Jamieson Diaries

Married | Mother | Millennial

All Posts, Dear Diary

Give Thanks Anyway

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It is the Sunday following Thanksgiving, and lets just say, the holiday didn’t quite go as planned. This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our home. I love hosting holidays in our own home. As much as others complain about being busy, I love the hustle and constant movement during the holiday season. The added bonus- it was little Miss Jordyn’s first Thanksgiving! 🙂 As we had planned from the beginning of November, we would host Thanksgiving, and my husband’s sister and her boyfriend were going to spend thanksgiving week with us. In addition to having them in town, we were also expecting four of our close friends here in Montana to join us for dinner.

Well, two days before Thanksgiving, my husband’s sister found out she would have to work on Sunday. So instead of staying from Wednesday to the following Wednesday, she would stay from Wednesday to Saturday. They were planning to drive from California so they would need to leave early in the morning, a day in advance, to make it back in time. Although we were pretty bummed their visit would be cut short, we were happy we would get to see them at all. Fast forward about 3 hours later, and not only did she have to work on Sunday, she had to be in town for rehearsal on Saturday. Which means, they would have left California in the wee morning hours on Wednesday morning, gotten to Montana Wednesday evening, spent all of Thanksgiving Day with us, only to have to go to bed early to get up in the wee morning hours on Friday to drive back to California, and make it there in time to sleep for a few seconds before heading into work on Saturday. As much as my husband and I wanted to be with them for Thanksgiving, we knew expecting them to deal with a ridiculous driving schedule just to spend one day here in Montana with us, wasn’t fair or safe for that matter. I felt really bad for my husband all night on Tuesday and all day on Wednesday, because I know how much he loves his sister, how much he misses her, and how long he had been looking forward to seeing her for Thanksgiving. Then, to add one more change into the regularly scheduled program, by the time I had finished last-minute shopping for Thanksgiving necessities on Wednesday evening, my husband informed me that one of our friends were not joining us because he had to work as well. In the span of about 16 hours our Thanksgiving guest count had gone from 8 people to 5 people.

All I could think about was how much I would need to change in the amount of food being prepared, and the table set up I had already planned in my head. Then I was quickly reminded of how The Lord works in mysterious ways. Apparently, some parts of Montana were encountering some pretty bad weather, and the Montana Highway Patrol were advising people not to travel on the roads in such terrible conditions if not necessary. In the midst of all my prepping, cleaning, and maintaining a little one, I also realized I no longer needed to set up an additional table, make another centerpiece, or rearrange the dining room area. All five of us would be able to fit at our dining room table, and I actually had a few less things to make me crazy over the next few hours.

Once our few guests arrived for dinner, with their side dishes and desserts, we took our seats, prayed over the food, and proceeded to eat until we couldn’t eat anymore. After dinner, we hung out on the couch watching football games, playing video games, and cracking each other up in the process. One of Jordyn’s BFFs (Amelia) even came over to hang out after her and her Mom had finished their Thanksgiving meal with their family.

I say all of this, because this year I learned (for the hundredth time) that my plans will always be trumped by His plans. Thanksgiving may not have gone how we originally planned it to, but we knew Kris’ sister and her boyfriend were safe at home not battling dangerous snow storms. We also didn’t mind not having as much work to do in the kitchen and in preparation for the day either (haha).  Even with all of the changes we had an amazing Thanksgiving, with even more amazing friends that are our family away from home.

I believe everything happens for a reason. This Thanksgiving taught me a very valuable lesson about life in general. When things seem to fall apart or are not working as I had originally planned..

Give Thanks Anyway.

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Brie <3

[11.30.14]

All Posts, Dear Diary, Health & Fitness, Physical Health

#28DayJumpstart Challenge Results

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Twenty eight days ago, I started the #28DayJumpstart challenge from Fit Girls World Wide. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, or how much I would enjoy it, but because I had people to participate with me (Grandma, Charelle, and my friend Charna later on) it was easier to stick with it.

I AM SO HAPPY I DID!

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It is insane the change I have seen in my body in only twenty-eight days. The challenge food (for the most part) was SO good, and extremely filling.  The exercises were very doable. Although I added on extra exercise throughout the challenge. And it was the first clean eating/workout plan that I ever enjoyed  doing. All of the help and encouragement from fit girls all over the world makes it even easier to stay on track. They are doing one more #28DayJumpstart challenge before the end of the year, starting December 1st. If you would like to join, you can contact me for the information, or go to the website http://fitgirlsworldwide.com/.

