Marriage Archives – Jamieson Diaries

Happy New Year!

January 5, 2018 Leave a Comment

Happy first Friday of 2018! We’re five days into the new year, and it’s already been a busy start for the Jamieson household. Being a military family always means constant changes in family life and schedules. However, this year, the changes will be a little more drastic considering we’re adding another baby girl to the Jamieson clan on, April 22nd! Yes, I am currently six months pregnant, with one very active and extremely loved baby girl named, Riley. We found out in late August about my pregnancy, shared the news with loved ones in October, and had our gender reveal in December.

As if my pregnancy isn’t enough change for the new year, the hubby will be gone for the first three months of this year for various work activities. The great news about the hubby is, he is officially Tech Sergeant Jamieson. He sewed on his new rank the 1st of this year. Hopefully, this new rank will finally bring us orders to an exciting state, this year. (Preferably orders to the DMV area. Prayers are definitely appreciated!)

The last few months of 2017 brought a lot of events and growth for, Jordyn. She is 90% potty trained (only wears pull-up to bed), was a flower girl in her godfather’s wedding, and started playing organized sports for the first time. She played soccer followed by basketball. Although she enjoyed both, it was very evident Jordyn is a “hands on” type of athlete, so she enjoyed basketball more. She’s extremely excited to be a big sister and hugs/kisses “baby Riley” all the time. She likes to ask in the sweetest voice “can I give baby Riley a kiss and hug?” Melts my heart every single time. Her vocabulary is quite extensive, she’s unbelievably intelligent for her age, and she’s turning into such an independent (head strong) child. I don’t know where the time is going, but I wish it would slow down just a little bit.

If I’m honest, this pregnancy hasn’t been the easiest. Especially considering how easy my pregnancy was with Jordyn. Riley, not so much. Ha! Kris and I have known for a while that we would only want two (biological) kids, so we knew this baby would be our last (planned- lol) pregnancy. I think Riley was listening because she’s making sure this last pregnancy is memorable LOL. However, no matter the amount of nausea, sciatica nerve pain, or tiredness, as long as Riley continues to grow healthy and strong, I’ll continue to be thankful for every second of this pregnancy and this baby girl.

With all of the craziness happening this year, I wrote my goals down, and broke them up into three categories for more organization, and easier accountability. Personal, financial, and blogging/business goals. I made a vision board for the second year in a row, but I hung this year’s vision board up in my living-room to consistently see for motivation on those days I need an extra push. The one goal that directly relates to you all, my readers, is my consistency with publishing posts and being active on social media. It is easy to get caught up in everyday life and lose sight of passions dear to us, but I’m going to actively be and do better, for all of you, but myself especially.

My hope and prayer for all of us this new year is to change and excel in ways we once upon a time didn’t think possible. Whether it’s expanding your family, taking better care of your health, repairing a broken relationship with a loved one, getting a promotion, having the courage to quit that job you’ve always hated, starting your own business, moving out-of-state etc. Let 2018 be the year you do so. We have a brand new, clean slate, year and should use this time wisely. Life is too short to not be the best version of ourselves.

Happy New Year to all of you and I look forward to this year of blogging and journeying with all of you!

All Posts, Dear Diary, Family Love

4 Years: 1,461 Days

February 23, 2017 Leave a Comment

Today the husband and I have been married for exactly 4 years. You know how people always talk about time flying? Yeah, this is one of those moments. The craziest part about this being our four-year anniversary is how much can change in only a matter of four years. To think of the two 23 year olds who got married in that church in, Evanston, IL four years ago, compared to the parents knocking on 30’s door year olds we are today…a lot has changed.Read More

All Posts, DIY, Frugal Ideas

5 Frugal Valentine’s Day Ideas

February 11, 2017 Leave a Comment

As we all know, Valentine’s Day is seriously right around the corner. If you’re a last-minute planner like *cough* my husband *cough* then you’re probably trying to figure out what to do. Everyone complains about how expensive Valentine’s Day can be so here are a few ideas that go easy on your pockets. Read More

All Posts, Dear Diary

Vision Board 2017

January 6, 2017 Leave a Comment

One of my favorite activities to do for the new year is a vision board. Not only are they fun to do, they give you a visual goal to aim for and accomplish, in the new year. I usually make mine before the new year begins, but this year I finished it 5 days into the new year. Better late than never, right?Read More

All Posts, Dear Diary

March Goals: Accomplished?

April 3, 2016 Leave a Comment

Hello everyone, and happy (third day of) April!

