Happy 1st Birthday to my nephew!!

We Skyped him this morning since he lives in Stockholm. He was all smiles when we sang Happy Birthday to him. My brother stayed home from work and looks like they had a fun family birthday party. My sister-in-law said she couldn't sleep last night because she was so excited for him to wake up and open presents. I miss him. SO THANKFUL for Skype!

(And I am a bad mom because mini#1 turned 12 on Sunday and he didn't even get a post! Happy Birthday to my firstborn, too! We had a great day and I took him to see the Titanic exhibit in downtown Raleigh. Then friends met us for dinner. He racked up in giftcards, cash, clothes and shoes! He loves shoes almost as much as I do.)

About Me

I took this from Up North Preppy. She said we could!

1. The Basics
Who are you? Pink
Where do you blog? Pink in a Sea of Blue
How did you pick your blog's name? I was having a clever moment thinking about me being surrounded by three males (a husband and two sons) day after day.

2. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.
Where did you grow up? Charlotte, NC in a great neighborhood full of kids. Ironically all of my friends had younger brothers who also played together.
Where do you live now? A suburb of Raleigh, NC in another great neighborhood full of kids.
Where would you live anywhere in the world? I would live overseas, in France somewhere. South of France where I could get back into using the college degree I received.

3. Let's talk beauty- what is your favorite or signature
Lipstick- Stila lip gloss, but I also have a cheapo standby NYC- Honey on the Hudson.
Mascara- L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara
Perfume- Light Blue by Dolce and Gabbana

4. Yummies. What is your favorite?
Cocktail: I'm more of a wine kind of girl.
Dessert: Key Lime Pie, Carrot Cake, Chocolate anything...
Pizza Toppings: Black olives, mushrooms, green pepper

5. I always have these 3 things in the refrigerator.
Plain Greek yogurt
Milk- Skim and 2%
Wine

6. Get artsy. What is your favorite? (I cannot pick one on any of these!)
Movie- Terms of Endearment, Shawshank Redemption, Hugo, Amelie
Book- Tough! I love to read. Eat, Pray, Love. A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Paris Wife, The Space Between Us (all books by Thrity Umrigar)
TV Show- Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Real Housewives of NY, BH, OC. Modern Family

7. Kid Stuff- 3 questions about your youth.
What did you want to be when you grew up? I really did not know, but always pretended to be a teacher when I played "house" with my friends.
Who was your favorite teacher and why? My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Rosenbaum, because she had the prettiest blond hair and always wore wrap around skirts, colorful preppy polos and espadrilles. And she was super sweet!
What was your worst sickness/surgery/hospital visit as a kid? It's a toss up. In 6th grade, after tennis lessons one day, a girl hit a ball into my eye from mid-court and blinded me in one eye. Was in the hospital a week, but all was ok when I left except my eye would not dilate for about 6 months.  In 9th grade I had the flu. It turned into pneumonia a few weeks later and then I caught chicken pox from my younger brother. Rough year!

8. The Pretty Things. What is your favorite.
Favorite color- green
Favorite flower- peonies
Favorite artist- Edgar Degas (ballerina portraits and bronze sculptures)

9. Shop Til You Drop
What's one thing you buy the most often? SHOES.
Do you prefer to shop on-line or in-store? I just prefer to shop. Any way possible.
Imagine you open your own store. A cafe with homemade soups (my favorite thing to make), sandwiches and salads.

10. Be a Hater. What are 3 things you would like to go away?
1. Political ads and telephone calls. I'm still getting over those from last year!
2. Cancer. I and so many others have lost loved ones and friends to this horrible disease.
3. This pollen caking cars, driveways and outdoor furniture and killing mini#2 right now.

11. The Final Three (X Three)
I hand you a genie- what are your 3 wishes?
1. A fabulous vacation.
2. A winning lottery ticket.
3. Three more wishes. Ha!

List 3 things you can see out your window right now.
1. Pollen
2. Pansies
3. Green grass

Who are 3 people, living or dead, you would invite over for dinner.
1. Princess Diana
2. My grandmother. She died when my mom was only 12. I would really have liked to have known her.
3. David Beckham- to give my son soccer tips of course!

Have a great week!

Easter

We had a soggy, rainy Easter morning so no nice outdoorsy pictures this year. Luckily it cleared up and the kids had a good time playing outside after church. We had a big lunch at home after church instead of fighting the lunch crowds. I rolled out of bed at 6:00 a.m. and put a pork roast in the crock pot. It turned out so yummy!!! Loved it. We also had fresh green beans, devilled eggs, mashed potatoes and creamed corn. And a homemade chocolate chess pie for dessert. Thankfully, we all played a little basketball afterwards (and after I had a nap!).