If you would like to continue watching my fitness goal journey, you can keep following me on Instagram at “bjamieson88” or on Twitter “@BrienneJamieson”. (Both links or both accounts are listed on my main page. Just click on the icon) If you aren’t already following me on my public Instagram and Twitter accounts- you should 🙂

Happy and Blessed Monday!

-Brie <3

[11.24.14]

All Posts, Dear Diary, Family Love

Happy Birthday GG & Happy 5 Months Jordyn!

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Today is my Grandma’s (a.k.a. Abuelita but better known as Jordyn’s GG) birthday. We were supposed to say “see you later” to GG yesterday morning, but a last minute, unexpected trip to the ER for GG ended up rescheduling that plan for Thursday morning. Don’t worry, GG is doing just fine, and had endured a wonderful case of “vertigo”. Although I am upset she had to go through this, I am extremely happy this unfortunate event took place BEFORE she boarded her train, what should have been the following morning. It also doesn’t hurt that Jordyn and I get to keep GG here with us for a few extra days ;-). GG has been here in Montana with us since September 16th, and man do we enjoy having her here. It is always nice to have a “piece of home” near you when you’re so far away from everyone. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a Grandma’s girl in general- so Thursday will be a tough day for both Grandma and I. As much as it saddens me, and makes me cry, when my family members have to leave me, I find comfort in the blessing of having so many people to love and so many people to love me back. GG hasn’t even left us yet and we already anticipating the post-GG effects in the Jamieson household. As always, we will bounce back from the sadness, and look forward to the happiness of getting to see each other again in the near future. But in the meantime, I hope my Grandma is having the greatest birthday, ever. It is truly a blessing to be able to call her Grandma. She is one of the most caring and genuinely beautiful people I have ever met in my life. I pray God blesses her to see MANY more. If you would like to send her a birthday shout out, I will be sure to relay the message to her. Happy birthday Grandma/GG! We love you so much!

Jordyn has the pleasure of turning 5 months old on her GG’s birthday. Since her 4 month check in, Jordyn has improved her coordination so much. She is able to reach and grab her toys when they are hanging in front of her. She has even figured out how to slowly move her opposite hand over to the object and grab it with both hands. She has been sleeping through the night since her last week of being 3 months old. (Thanks rice cereal!) I know, I know, we are extremely lucky she sleeps through the night at such a young age. She usually wakes up talking to herself/playing with her fingers and trying to reach her toes for about half an hour before she gives us the warning yell that she is ready to be entertained by her personal court jesters (Mom and Dad). Neither Kris nor I take our new lovely sleep schedule for granted. When doing tummy time, she is still trying to figure out how to prop herself up on her arms, but she has definitely figured out how to get her knees in the crawling position. Tummy time doesn’t last more than 15 minutes, because someone gets pretty impatient at not being able to move, and starts hollering to be put on her back. She also told me to let everyone know she’s working on her attitude problem LOL. Today, we will attempt to try her first spoon fed meal. It’ll only be rice cereal and nursery water so we’ll see how she feels about it. I’ll have pictures to follow within the next few days.

This is about sums up everything that is “new” in Jojo’s world. Oh, I forgot to mention she LOVES to smile and giggle even more now. I just love everything about this feisty, sweet, giggly little Princess J!

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-Brie <3

[11.18.14]

All Posts, Music Favorites

“As”

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Stevie Wonder is my favorite artist in the entire world. He is also currently on tour and because I live in Montana (the state nobody’s tour EVER stops in) I will miss him perform :-(.  In honor of Stevie being in Chicago, tonight, I will share one of my favorite Stevie songs with all of you. Have a happy and safe Friday.

To everyone going to his concert in Chicago, have enough fun for the both of us, and be happy you get to witness GREATNESS!

All Posts, Dear Diary

Wisdom Wednesday: Kelley Byrdsong

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I’m not quite sure how old Kelley and I were when we first met, but I know we were in elementary school. I don’t remember when we officially became BFFs either. All I know for sure is Kelley Byrdsong is one of the greatest people I have had the pleasure of knowing in my lifetime. I think it’s easy to talk about how much our families influence us, but it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a best friend as caring, compassionate, intelligent, and strong as, Kelley B. Or “Songbyrd” as many members of my family call her lol. I could seriously type a college length essay about who she is, what she has accomplished, and why she means so much to me and my family, but I will try my best to keep it short.

