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Jamieson Diaries

Married | Mother | Millennial

All Posts, Dear Diary

8 Years Later..

August 31, 2015 Comments : 2

Today my husband and I have been together for 8 years. It almost seems impossible for it to have been so many years. How does time move so fast? When did all of this change happen? And how? I guess time flies when you’re having fun. It also flies by when you’re busy, you know, living life. I was 18 years old and Kris was 19 years old when we started dating. We were children who thought we actually had life figured out for the most part. I know, it’s laughable, but doesn’t every 18 year old think their miraculous “legally adult” age makes them knowlegable about life. Go ahead and roll your eyes, then laugh at how hilarious and ridiculous we were at 18 years old LOL.

We were just a couple of college students who were counting the money in their bank accounts praying we had a enough to buy the Wendy’s we didn’t need and still be able to participate in weekend campus festivities. Ahhh yes, the young and in love college life. We spent a lot of days eating made to order meals from Loyola’s “Rambler Room” using my “Rambler bucks” considering we didn’t have any real bucks to eat elsewhere haha. Thankfully, the food in the Rambler Room was always good, and not cafeteria food.

I believe one of the greatest and hardest parts of being together from such a young age, is changing and growing with the same person over time. We both look back at how we thought about certain ideas and can’t believe we ever thought it to be okay. Don’t even get us started on the horrible fashion choices we made. We have way too many pictures to prove it too. For example:

collage

I’m sure you’ve noticed Kris’ sliced eyebrows, and overly huge and colorful clothing. Now focus on my cheap but huge earrings, hair ribbon, and costume jewlelry. And we thought the other person was SO attractive in this attire too. That’s real love! LOL.

But out of all of the changes and growing we did as individuals, we somehow figured out how to grow individually, but with each other in the process. Sometimes we went through growth spurts simutaneously and other times we were on completely opposite schedules. As with any relationship, especially young relationsips, we hit quite a few bumps in the road. From learning who our friends were to learning how to love unconditionally, it took a lot of tests that we sometimes failed. Thankfully, in this love, we each found a person who believes in second and third chances to pass some of the tests we always knew they could with some extra encouragment. The beauty of multiple tests is, when you pass, the triumph that follows always makes it worth it.

Our tests and triumphs are what make us who we are. For us in particular, it’s what makes us, Brie and Kris. I often hear people say “I wouldn’t change a thing..” about their past life encounters, but I don’t think this is true. I believe if we were able to change some things in our lives we would go back and make the decision to erase all disappointment, hurt and pain. However, what we learn over time is, changing the past wouldn’t have taught us any lessons. It is because we know what disappointment, hurt and pain feel like that we fully appreciated what happiness, joy, and thankfulness feel like. Without the bad days we can’t appreciate the good ones. I think this is the one particular lesson we have continued to learn and appreciate over time, and even more so now in marriage.

A marriage, and child later, we are always learning new ways to love one another and challenge one another. We’re learning 8 years later nothing is ever the same. We already know year 8 will be different from every year past and every year to come. However, the one thing that remains the same 8 years later, and always will, is unconditonal love is always the correct answer to any test thrown our way.

I’m so happy I get to spend another year unconditionally loving someone who loves me unconditionally.

Happy anniversary babe! I love you.

collage 2

*picture on the left is from our first date and the picture on the right is Christmas 2014*

Brie <3

[08.31.15]

All Posts, Dear Diary, DIY, Frugal Ideas

5 Creative Date Night Ideas

August 9, 2015 Comments : 2

Grow up in the surrounding Chicagoland suburbs, one thing I didn’t realize until I left, is how many activities and attractions I had around me to keep me busy all year-long. Once summertime rolls around you can add the plentiful music festivals and other outdoor activities to the mix. However, my husband and I are currently based in Montana, and although Montana in general has really exciting and fun cities/towns, we unfortunately don’t live in one of those fun towns. I know, it sucks, but what living in this town has taught me is how to be creative and think outside of the box.

My husband and I have only been married for two years, and we hadn’t been on a date that wasn’t dinner and a movie, for quite some time. I don’t know about you, but as much as I love a good meal and movie, I want to do something else for once, or twice, all the time. I believe repetition is good to a certain extent, I wouldn’t categorize date night with the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with in the “good” section of repetition though.

When you don’t have a variety of established places to go for date night, you have to become creative and bring your own versions of the perfect date nights to life. These five creative date night ideas, are some popular date night ideas I recreated so couples in any location, are able to participate, and shake things up a bit. After all, who doesn’t love out of the box ideas that can be done in your own home or surrounding area? Exactly!

kitchen

I know, I know, this isn’t a new date night idea by any means. However, why not take cooking together to the next level and create a couples cooking show? How can you recreate a cooking show? Get out the webcam and/or what ever device you use for making videos, and create a “fake” couples cooking show while making dinner. Pretend you have a loyal audience who enjoy watching you two bicker back and forth about how to cut certain vegetables, and/or share a few cute memories about prior dates you two have been on. If you’re a shy person, it can be a video you two save to watch on a day when you need a good laugh. If you aren’t so shy and/or willing to put yourself out there, share the video with your social network family. Let everyone get a good laugh as well as a few “awww’s” in there while you two enjoy watching the reactions and replays of the night.

