Briana's Freshman Year At SCAD (An Overview)

I was going to do a recap of our May activities before getting to this post, but I decided I wanted to focus on this one first. Here is an overview of Briana's first year at college.

Last summer, I was SO nervous about my somewhat introverted, home-loving, only child heading off to college. But, I really didn't need to worry. She did AMAZING her first year. She ended the year with all A's, came out of her shell, tried new things and really learned to fend for herself. She had some bumps in the road (like dealing with a problematic dorm mate), but she got through it all. I will say that I am glad Briana picked the SCAD campus closer to home. I just think it worked best for our kid and our family. B was able to come home to visit several times during the school year and if she needed something, Doug and/or I were able to drop it off to her. She was able to have her independence yet at the same time, she knew we were close enough to her if she needed us for any reason. To say I am proud of this kid is an understatement. 

I cannot believe everything she experienced her first school year...

 

Briana completed the SCAD Amp program, went on field trips, rode a mechanical bull, sang karaoke, went to the Renaissance Festival (twice), visited Panda Fest, attended SCAD events (like formal game night and a pancake breakfast), went to an illustration expo, joined a rock climbing gym, drove around midtown Atlanta (no easy feat), attended SCAD TV Fest (and saw a number of celebrities), attended movie events, survived an icky chest cold and a nasty fall where she skinned her knee pretty badly, played in the snow and made new friends - all while keeping up with her studies.
 

Doug and I loved that Briana sent us so many pictures throughout the year - including lots of selfies...

Let's take a last look at some of the meals she ate spring quarter...

Here are some of her freshman year art assignments.

 

Her pixilation project...

The Woodstock Middle Bridge (Bri's drawing is on the left)...

 

Her "quilt" project...

Black and white art...

 

 For her illustration class...

A picture of her Uncle Wes (drawn all in pen)...

Cover for a children's book (Lord Of The Rings)...

 

 A style frame for a D&D Character (Cookie Bakerson, a gnome wizard. She is fighting a pudding monster in a candy swamp)...

A few of her other amazing creations...

And for her 3D art class...

A book made into art (she chose The Hobbit)...

"Pie Five" (She created two pies high-fiving. One is a pie chart with different pie flavors and the other is a lattice fruit pie with the pi symbol. She created it all out of clay (and two foil pie trays))...

A lamp (chose to make it Asian-themed)...

She created a design for a mug...

And she crocheted a bag for chalk to take to the rock climbing gym (wearable and functional art project)...

On May 29th, it was time to go home for the summer. She had packed up a bunch of her stuff already, but Doug and I came that morning and helped her finish up.

This is her first day (it was sunny) and her last day of freshman year (it was raining)...

This is the building she called home for freshman year (15th/top floor)...

This is the building she will live in for her sophomore year (she will be on a lower floor on the opposite side of the building)...

The cute courtyard...

What a crazy, stressful (at times), fun-filled, challenging, stimulating first year of college for my amazing girl. She will return in early September to tackle her second year. Briana has chosen her dorm mates for her second year rather than leaving it to chance like her first. I think she will have a great year! In some ways it feels like Bri was gone for a really long time, and in other ways, it feels like time just flew by. 

We will definitely take advantage of the long summer break ahead (Bri is taking an 8 week online math course at the local college to transfer over to SCAD).

Once again, thanks for following our journey. Next post - a May recap.

18th Referral Day Anniversary

(Once again, my sweet girl obliged me and posed for a photo holding her referral photo.) 

 

Eighteen 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 eighteen 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...

 

And now, 18th referral day anniversary...

 

 Briana is truly the best gift we have ever received. 

 

 Happy Referral Day Anniversary to us!!

April Recap

The month of April was a month of spring sprucing up, Easter, Passover, doctor appointments, PT appointments, counseling/therapy, breakfast/lunch visits with friends, fun events and lots of food.

Easter and Passover landed during April this year and I was quite happy that Briana was able to come home to visit for Easter weekend.

I decorated my house...

Briana enjoyed being home (she colored eggs and still got an Easter basket, LOL!)...

While she was home, we had a Passover dinner with matzah ball soup and a lamb chops/pork chops dinner for Easter (Doug grilled everything)...

Earlier in the month, before Briana visited home, she had a few events she attended while at school.

She attended Panda Fest with her friend Sophie...

And she attended a formal game night hosted by SCAD. She was able to wear her senior prom dress once again! She and her friends had a fabulous time...

While Briana was having fun (and working hard obviously) at school, Doug and I were fixing up the outside of the house for spring. We had our landscapers freshen up our mulch/pine straw and trim our trees and bushes (my flowers started blooming!)...

And I had to rinse/clean off both of my screened porches - I absolutely hate all the yellow pollen that falls in early spring but they are clean now...

I am now not allowing Mei to go out onto the porches while the pollen is falling anymore because I know that contributes to her licking her belly. Since I have stopped letting her do that, her fur has grown back. She is soooo happy when I finally let her go out on them again...

The same weekend I washed the porches, Doug pressure washed our back patio...

Even though I am still struggling a bit health-wise, I was able to accomplish washing the porches. And it is a big job. My heel is doing so well now and I am very glad I did the surgery. I limped around for way too long and it is nice to be able to walk again (very close to) normally.

I had several doctor appointments scattered throughout April, and my best guy accompanied me to a few of them...

I am so grateful for his support. Don't know what I would do without him.

Even though I am still struggling a bit with my health, I managed to make time to see a number of different friends/family and have some meals out with Doug. I can't just sit at home and wither away. I need to push myself a bit.

 

After one of my early doctor appointments, Doug and I had the best bagel sandwiches and latkes...

We went to Cava for dinner one night, and I was actually disappointed! The flavors were good but the rice in my dish (on the right) was under-cooked. No bueno...

Doug introduced me to Mod Pizza - and it was so delicious...

We went to unWine'd and Tap one evening. Doug's Fried Oyster Po Boy sandwich was delish as well as the apple turnover dessert, but my pork chop was unfortunately a bit tough/chewy. The flavor was good and the sides were great though...

My mom celebrated her birthday in early April, so I took her to McAlister's for a birthday lunch...

I met my friend Amy for lunch one day and I had Pad See U (so good)...

And finally, Doug and I tried Revolving Sushi Factory for the first time. We were trying all sorts of things since we had never been there. Some dishes were really good and some just meh for us. Now that we know what we like, we can tailor our dining experience a bit better. The rolls and dumplings I posted here on the blog were all super yummy...

And that was our April in a nutshell. I'm still doing PT and trying to figure out if I will need surgery or not. I am gathering a lot of info and meeting with different doctors to get opinions because it is always a big decision to choose surgery. I just had a VERY big surgery so I don't want to make any quick decisions or jump into anything too soon. (Again - I have nothing life threatening, just life interrupting/very annoying).

May is here now and it always a busy month, but this year's May isn't as busy as last year! Last May was bananas and though I loved watching B finish up and graduate from high school, it was very overwhelming for a plethora of reasons. Bri is actually home right now visiting for Mother's Day weekend, so I am enjoying her being here. She will head back to school for three more weeks and then she is back home for the summer!

 

So many things in America royally suck right now, but I am desperately trying not to allow things to entirely consume me. I still have an underlying anger every day, but I have to focus more on myself and what I can control right now. 

I'll blog again soon to fill you all in on everything that happened in May!