I’m sure most of you noticed it’s been well over two weeks since I have posted any content. I decided to take a last-minute break from blogging during the remainder of March due to life being pretty crazy busy. Between birthdays (happy belated blog shout out birthday to my awesome sister, Taylor!), Easter, Spring, friends visiting etc. March was a pretty crazy month. I did some serious deep Spring cleaning around the house while my husband was gone for a few days traveling for work. Even he came back home and almost didn’t recognize the house himself. Ha!

Easter sort of snuck up on me this year and I wasn’t even a little prepared for it. I wanted to make Jordyn’s Easter basket myself, but like I said before, I was completely unprepared and ended up buying her one. It came with a basketball (which she loves) and some cute head bands, so it could be worse. Our awesome friends, the Jones’, were in town this Easter, and we threw together some last-minute Easter activities for the kids and an Easter dinner for a group of our friends.

For the month of March I almost completed all of my monthly goals. I fell short by ONE goal, my cooking Periscope broadcast, but it went hand in hand with me taking a break from blogging for a bit. I will try to do two Periscope broadcasts for the month of April to make up for the missed broadcast last month, though. However, all of my other goals were completed and I’ll share them below :-):

Date Night:

Our babysitter was pretty busy between school and work in the month of March which means we had a family date night instead of just a date night with the hubby and I. We went one of our favorite restaurants in town, Bert & Ernie’s, and had a great time eating yummy food. Jordyn is always added entertainment when we are out and about haha.

New Recipe:

I saw this delicious meal floating around Facebook and decided to give it a try while we had friends in town. It was SO good. The only downside was the Facebook video had no instructions or measurements besides the ingredients listed on the video. So thankfully it turned out so good!

DIY Project/Jordyn Activity:

Jordyn and I did another “joint project” for the month of March. During my Spring cleaning of the house I noticed the upstairs bathroom had too much empty space on the wall. I went to Michaels the following day and Jordyn and I bought some canvases (they were a BOGO free sale too!) and created these masterpieces. Mine is on the left, Jordyn’s on the right, and in case you’re wondering: yes, Jordyn’s looks better LOL.

Twitter Chat:

As usual, I participated in the #blkcreatives Twitter chat in March, regarding multiple streams of income. Although I could not personally contribute to the conversation, I still followed along with the chat, because I’m sure it’ll be useful to me one day in the future. It never hurts to learn more before jumping into things.

Natural Hair Style:

I did bantu knots for my natural hair style in March and they did NOT turn out the way I wanted them to which is why it was put into the ponytail on the right haha. A for effort, right? I’m not sure what happened, but hopefully my April natural hair style turns out a lot better.

Nail Color:

For March I chose my only darker green color for the theme of St. Patty’s Day. I love the sparkle of this emerald-green color. The color is called “Here Today…Aragon Tomorrow Suede” by OPI.

New Book:

I finally jumped on the John Grisham bandwagon (20 years later) and LOVED this book. Talk about changing your life and perspective of everyday life for people who are fighting different battles than ours. I highly recommend this book be read by any and everyone because we as a society so easily judge those in different circumstances than ours.

Workout Reward:

I actually worked out 21 days of the 31 days in March and felt so accomplished. I’m also only 22 seconds away from my half mile goal time. Seeing results always motivates me to keep going. I believe it’s also safe to say after three consistent months of working out, 20 days plus per month, working out has officially become a habit. Yay!

The goals I don’t have pictures of for March are my husband love/Kris appreciation gift and my random act of kindness. For my kind gesture for my husband I bought him some new hookah flavors. He loves his hookah and figured I would get him a gift he wouldn’t expect me to buy for him. Needless to say: he loved it.

For my random act of kindness, while at Dairy Queen one night getting my Oreo and Heath blizzard (it is amazing) I paid for the meal of the car behind me. I hope whoever was in the car enjoyed their ice cream/meal and pay it forward to someone else out there.

I hope all of your small and large goals you aimed to accomplish for the month of March were accomplished. Sometimes it’s hard to stay on track and work towards our goals but we just have to remind ourselves why we do it in the first place. I will be back next month to update you on my prayerfully 100% accomplished goals for the month of April.

Happy Sunday everyone and I pray you have a great upcoming week!

Brie <3

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All Posts, Family Love

3 Years Down: Forever To Go

February 24, 2016 Leave a Comment

Three years ago, today, my husband and I said “I do”. This won’t be a super long mushy post, but I wanted to be sure I share with all of you how much fun it is to love someone you’ve been with for almost ten years, more and more, with each passing day. Even when I don’t like him I’ve learned to love him more, because I know it’ll just be another bump in the road that although it takes longer to get to the destination, I get to travel the longer bumpy road with my best friend.

