restaurant on Lake Jennie Jewel in Orlando. As some of the reviews say, the place has seen better days, but the food was delicious, the view was pretty, and they had lots of veggie options. The temperature was rapidly dropping, but we decided to sit outside and enjoy the sunset anyway. They did have heaters outside, which they kindly turned on for us.

After dinner, we decided to make a trip to Mall at Millenia, on the more touristy side of Orlando, right near Universal. I picked up some nice stuff: cheap jewelry, another cute America shirt, and a nice dress for my Barrister's Ball (aka "Law School Prom").

After we had done a little shopping, though I didn't understand how my family could still be hungry,  they decided that they needed to get ice cream at the food court. After all, they were on vacation. I was tempted to order the always delicious raspberry sorbet, but my dad suggested another place with fresh fruit smoothies. I elected to take that route, and ordered a strawberry, banana, and raspberry smoothie. It filled me up even more, but I was very happy with my choice.

On Sunday, we decided to weather the cold, and visited my cousin Val and her family, who have a beautiful beach house in Palm Coast. For lunch, we enjoyed wine while overlooking the ocean, and later, we gobbled up some barbecue on the inter-coastal for dinner. It was nice to have some family time. I really miss that down here.

The next day, we decided to go to Disney. They just added a new section to Magic Kingdom: Fantasyland, which has 2 new sections so far: The Enchanted Forest, which was modeled after scenes and characters from Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, and Storybook Circus, which was inspired by Dumbo. The detail of the entire place is incredible. It always makes me want to travel. It reminds me of all of the quaint, little villages that I've seen around the world, and that magic really does exist.

It was my little brother's first time that he was old enough to really remember being at Disney, and because there weren't any other big kids there, we got to do a lot of fun little kid stuff for him. Being the youngest, he's usually dragged to all of the stuff that everyone else wants to do, and though he loves it, I feel like he doesn't get to be a kid enough. (Throughout the years, we've dragged him on Jaws, Jurassic Park, and lots of other rides that we forget are still scary for little kids).

I was reminded of how little he is when he squeezed my hand at the beginning of the Lilo & Stitch ride, scared and not knowing what was coming next, and again when he laughed when he realized that the "Level 3 Criminal" was only Stitch.  But, as always, he's growing up too quickly. I really miss squeezing his chubby baby cheeks, but I'm glad that he's still a kid. He needed a day to really be one.

...So that's just what we did, we got to be kids for the day, and I'm so thankful to Ashton for giving me the opportunity to be a kid with him and to remember that he's still little, even if just for a day.

Once it was warm enough for lizards to come out, Ashton and I did some lizard-catching. Other than that, we hung out, ate lots of fruit and Publix bread (my dad loves Publix bread), and chilled out. It was really nice. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to see my family more often next year. ❤

EATING OUT AS A VEGAN:

If you’ve been vegan for a while, you know the drill. You sit down with a group of friends or family at a non-vegan restaurant, and all of a sudden, just about everyone at the table’s eyes are on you. At least one person is reading the menu to you, saying, “Oh look, you can eat (insert fancy salad here),” while you’re thinking, “Please don’t say salad. Please don’t say salad.” And once everyone has stopped chirping in your ears and you've finally gotten a second to look at the menu, everyone’s eyes are on you again because they’re all ready to order, and you’re not. 

While you know that they are just being considerate and trying to help you out, it can sometimes make eating out frustrating. It only gets more frustrating the longer you’ve been a vegan. People tend to think that it’s new to you all the time. No one really cares if you’ve been a vegan for one day or five years. It’s new and intriguing to them, so they just consider it the same for you. 

So, all I can say for this part is to be patient and be considerate of what they’re saying. Though you’ve known that you can eat the veggie panini sans cheese for quite some time now, whoever is telling you is just trying to help. I, myself, am working on this because I tend to get impatient at restaurants (I have to tone down my use of the phrase, “I know!”). 

Also, though you may be like me and think you’re a know-it-all, someone may see something on the menu that you didn’t see or think of, so you should try to listen, even if all you want is peace and quiet so that you can read the menu on your own. 

SLOPPY JOE'S ⋆ CAPTAIN TONY'S ⋆ AMIGO'S ⋆ KEY WEST, FL

Given that most restaurant menus are full of meals laden with meat and dairy products, it can be difficult eating out as a vegan. But don’t fret. Here are a helpful few tips:

• A lot of restaurants serving international food have vegan options: Indian and Thai restaurants generally have the most, but you should be able to find something on the menu at most Chinese and Mexican places as well. Black bean tacos and veggie fajitas are among my favorite dishes.
• Make sure to order no butter. You can always have your food cooked in oil if you want to achieve the same sort of flavor as butter.
• If ordering pasta with marinara sauce, ask if they use chicken or beef broth in the sauce. Also make sure that there's no cheese or butter in the sauce. You can always order pasta with olive oil, garlic, and whatever vegetables you want. Italian restaurants are particularly good at aglio olio sauces, but ask for crushed red or black pepper if your dish needs a little extra umph to it. I like to get bowties or linguine with greens and tomatoes. 
• If you're eating bread, ask the waitress for olive oil. You can make a simple dip with olive oil, salt, and black pepper. You can also just dip your bread in salad dressing. 
• When choosing something on the menu, I generally opt for a pasta, a vegetable sandwich with fries, or a veggie pizza with no cheese...but if neither one’s  an option, I either get a salad with fries or a bunch of sides off of the side menu.
• If you really can't find anything on the menu, tell your server that you're vegan, and he or she will tell the chef. The chef should be obliged to make you something. 

*This is a non-exhaustive list of tips. There are many other ways of dealing with going to non-vegan restaurants. It's more of a learn-as-you-go type of thing, but I would have been very glad to have had these tips when I first went vegan. Hope they help!