While April isn’t coming to a close just yet, we are into the final third — and the last full week of the month. As such, here are some things I’m hoping to cross off my to-do list before next Sunday:

• Get my volleyball team sorted for next season. The location (the Mall) is set; I just need to look at everyone’s schedule and get as many of us on the same page as possible.
• Send out a resume. While Sarah and I have met a couple times this month to work on job-hunting and while I’ve found several leads, I’ve puttered through revising my resume again and trying to pull together some pieces from my last job to include in a portfolio. This week, I should get something out the door, just so I don’t lose momentum.
• Coach three times. My second job has not been as communicative as I would have hoped after they pushed the start day for our clinics back, but as far as I can tell, we are still on for next Saturday.
• Dine with my friend John. He mentioned he was excited to do dinner after volleyball next Saturday, and since Rudi will be out of town, I have underscored that I’m in.
• Do an Earth Day event at the garden with a local nursery school. My dad suggested Rudi should dress up as a rat to represent the local fauna, but I’m 75% sure he was just kidding.
• Get at least one more person signed up for a garden plot from the 150-person waitlist. The three people I contacted last week were no-go’s, so I’ve already reached out to the next three. Fingers crossed.
• Get the rest of my plot weeded, the potatoes planted, and the trellis erected for the peas.
• Watch baseball. Rudi and I have tickets Thursday afternoon, and we are both hoping for a warmer time than the game we attended earlier this month, which had us dressed into our winter coats.
• Bake bread. I just need to dig the breadmaker out and get it going.
• Trade some books with the libraries. One is overdue, but I’m hoping to finish the humungous graphic novel I have out and get it back to them as well, since I have two books on hold.
• Finish my pair of fingerless mitts. There’s literally an hour’s worth of knitting (max) left to do on it and this week looks like I might want some help with handwarming.

What’s on your agenda this week?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. WMATA, the agency in charge of public transportation around the D.C. area, sometimes wraps its trains and buses with advertising or seasonal adornment. Today, I got to ride the cherry blossom train, and as I was walking up the street from the station, the wrapped bus passed me by.

2. People singing along with their car stereos as they pass my apartment.

3. The tulips in my garden plot bloomed.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

I’m hoping this weekend includes:

• Playing volleyball
• Baking bread
• Planting seeds
• Taking part in the garden cleanup
• Going to the library
• Buying spring produce at the farmers market (ramps, asparagus, and morels were checked off last week; this week I’m hoping to spy some rhubarb and maybe an Easter bread if the Greek food stand pops up for the Orthodox holiday)
• Finishing a book and a knitting project
• Doing laundry
• Vacuuming
• Changing out the litter box
• Watching a movie
• Writing my March Into the Stacks post (only 3 books should be reasonable!)
• Sending some mail

It may not all happen, but I’m certain some of it will. And the list is here if I falter and wonder what I should be doing.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. On Saturday, we were able to run outdoor pickup for the first time this year. The breeze was a bit strong on the Mall, but that gave us the added benefit of getting to watch kites between points!

2. Some of us went out after the game Monday night. It’s been ages since we’ve done that, so it was nice to catch up.

3. Rudi and I had lunch with Sarah today for her birthday. I didn’t rise quite early enough to get two dozen cookies baked ahead of our departure time, but I did manage a dozen oatmeal scotchies to gift her.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

I was supposed to start part-time job #2 this week, but it was unexpectedly pushed back to the end of the month. While this frees up a couple hours on Saturday, I have more than enough things I’d like to fit in to fill it up. Here’s some of what I’m hoping gets done:

• Dye eggs.
• Play volleyball. (I already have a dozen people interested in joining me on the Mall tomorrow, which is forecast to be warm and sunny.)
• Work in the garden. I have seeds to plant in my own garden, but we have a work day scheduled that I was originally going to have to miss. As of this spring, I am suddenly co-garden manager for our whole community garden and there are some things that need to happen in order to get new gardeners in where they need to be.
• Bake. I have sourdough discard that needs to be used, bread to bake, and a scone mix that would make a nice breakfast for Easter. (I picked up a jar of clotted cream when I knew I would be down here for the holiday.)
• Mail cards. There are a couple birthday cards that are going to be late and some overdue letters I need to get out.
• Do laundry. We’ve been whittling away at Laundry Mountain, but it has shown no interest in helping us out. I have clean clothes for work on Monday, but not Tuesday, so we need to throw on at least one more load.
• Change the sheets. Laundry Mountain teeters against the bed, so if I can get it down to hill-size, I can change the sheets to the new floral set Rudi gave me for my birthday.
• Wrap up a couple books. Some materials are due back to the library next week, and it would be nice not to have to just put myself back on the holds list.
• Finish my fingerless mitts. I have one thumb to knit and the last ten rows of the other hand to reknit. (I’ve already ripped it back and have it on the smaller needles, which was actually the hard part.)
• Find the hat I started a couple years back. I found the beads that I bought last spring, so now I just need to reunite them and pick it back up. If past me was as helpful as I believe she was, there is a Ziploc with the hat brim on the needles, all three balls of yarn, and the pom pom in it. But it has proved elusive thus far this spring.

Some of this will probably not happen and some other stuff likely will. We’ll see how it goes — and how rainy Sunday ends up being.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My parents have adopted two cats. The older is very shy and was still acclimating to her new home (read: hiding), but the younger is a joyful little boy who alternates between kitten boisterousness and napping on their laps. My parents have not anyone this energetic living in their house in decades, but I am confident they will meet somewhere in the middle as he ages. (On a related note: I was shocked when we returned home to meet two fully grown cats. I would have sworn we left kittens behind at the start of the weekend, but our nearly 2-year-olds are ginormous.)

2. My best friend and I were finally able to meet up for lunch. It had been more than six months since we’d seen each other, and I missed her tremendously.

3. I’m now working part-time for the nonprofit where I’ve been volunteering, and today had me subbing in and coaching soccer to pre-K and kindergarteners, who were maybe the most affectionate group of kids I’ve ever met. I had to work hard to get them to stop hugging me in order to play a game. It’s a rough life. (Remind me of this next week when I come down with a cold from being snuggled by 20 wee people with runny noses.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?