Author: JJ Starling

Hurricane happenings

by JJ Starling

So it’s Friday, and this weekend we are supposed to be hosting a Frisbee Golf (Folf) tournament but then there is this guy….

hurricane Joaquinvia

Being from the beach, hurricane watch is something I grew up doing. I remember being a child and waiting patiently for the eye of the storm to come about so I could go play outside with my neighborhood friends. Missing school was a perk..until summer came and brought the make-up days with it. All I saw at that age was fun mixed in with a little bit of adrenalin from the “fear” of a big storm but thunder, lightening, wind and rain are not concepts that have ever really scared me.

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how detrimental these events can be. My heart and prayers are certainly with all those that are baring down through Joaquin at the moment. Reports are that someone in the Carolinas has already lost their life to a tree that toppled over onto a car and we aren’t even in the thick of the storm. There is a state of emergency here in NC (and SC) as of right now because of potential flooding but from what I can gather, the worst of the storm isn’t expected to pass over land here.

I’m thankful for that but it still means possible rough weather for all my loved ones at the beach and of course, these things can change course if they so choose. As of yesterday it was just an aggravating sprinkle all day long and if anything major does happen, rumor is it will be on Sunday. So all I can do from a few hours away is send lots of good energy to my friends, family and really everyone dealing with Joaquin and his mess while I wait to see the sun again from here…

outside

And of course this weather is paining my heart to remember the destruction of my beloved Hunter boots.

hunterboots1

Yep, you’re viewing that right. I got my first pair of Hunter boots last year to see what all the fuss was about and unlike my PSL experience…I loved them. They are so warm and comfy and beautiful. And of course- just as the season got right for me to break them back out, I discover that my cat yep – CAT– had utterly destroyed them.

hunterboots2

I mentioned it on twitter (@jlynnjustad) when I found them not too long ago but I am really feeling the pain here lately with Joaquin throwing me all this lovely Hunter boot weather. The worst part is knowing that it is totally my fault for not keeping them in the box! But then again…this is why I have cats, and not a dog! What the heck, Nox?!

I will have to write up about my boys on here sometime soon because they are certainly the strangest little feline creatures. I haven’t ordered a new pair yet. I’ve been thinking about finding a retailer and just buying them in store but I haven’t decided what I want to do yet. I think I’m also partly punishing myself for not taking more precautions and keeping them in the box. I certainly won’t under estimate my kitties next time!

I hope wherever you are, you are safe and make it through this weekend, Joaquin or no Joaquin. Keep all of us east coasters in your thoughts and maybe on Monday I’ll have a “hurricane party” of sorts to update you about ;)

Lots of love to you, friends!

xx

The Bucket List: The PSL

by JJ Starling

Happy hump day yall! and what better day to publish this particular post than on the 1 week closer to summer anniversary of Autumn!

This past weekend, on Saturday, I got to spend 30 precious minutes with one of  my very best gals, Julia, as she was passing through my area. We couldn’t catch up for long as she had to be back on her way, but I was thrilled to be able to see her for any amount of time. It was awesome too because she was with me as I crossed another thing off my bucket list: TRY A PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE! And the verdict is….

PSL

As indicted by my friend’s beautiful thumb positioned in the downturned direction (but not by my smiling face..ha!)…I hated it. I was kinda scared going into it that I was going to love it and my wallet was going to hate it but it turns out it was dislike on both accounts. I got the smallest one, the regular way with whipped cream on top and…it was so disgusting I couldn’t finish it even though I paid over $4 for it. What is this coffee/Starbucks obsession?! I just don’t get it. But I don’t need to I suppose. To each their own! I did take one of these totally awesome (“basic” I believe they’re called?) Starbucks cup in front of the steering wheel pics though. I left out the vehicle brand because there is some dried ketchup right next to the word JEEP #letsbereal.
basicPSL

There are a bunch of homemade recipes out there and I would actually love to give them a try. Just wanted to check out the holy Starbucks PSL hype. As far as other exciting events from this past weekend…I went to Target without buying a single thing #winning and bought my first bag of candy corn with no shame #alsowinning. The bag of candy corn was from Target but that was purchased on a separate occasion. Booyah.

I hope you are all have a stellar week thus far! I wouldn’t recommend a PSL but maybe a nice cup of hot coco! Hello, I’m 5.

Until next time, friends!

xx

Wedding crashing

by JJ Starling

Hello all!!

Did you see the super blood moon last night?! We made a couple attempts but it was pretty cloudy in our parts. We caught a glimpse of it while still eclipsed but it was no longer red. When we were going to bed around 11:45 I noticed how it look like dawn outside so I walked out only to see a gigantic fully round night light in the sky that was so piercing and crystal clear it was amazing. It was cool to see it go from what was more like a half moon to full in less than an hour. It was a beautiful sight. Andrew and I vowed to be somewhere with perfect viewing conditions for the next go round in 33 years or whatever :p

I hope things are going well for you! If you’ve been here recently you know I’ve been spending time accepting that summer has come to a close and watching fun girlie things on TV like the Miss America Pageant. I mentioned in that post that I had been invited to attend a wedding that weekend and I wanted to share a few snaps from the event because I had so much fun!

wedding

I was invited by one of my very best, Ashley, who was a friend of the bride. It was so fun getting all dolled up and hitting the town for a girls night out in downtown Raleigh! I did learn a few lessons about the importance of ALWAYS wearing comfortable shoes when attending a wedding and if you can’t, then making sure you have some easy slip ons to walk in if you have a few blocks to the venue.

Everyone is probably rolling their eyes at me right now like “DUHHHHH JLYNN” but I’m not from a city. I’m from the beach, and personally, I just don’t usually wear heels when I go out. I do sometimes but even then it’s usually like…hop out of the cab and walk up to the door to where you’re going. How all those celebrities get away with wearing those ridiculous shoes all the time totally makes sense to me now. They don’t actually walk anywhere.

streetselfiestreet selfie

Sex and the City has mislead us all! We had to go about 3 blocks from parking to the wedding  venue, 3 blocks back to the car and then 5 blocks from the car to the reception venue and that was all it took to give me blisters. All the girls had their shoes off on the outdoor dance floor by the end of the night anyway so I probably wasn’t the only one feeling the burn, but I was certainly super relieved to not be the only barefoot baby shakin’ it to Cheerleader [insert music note emoji here]. I can definitely see myself investing in some of those foldable flats I always see floating around on Pinterest. Anyone ever tired them before? Thoughts?

OK OK ALREADY enough of my painful shoe experience rant and enjoy some photos of me and my wedding date! Well, technically I was the wedding date ;)

wedding crashing

wedding date 2

bouquetShe caught the bouquet!

no shoesno shoes lyfe!

dance floor fundance floor fun!

I am so thankful to my sweet friend for inviting me! I had such a good time. Can’t wait for the next wedding we get to attend together! I wish many many years of happiness&blessings to the happy couple.

Sending you all lots of love and other good energy on this Monday morning!

xx

 

Accepting a change in season

by JJ Starling

forest-meadow-leaves-autumn-large

On Friday, I gave in. I accepted that fall was coming and summer would soon be over. Sure it would be nice to live in a place where the weather is always perfect sunny and 70’s, but living in a place where the seasons change is a good thing too, I think.

Every few months you are reminded that you should accept that things will change over time even if you don’t want to because they will most likely change anyway. This is especially evident when your favorite season is coming to a close. Those first few weeks can be the hardest as you realize the air is a different temperature (no matter how hard you have tried to ignore it), the earth around you is changing right before your eyes and summertime is moving on. But then- you rest easy knowing it will come around again, hopeful that you’ll get to experience it.

And that is where the jewel of this life is found.

Hope.

In deciding to give in to the new season approaching and paint my nails a color more suited for fall, I was reminded that there is always hope and for that my heart is full of gratitude. The simplest of moments can give way to the largest lessons, even something like just choosing a nail color. I’m currently learning to see the biggest and best of life in every little thing.

Farewell to the most groovy of all seasons! But it’s nice to see you again, Autumn.

So, happy first day of Autumn to you and may the pumpkin spice be ever your flavor ;P

xx

My ‘Top 7’ thoughts on the 2016 Miss America pageant

by JJ Starling

Hello all!!

This past weekend was a busy one for me. I had a friend in town and got to attend a magical wedding (after a few bumps in the road!) but I’ll get to that later because today I want to talk about last night’s Miss America Pageant.

missamerica2016Via

If you didn’t watch and you don’t mind spoilers…our new Miss America is 21 year old (I think that’s correct) Betty Cantrell from Georgia. Let me first say that I am super happy for the winner and wish her the best year of her life to date. I mean, come on, with a name like Betty Cantrell…you were destined to win right? ha!

I have to be honest and admit that I was first rooting for my home state of NC but then turned my affections to SC as she was placed in the top 15. Some things about this year were great…others not so much…but many things were noteworthy.

The Vanessa Williams apology

This is one of those things that I thought was great and connects to a lot of what I touch on in this post. There were a lot of people on twitter who were not so pleased but I have to say that I was. If you are unaware of the situation, lets have a mini history lesson. 10 months after Vanessa was crowned, she was backed into a corner to resign after nude photos she had taken two years prior surfaced. Penthouse published them and Vanessa’s life was turned upside down. After being the first African American woman crowned, she already had a tough time in her reign, then the photo ‘scandal’ happened. You can read more about all that here .

People who were not ok with it felt she was receiving an apology for making a stupid decision but I’m not sure I see it that way. I recall the situation with Tara Conner (Miss USA 2006) who after a drug ‘scandal’ (don’t you just love that word…), was given a second chance by none other than the terrible Donald Trump (and his people I’m sure).

What I’m trying to say is that to me, the apology felt like an extension of grace that she didn’t receive all those years ago because it wasn’t the norm in the culture at the time. Maybe some of it had to do with here color but maybe not. Maybe it was only because of the nude photos. I suppose you could ask where to draw the line but that brings me to my next observation…

The fear of “sexy”

I got SO tired of listening to the contestants separate sexy from classy. During evening gown, when describing their dresses, they all kept saying things like “I don’t think it’s too sexy…it’s classy” “I want to be classy..” I’m looking at you GA! But she wasn’t the only one, they all pretty much got up there and said something similar except for (I think) Louisiana. She took the position that sexy and classy can be one in the same. Sexy to her was equal to confidence and hearing that was a breath of fresh air. Why do we continue on with the notion that sexy=trashy? To me that sounds like a jealous judgment started by other females who felt insecure. Either that or it’s a cultural thing that needs to be done away with.

My question is, why do the Miss America contestants feel like they have to deny feeling sexy to be portrayed as classy?  I realize that in those voice overs they are being asked questions by producers and whatnot but if the girls really don’t feel this way, then why is the Miss America organization trying to draw out answers that only perpetuate a stereotype like that? Why do they- the girls and the organization- make it seem like to be sexy is a bad thing? Women can be classy and sexy at the same time!

Now whether or not having nude photos taken of you in the past goes in the “sexy” or “trashy” classification, I’m not sure if I want to make a judgment on that entirely as there are numerous styles in which people are photographed in the nude but it does make me wonder about…

The lack of diversity

I could spend this entire time talking about how there were FOUR women of color in the ENTIRE GROUP OF 51 GIRLS but even beyond that, as I get older, I wonder where are the women with life experience beyond school and charity work? Where are the women with tattoos? Where are the women with past mistakes and bad decisions that have risen above them?

I have always love the Miss America organization and I always will, having competed myself as a teen. The young women involved are in fact AMAZING but sitting at home, I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not I would feel I belonged had I not participated all those years ago. It’s one thing to be a role model, it’s another to be a symbol of unattainable perfection.

This is another reason why I felt the apology to Vanessa was so necessary because it didn’t feel like condoning nude photos, it felt like extending grace to someone who is a beautiful and wonderful person, who made a decision that was less than stellar (depending on your view point). It doesn’t matter whether you think it was right or wrong, everyone messes up, even Miss Americas.

Now moving on to the more creative aspects of the competition…

Miss Colorado’s monologue

Ok so first I need to start off by saying I thought what she did was AMAZING. I think it’s a beautiful thing the way she has become a voice for the amazing community of nurses we have in this country and the beloved patients that they treat. However- utoh..- I do not think what she did was an acceptable ‘talent’ option.

Someone on twitter said to me that nursing is a talent- ok, I can believe and agree with that but she didn’t do anything nursing related on stage. Acting is most certainly a talent, but she wasn’t embodying a character in that piece. She was speaking about a personal experience so there was no acting really involved. The only thing of talent I felt like she exhibited was her public speaking ability. That is most certainly a talent and I would have given her points for maybe that alone.

As Miss America you do need to be poised when you speak at engagements and I felt confident she could represent the country amazingly in that aspect by what she did. Another way to show your public speaking abilities though is with…

Onstage Question

This is typically my favorite part of the competition. I don’t care how smart you are, or how awesome of a public speaker you are- this just sucks all the air from your lungs, your heart is racing, your stomach is upside down- it’s insane. The pressure is real. This year, I’m sad to say that I was beyond disappointed with this phase of the competition.

First of all, these questions were overall awful. I’m not sure if the judges write them or what but they were terrible. They were too opinion influenced I felt. There weren’t enough questions asking for ideas for change. Would you cut funding for Planned Parenthood? Ok this question is relevant but I just felt the phrasing was a little too…presidential debate and not American woman with insight. Who wouldy you put on the $10 bill? I think that was an essay question for middle schoolers this year as well. Do you think Tom Brady cheated? What??!

Despite their questions, some answered alright and some aren’t welcome in the New England area anymore. I was really hoping SC would kill the question because I thought that might get her the crown but then she didn’t even place so I’m not sure what happened there but I didn’t think her answer was that bad at all. As a whole, some things just didn’t fit. It wasn’t just the onstage question portion but for me it was also…

The ‘reality tv’ feel

I’ve seen multiple times where Vanessa Williams was quoted as saying the pageant is going in a new direction but I’m not sure I like it! It felt like I was watching an American Idol style of pageant instead of a competition for poise and grace. For instance, why were the judges on the stage? That was just tacky to me. I want to see the competitors, NOT the judges faces!

And then to stop and talk to the judges right there on stage like it was about them as well? I just ‘can’t even’. I remember feeling a little uneasy when they started bringing the girls out in their talent attire and calling them to perform from there but it’s not so bad. This whole…judges are a part of the show thing though…it’s got to go. Along with….

Top 7????????????

What the heck was that about? No seriously, does anyone know? That was just. Awful. No more words than that. Just awful.

 

So there you have it, my ‘top 7’ (LOL) thoughts on last night’s pageant! If you missed it and didn’t set your DVR, I’m sure they’ll be running it on CMT here today/tomorrow or at some point here in the near future. If you did watch, I’d love to hear what you thought in the comments below or post a link to your own blog post with your thoughts!

Happy Monday to ya!

xx

 

The Makeup Mix-Up: Green with Envy

by JJ Starling

Hello Makeup Mix-Up beauties!!!

And of course those of you who don’t participate, hello to you too! By the way…about that, you don’t have to have a blog to participate in this link up! You can use #themakeupmixup on instagram to join in on the fun as well ;)

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to make this happen and I’m happy to be back, especially because I was quite pleased with my final results! I will admit, I was a little nervous about using color…literally all the eye colors I own are neutral so I had to go buy something! ha! I’m glad I did though because I didn’t look as absurd as I thought I would with my lack of makeup application skills. I suppose this shade of green would still be considered earthy, but it was out of the norm for me for sure. Every time I participate in this link up it causes me to step out of the box and it always boosts my confidence in my abilities. I just love that!

GWE2a

Although it’s not my favorite color, I do love green. Emerald is my birthstone and I always felt like that was so appropriate for me for some reason. I went through this stage of wanting it to be a pearl, but I knew deep down the Emerald was the correct stone for me.

I went with a green and gold blend because neutrals are my comfort zone so I thought that would help balance out my nerves a bit and hide my lack of talent/skill. I figured I could blend a color that I was a little more comfortable with while I’m still in these “learning” stages. I will say though, it seems that every time I’ve put aside some time and actually tried, I’ve surprised myself!

GWE5a

In terms of what I used to achieve this look it’s fairly simple. Before work I put on my e.l.f Mineral Infused Face Primer (clear) underneath my NYX Tinted moisturizer (tan). I applied NYX Dark Circle Concealer Correcteur (medium- love this stuff!), Givenchy mascara (black taffeta), and a little bit of e.l.f Blush (tickled pink) as well. After I clocked out I picked up some Milani eyeshadow (Bella Emerald) and blended it together with MAC eye shadow (amber lights-gold&most darling-brown)  and e.l.f shadow (enchanted-gold) to create this look. I touched up my mascara and blush, adding a little bit of bronzer from my Urban Decay Naked pallet (flushed) underneath my cheekbones. To finish it off I lined my lips with a MAC lipliner (whirl) and put some coconut oil on top. I probably could have used a little mascara on the tops of my lashes. oops! next time ;)

GWE7a

And there you have it! I’m thankful to have branched out and tried something like this because I have a wedding that I am attending this weekend and I just might try this again!!

Also, you may already know that I’ve been working on going completely cruelty free with my products. I could probably say that I have pretty much done that but I do still use some of my old products that are not animal friendly. I threw most of them out but I did hold on to a few of them. I haven’t purchased anything that isn’t on the cruelty free list here in the last six months unless I just genuinely wasn’t paying attention but I am still learning and working on it. If you’re interested in doing the same you should check out Tashina at Logical Harmony. It’s a great blog with a lot of information on how to go cruelty free or vegan with your products. There is an awesome Cruelty Free&Vegan Brand List and she even provides weekly updates on cruelty free brands to keep you up to date on changes in the industry. I’ve really enjoyed learning about product options!

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I know I don’t have any photos of what the look is like with my eyes not looking down…I hope you’ll continue to bare with me as I learn how to do this. Ha! I will say my husband is starting to get the hang of taking my picture without complaining that I’ve stopped him right in the middle of a disc golf session.

 

I hope you’re having a wonderful week! Lots of love to you

xx

 

Linking up with Jaelan and Miranda today!! ♥

Navigating through weird

by JJ Starling

postivevibesVia

So, I just started typing out this blog post and the first paragraph basically turned out to be all about how crazy I am. I deleted it because, well, first off I don’t want anyone worrying about me and second I don’t want anyone having any ammunition should they decide they want to try to commit me as a part of some evil plan. Yes, yes, I watch way too many movies.

I don’t know though. I really have been feeling weird. Just weird. Not even sick or anything like that, just weird. No other word to describe it. It almost kinda freaks me out but at the same time, I think I’m just going to chalk it up to some crazy things happening out there with the stars and planets and see it as maybe I’m just becoming more..me. Does that make sense? Probably not. How about, learning me. That works a little bit. I don’t know. It’s hard for me to articulate how I’m feeling or anything really that’s going on in my head lately so I guess that’s why I’ve been MIA here (and everywhere else).

After our trip to the Dirty Dancing Festival, I just started to head into a valley I suppose. Perfectly normal, ah such is life kinda thing. Hopefully I will snap out of it soon but I’m certainly working my behind off trying to stay positive and really keep moving forward. I think a lot of times these valley times are hard to get out of because low can feel so low, it’s like…does this ever end?! Those thoughts perpetuate never ending low places I believe though, so I’m really trying to get out of that sort of mental behavior.

So enough with the deep stuff but that’s all I’ve got today! I’m crossing my fingers that this 3 day weekend will really give me some rejuvenation. I hope it does the same for you! Cheers to committing to positivity even when we’re in valleys or things seem super weird.

Happy Labor Day weekend all!

xx

 

Catch up on my recent trip to the Dirty Dancing Festival here, here and here ♥

 

 

 

The Dirty Dancing Festival: Saturday- August 15 & Sunday- August 16, 2015

by JJ Starling

Hey yall!!!

I’m super stoked to dive back into talking about our trip to the Dirty Dancing Festival today!!! I was originally planning to post the second day’s events coughcough last week BUT my week got away from me for many reasons (more on that later) so I decided to combine two posts into one since Sunday was just the day that we headed back home. If you missed the first two installments of this little shindig, just check the links at the bottom and you can get caught up ;)

So! We’ve already covered the basics about the festival and the events of Friday, the first day of the festival. Today I want to share mainly about our busiest day, Saturday.

festivalprogramThe festival program

Saturday was the day of the main event. This was the day where the vendors would be out, the performances would be happening and the dance classes would occur. Everything was beginning at 9am. Breakfast at the lodge was from 8am to 9:30am. After feeling the comfort of the bed in our room (no seriously, most comfortable bed ever), we decided we would sleep in, get breakfast, lounge on that comfy bed, then get up and get ready to go. Breakfast was SO good and the view was lovely. It was a little chilly, but with a sweater, it was near perfect.

breakfastA quick photo I snapped of Andre at breakfast

After some lounge time in our room, we got ready to head back out to the park to check out the festivities!

secret gardenAWe made time for a little selfie action outside our room sign

lightingI had to get an independent selfie because the lighting on that side of the deck was perfection

sunglassesThen I had to get a car selfie because I just got these sunglasses at some store for $5 and I’m kinda obessed with them

Upon arriving at the beginning of places where you could park to walk to the festival (after a good bit of traffic that we didn’t mind at all because the drive/view was kinda soothing), my husband decided that he had found a space that may or may not be a space, but he was going to park there anyway.

parkingjobPossible motorcycle parking space?

He said we fit just enough. So after juuust a minute of questioning if this was ok, I decided to roll with it because a ton of people started parking a couple spaces down from us in what clearly was not designated parking space. At least we had lines. Kinda. We were going to have to walk about 1/2 a mile (warning: I have no concept for milage) to the park but it wasn’t a bad walk as there was a boardwalk that was shaded by trees on either side and a beautiful view of the lake that began with the view of this little lake beach!

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babysbeach2

We could have gone and enjoyed it but we weren’t prepared to do so. It wasn’t expensive at all at $8 per person. Across the street is the Bed and Breakfast where Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey stayed while filming in Lake Lure. We definitely are planning to hit this spot up next time we come!

Of course now that I’m drafting this, I am realizing we didn’t take any photos at the actual festival. I really wanted to get a photo of us in front of the festival sign but it wasn’t up when we were there. I’m not sure if they had it up then took it down but I was bummed. You might already know this as I haven’t been able to stop mentioning it. ha!

We were going to take one of the dance classes being offered but one of the down sides of the festival was that there wasn’t enough water and the line for the one vendor that still had water was SO long (being a fairly new festival, I expected this would probably  happen so I wasn’t ill about it or anything but I do wish I would have brought my own water bottle).

After walking around the festival for a bit and watching a couple of the performances, we decided to walk back down the boardwalk and grab lunch at a restaurant that had an amazing view of the lake. It was so hot walking back though that we totally decided to skip sitting outside and sit in the bar. Surprise, surprise! Turns out, that area had huge windows with an awesome view too.

lunchviewour view at lunch

We did eat at the festival so at the restaurant we just had a drink (water too! ha!) and a small appetizer. Afterwards we went back to the car and headed back to the lodge to rest up before going back to the park to watch the lake lift competition later that evening. Having the lodge so close to the park was amazing. We went into the bar area and got ourselves a glass of wine and went out to enjoy the breeze on the lakeside deck. Silly selfies happened of course.

deck2A

deck4A

We went back to the park only to find that the lake lift competition had been cancelled due to thunder and lightening. SAD TIMES! I was so excited to watch that but public safety is of course the priority. We went back to the lodge to shower, relax, mingle and get dinner at the in house restaurant before the after party later that night.

dinner1RaMy handsome date!

Dinner was wonderful, the service was great as well and the view was gorgeous!

dinner2Plz excuse my husband’s finger in this photo!

Then it was off to the after party!!

afterparty2

The party was held at a little tiki bar not too far up the road from where the festival events were held. It was a lot of fun just sitting and watching everyone up and dancing to all the old school music they were playing, but we did get out on the dance floor ourselves a couple times!

afterparty1a

I really was having a fun time, but sleepyheadedness got the best of me so we decided to turn in early. The next day, Sunday, we had one last breakfast out by the lake and packed up to start our journey home. And even though we weren’t able to get a photo with the dirty dancing sign, we got a photo with our lodge sign!

heading outthe casual/comfy/crazy apparel for the drive home…

  So there you have it! Those are the last details of our trip to the Dirty Dancing festival! We really did have a wonderful time. Yes, there were some things about it that needed tweaking (people were very vocal about it on facebook….) but I thought it was great. For a festival that has only been up and running for 6 years to see the growth that it has is great and I know it will continue to get better as the years progress and more options are available to the organizers.

I would honestly say I recommend hitting this event up for sure if you want a reason to steal away with your honey for the weekend. Andre and I were very relaxed with our approach and expectations and we came away knowing that we would definitely be visiting this event again in the future!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!

xx

Catch up on my previous Dirty Dancing Posts..

The Dirty Dancing Festival: Lake Lure, NC

The Dirty Dancing Festival: Friday- August 14, 2015

A Dirty Dancing re-cast!

The Dirty Dancing Festival: Friday- August 14, 2015

by JJ Starling

arrivalAOur “we made it!” photo

Happy Monday everyone!

I know, Monday is the worst for some of you but I’m super excited today because I’m spilling all the beans about my trip to the Dirty Dancing Festival! If you were here Friday, you got the basic details about the festival- when, where, accommodations- you can check that post out here to catch up. I highly recommend checking out the lodge where we stayed because if you’re ever in the area, it’s a cozy little spot to secure a stay with. We loved it. The walk along the deck to our room looked something like this:

deckviewI guess I took this photo on the ‘square’ setting! ha!

It felt hidden away and private, but still with gorgeous views. Our room was on the very end of the deck so even though we seemed to be the youngest guests there, it still felt nice to have that extra secluded feeling. We stayed in the Secret Garden room. There were so many things we loved about it (great tub, AMAZING bed) but we might try a different room next time just because they all seem so cool!

Upon arriving, we had just enough time to settle in and get ready to head to the movie screening. The park where the festivities were happening was actually super close to the lodge so we ended up having enough time to stop by the ‘mingling hour’ the lodge hosts every evening for the guests. It includes a complimentary glass of wine so you know that motived me to hurry up and get ready ;) We snapped a quick selfie or two before heading down to explore the deck.

lakeside4A

lakeside1A

The wonderful concierge (who was gracious enough to assist us with our luggage) told us about some renovations happening on the deck below. There wasn’t any disruption during our stay and guests were still able to take the path down to the seating area, although at the time it might not have looked like it. They seemed to be more than halfway through some renovations of the bottom deck. I think he said a bathroom was going down there, they had built some sort of stage (probably for weddings, etc.) and were staining brand new furniture. Hopefully we will get to see the finished product in the future!

lakeside6AStill working on that whole ‘posing while not feeling awkward’ thing

lakeview1AThe view minus me

awesomehouse2AAn awesome house across the lake (with a view of some of the new construction)

