A May Recap

Here is my May recap! May and June are just crazy busy months for our family. Bri wraps up school. We celebrate Doug's and my anniversary, mother and father's days and so many birthdays (including mine). 

 

I already wrote all about what Briana did in May - from her convention to her art competition to her moving out of the dorm.

 

This is a glimpse of the rest of our May.

 

Doug and I celebrated 29 years of marriage on May 3rd. So hard to believe sometimes. We spent that entire weekend together. 

 

On Saturday, we ate at the Anchor Bar for lunch and for dinner we ate some Japanese stir-fry at Yummy Yaki while we watched the Kentucky Derby. We always know the derby will land on or around our anniversary...

 

And on our actual anniversary on Sunday, we went to Prime 120 for a fancy dinner. It is always delicious...

 

I am still trying to be as gluten-free as possible. I don't have celiac, so it isn't dangerous or imperative to be completely gluten-free, but I try. I am definitely not perfect. But I limit it as much as I can. I just got back from NYC (posts coming soon), and it was pretty much impossible for me to avoid gluten - and I am definitely feeling it. Now I am back on the gluten-lite diet. 

 

 Two days later, Cinco de Mayo rolled around, and Doug and I partook in some Mexican food and margaritas for lunch - and the restaurant gave away fun t-shirts...

 

Then Mother's Day rolled around.

 

My mom, sister and I met up on Friday at Applebee's for an early Mother's Day ladies lunch and to exchange presents...

 

Briana came home for mom's day weekend and she and Doug gave me gifts. 

 

You may remember my little Labubu habit that I had for a while. Well for mom's day, Briana drew me a picture. She knows that I love vintage things like Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, Twin Stars, Holly Hobbie, etc (even though these things are still around today). So, she drew me a Labubu picture and made the Labubus into Strawberry Shortcake and the Twin Stars. I placed it in the perfect pink frame and hung it in my office right above my computer where I look at it daily...

 

And Doug knows I am a sucker for blind boxes. Yes, I am a grown woman. Sue me. Anyway, I put some items I liked on my Amazon wishlist and he bought me a Yooki that I had wanted...

I opened the purple taro paste bunny. I loved it so much that I bought myself another one a few days later - LOL. I then opened the grey winter night bunny. Now I have two adorable bunnies.

 

Since Briana had to head back to school on Sunday (Mom's Day), we had dinner together on Saturday night. 

 

 Bri and I took some pictures together before dinner...

 

Capers was absolutely delicious, but the portions were huge! We all ended up taking part of our meals home...

 

On Sunday morning, Doug sneaked out of the house early and picked up some waffle house for all of us for brunch as a surprise...

 

In May, Doug and I also went to a restaurant that we really enjoy called Bangkok Cabin. It is literally a house that has been converted into a restaurant. The food is so good...

 

And I can promise you, Doug and I did more than just eat yummy food in May. 
 

I got my back porches cleaned up (upstairs and downstairs). They are always FULL of pollen come early May. I need to wash them down completely and it is a big job. But, I cannot let Mei Mei on the porches at all during pollen season. She will lick the fur off her belly. But once I clean everything off, she is allowed back outside and she is thrilled. And I get to enjoy them for a few weeks as well - before it gets too hot...

 

 

Love watching the rain...

 

 And we have a new addition to our woods. A Chuck-will's-widow. It is SO FREAKING NOISY. It gets going as soon as the sun sets and sings all night long. It drives me nuts! Thank goodness I sleep with a fan for white noise. I don't know how people are sleeping in silence with it calling all night like that. It's insane! Just listen...

 

 On the day that Briana attended Momocon with her friends, Doug and I went to a nearby gothic convention. We had never been to one before and it was a lot of fun! It did start getting really crowded after a couple of hours, so we dipped. But I did end up getting some cool things. I can say that I purchased no bongs nor the ALF underwear that was for sale...

 

I put together and ordered another t-shirt blanket for Briana. I had shirts from when she was quite small and I asked her if I should donate them. She wanted me to make her another blanket in order to keep the shirts, so I did...

 

And finally, Doug and I voted once again May. This was the third time I had voted this year (this was a primary) - and I will vote again on Tuesday for the runoff races. It is still very difficult being a blue dot in a very red county. Very difficult.

So that is the May recap. 

 

I already have SO much to blog about in June, but that will have to wait until another time. Thanks for reading! 

19th Referral Day Anniversary

 (At 19 years old, my sweet girl obliged me and posed for a photo holding her referral photo. Next year will be our last year taking a photo. I told her that I hoped to get to 20 years of pictures and then we would be done.) 

 

Nineteen years ago (June 6, 2007), Doug and I received the phone call that would change our lives forever. We had a baby girl waiting for us on the other side of the world. A few hours later, we saw Jiang Ai Juan's beautiful face that day in pictures for the first time. (She was around seven months old in her referral pictures, she was ten months at the time of referral, and we met her a few days before her 1st birthday.)

