January/February 2020 Instagram Round Up and Lots of Life Updates

Hey guys and Happy 2020! :-)

I realize I’m a little late to the party with my "happy new year", but better late than never right? If you’ve been following me on @jamariaoliviaj then you’ll know that I haven’t been completely MIA. I just hadn’t updated my blog in the new year just yet. It honestly feels good to be getting back to you guys and writing a bit! There’s so much I want to share with you this year! I thought it would be fun to round up some of my favorite Instagram looks so far in 2020 and give y ’all a little life update. I feel like I haven’t wrote a blog post like this in a LONG time, you know, with me just updating you guys on my life and what’s new. As a matter of fact, before I started writing this post, I went back to see when was the last time I just wrote about life in general, and I believe it was last April! YIKES. A whole lot has happened since then guy, so let’s just get right into it. Grab a glass of wine and/or a snack because this post is a little lengthy!


So all in all, life has been pretty good for me. If you did not know, I took almost two years off from working after I quit my job back in August of 2017 and last May, I finally went back to work! Being off for two years wasn’t really planned, it just sort of happened. Once I quit my job, I did plan on relaxing for the remainder of 2017 and once 2018 came around, I was ready to start back looking for something new. Well, life is funny and God has a way of showing you that you have no control because I literally could not find another job. Granted, we traveled a WHOLE lot in 2018 so starting a new job in the midst of that probably wouldn’t have been the best idea (I think God was like… not yet child), but it was still VERY frustrating to say the least. I found myself slipping into a sadness that was really hard to come out of. There were days where I didn’t even want to get out of bed and then once the day was over, I felt guilty that I didn’t ever get out of bed and do anything productive. Isn’t it horrible how our emotions play with us like that? And the craziest part about it was that WE WERE GOOD! My husband was being the Rockstar that he is and taking care of the household and me, and making sure I had everything I needed and most of what I wanted, we were traveling the world (we went to Mexico twice, Hawaii, London, and Ireland all in 2018), but I was just NOT FULLY HAPPY. Once the trip was over and I was back in my house, I would just get sad all over again. Not to sound dramatic, but I felt like a failure. I wanted to go back to work and I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t happening for me. I had never struggled to find work before, so this was foreign! Anyway, to make a long story short (because I could go on and on about this and I probably will write another blog post later about how waiting helped me to grow as a person), I finally got a new job last May and I feel fulfilled once again. I am so thankful and can’t believe it will be a year in just three months! Time seriously flies.


Now let’s get into to a married life update. Marcus and I are great! I honestly can’t believe that we will be celebrating our 5th year wedding anniversary in two months. It may sound cliché, but time seriously flies when you’re having fun and I feel blessed to say that it has felt that way for our entire relationship. I mean, we hit TEN YEARS of being together in this past November! How sway?! It feels like our love is still so fresh and new, and I pray to God every day that we can continue to hold on to that. We have so many goals this year, individually and as a couple, and I’m just excited to see them all play out! Also, we will be traveling more this year so I can’t wait to share our trips with you guys. He’s truly my best friend and I really can’t imagine my life without him in it. I miss him when we are in separate rooms, isn’t that crazy? I don’t want to give y’all any misconceptions, every day is NOT perfect. We argue, we disagree, and we get on each other’s nerves multiple times a week (him more so than me, haha), but at the end of the day, we try not to sweat the small stuff and we keep it moving. Life is just too short, you know?

Might as well give a podcast update here too. So, we took a break from our podcast @ourhousethepodcast back in August and y ’all… it was supposed to be like a month break. However, here we are seven months later and we are still on this "break". Many people have asked us when we would be bringing it back and so here’s my honest answer: I DON’T KNOW. Lol I honestly just have no idea. If you have tuned into our podcast before, then you will know that it is my baby! Having a podcast with my husband was something that I had been wanting to do since 2016 when I heard my first podcast. I thought it would be so much fun to have a platform like that with my best friend. One thing that I have learned in this journey of marriage is that some things just cannot be forced. Some things we just will not have the same passion or vision for and I’m learning to be okay with that. The podcast is/was my vision, and to be quite transparent, it has been a journey to get Marcus on that same wave with me. Don’t get me wrong, he enjoys it! When we record, he really opens up and has a good time creating the content (especially his Marcus Money Moments), but podcasting in itself is just not something he’s super into and it’s hard to run a relationship show when both parties in the relationship aren’t in it 100%. I ask him every other week about the status of our show and I have expressed that it would be OKAY if he just wants to be done with it. However, he keeps reassuring me that he doesn’t want to be done with it, and that he’s just not prepared just yet to put his best foot forward each week and I can respect that. I have told him multiple times that whenever we brought it back, I wanted to do it right. I want to be consistent and really develop a structured show among other things I’ve been envisioning for the show, so until he’s ready to do that, we will just be in limbo. So to make yet ANOTHER long story short, Our House the Podcast isn’t over as of now, but just on hold until we can fully commit our time and energy to it. In all honesty, we BOTH have a lot of other things going on right now too. Marcus is growing his business and I’m growing this blog/social media space plus we both have other ventures we are working through as well. So we just may have bit off more than we could chew in the moment and I’m okay with admitting to that! Trial and error people, it’s a part of life. :-)










