Jennifer Starr: 101 Things in 1001 Days

Stefani Meets Starr Style

One of my top ten moments of 2011 for sure! It's no secret that I'm a huge No Doubt fan and truth be told I have a total girl crush on Gwen. It's been on on-going crush for years. She's talented and beautiful and of course ultra cool... but there are many other reasons why I look up to her and her sassy ways....

1.) She's different. Her style is unique to her

2.) Homegirl has millions, but she still keeps it real. In every interview she come across very confident and still humble ~ I love that.

3.) She went from her high school sweetheart to her husband...dating very few guys in her life... similar to moi. My heart couldn't have handled having lots of boyfriends.

4.) She focused on launching her career before starting her family. Though she always wanted to be a mom, she didn't have her first baby until she was 37. And she still rocked the "hot mom" look. No, I don't plan on waiting that long but it inspires me not to put so much pressure on myself.

5.) She claims to be a poor time manager, and says it's passion that drives her not organization and discipline. STORY of my LIFE

Okay, I'll stop there before you start thinking I'm a total weirdo. Needless to say, I love me some Gwen! I've seen her in concert four times now. The most AMAZING concert of my life thus far, was at America West Arena when No Doubt opened for U2.....it was right after 9/11 and I was there with my girl Addie Jo....it was their Rock Steady Tour and it was BEST!

So I've always wanted to try and sport the Gwen look for Halloween, and with Aimee in town for Halloween this past year...we were CRAZY excited dress up as Gwen and a Harajuka Girl!

Aimee nailed her look, naturally!

And we of course asked Justin to take a million photos of our vain selves......

I had bought three bleach blond wigs... but just couldn't make them work for me. I looked more like Tom Petty than Gwen Stefani...it was frightening... so in the end I went with my natural hair.... so it was more of an "Inspired Gwen Look".

And this completes..........number 79 on my list!

79. Dress up one year as Gwen Stefani for Halloween... because she's awesome

Our 9th Annual Halloween Party, Caddy Shack Style

Another year, another Halloween Party!

This party was the easiest party I've ever thrown......it was just such a crazy time in our lives...Justin had just started his career and I was spinning in the wedding season mix ...and ...right in the middle of it all we throw our 9th Annual Halloween Party ~ Caddyshack Style! I was actually quite shocked at how great everything turned out.

It was such an easy theme (chosen by Justin) which seemed to make everything else super easy. This year we held our party at my home venue, Superstition Springs Golf Club~ because...naturally it went so well with the theme!

Of course... the Costume Contest is always a big hit!

I really can't believe we've been able to keep this tradition going for so long!

So many of dear friends were able to attend

Even Elin and Tiger showed up!

Chef created an awesome meal, followed by a delicious dessert display.

And we danced the night away..........

I was so proud of the centerpieces I created all by myself!

Julie and her friend Colie came dressed as Zombies....which was random, but then again so is Julie~which is why I love her!

Noah broke out his famous "Footloose" Routine....always a crowd pleaser!

So many creative costumes!

Justin and I have been having an on-going Halloween Costume battle for years... but this year Justin picked out his own costume and I didn't even try to push... although I thought it would have been ADORBS if he too dressed up as a Gopher.

And this was the final-die hard party-crew that was still there when we shut the party down~ what a great night! Thank you to everyone who came and all my awesome vendors who helped to make this night possible ~ DJ Andre, Still Life Studios, and Superstition Springs Golf Club!

This coming year will be our TENTH ANNUAL Halloween Party!

And this marks off # 24. Host our 9th Annual Halloween Party

Our Cabo Getaway

Our Cabo San Lucas Trip.....

This seems like a lifetime ago, though it was only last September that we escaped for a week of luxury and fun in the sun.

Cabo San Lucas was really my Graduation gift. That's right, I may have not been the one who recently graduated but Justin made sure I felt rewarded too.

So off we went.... just us and it was just heavenly.........

Our hotel, had the most aaaamaaazing views! Walking through the lobby all you could see was the white sand, blue waters, and the famous views of Land's End.

I loved all the black and white. My future dining room will be designed using inspirations from this hotel.

The mornings were beyond awesome, the ocean breeze, live music, mimosas...

Date night every night.... this was the view from our room...

Late Cabo Nights.... endless breeze, endless fiesta

The view from our room at night.....

And during the day......

I can't remember how I talked Justin into a Towel Folding Class... And we were the only ones who participated, go figure... At the end the resort instructors asked us to pose for a few photos.....Which resulted in quite possibly.....the most distrubingly cheesiest photo we've taken to date.

This photo (below) marks a HUGE milestone of the trip and our lives...

This photo was taken just minutes after Justin had checked the computer down in the lobby to discover that he PASSED the state boards... meaning he could now start practicing as a Doctor of Physical Therapy. This was about 8am and when he came back up into the room and told me I thought he was going to pass out. He didn't believe it. He immediately had to down a Pacifico to calm down, quickly followed by a second.

Days at the pool and in the ocean, my favorite! It was so hot and humid; you almost had to be in the water to keep cool. I went through a total of 3 pairs of sunglasses on this trip. The bottom right photo of me is one of Justin's favorites... as I tried having a serious conversation with him, not noticing that one lens was completely missing. He just keep staring at me... I thought he was deeply interested in my conversation.

