What I Wore For A Week Of Living In San Francisco
Dogs, book clubs, errands, friend dates, appointments, solo breakfasts, and a wedding
I gave myself some time off after taking an outfit selfie every day for Secondhand September and it was glorious. I got back into it last week since these really are helpful to rethink how I’m styling my wardrobe. I haven’t done a week of outfits since July, so sharing what I wore, mostly preloved, for an all over the place week of weather in San Francisco.
Sunday
Morning
Volunteering at my local animal shelter is my least glamorous/best day of the week. Least glamorous because I only wear things I would be okay with getting bleach, cleaning solution, dog food, and anything that comes out of a dog on. Best because I get to spend time with the sweetest adoptable dogs and my fellow volunteers have become friends I’m excited to see every week.
Today’s highlight was dressing the dogs in Halloween costumes. If there’s anything cuter than a bunch of dogs in pumpkin and hot dog costumes, or a dog jumping into a bin of said costumes, I don’t want to know.
Evening
Silent Book Club San Francisco is celebrating their 10 year anniversary tonight and I’m going with my friend S who is also a big reader. I’ve been feeling exceptionally uninspired by my closet lately and with the cold evening weather everything I tried on was very womp womp or too lightweight.
Luckily, I have an Instagram folder labeled “Outfit Inspo 💃💃💃”1 for this exact purpose. Grece Ghanem is my forever style inspiration and she came through with this outfit:
I based my styling on her look and felt 3000x better about walking into this event where S and I didn’t really know anyone.
Within the first 15 minutes I realized a much loved ultra thin skull ring2 was no longer on my finger. After searching my pockets/bag/the floor, I thought it came off in the bathroom when I was drying my hands. After 30 minutes, a kind event planner, an unsavory trash can, a pair of rubber gloves, and no ring, I took a break and looked through my bag one more time…to find my ring stuck in the lining.
S has the outgoing personality I aspire to attain one day and made new friends in my absence. Feeling dramatic for spending most of the night looking for my ring, I told S that I wouldn’t wear rings for the next Silent Book Club. (J/k, I am totally wearing rings to the next Silent Book Club, they are my adult fidget spinners and I feel naked without them.)
Monday
I’m writing my first monthly trend report and know from my time at a trend forecasting agency that these are incredibly time consuming between the research and finding the right supporting images and articles. I started saving themes mid-September, created my outline last week, and am focusing on writing today and tomorrow.
If you don’t have room in your budget for a paid subscription but love trend and street style analysis, dm me and I’ll set you up. As an ongoing job searcher/person living in this economy, I’m in the same boat and am happy to share a free month.
My biggest thrill today was going to the library to print out pictures of the doggies in their Halloween costumes to send to my niblings.
My library offers $2.00 of free printing a day, among many other fantastic things. If your library offers great programs like this, I’d love to hear more.
I’m still working on my 2025 goal to wear everything in my closet to decide what I want to keep or sell on Future Reference. Today was a tiger print skirt that I rented for most of 2019 on RTR. I got it from The RealReal last year a few weeks before my wardrobe did a minimalist 180, and it’s only been worn a handful of times since. After seeing all of the pleated skirts for SS26 I’ve decided to keep going with mine.
Tuesday
The only time I left the house today was to go to the gym and take out the compost and recycling. My activewear is roughly 50/50 firsthand/secondhand, and this set is a 2024 firsthand purchase that I still get excited to wear.
Most of today involved wading through eight years of Instagram folders to find trend posts I’ve saved down. This is consistently tricky because when posts get deleted I spend entirely too much time trying to find the original article that captures what I want to say. I’m surrounded by AI in SF and this is the time-saving task AI should do, but it’s not there yet for tracking down fashion-related social media posts, no matter how detailed my prompts.
Wednesday
I met a friend for lattes this morning and was running behind because my closet is still uninspiring and I need to break out of this cycle. I finally threw on this outfit, arriving slightly sweaty from the almost 70 degree heat wave. My microclimate is windy and chilly and I’m always shocked when it’s warm outside.
I’ve been feeling burned out by too much social media and not enough reading, so I’m focusing on books for the rest of the day. I’m in a lighthearted/funny loop right now and just finished the entertaining Snarky in the Suburbs3 series. I moved onto the author’s standalone Empty about three friends who meet at a clinical trial for a menopause drug. It’s like a modern day First Wives Club and I can’t put it down.
