March Favorites

March has been one crazy month to say the least! The first half of the month was spent in eager anticipation of my spring break trip to Italy (if you haven't already, read about my time in Rome and Florence). Then the remainder of the month was a big catch up session after getting back (and some depression about being back in the States, not gonna lie!). I've been back and forth to Chicago for interviews, which is very exciting, but at the same time I haven't really been able to settle back into life in Bloomington. Anyways, here's to a wonderful March and looking forward to an even better April!

Casual // I've had this bag in black for some time now. In fact, I bought it over spring break last year, but only really started using it last summer. I brought this bag to Italy and I was in love, love, love with it! It's the perfect travel bag because it can fit a camera and other essentials (ahem, hand sanitizer) but is a crossbody so you are hands-free when exploring the city. While black is a great classic, I love the turquoise/mint color for spring. Plus, it's on sale right now at Nordstrom! // kate spade new york 'cobble hill - ellen' leather crossbody bag

Professional // I was tempted to make my favorite this black pencil skirt that I got over the weekend, but decided that was too boring. But if you are in the market for a timeless skirt, though, I would highly recommend it! Instead, I went with this pretty nude polish. I borrowed this color from my roommate, Carmen, because I knew it would be a great shade for interviews. I hate having bare nails for interviews, but at the same time, I don't want to wear anything distracting. This shade is the perfect compromise because it looks clean but still has some color. // Essie's Sand Tropez

Fun // Have you heard this song? I'm seriously in love! I originally bought it on iTunes because I liked how it sounded and wanted new music for Italy. But I quickly fell in love with the lyrics as well. It's all about how it's fun to be a part of the real world. With graduation quickly upon me, I'm getting more and more excited to be a "real person" and this song is the perfect pump up song for my future. // "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore

Beauty // I'm not very good with fragrances. For every day I love my Chloe perfume, but I didn't want to bring my full-size bottle to Italy yet still wanted to smell nice while walking around the city. Truthfully, I found a sample of this fragrance in my bathroom and just threw it into my makeup bag for the trip. But it turned out that I really do love the smell! The fragrance has notes of bamboo, nashi, lotus flower and balsa wood. It's very feminine and airy, which was the perfect light fragrance for traveling. And now it reminds of me of being in Italy. I love that fragrances can do that! // Bulgari "Omnia Crystalline"

PR Advice // Having a clean online reputation is essential for both corporate and personal brands. Especially when looking for a job, it is imperative that you have an online presence that is professional (aka free of drunk photos of you from spring break!). While the tips in this article are geared for corporations, I think they could equally be applied to cleaning up your own personal brand. // "8 Steps to Clean Up Your Online Reputation"

Wildcard // I've talked about my obsession with YouTube vloggers before. They are actually what inspired these "favorite"posts! But I've recently gotten more into beauty vloggers, especially vloggers from the UK. I enjoy hearing about the different products they love (and hate) as well as learning new tips and tricks. I'm currently working on mastering the feline flick (otherwise known as a "cat eye" in the States). Plus, let me just tell you that the accents really do make a difference. It's thoroughly fueling my desire to go back to London, which is both good and bad. My current favorite British vloggers are Fleur De Force, Amelia Liana and Essie Button. // YouTube Beauty Vloggers

Book // Ok, I understand that Frozen is not a book. But I wasn't able to get much reading done in March, aside from the Glamour I read on the plane. However, I have been able to watch Frozen a couple times throughout the month. A bunch of my friends on the Italy trip and I decided to all watch Frozen on the plane at the same time and it was so much fun to experience the movie with my friends. I was even able to convince some skeptics to give it a shot - and they of course loved it! I'm obsessed with the movie, the music, the message, everything! If you haven't seen it yet (I don't know why?!) but you should! // Frozen

What were some of your favorites from March?

Under the Tuscan Sun

Seriously could my post titles be a little bit more cliche? Probably not, but I'm fine with that. With Rome behind me on spring break, I was really looking forward to checking out Florence. I had heard that it was a little less touristy than Rome, and I was excited for that change. Florence is also considerably smaller than Rome, which provided a bit more authentic Italian experience.

Day One // It was adventure getting to Florence to say the least. For future reference: trying to travel by train with 18 people (plus their huge suitcases) is not easy to do. Especially when you miss your train, miss your stop and miraculously end up in Bologna. But when we finally got to our destination, we could not have been more excited. What was even better? This was the day we would visit the vineyard, Castello di Verrazzano.

