I have been working from home since March 2020 and still am. There are some rumors that we may be allowed back to the office in September, but nothing is certain. I do not feel comfortable at home in anything other than loungewear, so that is what I have been wearing 98% of the time in the past 15 months. I have been very careful with my outings, based on my doctor's advice due to my health history, so there have been some solo walks, rare ones where a friend joined me, and an even rarer trip to a pharmacy or similar store. Thus I have been barely wearing any real clothes. My Father passed away at the end of November, so I have been wearing black only until past Wednesday, for a 6-month mourning period.

Full vaccination took effect two weeks ago, so I turned a completely new leaf - I am out a lot, running lots of errands, cautiously seeing some friends, mainly for outdoor events, and on days when nothing else happens, going on evening urban walks for at least one hour. These kind of activities require either casual or smart casual clothes, and give me a nice dressing focus, very different from my office one in the past 4 years. I tend to go trough phases when it comes to casual summer clothes - I do big refresh projects every 4 or so years, and then sort of forget about updating in between, mainly because of the workwear focus. I am in the middle of another new casual wardrobe refresh project, but this time, when I am done, I plan to do smaller upkeeps/refreshes every summer, so there shouldn't be any major ones needed anymore.
So far:
1) got a new haircut, considering highlights
2) need to make an appointment with eye doctor as I suspect I need a stronger prescription, so will be getting new regular glasses and prescription sunglasses (huge expense)
3) got a bra fitting, and my band size went up to 32 from 30, thus in the middle of refreshing my bras ( about 75% done)
4) figuring out my watch situation - new batteries, bands etc. are needed, 50% along
5) lots of tailoring required - lost a size in the past couple of months, plus tons of hemming for various new items that were bought during pandemic

As for clothes, I am refreshing the following capsules: jeans, casual sandals, casual summer dresses (those are all about 50-75% along), casual tops and tees (about 90% along), and finished refreshing sneakers and super casual pants/shorts substitutes ( with hemming left to do). I am attaching Finds of the new sneakers, which I am quite pleased with. I am organizing all the casual clothes in three sub-capsules: dresses, super casual pants/shorts substitutes, and skirts - mainly old tube skirts ( will be likely asking for advice on current ways to style them beyond long tanks/tees soon).

I have been reading the blog and forum regularly, but my participation has been sporadic as I have been feeling really off. I am hoping to increase my forum participation, post some WIWs, and there will be lots of hemming and K/R questions. I am very excited to be back and to try to establish some sort of normal life again in general, it feels like I have been in a year-long winter hibernation. I have noticed some old-time Fabbers back on the forum, and it is so much fun to see you all!