We have had many people tell us how much they admire us and it truly puts the biggest smiles on our faces. We smile because there is no way to explain the happiness you feel knowing you’re inspiring others by genuinely and simply being in love with your best friend. Life doesn’t get much better than that, right?

Today, and everyday, I am thankful to be Mrs. Jamieson. Happy anniversary baby! I love you forever and ever.

Brie <3

[ 02.23.16]

All Posts, Dear Diary, Family Love

Valentine’s Day 2016

February 15, 2016 Leave a Comment

Happy Monday everyone! It is the day after Valentine’s Day, and I hope this past weekend was a great start to your week. If you’re one of the lucky folks, you have today off for, President’s Day. We had a very simple but perfect Valentine’s Day weekend. We decided to go to dinner on Saturday evening to avoid the crowd on the actual day, and not only was the food good, but a couple we met while in line waiting for our food paid for our meal. I’m still smiling due to their enormously sweet gesture towards two strangers. We bought them a bottle of wine to thank them for their generousity. They insisted it wasn’t necessary but we wanted to let them know how much we appreciated what they did for our little family. They shared and spread more love to others and that is what Valentine’s Day is all about.

On Sunday we decided to hang out and relax as a family. One of my husband’s favorite foods is cinnamon rolls so I decided to make him some, from scratch, using a recipe I found on Pinterest. They turned out super yummy and took SO long to make! But he was happy and that made me happy. He bought Jordyn a teddy bear and a pink soccer ball for her Valentine’s Day gifts and she LOVED them. When she saw her ball in his hands, her face lit up, and she yelled “BALL”! It was absolutely adorable. Jordyn made her Dad a beautiful canvas painting with her hand prints and message saying “I <3 DAD” for his gift. Dad loved it. 🙂

Later that evening we went to the community center on base to play some basketball, and run around the gym with Jordyn, before we came back home to make/eat a homemade heart shaped pizza, and watch a movie together.

I got my Valentine’s Day gift from the hubby earlier this morning when I went to a local spa/salon to have a two hour, Caribbean Spa Treatment, done. I can’t think of a word strong enough to explain how amazing this treatment was so I’ll just use GLORIOUS. It was a much needed and much appreciated Valentine’s Day gift from the hubby. He is the best.

Whether you spent the holiday with a significant other, friends, family, or even by yourself, I hope you felt and shared love in the process. Valentine’s Day is all about love and there is more than one way to love, show love, and spread love. I hope you are all recharged and enjoying your evening. Have a happy rest of your day and even though it still isn’t Valentine’s Day, tell someone you love them, today.

Brie <3

[02.16.16]

All Posts, Dear Diary

January Goals Accomplished!

January 31, 2016 Leave a Comment

At the beginning of the year I shared a post outlining 12 goals I am striving to accomplish every month of 2016. Click here to read the post if you haven’t already. As of earlier today, I have accomplished all 12 of my goals for the month of January with one day to spare! Yeah, go me! I will share a picture of each goal for the month of January below.

Date Night:

While my Mother in law was in town the husband and I went on a few date nights this month so that was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of us at a stop light on our way to see the Hateful Eight for a day time date. 🙂

New Recipe:

I follow the Tasty page on Facebook and decided to make the shepherds pie stuffed baked potatoes for my new recipe to try for dinner. It was an instant hit and I’ve made it twice this month for dinner!

DIY Project:

I actually almost forgot to do my DIY for this month, but thankfully earlier today I was bored and decided to do one anyway. How about that timing? I re-purposed an old t-shirt I never wear into a workout shirt.

Twitter Chat:

Thanks to a good friend who is a social media strategist I learned about the “My Creative Connection” monthly twitter chat. Not only did I love the Q&A but I learned so much from the first chat to help better my blog and brand. They do this #BlkCreatives chat on the second Monday of every month. It’s safe to say they have a loyal monthly chat customer now. 🙂

Natural Hair Style:

This month I did a nice and easy, wash n’ go, natural hair style but it looked great! It has been my favorite wash n’ go result thus far. Talk about a selfie worthy hair style. 😉

Periscope Cooking Broadcast:

I did my first ever Periscope broadcast (@BrienneJamieson) for cooking. The first meal I shared on Periscope was my yummy Potato Corn & Bacon Chowder. I know it’s yummy because my family loves it and I have gotten some excellent reviews from fellow followers and readers who have tried it out. Thanks again to those of you who watched and tried the recipe!

Nail Color:

I have a drawer filled with nail polishes I haven’t worn in over a yea,r or ever, for that matter. I decided to try one of the colors I have never worn before. It’s called Russian Navy by OPI and I loooove it! I had to show it off with my lovely workout gloves while at the gym haha.