Our professor had really talked up our guide, Gino, and I was so excited to meet him in real life. When our bus finally made it up the windy hilltop to our destination, words couldn't describe our excitement. The view was amazing - the Tuscan countryside really is something! While we were busy snapping pictures of the landscape, Gino politely instructed us to put our cameras away. He was more focused on us truly experiencing the vineyard rather than just getting a few good shots of the view. He told us a poem in Italian and although most of us had no idea what he was saying, we understood that it was about really taking in the landscape and the overall experience of the tour.

After showing us around the grounds, we embarked on one of my favorite parts of the trip: the wine tasting. Gino told us how to tell the difference between the color, taste and smell of the chianti wines we were trying. We were assigned a different wine with each course and I was eager to take it all in. The first course was an antipasti (I seriously lunched up on the bread), then we had delicious pasta and then finally a meat course with sausage and ribs. Oh and how could I forget to tell you about the life-changing balsamic vinegar and sheep-milk cheese we tasted? I'm seriously drooling thinking about it now. On top of the food, the laughter and love that surrounded our experience was impeccable. Gino really did create an experience that was unlike any other - and one that I will never forget!

When we got back to Florence, we explored a bit but then collapsed from our exhausting day of travel.

Isn't Tuscany beautiful?

No one knows wine like Gino

Another vineyard in the distance - castle and all

We learned a little about wine making at the vineyard as well

All for me?!

The group after an amazing day of wine tasting (Photo credit: Maggie Bakle)

Thanks for a great experience, Gino!

Day Two // The next day started with some shopping in the morning. From the gold shops on the Ponte Vecchio to small leather shops and more, Florence really knows the way to a shopaholic's heart. Plus, shopping in Italy feels so much classier than in America. I wish it was always acceptable to enter a store with a friendly "Ciao" and leave with a wave, saying "Grazie" - so chic!

That afternoon, we had a tour of the Uffizi Gallery. There were so many beautiful pieces of art from Botticelli, da Vinci and Raphael, just to name a few. We were all exhausted by the time the tour came around so it was hard to really appreciate the amazing pieces of art, but the Uffizi is an experience I won't forget.

That night, we had a group dinner at Trattoria La Casalinga. The food was so fresh and delicious! There's nothing like bruschetta made with real Italian tomatoes and basil. Plus, their pesto pasta was amazing! I literally was in food heaven. Afterwards, we explored the city a bit and then headed back to the hotel.

Ponte Vecchio

View of the Ponte Vecchio from inside the Uffizi Gallery

View of the Duomo from the Uffizi

Fake David statue - unfortunately, we didn't get to see the real one

I think I can die happy now!

Day Three // Our last day in Florence began with an agency tour at Tuscana Promozione. It was interesting to see how Tuscany and Lazio position themselves differently in targeting tourists. The agency in Tuscany emphasized the importance of creating an experience for tourists to buy into before they arrive in Italy, while the agency in Lazio seemed to be promote the destination (Rome) above anything else.

After the agency tour, we had free time to explore. We grabbed a quick pizza lunch at Gusto Pizza and then shopped a little bit more. I ended up buying a brown crossbody leather bag that I am in love with. It wasn't too expensive and whenever I wear it back in the States, it reminds me of the amazing time I had in Italy. Plus, the leather smell is exquisite!

At night, we had our last dinner in Italy at Trattoria Anita for truffle pasta that was to die for! We played the "thankful" game at dinner and reminisced about a trip that was truly life changing. It was definitely an experience I won't forget any time soon. Afterwards, we capped our Italian adventure off with gelato from one of Florence's best gelaterias, Grom. Then we walked with our gelato to the Duomo, and it was the perfect way to end a week in Italy.

You just can't get pizza like this in the States.

Yummm - truffle pasta with mushrooms

The perfect end to a perfect trip

Italy was everything I could have asked for and more. I was wow-ed by the people, the food, the sights and so much more. I really miss it each and every day but that just means I will have to go back sometime soon. Who's with me?!

What did you think of Florence? Where else should I go in Italy?

When In Rome

To say that my spring break in Italy was one of the best spring breaks ever is definitely an understatement. From the food (obviously!) to the sights to the amazing friends to the beautiful weather, I couldn't have asked for a better week abroad. I've been having serious withdraws lately so this post is helping me relive the magic a little bit. Take me back already, please?!

