September Recap - SCAD, Surgery, Spookiness And A Storm

Honestly, I don't have too much more to add regarding the month of September because I already wrote about Bri moving to and living at SCAD in Atlanta and I updated you all on my surgery recuperation journey (up through mid-October).

 During the first half of September, I did have a lunch date with my friend Kelly, another lunch date with my friend Julie and a dinner date with my friend Amy before the big surgery. I wanted to get some meet ups in before I wasn't going to be able to do so again for a while. But lucky me, all three of these ladies have brought me lunch and visited me after my surgery because they are kind and wonderful!

Sadly, Doug, Bri and I really didn't get to celebrate Autumn Moon Festival properly this year. Bri and I didn't have time to make moon cookies before Bri left for school. My surgery was happening the day after the moon festival, so I wasn't really in the mood to do much that evening. Briana attempted to go to a moon festival celebration at SCAD, but she said when she arrived, most of the people in attendance were speaking Mandarin, so she felt a bit out of place and left. So, it was kind of a bust for her. I hope we can all do better next year.

The Sunday before my surgery, I had a request for Doug. I wanted him to go with me to Spirit Halloween so I could walk around and enjoy all the spookiness. And, I wanted to eat at Freddie's Steakburgers for lunch. It was my last hurrah before I couldn't walk for two months...

The shopping center we visited had the cutest fall decorations...

And my Freddie's Steakburger was as good as I hoped it would be...

I'm very glad I had a fun last outing as a walking person (even though I was limping). 

 

In late Sept, there was the threat of Hurricane Helene coming through Atlanta. I was really nervous about Briana being in the midst of it - as well as me, my immediate/extended family and friends...

Luckily, my area was spared. But sadly, the storm hit western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee and cause catastrophic flooding - and I blogged about the devastation in Asheville.

 

It sure did rain a lot where I live though. It rained for days. This is the creek next to my house (which became a small river)...

This was the majority of my view for pretty much the second half of September...

Mei's been a Velcro kitty since all this surgery stuff went down.

So that is my update for September. I will blog about October next - along with another update on my recuperation. Life is definitely a marathon and not a sprint right now.

SCAD Move In Day And Some SCAD Updates

I have envisioned experiences so many times in my life and then those experiences didn't happen or end up at all the way I thought they would. Growing up, I can honestly say I never imagined adopting and raising a child who was born in China. Though I look back at my life and see that I was always drawn to Asian culture/Asian people in small ways. I gravitated toward Asian dolls and Asian art. I had Asian friends. The first boy I ever had a big crush on was Asian (I was in preschool - no joke). I never knew that my interest was a precursor - or possibly a sign - of things to come.

And if you had told me that my daughter would be going to college at a campus smack in the middle of a busy city, I would have thought you were crazy. I always figured my child would end up at a quiet, traditional campus somewhere. That wasn't the plan I guess. She is a midtown Atlanta girl now.

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Doug, Bri and I woke up the morning of move in very nervous and excited for what the day would bring. Briana's move-in time was at 1pm. She never heard from her actual roommate all summer - only the two other girls in the other dorm room in her suite - so Bri was going in blind as to what to expect. Freshman were moving in first, so Briana had the dorm room to herself for the first two days (since her roommate is a sophomore) which was wonderful. 

 

 * Just a quick aside...Briana's sophomore roommate came in on that Thursday like a hurricane (which I am not surprised about with the fact she never contacted/connected with any of the roommates all summer) and Briana had to have a conversation with her pretty quickly about how they would be able to coexist the entire school year in their room together. My introverted, only child Bri had to confront a complete stranger. She did it and the girls coexist just fine now. They aren't besties which is fine (the roommate has no real interest in getting close to any girls in the suite), but Bri is very close to the other freshman girl in her suite. So it is all good.

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The car was all packed up. We ate some lunch at home and then headed down to midtown Atlanta...

I think I was in shock it was actually happening. We had talked about it for SO long, and now the time had finally arrived. I was so grateful in that moment that Bri would only be about 45 minutes to an hour away from home (if traffic cooperates).

 

We got to the campus a little before 1pm, and the SCAD student volunteers were eagerly awaiting all the new student arrivals. We loaded Bri's things into two roller bins and Doug went to park the car. We had two volunteers bring us up to B's suite. The move in was a well-oiled machine. Seriously, we had no hiccups...

As soon as we got to the room, we got to work. The microwave/refrigerator combo we rented was already there in the suite and waiting to be plugged in. We had never seen the room before and we weren't sure who would show up that day. Bri's suite mate in the other room (who she is very good friends with now) did show up about halfway through us putting together Bri's room. We met her mom and grandfather too and they are so very nice.

Here was the final product...

 

 Bri's room before her roommate moved in...

 

The rest of the suite...

We did bring a TV to Briana a few days later to put in the living area. It has actually been great. Her friends like to come to her suite and watch TV. And they sometimes have movie nights.

Briana's view...

She is on the top floor (14th) and she looks out at Atlanta.

When we got done putting her room together, we looked around the rest of the building.

 

The hall and lobby of Bri's floor...

 

The rec room on the 7th floor...

SCADfit in Bri's building (Briana has worked out here quite a bit)...

We got a little tour of SCADfit...

