It's the final countdown....

Well this is my final week in New York and I can honestly say I have had a great time but I am ready to come home!

A semester's worth of grad school in 5 weeks can be hard on a body, mind and spirit! But, I have done well and while I don't know my final grades yet, I am pleased!

I will have 4 days at home before I start school! But I am ready...have lots of ideas and great projects already planned...just hope my colleagues are ready for all the new stuff I learned that I'm going to coax them into trying :)

I'm ready to lay by the pool, cook steaks on the grill, drink sweet tea with LOTS of ice and drive my car!

Here is a video I put together as my final project for Adult Development...we had to learn something new this 5 weeks and document it...I learned how to get around New York City! Enjoy!

I can't wait to see y'all!!!!!

Much Love
MJ

Celebrity Sighting #3

Today I was waiting on the bus and talking to Lucy on the cell when this guy strolled by...I recognized his face immediately but thought he was some sports guy....had to look him up on the internet when I got home but here's what I found out...

He has been in every cop TV show I have ever watched and he played Jim Carrey's best friend in The Truman Show!

His name is Noah Emmerich....now we all know!

Painting #2

I seem to be on a mission to bring home as much of New York as I can and share it with my friends...

This is a photo collage/painting of the church I have been attending and one of the members. I met Brother Clifford Jones on my first Sunday at church and he has welcomed me every week...he has a great sense of style...he wears bright colored suit coats and white patent leather shoes!

He graciously posed for a picture so I could reference it when I did the painting...can't wait for you to see it in person!

...an idea...

I realize some of you that read this blog are not on Facebook so I wanted to share a painting that I did last week...

I am so totally enthralled with the idea of "living" in New York that I am still looking around everywhere I go and am totally amazed at what and who I see, how they live/exist, how they get around and how most of them seem to do this in total solitude. You have to be "hardy" to live in New York!

This is a combination photograph/painting...the photograph is one I took of the 69th street entrance of Central Park and the painting portion is taken from a photo I snapped on the bus of a random woman lost in thought, listening to an ipod and sipping her coffee.

I wasn't sure of the composition but I think the juxtaposition of the building in the front of her and the park behind hers says something of the way she appears to be feeling...focused on starting a new week but sad to leave the weekend behind? I don't know...what do you think?

I LOVE people watching!

Much love
MJ

Another Week Down....3 more to go!

Got to spend 3 days in the art studio at Parsons this week! 9:00-4:00 - great therapy! Got to know some of the people in the 2nd and 3rd year portion of this program and got to lose myself in the process of art! Love putting in my ipod to paint...listening to Wicked and Camp Songs....great way to spend the day! Went out Friday after class to happy hour and then dinner. We walked a LONG way to the East Village and hung out at a really cool "local" bar...then we walked to SoHo for dinner...can't remember the name of the place but it was really good food....y'all would be proud of me for venturing out of my comfort zone and trying food that I normally would not....like Vietnamese raviloi....delish!!! These are some of the students I'm in school with...

Saturday, I went back to Coney Island to sit on the beach...got alot of reading done on the trip to the beach but none while actually laying out....very windy, lots of sand blasting about my head and neck! Still had sand in my ears today!

Today I got up and went to church...same as last week but this week I wore leggings so as not to flash anyone! When I walked in I immediately smelled fried chicken! Made me very happy...they had a fellowship reception after church and there it was...the best fried chicken I have had in a long time! Met lots of new people including the cute little man from last week, here is his picture, his name is Brother Clifford Jones!

After church I came home for more reading and then met Laura Britt and some of her friends from home at Serendipity for Frozen Hot Chocolate! It was to die for! And Serendipity is the cutest place!

Back home now and have to write 2 reflection papers before tomorrow....rumor has it that Carly Miller will be here this week so I have to make sure I get everything done so I can go play while she is here.

Hope everyone is doing well and I can't wait to see y'all! I do have 2 blow up mattresses if anyone is interested in visiting....you have to be able to take care of yourself though....pretty busy during the week :)

Much love!

MJ

....another update and then I really have to write a paper!

I completed my first course last week...Philosophy and Ethics in Education....the bright spot of the 3 days was that it ended in a pizza/beer party!

We had Friday off so I took advantage of the free time and did no studying! I hopped buses and subways losing myself in order to find myself....I feel very comfortable that if I get lost I will be able to get back home...eventually! Hung out in Bryant Park, found Parsons (where my art classes will be) and cruised through Times Square! I woke up Saturday and went to Coney Island! Saw the Nathan's Hotdog eating contest up close and personal (gross!) While there I met a man who reminded me of RainMan...he was telling me how excited he was to be going to Hoboken to see the fireworks and then proceeded to tell me word for word what the news had reported about where the best place to see them would be, the fact that the police would be paying close attention to drinking and that rooftop bar bq's were not allowed....he told me this 3 times...he was awesome! Then I went walking along the boardwalk. Took lots of interesting pictures, rode the Wonder Wheel and basically people watched...I will spend the next few Saturdays on the beach now that the touristy things are under my belt :)

Came back to the city in time to head down to the Hudson River to watch the fireworks! Along with every other person in the city! Got there an hour and a half before the show was to start only to encounter the police lines that had closed down the area due to massive amounts of people...I stood at the front of the line and made small talk with the police :) I thanked them for the job they were doing cause they were catching flak for having to shut down the streets...I told them I was just going to hang out in case they reopened the streets...which they did about 15 minutes before the show started! The police thanked me for being so polite and let me through first :) I have never been in a sea of so many people...the fireworks were incredible as I had expected but trying to get back home was CRAZY!!! I think the next 2 years I will skip this event :)

Sunday I woke up to a beautiful day! Went to the First Baptist Church in New York City and loved it! Big church, small congregation....met some great people, one in particular was an older african american man wearing a bright salmon colored suit coat...he was precious! After the service, which I thoroughly enjoyed...I stepped out into the aisle....onto a grate that obviously shoots the air conditioning up and my dress flew up! Yes, that's right, I flashed all of the deacons who had just served communion!!!

I have had a great week in New York and I'm ready to start the classes that will last for the next 4 weeks. Please pray for me to have time management skills like no other and the ability to sit back and enjoy what I have and what I am able to experience.

Much love!
MJ

Second Celebrity Sighting!

As I was waiting for my take-out Chinese I spotted Chef Gordon Ramsey from Hell's Kitchen strolling down the street with his wife...thank goodness he didn't go into the restaurant where I had just ordered food! All of this just one block from my apartment!

This has been a CRAZY week! I have one class that started on Tuesday and ends on Thursday....Philosophy and Ethics in Education! Those of you who know me well know that I don't have much patience for philosophy so much of the class sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher to me but it will be over soon! We had two papers to write, nine articles to read, one book to read and one group presentation on that book....we don't get out of class until 7:30pm so that leaves little time to read the articles for the next day, much less write papers and meet with the group to plan a presentation....but it will be over soon! Oh, and we are graded on our participation in class so I have to come up with deep, philosophical comments to interject....I need to work on my vocabulary!

I'm anticipating a busy weekend preparing for my next 3 classes which all start next week...the good news is that one of the classes is a painting/drawing class that is 9:00am-4:00pm Wed. - Friday! I can't wait for that therapy!

More news after the weekend!

Happy Fourth to all!

Much love!