Books read in 2014

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead do Tell Tales, William Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Roads, Earl Swift
Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI, Dana Kollmann 
Confessions of a Surgeon, Paul A. Ruggieri M.D.
Lincoln's Grace Robbers, Steve Sheinkin
Why Your Prescription Takes So Damn Long to Fill,Drugmonkey
Beyond the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession,Mark Obmascik
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, Dina Di Mambro
Island of Vice: Theodor Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Richard Zacks   
Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cyril H. Wecht
Amelia, Nancy Nahra
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman 
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Michale J. Collins, M.D.
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, Michael J. Collins M.D. 
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind, Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud 
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, Alistair Brownlee & Jonathan Brownlee
The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule
Beauty, Disrupted: The Carre Otis Story, Carre Otis & Hugo Schwyzer
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, Deborah Ball
Trama: My Life as an Emergency Surgeon, Dr. James Cole
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, J.B. West
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, Scott Haas 
Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous, Jennifer Buhl
Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse, Janice Hudson
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Suzanne Hansen
NYPD Confidential: Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force, Leonard Levitt 
The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus
Chicago Cop: Tales from the Street, Star #14931
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
Monica's Story, Andrew Morton
All Too Human: A Political Education, George Stephanopoulos
Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews
Petals on the Wind, V.C. Andrews
If There Be Thorns, V.C., Andrews 
How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder, Mike Gilbert  
Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Del Quentin Wilber
Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service, Joseph Petro & Jeffrey Robinson  
Intensive Care, Echo Heron
Condition Critical: The Story of a Nurse Continues, Echo Heron
Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of an Virgin Air Hostess..., Mandy Smith
Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue, Christopher Wilson

Currently Reading: The Season: A Summer Whirl Through the English Social Season, Sophie Campbell

Open class results

Flowers - First place

Metal - Second place

Landscape

Water

Any other structure - First place

Animal

City Life - First place

Bird

I submitted eight photos to the Lenawee County Fair Open Class static exhibit this year. I was hoping all of them would do well and win ribbons. Only four of eight photos won ribbons . The photos that didn't win anything really surprised me. I thought they were all really good, but the judge or judges thought otherwise. Can't win them all. I will be submitting more photos in next year's fair.

Hudson Booster XC 5K Open

I ran the Hudson Booster XC 5K Open Saturday in Hudson. It was a sunny and warm morning. It was also my birthday and would be entering a new age group, 35-39. The county I live in, the age group of 35-39 is very competitive. The ladies in this age group are super fast. Since it was my birthday, the goal of the race was to be competitive and have fun.

When the race started, I found myself in the middle of the pack. I was behind all of the high school, college and former collegiate runners. The course runs through a swamp area. In the swamp, there are some hills. We first run encounter a down hill. The path is covered with sand. The footing is loose and runners need to be careful. Soon we encountered an uphill. The uphill was the same as the downhill, sand was the path on most of it. I decided instead of trying to run on the side where there was a dirt/grass mix, I would just run up the middle and get over the hill as fast as possible. That option worked well as I ran up on the back of a group.

Before crossing the first mile, I was running next to and behind a young boy. Every time I would get beside him, he would look at me and start sprinting away. I crossed the mile mark in 8:50. The start of the second mile, took us through a wooded area. I was able to finally catch and pass the young boy after running up a hill. The course loops around in the woods and we finally pop out and run over grass in a local park. After crossing the two mile mark in 18:49, I was able to chase down a girl. I passed her running around the outside of the Hudson High School track.

The last half mile of the cross country course loops back into the swamp area that we ran through at the start of the race. When I started running down the large hill, I had to slow down. I didn't want to slip on the loose sand. When I made it down the hill safely, I picked up the pace. After that hill, was the final uphill of the course. I ran up the middle again. The sand was making it difficult for me to power up the hill. But I worked at it and finally crested the hill. I was able to ran strong towards the finish line. I crossed the line in 29:21. I was third in my new age group. I was happy to come home with a medal on my 35th birthday.

