LoCo Musings » Heather Elias

Ready for Some (LoCo) Football?

Heather Elias — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:50:23 +0000

It’s that time of year again. As I sit here typing this, with my morning coffee beside me, my son and my husband are at the second weigh-in and tryout for the Upper Loudoun Youth Football League. This is Wil’s sixth season playing tackle football (he’s 12, soon to be 13), and he absolutely lives for it. Who would have thought that my intellectual, somewhat bookish, computer game-loving son would be happiest strapping on shoulder pads and cracking helmets on the field? I was certainly surprised.

I write about youth sports quite a bit here on LoCoMusings, not in small part because I have four kids that participate on varying teams in Loudoun. My three girls all play softball (two within the Western Loudoun Girls Softball League, and one for the Loudoun Storm travel team), Wil also played lacrosse with Western Loudoun Lacrosse, and this year two of my daughters will play basketball with Western Loudoun Basketball in the winter. One of the best things about raising a family in Loudoun is the smorgasbord of activities across the county that the kids can choose to participate in.

What my son and daughters have learned from their team experiences is how to work together with their teammates, a sense of camaraderie, and a quiet confidence (well, sometimes loud confidence, but still) that comes from doing your best and having success with it. You can’t put a price tag on seeing your child completely excited with their achievement, and proud of him or herself. Worth every moment spent in the stands to get there.

Football is a huge time commitment, not only for my son but for our family. My husband helps coach, and practices (starting the second week of August) are every weeknight until school starts, then twice a week plus Saturday games through the fall. What you see at the practices though, is the best of western Loudoun: families spreading out to watch, moms and dads chatting, little brothers and sisters playing together, picnic dinners. For games, parents and siblings (and grandparents, too) dress in team colors and rattle cowbells to fire their boys up. True community, and I’m looking forward to it. I love being a football mom!

By the way, please mark your calendar for Upper Loudoun Football’s second annual Football Fest…it’s slated for Saturday, August 28th, at Loudoun Valley High School. There will be music, food, and exhibition games, and it’s the primary fundraiser for the league for the year. Keep an eye on the league’s website for more details.

Cheers,

Heather

Staying Social in LoCo

Heather Elias — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:17:12 +0000

If you are a regular reader here at Musings at all, you know that I enjoy social media…Facebook and Twitter, in particular, although I harbor a secret crush on blip.fm (I love music, ya know) and I do maintain a profile at LinkedIn. What I’ve noticed lately is that quite a few businesses in Loudoun County have now built a presence in these places, and it has made it so much easier for me to keep up with what is happening here locally. Whether it’s restaurants like Cajun Experience tweeting to let us know about an upcoming crawfish boil, or news updates from Loudoun Independent that are so timely the proverbial ink isn’t dry on the story, there is so much rich sharing taking place. Here’s a cheat sheet for some of the places I’ve found in LoCo that are active on the interwebs… (and please feel free to comment and share, I know there are others I’ve missed!)

My LoCo Peeps and Places list on Twitter (137 people, businesses, or organizations, at last count)

Advanced Corrective Chiropractic

Bluemont Vineyard

Brambleton

Cajun Experience

Catoctin Creek Distilling Company

Cheers Sports

Cloud Nine Salon

Crooked Tree Entertainment

Leesburg First Friday

Leesburg Magazine

Lost Creek Winery

Loudoun County Parks and Rec

Loudoun Magazine

Loudoun Times Mirror

Made in Loudoun

Magnolia’s at the Mill

Main Street Wings

Night Light Stories

Reflections Auto Salon

Cheers,

Heather

Save the Date for the LoCo Open

Heather Elias — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:48:23 +0000

Save the date! The 2010 LoCo Open Amateur Golf Championship is slated for Saturday and Sunday, October 9th and 10th at Westpark Golf Club in Leesburg. LoCoMusings is proud to sponsor the event for the second year in a row. Please consider playing or sponsoring…all proceeds are used to support junior golf programs for Loudoun County. Watch here or on Westpark’s website for more information in the next few weeks!