I truly cannot believe it has been nineteen years.

Here are her referral pictures...

 Seeing her for the first time (our referral video is in the sidebar of the blog under "Travel and Referral")...

Below are pictures of Briana holding her referral picture each year on our referral day anniversary ~

1st referral day anniversary...

2nd referral day anniversary...

3rd referral day anniversary...

4th referral day anniversary...

5th referral day anniversary...

6th referral day anniversary...

7th referral day anniversary...

8th referral day anniversary...

9th referral day anniversary...

10th referral day anniversary...

11th referral day anniversary...

12th referral day anniversary...

13th referral day anniversary...

14th referral day anniversary...

15th referral day anniversary...

16th referral day anniversary...

17th referral day anniversary...

 

18th referral day anniversary...

 

And now, our 19th referral day anniversary...

 

 Briana is truly the best gift we have ever received. 

 

Here she is with her glasses on (because that is how we really recognize her!)...

 

 Happy Referral Day Anniversary to us!!

Final SCAD Sophomore Update

Girlfriend is officially a junior now! She has survived two years of college and now she is home for the summer. Before I blog about our May, I just wanted to close out Briana's sophomore year in a post.

 

Before she came home for the summer, she had two more events to attend (and of course finals to complete).

 

First, she attended Momocon with her school friends and had a blast...

 

Briana went as Vanellope Von Schweets (recycled costume from years ago) and she ran into another Vanellope at the convention!

 Then, I mentioned in my last post about Bri that she submitted several pieces of her foundations artwork to an art competition at SCAD called "Beyond The Dot" and that her Hobbit book was accepted. 

 After fighting a lot of horrible Atlanta traffic to get to SCAD to attend the ceremony...

We finally arrived.

Our girl and her piece displayed...

I'll get right to it - she didn't win anything.

 

This is what I said on FB...

 

 "Doug and I attended the award ceremony yesterday for the art competition (3D category) that Briana was accepted into. Unfortunately, she didn't win anything. Usually, I wouldn't be bummed about that. But when I arrived and saw all the buzz that Bri was getting around her piece, I started thinking she had a good chance of placing (kind of seemed like more than other 3D pieces). Her professor told her afterward she was super close to getting third place (a panel of professors were the judges). Thanks - I guess? It's hard because art is so subjective. I am thinking maybe her piece wasn't as technical as ones that placed. Not sure. Bri was very gracious about it and seemed totally fine. I think I am feeling the sting over it all. I guess it's a mom thing."

 

I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I saw a lot of spectacular work displayed in lots of different categories. But, I didn't think the pieces that placed ahead of Briana in her specific category were as impressive. And yes, I am totally biased because it is my kid. But truly, I didn't think they were. Again - art is so subjective.

 

 Here are some pictures of the event...

 

After the event, Doug, Bri and I went out to dinner at Nan to celebrate her being in the competition. Delicious...

 

We said our goodbyes knowing we would be back at SCAD in a week to grab most of Briana's things for move out.

 

Briana had a class on Thursday evening, not allowing her to leave like last year before everyone else checked out on Friday. So, Doug and I went on Thursday morning to grab almost all of her things and take them home, so she could just wake up in the morning, strip her bed, grab the rest of her things, check out and drive home Friday morning.

 

Thursday morning...

 

After loading up my car, we took Bri out to lunch at the HobNob Tavern and ice cream at Kilwin's...

 

And then Friday came. Briana was SO ready to come home. I asked her to take last day of school selfies since I wasn't going to be there...

 

She checked out and was home by 11:30am. We were so glad we did what we did with getting her stuff a day early because I heard that move out day was a complete chaotic nightmare. 

 

 I mentioned in my last post that Briana's living situation for next year kind of imploded. The roommate/friend Bri shared a bedroom with this school year has decided not to return to SCAD in the fall. And unfortunately, the other two dorm mates ended up being very less than ideal people to live with (you just don't really know until you live with someone). They don't want to live with B next school year and the feeling is VERY much mutual for B. 

 

So, Doug and I have made the decision to allow Briana to move into her own apartment close to campus in September. She still plans to move in with her good friend senior year, but for now, she will live on her own. I just cannot watch her try to coexist anymore with people who just don't understand how to be clean, semi-quiet and respectful in a very small, shared space. And I don't want random people selected for her dorm again (all of her closest friends at school already have their living situations set for the fall). 

 

Briana has done remarkably well dealing in less than ideal living situations for two years now (she made straight A's this quarter) - but no more. She has paid her dues. She deserves peace, quiet, cleanliness and personal space - and if Doug and I can try to do it for her, we will. I am definitely nervous about it, but she is thrilled. 

 

She is home and she is happy...

 

We are going on vacation very soon and Bri will be starting a new job. We all need a few months to decompress - and find Bri a place.

 So that is the B update. We plan to really enjoy this summer break. It is much needed!