The Wedding

Over the weekend, I was excited to spend some time with Krista Noorman and her assistant Heidi from A Picture's Worth. Krista let me tag along with herself and Heidi to a wedding up in Clarkston, MI.

First, we met at a salon in Waterford. The bridal party was there getting their hair and makeup done. Everyone in the party was happy with their hair styles except for one bridesmaid. Both the bridesmaid and the stylist were getting frustrated. The bridesmaid brought in a photo of what she wanted her hair to look like and it was no where near the picture. Everyone convinced her to do her hair differently and she did. The final result I thought looked nice, but the bridesmaid wasn't too excited with it.

The bridal party left and we waited for the flower girls to come in. The girls came in around 3:30 pm. I took some pictures and Krista took pictures of both girls getting their hair done. Krista, Heidi and I left around 4 pm and headed to Quinzos Subs just a couple of miles away from the wedding location in Clarkston.

Krista informed me a week before the wedding that we the photographers wouldn't be eating at the reception. The bride couldn't get the mansion to budge on our meals and the couple would have been charged for the full price, so that is why we had to eat at Quiznos. We were all ok with that, but later in the evening, I was really getting hungry. The mansion served a buffet style and there was so much extra food! I'm sure we could have walked up to the line and enjoyed a plate without anyone noticing.

When dinner was served Krista and Heidi were standing in the doorway that led to the seating area. I didn't want to stand in the doorway, so I was walking around the library and the hall area. The lady in charge of the food, told Krista and Heidi to leave the dining area because there wasn't enough room. Krista said to Heidi and me that was the first time she was ever kicked out of a wedding. So we walked out to our cars and had some water and Krista and Heidi had a snack.

While everyone was eating, we walked around to keep ourselves busy. We all missed photos of people singing to the couple because we were not allowed in the dining room during dinner. After a while, we all went back into the dining room to get photos of the couple cutting the cake. They cut their cake and everyone else had a smaller cake on their table. I thought it was a good idea when we first walked into the dining area when we first got to the mansion. After seeing how much cake was not eaten, then I thought it wasn't a good idea. At some of the tables, only 1 to 2 slices was taken from a cake. I really wanted to walk over to a table and start helping myself because there was practically a whole cake sitting at an empty table. Someone beat me to that, the food lady that kicked us out of the dining room. Heidi said she took half of the cake back to the kitchen area.

Finally around 9 pm the first dance started. Then there was the daddy-daughter dance. The bride was crying during the dance. Watching them made me think of what I missed at my own wedding. My dad passed away 3 years before I got married and he didn't get to walk me down the aisle or have that dance with me. I bet it would have made my day just a bit nicer. After all of the required dances were done, then everyone started to dance. I took pictures of people on the dance floor with slow shutter speeds, some turned out really good.

After 10 pm it was finally time for the bouquet toss. We were all so happy because our day was almost over and my feet were killing me. The bride tossed her bouquet, the groom took off the garter and it was time to go. I put my equipment away, thanked Krista and we both left the reception.

I thought it would be easy getting home because it was easy getting there. That didn't happen. I took the roads that led us there. Somewhere I missed a turn and was driving down some backroad. I thought if it leads me nowhere I'll turn around. It lead to a city and I thought I would see Dixie Road somewhere. I never saw it. I kept driving. I had directions for 75 if I couldn't find my other way home. I passed a sign that said Auburn Hills. I knew I went too far, I hopped on 75. I got out my 75 directions and there was about 20 different ways I supposed to take. I wasn't too thrilled about that, then I saw a sign for M-59. I decided to take that.

M-59 was a slow drive. Most of it was in a city limit so the speed limit was 35 or 40. About 20 to 30 minutes on 59, my turnoff of 23 was near. At this point I was really starting to get tired. My contacts had been in since 7 am and it was now 11:30 pm or even close to midnight. About 20 miles outside of Ann Arbor my right contact was blurring on me. It is so nice to drive on 23 with one good contact. I could have pulled over and put eye drops in, but that would delay me getting home. When I was back in Adrian, I was really tired. Near the movie theater, I thought a mailbox was a deer.

I decided to fill up my car before going home. Gas was cheaper then it was Saturday morning and the trip took 1/2 a tank. I filled up and got ready to pull out of the lot. I ran over a curb that come out of nowhere. I swear I didn't see it. I pulled into my driveway around 12:45 am. It was a long day. I slept until 9:45 am Sunday morning.

I want to thank Krista again for letting me shoot with her. The pictures will go to good use.

The waiting game

I drove out to Sand Creek Thursday to photograph a varsity football game. The scheduled start time was supposed to be 7 pm. I got to the football field around 6:15 pm thinking that the JV game would be over and warm up for the varsity would be going on. I parked my car and saw the scoreboard through the trees. It read: 10:00 to go in the 3 quarter.

I walked to the ticket booth and found out it was halftime. The JV game didn't even start until 5 pm. How is a varsity game supposed to start at 7 pm if the JV game starts at 5? Well it didn't. There was a lot of waiting around. Around 7:20 pm, the varsity players started warming up on the field. The game finally started at 7:45 pm.

I left the game at halftime, Sand Creek was beating Maple Valley 20-6. Driving back these spots were hitting my windshield, for some reason I thought they were bugs. It wasn't. It started to rain. I guess I left the game at a good time. When I got back to the office at 9:15 pm, it was raining pretty hard. When I walked into the newsroom, another photographer was downloading his images to the computer. I had to wait for him to finish. After he was done, I downloaded my 93 images. It took about 5-10 minutes to edit them. I ended up keeping only 20 pictures. Sand Creek beat Maple Valley 36-12. Click here to read the story.

I ended up leaving work around 10:15 pm. When I got home, I let my dogs outside and I sat down and rewound the tape in the VCR to see who was evicted off of Big Brother. Thursday there was two evictions, Danielle and George ended up leaving the house. That leaves the final four of Erika, Janelle, Mike and Will. I watched about 5 minutes of the tape, got ready for bed, let the dogs back in the house and hopped in bed. I got in bed around 11 pm. My alarm woke me up at 4:05 am to get ready for work. I had less then 5 hours of sleep, GRRRR!

After I watch my Big Brother tape and eat lunch, I think it will be time for an afternoon nap before my football game tonight in Morenci.

The photo above was used on the front page of the sports section. I borrowed my photo from my newspaper's website.

Miles Run in 2006

The college soccer game that I photographed today was supposed to start at 4 pm. It didn't. It was pushed back to 5 pm. With the time change that forced me to change my running plans for the evening. I really wanted to run outside while it was still daylight, but it didn't work out. After downloading, editing my pictures and making the contact sheets, I finally left work at 6:30 pm. By the time I got home, talked with my husband, changed clothes and stretched, it was almost 7 pm. It was getting dark and the sun was starting to go down. I ended up running 3 miles on my treadmill watching the Food Network and Alton Brown.


