Autumn Archives – Jamieson Diaries

“Coco” Painted Pumpkins

October 9, 2018 Leave a Comment

Making painted pumpkins for Halloween has become a yearly tradition for me. Each year I try to find a theme with three to four printable characters for my pumpkins. In past years I’ve done Nightmare Before Christmas, Ninja Turtles, classic monsters etc.

This year I turned to my Facebook family and friends for ideas on pumpkins this year. A few people mentioned the movie “Coco” and I realized as much as I love the movie this would be the perfect craft. I also knew it would be a challenge for freehand drawing to make the characters look like exact like movie.Read More

All Posts, Dear Diary, Family Love, Mental Health, Physical Health

30 Gifts For 30 Years

September 27, 2018 Leave a Comment

September 27th, 1988 is the day and year a star was born.

OK, now that I got that out of the way I can be serious now hahaha.

Today is my 30th birthday and I couldn’t be more grateful or full of love. I’m grateful to have made it to see the age of 30. There are many who never did, or will, and for this I am forever thankful each year God allows me to grow a year older.

I decided to take a break from blogging earlier this year due to my pregnancy. It was an exhausting pregnancy and I struggled with staying awake the entire day let alone run a blog in the process. I’ve had plenty of time to plan and have some quality blog posts coming your way soon. From recipes to personal stories to DIY projects. They’re all coming soon.Read More

All Posts, Dear Diary

#ThankfulNovember!

November 4, 2016 Leave a Comment

It may be November 4th, but it’s never too late to say, “Happy November”, right? I didn’t think so. Life has been crazy and hectic since returning from our three-week vacation last week, Saturday. Somehow, no matter how much I do, I still feel like I’m twelve steps behind. I will eventually catch up and be back to my “normal” in the next week or so. My blog post this upcoming Sunday will be an awesome recap of our vacation for those of you who would like details. 🙂

I’ve decided for the month of November, at least 90% of my blog posts, will be around the theme of thankfulness. Sometimes we misunderstand the idea of thankfulness and I want to do my best to fix it within myself and those of you who love to read my posts. We tend to wait for major events to happen to be thankful instead of being thankful for the little everyday things we take for granted. I’m going to do my best to highlight what’s important and to be thankful for all of them.

To all of my Chicago family and friends, I hope those of you who were able to attend the Chicago Cubs victory parade today had an amazing time, and remember this forever. Today’s crowd of 5 million registered as the 7th largest gathering in history. Way to set the bar for everyone else, Chicago! Fly the W and Go Cubs, Go!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, a safe weekend, filled with tons of laughs and love!

Brie <3

[11.04.16]

All Posts, Dear Diary

Happy Fall 2016!

September 22, 2016 Leave a Comment

It’s officially the greatest season of the year! Break out the apple/pumpkin picking, crisp air, hoodies, hot chocolate, pumpkin flavored everything, beautiful colored trees, etc. I could go on and on for hours telling you everything wonderful about this perfect season.Read More

All Posts, Desserts, Recipes

Bananas Foster Banana Bread

September 16, 2016 Leave a Comment

I was cleaning my kitchen the other day when I noticed I had an entire bunch of bananas, on my counter, had already turned bad, and needed to be used ASAP. I naturally thought of making banana bread with them, because that’s always my default answer to using old bananas, but I wanted to do something a little different with the banana bread.Read More

All Posts, Music Favorites

“In A Sentimental Mood”

September 12, 2016 Leave a Comment

Happy Music Monday! This is one of my all time favorite instrumentals. I mean, how can you ever go wrong with the collaboration genius of, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane? There is something about the arrangement of this song that screams “cozy fall weather”in my mind. It’s probably becauseRead More

All Posts, Dear Diary

Summer Hiatus Over: Jamieson Diaries Is Back!

September 1, 2016 Leave a Comment

Happy September everybody! It’s been a very, what seems to be, short yet long three and a half months since I’ve last been here, but oh man am I happy to be back. In mid May (right after Mother’s Day to be exact) I decided to take a mini hiatus from blogging and concentrate more on social media connecting and sharing through pictures, tweets, and videos. I knew my youngest sister would be coming here to visit for the summer and we would all be engaging in summer activities and vacations that I decided it would be best to simply have uninterrupted fun while the short summer months were here. Although summer isn’t technically over, it’s pretty safe to say the kids being back in school, earlier sunsets, and fall decor in stores signifies in all of our minds, it’s over. I’m not complaining in the least bit though because I absolutely LOVE fall! But I’ll get more into my love of fall in a blog post later this month ;-).

I had a great summer filled with tons of love and laughs from loved ones. I hope you all enjoyed your summers as well and are successful in whatever this upcoming season has planned for you.

I wanted to say hello to all of you, tell you I’ve missed you, and can’t wait to share more awesome content with my even more awesome readers.

Happy Thursday folks!

Brie <3

[09.01.16]

All Posts, Family Love

Happy 70th Birthday & Thank You Grandma/GG..

November 19, 2015 Leave a Comment

Today is my Grandmother’s 70th birthday, and oh man, what a blessing she is to this family. Not only has she been blessed to see another day, but she’s here to see the start of a new decade.

If you know me, you know I am for sure a “grandma’s girl” and it’s a title I wear with pride. I have always been extremely close to my grandmother. We have an unexplainable bond that I thank God for every time I get the chance. I had the privilege of growing up either living in the same house or down the street from my Grandma, and for that I am thankful.

