One of my first questions when I was offered the job was “What’s the dress code?”  My new boss told me to wear business casual and jeans on Fridays.  I was really looking forward to Fridays!  I hadn’t had to get dressed up very often since my colectomy.  The occasional wedding or fun outing, sure, but day to day my clothes were athletic attire and casual pretty consistently.
The week before I started my job, I tasked myself with figuring out what I would wear to work. I started by pulling all of the clothes out of my closet that I thought might be appropriate for my new office environment.  I should have taken a picture, the bed was full.  That moment was my perfect justification for not throwing away all my clothes that didn’t fit right after surgery.  Most of them fit and I am grateful that I kept them so I didn’t have to go spend tons of money on new clothes.
After all the clothes were on my bed, I identified which items would be appropriate and figured out what I might still need.  The verdict? Black pants and stylish, warm shoes.  Not bad, huh!  I put all the clothes back in my closet and went shopping.
Next, I put together outfits. A friend of mine came over and we laid out clothes for the first two weeks of work. This was such a great decision. All of the outfits worked. They were cute. Stylish. Comfortable. Weather appropriate. And the best part was: I didn’t have to stress out in the mornings trying to figure out what to wear. It was fun having my friend help me pick out outfits because she put together layering combinations I wouldn’t have thought of and we got to hang out and be productive at the same time!
Here are some examples of outfits I’ve worn to work so far:
