The Starling's Journey

Super Bowl 50!

February 12, 2016 by JSJ

Well, by now you know, my beloved Carolina Panthers came up short last Sunday at Super Bowl 50 and walked away without a ring and national title. Full disclosure, had they won…I probably would have been on here first thing Monday morning gloating about my team so continue to have at it Denver (Congratulations….[insert dramatic emoji face here])…..as long as you don’t talk shxt about my team! That goes for anyone!

Seriously though- why does that have to be the first thing people do even if they aren’t fans of the winning team? I guess it’s kinda like that for everything I suppose but it’s so frustrating! In regards to the game…so what Cam didn’t want to answer questions after the game? There are some politicians who won’t answer questions about serious indiscretions against the entire country….but Cam walking away from a post game interview is just THE WORST thing in the world! He’s such a bad sport! Um….he walked right up to Peyton to congratulate him afterwards. So he wasn’t all smiles after the loss…..I think that’s natural when you’re passionate about something and you want it so badly and you DERSERVE TO BE THERE but just come up short in the present moment.

What’s up with people still unable to give credit to the Panthers where it’s due? They had an UNBELIEVABLE season. So they didn’t play their best in the biggest moment but they earned their place in that game and anyone who says differently is well, delusional. #sorrynotsorry I’m not trying to be mean…just saying you should check the stats. Those boys played one heck of a ball game time after time this season. So what they didn’t win the big game? It was a first time (certainly not the last) for many of them. That’s a lot of pressure for even seasoned players. I seem to remember the current Super Bowl champions playing embarrassingly terrible two years ago resulting in a loss….but look now. There’s no reason to think that this team can’t/won’t take it all the way. Super Bowl 51 baby!

So yes, Peyton (and the NFL) got their storybook ending. In all honesty, I’ve always like Peyton Manning so it kinda sucks to not feel able to be fully happy for him (because heavens knows I wanted our boys to win) but congrats to him (and the entire team&fan base) and as for us? Well, we will KEEP POUNDING.

We had a little shindig over at our friend Wayne’s place and it was so much fun prepping and cooking and decorating and partying….until things turned sour of course. Ha! This was the first year I experienced “fandom” (you know, wearing specific clothing, going through certain rituals in order to help your team’s chances. It’ was intense) so the heartbreak felt a little overwhelming for the first time but still, it was a good time with great friends. I can’t wait to do it again next year and hopefully watch our boys take it home!

A few snaps from the fun..

kitty ears you may have seen this on IG (@jlynnjustad) Game day head gear!

panther punch3A Panther Punch!

thespreadA most of the feast! Just missing the little smokies&wings!

myteamA blurry but idc cuz I love them. The husband and the little bro ♥

Cheers to the weekend for all of my non-service industry working friends to whom Friday just means busiest next couple of days of the week. I love you all and wish you the happiest of days!

Decoding Dreams

February 1, 2016 by JSJ

dreaming via

So today I had the day off from work and I was flipping through the channels (AKA scrolling the guide, for those of you that weren’t around when to see what was on every channel you had no choice but to flip through every channel or waste away watching TV Guide trying not to blink…) and saw the Steve Harvey show was on. Now, I don’t want this post to be about him but let me go ahead and get this out of the way….yea he screwed up at Miss Universe, maybe it was a conspiracy for ratings, blah blah blah, I like the guy. I don’t always watch his show but I do occasionally and today he had a dream expert on as a guest.

I have always been so fascinated by dreams. I’ve always loved stories so the idea of your brain making up it’s very own story while you sleep is just as mind blowing to me as an infinite universe. I’ve also been extremely good at remembering my dreams. I used to think it was no big deal, that everyone was like this maybe? But the more I’ve talked to people, the more I’ve come to learn that a lot of people hardly remember their dreams or “don’t dream” at all.

Right after you wake up is always the best time to recall your dreams but I find myself being able to remember even the smallest of details for the remainder of the day, days, weeks, months….I even remember dreams from childhood and my teenage years. I’ve had dreams of things and then seen them in real life. I’ve had reoccurring dreams of tidal waves (the worst!). I once had a dream in a hallway full of doors, I went through one door- realized it wasn’t the room I was supposed to be in (in the dream of course) then proceeded to the next door (the correct room) then the next night, I had a dream that took place in the first room from the night before. I enjoyed that little Easter egg ;)

Andre has lucid dreams where he can make decisions as his dream self like to fly or something crazy like that. I feel like you have to have a strong mind or be really good at dreaming to do that. I haven’t done much looking into dream decoding and today I just happened to catch maybe the last minute of the segment on the Steve Harvey show but it definitely got me wanting to do further research into this interesting topic!

Do you ever remember your dreams? Done any research on the decoding dreams? Know any good research resources? Know anything about reoccurring tidal wave dreams? Every have any of your own reoccurring dreams?! Tell me everything about your life! ;P

Hope you guys have had a happy Monday! I’ll see you tonight on Twitter for the Bachelor! ♥

Hello 2016

January 1, 2016 by JSJ

bigbend

Last year (for the first time) I assigned a word for the year. I wasn’t sure if it would make an impact or just become another one of those “beginning of the year” or “new year resolution” deals but things really did shift for me in 2015 and I really do believe that assigning this word over my year was a part of that. Believing that, I decided to do it again for 2016.

2015 started off very unsteadily. After my dear friend Nikita passed in January, I wasn’t sure I would recover from how shaken I was by it all. In one area I was hurting so deeply for her loved ones and in another I was so confused by it that I just felt like I couldn’t find my balance for a long time. I felt like I knew nothing and found myself asking questions like:

What the heck is this all for anyway?

What does this all mean?

Where is this all going?

Why?

Just, why.

I was so overwhelmed with questions about my existence and beyond that I just felt like I couldn’t see straight. I kept going back to Niki’s Instagram page and reading her bio over and over again:

“You should measure your success in life by JOY”

How perfect for her. She was such a joyful soul and still is, I know because I feel joyful at just the thought of her and the time I was able to spend with her upon her return to North Carolina. I want that quote to be perfect for me, too and I think even without knowing that’s what I was chasing after, I began to seek joy in my life for maybe the first time ever last year.

I truly feel like I grew SO much spiritually, mentally and emotionally in 2015 because I have actively been chasing the joy in life by intentionally tuning in to myself, getting to know myself and working towards being a better version of myself every day…even if that only means that I was nice to myself that day. That hasn’t been something I’ve been very good at in the past.

One of my favorite lifestyle (and FOOD! ) bloggers, Abbey, once posted (I think it was on IG) about there being years of questions, and years of answers. I loved that so much because it just clicked with me. It felt like it made so much sense. I feel like this past year has been one of questions for sure. I feel like these past few years have been ones of question but 2016- I feel like 2016 will give me answers that will clear the path for my dreams to come true.

That doesn’t mean they will all come true this year but I just really feel right on the cusp of breakthrough- so I’m claming it.

My word for 2016 is:

BREAKTHROUGH.

I want to see this word manifested in my life in all aspects but specifically I am going to be working hard in the areas of health (mental&physical), fitness and finances. Of course I hope to continue the growth I experienced last year in my mental and spiritual and emotional life as well though ;)

I am so excited for this year, all the good that I believe is to come and all the growth I can see that I experienced in 2015.

2016- I’m ready to get to work.

Love you.

December is here! And so is a blogging break!

December 2, 2015 by JSJ

Ok, so December was here yesterday :) I just love this photo (thank you Unsplash!). I’ve had day dreams of living in a neighborhood like this one, with tree lined streets, where every season shows it’s face. Then again I’ve had dreams of living in a remote cabin on the edge of nowhere…and at the beach (again)…and in an apartment in a big city…I’m still figuring this whole thing out but ANYWAY the point is, that wherever Andre and I end up, I hope that it’s a place that brings us both so much joy and where our children can grow into amazing men&women.

I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on my word for 2015. I believe it was the right word to choose and I believe that I used it and it manifested itself in my life. I want to talk about that more later as well as continue on with my wedding series and a bunch of other things…but I think I need to put this space on hold for a little bit. I love it here and am so excited to execute some of the visions that I have but for now, for the remainder of 2015…I need to just be present and for me, that can only happen if I take some things off of my plate- one being updating here for now.

If you’re a fellow blogger, you’ll probably see me still raiding your comments section (probably more so now, ha!) and I want to keep up with connections but I’m just going to take some time to focus on my vision for 2016 in all aspects of my life (including here!), hopefully come to better understanding of some things I’ve been thinking about and come back here with a bang in January!

I’m going to miss doing holiday updates because I had so much fun sharing those last year but I’m sure I’ll do some throwback December posts first of the year ;) Things are going to be so nuts for us the remainder of the month, I’m not sure I could even publish posts that would make any sense even though I would have lived the experience myself!

Thank you to everyone who comes around here to see what I’m up to (hey Papa!!). I love all of you dearly and can’t wait to begin again in January! Feel free to email me if you’d like, I’ll still be checking those ;)

Lots of love to you and yours.

Merry Christmas!

Catch up on some of last year’s Christmas adventures here!:

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Decoration Day

Christmas 2014 Recap

Thanksgiving 2015

November 30, 2015 by JSJ

Happy Holidays, yall! Ahh, I finally feel like I can say that. I know October has a holiday and November has a holiday but, I just never truly feel quite right using that phrase before December. I guess it’s kinda like how I don’t put on Christmas music or put up décor until December. I’m just weird I suppose. And actually I did listen to a couple Christmas songs this morning on the radio but it’s 11/30 so that’s close enough, right? Some of you are like “ummm you’re about a month late!” ha!

You may have caught that photo on IG (@jlynnjustad) I decided to post it here too because some people don’t have IG (gasp, I know) and also I just love it. This was one of my favorite moments from all of Thanksgiving day. We snuck out before dinner to take some photos and just roam around the property. It was such amazing weather! A few people have said Andre resembles Luke Wilson and I can kinda see it, but I feel like I can really see it in this photo. Luke Wilson just happpennnss to play in one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, The Family Stone…which I’ve already watched three times. HA! A little Jlynn trivia for ya.

So anyway, the whole day on the 26th was fantastic really. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and/or friends as well!!! We had both over at Andre’s parent’s house and it was a lot of fun. My sister in law Kristen wasn’t able to make it so that was pretty sad. They doesn’t live close so I usually only get to see her during the holiday days so my glass of wine was not as full without her. Even though she wasn’t there I still had an awesome time with everyone who was able to make it!

Family photo before dinner! Fun fact- there are 8 people in this photo! ♥

We kept it pretty low key this year in terms of action but the food was amazing. It was just the Justad crew for dinner (minus a few who we missed dearly!) then a few family ~~friends~~ joined us after for dessert and tea after their first course. We did our usual half Persian, half standard American Thanksgiving food complete with pumpkin, apple and pecan pie…none of which I baked (sorry bucket list). Every bite was delicious. I had leftovers at least twice a day for three days. No complaints over here!

worst photo of the outfit, best depiction of me

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Here we are. Full speed ahead into the end of 2015. What in the heck happened. Beam me up Scotty cuz I’m pretty sure I’m in the twilight zone.

Tell me all about your Thanksgiving!!! Leave as lengthy of a comment as you would like or a link to your own blog post about your Thanksgiving shenanigans! Or if you don’t live in the U.S…what did you do on November 26th this year? ;P

November 3rd- The Dress

November 18, 2015 by JSJ

The story of my dress is one of my favorites from this whole experience.

First I want to give a shout out to Ms. Sandy at Beautiful Brides in Wilmington, NC. She is SO wonderful and helpful and is a wedding gown, seamstress guru. Anyone ever heard of a little movie called A Walk to Remember? The wedding scene at the end, Ms. Sandy was the brains behind Mandy’s wedding look even making the veil herself! She’s awesome. I’ve had so many friends (and even a cousin!) find their gown there, I can’t count them on one hand.

