8.31.2012

FROM SCRATCH


We have become more and more 'from scratch' people as of late. Our greatest 'from scratch' treasure lies with the strawberries in our not-so-famous-but-just-you-wait strawberry bread. Our next door neighbor works at WinCo with the produce and brings us soon-to-expire-but-still-good-to-eat foods. This time it was a big ol' crate of strawberries. Tyler got all of the ingredients ready to make the bread, cooking show style, as we planned to stay up late into the night finishing LOST, but soon found he was down and out one ingredient. As he made his dinner I ended up passing out on the couch, I was so tired. So we went off to bed, LOST-less and bread-less, until tomorrow.

8.30.2012

IN NEED OF A NEW DR.


This morning my belly button was hurting more than ever; it was super red and tender. I got to work, ate breakfast and immediately became nauseous. The day progressed and it only got worse; I called my mom and got a doctor's appointment for later in the afternoon. The day dragged on until 2:30 and I dashed to the doctor's office to get some remedies. Tyler and I waited for the doctor for over an hour and once we finally got in he accused me of having done something stupid: apparently he thought that I had an infection from a belly button ring. Once I lifted my shirt, he realized I had no piercing there and then became concerned. He took one look at it, wrote me some prescriptions and sent us on our merry way in just under 5 minutes. Uh, okay, no swabbing, no testing, no follow up… it really was a weird visit. But I now have an antibiotic and some ointment to help me on the mend.

8.29.2012

YOU FOUND WHAT?


Tonight I am debating what to change up with my hair. I am in dire need of a trim (cough cough Megan) and I cannot wait for my belated straightener of a present to come from my mother oh so very soon. WARNING: DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE MEDICALLY SQUEAMISH. As I was changing into my pajamas I noticed some green and brown smears on the stomach area of my clothing. I looked down at my belly button (which has been hurting me for a couple of weeks, but I didn't think too much of it, dumb belt) and noticed a black thing poking out. I panicked and my mind jumped immediately to some bug burrowed deep into my navel. I shouted for Tyler and he came and got the tweezers. I closed my eyes expecting it to hurt quite terribly, when in fact I didn't feel a thing when he said he was done. I looked down and it looked like some sort of pod. We smashed it open and it ended up being hair, pus and skin all balled into one. Tyler painfully took a q-tip to my belly hole and blood came out. Awesome. Tomorrow I shall try to get into a doctor. Thank goodness it wasn't a bug. Oh heavens to Betsy thank goodness it wasn't a bug.

8.28.2012

ONE


The washer stopped working last night, oh almond joy. The washer repairman came this morning and took a look. One measly part, that's all it takes for the whole thing to shut down and say, 'NO MORE.' On a literally lighter note, I lost one pound today. I could grovel and moan, but a pound is a pound and at least I didn't gain. To this date my Dad and I have lost exactly the same poundage: 18.25. Can you believe it? He only has to lose ten more pounds… makes me think of this commercial.

8.27.2012

FEELIN' SWANKY


Every three months my work puts out a catalogue, this upcoming one is for winter, so what better place to shoot than Deer Valley? I had to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to make it to the St. Regis for the walk-through tour. Did you know that the St. Regis is nestled high above the rest and can be accessed by a funicular (a swanky tram)? You enter at the lower resort and this tram sort of thing takes you up, up and away. It was a lovely site to see, even though I got majorly lost because the valet man did not specify that I needed to ride said funicular to get to the upper resort.

8.26.2012

SINGING SINGING


Last night Tyler and I stayed up way too late for these little doggies. We decided to make new singing cards for nursery (we lay them on the ground, picture up; whoever is being most reverent/participative gets to come up and pick a card) as well as make a couple of extra ones because we have such a large group of kiddies. We probably went a little extra mile-ish by making cards for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas and Easter. These three turned out to be my favorites and ironically they are also the least colorful of the bunch. Can you guess these songs?