Thursday
I had an appointment today and was running my usual five minutes late. It was back to regularly programmed chilly weather, so I threw on my secondhand pink dress and gray sweater with my beloved cropped jacket and sneakers since I needed to speed walk to and from my irl appointment for a virtual one right after.
I finished Empty last night and moved onto another new-to-me author that writes historical fiction set in the 1960s. Normally when I hear historical fiction my eyes roll straight back into my head since I feel like I’m grinding through every sentence in this genre. I gave Behind Every Good Man a chance based on the ratings and am really into it so far.
Friday
Morning
Another irl appointment, this time with a new PT. They are lovely and don’t mind that I don’t wear activewear to any of my appointments, but I haven’t worked up the courage to ask about using their spectacular mirror for an ootd yet. The weather was crisp and I wore this Wednesday Addams-esque outfit in honor of Halloween.
Evening
I swapped out my top half for a cinched jacket to go to one last appointment. I took this during golden hour where it wasn’t too windy or cold. A true SF miracle.
I spent the rest of the night celebrating Halloween by watching the OG Hocus Pocus while scrolling secondhand sites with a pumpkin candle in the background. (I love pumpkin anything, here’s the Food52 accidentally vegan pumpkin bread I make year-round in case you missed it last time.)
Snif sent me their pumpkin candle4 and I’ve been using it nightly. It has a buttery undertone that’s very unlike my other pumpkin candles. The best way I can describe it is that it smells luxe, and I appreciate it all the more because it’s vegan and Leaping Bunny certified.
Saturday
Morning
I highly recommend solo breakfasts with a book. I finished Behind Every Good Man last night and brought Sara Goodman Confino’s Don’t Forget to Write to breakfast, which is also excellent.
SF mornings are reliably bracing and I layered a sweater, blazer, and another sweater as a scarf for the walk. My personal style leans enormous collar and I got an amazing deal on this sailor collar sweater on The RealReal a couple of months ago.
Evening
My friend is getting married and my goal was to wear something I already own. I originally planned to wear Thursday’s pink dress but it was too low cut for a wedding, so I went with my Ganni animal print dress instead.
I unwisely did not try this on for a test run after not wearing it for a month and the dress was too tight in the bust thanks to weight fluctuations. I put on a different bralette and crossed my fingers that between my hair and jacket, all would be okay5.
Most importantly: my friend was stunning, her dress was a dream, the ceremony was beautiful and heartfelt, the speeches from the bride, groom, and wedding party all brought a tear to my eye, and it was wonderful to see two people so in love.
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading! I have something personal planned for next week that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. There will be outfits involved.
If you like what you’ve read, please tap the ❤️, comment, or share. It’s hugely helpful in giving my newsletter visibility and appreciated more than you know.
This post includes affiliate links that help support my newsletter at no cost to you. Everything linked is something that I own, wear on repeat, and love.
I have 100+ folders at last count. Since IG doesn’t let you search your folder names (it is wild that this basic function isn’t available in 2025), I use emojis on my most used folders to find them more quickly.
Over the last few years I’ve lost an earring charm, my red heart pendant, and a midi ring during walks. I combed every inch of my neighborhood and found the first two. My midi ring remains missing to my everlasting sadness, a Valentine’s Day gift that I’ve worn almost every day for 12 years.
Not a mom, but some of my favorite books are told from a mom’s perspective. I’m getting ready to reread Little Wonders, one of my unicorn five star books about balancing motherhood and a career you love, a relationship that isn’t on equal footing, moving to a new town, and navigating difficult parents at school.
This is the first gift I’ve accepted across fashion and beauty because I love candles, and the animal-free products and Leaping Bunny certification make my little ethical vegan heart so happy. I’ve truly enjoyed this candle, so much so that I’m already eyeing Snif’s Christmas scents - especially the gingerbread one - and Mornings at Levain candle.
It was fine. But note to self: find a versatile fancy dress that I can outfit repeat into the next decade so I don’t have a last minute outfit panic or feel pressured to buy something I’ll only wear once.
I really enjoy you popping book recommendations into your posts. I read them again after clocking the outfits and secondhand clothes links, just to find books to add to my reading list!
I so admire the work you do with pups, seriously, when I have a friend who gives their time/energy I immediately like them even more. Plus, your book recommendations never miss.