Married | Mother | Millennial
We’re at the end of January and man has it been a crazy start to the year. I mean crazy in a good way because January 2022 goals & life events have started the year strong. From spending time with friends, crushing book goals, and volunteer work, it’s been fulfilling. I like to believe the way we start the year is a good sign for how the year will go. Here’s a quick catch up session on what’s happening in every day life as well as what’s to come!
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Friday evening kicked off the first 2022 event for Black Women of Barksdale. We hosted our first ever 2022 Vision Board Party and it was truly a great time. The way covid numbers are spreading right now it was the perfect intimate group size. A smaller group size allowed us to have craft space, and fully engage throughout the evening.
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Three years ago while still living in Montana, I came across a section in Essence magazine that caught my eye. Two pages of guide to Black historical sites all over the state of Louisiana. This was perfect timing considering we knew Shreveport, Louisiana would be our next base assignment. I immediately searched the list for Shreveport locations and to my surprise found two of them. One of those locations is the Southern University Museum of Art at Shreveport. I finally had the opportunity to visit this museum last week in celebration of Black history month.
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Being a military family means living in places we never consider to be “ideal” but you make work. For two reasons: one because the United States Air Force prioritizes the mission over feelings. And secondly because being upset doesn’t change your circumstances. It honestly makes it worse. For those who know me closely and personally, when I found out about our next base location being in Louisiana…you know I wasn’t thrilled LOL. But it’s funny how God and life come around to humble you in multiple ways whether you asked for it or not. I had no idea back then, but after only being here for 3 months, Louisiana is the move I never knew I needed. Here’s why:
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Happy first Tuesday of August! I decided to take an impromtu break from the blog for the month of July. I took some time to soak up the last few weeks of summer break for my daughter. As well as, to enjoy exploring this beautiful state of Louisiana with my family since we’re still new here. I also took some time to regroup and rethink my strategy for my brand and business going foward. I’m going to continue to share majority scrumptious recipes on here,Read More
Today is November 9th, 2016 which means the American Presidential election happened yesterday. I may, or may not have downed an entire bottle of wine, while watching the last two hours of the election results, last night. I also may, or may not have drunk directly from the bottle. It was a stressful last few months, it was an extremely stressful night last night, and I’m finally coming down from the stress a little bit today. I share all of this because I would like to think I found the cure to election season stress: WINE.
Okay, to be clear, wine is always the answer. However, the key to pre- and post- Election Day stress is drinking an entire bottle of wine to yourself, directly from the bottle, no questions asked. If you don’t do it this way then you’re doing it wrong and it won’t work. 😉
In all seriousness, this post is to share with you about my new business endeavor. As of last week I am officially a wine consultant for: Wine Shop At Home. My friend, Charelle, is a consultant and she brought me on board. Considering I love wine, I figured, how could this be wrong? Lol. But I honestly joined to learn more about wine while in the process of selling it and growing my own business. I tend to like wine specifically for dessert reasons. I’m hoping to learn more details about how to pair wine with certain foods and understand what goes into the different tastes of each unique bottle.
With Thanksgiving being in two-ish weeks, and Christmas a little over a month away, this would be the perfect time to order some wine for your Thanksgiving dinner, or buy wine for awesome Christmas presents. You can order gift baskets, stem ware, or even personalize bottles of wine for your loved ones. (I’m not going to lie I’m pretty excited about the personalized wine bottles LOL) I will also start doing wine parties soon, and would love to set a few of them up for my family and friends, to share with their extended family and friend circles.
I will showcase a new wine on my, Instagram and Twitter accounts every Wednesday, starting next week Wednesday, November 16th, with the hashtag #WineWednesday.
In the mean time, order wine, share wine, drink wine, and be merry! Here is my website for those of you who would like it to copy and paste into a new tab or browser: www.wineshopathome.com/briennejamieson.
Happy Wine Wednesday people!
Brie <3
[11.09.16]
I’m sure you read the title of this article and figured it would have to do with the MANY diversity and racial issues going on in the United States right now. However, this is more so a open letter or venting session of how hard it is to be a Black woman living in Montana sometimes.
I haven’t had any aggressive or negative run ins with people of any color here in Montana due to my skin color. This, unfortunately, is not the same story for my husband, but that’ll be a topic for another day. If anything, Montanans have been genuinely some of the nicest people I’ve met in my 27 years of life. People smile and speak when they walk by you, and most even stop to ask you how your day is going, and expect a response! Crazy, right? This is still something I’m adjusting to coming from living in Chicago prior to living here where people don’t even make eye contact with you let alone truly care enough to speak and ask you how you’re doing. I share this information before getting into what I want to vent about because I don’t want to paint Montana as some unfair, terrible, place to live, when in reality…my life in Montana isn’t too bad. But at the end of the day, I still live in Montana, and as I’m sure most of you know, Montana isn’t know to be home to many people of color or much…diversity.