Many people know Kelley as Coach Ricky Byrdsong’s daughter. Ricky Byrdsong was shot and killed by a white supremacist, while on a hate crime shooting spree, and killed another man as well, during 4th of July weekend in 1999. Kelley and her younger brother Ricky Jr. were with their Dad when this took place. Talk about terrifying to think about. I debated on whether I would put this information on this post, but it’s honestly important as to who she is and why I admire her. It was during the time after Kelley’s Dad’s death I really realized the awesomeness that is Kelley Byrdsong. Granted, we were only 10 years old, but you know enough at the age of 10 to recognize unbelievable strength in a person. Anyone who can go through an experience like hers and be the positively happy person she is today deserves some form of recognition.

After I moved away from Evanston, IL at the end of 7th grade, Kelley and I seemed to only get closer. Through high school and college we didn’t see or talk to each other as often, because as you can imagine, we were both pretty busy living and trying to figure out life. Especially since I stayed in Illinois (Loyola University Chicago) and she went to North Carolina (North Carolina A&T) for college. But she was the epitome of the friend you didn’t talk to regularly, but when you did, it was like we had just seen each other the day before. I will never forget on my birthday junior year of college, I had checked the mail and had a birthday card from her. I don’t think we had gotten a chance to speak for months at that point. But I will never forget how happy I was to get her card, and ever since that moment I made sure to make a better effort to stay in contact. Even if it was a short 5 minute text conversation, I wanted to make sure we tried our best to keep in touch. Since then we have made sure to stay in touch, and she is usually the first non-family member I go to with any news. If you need one more reason to understand how special she is to my family, when I had Jordyn, Kelley had to take four planes (yes- you read that correctly- FOUR PLANES) to get from Atlanta to Montana. As if that wasn’t enough, every day she had either cleaned a room in my house or made dinner. I mean…how many of us can say we have a FRIEND like her? Not a family member, but a friend. (Side note- I’ll tell you in another post how amazing my family members are for doing the same plus more the first few months Jordyn was born.)

Today, Kelley is currently working with the “Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence”, which had a huge victory in the state of Washington in last night’s election thanks to Initiative 594 passing. If you’re curious, the short version of Initiative 594 will now require all gun sales, including the internet and gun shows, to go through Brady background checks. Score! In addition to working on this campaign she is a youth Director for an Atlanta based organization called CYD (Create Your Dreams), which works to help underserved students in Atlanta follow their dreams and support their individual talents. And as if that isn’t enough, watching her grow spiritually has been even more inspiring. I remember she text me a few months back saying the homeless man she would always see, and give food to, on one of her daily routes wasn’t in his usual place, and she was worried something had happened to him. Months later, the man was back in his usual spot and she was beyond happy to see him again. She was so happy; she put up a status to tell all of us how happy she was to see him. How many of us can say we know someone with a heart as large as hers? Considering my personal feelings and future plans to help the homeless (more will be explained in my December blog post) this is only one more of the many reasons Kelley is someone who inspires me.

I think it’s pretty safe to say after reading about her and her credentials, you can conclude I didn’t choose Kelley as my November: Wisdom Wednesday person simply because she is my best friend. But because she actually deserves to be someone other people, especially young ladies, aspire to be like. If you didn’t know anything about Kelley Byrdsong before, I hope you get a chance to one day learn more details of her accomplishments, hopefully support her life efforts through prayer and positive gestures, and maybe even have the pleasure of meeting her. I’m just thankful God saw fit to bless my family and me with such a personal inspiration in our lives.

Happy Wednesday folks!

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*top left- we were in 7th grade*

*top right- we were sophomores in high school*

*bottom left- my wedding day February 2013 in Evanston, IL*

*bottom right- this summer [2014] in Great Falls, Montana*

Brie <3

[11.05.14]

