I was so thrilled to peek at the forum the other day and to see that so many of my old friends are still here! And many wonderful new faces.

I've been away from the forum for the past two (?) years or so -- though still reading the blog every day -- and my life has changed a fair amount in that time. SO and I got married, I left my job, and instead of our old long-distance relationship, we have a new long-distance relationship. Now SO lives in New York during the week, making it far easier for us to see each other, and we still spend most weekends either in Philadelphia or Connecticut.

When I left work, my external incentive to come up with five flattering, stylish, professional outfits a week was also gone and alas, I fear I have fallen into lazy habits: not shopping enough, not tailoring enough, not making the effort to do more than throw on jeans and a sweater.

I am thus making an early New Year's resolution to try harder and am hoping that getting back on the forum might help.

My challenges are as follows:

-- finding great-looking shoes that will stand up to tromping around Manhattan in spite of my extremely fussy feet

-- leaving small capsule wardrobes in both New York and CT so I don't have to pack a bag every week

-- creating outfits that are not too contrived for my current stay-at-home life yet don't look overly sloppy or I-give-up-ish.

I'm looking forward to the benefit of some wise advice from all of you, and to being inspired by your posts the way I used to be. Thanks in advance!