Tuesday, December 31, 2013

End of the Year questions

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before? 
Attempted to run a 100K. Dropped out at 50K.
 
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't. I maintained my weight. I really didn't take any more personal photos for myself and I didn't read about art. Talk about a big failure.
 
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 
No.
 
4. Did anyone close to you die? 
No.
 
5. What countries did you visit?
The US. My husband and I visited Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago and Springfield, Illinois.
 
6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013? 
A happier workplace. So far my new job is pretty fun and I get along with everyone.
 
7. What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 30, 2013 - That was the day I was laid off of my job of 14 years.
 
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  
Finding a new job in less then a month of getting laid off.
 
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not accomplishing any of my New Year's resolutions.
 
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? 
Yes. I had hamstring injuries this year. Ran two half marathons on strained right hamstrings.
 
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Oiselle clothing.
 
12. Where did most of your money go? 
Student loan, gas, groceries, e-books, race fees, house payment and insurance.
 
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going on all of our vacations.
 
14. What song will always remind you of 2013? 
There are three: The Monster by Eminem ft. Rihanna; Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus and Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke ft. T.I & Pharrell.
 
15. Compared to this time last year, are you: 
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? About the same.
c) richer or poorer? Poorer. My new job doesn't pay as much as my old one.
 
16. What do you wish you’d done more of? 
Shoot more photos for myself.
 
17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Complain.
 
18. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Yes. With my husband everyday.
 
19. What was your favorite new TV programs? 
Masters of Sex, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Sleepy Hollow, Dracula

20. What was the best book you read?
I have two: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan & Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff
21. What was your greatest musical discovery? 
Don't have one for 2013.

22. What was your favorite films of this year?
The Great Gatsby & The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 34. I worked, ran and photographed a couple of cemeteries in Toledo, Ohio.
 
24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? 
If I made more money.
 
25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
 Jeans, shorts, and shirts from Oiselle,Aeropostale, American Eagle, Hollister and Abercromie and Fitch.
 
26. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? 
None.
 
27. Who do you miss?
 My answer will always be my dad who passed away in 1998.
 
28. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.   
I have someone who will always be there to help me when I fall.
 
29. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. 
I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath/Scared to rock the boat and make a mess/So I sat quietly, agreed politely/I guess that I forgot I had a choice - Roar by Katy Perry

30. Do you have any big plans for 2014? 
I hope to run the Northcoast 24 Hour Endurance Run in September in Cleveland, OH.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 

Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth IIPhilip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black
Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly
Argo, Antonio Mendez & Matt Baglio
Mad Women: The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond, Jane Maas
Marilyn Monroe: A Case for Murder, Jay Margolis 
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last, Mike Campbell
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Stephen Rebello
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff
Top of the Morning, Brian Stelter
A Private Disgrace: Lizze Borden by Daylight, Victoria Lincoln
Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen and the Greatest Race Ever Run, Matt Fitzgerald
Waiting to be Heard, Amanda Knox

Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace, Scott Thorson & Alex Thorleifson
The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder, Charles Graeber
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story, Lily Koppel
The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America, Christian Wolmar
Banksy: The Man Behind the Wall, Will Ellsworth-Jones 
Detroit City Is the Place to Be, Mark Binelli 
Wreck of the Wabash, Laurie C. Dickens  

Hidden History of Detroit, Amy Elliott Bragg
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
Kate: The Biography, Marcia Moody
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, Piper Kerman
Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City, Gordon Young
This Town, Mark Leibovich
City of Scoundrels, Gary Krist
Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, Sam Roberts
The Princess Diana Conspiracy, Alan Power  
The Shadow King; The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy, Jo Marchant
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear, Stephen Manes 
Reclaiming Parkland, Jame DiEugenio
Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels, Jill Jonnes 
JFK Has Been Shot, Charles A. Crenshaw, M.D
Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha, Lesley Downer
Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service, James McCommons
End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, James Swanson
The Men Who Loved Trains, Rush Loving 
With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of J.D. Tippit, Dale K. Myers
JFK: The Smoking Gun, Colin McLaren
Egyptomania, Bob Brier
Into the Blast: The True Story of D.B. Cooper, Skipp Porteous & Robert Blevins
Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner City Funeral Home, Sheri Booker
Mop Men: Inside the World of Crime Scene Cleaners, Alan Emmins
Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training,Tom Jokinen

Currently Reading: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, Candice Millard