8.25.2012

SEMI-SPRING CLEANING


Even though we bummed around a bit today, we still got a lot accomplished, especially in the second bedroom. That room seems to keep piling up with junk with every ticking day… bills, mail, laundry, books, magazines, etc. Well, today we took a little chunk of our day to clean house, or shall I say second bedroom? In all of the cleaning, we got things filled away and I finally cleaned off my art desk. Now maybe I will get to that blank canvas that has been staring at me for the past year or so… just maybe.

8.24.2012

WHAT A JERK


Our new Friday night tradition is to come home, make a very scrumptious meal and sit down to a lovely episode of Project Runway. You heard right, my husband and I watch this religiously every end of week; we love watching people and their creative process: how they think, execute and react to each challenge. This week, this meanie head, Ven, was the biggest jerk. The challenge was to design for 'real women' aka not size zero models. He kept saying he was at a disadvantage because she was so plus-sized and kept pointing that out right to her face. The nerve!

8.23.2012

WORK KEGGER


This morning I felt completely awful and slept it off for an hour before going into work. Once I arrived to work there was this red cup sitting in front of my keyboard. I picked it up, thinking it was one of those lightweight plastic ones, and was going to throw it away. After picking it up I realized it was not, in fact, a disposable cup but a reusable one due to the weight of the cup and the material it was made out of. Really… you chose a red Solo cup for all of us to permanently use? Great. Now from this day forward, my co-workers and I shall look as if we are at an eight hour kegger. Beer pong anyone?

8.22.2012

KARATE CHOP


Can we just take today off the board, at least the 'at work' part of it? Let's just karate chop the crap out of it until it's black and blue shall we? Moving on… I got home and began watching a documentary called Being Elmo and absolutely loved it. Soon Tyler came home to me and we sat down for dinner: he had leftovers from yesterday and I had homemade chicken noodle soup with miracle noodles. Yum. It was definitely a chop sticks night as we now have his and hers Asian utensils.

8.21.2012

TWO AND A HALF


Today was my third weigh-in: my Dad has now lost fifteen pounds and I have lost seventeen (he looks so stinkin' skinny)! I got home and awaited Tyler's arrival home to share the news. We then spent the evening cookin' it up and watching Grimm. Tyler made broiled tilapia parmesan with peas after he had made me roast-beef-wrapped green beans with this yummy garlic sauce (mine was an adaptation of this recipe, but it was still super good). Thanks for tuning into our weekly weigh-in update.

8.20.2012

STAMPIN' UP


No, I did not join Stampin' Up. I did however get this lovely stamp alphabet in the mail today. Isn't it cute? It's so little, I love it. I got this along with a birthday letter from Tyler's brother Jason that had Brazilian moolah in it… ooo la la. I tried out a couple of the stamps on Tyler's hand (can you tell which ones?) with the teal stamp pad I found on clearance forever and a day ago. The night was topped off with some Lynch brothers coming over to eat and play Super Smash Bros with domination.

8.19.2012

VISITORS GALORE


No, these are not all the people that visited us today, although that would have been terrifically lovely. But one (couple) actually did… Chadsen and Masumi (the ones on the bottom, second in from the right) were in town and dropped by for a visit. After they left, we skyped with my sister, Sara and her cute family who are in California. Our grey cork board is filling up fast with announcements: babies; missionaries; graduations; elopements and ceremonies (oh, and don't forget the sweet lego 'thank you' card from our nephew). Keep them comin' people!

8.18.2012

PROFESSIONAL LABELER


Tyler went grocery shopping tonight and bought these labels for the sippy-cups he bought earlier in the week. You see, since we are in nursery we've been meaning to make these for the little kiddies to prevent spills and constant requests for, 'more water'. We got caught up on a lot today and still managed to lounge around and watch more LOST.

8.17.2012

FREE FOOD


I have made three or four (I can't even remember now) trips out to our printer for many press and proof checks for a printed piece we are coming out with soon at work. It was no biggie on some days, but others it was a bit of hassle. Today was the last one (hopefully) and I was greatly rewarded as I walked out the door; our print rep stopped me and handed me a card filled with these thanking me for coming out so many times. Why, no, thank you! New Year's Day… totally taking my husbandry to dinner with these babies! And yes, it is finally Friday.

