Jess Lively

  Today I’d like to chat about a question that has been tossed around several times over the past few months in the Lively household: To eat out or to eat at home? After a long day at work, Mr. Lively often wants nothing more than to come home and cook dinner. Meanwhile, after my [...]

  This week I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the greater significance that a career path has on our lives. Similar to an a-ha moment I had about marriage, I’ve come to realize that a career is about much more than just our financial gain, or even our purpose. As Mr. Lively and [...]

Over the weekend Mr. Lively and I discussed a few of our intentions for next year, including our intentions for our marriage. While reflecting on 2012, we realized we strayed away from a lot of the positive communication habits we had while dating. Early on, I was intent on using a lot of communication skills [...]

  Over the weekend Mr. Lively and I were frantically finishing the apartment for both our extended families which are coming into town this week to celebrate our elopement. People start arriving tomorrow (so things will be light on the blog over the next few days). With Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, a cocktail party on Friday, and a nice [...]

  This week I’m so, so, so thankful for the teamwork and rhythm that Mr. Lively and I have created when caring for little Franklin. As I’ve mentioned, I’m big on individualization and we’ve found a good balance. Since I’m the morning person in the relationship, I have been in charge taking Franklin out anytime after [...]

When Mr. Lively and I got married the number of important documents that I needed to keep track of tripled. Not only did I then have Mr. Lively’s birth certificate, social security card, etc. but we also had car documents and ring appraisals to store. Rather than scour the apartment every few months to find [...]

Before Mr. Lively and I got married we had a few in-depth conversations about money and how we wanted to manage our finances. We were focused on setting a good foundation as a family and money management was something we naturally wanted to plan for right from the start. Once we got married we had a [...]

Individualization, according to Marcus Buckingham’s Strengths Finder Assessment, is my number one strength. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed to find out that was my biggest strength. It definitely does not sound cool or sexy. However, when it comes to running our household, it has its advantages. Without even thinking about it, I tend [...]

  During our wedding ceremony Mr. Lively and I took turns reading aloud our marriage vows. These joint vows were in addition to our personal vows and now serve as the foundation of our relationship. Similar to a constitution, we created these vows to last for a very, very long time unchanged. But as we evolve [...]

Over the past few weeks of marriage, Mr. Lively and I have been putting a lot of thought and time into creating the foundation of our relationship. I’m happy to say we are thriving in this new chapter. But we have also had our share of disagreements as well. Not many, but a few. During our [...]