It's official :0)

Last evening I spoke on the phone with Lindsey Phillips for the first time. Or perhaps it's Philips. Either way, she's the sweetest woman in the world and I am already tremendously blessed to be working with her. 

I suppose I'm getting a bit ahead of myself...

This semester I'm taking a class at the University of Mary Washington (where I am a full-time student) entitled Urban Sociology, taught by Dr. Leslie Martin - who, by the way, is fabulously fabulous. Fifty percent of my grade is based upon a research project; in my syllabus for the class I was given two options from which to choose: a service-learning research based project, or an individual research project. I have chosen the service learning option. This was the best option for me for several reasons: it gave me the opportunity to serve an organization and a people in need, it provided me the perfect outlet to meet people in the area and to be connected to a community with which I am unfamiliar, and it also gave me the perfect reason to stay motivated to serve, even in times when I felt like I'd be too busy for something as basic and essential as community service! My grade is dependent upon this; therefore, even in times when the small voice in my head says "Annie you're too tired" or "Annie, you're too busy" or "Annie, your body needs a rest," I am held accountable. Neat system, eh? It doesn't hurt that Lindsey rocks and that I'm wicked excited about serving, either. Plus...community gardening? Are you kidding me? AWESOME!!

Anyhoo, my requirements for the project are to fulfill 10 hours of pure service - prior to diving into any research with my organization. This means I get to be strictly a volunteer for a minimum of 10 hours. Once 10 hours have passed, I can begin "conducting research." 

From there I have several requirements to fulfill in order to make the research components of my project complete. As of today, I have already had to complete an annotated bibliography, complete with 5 formal citations, a summary of the article's key points, and a paragraph-length statement about how the article pertains to my research as I see it now. This took me quite a bit of time: nearly 14 hours in all - including locating my articles, reading the articles, and typing up my annotations. I managed to get it all done in a day and a half, and four days ahead of time, at that! I also managed to add two articles to my formal citation for future reference! Needless to say, it was a stressful two days, but the relaxing weekend as payoff was worth it! 

I'd say that's enough for now. Reality beckons... 

Ciao Bella