Total miles run up to August 30:
2004: 208
2005: 235.1
2006: 325.9

Big Brother drama

I watched the second half hour of Big Brother 7 after returning home from shooting a basketball game. I didn't see who Erika nominated for eviction, which happened to be George and Janelle. Janelle won the Power of Veto and everyone knew she would use it on herself to take herself off of the block. Since Erika is in an alliance with Chilltown, they decided to sway Erika's decision and convince her to put up Danielle, her original alliance in the house, for eviction.

When Danielle found out that she was going to be nominated for eviction she got angry at Erika. She said that Erika betrayed her. If Danielle does get evicted, she said she will not give Erika her vote to win the show.

Do these people understand that Big Brother is a game built on lies and betrayal? Houseguests trust too easily and get hurt when they are lied to.

Photo Credits: www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother7/

Alumni basketball scrimmage

Over the weekend, I played in an alumni basketball scrimmage. I was hoping to see people that I played with on the team, but no one showed up.

My sister Denise and I were 2 of 4 alumni to show up. It was sad. The current varsity coach gave us, the alumni, four current players so we could have a team. All four of the alumni started the first 10 minute scrimmage. I have ran over 320 miles this year, but I got really tired fast. I guess I should add speedwork to my running. We played man-to-man and that really wore me out. We had a couple of fast breaks that I actually kept up with and I ran back on defense. After five minutes, we would sub out to let some of the varsity girls play, while us old people took a rest in the bleachers.

In the scrimmage, I had two goals: make a 3-pointer and dive on the floor. I accomplished both of those. In the first scrimmage, a girl had a hand in my face and I shot and made a 3 over her. That was cool. Then a couple of periods later, I went after a loose ball and tried to beat my defender to it. I drove on the floor and the ball went off my fingertips out of bounds. The girl who was guarding me came up and asked if I was alright. I was fine. Now I just have a massive bruise on my left thigh. In the other 5 periods, I could have scored more points. The ball liked to roll off the rim on my left-handed layups. GRRR!!!! Very disappointing.

In all, we played six 10-minute periods. The alumni won 4 and lost 2. By the end of the scrimmage, all of us alumni were very tired. The parents of the varsity talked to us after the scrimmage. They said we should be sore the next day. My arms and shoulders were sore from shooting and they continue to hurt. My legs were fine, just a bit tired. I tried running on the treadmill Sunday, I couldn't make it past two miles. My goal for Sunday was to run three miles, but I don't think my legs could have made it.

The varsity coach said that next year he would hold the alumni scrimmage in early August. If it is held then we probably would have more people playing before they go off to college. If that's true, then we can really have an alumni game. Not a couple alumni with varsity players on one team. We worked with what we had and made the best of it.

Random things

I was contacted today by TransWestern Publishing (aka: the Yellowbook) about placing ads in the Yellowbook for my business Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography. The representative that called me said the deadline for the Ann Arbor phone book was today. I had to decide about my ad practically on the spot. I ended up buying ads in both books. I'm hoping those ads send some business.

Tonight is the 2006 season kickoff of high school football. I will be covering a game at Sand Creek. This is the 7th year that I have been photographing sports for the newspaper. Here's to another enjoyable football season.

Tomorrow morning I will be playing in an alumni basketball game at Sand Creek. The last alumni game was two years ago and it was fun. A bunch of alumni came back to scrimmage the current girls varsity basketball team. I hope the turnout for this year's game is good. It would be nice to see people that I played with on varsity come back.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine

Currently Reading: Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Up Next: Grace, I'll get the author's name later

Waiting

My husband and I decided eat at Fricker's in Adrian after seeing Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. We pull into the parking lot , its full because it is a new restaurant and it was 25 cent wing night.

We walked in and my husband gave his name to the hostess. She wrote down the time, 7:12 pm. Every table is full. The waiting area benches are full. And more people were waiting outside. At 7:30 pm, the hostess calls our name and we are lead to our table. After getting seated a waitress came and got our drink and cheese stick order and the order of wings. Our drinks and cheese sticks come out within five minutes. We finished the cheese sticks, got refills on our drinks and wait.

Still waiting I got another refill of water. My husband and I thought that the wings would be out shortly. We were wrong. At 8 pm, still no wings. But the college guys across the room got about 50 wings delivered to their table. To pass the time, we watched the Tigers on the big screen TV behind the bar. Still watching the game at 8:15 pm and no wings in sight. Another 10 minutes go by, the waitress brings the table behind my husband their wings. So we knew our were coming out soon. A couple of minutes later, the waitress brings our wings to the table at 8:30 pm. Mike and I ate our 10 wings a piece. (I can't believe I ate 10 of them.) We paid our bill and walked out of Fricker's around 8:55 pm.

They wings were very good, worth the hour wait. Hopefully next time we go back it won't take an hour to get 20 wings.

Welcome back to pavement

Instead of running indoors on my treadmill Monday afternoon, I decided I would go outside. It was a nice day. A little bit of a breeze and 84 degrees. Granted I haven't run outside in 3 to 4 weeks because of the heat and humidity, I decided it was time to go back outside and run.

Halfway through my 3.5 mile run, my knees started to hurt. And they continued to hurt throughout the rest of the evening.

My legs are still sore today, but I will be back outside on the pavement Thursday.

My weekend

This past weekend was very busy. Here are the highlights:

Friday
- Photographed NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Qualifying Friday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Jeff Burton won the pole. Dale Earnhardt Jr's starting position for the GFS Marketplace 400 was 17th.
- Photographed the ARCA race that followed the Cup qualifying. Some guy who drove a Serta car won.

Saturday
- Woke up early Saturday morning to get ready to photograph the Cross Country Preview meet in Tecumseh. The rain was fantastic to shoot in. There is nothing like trying to keep an umbrella balanced on your shoulder while taking pictures. Later in the race, Russ (Onsted's XC assistant coach) held the umbrella for me while I was taking photos.
- Drove to Bedford, Mich. later that evening to photograph a Women's Professional Football League game. After getting what I needed I decided to sit in the bleachers to watch the rest of the game. I have never seen so many bugs. They were flying all over and were crawling on the bleachers. I'm glad I wore pants and had a jacket with a hood to keep them away.
- Called my husband while waiting for the WPFL game to start. He told me that Dale Earnhardt, Jr won the Busch Race at MIS. Probably would have been the only chance to see Junior win in person. In the words of X the Eliminator from Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law: "DAMN IT".
- On the drive back from Bedford, I was behind people who decided 45 mph was the speed limit for US 223. Needless to say, I passed them all and continued driving 62 mph.

Sunday
- Got out of bed early to finish housework before driving up to Michigan International Speedway. The dogs were disappointed that they had to stay outside while I finished the housework. They both gave me the sad faces when I locked them in the kitchen when I was leaving.
- Had a nasty media lunch at the track. The hot dogs were gross and coming apart even before I grabbed one for my plate. I think they were in the boiling water a little too long. After finishing my potato salad, coleslaw, a small piece of chicken and some of the nasty hot dog, Domino's Pizza employees brought small personal pepperoni pizza's for everyone. BOO!
- During driver introductions I was amazed that Dale Earnhardt, Jr was getting booed. He rarely gets booed.
- I enjoyed seeing Dale Jr lead the race. Too bad he had lugnut problems on his last pit stop, he could have competed with Matt Kenseth for the win.
- A fan crawled onto the media risers with all of the photographers in Victory Circle. He was forced to leave by MIS personnel. HA HA!
- Sitting in race traffic for 25 minutes. Most of it was spend trying to leave the infield parking lot.