Now on to the story…

I went to 3 different bridal shops and Ms. Sandy’s was my last stop. I was with my dear friend Alicia when, after trying on a handful of dresses, I was going to call it a day. I wasn’t really anticipating finding “the one” that day for some reason. I tried on a bunch of gowns I loved on the hanger but didn’t feel right when I put them on. In a tale as old as time, before leaving, Alicia convinced me to try on a dress that wasn’t what I was looking for. At all. The color was a little more on the true white side than I had wanted, and it was strapless. I was looking for something champagne I thought, but definitely NOT strapless. No way. No.

So here I am trying on this gown (with a straight across neckline…hello small chested…not working…) and I walk out and I just felt it. I felt it, but something was holding me back. Ms. Sandy clipped it in the back and in the front creating a sweetheart neckline (because that was totally possible with the designer) and I just knew. This was it.

It was so random and not what I was looking for at all, but it was it. I remember not even really knowing why. I knew I felt like a bride, like a woman even, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was sealing the deal, especially since some family members didn’t think it was the right choice. Talk about heart wrenching.

Fast forward to a few weeks later…I hadn’t even mentioned to Andrew that I put my order in for my dress and while flipping through wedding magazines together (he’s amazing) and showing each other things we liked/didn’t like, he stopped to point out to me a dress he liked. “This is my favorite dress I’ve seen so far” he said.

It was almost identical to what I had chosen.

Although it was a different color (more of a silvery and a different type of fabric) the neckline was the same as what I had changed mine to (sweetheart), there were folds in the fabric at the top just like mine, there was an embellishment in the center right below the bust, there was gathering in the fabric to the side with an embellishment there as well… the similarities were insane.

My heart skipped a beat. It was in that moment that I knew why I had chosen what I did. It all made sense and I knew I had made the right decision. I was totally at peace about it all.

Soon though, my thoughts turned definitely to “he knows! He’s seen it! He had to!” but I didn’t bring it up until after the wedding and to this day he swears up and down he had never seen my gown until the moment I walked down the aisle, and I believe him.

Looking back at these photos, it really does all make sense. The gown was simple, yet full of character and that’s exactly the kind of style I think I embody in wardrobe, as well as personality. I absolutely love this dress.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any of my bridal portrait photos to show you because there were some intense things happening in the days leading up to the celebration day so I never received a hard copy of those photos. The only ones I have are the ones I was able to print literally the day before the wedding and they are all in storage at the moment while we sort out our moving situation. I do however have some solo shots of me in my gown from the day of the celebration and they are beautiful and I love them.

Photos of the dress were taken at the our venue, photos of me were taken at the Graystone Inn which is a few blocks away. I chose to do photos of the girls there because it has a beautiful old world vibe and I wanted that in keeping with the theme of the wedding celebration. We walked there after getting ready :) All photos are by Amy Leigh Photography.

I mentioned in my “choosing a venue” post that one of those photos contained a sneak peek of my official bridal photos. You couldn’t really see it though so I thought I would include this, which is a pretty clear photo of one of my official bridal portraits. They were so beautiful. Hopefully I’ll be able to share them with you one day!

Where did you take your bridal portraits or what have you always imagined for them?! I’d love for you to share :)

Catch up on the wedding series here:

November 3rd- A wedding series

November 3rd- Choosing a date

November 3rd- “Engagement” photos

November 3rd- Choosing a venue

November 16, 2015 by JSJ

A little background story to begin….

Shortly before Andrew and I started dating, I was involved in a production of a show called Once on this Island with a theater group I was a part of (TechMoja) when I lived in Wilmington. The show was being performed at the local Community Arts Center (CAC). The CAC is also referred to in our town as the Hannah Block Historic USO Building. It’s known as the CAC to locals and the USO Building to tourists because it was actually a traditional USO building in the 1940’s. Service members would come there for fun events, it was like a town dance hall, but they also did other things there. Today, it’s used for summer camps for kids, art shows and theatrical productions among many other things.

