Burgers as big as your head!

Thursday at Close To My Heart, we started what I hope will become a fun summer tradition—Lynton Burger! You’re stunned, right? You already knew that Close To My Heart is an amazing scrapbooking and stamping company, but a burger restaurant, too? You bet, at least for a day!

Here’s how it started: in January, we traveled to New Zealand’s gorgeous south island for our incentive trip. While in Queenstown, the locals encouraged us to visit a wildly popular street restaurant called “FergBurger.” The storefront of the restaurant was modest, the space was small, but you could smell the delicious food from down the block—which was as long as the waiting line was! After I took my first bite of my FergBurger, I turned to David and Monica and said, “This is SOOOO good. We HAVE to do our own big burger for Close To My Heart!" And the little seed for Lynton Burger was planted.

This week, that seed bloomed. We set up grills, purchased hundreds of half-pound top-quality angus steak burgers, sliced condiments, spun cotton candy, filled buckets with ice and bottled soda, bagged candy, sliced watermelon, and then grilled, grilled, grilled! (And when I say “we,” I mean our incredible Events staff and Executive Team—thank you so much for making this little vision of mine into a fun reality. You did a wonderful job that exceeded everyone’s expectations.)

We ate in shifts of about 30 people or so, so it was a cozy and relaxed restaurant experience for each staffer. The signage and the hats (everyone wore them!) boasted “Burgers as big as your head,” and it was true! I enjoyed every single bite of mine and have to admit that a Lynton Burger beats a FergBurger any day!

The weather was balmy and mercifully overcast and the conversation bubbled like our bottled root beer... Until, with just 15 minutes remaining in the event, the sky literally ripped open and a torrent poured down so fat and heavy it rained sideways. Cotton candy blew out of its bins. Wind gusted at the tents and whipped at the tablecloths. Bags of chips rolled across the lawn. Thunder cracked in the distance. Thunder! Suddenly, our leisurely picnic was transformed into a rescue mission—which was perfect, because everyone pitched in to carry in bins and food and dismantle tents in a jiffy. Our cleanup was scheduled to take an hour, but thanks to the wake-up from Mother Nature and our responsive staff, the majority of the work was done in minutes.

Success, all around, I’d say. I can’t wait for the next Lynton Burger day!