"Macaroons are the new cupcake."

Is matter-of-factly what I told my mother yesterday right before sprinting into a little shop in the upscale area of Downtown Orlando called Le Macaroon. These cute, puffy little treats that come in an entire rainbow of both natural and unnatural colors, that I have seen all over the blogosphere as of late, but have yet to actually try.

Honestly, I sort of thought they were a real big city thing. And maybe this sounds silly but, I never really have thought of Orlando as a real big city. More of a pseudo city that sprung up based on the need for hotels and restaurants to surround Disney. A lot of stuff, but not a lot of character.

Little by little though, O-town has been surprising me! From fantastic little BBQ restaurants and auction houses to the cupcake shop that USA Today named one of the top 10 cupcake stops in the country!

And now... Macaroons!!!

They weren't exactly what I was expecting... more meringue and less cookie. But after the initial shock and a bite of one called Madagascar Vanilla Bean and Cassis, I was hooked.

So well played, blogosphere. Well played!

30 Before 30: Boston

March. Smack in the middle of my last semester of college and right about when a mental break seemed imminent. My girlfriends and I decided to take an impromptu trip for a St. Patricks day weekend in the most Irish place you can get without actually going over the ocean. Boston Massachusetts.  

Boston has really always had a soft spot in my heart and was the trip in 2010 that implanted the travel bug in my head. 

You remember way back when I took that trip out to Portland Oregon? And I asked you how a Florida girl should dress in cold Portland weather? 

Well… Portland ain't got nothin' on March in Boston kind of cold. 

However, I'm proud to announce that not only was it freezing but I also had a killer flu, hardly any voice (think the Friends episode where Phoebe gets her "sexy voice") and still somehow managed to look cute and stay warm!

It should come as no surprise that my absolute favorite part of the trip was the Boston Museum of Fine Arts! 

Being such a huge and historically relevant city though, Boston had a ton more art to offer than simply the museum. 

The Boston Public Library was simply breathtaking and covered in frescos reminiscent of my summer Florence. That and it had a bunch of random little secret passage ways that we were constantly trying to sneak into (National Treasure: Boston Edition, anyone?)

Being that we were in Boston and it was St. Patricks day, there was also a fair amount of debauchery that took place and included (but was not limited to) Attempting to "race" statues of a tortus and hare, making friends with street musicians that were also from Florida, having them follow us into a CVS and then subsequently getting kicked out of said CVS. Such is life in the Northeast I guess!

Affectionately dubbed, gypse fever.

Last summer I spent a month and a half on my first study abroad in Florence, Italy. Hands down, it was the most amazing experience of my entire life and at least twice a week I have glorious dreams of being back there.

That my friends, was the beginning of the end. For my bank account that is. Because since then I have hit Boston, Mass.

Then to a spur of the moment trip across the country to see water falls and falling leaves in Portland, OR

And now... the gypse fever, urge to travel, strikes again... I just booked a flight to NYC in the first week of January. I have 4 days alone of time to fill and this will be the true test of my new found layering skills! Wish me luck blog-o-sphere!