Cheryl Shops

Labor Day is a weird time of year to shop. There are often amazing sales, but they’re usually for summer styles—and can be the bottom of the barrel at that. Granted, summer still technically lasts for another month, and in many parts of this country, maybe longer than that. That said, I love a good sale, and I really love passing along a good deal to you, dear readers. So to make your Labor Day sale shopping even easier, here are 10 things that I love—and have featured here on Cheryl Shops—on major sale.

I bought this long cardigan during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale and took it to Sweden, thinking I'd need it at night. But since we were in Europe during a heat wave, I didn't get the opportunity to wear it until our very last night. Thankfully, there have been plenty of opportunities to layer it on since we've been back in San Francisco; I pretty much lived in it last weekend in Carmel, but I wanted to show it in a more transitional way too. Thankfully, it goes with nearly everything. Here's how I wore this long cardigan to dinner last Saturday night.

36 hours in where? Exactly. The entire trip began when my friends and I saw this year’s Outstanding in the Field lineup. Last year, we had traveled to Burgundy, France, for an OITF dinner there, and we had so much fun, we decided to do it again this year. Except we picked the dinner at Kaseholm Castle in Tomelilla, Sweden, outside of Malmo (where IKEA is headquartered). That’s how Sean and I ended up building our trip to Stockholm and Copenhagen—our final destination was Ystad, Sweden, where we met up with six friends (!) for a two-night stay, including the dinner. It was filled with friends, food, and most importantly, fun. Here’s what we did in our 36 hours in Ystad.

Carmel-by-the-Sea is one of my favorite places in California, not to mention the world, so I always jump at a chance to go, even if it’s for Car Week. As I mentioned last week, August weather in Northern California can be all over the place, but we were really lucky last weekend with warm-ish weather; in years past, I’d been bundled in jeans and sweaters. Well, I was still wearing sweaters—it’s Northern California after all—but at least with dresses and skirts this time. Here’s what I wore last weekend in Carmel.

After four days in Stockholm, we hopped on a quick Norwegian air flight to Copenhagen, and while I liked Sweden, I loved Copenhagen. The city feels more modern and yet more old-world European at the same time—I think the two sides are integrated more harmoniously. Plus the food is amazing, and I felt that the Danes have an overall zest for life, which I appreciated. It probably helped that they were having record-breaking heat while we were there, with (rare for them) temperatures in the 80s. If I had to do this trip over again, I probably would have shaved a day off of Stockholm and added one to Copenhagen, but hey, I guess we'll just have to go back (which I would absolutely do in a heartbeat). Here's what we did in our four days in Copenhagen.

When people think of California in the summer, I’ll bet they think beaches, sunshine, and sweltering temperatures. That may be true for much of the state, but it’s generally not the case in San Francisco. We do have beaches and the sun usually appears for at least an hour or two, but in the month of August, the temperatures are anything but sweltering. Welcome to Fogust, when the inland heat hits the cool ocean air and blankets the city in a thick fog. It's also when you see tourists traipsing through the city in shorts, sandals, and San Francisco sweatshirts. The good news is that you don’t have to totally forgo summer clothes in August, but you do need to get creative with your layers. Here’s my go-to outfit for summer in San Francisco.

When most people think of Sweden, they probably think of Ikea, meatballs, and maybe Volvo. Ok, I think of those things too, but also street style bloggers like Elin Kling, fashion giant H&M (which also produces my beloved COS), and Byredo, which makes my perfume. It may not be the A-list European destination that, say, Paris or Rome is, but Stockholm is a cool, clean, cute city that’s totally worth a visit, especially if you’re going to hit Copenhagen too (as we did). There are a gazillion museums, great restaurants, world-class shopping, and lots of boats. Here’s how we spent our four days there.

Spoiler alert: I absolutely loved Copenhagen. I'll go into detail about why, exactly, when I post my travel diary, but to put it succinctly, it's a gorgeous city with amazing food, friendly people, and inspiring design everywhere you look. It also happened to be having record-breaking heat (in the mid 80s) when we were there, so please note that typical summer weather is more in the upper 60s to low 70s, and thus this post is not truly representative of a Danish summer. That said, I was happy to enjoy the sunshine and warmth, so here's what I wore in Copenhagen.