So, I invited him (along with some mutual friends as to not seem too eager) to come see the show. I didn’t think he would come but when he text me a few hours before saying that he was coming, I about lost my shit backstage.

I don’t typically get nervous before shows, I just get super hype and excited. Not this day. I was SO nervous my cast mates were asking me what my deal was because my behavior was so out of character. No pun intended, I swear. That’s when I started telling my friends about a guy named Andrew.

I may not have given his name away right then, it was still a little early (Spolier alert: We got married at the courthouse 3 months later..), but all my friends could tell there was something special about him and so I had to admit it to myself as well.

I saw my friends outside after the show and I was so happy to see him there. Little did I know, he hadn’t even come with the others. He came on his own. He wasn’t sure there would be anyone else there that he knew, but he wanted to come see me anyway.

Fast forward to after our courthouse wedding, discussing where to hold our public ceremony. I was having a hard time because we didn’t belong to a church and all the beautiful churches we had in our town, we couldn’t marry in because we didn’t belong to that church. Ugh. ANYWAY– I was really discouraged because I had always envisioned a beautiful old style church wedding.

One night in stressing over this dilemma, Andrew had the idea to have it at the CAC. When I ask him why, he told me that was where he was the first time he realized he loved me. Talk about the Walk to Remember moment I always dreamed of! I cried of course and that was where our the decision on a venue for our public wedding ceremony was made official.

And amazingly enough, we could hold both the ceremony and reception there! We decided on a classic wedding theme as we knew we wanted our colors to be black and white and pulling inspiration from the 1940’s memorabilia that decorates the CAC. Our “theme” became just “black and white 1940’s dance hall affair”. Although we didn’t do much decorating because I loved the memorabilia that already decorates the space, we had all black and white decorations, black bridesmaid dresses, and black and white suits for the guys, complete with a full jazz band at our reception (but we’ll get into that later!)

It could have been a more perfect location and I love that it was him who decided on such a key element in the planning process!

The E.O.A was a club Andrew and his friends had in high school where they collected change from various other students after everyone had bought their lunch. Hence, this inside joke. And yes, I made that sign myself ;)

We made the programs ourselves

Hey, engagement photos!

Our guestbook was a calendar for guest to leave their birthday…even though I’ve been terrible about sending out cards. Sorry yall! Also, there’s as sneak peek of my bridal portraits ;)

The rest of the space will be shown through the ceremony photos! How did you choose your wedding venue? Or have you always envisioned something specific for your big day?!

*All photos: Amy Leigh Photography

Catch up on the wedding series here:

November 3rd- A wedding series

November 3rd- Choosing a date

November 3rd- Engagement photos

November 3rd- “Engagement” Photos

November 13, 2015 by JSJ

Ok so if you’re up to date on this little wedding series (don’t worry if you’re not, this is only part three and you can catch up at the bottom!) you know that the word engagement is in quotations because when we took these photos, we had already been married for a little while. You also saw a sneak peek of these photos on our ever so awesome save the date magnets. It was probably hard to tell from the photo of the photos, but….our photos were pretty awesome as well. I just said photo 1000 times.

Ok back on track!

So listen, Andrew and I are pretty silly people. We can be serious like any other pair of well-rounded young adults venturing into actual adulthood, but the day we took these pictures…was not one of those times. We had already chosen a somewhat vintage style as a theme for our wedding celebration (being that our colors we knew would be black and white) although we hadn’t completely nailed down all the details or venue.

I knew I would want pictures of us to put up around our cocktail hour area but a traditional photoshoot (although I love those and they are always beautiful) just didn’t seem like it was a fit for us. So, after some careful deliberation…we decided the best route was to dress up in a gown and suit and walk around a local arcade and mini-golf spot (Jungle Rapids) pretending to be spies at a classic country club event.

