Adopting in Ashburn

(in blog time) I know it has been ages since I posted. Basically, coaching volleyball this fall, teaching 8th grade science, and planning a wedding have really been a time suck. Luckily, I haven't felt entirely disconnected because I occasionally get a chance to check out my Google reader and I've also been working on some other blogging projects. There was the quick ditch effort to put together a page for the JV volleyball team I was coaching and more recently, the blog I created for our wedding. It occurred to me the other day I could have kept it all in the same place and just renamed this space Adventures in Wedding Planning. But, that doesn't really seem fair to Richard and I'm not sure I want the whole family reading 6 years of my ramblings when they stop by to see where we are registered. So if you're interested in checking out what is going on with the wedding planning, visit whenheathermetrichard.blogspot.com . It's where the writing will probably...

There is a mountain of boxes in the garage. Sure, it is more like the Appalachians than the Rockies, but that does not make it less intimidating. The thing about mountains, is that it takes a LOT of work (and more often time) to overcome them. This week, however, I have little to no time to spare. Up at 5:15, out by 6:15, at my desk by 7, on the road by 3:15, dressed and on the court by 4:15, home by 8:30, dinner done by 9, bed by 10. For those of you not super good at math, that is exactly one awake hour a day not allocated to something. Last night, I spent it going to Target to get appropriate shorts for coaching and groceries. At practice yesterday, I found out that my coaching duties extend to weekends for all of August. Which means no Saturday recoveries (7 a.m. practice start times are not conducive to sleeping in). I'm not too down about that, and I'm hoping the early start means that I'll have the afternoons to delve into the unpacking of things and general house o...

To start with, you should know that I've been living in my current townhouse for 3.5 years. I found it while walking to the metro from work. When I moved in, it was my 15th move in 10 years. I've been in my current job for exactly 3 years and eleven months today. Also, I have officially been with Richard for one year and one month today. So here's the news: RJ proposed on the 4th of July, and, of course, I said yes! It was super exciting and fireworks will never be the same again. Around the same time, I had an interview to become a volleyball coach, which turned into a position as the head JV coach at a high school out near Great Falls National Park. While that was happening, RJ applied for and got a promotion that moved his job from Kingstowne out to a movie theater that is literally 8 minutes door-to-door from his house out in Leesburg. About a week later - after years of deliberation and months of planning and saving - I gave my notice to Research!America, making my las...

The most frustrating thing about sending multiple copies of the same thing to a variety of people (or maybe the same people over and over again) is realizing on the second to last email that there is an error in your attachment. A dash where a comma should be. A plural non-possessive that should have been a plural possessive or singular. Or, in this particular case, a missed merge field. Personalized letters are significantly simpler if you know how to use a spreadsheet to fill in the blanks (and write your letter so none of the blanks need to be adjusted post-merge). However, there is no special technology to prevent you from, say, using a form letter and hand updating data that wasn't on your spreadsheet and missing a merge field in the concluding paragraph so it reads, "blah, blah, blah {Institution Name} blah blah." Yup. Definitely feels personal now. Ugh. Technology, I love and hate you. ~Heather **Update, 1 minute later** Definitely posted this to a gro...

Parents arriving today and staying for a couple of days. Relay for Life this weekend. Three SOHO girls coming to Relay this weekend to start earning their service hours and hang out. Andrea's swim meet at the pool one block from my house on Saturday morning. All clean laundry (despite not being put away yet). Clean and prepared house. The most amazing boyfriend ever who put all sorts of stuff in the attic, changed the light bulbs, ran errands, dropped off Andrea's furniture twice yesterday, and managed to keep me going until 11 last night so I wouldn't be scrambling this morning. Said boyfriend just existing. Oh, and being able to use any type of possessive when referring to him, like "MY boyfriend." Work being relatively quiet this week to help mask the fact that my brain has been too busy to be 100% focused. (Still let's me be productive on a slow week, but would be disastrous on a busy week.) Fabulous weather. Blackberries coming off my thornless bush in he...

It goes by too fast when you're having fun. It goes by too slowly when you're not. It can be counted in positions, on clocks, through years, and many other ways. People remember time passed in different ways. One way time can be remembered is apparently in files. Ancient, non-existent files. May I give you a hint, dearest wisher of time past: if it happened here when I was in the first grade I do not remember it; as I was living in Florida at that time and learning how to write in complete sentences. Therefore, if you cannot remember any details except, "It happened" and there are no records to indicate said happening, I cannot, in any reliable way, make a list of it for you. But thanks for asking. Wasting my time was definitely on today's to-do list.

My mentee's room renovation is over. I've been thinking about this since I heard about SOHO last August, and it is finally finished. (If we're not friends on Facebook, let me know and I'll send you a link to the photos.) So my question is, why can I not stop thinking about it? Why do I still feel like I'm missing something? I wish I had Charles Xavier's telepathy. Maybe then I could ease my mind and just enjoy the finished product.