So Happy!!

My husband installed the hard drive that failed on us today. Everything was recovered. The photos and documents that I thought I lost forever, I have them again. Now I'm in the middle of burning so many CDs. There is no way that I'm losing them again.

Next week, I will be posting Encore rehearsal and recital photos on my Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography instaproofs site. Photos can be purchased on this site. Also, you will be able to view everything that I shot those two nights.

A good day so far

Today has been good for me.

I got my paycheck at work. On the paycheck was my photo sales commission. Hey, it wasn't much, but at least I'm finally getting paid for it. Unlike my last paycheck, most of it went into the bank.

I got back my hard drive that the computer company in town said it couldn't fix. My co-workers friend recovered everything from the hard drive. Now I have to wait for my husband to install it.

I'm so happy. I got Photoshop today! I was going crazy without it. Along with the hard drive, I have to wait for my husband to install it. When it is installed, it will be nice to edit photos once again.

Now it is off to watch Project Runway that I taped from Wednesday night.

In Memory of Dad

John Wayne Clark

April 10, 1942 - August 15, 1998

ADRIAN - John Wayne Clark, 56, of Adrian, passed away Saturday, August 15, 1998, at Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall, Michigan.

He was born April 10, 1942, in Adrian, the son of Wayne and Eloise (Rathbun) Clark. After graduating from Sand Creek High School in 1960, he served in the National Guard. On February 24, 1968, John married Mary Teresa Hallett in Swanton, Ohio. She survives.

John was a life-long farmer and raised hogs. He was a member of the Lenawee County Farm Bureau and the ASC. He was very involved in the community, serving on the Sand Creek Board of Education for 16 years, including working on the High School Building Committee, and served on the Madison Township Board of Review. John was also a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Adrian.

Besides his wife, Mary, John is survived by his seven children, David, Deborah, Diane, Daniel, Deanna, Denise and Deloris. Also surviving are his mother, Eloise Clark, and a sister Jean (Don) Ward. Preceding John in death was his father Wayne, in 1971.

The Funeral Mass for John will be held Wednesday, August 19, 1998, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church with Fr. James Lothamer, s. s., as celebrant. Burial will follow in Fairfield Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the Braun Everiss Wagley Funeral Home on Tuesday from 2-4 and 6-9 p.m. with a prayer vigil at 7:30 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sand Creek Community Schools or St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

Father, into your hands we commend our brother. We are confident that with all who have died in Christ, he will be raised to life on the Last Day and live with Christ forever. Thank you for all the blessings you gave him in this life to show your Fatherly Care for all of us and the fellowship which is ours with the Saints in Jesus Christ. Welcome our brother into Paradise and help us to comfort each other with the assurance of our faith until we all meet in Christ to be with You and our brother forever. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let the Perpetual Light shine upon him.

Lenawee County Fair Queen Contest photos

Over on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery, I started to post pictures from the 2006 Lenawee County Queen's Contest. Today's post is of the winner, Jessica Adams. Tomorrow's post will be on First Runner-Up Melissa Beteau. I will continue to post pictures of all the remaining queen candidates.

Two long weeks

Friday, I worked a lot of hours. 14.5 hours to be exact. I worked the morning shift 4:30 am to noon. Then I had a assignment to shoot from 1:30 pm to 2 pm. Then worked the night shift from 5:30 pm to 12:30 am Friday morning. (I took an half hour dinner break.)

This morning I had to get up early, get ready and drive to Madison Township and shoot football mugs at 8:30 am. The football team didn't come out to the field until 8:45 am. If I didn't have the football mugs to shoot today, this would have been a full day off. But no such luck.

Tomorrow, which is Sunday, is the start of the Lenawee County Fair. It has been my job for the last 4 years to photograph the Queen's Contest. So I will continue with tradition and photograph the contest. Before the candidates take the stage, there will be a Lenawee County Fair Queen Reunion. Should be interesting. Some of the former queens will be doing talents on stage. I heard many are coming back.

Since I'm working tomorrow that will be a week straight of work. Next week won't be any different. Work Monday-Friday as usually and then I will be up at Michigan International Speedway for NASCAR race weekend which starts Friday afternoon.

I will be looking forward to August 26. Maybe I'll finally get a day off.

Random things

My husband and I enjoyed our VIP dinner Wednesday at the new Fricker's in Adrian. The food and service was excellent! For an appetizer, we ordered the wings. Those were some of the best wings I ever had. For dinner, Mike ordered the ribs and I had the A1 burger. dinner, we both had the dessert of the day: cheesecake with chocolate dressing. I would recommend Fricker's to everyone! Good food that isn't very expensive.

Good News! One of my co-workers has a friend that knows a lot about computers. After the computer place in town told my husband that they couldn't recover anything from our hard drive, we gave our hard drive to my co-worker and he mailed it to his friend to see what he could do with it. He didn't promise us anything, but he would see if he could recover any data or photos. Wednesday I received a call from my co-worker. He told me his friend recovered EVERYTHING from our hard drive. He is in the process of mailing it back to us. I'm so happy! I had photos on the hard drive that I didn't burn to CD's that I thought I lost forever. As soon as we get the hard drive back, I swear I'm going to be burning about 20 CD's of just photographs. I learned my lesson. Download photos to computer, immediately burn them to a CD.

I just bought my box for the upcoming Box Show at the LCVA Gallery. My theme for my box this year is destruction. I love to photograph abandoned buildings (not too many in Adrian), but I'm going to focus on one and feature some of my photographs on and in the box. Sand down the finish on the outside of the box and spray paint it. Entries are due August 16. I really have to get working on this.

If you're interested in the box show, here is some information:

Member’s 4th Annual Box Show and Auction

Exhibition: August 17 – September 23, 2006

Silent Auction: September 23, 2006

The Box Show and Auction is the LCVA’s only fund raising event of the year. Exhibiting members are given the task to creatively make art that takes the form of a box, embellishes a box, is contained within a box, is attached to a box, or depicts a box. The exhibition includes both functional boxes and nonfunctional boxes and all are available for purchase through the silent auction will be held on September 30th, 2006, 7 – 9 pm. Wine, cheese and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Public invited. This year, juror Peggy Grant, Art Director of Toledo's 20 North Gallery will present awards.

Gallery Address: 112 West Maumee

Adrian, MI 29221

Phone: 517-265-4403

VIP Dinner

This week in the mail, my husband received an invivation to attend an VIP dinner with a guest at the new Fricker's opening in Adrian. Fricker's is set to open its doors to the general public on Thursday. But since my husband is special*, we get to go there tonight and eat a good meal.

We ate at a Fricker's down in Toledo, Ohio about a month ago and enjoyed the food. I hope the Adrian Fricker's will be just as good. I'll let everyone how it is Thursday.


* My husband is special, meaning he is a city commissioner.