8.16.2012

SHAKIN' IT UP


Tonight was a good li'l reunion: my friend from Provo got married to his soulmate and Tyler and I made the trek down for some good ol' reception fun. It was held at the Springville Art Museum, which is so appropriate for the both of them seeing how they are both totally artsy fartsy. We saw many old faces and a couple of new ones (babies and beards)! The night was topped off with a little dancing, at which point in time Tyler and I took the opportunity to sneak out after I snapped this groovy photo. Congrats David & Elise!

8.15.2012

CURLY Q


Today I totally rocked the socks off of my new fake gauges. Ever since Saturday, I have been receiving many compliments on all the various jewelry I have been sporting from my little spree downtown, but these took the cake! My li'l sister says that I pull them off and I think I do a decent job as well. It was so hard to choose, but I think I picked some pretty swanky ones. Also, work does not seem to be looking up anytime soon. Le sigh…

8.14.2012

FIVE AND A QUARTER


I had my second weigh-in today after work. I wasn't expecting too much, because you kinda can't after the big week I had last week. Much to my surprise I lost 5.25 pounds, making my total loss just under 15 pounds. Hoorah! Also, a pleasant surprise… my wedding ring fits again! I have had a list hanging in my bedroom of 'wants' that come from losing weight and this was one of them; it feels so good to be wearing it again. Let it be known that this day was probably the worst of all worsts at work, ugh, and that is all that I shall state (no need to dwell).

8.13.2012

JELL-O REMEDY


Holy Hannah Montana! This day was probably the worst Monday of my life (pardon my dramatic exaggeration). Let's just say that work was so poopy that I perused the classifieds after work AND I need a new laptop, for its battery is bulging right out of its socket. Although, no day can end bad because I have a husbandry that is an excellent hugger and I have pink jell-o to fill my tummy.

8.12.2012

NURSERY SLUMBER


Tyler and I have both had an exhausting past week. So when we got to Nursery it was no surprise that it wouldn't be a walk in the park. We had three new kids (two of which were twins) that were crying left and right; once one calmed down, the other would scream it up. By the time we got to sacrament meeting we were so beat; we hardly had the energy to pay attention to the talks. Once home, we both plopped down in bed. I napped until 7:30. Yeah, take that Sunday nap.

8.11.2012

A JOLLY GOOD DAY


Today I got ready for one of my very most favorite days of the year: Craft Lake City. It's where the ultimate DIYers of SLC come together and let anyone and everyone bask in their awesome talents. Last year I bought tons of prints (that are now hanging lovingly in our apartment). This year there weren't as many printers as there were jewelers. I have been needing to buy some dainty necklaces and expand my tiny earring collection so it couldn't have come at a better time. In addition to this great batch of accessories, I got a sketch book and we bought three prints from one artist that I went to UVU with. The night was concluded with a hilarious night at Desert Star with the Lynch family.

8.10.2012

PASSING THE TIME


Work was as bad as Monday; I'm just glad it's the end of the week. I called Tyler on my way home ecstatic to say that Project Runway was on Hulu (I've totally gotten him hooked) and to ask what he wanted for dinner. Turns out he needed to work incredibly late; 10:30 PM late. I came home, took a super long nap and then did the dishes while cooking up some grub. Once I finished the dishes I realized how colorfully happy they all looked toppled up into one big mound. As soon as my husband returned, it was Project Runway and Lost watching 'til early into the next morn.

8.09.2012

MISSING CONDIMENTS


The one thing on this diet that I truly miss (besides sweets) is condiments. My very favorite one of course is ketchup; when I was little I would douse everything in that thick red sauce. Ketchup is loaded with sugar, thus resulting in it being eliminated from my diet. My diet coach has a blog where she posts recipes of things that are allowed. I found she had a ketchup recipe and had to try it with my turnip fries. Let's just say Heinz: 1, Brooke: 0.