I've struggled with how I should format this post, but decided to stick with just a day-by-day breakdown of everything that I did. I'm going to split my trip into two posts, one for Rome and one for Florence. Sorry that this post is super long and photo-heavy, but I really wanted to virtually take you along on my trip. Let's get started!

Day One // I'm skipping our (essentially) two days of traveling, because most of those days were quite boring. We took four flights to get to Italy so by the time we got there on Saturday, everyone was extremely jetlagged and exhausted. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hotel and then collapsed.

For our first full day in Rome, a few of my friends and I went exploring in the morning. We ended up walking around and seeing a ton of amazing shopping and beautiful sights. In Rome it seems that no matter where you look, there's something ancient and beautiful to see. We stumbled into a church at one point and it was just stunning - places like that just don't exist in America.

Then we embarked on a tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum with our trusty guide, Franca. She was the cutest little Italian woman with her matching lip and nail color! So chic and sassy. She showed us around the sights and it was really nice to have a guide because otherwise I wouldn't have known what I was looking at! Everything was so old and amazing, I just couldn't get over it.

For dinner, we headed to this restaurant in Campo dei' Fiori called Pizzeria da Baffetto. The pizza was so delicious! The whole thing was probably bigger than my head and you bet I ate the whole thing! After that we finished off an amazing day with the most delicious gelato at Frigidarium. I'm still dreaming about it now! Delish.

Just another church we stumbled into

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II 

Italy left me with a new appreciation for ceilings

Piazza del Popolo

Just some casual shopping

Inside the Colosseum

Isn't Franca the cutest thing?

Outside the Colosseum

I quickly fell in love with Roma

Can I have this for every meal?

Literally life changing!

Day Two // We started our second day in Rome with an agency visit. I traveled to Italy with a journalism class (you can read some of our blogs from the trip here) about tourism communications. As part of the class, we are learning about how Italy markets itself to tourists. The different regions in Italy are in charge of promoting themselves to tourists across the world. We went to an agency that promotes the Lazio region, which is where Rome is. It was really interesting to learn more about tourism marketing, especially from a place that clearly knows how to attract tourists.

After we grabbed a quick lunch, we met up with Franca again at the Vatican for our tour. It was so beautiful, I could not get over it. Franca took us around to the different gardens and through the different galleries. Everything was so incredible! We walked through the Sistine Chapel as well. I couldn't imagine someone painting that all by hand - so remarkable! What really got to me was St. Peter's Basilica. With the sunlight streaming through the dome and the choir singing in the background, it was just an amazing spiritual experience and I'm not even Catholic! The whole tour was so informative and interesting.

That night we had another group dinner at the restaurant across from our hotel. Later that night, we celebrated my friend, Eliza's, 21st birthday. Can you think of a better place to celebrate a birthday than Rome?!

Gnocchi for lunch

Garden in the Vatican

The Pietà

Inside St. Peter's

Isn't the sunlight stunning?

In St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Square

Day Three // Our last day in Rome was complete with a Baroque tour of the city. We saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. My favorite part of the tour had to be the Trevi Fountain. It's one of those sights that you see in movies (ahem, the Lizzie McGuire Movie) and pictures, but you can't seem to truly grasp its size until you are standing in front of it. Truly amazing! We first saw it in the afternoon, and it was packed with tourists. We still managed to get a few of the classic coin-throwing photos, though! We also had time to grab a gelato, which made for an true Italian experience.

After the tour, we grabbed dinner and headed back to see the Trevi Fountain at night. It was a little less crowded then which was much more enjoyable. Surprisingly enough, it was even more beautiful at night. My friends and I just sat there watching the water and soaking up the fact that we were in Rome. It was definitely a "pinch me" kind of experience.

Trevi Fountain

One coin to come back to Rome, two coins to find love

A Trevi experience would not be complete without gelato

Outside the Pantheon

Piazza Navona

My friends and I taking on the Trevi at night (Photo credit: Maggie Bakle)

Rome quickly became one of my favorite cities. Although it was jam-packed with tourists the whole time, I loved that no matter where you went there was always something beautiful to see! The food was amazing and made for an awesome first Italian experience. While I was sad to leave Rome, I was very excited for the next part of my adventure, Florence. Stay tuned for more!

Have you been to Rome? What were some of your favorite sights?