Photo Credit: www.dotoledo.org/gtcvb/images/restaurants/frickers_01.gif

Miles Run in 2006

After running 3 miles today on my treadmill, that put my total mileage so far this year at 302.9 miles. The next day I will run is Thursday. I think I will reach my New Year's Resolution goal of running 400 miles this year. Only 97.1 miles to go.

Total miles run up to August 8:
2004: 186.9
2005: 220.7
2006: 302.9

My new website

I started my own business, Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography. I offer affordable photo packages for engagements, weddings, families, children and all occasions.

I photograph events using a photojournalistic approach. As a working photojournalist for 7 years, I have a great skill of observation, working quickly and aniticipating the shot. I prefer to photograph people naturally, but will photograph traditional posed shots for those who prefer them. Let my years of photojournalism experience capture the special moments fo your day.

I work primarily in Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio, but I am available for travel upon request.

Check out my website. It is awesome. Thanks Emily!

Books read in 2006

When on vacation, I usually buy a book that will keep me entertained while my husband is still sleeping in the morning. During my trip to Chicago, I found the book Bowerman and the Men of Oregon at Borders and bought it. I have been looking for this book for a while and couldn't find it locally. I just finished it and I have to say it was a really great book. If you love track, you'll like the story of University of Oregon's legendary coach Bill Bowerman.

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore

Currently Reading: Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Up Next: Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith

The vacation

My husband and I returned Friday evening from our vacation in Chicago. Besides the two straight days of 100+ degree weather and the hour long delay to get on the Amtrack train to come home, we had a great time.

We shared many firsts on the trip. The first night we were in Chicago, my husband and I ate at Chipotle. It was very good and cheap! We also took a boat ride down the river, a bus tour, went to Sears Tower, the King Tut exhibit, went to Niketown four times, Navy Pier, ate at a number of great restuarants like the Cheesecake Factory, Pizzera Uno and one of the best steakhouses Chicago Chophouse.

I won't have Photoshop for a while yet. I will try to post photos of the trip over at DCO's Photo Gallery soon.

Today is the day

I still have to finish packing for Chicago and it is almost 6 a.m.! Just wanted to drop a note to say I'll return to blogging next week. Have a good week everyone!

Next stop: Chicago


Photo Credit: http://web.mit.edu/amitd/www/pics/chicago/lakeshore.jpg

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler,Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli

Currently Reading: Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Up Next: Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith

Chicago: Hot and Humid

I just checked weather.com for Monday's forecast in Chicago. My husband and I will be arriving around noon, CDT. At noon it will be 92 degrees. But it will feel like 103 degrees with the heat index. Around 3 p.m, 97 degrees with a heat index of 109 degrees and very humid.

Fabulous. I love excessive heat and humid conditions.


Photo Credit: www.weather.com

Everybody have fun tonight

While driving in my car tonight, I was listening to a radio station that was playing 80's music. The DJ introduced the song "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung and asked his listeners this question, "Did you learn how to Wang Chung? Yeah, me either."

I was looking up the correct song title for the Wang Chung song, "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" on Amazon.com. I found the title and this is what one person had to say in the customer reviews: "Wang Chung sucks wang chung." That made me laugh out loud.




Photo Credit:www.ear.fm/Encyclopedia%20W/WangChung.jpg

Random things

My heels hurt from standing at a Legion baseball game that I was photographing for 3+ hours. At least I got to lean on a pole in the dugout.

My legs are very tired from my run this afternoon.

The lower half of my body is in pain. Friday, I get to do it all again. I get to stand for another 9 inning Legion baseball game starting at 10 a.m. That should be a good time.

I think I'll wear different shoes then the ones I wore today. I'll wear my running shoes. Those will give my heels more cushion. I don't need my feet or heels hurting even more, especially for the upcoming week. Next week, my husband and I will be walking a lot on our vacation in Chicago.

Countdown to my Chicago vacation: 4 days

Website Mock up

Currently I'm in the middle of trying to start my own photography business. I've filled out my paperwork, which still needs to be looked over by my lawyer and sent to the state, but at least it is filled out. I created a price list and made a contract. Since my harddrive failed and I couldn't recover any data, I'll be retyping those. I'm glad I made copies.

Another part of the project I was working on is a website. I contacted Emily at Swank Web Style and she has been designing my website. Today I received a birthday present. She sent me a mock up of my home page. It is awesome! A word is misspelled, but that will be taken care of. If that is what my home page looks like, I can't wait to see the rest of the website.

When the website is up and running, I'll create a link on my blogs so everyone can look at my pretty site.

My birthday plans

Today, Wednesday, July 26 is my 27th birthday. My plans are to go to work (how exciting), eat lunch with a group of friends, and go to the country club tonight with my husband the city commissioner. Tonight, Adrian's sister city (somewhere in Japan) their officals are in town. So I get to share my birthday and have dinner with Adrian and Japan's finest. Should be interesting.

After work and lunch, I get to open my four presents. They are waiting for me on the dining room table.

Photoshop and Blogger

I will try to post photos over on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery, all of this week. As you may have read last week, the harddrive at my house died and we couldn't recover any data. When the harddrive crashed, it took everything with it. I don't have Photoshop right now. I'm patiently waiting for it in the mail. I hope it comes really soon. I use it everyday and I can't edit and tone photos without it. Today I uploaded my Door in the Shadows photo through Photobucket. When I uploaded it unto Blogger, it loaded sideways. I couldn't change it. I will have to let it go until I get Photoshop back on my computer.

Another problem beside Photoshop is Blogger. My husband loaded the internet back onto the computer and it is different then before. Now in Blogger, my text formatting buttons are missing. I downloaded Mozilla Sunday and the icons still didn't appear. Now I'm in the process of downloading Internet Explorer 7. I hope this works. If not, I'm get my husband to look at it.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans

Currently Reading: Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Up Next: Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Quine

Update

My mom's dog Spencer was found today. He was standing in the middle of the road about 1.5 miles away from my mom's house. A lady who the whole family knows said he wouldn't move from the middle of the road. She didn't want him to get hit, so she opened the door to her vehicle and he jumped in. Then she drove around the community looking for the owner.

Spencer is now back home.

Worst Month Ever

A while ago, my battery died in my Timex Ironman watch. I took my watch to JCPenny and bought a new battery. A week after my getting my battery changed, my watch lost all of the programmed information and I would have to reset my watch. This kept happening for two weeks, I took my watch back to JCPenny. The employees took off the back and changed battery again. They gave it back to me and I left. After a month of working fine, my watch stopped working this week. I just changed the battery a couple of weeks ago, I know the problem isn't the battery. I should just throw my watch away and buy a new one. But I shouldn't have to. The watch is only 2 years old. I hope I just get a new watch for my birthday next week. I really don't like going without a watch and now everyone can see my watch tan line.

Wednesday I called the oral surgeons and set up my consultation. It is for September 6. I was hoping for something earlier so I wouldn't have to miss photographing any games. But that was not the case. I'm so not looking forward to getting my wisdom teeth pulled.

While following an SUV Thursday, a stone was kicked up and chipped my windshield. The stone left three small size chips on my driver's side.