After taking a short walk around the grounds it was time to head to the park for the movie screening. This is when we ran into this cutie pie-

kittycat

I never did get his name but Andre said he had heard about him. He wasn’t nervous around people but he definitely didn’t seem like he cared to be pet, a strange thing for us to comprehend seeing as our cats adore to be pet all the time. It was nice to see his face when coming and going though :)

We decided to get to the park an hour early in hopes of securing a good seat. We were glad we got there as early as we did, although if we were to go again, we would probably go even a little earlier. Fortunately, we still had seats with a good view of the screen.

picnic5I didn’t get a picture of the movie playing because my phone died!

awesomehouse1

That is a close up of the amazinngggggg house in the background of the photo of the projector screen. Look at it again, you’ll se the house waaay up in the distance in the top right hand corner of the photo. Crazzzyyyy. I wish my phone hadn’t of died I would have taken a picture of it at night with the gigantic lights that illuminate the whole front. I told Andre I thought it might just be a hotel. I think he’s still convinced it’s a house but if it is, it must get used to play the homes of cartel leaders in movies because that’s exactly what it looked like.

We decided to go ahead and begin our picnic as we were waiting for it to get dark so the movie could start!

picnic2

picnic3A

picnic1

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Our picnic consisted of potato salad, cranberry chicken salad with a hoagie type roll to put it on and watermelon (of course!). To drink we had lemonade…which I promptly knocked everywhere not too long after I took this photo. Thank goodness we brought backups. ha!

picnic7

What I found to be super exciting was that there was never a long line for the bathroom. That was great. The mountain views were amazing as well! It was a perfect backdrop for a wonderful evening. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a photo with the sign and they didn’t have it up the next day for some reason. That was definitely a bummer!

What was fortunate though was that it didn’t rain as the forecast had called for. We were laughing about the fact that I always have an umbrella and I didn’t that night. We decided to go ahead and make a plan for if it started raining and we decided that we would stick it out no matter what. We would finish the movie. and that we did! I loved how people were cheering for certain parts like, the first time Pat Sway came on screen, nobody puts baby in the corner and so on. It was a lot of fun!

Can’t wait to share more festival events with you all on Wednesday! Hope you’re having a great start to your week!!

xx

The Dirty Dancing Festival: Lake Lure, NC

by JJ Starling

movienightpano

 

Well hello there!!!

I’m super excited to start talking about this today because I’ve been waiting to share about this for the longest time. I talked on Monday about having done something last weekend that I had been waiting for months to do and it was attend the Dirty Dancing Festival in Lake Lure, North Carolina!

I just found out that this was even a thing earlier this year, around April I think, on facebook. I told Andrew about it and he booked us a room at The Lodge on Lake Lure that same day. We’ve always loved watching that movie together so it was something we knew we had to try at least once. And the fact that it was only a 3 hour drive away?! Umm hello…amazing!! It was such a great experience all around, I loved it. I was so excited to share with you all so I started writing a post that turned out I could break into three separate posts altogether it was so long. ha! It was a super event filled weekend and I took a TON of photos. Except a photo of us in front of the festival sign of course, but more on that later.

The photo above is a panorama of the festival on Friday evening, the night of the movie screening. This was taken right when we got there, before they had put the screen up. Yes. it was that packed before they even put the screen up and then it filled all the way up to the other tent up there on the left. Apparently it was the largest turn out for the movie that they have had in the 6 years they’ve been doing the festival! It was super cool to be a part of something so new, especially in honor of something so fun that is so universally loved. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love every  smooth talkin’ line Patrick Swayze recites in that movie? He’s so cool, I feel like a lot of men can sit through that movie without too much grumbling even.

I’m so excited for y’all to see how much fun we had I just want to publish the posts one right after the other right now! But that would probably be a little overwhelming, no? So I just drafted this teaser post real quick, muahahahahah!

See you next week, friends. Have a great weekend!

xx

 

P.S- to get the full idea of my love for Dirty Dancing, check out my Dirty Dancing re-cast list!