The pool (which is part of SCADfit)...

The laundry room in Bri's building...

Around SCAD (school store, mailboxes, etc)...

After spending several hours getting Bri settled, it was time for me and Doug to leave. It was difficult...

I got a little teary when I got in the car, but I didn't sob. I felt like she was going to be ok.

It was hard to wrap my mind around that she was living here now...

 

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We came back a few days later with the TV and Bri's car...

This was a welcome orientation for freshman...

They had a block party during welcome week...

 

She is definitely eating well with her dining plan (she loves to send us pics of her food choices)...

Her comforter is reversible, so she changes it up (and she added a few plushies). And she now has a different poster on her wall above her bed...

 

This was Briana's first day of classes (her business class)...

 

She sends us traffic reports sometimes (yay Atlanta traffic!)...

She really likes her professors - especially her design professor. Her professor has kept two of her assignments for display...

Bri went to a SCAD Halloween party (she didn't dress up, she had a big project she had been working on and just stopped by)...

Briana has had some ups and some downs since starting school, but it is mainly freshman year growing pains. She is making friends, taking care of herself (laundry, cleaning the dorm, driving to get supplies when needed) and keeping up with her studies.

Her friends...

She is so sweet and sends us "proof of life" selfies...

She came home to visit one weekend and it felt so good to hug her...

I think I am still in a bit of denial that this has all happened. Having my surgery has kept me pretty preoccupied, so once I am better, I will have to really learn to adjust to Bri not living here full time.

Bri will be home for Thanksgiving/Christmas break on November 15th. She is on the quarter system, so she won't go back until after the new year and I am so happy about that. I miss her so much.

She is doing amazing. She really is. I am SO proud of her. She went from living a pretty quiet life to a very busy different one...

 

Bri knew this was the school for her and she was right. It is a perfect fit!

The Rest Of August (Gearing Up For College)

It is finally time to wrap up our August on the blog - which was crazy busy. We went on our wonderful vacation, but when we got back, we had filled up our calendar with all sorts of appointments (for all of us including Mei Mei), final goodbye get togethers and lots of shopping and packing for school.

One of the appointments was for my eyes. Things in the distance started looking slightly blurry and it was time to get a checkup. I am slightly nearsighted and have probably been that way for a few years. Shockingly, my up close vision is still good (for now). So, I purchased some distance glasses to wear on an as needed basis - so far I like to use them to watch TV and drive. Everything is so clear now!

Poor Mei needed her teeth cleaned and her anal glands expressed. When they cleaned her teeth, they had to pull two baby teeth (no big deal) and one larger tooth that was cracked. So Mei had to be on pain medicine for 10 days for the bigger tooth and the glands - ugh. She was very wired when she first got home after having anesthesia and was acting really bizarre and loopy...

 

Then after a day or so, she became a bit lethargic due to the pain meds. She got a lot of love and cuddles while she recovered (she is back to 100 percent now)...
 

Briana scheduled a few goodbye get togethers with her besties before heading off to school. Bri's bestie Meredith was heading to college in mid-August, so they had a nice lunch together. Bri crochet her an adorable Hello Kitty (Mere loves HK). And Bri also met up with besties Mary and Imerie for a nice dinner...

In mid-August, Doug and I brought Briana back to the Fox Theater to see a special "Avatar, The Last Airbender" concert. A live orchestra (led by an amazing female conductor) played music along with iconic scenes from the cartoon. Briana loves Avatar, and the concert was really entertaining. I actually found myself shedding a few tears!

 

After the concert, we stopped at our favorite Korean bbq/sushi place...

Speaking of food, Briana made some delicious cheeseburger bao buns from a recipe in a Disney cookbook she got for her birthday (they were so yummy)...

 

Doug and I had lunch one day at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in August (I got the rigatoni a la vodka and Doug got spaghetti and meatballs)...

 

And we also stopped at Cava one day...

 

I asked Briana if there were some meals she would like me to make her before she headed off to SCAD. She asked for baked penne rigate...

 

She also requested teriyaki pork, potatoes and veggies...

 

Bri decided she wanted to get caramel highlights in her hair before school started (she loves them!)...

 

My parents came over Labor Day weekend to visit Briana one last time before she headed off to school (we grilled brats and hot dogs for lunch)...
 

Bri and I made a final Target run for last minutes items in August...

I started gathering everything in my dining room so it would all be in one place. Doug didn't believe I could pack everything we had gathered in one car, but I showed him! LOL! I am a master organizer and packer!!!

(We had planned to have Bri drive her car as well, but the parking garage where she needed to park wasn't going to be open/available until the end of move in week. We didn't want B worrying about moving her car from a different parking garage, so we took just my car that day and brought Bri her car on the Sunday after move in - she moved in on a Tuesday.)

I am quite sure Mei wanted to go with her...

After all the preparation, it was finally showtime. September 3rd rolled around and we were finally SCADbound...

 

I will blog about the move in experience and give you an update as to how Briana is doing now. There have been some ups and downs this first quarter, but Bri has navigated everything amazingly well. Honestly, she is thriving, happy and making new friends. She is putting herself out there and doing things I never thought she would be brave enough to do. I cannot tell you how happy and relieved this makes me. She is exactly where she needs to be.

More on that next...