Today, it's April 1st, my mom's Birthday! Hard to believe it's April. My dad's birthday is in a couple of weeks so I'm going back to Charlotte then to celebrate these April birthdays. And Mini#1 turns 12 on the 21st.  And my nephew turns 1 on the 23rd! Lots of April births!

Have a great week!

Easter with Boys

I just hid eggs in the backyard for the boys. What I thought would be a fun thing to do started out well. But it ended with my oldest taking an egg my youngest had spotted. Yelling ensued and youngest kicked oldest and then oldest kicked youngest's basket sending eggs flying everywhere. Youngest dropped his basket and stormed off crying calling oldest a cheater. The best part? Mr. Pink filmed it all from our deck so we can relive the tranquil Easter Egg Hunt of '13 for years to come. Fun times!! Hmmmm. Maybe I'll leave a note for the Easter Bunny to just skip the candy-filled hidden eggs in the house tonight.

I am so excited to wrangle them into navy sports coats and ties in the morning for church!

Five on Good Friday

Just some meaningless comments today.

1- I just heard Alex Rodriguez makes $29 million playing for the Yankees and that the ENTIRE Houston Astros team combined makes $25 million. Crazy professional sports...

2- I have lost all interest in American Idol this year. I'll watch a few minutes and I just can't stay tuned. It's lost its appeal with this reality TV junkie. DWTS, too. Just TIRED of it. Is Lisa Vanderpump doing ok?? And Kellie Pickler?? Those would be the only reason for me to watch, but the judges and Tom B, the host, drive me nuts.

3- I have to comment on RH of Beverly Hills. Can Faye Resnick be permanently banned from the show? Who made her the expert on every situation? LEAVE already. It's not your show. And, is it just me, does Taylor look horrible? Her face is so completely overdone. I really don't mean to be mean. I'm just disturbed.
4- Now, to be serious, I've been feeling the effects of time passing too quickly lately. I feel that I'm so caught up in the routines with the kids, their activities, etc that I'm not enjoying the moment like I should. Do you ever feel that way? I cannot believe mini#2 is 8!! When we moved back to NC from Atanta in 2006, he was 17 months old. WOW!

5- Back to not-so-serious. I've ordered the Conair Infiniti Spinning Styling Brush. Have you heard of this? My friend told me about it and I'm so excited to try it out. I'm hoping that I can put down my flat iron and get straightened hair with volume with the help of this product. My friend's hair looks great...and shiny. Stay tuned.

Have a great Easter weekend! I'm smart this year. I'm wearing a blazer over my (on sale) Michael Kors short-sleeved dress so I don't freeze in church! March Easters are always chilly, if not FREEZING around here.

Five on Friday - This Week

1- We went to a Carolina Hurricanes game. Mr. Pink's company (displayed above my head! Ha!) is a sponsor so FREE good seat tickets and a parking pass were just the motivation I needed to go to an NHL hocky game. It's cold at those games! Mini#2 was in heaven. He's a Jordan Staal fan and was really upset that we left with 5 mins left and missed his and the Hurricanes only goal.

2- We signed up for runner's camp and soccer camp for June. The kids love both! Both are huge around here and run by two different churches.

3- We went with friends to Raleigh's Pullen Park to play and rode on an open-air kid's train in 50-ish weather. The things moms do. But then we went for cupcakes at Gigi's so all was ok.

4- We filled out our NCAA brackets. We love college basketball and I'm waiting for the NC State game to start as I post. Did anyone see the NC State '83 champions documentary on ESPN Sun night? It was awesome. I cried. Well done. I went to school with Jimmy V's daughters and I remember listening to the ESPY awards speech he made (weeks before he died) in an NC State crowded bar and you could have heard a pin drop it was so reverently quiet.

5- We packed our backpacks up once again after 2 1/2 weeks off and went back to school yesterday. While glad to return to routine, not glad to pack those d*#% lunchboxes again. LOL!

Have a great weekend!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My leprechauns had green shamrock pancakes and green milk for breakfast. We skipped church today (shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone.) and put on all the green we could find and hit our local greenway for a run. Mini#1 and I are going to run a 5K together in May. We have two layers of green on above. I shed the first green shirt after a mile. Mini#2 rode his scooter which wasn't the best idea as the greenway was busy today and he just can't stay right of traffic! We finished 3 miles and then took mini#2 for a haircut. Hope you all are enjoying a fun-filled St. Patty's Day. One of these days I want to make it to the Raleigh St. Pat's parade, but, alas, soccer always seems to interfere with us being able to attend!!

Speaking of soccer. While talking to a friend of mine in the soccer parking lot yesterday, I watched one crazy (or just frazzled) soccer mom in a silver minivan back into another soccer mom's black minivan. OUCH! It was a really bad crunch resulting in a really bad dent. AND the hit minivan was parked RIGHT BESIDE my 6 month old SUV. (No offense. Pink will NEVER drive a minivan). Talk about a close call. That might have been my early luck of the Irish!