Jess Lively

As promised, I am going to summarize my move from Blogger to WordPress.org. To make it more interesting and to capture my feelings along with the technical aspects, I wrote it as if I kept a diary throughout the process. Clever, huh? Here it goes. Day -7 Dear Diary, I am so excited to move [...]

Yesterday Erwin and I postponed our biweekly Trader Joe’s trip on account of the freak snow storm that hit Chicago for 22 hours. Normally we go before noon to avoid the congestion, but on account of the blistery weather we waited until the clouds (and crowds) parted at 4:00. Once we got home, I set [...]

I spent Friday night at an awesome jewelry party to raise money for a Team in Training participant. It is always fun to see how people prepare for these events. Generally some awesome appetizers and wine are included. But this event had unique twists on traditional finger food. Check out the awesome peacock, above. The [...]

carribean breeze necklace Just in! New Studio 1423 pieces are in the Etsy shop. Stop on by and check them out. carribean breeze earrings pocket full of pendants, bubble gum turquoise dangles necklace

Exfoliating this week almost seems like cheating. Last weekend I went to DSW and bought some cute new sneakers (see below). I love the new shoes, and considering I wear sneakers about once a week, keeping three pairs on hand is unnecessary. [On a side note, the old Pumas look nicer in the photo than [...]

Over the past few months I have been interviewing people about how they design their life with intention. With the move to Word Press(!) this week, it slipped my mind to find the next DESIGN YOUR LIFE interviewee. Which lead to two options: either skip this week’s interview or do one myself. Since I put [...]

Welcome to the new home of MakeunderMyLife! Pardon any small tweaks or changes as we aren’t 100% done with the finishing touches. But take a look around and add the new page to your RSS feeder, twitter (@JessConstable), facebook, etc.

It’s funny how things become cool. Then uncool. And years later, cool again. Kind of like those black and neon plastic sunglasses from the 90′s. While I don’t consider Jess LC too old, I have had my first déjà vu design. These Pocket Full of Pendant necklaces now available in the limited edition line, Studio [...]

This week’s Dressing Charlotte is about pairing the right accessories with an all-over, bold pattern or print. When I wear any one of these three items, I let the print do the talking and wear one of two basic pairs of earrings: state st. large circles, or state st. large eyes. Their large size compliments [...]

This week’s business advice is actually geared towards the other end of the business spectrum: Interns. If you are in school (for art or otherwiese) and need to gain experience working for a designer, please read this post before decending upon your next victim employer. This topic is very close to my heart at the [...]

Last Saturday I had at Jess LC booth at the Shop Chicago designer show. I also did the fall show last August in Millennium Park. This spring event was in Union Station. The traffic and vendors were down a slightly from last year, but thankfully we ended up doing better than in the fall! My [...]

This weekend Erwin and I hosted an impromptu dinner party with out friends Pete and Kaitlyn, of eatmyblog.org. In an effort to save time and money, I challenged myself to cook the meal using ingredients I had on hand. The result was personal pizzas made with Indian naan bread and topping choices including: chicken strips, [...]

This week’s exfoliation was not one of those ‘oh, but it looks so nice, why is she getting rid of it?’ kind of items. This is a ‘why has this still been sitting in her shoe organizer (of all places)?’ So here it is, an ugly, yucky cosmetics bag with some random items I probably [...]

Easy homemade pesto, just like mom used to make should have made Last night I was busy watching the Michigan basketball game with my insanely excited boyfriend, Erwin. While we watched a surprisingly well played game, I tested this easy homemade pesto recipe by Curtis Stone. The ingredients are simple (all I needed to buy [...]

This week’s DESIGN YOUR LIFE is by Laina B., a good friend from business school who basically dragged me through Operations Management Studies. Without her help, lets just say I might not be an ‘alumni’. Laina now lives in Charlotte and is a financial analyst for a global manufacturing company. In the past two years [...]