Thursday the hard drive on my computer at home died. My husband and I lost so many files. I lost a bunch of photos that I had yet to burn. It was so upset and still am. He installed a new hard drive last night. Now he has the task of uploading all of the software. I'm upset because I can't find my Photoshop 7 disk. If we can't find it, we'll have to buy another. GRRR!! Junky computer!

My husband and I went to Staples today. I really wanted to get Photoshop because we have misplaced our CD. I found the Photoshop box in the software aisle and I left it on the shelf. It cost $679! Almost $700 for Photoshop! I don't think so. Mostly likely DCO's Photo Gallery will be on hold until I get Photoshop back on my computer. Until then check out all of the pretty photos that I lost! GRRR!

I went home today to visit my mom and sister. I found out that my mom's dog Spencer, got loose from his chain and ran away. Spencer has been missing since last night. My sisters drove around the area to look for him, there has been no sign of him. Saturday, my sister is going to call the Humane Society to see if he has been turned in. I hope he finds his way back home.

Teeth pulling and stone chipping

I had all summer to do this. Now it is getting down to crunch time.

I had a dental check-up back in April. The dentist told me that he recommended that I get all four of my wisdom teeth pulled. I hesitated on calling the oral surgeons until I saved a bit of money. Well, that didn't happen. I've been paying many bills, starting a photography business and saving for my upcoming vacation.

My next dental check-up is in October. I wanted to have my teeth pulled before then. I called the oral surgeon today and they could only take my name and number. Computer issues on their end. Then the receptionist told me that the earliest that they could pull my wisdom teeth is the last week of August or the first week of September. I asked if they had anything the week of August 21? The receptionist said only if someone cancels. GRRR! I really wanted it done during the week of August 21 because high school and college sports really haven't started their schedule and I wouldn't miss photographing any games. Now, I will have to miss games as I recover from my oral surgery.

I guess that is what I get for waiting so long to call the oral surgeon.

While driving to my baseball game this evening, I was following a SUV. The person driving was all over the road. I was thinking about calling the Sheriff's Department to tell them about the reckless driver in front of me. While thinking about making the call, a rock flies up and nails my windshield. The pebble chipped my windshield. Not in one place, but two. The chips are small but my husband suggested I call a glass company and find out how much it costs to get the chips fixed.

Great. More money that I have to spend.

Random things......

My husband and I bought a lovely 3-piece luggage* set for our upcoming vacation to Chicago. This luggage set is huge. Now I'll be able to fit all of my belongings in one bag and not two bags. It also has wheels and a handel to pull it. That should be nice when walking to and from the train station.
*The picture is not the exact same set we bought. Ours is only 3-pieces. Basically the three with the extended handles came in the set.

Erika chose not to use the Power of Veto on Big Brother 7. I'm glad she didn't. If she would have used the Veto to save Diane or Nakomis, that would have forced Kaysar to put up one of the Chill Town boys. I was a geek and voted at cbs.com to get Erika into the Big Brother All-Star house. I want her to stay for as long as she can and not become a target.


Photo Credits: www.kmart.com & www.cbs.com

Its getting hot in here

The past two days at my house haven't been enjoyable. There is a lovely heat wave that has hit Michigan and it has been 90+ degrees. Right now it is 90 degrees but with the heat index it is 94 degrees. My husband and I don't have central air, so right now my house is at a wonderful 84 degrees. We have been using ceiling fans and personal fans to keep ourselves and the dogs cool. To save us at night, we do have a window air conditioning unit in our bedroom.

Maybe next year we can get the central air that my husband and I have been talking about for two years.

Photo Credit: www.weather.com

Miss River Raisin Festival 2006

I photographed the 2006 River Raisin Scholarship Pageant at the River Raisin Festival in Blissfield this evening. I got to the Pavilion stage where the contest was being held and it was lightly raining. Then the skies opened up and it turned into a downpour. People who came early are standing on the stage trying to keep dry, myself included. After 45 minutes, the rain stopped and the pageant started a half hour late with the sun shining.

Elisabeth Dorman, 19, of Tecumseh was crowned Miss River Raisin Festival 2006. I will post photos of the pageant starting tomorrow on my photo blog, DCO's Photo Gallery.

Runway and Big Brother

I finished wathcing Project Runway 3 this afternoon. The designers challenge this week was to go back to their apartments at Atlas and find anything that they could use to make an outfit. They used the bed sheets, rugs, curtains, shower curtains and whatever else they could fit into a laundry bag. I really liked Laura's coat, Keith's blue dress and Robert's white dress with the added jewerly. Keith ended up winning the first challenge, but I thought that Laura and Robert also had a chance to win.

Tonight on Big Brother 7 it is Live eviction night. I hope the house is smart and votes to evict Alison. Alison is a smart player and she can win challenges. Danielle is a smart player, but she has trouble winning any competitions. It would be better for the house to get rid of the bigger threat which is Alison. If the house evicts Danielle tonight, Alison will be going after Janelle for nominating her.



Photo Credits: www.bravotv.com & www.cbs.com

Random things......

I was glad that Janelle won the Power of Veto and chose not to use it to save Alison or Danielle. I would like both of them out of Big Brother 7 is fast as possible, but I hope Allison gets evictied first. We will find out live Thursday who is first to leave and which two other houseguests win Co-Heads of household.



Tonight on Bravo is the start of Project Runway 3. I will be in bed by the time the show starts. I will watch it Thursday when I get home from work.

What will Tim Gunn do without Andre and Santino? Make it work.



Photo Credits: www.cbs.com & tv.yahoo.com

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography

Engagements - Weddings - Families - Children - All Occasions
Located in Adrian, MI

dcophotography@hotmail.com

Random things......

Since Sunday, I have gotten so many mosquito bites on my legs. I have seven on my right leg and two on my left leg. I don't think I even had that many for all of last year. I guess that is what I get for standing outside talking to my neighbors and helping my husband put up a fence in my backyard. To avoid getting more bites on my legs, I'm wearing pants today. There's nothing like wearing jeans when it is so hot and humid outside. You know what else I hate about mosquito bites besides all of the itching and having my legs all red with scratches? It is so hard to shave your legs.

What is with Danielle from Big Brother already? They weren't even in the house for a day and she is trying to get things going by saying if Co-Heads of Household Janelle and Jase don't agree on who to nominate to evict that they both go on the block. That backfired on her. HA HA! Janelle and Jase nominated Danielle and Allison. I hope when it comes to eviction night that the house votes to get rid of Danielle. I wouldn't mind if they got rid of Allison as well, but I don't think I could stand another summer of Danielle.

My husband and I are driving back to Toledo, Ohio Saturday to pick up his slacks at the Men's Warehouse. He said when we go back that he wants to get a black shirt and a black tie. Personally I think that will make him look sexy. There's nothing like a man dressed all in black.

My vacation starts in about 3 weeks. I'm so excited and I can't hardly wait.

Finally, Congratulations to fellow blogger Krista on her engagement! Best of luck to you two.

Big Brother 7

I'm such a geek.

Tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS starts another summer reality TV show: Big Brother 7. I'm sad to announce that I have watched all 6 previous seasons.

