ON THE OTHER SIDE

My adorably pregnant cousin Alishia is graduating at the end of the month and needed a cap and gown to get the job done. Luckily, I saved mine (I'm not exactly sure why) and offered to lend it to her for the occasion. As a reward she invited us down for some yummy fajitas and strawberry shortcake with her husband (also named Tyler). She even had her brother and his wife over with their little boy Josh to indulge in all of the deliciousness. At the end of the night she had us all take a group photo—I snapped this one in between takes to remember the evening. Isn't their new home beautiful? Swoon those hardwood floors!

THE WEEK IS GONE

Tyler and I woke up extra early this morning for his cousin's baptism in Lehi. We had to miss the funeral today because it was at the same time as the baptism. We came home—Tyler went in to work (again—one day he won't work on Saturdays) and I watched Netflix while doing house chores. He returned home and we finished the night in each other's company eating fundraiser cookies and watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (I am now and forever in love with that show).

BUDDY BUDS

I gladly accepted the request to watch my nephews tonight while my sister and her husband went to the viewing for this little guy's grandpa, James Rich. We ate dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries and apple slices while his little brother slept soundly in the other room. While we ate, we made up silly stories involving eyeball stores, monsters and bad guys. I love this little man so much—we always have so much fun together. I am glad that he has a mother and a father that will teach him that one day he will be reunited with his grandpa again. I know my sister, Sara and her husband, Bob are going to get through this—I love you guys so much!

FREEBIES

This week has been a hefty one; Tyler has had a heavy load of stress, as have I. Due to that (and a little bit of laziness) we decided to have a night out with each other to forget our woes. The nice mailman gave us Wendy's coupons so we decided to walk there and get some cheap dinner. I led us astray by thinking it was in the wrong direction, but that just means we worked off more calories (right?). We eventually arrived to a very empty restaurant and this free large frosty due to an indecisive customer not wanting it anymore. Tyler had their Baconator and I had their new flatbread chicken sandwich. We were very satisfied and then walked it off taking the 'short way' home (also known as the regular way home). Loved the adventure, hated the new Wendy's branding.

ONE COOKIE, TWO COOKIE, THREE COOKIE, TRIPLED

Did you know that we love cookies to the moon and back? It's true! I 'liked' cookies before I dated Tyler, but once you're in his family, you're bound to become a cookie fanatic. My cousin made a plea on Facebook calling all cookie lovers to buy cookie dough from her daughter for a fundraiser (the children that sold enough dough got a lunch in a limo—she won… probably because of us). We bought two boxes and intended on saving them for this summer when I would be off this diet. Due to the unforeseen stressful week and such, we decided to break them out tonight. Oh. My. Goodness. They are delicious! I even went as far as saying that these taste better than the Girl Scout cookies we got last month. Moral of the story: we're going broke and getting fat due to cookies AND we're suckers for anyone fundraising with dough filled with chocolate chips. The End.

CHARLY HOME

Well this was an interestingly stressful day. As a result of my creative director being far far away on the plains of Europe, I was put in charge of managing a photo shoot today for work. Uh, yeah, hard to believe that I, Brooke Lynch could pull off such a thing. We had a VERY late start due to our not-so-punctual film company, but I did it. It was quite stressful in the beginning, but with the help of our amazing photographer and my tremendously proactive co-workers on set, it came together. Recognize this lady model from our shoot today? Why yes, she is the famous Jack-Weyland-novel-to-movie actress who played Charly. And yes, she is still just as stunning as ever… even in person. (She touched my laptop!) After the shoot Sydney came to my house and we went crazy on the interwebs setting up this and that for our future businesses (separate businesses—we're not going into business together, yet).

Another thing to note tonight… my sister's father-in-law passed away last night from Lou Gehrig Disease. My mom texted me the news tonight; my sister and her family will be making their way out here for the funeral this weekend. Sad evening.

CHEERS

Today was a bit overwhelming, but it ended well. Sydney and I ran to a million stores to find fabric for a studio shoot next week and boy oh boy good fabric sure is slim pickin's here in Utah—too bad we don't have a MOOD. All the while we ran our errands in the rain (so much for going running tonight). When Sydney dropped me off to my apartment I caught sight of a package on my doorstep and jumped for joy! I invited Sydney in for her very belated birthday present: a 'When In Doubt, Mumble' poster and as a lovely gift to myself the artist sent this 5x5 print for free. It is lovely—raven black paper with gold metallic all over. I think I shall hang it at my desk at my place of work, no?