Every so often I find a designer while hopping along blogs that have some really stand out pieces. Last week I was lucky enough to come across Pigeon Toe Ceramics and knew I had to swap jewels for cups. Lisa, the designer out of Portland, was nice enough to agree to the trade. This morning [...]

Inspired by Blair’s post yesterday on Delight by Design, I devoted this week’s Dressing Charlotte to accessorizing embellished tops. When wearing a top with an off the shoulder neckline, patterned neckline, or embellishments, let those accents become the focal point for the outfit. Accessories should highlight other areas like the ears or wrist. By sticking [...]

Andddd we’re back! Here is my second round of answers to the intelligent questions readers asked last week. Note: this old-school Jess LC packaging is not the best marketing tool What are the most effective ways you have promoted and marketed your business? This is a very interesting question for me. Up until 2009, I [...]

Spring Cleaning with Amy Considering my propensity to (constantly) makeunder my life, one might assume that my friends are also professional purgers. But this is not the case. Realizing this difference, I am careful not to push my passion for ‘living with less’ on unsuspecting amigas. However, every so often, a friend will ask for [...]

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is relax! Last week I offered to answer any business questions that were lurking in readers minds and man, you all have some great questions! Specific, insightful questions tell me two things, 1: that there are some serious (or soon-to-be) business owners out there, 2: [...]

The most compelling tip jar I have seen to date- “Stimulate My Economy: Change I need” Good morning! I apologize for the relatively infrequent posts over the past several days. Last Thursday I attempted to move my blog from Blogger to WordPress.org, and though it was successful, I have a lot of graphic and editing [...]

(Note: I am working on the new Word Press version of MakeunderMyLife.com throughout the weekend. So for now, I will be posting on both sites until the WP version is finished. Thanks for your patience! Perfection takes time.) This week’s exfoliation is a silver cuff I found in my jewelry box. I got it back [...]

Update: I am still tweaking this WordPress version of MakeunderMyLife – all new posts are still on the Blogger site: makeundermylife.blogspot.com. I am in the process of switching (hopefully today) from Blogger to Word Press (!). So if you see anything funny on the blog or if you type in makeundermylife.com and it takes you [...]

This week’s DESIGN YOUR LIFE interview is brought to you by Patricia of PVE Design. Throughout the years she has worked with some of the most exclusive designers you can name in New York City (Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Liz Claiborne) and has since taken root in Westchester and manned her small business which [...]

More and more often I am getting questions about entrepreneurship, and starting a small business- which I LOVE to talk about. So I would like to offer my advice regarding small business, ways to grow, or what running a small business is like. Please post your questions in the comment section and on Friday I [...]

My button down shirt, neglected in recent months. The theme for this week’s Dressing Charlotte is about reworking the button down, a closet staple, into something fresh for spring. I realized on Sunday that button downs haven’t gotten much trend love in the past few seasons, and therefore my lonely button down has been stranded [...]

To some, this studio may look familiar. That is because it is the headquarters for Pink Loves Brown, a Chicago based stationary line designed by Nicole, of the popular design blog, Making It Lovely (home of these great photos). I will cut to the chase and admit that I have a huge design/career crush on [...]

Simple white canvases above my bed. I never really thought too much about these canvases until my cousin mentioned they were his favorite pieces of art in my apartment. “Art?” What was once an unsuccessful attempt to make jewelry displays later became an inexpensive way to fill the space above my bed. Nevertheless, I will [...]

[Soc Chic Giveaway winners] Daniela in Lisboa, Portugal wearing her new Jess LC necklace. I mentioned last month that thanks to our efforts “out and about” on the internet, we have seen a big spike in international Jess LC orders and fans. Most recently we added Australia and Portugal to the list. We always ask [...]

Drum roll please. At long last we have the winners of the Soc Chic All Week Giveaway. The lucky ladies from the seven awesome participating blogs are listed below. Winners will be emailed today regarding final details. But for the 822 people who commented and did not snag a lovely Soc Chic necklace we have [...]