I am thrilled to post this fabulous interview with Michelle Ward of When I Grow Up. Michelle is a life coach and her blog is one of the most inspiring reads around! I hope you enjoy this interview with her as much as I do. Thank you so much for participating, Michelle!

1) I love the energy and enthusiasm you share on WhenIGrowUpCoach.com. Please tell us a little more about When I Grow Up and your role as a life coach. Y’know, I’m still a bit stuck on how I really describe When I Grow Up accurately! I call myself a Creative Career Coach, as I coach creative people into finding passionate careers, & because I’m big on helping my clients move into creative careers! The worst thing I can think of is putting a creative, artistic spirit into a “box”. Y’know, those boxes that existed when we were little & were told we should be X when we grow up (a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, etc). Now it’s 2009, & there’s a guy out there that makes a great living being a LEGO artist! It’s true! So When I Grow Up is there to help creative people discover out-of-the-box careers that they can be passionate about. It’s about asking yourself, as an adult, “What do I want to do when I grow up?”, finding that, and honoring it. But hey, if it is an accountant, that’s cool too.

2) What motivated you to start your own business? Wanting to be a coach! It’s funny, because I decided to be a life coach from the exercises I did during a career change workshop I enrolled in at NYU’s School of Continuing Ed. I had finally admitted to myself that being an actor didn’t align with my grown-up values, & I wanted to find a stable job that I could be passionate about. Of course, I left the class with another unstable career path! But, of course, I do it because I love it, & ultimately I know that working for myself is going to allow me to build relationships the way I want to, & will allow me to succeed on my own terms. I took the hint that my passionate careers have all been self-starting, & maybe I shouldn’t be fighting that.

3) What has been the best aspect of running your own business? What has been the biggest challenge? The best aspect of running my own business is all of the relationships that I’ve created since I started. Even when I was in sales & customer service, that was still so limiting to me. Now, because I can blog & go on Twitter & connect on Facebook without feeling like there are a pair of eyes (or three!) telling me what I can & can’t say…I can’t tell you how many amazing people I’ve “met” virtually that I now consider my cheerleaders & friends. What a wonderful way to extend your support network & learn & grow from others! Also, the sessions I have with my clients give me an amazing amount of energy, & that is just above & beyond what I thought I’d be able to do to earn a living.

The biggest challenge is being a one woman band, especially since I’m still at my day job! Not having someone to delegate the unfun stuff to - like accounting tasks, data entry, etc - certainly takes it’s toll, especially when I’m working with a finite amount of time. I also have had to learn to accept the fact that I am a one woman band, & that some ideas that I want to execute will just have to wait. I don’t think I have an ounce of patience in me!

4) We’re tapping into your expertise as a coach! What advice do you have for others who want to start their own creative business? Keep the safety net! The more I work with creatives, the more I hear about The Leap: of being scared to take it because it might not work out & then their family will go hungry & then everyone will be out on the street. But there is no law that says that starting your own creative business needs to be a leap! It can be a series of little, itty, tiny, bitty baby steps. I’m all about creating Action Plans with my clients, so that the net can be taken away slowly, slowly, slowly until they’re standing on their own two feet, comfortably & triumphantly.

5) What is in store for the future of When I Grow Up? I can’t promise anything in terms of timing (see my answer to #3!), but I can guarantee you that there will be a plethera of low-cost group coaching available (in fact, I have 3 spots open right now in Operation: New Life Design! starting Oct 7th), an e-course chock full of career change exercises to do on your own, an e-book & maybe, just maybe down the line, a “real” book too. I’m also planning on doing free workshops both via phone & in person in NYC. As always, I’ll continue to blog a few times a week, send out my newsletter twice/month, & tweet all the freakin’ time!

6) Please list three random fun facts about yourself that you’d like to share with us. Only 3?! I’m so full of randomness, this could be 300 (1) I start every weekday with a dose of Judge Judy justice. Yup, I DVR the episodes when they air at 4p (if I watch them then, I find I don’t like ‘em), & watch them when I’m getting ready for work. It gives me the kick in the butt I need to start my day! (2) I would love to be featured on Public Eye in Time Out New York, because I want to answer the question, “What do you categorize your style as?” with “A grown-up Punky Brewster.” Yes, I used to wear two different shoes & two different socks in 4th grade! She was my idol, & I definitely get my love for color from her. And my Mom. (3) My husband and I were delivered by the same doctor, even though he’s 16 months older than me & we grew up far, far away from each other! Of course, our Jewish mothers discovered that without 10 minutes of first meeting each other. So cute.

Turning up the intensity on the beach theme by adding some tropical heat:

Always with thanks to Style Me Pretty!

It’s a week of beach wedding color inspiration! This time, we’re focusing on orange and aqua with a foundation of navy blue.

Thanks again to Style Me Pretty!

More inspiration for a dreamy, beachy wedding:

Inspiration Board photos and technology courtesy of Style Circle.