*If you would like to take it a step further: name your “cooking show episode” and make it bi-weekly or monthly entertainment for yourselves and loved ones.*

Boxers

I’m sure you’re thinking the usual buy something sexy and wear it for your significant other, but…that’s not quite the purpose of this date night idea. Most places, even smaller towns, have some type of store “adult store” nearby. (For example: Adam & Eve, Spencers, etc.) You will take a trip to your local adult store and each buy something for the other person. You will have the item gift wrapped at the store and present it to your significant other. You can both go into the store at the same time and buy your items at different registers, or one person can sit in the car while the other shops. Either way the anticipation itself is enough to keep you anxious and smiling from ear to ear thinking about being able to see the gifts. And clearly this usual leads to a happy ending for both of you…who wouldn’t enjoy this date night?!

*If you don’t have access to these stores where you live, you can order the items online earlier in the week and present them on the evening of your date night.*

Sunset

How does one make game night romantic? By lighting a few candles and watching the sunset while you play, that’s how. This one is pretty simple, but makes such a huge difference. Instead of playing games inside in the house, why not take your UNO or LIFE games outdoors? If there is a favorite park or location in your town, take a blanket, some candles, some wine (drink responsibly) and set up a romantic game night. Make sure you get there in enough time to have everything set up so you can enjoy the beautiful sunset as you play. This even works if you have a backyard and want to do your romantic game night without having to leave the house. Either way, it’s hard to beat nature’s beauty and fun with your significant other.

*For those who live in climates where it is cold most of the year (like where we live) you can set this up to do in the car. Find a nice place to park the car and where you can see the sunset. If you have an SUV set up your romance in the trunk area (fake candles of course). If you have a car lean the seats all the way back so you two can face each other in your seats to play your game(s). I would suggest only card games if you don’t have a larger area for a board game.*

HP

Is there a movies genre or series you both enjoy watching? For my husband and I, we LOVE the Harry Potter series. (Who doesn’t?) For our first wedding anniversary we actually watching movies one through six before we decided to give our eyes a break and go to bed LOL. It super simple and really takes no effort, but it’s one people tend to forget about. If you want to make it a little more fun, go to your nearest store, buy your favorite movie theater candy, some microwaveable popcorn, and drinks. Remember you’re going to be home so you can even buy alcoholic drinks to watch with your movie ;-). If you have tons of blankets and comforters, set up a comfy theater area on the living room floor while you watch. Movie the couch(es) if you have to make more room. Just make sure you watch and enjoy!

*If you start to run out of movie ideas to watch, you can even pick a new show to binge watch on Netflix or Hulu. Also, during the holidays try to do themed movies for the particular holiday being celebrated to get you in the spirit.*

Dance

One of my bucket list items is to learn how to ball room dance. I particularly would love to learn how to samba and tango. They are such intimate and sexy dance styles. My ultimate bucket list dance item is to samba on a beach in South America to a live band. Ahhh yes. Okay, back to reality, where we live we don’t have options for these dance classes, but thankfully it’s 2015 and we live in the age of technology. You and your significant other pick one dance style (or you can each pick one) and lookup the dance on YouTube. Pick your favorite instructional video and get to learning! Not only do you get to learn something new with your significant other, you’re exercising and having fun doing it.

*Once you’ve gotten a little handle of the dances moves, start learning about the best music to dance to and discover new artists and music together.*

If any of you try out these date night ideas, leave a comment or send me an email about what you loved and didn’t love. I hope you couples enjoy these ideas, and always remember, date night is supposed to be fun!

Date Night Image

Fun fact: all pictures used for this post are personal pictures I have taken, except for the “YouTube Dance Lessons photo, which happens to be my husband and I, on our wedding day. 🙂

Brie <3

[08.09.15]

All Posts, Music Favorites

“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”

February 26, 2015 Leave a Comment

Kris has dubbed this as our “Anniversary Week” and I felt it is only right to share one of our favorite songs. This has been one of our mushy couple songs since we started dating back in 2007. It is a song that never gets old, because who could ever NOT want to hear Aerosmith sing about love the way they do in this song?

Oh, and since it’s Thursday, we can call this a #TBT (throwback Thursday) all wrapped up in one.

Have a happy and thankful Thursday! 🙂

Brie <3

[02.26.15]

About Me

ABOUT BRIE:

Hey there! My name is Brie Jamieson. I've been a lifestyle + mom blogger since 2014. I'm Kris' wife. I'm Jordyn and Riley's Mom. And I'm Apollo and Chronos' fur-mama. We're a military family currently living in the burbs of Shreveport, LA. I'm a simple lady who loves God, family, food, and travel. If you'd like to learn more about me head on over to the "my story" page. But more importantly: Welcome to Jamieson Diaries!

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