Jess Lively

Remember last week’s DESIGN YOUR LIFE interviewee, Courtney from Kelly + Olive? This week’s interviewee is Lauren, Courtney’s partner-in-crime business. If you have been following their blog, you are probably as smitten with their design ideas as I am. In fact, since both Lauren and Courtney live in Chicago(!!) there are all kinds of similarities [...]

state st. large square necklace First, let me apologize on behalf of Charlotte. She has been absent the last few weeks from her usual spot on Wednesday mornings due to a short stint in rehab. It turns out her modeling debut, mentioned in her last appearance on Makeunder, launched her on a quick 15-minute tour [...]

The time has come! I have been thinking about getting a blog reader/RSS feed/something to hold all my daily reads in one simple spot. I tried Google Reader (attached to my email) but I wasn’t crazy about the overall look and layout of the reader. Is there any other, cleaner, simpler, or better readers I [...]

A long, long, long time ago (back in mid-March), Blair at Delight by Design had an awesome post about embellished necklines (photo below found there as well). After looking at these gorgeous frocks, I thought, “I can do that.” And I made a mental note to buy a shirt and some buttons to recreate this [...]

While discussing the blog and the business advice posts, one reader mentioned that her full-time job makes it difficult to find time to follow her passion (writing). At first, I didn’t think I shared the “work vs. passion” struggle. I work for myself and choose my hours. But as I invest more time and energy [...]

What a great weekend! Despite the erratic Chicago weather, I managed to get my long run completed with my running buddy, Bernard, on a windy 80* Friday and help observe Erwin assemble his bike (shipped from Michigan) on Saturday. We stayed home on Saturday night (recovering from Friday night’s antics) and watched The Namesake. Anyone [...]

From reading your comments on the Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED speech, it seems many of you (like me) feed off the inspirational stories. Hearing people like Gilbert and Gary Vaynerchuk talk about their path to some pretty incredible accomplishments keeps me pumped. Without a boss or mentor, I “soak” in these speeches for guidance. And as [...]

Whew! What a surge of new exfoliations this week! Scroll below to hear about the items people across the country are divesting in the name of order and intention. I think opening up end of the week exfoliations all week long for the giveaway giveaway really helped increase the participation. Got an exfoliation for next [...]

On Monday I was wandering around the blog neighborhood and I stumbled upon Kelly + Olive via a link on Joanna’s Cup of Jo. In 3.2 seconds I realized the following: Courtney and Lauren’s site is adorable and they live in Chicago(!!). They have really reasonable and practical interior design packages and a great blog [...]

Have you ever had a corner of your home that you just ignore and pretend it’s not there? Well, this dresser was that corner in my apartment. Sure it was functional, hey, it wasn’t even horrible to look at. In fact, since it was so-so it was almost harder to motivate myself to do something [...]

Time for a sneak peek! This necklace is our first design from our upcoming Astor St. Collection for Jess LC (for a limited time it will be available on Studio 1423). The full collection will be on Jess LC early May but in the meantime we need your help naming this new color combo. The [...]

First of all, sorry for the random pig car photo, it relates to nothing that will be mentioned in this post. I just happened to see it twice on Saturday in two different parts of town and thought it needed to be shared. Okay, back to business (literally). Chic Sensibility asked this question yesterday: When [...]

Today seems to have a food theme and I’m okay with that. As I was drooling over the images of my dinner tonight, Natalie, a Jess LC lady, asked me about Food Gawker. I had never heard of the site, but my first visit certainly made me hungry. And my second visit inspired my treat [...]

Yum. This wonderfulness is my dinner tonight. I got the recipe from my mom, but the cheese sauce is actually from my Grandma’s Cheesy Onion recipe. Since I had all the ingredients on hand except for the cheese, this was a logical, delicious, and inexpensive dish to make. I used to be intimidated by the [...]