A little color inspiration today, thanks to Style Me Pretty:

…if given half a chance. Sorry, I have always wanted to use that line from Jane Eyre. Oh, I love that book! And for some reason, I’ve been obsessed with it this year. Since the beginning of 2009, I’ve been reading one book per week as a way of relaxing—and so as not to forget all the skills I earned while getting my English degrees. It’s been very nice to make reading a priority again, and it has reconnected me with all my old favorite books. Do you know how in the movie You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan’s character says something like, ‘When you read a book as a child it becomes a part of you in a way that no other book in your life can’? I completely agree. This year I’ve revisited all my very favorites from growing up: L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series, books by Janette Oke that I practically learned to read by, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and—the one I can’t seem to move beyond this year—Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I keep going back to it for my book of the week. I’ve read it six or seven times this year alone!

My mom gave me Jane Eyre for Christmas when I was 11, and I’ve always  loved it. Even more, I’ve always loved the romance between Jane and Mr. Rochester. I get swept away in the passion and devotion he has for her, and in the complexities of his character. Generally the hero in Gothic novels are characterized as stern and melancholy. Brooding. And obviously Mr. Rochester is all of those things, but my favorite thing about him is his sarcastic humor. The interplay between he and Jane is really very funny at times. And I love the way he loves her. Despite the criticisms, I think theirs is the most romantic story ever written. I guess I’m not alone, as I recently read he was voted the #1 romantic character in literature in a survey conducted by British publisher Mills & Boon.

This week I discovered the 2006 BBC film adaptation, and I have to confess it has not helped me get over my addiction. No, it has had quite the opposite effect, in that now I am addicted to the movie as well as the book! I rented it from Blockbuster and immediately ordered it for keeps from Amazon the next day–even upgrading the shipping so I could get it the next day. And I cannot stop watching it. I have it on all the time—while I’m designing, while I’m unpacking, while I’m cleaning. Literally, it’s on right now as I write this. Obsessed!

While it’s not absolutely true to the book, it’s quite close, and there’s something about the acting that makes the characters seem even more real than they always have—and that doesn’t usually happen for me. Ruth Wilson, who plays Jane, does an excellent job of making her seem both vulnerable and strong, and her performance reminded me that Jane is not just a sensible young woman; she’s actually a girl falling in love for the first time. And Toby Stephens’ Rochester! Oh, forget about it. I was in love the minute he rose up after falling off his horse. While he doesn’t look like my imagined Mr. Rochester, he really captures his personality. He has the humor, the sarcasm, the desperation, the deep love for Jane… It’s such a good movie.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to convince Mike to get one of those period riding outfits that Mr. R. storms around in throughout the film. I’d very much enjoy seeing him striding around the condo in the vest, breeches, and tall boots, exclaiming, “What the deuce is to do now?”

(I should confess that I went through a similar stage of obsession when I first saw the surprisingly lovely Pride & Prejudice film with Keira Knightley. I thought it would be too commercial but it was beautifully filmed. Maybe I am a sucker for what I recently heard termed “cravat porn.” Clearly.)

A few months ago my husband Mike’s company approached him about a different position that would have meant a move from Chicago to Montana. It was an interesting thought—leaving behind the fun but frantic pace of the city for open skies and fresh air. Although I love this city and love so many things about living here, I started getting into the idea of a slower lifestyle where we’d have more time and space to try new things. I imagined planting my own garden (despite killing every plant I’ve ever owned, including this summer’s tiny windowsill herbs), learning to make strawberry-rhubarb jam, and setting up an art studio in the back of the cottage I’d already mentally purchased for us (it was dark grey with a bright yellow door and a view of the mountains, of course). Mike humors my grandiose ideas quite well and didn’t even balk when I started mentioning how cool it would be to raise alpacas, seeing myself spinning my own hand-dyed yarn and raising little baby alpacas with names like Bertram and Eudora and Buttercup.

Then we found out that the move wasn’t going to take place and we would be staying in Chicago. And that was great, too, because I do really love it here. I would still have access to the Harold Washington Library on State Street, which never fails to have even the most obscure book I’m searching for. We could still go ice skating in Millennium Park, a perfect and practically free date for the price of the skate rental and the mandatory hot chocolate. I could continue my quest to find the best cupcake in the city. Things were good.

But…I still sort of longed for the whole “Sarah Lives the Simple Life” thing I’d been envisioning. I still wanted the strawberry-rhubarb jam, the yellow front door, the flourishing heirloom tomatoes I’d planted in my very own yard. I’ve been thinking a lot about all these things as we’ve been moving into our new condo this past month. I had been thinking of it as an all-or-nothing situation: either we go to Montana and I take up with domesticity, or we stay in Chicago and I continue eating take-out three times a week. It finally occurred to me that I can have both. It’s strange that it took so long for that to click, as I’m such a “have your cake and eat it, then follow it up with a big piece of pie, too” kind of person.

Anyway, long story short (actually, short story drawn to painful lengths), I’m going to try to incorporate some of the projects I’d been planning for Montana into my new life on Chicago’s north side. The alpacas will probably have to wait, but everything else is fair game. Starting with me realizing one of the true joys of home-ownership—complete control over the decor! Please allow me to introduce my very own yellow front door:

This is an idea to steal! How awesome is this martini glass full of mashed potatoes and gravy?! My friend Alexa went to a wedding over the weekend and apparently the genius couple getting married had a mashed potato bar at the reception, complete with a fine selection of toppings like sour cream, cheese, and chives.

And how cool is it to serve up this deliciousness in a martini glass? Listen, I like a good cocktail as much as the next person, but fill my martini glass with mashed potatoes anyday.