I need to go shopping

As the weather is cooling down in sunny Southern California, one thing has become abundantly clear to me. I am in no way prepared to live in a colder part of the state. I’m not talking about my wimpy Southern Californian tolerance; I did fine my year in Oregon. No, I’m talking about being prepared for cold weather in the way that counts.

My clothes.

Case in point. It’s currently a cloudy 58 degrees.

My current wardrobe is as follows:

• One zip up black sweater – A sweater that has served me well on previous trips to San Francisco. This sweater will likely get a lot of use.
• A pair of black pants – Again, no problem. These pants will work fine in San Francisco.
• A purple cotton t-shirt – Fine for a San Francisco summer (in fact, given the slightly peasant cut, it will probably help with the artsy image I hope to cultivate), but long sleeves might suit me better for the winter.
• A pair of sandals – This is the piece of my wardrobe that I’m most worried about. My shoes. I dislike socks, and 95% of my current socks are ugly, white, and used primarily to go with my ugly, white, restaurant shoes. I don’t have comfortable walking shoes, and even my every day ankle boots have recently fallen out of commission.

What do I need? I need sweaters. I need long sleeved tops. I need clothes that I can layer, clothes where the bottom layer is still warm and cozy. I could use some new socks, a new scarf, some gloves, and maybe some cute new hats. (I like hats – fun fact, I originally typed “I like hates”). I need shoes, pairs and pairs of shoes that are cute, comfortable and warm.

And somehow, I have to find things that I like, because there’s no way that I’m going to have room for even more clothes that I’ll never wear.

Side note, I have a lot of clothes that are getting donated to Goodwill this month. Why am I such a clothes packrat?