Seven years ago, I was 19 years old almost 20. I lived at my mom's house with no cable, no computer/internet and no air conditioning. My dad, John, had passed away the year before and I was still dating my husband. Growing up in and living in a house with no cable, limits what you watch. Since we had only a handful of channels, Big Brother would be watched every week at my house. After getting married, moving to my own apartment and then my house, we have had cable. Even with 100 channels or more every summer I find myself turning to the CBS network for Big Brother. I guess I like everyone stabbing each other in the back and playing dirty.

I will be watching tonight to see which 12 former residents will move back into the Big Brother house. Let's see who I can hate all over again.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan

Currently Reading: The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Up Next:

July 4

Today is the day for no alarm clocks, sleeping in till 7 a.m., (weekdays I get up at 4 a.m.) watching bad infomericals on TV and laying on my couch.

Things I have to do today: run, go home to see the family and work on wedding contracts.

If I don't get everything on my list done that's ok. I'll just be happy that I got to sleep in and not go to work today.

Happy 4th of July!

The weekend

My husband and I drove down to Toledo, Ohio Saturday. We made numerous stops while in the city.

We first had lunch at Shorty's Barb-B-Que at 5111 Monroe St., Toledo. Fabulous food! I love the pulled pork sandwiches! The sandwiches are so big and the sides are wonderful! Along with the pulled pork sandwich I recommend the mac-n-cheese and coleslaw. After lunch, are next stop was the Men's Warehouse. My husband had a coupon for the summer sale and he needed some clothes with colors for the summer. He ended up buying new dress shirts, slacks and ties. Thursday, we should be driving back to the Men's Warehouse to pick up his slacks from their alterations.

Leaving Men's Warehouse, we stopped at Westfield Franklin Park Mall. I told my husband we could walk around the mall once before leaving Toledo. Walking the mall, we approached Pottery Barn. I told my husband we didn't have to go in. I grabbed his hand and pulled him from the door. I couldn't walk away, we turned back around and went in. I love Pottery Barn, but everything is so expensive. They always have pretty and bright colors for pillows and placemats. If I had a lot of money I know I would be dropping it in that store. The next stop was Borders. I went straight to the photography books. I found two that I wanted: digital wedding photography and marketing strategies. I took them over to my husband and asked if I could get them. He said yes. (I read them both later that night.) After getting what I wanted at Borders we made our final stop in the mall at Dick's Sporting Goods. My husband picked up some Under Armor shirts and shorts. I didn't get anything but I was pointing out some Nike Dri-fit shirts and shorts that I wanted for my upcoming birthday (July 26). They are so good to run in, they keep me cool.

We left the mall and drove to Best Buy down the street. My husband bought a computer game and Microsoft Money. While he was looking at the computer stuff, I found the aisle with camera bags. I found the backpack I was looking at online. I wanted this backpack for my upcoming vacation to Chicago at the end of the month. I didn't want to be walking around the city of Chicago with two cameras hanging from my neck. This backpack will let me carry both cameras and other stuff. I looked through the bag to see if it would be big enough. It was. I grabbed it and took it over to my husband and asked him if I could get it. He said I could get it and bought it for me. He is so nice!

The day was very busy, with delicious lunch and shopping. We had a good time. We both got things that we needed. It was great to spend the afternoon with my wonderful husband.

Wireless internet

This week my husband and I had wireless internet installed at our house. The computer guys came over and put something on our roof and added more cords to the computer. They left and we started to use the internet. My husband and I came to the same conclusion after surfing the web: it is slow and we don't like it.

I type in an address, the Microsoft flag waves for 45 seconds, then it says it is done. No you're not! The page is in the exact same place! It takes so long for everything to load onto a page. It is a good thing that our DSL line is still hooked up. We are going to drop the wireless internet and go back to the faster DSL line.

Wireless, you suck!

My fabulous 3.5 mile run

This afternoon's run was not good from the start.

After the first few steps, my quads were tired still from Sunday's 10k. This made my run slow. I didn't make the first two stoplights on my route. Stopping at the crosswalks interrupt my run, I rarely like to stop during a run. Not even done with mile one and I get horrible cramps. I run with them for a while, but I can't stand the pain anymore. The pain forces me to walk. If you know me, you'll know I'm not a fan of walking during a run. It makes me feel weak.

While on the second half of my 3.5 mile run, a yellow car with two guys drive by. I notice the driver is looking out of his window at me. Not once, but three times. I thought it was weird because I never seen that car or those guys before. I was relieved when the car went a different way then my route. A couple of minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I see a yellow car. I look over and it is the yellow car with the same two guys. Again, the driver is looking at me. They drive pass me and turn onto a street a block away from me. Once I got to that street I was looked around to see if the yellow car was in sight. It wasn't. I'm just glad they didn't park the car and wait for me.

I make it back to my house. Once I finish my run, I stop in the middle of my driveway to take a breather and cool down. While bent over with my hands on my knees I hear the neighbor girl and her friends, who are in a parked car, say "you're in the way." I look up and all three girls in the car are looking at me. The driver wanted to pull her car in my driveway to turn around. Since I heard her say that, I just stayed in the middle of my driveway. She finally got tired of waiting and pulled into my other neighbors driveway. When they went by they were all giving me looks. First of all, you don't say you're in my way when there are plenty of other driveways to turn around in. Second, you don't say you're in my way when it is my driveway and property. I can stand and relax in the middle of my driveway for as long as I want.

As soon as they went by I walked to my porch and went inside my house. HA!

Where is everyone?

Before I go to bed every night, I check a few blogs. Sometimes a new post is on the page, sometimes it is not. If it is not, I know in the morning at work I will have something to read besides the 4 newspapers and my cable news network website. Most of the bloggers I don't know personally, but after reading their blogs for a while, it feels like I know them a little. So after doing my required work at the office, I take some time to catch up on my blog friends. I like to read blogs in the morning while photos are uploading to mycapture. Mycapture is a site attached to The Daily Telegram's website to sell photos that we, the photographers, take for the newspaper.

This past week I have been checking out my usual blogs and noticed something. One blogger signed off for a fabulous week of vacation. Another blogger hasn't posted in six days. I'm sure that they have a busy life and can't blog every second of the day. Are you on vacation? Run out of things to blog about? I know my blog isn't stellar, but I try to post every weekday. I know that the three people out there who do read my blog may be disappointed. Are you? I know I get disappointed if people haven't posted in a while.

This is the summer. The weather is nice. People may be spending more time outside. They could be on vacation. They could be busy with work. Who knows? Maybe they don't have anything to blog about. I know I'm that way sometimes. Just letting you, my blog friends, know that when you come back, I'll be at your blog reading and catching up with you.

Miles run in 2006

After running my 10k (6.2 miles) Sunday at the 23rd Annual Hospice of Lenawee Run in Blissfield, MI , that put my total mileage so far this year at 251.0 miles. I will be running again Wednesday, I wanted to give my legs a rest.

