Cakeology Earl Grey Tea + Honey Cupcake

The cupcake craze got to Boston late. Very late. I used to live in NYC and there we had the likes of Magnolia, Baked by Melissa, Billy's, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, Buttercup, etc. - over saturated to say the least. I even missed the most recent fad - the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM where you can satisfy that craving 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In Boston in the last few years we were graced with both chains and local cupcakeries that included Sweet, Crumbs, Kickass, Cakeology, Isabelle's Curly Cakes (Chef Todd English's daughter) and more recently, Georgetown Cupcake (only opened in Newbury Street thus far in Boston). For consistently moist cake, a perfect cake to frosting ratio and interesting flavors along with a solid ability to represent the flavor they are touting, I love Cakeology in Downtown Crossing. Sweet is too dry with too much frosting and flavors are not well pronounced, Crumbs is a good cupcake but I find it to be too big, I've never had Kickass and Georgetown Cupcake is generally consistently good, but I prefer a local bakery as opposed to a chain.

My favorite cupcakes at Cakeology are the Earl Grey Tea + Honey and White Chocolate Strawberry. Delicious, light, moist, flavorful, not too sweet, and the perfect size. In fact, I need one. Or two. Stat!

Photo Courtesy of Yelp.com

Photo courtesy of Dgrub http://dgrubs.com/category/stores/

Zara Studded Flats

I've always been a sucker for Marc Jacobs' mouse flats. But when he added gold studs, they were to die for. This is hands down one of my favorite pairs of flats, but have been recently looking for a style refresh at a more friendly price point. I purchased the Valentino Rockstud flats recently and love them, but given its bright pink coloring I thought I should find one that might be more work appropriate.

Photo Credit from Style - Roulette

Zara recently came out with studded flats, and am debating now whether or not to add it to my collection. It's a knock off of the Christian Louboutin Pigalle flats currently out right now, but has the same look. So feminine yet tough. Love. Them. It's selling for $59.90 USD in stores but it appears to be sold out online. Sob. Love the price point, but not loving the fact that it's not accessible right now. Going to have to call the local Zara to see if they have them in stock still!

Celicia Travels: Hong Kong

I have nothing but fond memories of Hong Kong. It feels like a second home to me! A city of interconnected and "aircon" malls above ground and even below ground (once you've experienced the MTR every other subway system is just too slow), amazing food at every corner, fashion to suit every budget, expressive styles and just overall fast paced amazingness Hong Kong is fantastic in every way. But the best about Hong Kong, hands down, is the food!

We have our favorites, from grabbing cookies and pastries from Kee Wah bakery, indulging in the best dim sum the world has to offer any time of day, garlic crab (Australian crab) at Underbridge, lai liu ha (literally, pissing shrimp) tossed spicy salt/pepper style at the fishing village of Sai Kung or mango desserts to your heart's desire at Hui Lau Shan, nothing beats Hong Kong. We also frequented Cafe de Coral alot (it's a Chinese "fast food" joint but just so delicious and cheap) and even McDonald's is loads better with its fried taro and red bean pies. Gai Dan Jai (little puff cakes) were my absolute favorite snack on the go. You could even walk into 7-Eleven and get a delicious and warm Cha Siew Bao (roasted pork bun), Bolor Bao (Pineapple Bun), or a Dan Tat (Egg Tart). Loads of cheap eats on every corner resulted in just endless food porn. And while you would eat nonstop the heat and the fact that you would constantly be moving actually canceled each other out:)

Cafe de Coral

Gai Dan Jai

Bolor Bao

Gai Dan Jai to Go!