All Posts, Dear Diary, Family Love

The Transition: Working to Staying Home

Comments : 12

November 14th, 2014 will be my last day as a working Mom. I will begin the transition of being a stay at home Mom until Jordyn is about 2 years old. My little family and I are fortunate enough to have a husband/father who can support us, (thanks United States Air Force!) so I am able to raise our daughter in our home. As exciting as this journey will be, I know it will be a challenge at times. Not only for the obvious reason of occasionally missing adult conversation during the day, but because of how much my lifestyle will change. I have worked since I was sixteen years old. Which I just realized while typing this was exactly a decade ago (yikes!). I was sneaky, and got my first job at Best Buy in Bloomingdale, IL, in June of 2006. I say “sneaky” because my family wanted me to concentrate on school and track, and not worry about having a job. I had to promise to maintain a high honor roll grade point average, as I had prior to working, in order to be allowed to work throughout the school year. Which meant with a full class schedule, and running track, I only had time to work on weekends, many times after running 4-5 races during a Saturday track invitational. Needless to say, I carried this crazy schedule, because I loved making my own money. I give this entire background story, because I’m sure you cared to know I worked in retail at sixteen years old, and it was my dream job. Just kidding. I shared this to give an emphasis on how important working is to me. Not just in the sense of making money, but in feeling like I’m contributing to society, and being the Millennial woman I’m supposed to be. I mean, that’s why I went to college for 4 years, right? (Well, I went for the partying too, but that’s another post for another day). Not only have I sacrificed and done so much to successfully be in the working world, my husband and I have very much so adjusted to a two income household. It’s lovely! Seriously, who wouldn’t want more money to spend for luxury? I say all of this to explain how and why this could have been a hard decision to make on my part, because as Kris (my husband) said “this is your decision to make, not mine.” Then comes the moment, when you think about the little face that you carried for (almost) 9 months.You think about that same little face that made you cry like a legit baby, when you saw hers for the first time. And you think about all of the little milestones you could possibly miss while being away from her, and suddenly all of the luxuries of a two income household don’t matter anymore. I honestly always knew in my heart what I wanted to do. But it’s still a tough decision to make when you love the company you work for and people you work with.

Now let me be clear, this decision was made using common sense too. I have bills, many student loans to be exact (thanks private Jesuit University), and those bills have to be paid. Thankfully, many federal loans allow you to defer them for multiple reasons. Other bills are able to be covered with one income. Because I am part of the working world, and now the working parent world, I get not everyone has the ability to up and quit their job to stay home with their child. And despite what people may think, not every mother WANTS to stay home with their child. Which I can completely understand, and I believe is just as important as those who do stay home. Although I definitely plan on working again, it takes both the working Mothers and Stay at Home Mothers to show our daughters, and future daughters, they have the right to make their own choices and take their own paths. I say this because we all know how people like to “Mommy shame” mothers for doing the opposite of them, but that will be another post for another day as well.

I believe the decision I made to stay home with Jordyn is one of the best decisions I have made in my entire life. My Grandma told me when I had Jordyn, “the most important job you will have in life is raising your children.” I couldn’t agree more. She is the most important job title I hold right now. Everything she needs, wants, and learns all stems from how we take care of and raise her. How cool is it I get a chance to be home with this little cutie pie for the first two years of her life? That is such a blessing in itself. I’m also thankful for my other military, stay at home mom, framily (friends that become family), who I can hang out with, and still remain sane after talking to a child all day. My Grandma also kindly let me know how crazy no adult interaction can make you too haha.

This is a journey I will for sure be sharing with all of you who would like to keep up with it through my blog. It should be a fun, crazy, interesting, I really don’t know what to expect, ride! If anything, lets just hope it at least makes us laugh a lot. And with this little character of a daughter I have here, I have a feeling there will be plenty of posts that ends with all of you laughing at me, or us laughing together. Lets say a prayer it’s the latter! 😉

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-Brie <3

[11.02.14]

All Posts, Dear Diary, Health & Fitness, Physical Health

#28DayJumpstart

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So… As you all know, I had a baby a little over 4 months ago. I’ve been telling myself since I was pregnant I would start a strict workout routine once I went back to work. *insert an image of me hysterically laughing at myself* I didn’t even gain a full 20 lbs during my pregnancy, but as you can imagine I’m a little “flabby” in certain areas that I would like to be more tone. Working out takes time and commitment that I sorta kinda am too tired lazy to give.

Then earlier this week, my wonderful friend, Charelle, recruited (demanded) me to be her workout buddy for a “get fit” challenge she discovered. She had her little one last December, and we’re both in the same “trying to lose baby weight” boat. I then decided to recruit (demand) my friend Kasandra to join the challenge with us too. I know, I know, we’re really caring and awesome friends ;-).

The 28 day jumpstart challenge is by Fit Girls Worldwide, and consists of workouts and fairly strict eating habits. Because I love food, and particularly not so healthy food, this is really going to be a challenge. But at least we have each other to help keep the other on track. Wish us luck, and pray we stay on track for the next 28 days, because we all know how easy it is to stray away. If you would like to follow my daily progress, meal plans, and workouts you can follow my brand new, just for the #28DayJumpstart challenge, public Instagram account at “bjamieson88”. I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes and workouts on my blog as well. If you would like to join the challenge- you can get more information at http://fitgirlsworldwide.com But hurry up and do it soon, because the challenge starts tomorrow! (10/27)

Happy Sunday everyone!

Brie <3

[10.26.14]