Total miles run up to June 27:
2004: 157.8
2005: 197.7
2006: 251.0

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh

Currently Reading: Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
Up Next: The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans

Bruce Jones 10K

Despite getting cramps during the second mile of the six mile run, I finished the Bruce Jones 10k in Blissfield this morning in 1:11:16.

It was a nice day to run. There was a nice breeze and it wasn't too hot or humid. I had a nice first mile time, then trouble struck. I started getting stomach cramps. I had to slow my pace a bit to be able to continue to run. Of course when I did that people caught up with me and passed me. After the cramps went away, I was too far behind to make up the difference.

What really made me upset was this guy who was behind me the entire race. He would run, then stop, take a walk break and talk to everyone in site. The entire race I could hear him behind me. Around mile 5, he got right beside me and passed me. Here I am running the entire race and this guy passes me. He continued running all the way to the finish line. Where are your walk breaks now? GRRRR!

When he passed me, that now made me the last 10k runner on the course. It really didn't bother me because I knew I was doing good and I didn't stop to walk once. Of course being the last runner meant I got to hear the hum of the ambulance engine following me the entire course. If I twisted my ankle on the course, they would be right there to help me.

I finished last once again, but I was pleased with my time and effort.

Business adventures

I'm finally getting my Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography business website created! I have been waiting, patiently, (well, not the entire time) for Emily, a designer from Swank Web Style to come back from vacation. Emily made my week when she emailed me on Wednesday telling me that she could start the process for designing/hosting my website. I sent Emily a bunch of information and photographs that she will use on my website. I can't wait to see the mock up of it!

Besides the website, I still have to get my business insurance, find a lawyer, get a phone book ad and make business cards. That should be fun! Not really. I knew running a business would not be easy. I didn't realize how much work it is to actually start a business. I hope after a couple of months of running my business it won't be as stressful.

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography

Weddings - Engagements - Families - Children - All Occasions

Located in Adrian, MI

dcophotography@hotmail.com

Storm front

I was upset yesterday after driving to
my Legion baseball game to see that the field
was empty. I called the office, got the assistant sports editor and asked if the game was moved to another location or if it was canceled. He told me that the game was canceled. I was disappointed because that was the second time this week that Legion games were called off. When I drove to the baseball field, the sun was shining. It was warm and slightly humid. Finding out the game was off I drove back home and read my book.

While reading the TV is usually on. I turned the channel to the Weather Channel and found out that Lenawee County was under a tornado warning. Who knew? My husband had the night off of work, so I told him about the warning. He walked over and turned on his radio (his police portable radio) and we heard that there was funnel clouds spotted over Onsted, which is about 10 minutes from our house. The calls over the scanner kept coming in, funnel clouds spotted, they seemed to be coming east towards Adrian. A call came over the scanner that said that a funnel cloud was spotted in town over the mall, which is about a mile from the house. Then the call that freaked me out was that funnel clouds were spotted near our house , not even a block away. Instead of immediately running into the basement, my husband and I walked out onto our front porch to look. We didn't see anything, but the sky was pitch black at 6 p.m. Looking around outside, we decided to go down to the basement. Me being the photographer, I grabbed both of my cameras and my photo vest. My husband looked at me when I brought it downstairs, I said, "I don't want to pay for these if something happens."

Mike went back upstairs to get our dogs, Blitzkrieg and Kelly. They don't like the basement and they don't like to go down the stairs. My husband picked up Kelly and brought her down. Blitzkrieg refused to come downstairs. My husband tried to push him on the landing of the stairs, Blitz would wriggle free and run away. After many tries we gave up and left him in the kitchen. While downstairs, we watched Channel 13abc Action News and they had extended news coverage of the huge storm. They talked to a man from Adrian, who said that his flap pole fell over and he lost a swing. Whoopee, a swing.

Along with the funnel clouds, it was raining a lot outside. The street in front of our house was flooded. All of these idiots were driving through so fast and splashing water all over the place. After about a hour, the skies started to lighten up and the heavy rain and storms had finally passed. The water flooding our street receded and everything was back to normal. The great flood of 2006 was over. Once Adrian gets another heavy rain, the streets will flood again.

Chicago: My kind of town

My husband, Mike and I booked our hotel and our train tickets to Chicago Monday! We will be going to Chicago at the end of July for a 5 days, 4 night stay. The last time we were in Chicago was for our 3-day honeymoon back in September 2001. When sightseeing we wanted to go inside the Sears Tower. It was closed due to what happened at The World Trade Center in New York City 4 days before we got married on September 15.

Our fabulous hotel is right off of the Magnificent Mile and near the Navy Pier. It has two pools, indoor and outdoor, and is very close to the beach. It should be a good time. Bring on the Chicago style pizza's and the Cheesecake Factory!

A long weekend at the track

Race weekend at Michigan International Speedway has come and gone. It will be back in July for the IRL and August for NASCAR. Usually I don't say this, but this weekend up at MIS wore me out.

Friday afternoon during NASCAR NEXTEL qualifying and the ARCA race I never sat down. I stood on hard concrete and asphalt for 6 hours. That evening when I finally made it home, my legs and feet were in pain. Saturday morning when I woke up, my legs were still in so much pain. To let my legs recover, I skipped my weekend run. Besides not running, I did some work at home and the office and took the time to relax. It was nice not having to go to MIS Saturday.

Sunday morning I drove up to MIS around 8:30 a.m to attend the photographer's meeting. After the meeting I went back to my car - read for 1.5 hours, hit lunch and then waited for driver introductions to start. All of the pre-race ceremony activities were moved up by 10 minutes because rain was in the forecast, but the start of the race remained the same 1:40 p.m. After all of the introductions, the fly over, the national anthem, drivers getting strapped into their cars, it started to rain right before Adam Sandler said the most famous words in motorsports, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" Everyone had to wait out the 45 minute rain delay. Finally the weather cleared up and Adam Sandler finally said those words.

With 9 cautions for crashes, debris and rain- the race was a total of 2 hours 10 minutes and 19 seconds. Kasey Kahne won the rain-shortened race with only 129 laps of 200 completed. My favorite driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr finished in 3rd place. With all of the cautions, rain delays it just seemed to drag the day on.

After battling with all of the other photographers and TV crews for position in a tiny garage for Victory Lane, I got to sit in race traffic for 25-30 minutes. I found my exit on back roads and headed back to the office without much traffic, except the 4 jerks who wanted to run me off the small back roads.

I was glad to see the race end early. I don't know how much longer my feet and legs would have been able to stand on the concrete. But I was also disappointed to see the race end so soon. Dale Jr. Finished in third place, who knows if he could have challenged Kasey for the lead? Who knows? It has been almost 24 hours since I was at the track, and my legs still hurt.

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography
Engagements - Weddings - Families - Children - All Occasions

Located in Adrian, MI
dcophotography@hotmail.com

GRRRRRRR!

Its 9 p.m., what should I do? Oh yeah, let's mow the lawn. Brilliant idea!

One of my neighbors is mowing his lawn as I type. I'm sure that I will fall to sleep without any problems!

Why didn't you start mowing earlier in the evening? I'm guessing you don't have to get up for work tomorrow at 4 a.m.