In conjunction with a post on the Humans of New York Facebook page (click here to read it) last month, and FLOTUS, Michelle Obama’s, Let Girls Learn initiative, I began to think of my Grandma and how much she has influenced me, but particularly my education. I don’t know if I ever told anyone before, but a huge part of getting my degree was for my Grandmother. Although I always knew I wanted to go to college and receive a degree in a subject I love; my love grew out of my love for my Grandma. When my Grandma got married and had children it was a much different time for women and the life options they were presented to chose from. I remember the first time my Grandma said if she was given the opportunity back then she would have gone to law school to become a lawyer. It never really hit me until I was in high school how privileged I was, as a young Black woman, to be able to go to college and pursue my own dreams. I still remember how proud she was of me at my college graduation, and how she was wiping tears away when I walking up to them after the ceremony to take pictures. In all of the hard work and personal pride I felt in receiving my degree, I was even more happy to have made my Grandmother proud. For me, walking across the stage was my personal way of saying I have listened to everything you have taught me in life and this is my way of saying thank you.

As my grandmother celebrates her 70th birthday, the beginning of a new decade, I want her to go into it knowing how loved she is and how thankful I am for God blessing her to see another year, and how much she has already taught me and continues to teach me about life. On her birthday I want to say a million thank yous and they still wouldn’t be enough.

Happy birthday Grandma/GG! We love you so much and pray you have a wonderful day. You make 70 look GOOD! 🙂

Brie <3

[11.18.15]

All Posts, Dear Diary

Special Olympics Montana State Games 2015

November 16, 2015 Leave a Comment

This past Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon was the annual Special Olympics Montana state games. I haven’t been to the games since November of 2014 when I was still pregnant with Jordyn, and oh man did it feel great to be back with the kiddos in that crazy, fun atmosphere. I took last year off to adjust to new mommyhood a.k.a. I was a walking zombie who still learning how to walk around and not fall asleep in the process.

This year my team, the Great Falls Lions (team B) took 4th place in our bracket level and I couldn’t be more proud. Three of my only seven players played every single minute of all FIVE games played on Friday and Saturday. Talk about determination and toughness!

They were so tired and worn out by the end of the tournament on Saturday afternoon, but there were so happy to receive their 4th place green ribbons. My kiddos were the definition of the Special Olympics athletes oath:

In addition to the opening ceremonies for the games the kids got to have multiple team and family dinners, a carnival and dance to keep them going and having fun when they weren’t playing basketball games. They even made some awesome posters during their downtime to cheer each other on. If that’s not teamwork I don’t know what is!

Jordyn even did some “cheering” and made many attempts to run out on the court and “help” the team play basketball LOL. She was also a huge fan of Billy the mascot at the opening ceremonies. She wanted him to pick her up and she followed him everywhere she could. haha. It was adorable. My husband was a major help by taking care of her while I was crazy busy “Coach Brie” for 3 days.

I can’t wait to see their faces again for the spring practices and games next year. Until then, go lions go! #LionPride

Brie <3

[11.15.15]

All Posts, Dear Diary

Farewell, Miller Family!

November 1, 2015 Leave a Comment

Today, our awesome and close friends, the Millers, started on their journey to start their new chapter at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Talk about a bittersweet (definitely more bitter than sweet) feeling. They have been ~~stuck~~ here at this base for a very long time so this new journey of positive changes and more opportunities is much deserved. But to start a new journey it requires leaving your current one, and that is where the sadness comes in.

Krissy and I have become extremely close since I moved here in January of 2012. She’s for sure my best friend here, and we’re so close we even call each other “Sister Wife.” Let me explain…(LOL) when either of our husbands were gone for long periods of time doing Air Force stuff, the other’s husband stepped in and helped out where the other couldn’t. For example, when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy Kris was gone for six weeks doing work in California. This means Krissy’s husband, Isaiah, would come take my trash out, lift heavy stuff around the house if needed, invited me over for dinner etc. We joked that each other husbands was our second husband and started calling each other Sister Wife.

When I found out I was pregnant Krissy was the second person in the world who knew. When she found out she was pregnant six months later I believe I was the second person to know about it as well. And when I say we shared this news with each other, in both instances it was an actual picture of the positive pregnancy test right after getting the results hahaha. If we ever needed anything or someone to rely on for any reason, we always knew (and still know) we could count on the Millers. They’re the type of friends who become family and a part of your life forever. In this crazy world, military life world to be even more specific, it is hard to find people you genuinely can call lifelong friends. It’s part of the life we live to meet people, become friends, and start over again once getting orders to a new base. Thankfully, we had a pretty great group of friends here in Montana who have all left by now, but are still some of the closest people to us.

It’s going to be a huge adjustment for my family and I to not be able to call you guys and hang out whenever we want or watch our baby girls play together. Jordyn and I will actually have to start attending playgroups without our BFFs :-(. I think I’m even more emotional than usual because of the holiday season. We always spent Halloween at you guys house eating delicious soup of some sort and passing out candy to the kids while looking at their awesome costumes. Isaiah always deep-fried the Thanksgiving turkey (which I refuse to eat any other way now lol) for our big f(r)amily dinner and the same goes for Christmas.

Although we will miss you guys for the small activities and huge holidays, I am so happy you all get to finally be near an ocean again! (The Pacific will just have to do for now 😉 ) Have tons of fun for us, and prayerfully we will meet you guys there in Vandenberg one day soon. Safe travels, we love you guys tons, and miss you so much already. But of course we miss Norah a.k.a Chunky Cheeks the most ;-). Thank you for being great people and even more amazing friends. We are thankful for all of the memories we have created over the years.

It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t take one last group picture filled with hilarious-ness and attitude from our little divas LOL.

Farewell, Miller family!

Brie <3

[11.01.15]