Jet sking... Justin's favorite! Oh yeah next time you see Justin ask him about the time he threw me off a jet ski in the middle of the ocean......umm yeah...

I was totally pumped about parasailing... and Justin was a little apprehensive... UNTIL we were in the air... I just keep hearing CLINK, CLINK, CLINK... and kept wondering if Justin heard it but was afraid to ask him. He just took it all in... at that point he had realized he passed the boards~nothing else mattered. The views were breathtaking.

Paradise... endless paradise...

We went on a horseback ride at sunset on the beach, something I always thought would be soooooo romantic...but truth be told... I was TERRIFIED the entire time ~ more so then when we were parasailing. Thankfully I had the slowest, sweetest, most gentle horse named Cheyenne. Justin had Bronco, who lived up to his name as he took off racing a few times with Justin.

The last night of our stay, we ventured into downtown Cabo, and had the most aaamazing dinner at Mi Casa. I took the locals suggestion and ordered one of their famous dishes: El Mole Poblano ~off the hook, amigos!

Then of course... we had to hit all the Cabo hot spots... The Giggling Marlin, Cabo Wabo, and Squid Roe.

Some way, somehow, we finally ended up safely back to our hotel... after getting in trouble for swimming in a closed pool~oops!

And this photo about sums it up... at the end of our trip we were officially "beached out" and that's how we knew we had a fantastic time south of the border!

It felt so awesome to return home and start our new chapter.

And this marks off # 64. Travel to another country

Too Legit To Quit ....

What a year! Wow, it has flown....by! I have so much blogging to catch up on it's insane, I'm just waiting on my hubs to get caught up with editing.

Until then, I wanted to take a moment to knock off some of the items on my 101 List, mostly all pertaining to my Passion/Professional area of my list:

#40. Redesign the layout of my personal blog~incorporating more of my personality.
Okay, so truth be told I did this a LONG time ago (perhaps my faithful blog followers noticed...) but I never "checked it off" my list because in my mind it wasn't perfect and there were certain tweaks I wanted to make before actually "checking it off".

Flash Forward Update: In the next few weeks I'm crazy excited to say that I'll be lauching my NEW J.Starr Style Blog...which will be essentially a merge of my personal life and my professional life.

So what does that mean??
~I'll be blogging a lot more for starters, yeah!
~I'll be writing a lot more about my passion as a Wedding Designer, as well as day to day tips on how to enhance and stylize your life and home.
~You will see a lot less personal photos, as my blog will no longer be a "virtual scrapbook" of my life~but I will be uploading all my photos to my picasa account and sending out to our family and friends...(Great NEWS, for those of you who say..."Jennifer never gives us any pictures")

#44. Finalize my company name and structure
Done and done! Ohh Mmm Gee, it takes a lot of work to get a business up and running. But special thanks to my dear friend: Matt Wheeler... as he spent one morning and afternoon driving me into downtown Phoenix to 1.) Register my business name with the Arizona Secretary of State 2.) Took me to the state revenue agency to obtain my tax identification number. I then later followed up with setting up my business account with my bank and registered with Chandler for city taxes.

I decided on the name: "J.Starr Stylized Weddings & Events" a little over a year ago...for several reasons..
1.) People had been calling me "J.Starr" since my first date with Justin
2.) I have worked in the wedding industry for several years and I have made several contacts, my thought is that it only made sense for me to use my name and create a brand off of who I am.
3.) It's a way cool name.

#45. Get my OWN awesome website launched!
This happened quite some time ago...around February of this year. But me, being the freak I am...is not totally 100% in love with it and I'd still like to make some changes..but I keep reminding myself..."It's about progress, not perfection Jennifer"...but in case you haven't seen it check it out: www.jstarrweddings.com

#48. Have one of my client's wedding/event featured in a local magazine (for coordination & design)
This was so fun! Last June AZ Weddinngs released their new magazine and I was highlighted as a Wedding Designer. This was extra special to me because I truly adore the bride and groom! (As seen above)

Love this!

Feeling so tired lately... coming off of wedding season, Thanksgiving, and My Birthday...but there's nothing like a brand new age to get you re-focused on important goals...............I'm loving this quote!

# 12 Done!

Wow, what a project! I can now happily cross # 12 off my list!!!

In February of 2010 we threw my Grandparents a 60th Wedding Anniversary Party....and it was so very special. Ever since then...I've wanted to have the "home footage" that we captured that day, transferred to a DVD.

Plus I really wanted to take it a step further.... In in addition to the footage transfer, I also asked one of my favorite wedding videographers, Richard Talbot to take the still photos that Justin and captured that day, and mix in the "home video footage" all added to my Grandparents Song....Sentimental Journey.

I also had Richard also include on the DVD; the slideshow (Justin created) that we played at the party, along with the two sets of interviews I did with my Grandparents prior to the party, along with the full length video edit from that day. I'm so thankful for my dad and mom (as they funded this project)... and so appreciative of Justin and Richard's help with the product.. I know this will be some precious memories that we will be able to enjoy for a lifetime. I can't wait to give all my relatives their copies of the final DVD.

My sweet grandma had been hospitalized the past few weeks for a bad fall she had taken.... however now she is at home and is recovering. We were able to give this gift to my Grandpa and Grandma on Thanksgiving...and it was such a joy to see them view it... they were giggling like two teenagers in love.

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