For those casual readers who have followed Makeunder for the past three months or just found my site today, it’s unclear how much of ‘me’ is apparent on these pages. Why I write so diligently on Makeunder My Life while juggling my jewelry business, social life, boyfriend, and enjoying Chicago may be kind of fuzzy. [...]

These are the last 10 things for my Throw Out Fifty Things challenge. Whenever I hear declutter experts on tv talk about getting rid of stuff the often mention that people find money while doing so. I’ve always scoffed at the concept and thought “that might work for people with a LOT of stuff, but [...]

Here are this week’s exfoliations. Several people have mentioned they keep forgetting to submit their items, so I am going to make it easier going forward. To submit your exfoliation and be entered in the Giveaway Giveaway, send me your photos any day you want. The following Friday your item will be posted and will [...]

Day four. Yesterday it was great to find that there are people interested in getting some of the nice things I am “passing on” like those vintage clutches. In this batch of Throw Out Fifty Things the only items that haven’t found homes are (37) a batch of two dozen little plastic takeout boxes in [...]

Here’s the third batch of Throw Out Fifty Things. A few interesting things I hadn’t thought to get rid of were old products from my Mom’s college first aid kit. Expiration date 2004? Pitched. The two items I will get comments about are the vintage (pleather) clutches. They were my Grandma’s and I have had [...]

Have you visited Rachel, at Heart of Light? Her popular blog features creative design projects, delicious recipes, and vivid photos. Incidentally, it has become one of the first blogs I visit each day. After following her site over the past few months, I have an official blog crush. Working with her via the big Soc [...]

Send your exfoliation items to me at jess@jesslc.com to be entered to win this month’s Giveaway Giveaway.

Lori’s Shoes- Lincoln Park, Chicago The most popular question I get about business is how to get in stores. Which makes sense. Wholesale (selling to stores) is a great option to increase revenue and expand your company. Some brands like BB Dakota choose to sell to stores only. Other lines like Tory Burch and Mark [...]

As you can see, lots of shoes are getting pitched in this batch of Throw Out Fifty Things. After an entire winter wearing either rain boots or knee-high brown leather boots, I realized the amount of shoes I have far exceeds the amount that I actually wear. So out they go, with a random assortment [...]

howlite necklace New in the Studio 1423 shop! Check ‘em out while they are still in stock. clearly blue earrings berry earrings

Last Friday I searched online for a book I saw on a Today Show segment. While searching, I happened upon a book titled Throw Out 50 Things by Gail Blanke. My jaw dropped when I read the short segment summary. Blanke mentioned a Michelangelo quote, the same quote that sparked my makeunder philosophy and changed [...]

I have debated about posting this recipe for the past three weeks. I got the savory oatmeal idea from Mark Bitman’s book Food Matters. And though oatmeal with cheese and pepper flakes is fantastic (and I have ate it 19 out of the last 21 days), it sounds a bit… weird. Nevertheless it is definitely [...]

Yea! At last, I have a quick chance to post this week’s exfoliation with reader submissions included! A big thanks to Kristin H. and Kristin C. for participating. You can check out what they exfoliated this week (and why) below. If you want to exfoliate and enter to be in the Giveaway Giveaway send me [...]

Hello, dear readers. We have new end of the week exfoliations to post but right now I have to run to a few meetings downtown for the upcoming launch of the newest Soc Chic necklace (I will give you a clue, the necklace name involves flowers and the cause has the initials C and F). [...]

I’m not sure if you have heard or not, but Bravo has a new program, The Fashion Show, debuting on May 7th. Among the awesome designer contestants is my good friend and design buddy Kristin Hassan. She got her first claim to fame by snatching a coveted spot in Macy’s Fashion Incubator this past year. [...]

Reminder to one and all! Noon tomorrow is this week’s deadline for Exfoliation submissions. The full details are here, but the two most important points are: Send me a picture of what you are exfoliating this week to jess@jesslc.com. Include a 2-3 sentence explanation of why this item is getting passed on/tossed out/or repurposed. (Feel [...]