New Book:

The book I read this month was The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I love Jodi as an author so it shouldn’t come as a surprise how much I enjoyed this book, but I was still impressed and emotionally drawn in. If you are looking for a tragic yet relatable book to read I highly recommend this one.

Jordyn Activity:

Although Jordyn and I play and have fun all day everyday, I made it a point to do something each month that we’ve never done before. This month we built our first “fort” and we both had a great time eating snacks and watching TV/movies. It was the perfect cold and snowy day to do so too. 🙂

Workout Reward:

I made a commitment of having to workout at least 20 days of each month in order to reach my post baby body goals AND buy myself a reward of $25 or less to keep me motivated. As of Friday night I hit my goal which gives me two off days before starting again on Monday for the month of February. I was happy to achieve this goal!

The last two goals of the month were performing a random act of kindness and doing something nice for my husband. I didn’t take pictures of either of these “acts” because 1) I didn’t even remember to do so at the time and 2) some things don’t have to be shared through pictures. However, I will share what I did for each. While out running errands, and buying dinner for the family, I randomly decided to stop and buy some pizzas for the cops who guard the gate on base. It put smiles on their faces which made me super happy. For my husband, while out running those same errands, he had accidentally broken one of his PS4 controllers earlier that day. I bought him a card that very sweetly said “I love you” in mushy card ways and I put a Game Stop gift card in it. It made him smile and tell me how much he appreciates me so I think he loved it. Making people smile always makes me smile and that’s what it’s all about.

What goals did you set for yourself in the month of January? Did you accomplish them? If so, congratulations and I hope you have a great February as well. If not, what can you do to make sure you adjust and execute for the month of February? Feel free to share below.

Have a great Saturday evening and rest of your weekend everyone!

Brie <3

[01.30.16]

All Posts, Dear Diary

2016 Monthly Goals

January 8, 2016 Comment : 1

We are now 8 days into the new year and I have already shared my 16 goals for the year. If you didn’t get a chance to read them you can click here to check it out. I took it one step beyond the yearly goals and decided to plan out 12 personal monthly goals. The goals range from self care (which was discussed in my first blog post of the year) to taking care of those around me. The goals range from pure fun to helping spread love to complete strangers, and I think I am thoroughly going to enjoy aiming to accomplish each goal every month. You’re probably wondering “is she looking to accomplish 12 different goals every month”? and the truth is…yes, I am. It sounds a lot more daunting than I believe it will be.

My 12 monthly goals to accomplish in 2016:

1) Date Night

My husband and I have done a terrible job of going on date nights since having our daughter. We’re new parents, who live far away from family, so we don’t trust many people with her. Thankfully my neighbor is awesome, amazing with children, and loves Jordyn too. My goal is to go on one date night a month.

2) New Recipe

I thoroughly enjoy cooking. I also enjoy discovering new delicious recipes. Every month this year I will try (at least) one different recipe a month. This already sounds delicious.

3) DIY Project

As most of you know from previous posts I love do-it-yourself projects. It’s a great down time and allows me to find my creative side. I will aim to do one new DIY project every month.

4) Twitter Chats

As a blogger who is looking to make my blog a profession, I need to get more involved on social media to work on/promote my brand. There are plenty of blog chats held by other blogging Twitter sources who give tips and exposure. Twitter chats will help increase my blog traffic.

5) Natural Hair Style

I’ve been natural since August 2007. As much as I love my natural hair it takes a bit of work. I usually opt for the easier flat ironed hair, thrown into ponytails and buns 98% of the time. With the theme of taking better care of myself this year, I will try at least one different natural hair style every month.

6) Cooking Periscope Broadcast

I’ve had Periscope for a few months and I used it all the time when I first signed up. For some reason I have hardly used it as of late, and one way to get me going again is to start live broadcasting. I love cooking so why not broadcast Jamieson Diaries recipes, live? It will be trial and error, but hopefully it’s as fun as it sounds.

7) Nail Colors

I haven’t painted my nails in over a year and a half. So every month I will paint my nails a different color to go along with the seasons. It may be small, but I’m looking forward to this!

8) Random Acts of Kindness

Have you ever had someone randomly pay for your meal? Or even do something as simple as let you skip ahead in line? When people show us kindness it makes us feel good so why not be the person spreading that same joy to others? Don’t expect to see this part posted on social media much, if at all.

9) Read A Book

I will read one new book every month this year in conjunction with reading my Bible more. I love reading and always have loved reading. I haven’t made the time to sit down and read lately a.k.a. I’ve been watching too much TV. I’m super excited to get back into my books!