Commonwealth Games

Today was the first day of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Countries that participate in the games are from the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization of 53 member states that were mostly territories of the former British Empire. Although there are 53 members of the Commonwealth, 71 teams that participate in the games as British overseas territories, crown dependencies and island states that compete under their own flag, according to Wikipedia.

There are a total of 17 sports and 261 medal events. The sports that interest me the most are Athletics (track) and triathlon. The women's and men's triathlon took place today. The women started at 6 am ET and the men followed at 10 am ET. The mixed team relay takes place Saturday, July 26 at 7:30 am ET. Athletics (track) start events on Sunday with the men and women's marathon and finish the first day with the men's 5000m final.  The athletic events will complete on Saturday, August 2.

The Commonwealth Games can be seen in the United States on CBS Sports Network. The network will be showing highlights of the day and night events in separate shows.

Books read in 2014

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead do Tell Tales, William Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Roads, Earl Swift
Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI, Dana Kollmann 
Confessions of a Surgeon, Paul A. Ruggieri M.D.
Lincoln's Grace Robbers, Steve Sheinkin
Why Your Prescription Takes So Damn Long to Fill,Drugmonkey
Beyond the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession,Mark Obmascik
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, Dina Di Mambro
Island of Vice: Theodor Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Richard Zacks   
Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cyril H. Wecht
Amelia, Nancy Nahra
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman 
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Michale J. Collins, M.D.
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, Michael J. Collins M.D. 
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind, Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud 
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, Alistair Brownlee & Jonathan Brownlee
The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule
Beauty, Disrupted: The Carre Otis Story, Carre Otis & Hugo Schwyzer
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, Deborah Ball
Trama: My Life as an Emergency Surgeon, Dr. James Cole
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, J.B. West
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, Scott Haas 
Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous, Jennifer Buhl
Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse, Janice Hudson
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Suzanne Hansen
NYPD Confidential: Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force, Leonard Levitt 
The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus
Chicago Cop: Tales from the Street, Star #14931
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
Monica's Story, Andrew Morton
All Too Human: A Political Education, George Stephanopoulos
Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews
Petals on the Wind, V.C. Andrews
If There Be Thorns, V.C., Andrews 
How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder, Mike Gilbert  
Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Del Quentin Wilber
Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service, Joseph Petro & Jeffrey Robinson  
Intensive Care, Echo Heron
Condition Critical: The Story of a Nurse Continues, Echo Heron
Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of an Virgin Air Hostess..., Mandy Smith

Currently Reading: Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue, Christopher Wilson

Interior Design

As you may know, I was laid off from my photography job last September. I still take photos, but not as much as I used to.

I have been working in an office since last October. I enjoy the job and my co-workers, but it feels like something's missing. As a child, I was always drawing or coloring. Art was always involved in my life. Took art all four years of high school and earned awards. My whole college career was spent in the art building. I started working at the newspaper when I was a junior in college. I was hired full time a year after graduation. My work life was taking photos or using Photoshop. I was depressed after I got laid off. I really didn't feel like picking up my camera. For the last 14 years, my camera was my life.

Now that some time has passed, I'm starting to get the itch to be creative again. I have been watching a lot of HGTV, DIY and reading magazines. Watching and looking at designers change everything about a space and make it better has given me something. I really can't describe the exact feeling, but it does make me happy. I just love how bits and pieces of things are pulled together and create something beautiful.

I decided to enroll in an online Interior Design course. It is self paced and it should take about six months to a year to finish. If I really enjoy it, I'm thinking I will go back to college to earn a degree in it. I'm a little reluctant to do that because I'm so close to having my original student loan paid off. But if I want to pursue ID as a career, I really need a degree.

So here is the start of a new journey for me. I love to be creative and I hope I fall in love with this.

