I made a career change a couple weeks ago and am now working downtown in the city, vs. making a reverse commute to the suburbs. A few impacts this has:

• I’m no longer driving, and hope to keep it that way as much as I can - so far my commute has been totally by bus and on foot, and I’m pushing myself to walk extra miles (over 4 miles a day is my goal, and that’s been easy to achieve with walking to farther-away bus stops, walking instead of driving to park-and-rides, walking mid-day at work.)
• Consequently, most days, I’m commuting in gear, walking briskly for 1-3.5 miles at a time, carrying a 10-15 lb backpack with a change of clothes, laptop, purse, and toiletries to do some cleanup in the locker room. See pictures 10-13 for examples.
• Even though my job is sedentary, I use a sit-stand desk and try to walk/get up often. Also, our floor is concrete, so some of my shoes are loud! I strive to wear shoes with rubberized soles and want to get some of my more blocky, “loud” shoes heel/toe pads or something to make them quieter and more grippy. I like to take mid-day walks in dress shoes that are comfortable enough to do so (like my low wedges.)
• Dress is on the casual side of business casual, jeans ok everyday.
• I carry a badge. Using a basic neck lanyard now but kind of feel like buying or making something more fun. I’ll have to check Etsy.
• To minimize time needed to clean up post commute, I’m clipping my hair back in a low, short ponytail or French twist with an extreme side part/heavy long bangs, sometimes a little curl. Dry shampoo or more often Cornstarch is my friend.

Work wear has included outfits like:
1. Bright floral short-sleeved blouse tucked into belted, cropped skinnies, faux-pearl necklaces, teal titanium specs, navy wedges
2-4. Forest green capelet and matching knit pencil skirt, Rose gold wedges, rose gold collar necklace, purple titanium cat-eye specs (and tortoiseshell cateye sunglasses)
5. Knit/pleather tee tucked in to belted, cropped skinnies; pewter sandals; black kimono-inspired jacket with burgundy floral print, purple titanium cat-eye specs
6. Indigo turtleneck sweater dress over long sleeved black mesh dress, cropped skinnies, navy wedges; rose gold layered pendant necklaces
7-8: Turquoise long-sleeved mesh dress layered over turquoise tee and black leggings tucked into black boots; turquoise beaded necklace; teal titanium specs
9. Burgundy bell-sleeved blouse over burgundy knit pencil skirt with low burgundy pumps and rose gold collar necklace