10) Workout Reward

I’ve been trying to keep a steady workout regimen going. The ultimate way to get yourself to do something is knowing there’s a reward for you at the end. The catch: I have to workout at least 20 days out of the month. Say a few prayers for me that I remain disciplined and engaged.

11) Jordyn Activity/Craft

I love creating adorable crafts with Jordyn. Not only are they fun, but they’re engaging. I want to do at least one new activity or craft with her every month. From the Children’s Museum to homemade Play-doh, the possibilities are endless. Plus, anytime I get to spend having fun with my munchkin is time well spent.

12) Love For My Husband

I love my husband and we make a pretty awesome team. In learning how to take care of myself I also want to take care of my husband/marriage. My husband knows I love randomly buying him gifts occasionally, but why not do something sweet for him each month? It can range from a gift card to his favorite restaurant, to a simple card saying, “I was thinking of you”. Whatever it may be seeing him happy makes me happy.

It made me happy to write these goals out and see the changes to come this year. I believe these goals will for sure work on my goals of the “you, us, we” model I’m wanting to follow this year.I will also be posting pictures and videos as I can of my goals on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Do you have any goals you are looking to achieve in general? If so, comment some of your goals below, and how you plan to hold yourself accountable. If not, and you would like to set some goals, it’s never too late!

Happy Friday!

Brie <3

[01.08.16]

All Posts, Dear Diary, Family Love

Happy New Year!

January 2, 2016 Leave a Comment

Happy 2016 everybody! I hope you all brought in the New Year surrounded by love and people you want to bring closer to you in 2016. We spent the evening at dinner with family and bringing in the New Year, at our home, playing games and having tons of laughs. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend the evening.

2015 had it’s ups and many downs (especially towards the end of the year). With losing multiple family members to various health issues, the end of 2015 took a toll on my loved ones and those closest to us. However, as always, we try our best to come back up swinging, because we know joy will come in the morning. In November of 2015 I decided to take a blogging hiatus because to put it simply: I needed a break. Not from blogging itself, but just a break to collect my thoughts and come up with ways to improve myself, which in turn, includes my blog.

As you all know I enjoy watching the daytime talk show “The Real” during the week. The last few weeks, Tamar Braxton, who is one of the regular co-hosts had been out sick, and to keep things interesting the show had been inviting other celebrities to guest host the show with them. My favorite co-host by far this season was Tisha Campbell-Martin. Apparently the other viewers really enjoyed her as well, because she was invited back to guest host a second time only a few weeks later. I’ve been a Tisha Campbell-Martin fan since the “House Party” and “Martin” days, but she particularly brought insight to the girl chat discussion I think most women can benefit from. In my case, specifically: married-mothers. Tisha has been with her husband, Duane Martin, for twenty plus years, and this information was shared when Tisha was asked by the ladies at the table how she has managed to have a successful relationship. She stated they have a house rule her husband came up with called “You, Us, We” that has kept them going and successful. She broke it down for everyone to understand: the “you” is Tisha. She has to take care of herself first because as she stated “you can’t pour from an empty cup”, which means she can’t benefit her husband or her children without taking care of herself first. The “us” is Tisha and her husband Duane. If they aren’t taking care of their marriage it will fall apart and cause issues that trickle down to their children in the long run. They want their kids to see the best image of a successful marriage through themselves. The “we” is in regards to the children and the entire family. If Tisha is taking care of herself, and enjoying her marriage, she will then share the abundance of love and happiness she feels with her entire family. We are able to take better care of others when we are truly happy in all aspects of our lives.

I knew right away I was going to write a post about these “household rules” because I already understand how important they are (due to the lack of following this model) and I’ve only been married for close to three years. About a week prior to watching Tisha on The Real I had noticed how drained and run down I was beginning to feel. I was trying so hard to take care of everyone else and everything else in the house I was leaving myself last in the equation…it doesn’t work. So although I don’t care for resolutions I told myself I was going to actively do better in 2016. I wrote out a detailed guide of how I will do better each month by concentrating on a closer relationship with God, taking care of myself, my marriage, and my family, in that order. There will be a blog post to follow this weekend explaining the detailed changes, how I plan to implement them, and hold myself accountable.

2015 taught me to love my loved ones while they’re here, love myself as much as I love others, and find a way to bring my plans to life through organization and planning. I hope 2015 was great to you and your loved ones. I hope 2016 brings you all of the positive love and prosperity your heart can handle, and I pray you do His will above all else.

Happy New Year from my family to yours!

Brie <3

[01.01.16]