Cheryl Shops

Time is something that I feel I've completely lost sense of in the last year, when days bled into weeks into months into yikes, it's nearly a year and a half into this pandemic. So I probably shouldn't be surprised that it's already Memorial Day, but somehow I am. (Maybe because we've had an unusually cool spring here in San Francisco?) Time to start living in the present: I'm fully vaccinated, ready to get out in the world again, and thus need to start wearing real clothes again. Let's make up for lost time with a little Memorial Day sale shopping, shall we? The jeans I'm wearing in this photo are 30% off; keep reading for deets.

Back in the golden days of blogging, I used to follow all of my favorites via Google Reader, an RSS feed. As it does with many of its (presumably money-losing) free products, Google shut down Reader in 2013. And as long as there've been RSS feeds, I've relied on Feedburner, another free Google product, to publish mine. The good news is that Feedburner is not (yet) going away entirely—if you follow this blog on a traditional RSS feeder like Feedly or on Bloglovin, you can still continue to do so. But, if you subscribe to my posts via email, sadly, that service will be going away in July. 

When it comes to French luxury houses, Louis Vuitton and Chanel tend to have the best name recognition and while I wouldn't turn down a bag from either, my favorite has always been Hermès. What I love about Hermès is that for almost 200 years, they've stayed true to their artisanal roots, and unlike their competitors, Hermès still manufactures the majority of its products in France. Of course, Hermès is more expensive than Chanel or Louis Vuitton, especially when it comes to handbags; the Birkin is their most famous, but the Constance—a bag so exclusive, you are only allowed to purchase it if you've already bought another Hermès handbag—is my favorite. So while I'm still a few years away from that milestone, I've been establishing myself as a customer for when the time comes. Jewelry is a great place to start (my first purchase was a Clic-H bracelet in Bordeaux in 2016), as are shoes, and both have the distinction of being designed by accessory mastermind Pierre Hardy. If you follow any influencers on Instagram, chances are you've seen the flat Oran sandal, but as someone who prefers a little heel, I think the Oasis is the way to go. Here's my honest and unfiltered opinion of the Hermès Oasis sandal. 

Well, dear readers, it's been a week. I'm not at liberty to discuss exactly what happened or why, but thankfully I am healthy and safe, as are my loved ones, and that's the most important thing. This post almost didn't happen, but by one of many miracles this week, it did, and I'm glad, because I really like this outfit. I realize that it's nearly identical to this one from a few years ago—even down to the accessories—but hey, I like what I like. And since I'm all about listening to my inner lizard brain these days, here's what it told me to wear.