Jess Lively

What a week. Mr. Lively and I have been pretty productive the past few days getting ready to move the furniture in his current apartment into storage. From now until October we will be huddled into my apartment exclusively. The bonus of this living situation is that we’ll be able to save the money that [...]

  While we are taking a summer vacation for Biz in the City in Chicago until September, the ladies of New York are starting their new chapter in July! The ladies from the New York Business with Intention Workshop earlier this month have decided to expand the Biz in the City meet-up to their neck [...]

  As I’ve mentioned recently, I have just been through a season of extreme stress and busyness. The good news is that my Summer Hours and Not Gonna Try list have substantially melted that anxiety and overbearing schedule. I’ve returned back to my normal, fun, goofy self rather than the tense, uptight, and edgy Jess I [...]

Good morning! Caitlin from Reverie to Reality here, reporting as Jess’ summer intern! When Jess asked me if I would be interested in reprising the very loved Design Your Life series here on MML, I responded with a resounding “YES!”. Each Wednesday I’ll be sharing inspiring interviews with people sharing how they are designing their lives around their intentions. [...]

Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means I’ll be sending out another Wish I Knew Wednesday email! I gotta admit, I’ve been loving this series. The topic I’ll be dishing on is one of my favorite things to consult about: how to stand out in a crowded market. Though this may seem like a complicated, when you [...]

  Over the weekend Mr. Lively and I finally got to walk through our future apartment. When we signed the lease the building was still undergoing a complete renovation and could not be entered by anyone other than the construction staff. It was pretty much a blind bet that the place would be really nice [...]

Happy Friday! This week’s thankful pics are mostly snapshots from my trip to Brooklyn last weekend. It was so great to explore Williamsburg with Clara. I am happy to report that I’ve kept my Summer Hours 99% of this week and it felt wonderful. I feel insanely more relaxed and ironically, insanely more productive at [...]

  Today I’d like to congratulate Kathryn of Protect Your Pumps for getting her first news segment showcasing her products! I have consulted for Kathryn for several months now and have watched her take huge leaps forward in her business. In fact, you may remember her impressive re-branding story that I shared in May. Though [...]

  When it comes to getting ready for marriage, I’ve had quite an interesting journey. After peacefully ending a long relationship, I was determined to find out “why” it happened. And the only answer that I could ever arrive was that there must be something out there that was a better fit for both of [...]

In tomorrow’s Wish I Knew Wednesday email I’ll be sharing when Midnight Hustlers should go full-time with their businesses. I know there are a lot of people here on MML in that situation who might be wondering about this exact topic. (And I’ll also be explaining what the heck pasta has to do with the [...]

  A few weeks ago I received an email from a 2012 college graduate asking me for advice for the next chapter of her life. As I contemplated what to tell her, I thought it might be worth sharing here on MML as well for other new grads too. However, this morning as I decided [...]

  Today is my day off from work! After a very successful and awesome New York BWI Workshop, I’m taking my allotted time off to rest and recharge. During my weekend travels I also did a lot of reflecting on how I could melt the stress ball factor in my life. Last week was full [...]

I’m off to NYC for the Business with Intention Workshop! I am looking forward to spending time with my lady, Clara, and meeting our new group of business owners! I’ve made some great changes to the workshop format which I’m excited to implement. I’ve also launched a whole new way to participate in the workshop [...]

  Oh my, what a busy day! My best friend, Maggie, is in town and I will be heading to NYC tomorrow for our next BWI Workshop. I thought it might be fun to share a glimpse into the studio from the vantage point of my desk. I love working from home and having the [...]

My own little breakthrough today…  

  I know that MML has a strong entrepreneurial streak. So I’m guessing that this giveaway could come in handy for many small business owners out there looking to get some free promotional materials. And, as I’m in wedding mode, I could also imagine custom postcards making some cute save-the-dates! So without further ado, I [...]

Before going into tomorrow’s Wish I Knew Wednesday topic, I first want to share that tomorrow is the June Business in the City meet up! We’ll be talking business q’s and a’s at Next Door from 6:30-8:00. Hope I see you there! And… tomorrow is the last day to register for the New York BWI [...]

  I’m going to be honest, the past two weeks since getting engaged I’ve found myself so tired, overwhelmed, and exhausted that I’ve spent one night each week so tired that I feel ill and need to lay on the couch the entire night. I’ve also had back-to-back melt downs the past two days as [...]

  I know that some may be wondering how on earth Mr. Lively popped the question. Though he scheduled a very sweet post here on MML that went live right as he was asking me to marry him, how he did it in real life is still a bit of a mystery for many. And [...]

What a whirlwind of a week! I have to say, I’ve loaded too much on my plate in my personal and professional life (especially with the engagement is added to the mix). So this week I’m doing some restructuring making under to keep my life enjoyable and to be able to continue to execute what I [...]

  Holy smokes! This day has flown by and unlike my normal intention to not work in the evenings, I’ll be ditching that idea completely tonight. But it will all be worth it so that everything gets done and I have time to enjoy my weekend plans (Half Acre brewery tour on Saturday and Iron [...]

Yesterday I shared on The Everygirl how I’ve learned to use my intuition to make big life decisions. There are three simple ways that I’ve found are often most reliable when I really need to be looking inward. I encourage you to read it if you have a big choice to make in some area [...]

Tomorrow’s Wish I Knew Wednesday email will be covering what I wish I knew about donations. I’ll be going into how donating has helped me break through self-imposed limitations, made my sales jump big time early on, and can be a effective branding tool. If you’d like to get the email, simply sign up by [...]

Today I’d like you to meet our new Jess LC Kinzie collection of totes! This is a collaboration with artist and illustrator Ann Shen. I first met Ann as a Jess LC customer and later stumbled upon a post about her talent in the blogosphere. Shocked that the person I had been emailing was such [...]

download full-size white wallpaper here Happy June! With the new month comes a new wallpaper. As usual, I have one in white and one in photo form. download full-size flower wallpaper here As you might have guessed (or not), last month’s wallpaper was in part to remind me to be patient as I knew a [...]

As you can imagine, this week I’m thankful for getting engaged! Though I knew a ton of details about this engagement along the way (part because of Mr. Lively and part from being a smart cookie), I will say I was completely shocked when he proposed. Though I knew it would be soon, I had [...]