We had so much fun, and the photos turned out exactly the way we had hoped. It was amazing and I wouldn’t trade this photoshoot for the world. These photos portray us as a couple perfectly and I will cherish them forever. Unfortunately, we have moved a thousand times (that’s coming to an end here soon, yay!) so the hard copy of these photos is somewhere over the rainbow and all I have are what I’ve saved to the computer from forever ago so they’re mismatched in size and an incomplete set. There were more than I’m able to post today (we actually used them to make a calendar for our guest list) but hopefully I’ll come across them and can post the others eventually. These are still great though and I hope you enjoy!

Everyone says I look cross eyed in this pic but I’m not a model&my man looks so good that idgaf I’m still posting ;)

BTS selfie!

So there you have it, our “engagement” photo session. Even though you can tell I’m baby Jlynn because you can only see one tattoo, I still love these photos with all my heart and still keep some framed and up around the house. Hopefully I can find the others at some point and post them but I hope you enjoyed these because I was super stoked to share them!

*All photos by Kellie Gibson Photography, with the exception of the BTS selfie, that was me. k love you!

Catch up on the November 3rd Wedding Series!

November 3rd- A Wedding Series

November 3rd- Choosing a date

November 11, 2015 by JSJ

As you know if you read the “wedding” tab above (or this post), Andre&I eloped on December 7, 2011. Yep. You read that right. Pearl Harbor day. You don’t think about those kind of things when you decide the night before to quit worrying about what other people will think and just go get married already.

You also don’t think about them when you wake up in the morning and just get out of bed and head down to the courthouse, in love, and excited to start this journey of life together as husband and wife. Nope. You don’t think about it until it’s sinking in on the ride home that you’ve just married the man of your dreams…on Pearl Harbor day. Only one of the most tragic days in American history. But it’s ok! Because in that moment you will also decide that this just means that at some point, you should go to Hawaii together to pay your respects to those who survived and lost their lives on that day. Fear of flying? We’ll tackle that later.

So, with all the excitement of being married and keeping it a secret for a couple weeks (so fun!) there is little time to think about a ceremony including your friends and family because you’re too busy trying to figure out how to tell them! Once that’s completed, the shock and joy and excitement of planning a celebration that will include all your loved ones, the white dress, the walking down the aisle begins and all that finally begins.

If you’re wondering about whether or not to elope, it was the best thing Andrew and I have ever done. It was perfectly imperfect. It was all about us. I would recommend it to anyone. Whether or not you want to have a ceremony afterwards is up to you!

We chose to do one because whereas the marriage itself was all about us, we still wanted to celebrate that with our loved ones and share in the joys of the walking down the aisle, mother son dance and partying with all of our family and friends. We wanted cool weather but not cold and a Autumn vibe of sorts so November 4^th became that day to look forward to!

Then after realizing that was daylight savings time day and we would be losing an hour of daylight we would need for photos… November 3^rd became that day to look forward to!

Our save the dates! (and a sneak peek of our “engagement” photos!)

*As you’ll find in a future post, magnet save the dates are my favorite purchase from the whole wedding planning process and I’ll probably talk about how awesome of a decision they were 1000 times over this series*

How did you choose your wedding date? Was it a special date or one that just worked out best time wise like ours?!

November 3rd- A Wedding series

November 3rd- “Engagement” photos

November 3rd – A Wedding Series

November 9, 2015 by JSJ

So last week marked the 3 year anniversary of my wedding ceremony! (Not to be confused with the day Andrew and I actually got married.) So to mark this momentous occasion, I decided to turn the details of our wedding celebration into a little series on here I’m just going to call “November 3^rd”.

That’s the day Andrew and I decided to put on this little shindig and it was a wedding that went down in history books some would say. I’m assuming that’s because of the liquor bar.

There were ups&downs and things I wish I would have known or at least thought about before moving forward so hopefully you’ll find some things in this series about my wedding that might help you out, or at least make you laugh and say Oh God what was she thinking.

In the next couple of weeks I’ll share some stories, some do’s&don’ts, and (of course) a heck of a lot of photos.

I can’t wait to re-visit this event and share with you all!

My favorite shot of the day, Amy Leigh Photography

November 3rd- Choosing a date

November 3rd- “Engagement” photos