Montana lacks diversity so much that when we go out to eat people usually automatically apply the military discount to our bill because we’re Black, dining in Montana, and the only explanation of us being here is the military LOL. I’m reminded every time we go visit another city or state how much I miss seeing people of ALL colors on a daily basis. When we first moved into our house here on base and met our first set of neighbors, apparently she shouted to her husband (who is Mexican), with excitement, “WE HAVE BLACK NEIGHBORS”! Hahaha! To this day this is one of my favorite stories, but one of the saddest at the same time, because seeing a Black person in Montana is like seeing a unicorn. I have a handful of other stories like this one from run-ins with other people of color who were happy to see another one of “us” lol.
However, the hardest part of living in a place that lacks diversity, are the lack of culturally different activities and lifestyles around us. I sometimes get jealous seeing my Facebook friends and Instagram and Twitter followers post pictures of RSVPs to concerts and events I know I wouldn’t be able to find in the entire state of Montana. Some examples are R&B/Neo-Soul concerts, blues/jazz lounges, festivals, upscale evening lounges, restaurants, etc. When you live in a place where diversity is lacking you miss out on all of these amazing things to do, and see, which add appreciation and cultural value to our lives. Do you all know how much I took having authentic Thai and Caribbean restaurants within 10 minutes from my apartment in Chicago? Do you know how much I appreciate walking into a Mexican restaurant and seeing a menu in Spanish and seeing an all Mexican staff cooking my food? Do you know how much I would love to go to a Jill Scott concert for a date night with my husband instead of the two options we have here of dinner and/or a movie? Do you know much it means to walk down the street, through a store, or drive by people of all colors, ethnicities, shapes and sizes? For my friends who live in places that offer all of these options and then some, take a minute to just soak up the beauty that is diversity surrounding you.
As a military wife I try my hardest not to complain to my husband (in a non-joking manner) because I know he is/we are here because it is what is needed for our family at this moment. I also try to remind myself of the countless military spouses whose loved one is overseas or died serving this country before I complain. As upsetting as it is some days that I’m not surrounded by everything I want I remind myself I have everything I need. I know there are plenty of people who would trade places with me if it meant being with their loved ones everyday. Sometimes it’s hard to not be selfish and think about what I want, but I’m human. However, I feel it is important, no matter who you are, what you do, or where you live to be exposed to life outside of your little bubble. It’s much harder to understand someone else’s life and experiences if you’ve never had the opportunity to explore their culture and lifestyle.
As much as Montanans love their bejeweled flare legged jeans, cowboy boots, country music, hunting, rodeos, and cowboy hats…I miss professional sports, multi-cultural authentic food, big name concerts, date night in a little black dress, and round trip plane tickets for under $200. But the upside of being a military wife also means this won’t be my location forever, but man, it sure does feel like forever when diversity is missing.
Brie <3
[02.10.16]
I made the mistake of watching the video posted below before typing this post, so sorry in advance for any misspelled words and incoherent sentences while attempting to type through my tears. Today is the day we are grateful and thankful to all of the brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our country. I personally know many people who have served and continue to serve the United States of America. Out of all of them, my favorite military man in the whole wide world is my selfless husband, Kris. He serves in the United States Air Force and I couldn’t be more proud of him if I tried.
In addition to my husband I am thankful for all of our military family and friends and want to wish all of you a very special Happy Veterans Day as well. There are way too many of you to name, but you know who you are, and if you didn’t already know, you now know how much I appreciate and love you all.
This is my favorite military surprise homecoming video and I share it every year on my Facebook page. This year I’m sharing it on the blog so more people can see it and cry with me 😉
Thank you again Veterans! You are very appreciated!
Brie <3
[11.11.15]
As I had stated in my second to last blog post, we took a trip to Utah last week, and we had such an amazing time. We really enjoyed catching up with friends, and taking our first road trip as a family. We did some sightseeing and plenty of eating while we were there. It is a potential base for our family to end up as well, so we really appreciated the fact that we liked the area. Jordyn and I even found a little splash park on base while exploring the base while Kris worked one afternoon. She LOVES water so she had a great time :-).
I thoroughly enjoyed the large and up close mountainous view, as well as, the cleanliness and simplicity of downtown Salt Lake City. The people were nice, there was plenty to do, and we did as much as we could. Ed Sheeran was there in concert one of the nights we were in town, and I was so sad I hadn’t known that information prior to going. I would have for sure tried to get tickets, because I love Ed. However, I spent the evening with friends, shopping, and surrounded by beautiful imagery. This is what the mountains looked like outside of our hotel room on base.
Kris LOVES aquariums, so for his actual birthday, we went to the local aquarium. We had a really great time and the aquarium is so beautiful. Jordyn enjoyed putting her hands on the glass trying to get the not so little “fishies” attention too lol. We’re definitely going to have a little swimmer of some sort on our hands.
My friend, Rebecca and I, had been trying the entire week to make it to the zoo, but the rainy weather had other plans for us and the girls. It is for sure on our list of “things to do” when we go back to visit the Jones’ again. We had such a great time with the Jones’, Rebecca’s family, and getting a break from everyday life in Montana. We can’t wait to go back and see everyone again.
Until next time, Utah. Thanks for the great memories! <3
Brie <3
[05.29.15]