What else do I need to update you guys on? I updated you on work life and married life.. let’s talk a little bit about my personal life! I feel like I’m in such a good place right now. I’ve been doing a lot of personal development and soul searching because honestly, there were some things about myself that I just did not like. When you don’t like something about yourself, no one can fix that but you. I’m not perfect and I have never claimed to be, but there were flaws in me that I refused to see for a long time and I’ve been slowly working through them to become a better person. I turn 29 this year which means next year I will be entering my 30s. I REALLY want to have a firm grasp on my self-identity before I enter that stage of my life AND before I decide to bring children into this world. Y ’all I can honestly say that I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I’ve been walking in my purpose, doing what I want to do, and trusting myself and my own judgement. I’ve always been a people-pleaser, not proud of it, but it’s true. I always been the person that would over-think every situation and worry WAY too much about what other’s may think of the decisions I make or things I say and it was honestly taking a toll on my life. Letting go has been the best thing I’ve ever done and I am still a work in progress, but I can see the progress I’m making and I’m proud of me! One day and one step at a time.

I also had a major health scare in back in September – November that I’m still not 100% ready to talk about, but eventually I will. Just know, I’m fine! If you follow me on Instagram you may have speculated or wondered what was going on with me based off of my stories during the time I was going through this, but I am okay. God is good and God is faithful! I will share more about this in due time simply because I know I’m not the only person who has gone through what I went through, but no one really talks about it so I felt sort of alone when it happened. It wasn’t a good place to be in, so I want to help other women not to feel that way. Just give a little more time.






Well, I think I have talked (or typed) your heads off enough today! I share these things with you because number one, it’s therapeutic for me to type things out (one of the main reasons I started this blog!), and number two, those of you who really rock with me and read these posts are my virtual friends and I appreciate you so much for caring enough to want to share in my life with me. You inspire me to keep going. I’m going to try to commit to getting regular life updates out to you guys. Probably not weekly or monthly, but maybe quarterly. I guess it will just depend on whether or not I have anything to share! Haha

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week and we will chat again soon!
Thank you so much for reading! xo


13 comments

  1. Love your photos and love this update! I can definitely relate to being a people pleaser.In fact, I can relate to a lot of your personal update but like you, I'm a work in progress and that's all that matters :-)

    Lizzie
    www.lizzieinlace.com

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  2. Such a fun update! It sounds like there's a lot of good going on in your life right now and I hope that continues throughout 2020. Love your burgundy dress, too!

    Rachel
    www.hello-her.com

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  3. You gotta listen to what's right and looks like the break was what you needed. This was a fun life update. Glad to have you back :)

    ❥ tanvii.com

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  4. I love when people share deep and meaningful life posts like this on their blog. I think it's what blogging was originally meant for, so it's nice to get a little peek into the person behind the blog every once in a while! Here's to new endeavors, rekindling love for old interests, and finding a healthy state of living.

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  5. What a great life update!! It sounds like things are going really wel!

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  6. Loving all of your cute outfits!! (especially that red dress!) Happy almost anniversary to y'all!

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  7. Looks like you got lots of traveling done recently...need to do more of that myself. (Last year was a quiet one on that front). Love all the style inspo and wishing you a Happy Anniversary! xoxo, Sarah

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  8. It's great to hear so many positive updates! Im so glad things are going well for you, and it's so beautiful to see how you worked through not having a job and feeling fufilled for a while there and really came through with such a positive outlook on the whole thing. Looking forward to hearing more!

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  9. Anna English2/20/2020

    I love all the reds on your feed lately! SO perfect for February

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  10. I love Winc! So glad you're back from your break :)

    -xo, Azanique | https://www.lotsofsass.com

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  11. It's amazing what a job can do for your overall happiness!

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  12. Glad you are doing well and 2020 is off to a good start! I think taking time off from work to travel is a wonderful thing to do, but I can totally understand how hard it must have been to be searching for a job and not getting one. at least it all worked out!
    Chic on the Cheap

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  13. Glad to hear your 202 is well so far! SOmetimes we all need to take time off from the blog but glad to see that you are back!

    www.rdsobsessions.com

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Through Jam's Eyes