Dan Tat

Hong Kong is all about style, influenced in equal parts from fashions from the East (Japan and Korea) and the West (Europe and the US). I had Tory Burch Revas before it became "hot" in Hong Kong the following year - when my sister in law returned she wanted a pair of Revas because it was all the rage! To adapt to the intense humidity and hot weather of Hong Kong I brought alot of loose sundresses and lots of accessories. That meant dresses from Velvet, Club Monaco and t-shirts from Love by Ya-Ya and lots of skinny jeans, and gladiator sandals from Sam Edelman, Tory Burch reva flats, and Zara wedge pumps. I also brought several different bags, but mostly deferred to Foley & Corinna's City Bag in snakeskin embossed leather given it's slouchy unstructured feel that could also carry a ton yet still be lightweight - I loved the pattern because it added some necessary toughness. I also brought my LV GM Neverfull - great for lugging around, but eventually it became too burdensome to carry all day because of its size (and my and everyone's tendency to want to throw things in it).

Ann Taylor Gallery Tote

I work in finance, and there are days when I have to lug fairly hefty items between meetings to and from the office. I'm loathe to bring my Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM in Monogram because it's been well used and beat up from years of abuse (I got it when it first came out in 2007. Yes. 7 years ago).

Lately I've been sweating the Ann Taylor Gallery Tote. It's cute, structured, and inexpensive and looks like it can take a beating. I first got wind of it on Jean's blog, Extra Petite. She talks about getting a ton of mileage out of her tote and now I'm seriously contemplating getting one. All of the pics below are from Ann Taylor's website and corresponding blog:

Love both the navy and black colors. The practical analyst in me says to get the typical black, but the creative part of me says navy for something completely unexpected. Which one to get?

Summer Maxi Dresses

When I was pregnant I was a huge fan of maxi dresses because they were just so comfortable. Since then I'm still a huge fan, though it's hard to find ones that fit my frame best given that I am petite - barely 5'2! I've found a couple from this season that are affordable and absolutely en pointe for the season.

This knotted stripe maxi dress from Forever21 in Coral and Royal Blue is gorgeous. And I might add easy on the wallet at $10.80!

This crepe woven maxi dress from Forever21 in Tomato is also in my opinion, perfect for the summer. I'm all about color for summer so I'm loving the bright reddish orange. It looks more expensive than it really is for something similar in the more pricey brands you typically see on Shopbop. At $19.80 it's a steal.

I also picked up J.Crew's Maxi Tank Dress in Stripe - I'm seeing this as a lazy Sunday staple in the summer. A little pricier than the other counterparts that I highlighted at $110, but I'm thinking this is one that'll be a classic overtime.

Celicia Travels: Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Pura Vida. The closest to nature you'll ever get. We experienced the longest travel to get to a destination ever - upon arriving in Costa Rica's capital, San Jose we proceeded to pile into a multi-passenger rental van in the middle of a torrential downpour. It would probably normally only take a 2 hours on normal roads, but Costa Rica's roads were horrendous. So it took us many times that to finally arrive in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

We also happened to arrive in the middle of rainy season. The water was muddy but the climate was lush and green. Oh, and there animals. And bugs. LOTS of bugs. EVERYWHERE. One night we came home to a tarantula at the doorstep of our villa. And our villa's water system wasn't working. But who cares! Pura Vida!!!!

We tried our hand at surfing, zip-lining (which I found terrifying because I am afraid of heights), ATVing, snorkeling, and taking shots of bloody maries with turtle eggs. Sigh. Poor turtle eggs. There was also endless Patron Silver. I used to hate tequila and after Costa Rica I can drink Patron Silver like water. We became accustomed to having rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the best meal we've ever had was the fried snapper. Perfectly fried, and the meat of the snapper perfectly succulent, moist, firm. To this day my husband has tried to perfect it and we've only come a smidgen close.

Staples for Costa Rica? Lots of mosquito spray. Or just general bug spray. Water shoes. Because I knew things were going to get ruined in Costa Rica (it was humid all day and all night and my clothes always felt damp) I brought alot of simple and dispensable sundresses, t-shirts and shorts from Forever21, C&C California and H&M. My bikinis were from Vix and Diane von Furstenberg. My dressier items were from Susana Monaco, Vera Wang Lavender Label. I lived in Havaianas, my Nine West for New Balance orange and gray sneakers, and Sam Edelman Gigi gladiator sandals.