Cheryl Shops

My first trip to Miami Beach, a.k.a. South Beach, was 15 years ago for my friend's bachelorette party. Four of us crammed into a tiny room with two queen-size beds, but we barely spent any time there, because we were too busy having the time of our lives. I've been back many times since, for long-weekend getaways, girls' trips, and even a wedding, and I will rarely turn down the chance to go. To those who have never been to Miami, I like to describe it as Vegas on the beach. Like Las Vegas, people go there to party— they dress to the nines and the people-watching is off the charts—and there are a bunch of amazing restaurants from top chefs like José Andrés and Francis Mallmann. Unlike Vegas, there is no gambling nor ridiculous manmade spectacles (unless you count all of the exotic cars driving up and down Collins Avenue); instead, there's a glorious beach and some amazing Art Deco architecture. It had been four years since my last visit, so when Sean found out he had a business trip, I decided to tag along and get there a few days early to take advantage of the holiday weekend. Here's what we did on our weekend trip to Miami Beach.

It can be a little chilly at night—bring a jacket!

I have a semi-firm belief that you’re either good at doing hair or makeup but generally not both. I fall into the latter category, which I attribute to years of doing stage makeup when I used to dance; over the years, I’ve learned to style my hair in an adequate manner, but it never looks remotely as good as when a professional does it. I feel like this is generally a positioning thing: in doing one’s own hair, you can’t get quite into the ideal angle as when someone else styles your hair, plus your arms are generally raised above your head and thus requite more muscle stamina, particularly if you have a lot of hair (which I don’t, but we’re still talking a significant amount of time). So even while I’ve honed my blowout skills with my Dyson over the years, I’ve been intrigued by the Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer, which has over 262,100 reviews (and counting) on Amazon. Is it idiot-proof enough to deliver a just-from-the-salon blowout, or is it all hype? Here’s my honest review.

Just before the new year, there was a meme going around the Internet alluding to how 2022 sounds like "2020 two," e.g. "the sequel," e.g. dear god, not again. But Sean interpreted it as "2020 take two," e.g. a do-over, and that optimism is one of the many reasons why I love him. Yes, things may be less than ideal right now, with closures and quarantines and yet another rampant strain of Covid, but maybe, just maybe this is the year we move on from this @#$% virus. I didn't realize how much I was craving my old routines until our back-to-office date got pushed back for the gazillionth time—and this time I was actually disappointed about it. I had been thinking about easing back into office wear (and really looking forward to wearing my blazers again), but since that won't be happening just yet, I've come up with a happy medium: pieces that are comfortable and casual enough to wear around the house, but polished enough to wear out to after-work drinks (outside, of course). So here's what I'm wearing in 2022...for now.

Happy new year, and welcome to 2022! But first, one more post about 2021. This blog is called Cheryl Shops for good reason, but obviously you do a lot of shopping too. Once again, thank you for doing so—when you make a purchase using my links, I get a small finder's fee (at no cost to you), and that income helps me continue to create more free content for you. Everyone wins! Speaking of wins, I always like to look back and see what the most popular items of the year were, both out of curiosity and in the interest of featuring more of what you like. Based on this year's bestsellers, that would be cashmere sweaters, Spanx pants, and skincare. Here are the top products that Cheryl Shops readers bought in 2021.