The decision

I decided to send in my registration form for the upcoming Bruce Jones Memorial Run in Blissfield on June 25. I had the form filled out for two months except which race I was running in the 5k or 10k.

I took down the form from the bulletin board, looked it over and told myself to not be such a wimp. I checked the box for the 10k run. This will be my first 10k race since last November.

Should be interesting. I haven't done a 6 mile training run in a while.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk

Currently Reading: The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Up Next:

Credential trouble

After eating lunch with co-workers, I drove up to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn this afternoon to pick up my press credentials for this weekend's race. Usually every race week, I take the 25 minute drive to the track on Thursdays because there is always a problem when I pick them up.

I walked into the credential trailer and a couple of guys were being helped by MIS workers. A woman said that the girl at the end could help me. I walk over to her and say my name. She shakes her head and says it is not there. Then she asked me where I worked and who some of the other names were on the credential list. I named off everyone on the list. She still couldn't find it. Then another woman came over to assist. She brought over another binder full of credential requests. She went to the tab labeled D and my newspaper's list was right on top. In the middle of the list was my name. Come to find out the girl that was helping me was typing in my name wrong. She typed in my maiden and hyphenated name in the wrong order. Last year I had the same problem. I even showed the girl my license. Oh well, that is why I picked them up today.

Now I have my parking passes, my hot/cold garage passes and my photo pass. Everything is set. I will be at Michigan International Speedway on Friday to photograph the NEXTEL Cup Time Trials and the ARCA race. Saturday, my co-worker Mike will be at the track alone to photograph the Craftsman Truck Series race. Sunday both of us will be shooting the 3M Performance 400 which actor Adam Sandler has been named grand marshal. I hope I'll be able to see him. I loved him in Billy Madison.

The rundown

Out on my 3.4 mile run today, I thought my legs were going to give up on me. I ran on Sunday but decided to take a day off of running yesterday. For some reason that didn't seem to help. My legs were very tired. Other then my legs being tired, I got honked at by someone and four dogs barked at me. I would rather have dogs bark at me then people making stupid comments.

On Thursday I have to mail in my entry form for the Bruce Jones Memorial 5K/10K run that will be held on June 25 in Blissfield. I don't know whether to stick with the 5k that I have been running for 3 years or try the 10k course for the first time. I really haven't trained for the 10K. The most I have run in a while has been 4 miles. But I know I could run the 10k with no problems. I guess I have 2 days to figure out what I'm going to be running.

What's in a name?

Growing up I thought I had a unique name: Deloris. I didn't share my name with anyone at school. I didn't know anyone who had the same name as me. How I spell my name, Deloris, is different then the ways I've seen it spelled: Delores or Dolores.

When people have to write my name down, I always have to spell it for them. If I don't, it ends up being spelled -es, instead of -is. All throughout elementary, junior/senior high, college and my life now, people always spell it wrong. A couple of days ago a company sent me a notepad and address labels with my name on it. It was very nice of them to do that, the thing is my name was spelled wrong on everything. The address labels went into the shredder and I kept the notepad. Hey, I can always use paper.

The Detroit Free Press had an article in today's paper about how parents want to be different with their children's names. In the year 2000, there has been 5 boys in the United States named Cobra. Come on, Cobra? Two hundred seventy six boys named Armani. On the girls side, Lexus was the chosen name for 353 babies. My personal favorite, Avis is the name for 9 girls. Did the parents like the Avis car company that much?

I got picked on in school with the name, Deloris. How bad are this kids going to get picked on?

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography

Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography

Engagements - Weddings - Families - Children - Special Events

Located in Adrian, MI

dcophotography@hotmail.com

Why, blogspot, why???

I tried to post on both of my blogs today, but had problems. What is going on with blogspot? Usually it takes my computer 30 seconds to post, today it kept saying cannot find server. What is up with that? If blogspot is still having issues Friday, I might not post. I can't sit in front of my computer for an hour to see if it finally posted. GRRRRR!!!

The gas station

Today after going to the bank, I decided to stop at a national chain gas station to fill up my car. I pulled to gas pump #3 and put $20 or just over 7 gallons into my tank. I finished filling up, put the gas nozzle back, screwed the gas cap back in and found a Twenty in my pocket and opened the door to the gas station. I walked to the cash register and saw the male cashier on the phone looking into the cooler. He then reached back with his right hand and totally dug the underwear out of his ass.

He then saw my reflection in the cooler doors and came over to the cash register. While still on the phone he asked if I filled up. I said, "Twenty on #3." Then I handed him my money and left. I'm so glad I didn't have to touch his gross hands. I hope he plans on washing his hands before touching some food products. But he probably won't because he probably thinks no one saw him playing with his ass.

Things seen on my run

Besides the heat and the humidity, I know when it is officially summer. Today on my run two different ice cream trucks passed me with their happy and cheerful music playing, hoping to get kids to run to their trucks to purchase some yummy ice cream. After both trucks went by, I ran by two girls on the sidewalk eating ice cream.

More Chris & Anna photos

Over on DCO's Photo Gallery today I posted more pictures of Chris and Anna's engagement session from Saturday. To see more photos go here.



Deloris Clark-Osborne Photography
Engagements, Weddings, Families, Children and other events.
dcophotography@hotmail.com

The "express" lane

While waiting in the express lane at Meijer today, a woman ahead of me bought a pool that was on sale. She also bought intertubes, other pool floaties and pool shock.

When the cashier finished ringing up her stuff, he said "That will be $301.00".
The woman said, "Three hundred dollars! I thought the pool was on sale." At this point she looks at me and says, "hand me the Meijer insert." I just looked at her and took a step back, she was looking at it before getting to the cash register and she set it down. I stepped out of the way so she could get it herself. She reached over me and got it. Then proceeded to turn the pages to find the pool ad.

"See!", the woman said. "It says $279.00." At this point the cashier and I looked at the screen above the cash register, the pool rung up at $279.00. He said, "the pool rung up at $279.00." The woman said, "I thought it rang up at $301.00."

Uh, don't you remember that you bought an extra $20 in pool stuff? Or were you so excited about the pool, you forgot?

By the way, thanks for holding up the line.

Engagement session - Chris & Anna

Today I met my friend Chris and his fiance Anna at Trestle Park in Adrian to take some engagement photos. The session lasted for almost an hour and I ended up taking 186 photos. Chris and Anna are a great couple that made me laugh and were really easy to photograph.

I picked two that I liked so far. There are so many more pictures to go through and edit yet.

Wine and Cheese reception - LCVA Gallery

Lenawee Artists: All Ages
May 18 - July 1, 2006

Friday, June 2, 2006 the Lenawee Council for the Visual Arts Gallery is hosting a wine and cheese reception from 5-7 p.m. If you are in the Adrian area and would like to see some great work from artists from Lenawee County of all ages, stop by the gallery.

The LCVA Gallery is located at 112 West Maumee, Adrian, MI. Phone number is 517-265-4403. Hours for the gallery are Thursday 4-8 p.m., Friday 10-2 p.m., 4-8 p.m. and Saturday 12-4 p.m.

Postcard credit: lcvamembers.blogspot.com
Thanks Gregg.