8.08.2012

THE GREATEST PEN PALS


A little while ago, we started writing to my niece and nephew who live in Maryland. They wrote us back a couple of weeks ago and we have been terribly awful at replying to them. Today my nephew sent the coolest lego thank you card for the birthday present we sent him. I decided to get creative with my stationery and make a quick watercolor for the backs of their letters. Tyler drew the coolest comics for them where she was a mermaid and he was a sheriff. We also sent box tops to my nephew, a paper mask to my niece and some jokes to boot.

8.07.2012

NINE AND A HALF


Remember that little project I gave to Aubrey yesterday? It was to put backs on all of these little flowers that my sisters and I split amongst ourselves a while back. In addition to the flowers, I asked her to fix one of my earrings that came apart last week. She did it in one day. I was so super excited. This day also brought my first weigh-in on this diet: I lost 9.5 pounds; my Dad lost 8! After our weigh-in, my Dad came to the rescue and looked at my car. The battery was dead; thank you AutoZone for checking and selling us a new one.

8.06.2012

LITTLE BIT OF BLAH


This morning I woke up with just enough time to scurry out the door and make it to work by the skin of my teeth. As I turned the key in the ignition, my poor little Nemo tried his little heart out to turn over, but quickly surrendered and died out. Just lovely. I hurried in to wake Tyler so he could chauffer me to work. The day passed slowly, but soon my heroic sister picked me up to take me away. We visited for a tad bit and I even gave her a little project to work on for me. Tyler worked late and I did laundry (this is our waiting-to-be-folded chair; holla for D.I. finds). It was a little bit of blah, but I'll take it for a Monday.

8.05.2012

THRIFTED FEET


Remember that day we were in L.A.? Well after the sealing we came across a lovely Jewish thrift store that was a thousand times better than D.I. I might add. We looked at purple blazers, old mirrors, and shoes galore. Tyler helped me find these perfect little gems for my feet, and to top it off, they're made out of lace. I am sure they were someone's wedding shoes at some point, or something fancy like that. Also, nursery today was hilarious: the girls would only go to me and the boys would only go to Tyler. We rock.

8.04.2012

FERRON FAMILY


The annual Duncan Family Reunion of 2012 was this weekend. It actually started back on Thursday, but Tyler and I needed to finish out the week at work. We drove to Ferron where my Grandpa Duncan grew up. It was complete with the saw-dust pile, donuts on a string, a slip-n-slide and the gloriously traditional candy jar guessing. Who would have thunk that the Lynch family would dominate with 100%. Not to mention my Dad won a jar too! Apparently Tyler guessed 2 right and my Dad guessed 4 right, but you can only win one. Aren't we dandy? Or dare I say candy dandy?

8.03.2012

NOVOCAIN ENDING


Wednesday morning I had a dentist appointment. Everything went swimmingly, all except the little cavity they found in the back. So this morning I woke up at the butt crack of dawn to get numbed, listen to an older dentist-man tell me early morning jokes and get to work in the most timely manner I've been in a long time. This was how much I could smile right out of the gate… so. much. novocain.

8.02.2012

HER PLATE VS. HIS PLATE


Which of these plates looks like diet food? Day four of this diet has come and gone. I'll admit my initial concern for going on this diet was that Tyler's food would look way better than mine come dinnertime, but tonight that was not a problem. Her plate: cinnamon and ginger soy sauce chicken with pan seared green beans. His plate: grilled cheese, avocado, turkey sandwich with extra avocado on the side. Which one looks good to you?

8.01.2012

BELATED BIRTHDAY


Last Saturday we got back from doing errands and found a UPS slip in our mailbox saying that we had a parcel waiting for us. We both grinned immensely at each other with delight as we realized it was my hot air balloon necklace all the way from China. Today, Tyler went to the post office and picked it up for me. I can't wait to wear it. It's a tad girly for what I usually wear, but I am trying to ease into the girliness; one day I want to be just like Zooey Deschanel, particularly her New Girl character.