moving on up! to WordPress that is.

At long last! The new blog, makeundermylife.com is open for business. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this new layout.

There are.
No words.
To describe my excitement.

Though the switch has not been glitch free (far from it actually, I will elaborate on the switch from Blogger to Word Press tomorrow), the result is definitely worthwhile.

I have a huge design crush on the amazing Brooke, of Oh Brooke, who not only has an adorable blog but also does amazing web design. She took my pre-made Word Press template and turned it into the perfect home for Makeunder My Life. Kind of like a really great makeover by Candice Olsen on Divine Design. Oh yeah, and did I mention she actually has worked on HGTV shows?

So come on over to the new blog.

You're invited!

off the chain update: pocket full of pendants

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 1423, were first available in 2005 and were one of my most popular styles.

Now the coolness is available on Etsy for just $15 bucks. The necklace comes with a silver plated lobster clasp pendant on a 16″ sterling silver chain and six charms. The idea is that you can customize your necklace with the charms you feel like, switching it up as many times as you like. I recommend wearing 2-4 charms at a time and playing with size and texture. Below are the color options we have available right now. And if these puppies get hot, more combinations will be in the works!

shore

meadow

lilac

carnival

dressing charlotte: bold prints

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 the scale of the prints, and they have no extra details to compete with the prints. I also think large hoops or other simple, clean earrings over 1″ would look great with these looks.

Scroll down to see the other outfits and earrings. (Charlotte’s only flaw is that she has no ears to model earrings.)

State St. Large Circle Earrings

State St. Large Eye Earrings

getting an internship: "you had me at the semi-colon"

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 moment becasue I have been indundated as of late with resumes and referrals for interns looking to get experience at a jewelry company like Jess LC. With the cloudy economic climate, I have been getting more emails regarding internships than ever. Some are great. Some are okay. Some are half-assed. Below are the attributes that will determine which category you will fall into- so take note and aim high!

Half-assed Internship Contact

• Email employer with two line email mentioning you are interested in an internship. (May or may not include resume.)
• Forget to begin the email with a proper greeting. Why will an employer care about you if you don’t care about writing their name?
• No mention about the actual employer or the company in initial email.
• Resume in a form other than a Word Doc or PDF.

Good Internship Contact

• Short email mentioning employer briefly, with proper greeting (ie: “Dear Mr. Gates:”)
• Professional looking resume (no watermarks or unicorns) with relevant work experience and complete contact information. Resumes should be exactly one page.
• Open, friendly tone in email without over using exclamation points (!!) but keeping a professional tone.

Great Internship Contact

• Professional signature block in email (with full name and phone number [no quotes please]).
• Professional email address, preferably using your name (snazzykatz007@aol.com doesn’t say ‘take me seriously’).
• Email doubles as a cover letter: highlights most relevant work and school experience, and also mentions why you are excited to work for that company specifically.
• Resume is one page long, in PDF form, concise, and focuses on relevant work and school experience.

off the chain update: shop chicago 2009

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 favorite part of these shows is meeting customers and enjoying their reactions. This show was no exception. Several wonderful ladies remembered us from the fall show and came back to say hi and buy new pieces. And a few ladies were wearing Jess LC pieces to the show, that was so cool. I took lots of pictures for you to enjoy, so peek around.

Allison, our resident sales guru is always huge help at these kinds of shows. Without her, lets just say… I can’t imagine doing these events without her. Her idea to use a bound notebook to gather emails was genius!

Dress form look familiar? Charlotte helped grab attention and sported some Studio 1423 pieces as well as Jess LC. The Addison bracelet collection was laid out on a wood tray. Soc Chic ended up finding a new home on the table a few minutes after this picture.

This is the final set up: we put the branch with Rush St. necklaces next to Charlotte and Soc Chic along the back.

Necklaces laid out by collection, State St., Elm St., and Southport pictured.

naan pizza: serve yourself supper party

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, caramelized onions, homemade pesto, marinara sauce, sliced grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, and shrimp.

When cruising Trader Joes last weekend on a bimonthly grocery trip, I spied the new fresh baked naan bread in the bakery section and I thought it looked a lot like pre-made pizza dough. And since I am a consistently poor pizza dough baker, the naan seemed like a way to make easy homemade pizza. The recipe is completely flexible in terms of ingedients, and the baking directions are simple.The end result was amazing - I think this might become a weekly treat.

Naan Pizza

• Naan (we used whole wheat)
• Fresh mozzarella, torn into pieces
  
• Pesto or marinara sauce
• Veggies chopped (whatever you have on hand)
• Tomatoes, sliced
• Chicken strips, shrimp, etc.

Top naan with desired ingredients on a baking sheet (we lined our's with foil for easy clean up). Preheat oven to 400* and cook for 7-10 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Update: Please pardon the photo edges being cut off, I am still transitioning to Word Press, and the scale is a bit different.

end of the week exfoliaton: sometimes it gets ugly

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 kept for travelling but would never actually during a future trip. Unlike last week’s exfoliation, I doubt anyone will be asking me to put this on Etsy.
Have a great weekend!