Panther XC Open 5K

I ran the Panther XC Open 5K Saturday in Addison, MI. It was raining, but also sunny. The rain started off cool. When the race started, the rain turned warm, the temperature went up and it was humid. The course was changed from year's past. The start and finish of the race was moved to the football field. Previously, we started in a grass field outside of the football field. I did like the change. When the school hosts cross country events, people can watch from the stands and have a better view of runners on the course.

I'm trying something new this year. Last year before all races, I would run anywhere from 3-10 miles. This year, I'm not running before races. When the race started, my legs felt dead. It doesn't seem like they would because I'm not running before races. I only ran 6.5 miles on Friday morning. For the first mile, I stayed behind a guy. He ended up pulling away from me when we ran up a large hill. For most of the race, I ran alone.

There were no mile markers on the course, so I didn't even look at my watch. I tried to keep a steady pace. Some of the footing on the course was difficult. Even though there were no markers, what I knew was the second mile, we had to run through a field. There were holes all over. I actually had to slow down. Even though I was wearing ankle braces, I still didn't want to stick my foot in a hole and twist my ankles. In this field, I also caught up to a guy who was walking. I heard him talking after the race. He said that he hadn't run in two months. I ended up passing him. Shortly after the pass, he started running again and passed me. I really wanted to keep up with him, but my legs weren't feeling it.

The course was run on grass, dirt trails and an open field. I'm always slower on cross country courses, but I do like the variety. I finished the race in 30:55. I actually stopped my watch at 30:51. Usually the clock is next to the finish line. This time the end of the chute was the finish line. So I stopped running when I passed the clock. A helper said to keep going because I hadn't reach the line yet. So I just tacked on a few more seconds. After I finished, the workers ended up moving the flags that directed running into the chute. The flag lines were behind the finish line and others didn't make the mistake I did.

I was the fourth overall female and was first in my age group. I did finish this race about two minutes slower then last year. I don't think my experiment of not running before races is helping me. I always feel so sluggish. I will be running another 5K on a cross country course next week. I might have to run some easy miles before the start.

Books read in 2014

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead do Tell Tales, William Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Roads, Earl Swift
Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI, Dana Kollmann 
Confessions of a Surgeon, Paul A. Ruggieri M.D.
Lincoln's Grace Robbers, Steve Sheinkin
Why Your Prescription Takes So Damn Long to Fill,Drugmonkey
Beyond the Body Farm, Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession,Mark Obmascik
True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, Dina Di Mambro
Island of Vice: Theodor Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, Richard Zacks   
Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases, Cyril H. Wecht
Amelia, Nancy Nahra
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman & John Shiffman 
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Michale J. Collins, M.D.
Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, Michael J. Collins M.D. 
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind, Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud 
Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story, Alistair Brownlee & Jonathan Brownlee
The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule
Beauty, Disrupted: The Carre Otis Story, Carre Otis & Hugo Schwyzer
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, Deborah Ball
Trama: My Life as an Emergency Surgeon, Dr. James Cole
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, J.B. West
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, Scott Haas 
Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous, Jennifer Buhl
Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse, Janice Hudson
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny, Suzanne Hansen
NYPD Confidential: Power and Corruption in the Country's Greatest Police Force, Leonard Levitt 
The Things That Matter, Nate Berkus
Chicago Cop: Tales from the Street, Star #14931
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
Monica's Story, Andrew Morton
All Too Human: A Political Education, George Stephanopoulos
Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews
Petals on the Wind, V.C. Andrews
If There Be Thorns, V.C., Andrews 
How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder, Mike Gilbert  
Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, Del Quentin Wilber
Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service, Joseph Petro & Jeffrey Robinson  
Intensive Care, Echo Heron
Condition Critical: The Story of a Nurse Continues, Echo Heron

Currently Reading: Cabin Fever: The Sizzling Secrets of an Virgin Air Hostess..., Mandy Smith