Cheers,
Heather

Take a Look Around, See What’s New!

Heather Elias — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:32:08 +0000

I’m always working on improving things here at LoCoMusings, trying to add features that I think would benefit my readers. It’s been a little while since I’ve given a ‘tour’ around the site, so I thought I’d point a few things out that you may or may not have noticed here…

If you look in the right sidebar, we now have some dynamic charts showing current inventory levels and median home price for all of Loudoun County (just added those this morning, as a matter of fact). They will update weekly as new statistics become available. If you want more detailed information, you can click through from those charts to LoCo Market Stats and browse current statistics and data on the market to your heart’s content. =)

The What’s My Home Worth button on the far right now links you to an easy one page form, so if you want to get a dynamic, clickable market report tailored to your home type and neighborhood, just fill that out and I’ll email it over to you. And no worries, I won’t spam you with anything additional. I hate spam as much as you do.

If you like Facebook, I’m sure you noticed the widget over there on the right that scrolls through my postings from Facebook. I have a business page set up there that has links to all of the blog posts I’ve written, plus occasional links to news in Loudoun County (both from our local media and also from local businesses.) It also has a peek into my working life too, if you are interested. Feel free to “like” my page and follow along, I love to get comments and feedback there!

I’ve also revised the About Heather page, which is reachable from the menu at the very top of the site. That page has links to all of the social media sites I’m on, and goes into a little more detail about my background and business history. I’m hoping to have a video there soon that would give me a way to visually introduce myself…Look for that to be there by the end of next week. (I’m putting myself on deadline!)

I hope that you enjoy and take advantage of the new features. If there’s something missing that you’d like to see here, reach out and let me know!

Cheers,

Heather

Tech Tip…Facebook and Privacy

Heather Elias — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:28:22 +0000

I usually write about Loudoun County, and/or real estate, but today I’m going to digress slightly to write a little bit about technology. If you follow along with my writing here, you are probably aware that I also use Twitter and Facebook in my business as well. I enjoy having social media tools to allow me to interact with friends, colleagues, and clients, but I do take steps to separate my business life from my personal life.

One of the great things about Facebook is that you can set up your privacy settings for your profile page, so that the general public at large only has access to as much information as you are willing to share. For myself, I’m fine with my email address, cell phone number, and business information being readily accessible for someone who is trying to find me. I do own my own business, after all, and people need that information to get in touch with me. I do not, however, let folks I don’t know see my personal pictures and information.

I have two middle school aged children that are now moving into the online realm, and although they do not have Facebook profiles, many of their friends do. I was having a conversation with them about online privacy, and we used the opportunity to browse around Facebook looking at the public profiles of many of their friends. As a parent, I was *horrified* at how many of these kids had photos, phone numbers, friend lists, and the like available to ANYONE who was browsing through Facebook. That is an open invitation for people with ill intent, to say the least.

To edit what anyone searching Facebook can see, click on “Account” in the top right corner and in the drop down menu, choose “Privacy Settings”…Here is the screen that you will see next:

Click on the first link, “Profile Information” to bring up the following screen:

(You can click on those pictures to make them larger, if needed.) From here you can use the drop down settings to change it from “Everyone” to “Only Friends” or whatever you like. You can test how it appears to others by clicking the “Preview My Profile” link at the top right. I highly recommend walking through these settings with your kids, so that you can ensure that they are protected from strangers. And parents, please understand that it is not enough to be ‘friended’ with your kids on Facebook. They can use these privacy settings to specifically block you as easily as they can block the general public…I’d recommend knowing their password, too, in case you think they are hiding anything harmful.

This is just my suggestion; I teach business people how to use Facebook on a regular basis, so if you have any questions on how to use these settings, I’m happy to lend a hand.

Cheers,

Heather