I want to be Leoncie

happy earth day...

A friend I spent Saturday in central park. The friiend is an amazing
photographer.
The model, not so much.
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Capstone?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have completed may capstone project. Well, we have to put a few finishing touches to the final report to turn in to the client next week, but the work is done and the presentation was made this afternoon. Oh man, what a feeling.

For those of you who haven't asked me the unfortunate question "So what is your capstone about?" let me just briefly tell you about it. Just in case you are interested. you might not be, which is totally fine. But, just so you know, this is the culmination of my graduate school career, akin to a thesis defense. So, at least pretend to care and make congratulatory comments (please??).

Instead of a normal thesis, Wagner requires students to do a capstone project-- this is a project completed by a team of students that have been commissioned by various organizations. Basically, we act as consultants. This was one of the major reasons i chose to attend NYU, because i really liked the sound of this real-world culminating project. I haven't loved it all the way through, because it has required a lot of work and effort and frustration, but today, i'm glad that I've done it. I worked on a project for Women in Need, which is a family homeless shelter, to evaluate the implementation of their HIV prevention, domestic violence, and education and employment services in two of their larger shelters. Their vision is to not only get people into housing, but address the underlying causes of homelessness. This is an admirable mission, and we took a look to see is the programs they offered were really happening in the shelters as planned. We created (well, my team mate Florence mostly) logic models for each of the services and analyzed them for gaps in the implementation.

Oh man, i can already SEE your eyes closing. Um... I don't really have funny stories to regale you with, because really, it's been a long process and I'm just really proud of myself. If you want to know more, come to our end of the year capstone event on May 5th. RSVP here.

Secret garden

I discovers a secret garden at the northern tip of central park. Well,
secret to me. I'm in love with it, especially at dusk. Everything is
so much more magical.

things that make me happiest

I'm baking a lemon poppy-seed cake right now and it smells so good! I'm also discovering a fantastic musician named Ingrid Michaelson. I love her already. She suits my mood today, which is productive, I-can-do-anything, and life is pretty a-ok.



(I'd buy you rogaine when you start losing all your hair. Best line ever.)

I made a huge batch of cupcakes on Friday and delivered them around Brooklyn on my bicycle, just as I promised to do on the first warm sunny day. How is it that cupcakes are so delightful? They make me so happy, so i assume that they must make everyone else equally happy.

So the list goes:
sunshine
friends
baking cupcakes
bicycles
good music
flowers

check, check, check, check, check, check. Life must be good.

killin' time

This is my fourth blog post in as many days. If you can't tell, the end of the semester is nearing and I have a stack of things I should be doing, but the brain has officially turned off. These last few weeks of grad school are when i should put in that final spurt of energy, the rush to the finish line, go out with a bang, etc. Instead, i learn how to make emoticons for gchat, read blogs, and generally just stare at my computer. Oh, and read the entire Twilight series in a week (5 hours on average per book, read straight through, preferably in the middle of the day when I should be working on Capstone or in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping). They are like Twinkies, you know there is no substance, and your belly will hurt in the morning, but still, you stuff down as many as you can. Well, at least I do. I suppose it's a good thing (figure wise at least) that my addiction these days is fluffy teenage vampire romance novels instead of twinkies. Although, i think my brain may have suffered irreversible damage, I've been dreaming about vampires (in particular, Edward).


I promise i am not a stupid teenage girl with a movie star crush. I'm a smart grad student who should be looking for a job. Sigh. Not much difference these days. Luckily, I'm not the only one in this boat. Melissa pointed out to me that if she hadn't spent so many hours attempting to work on her computer, she would have never come across this treasure. Worth is? Absolutely.

cold

Curse you April, for teasing me so with 60 degree sunny weather and then taking it back again. I'm TIRED of wearing sweaters already. And why are my classrooms like going to the artic tundra? Spring, why don't you just come already and let me wear pretty dresses and ride around on my bike wearing flip flops? Is that too much to ask? I promise that the very first day it is warm, I will bake cupcakes and deliver them to friends because I will be so happy to be outside.