Tasty, Talented Thursday

I started my morning bright and early in mini#2's music room at school at 8:15 for their 2nd grade talent show. I go to a lot of programs, shows, activities throughout the school year(don't we all?), but I have to say I love these talent shows. These kids amaze me how they will get up and "perform" in front of classmates, parents and grandparents and are completely at ease! I, on the other hand, remember sweating bullets in high school having to present a research paper....or in 4th grade having to recite a 26 line poem. I still hate public speaking, but will read books to 2nd graders any time I am asked. Go figure.

Back to the talent show. Mini#2 and his friend showed a 2 minute video of their soccer skills. I was their videographer two weeks ago on a 70+ degree January afternoon. I made three videos so I could make sure each kid scored the same amount of goals and minimal juvenile trash talking occurred in the final video selection. Ha! It was cute.

After all of the talent I raced home and changed for the gym and headed to toning class. One hour of strength conditioning. I am going to be sore tomorrow. That lady makes you burn, in the very best way of course.

After the gym, home again for a quick shower and changed back into nice(r) clothes and met my friend for lunch at a cute restaurant I had been wanting to try, Relish, in Raleigh. It was really good and every plate that went past my table looked better than the last. However, must say, I think trainers Bob and Jillian from The Biggest Loser would have had a hard time trying to find something healthy on the menu. I selected the turkey, provolone, lettuce, cranberry relish wrap and a side of fresh green beans (instead of fries). They had all kinds of "Not your momma's grilled cheese" sandwiches, too. There was one with brie, ham and raspberry relish that sounded really good. My friend and I are already planning to meet there again. Yum. They make homemade doughnuts served in a small brown paper bag with chocolate sauce for dipping on the side. I want to try those.

Ok, finally posting this three hours after I started this post. Completely got sidetracked by....life. Hope your Thursday was great. Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!

Monday Musings.

1- I am a Downton Abbey addict. Love this show. Do you watch? I wasn't surprised last night though. I made the stupid mistake to read about the shocking event on wikipedia a few weeks ago!

2- We survived the weekend and all of the "weather." Kids got out of school 4 hrs early Friday for snow/sleet and then today it was delayed 3 hours for expected sleet that I never saw. Anyway the ice on Saturday made it a little crazy for us. My parents drove into town Fri morning (my mom was mini#2's mystery reader in his 2nd grade class Fri. BIG SURPRISE to mini#2.) and were planning on attending the cub scouts' Pinewood Derby and mini#2's indoor soccer game on Saturday. The ice postponed the Derby and both events were at the same time. UGH! So Mr. Pink took the car and raced it while the rest of us headed to the soccer game. I still don't think mini#2 knows his car finished last in speed for the Wolf den. All he cares about is the big 1st place trophy for creativitiy Mr. Pink brought home. His car was a wake board with boots on top and a ski rope. Cute.

3- My friend and I went to see "Silver Linings Playbook" last night. I really liked it. Have you seen it? But I don't seem to agree with everyone about Jennifer Lawrence's performance (SAG last night). I think Bradley Cooper's performance was much better and Oscar nomination was deserved.

4- I didn't go to the gym Fri/Sat/Sun! AND I couldn't go to my normal 9:30 cardio class this morning because of the school delay. I was starting to feel withdrawals! Ha! I did go later this morning and did the eliptical machine for an hour while I read Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand. Back to toning class tomorrow. Ahhh.

5- Do you have Super Bowl plans? We've been invited to a party at a friend's house. I need to hit Pinterest for some cute appetizer or dessert ideas. GO 49ers! I bought mini#2 a t-shirt from Amazon to wear to the party. Not investing the big bucks in a jersey because we really pull for the Chargers and the Seahawks. He has been a semi-49ers fan for a couple of years now.

Hope your week goes well!

I'm back...our brush with the semi-famous

 So, unless you were under a rock last week, you probably saw a clip somewhere of NC State's CJ Leslie lifting wheelchair bound Will Privette after he fell from his chair. Fans, Privette included, stormed our court after beating #1 DUKE. CJ rescued Privette and got him back to safety. Mr. Pink was lucky to be at that exciting game. Anyway, I saw this unlikely pair on the Today show. Great story. Great win.

 Fast forward to Sunday night. We all attended the NC State / Clemson game. We won, but barely. Come on Pack. We saw some friends of ours from our college days and stopped to talk to them and their kids for a while after the game. Before long, the arena was just about empty. On the way out we all stopped by the restrooms and then, as we were leaving, I happened to glance down a corridor and saw CJ Leslie towering over various others in this hallway. We immediately headed that way, too and CJ was nice enough to pose for a photo before walking outside to leave. This was huge to mini#2. We also got other autographs and photos with starters. It was great and a big surprise to us. Other kids/fans were there, too so maybe this is a normal thing after games. I wish mini#2 had taken off his wild red wig and sunglasses at least for the photos, but oh well. It got the players' attention. CJ said "I'm liking the look man." It was funny.

Pre-game....

And while I'm posting about NC State, here's a photo of mini#2 about 3 yrs ago (he looks so young!!) with Russell Wilson, when he was QB for us (finished senior year at Wisconsin). He just finished an awesome rookie year as QB for Seattle Seahawks. We were pulling so hard for them/him, but now we want the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl- mini#2's choice the last 2 years. I still remember this day. It was a blazing hot August day, but he was so polite, well-spoken and humble. Great with the kids. His parents raised him right.

I took a month off. Did you notice? I'm back. Just been busy and too tired to post about my busyness. Happy New Year a little late!