#I really miss my 2022 job........ I definitely could have been normal there and I was for a good 6 months

[miladysatsuki]

job interview in 4 hours.......

[hamsterboos]

The Curb

Okay so this is very much based off of what happened to Markiplier a while ago, and if any of you follow him, the title pretty much gives it away lol. I felt so bad but it's comedy gold so worth it. I really hope you guys like it! Let me know if you'd like to be added to my TOG fic taglist ^_^

Word Count: 1189 CW: cursing, a very embarrassed Rowan Read on AO3; Rowaelin Month 2022 Masterlist

Prompt: trip to hospital

~~~~~~~~

There was no better way to explain what was going through Rowan over the past hour except embarrassment. And maybe annoyance towards the damned dog.

He knew he was the third wheel in the relationship, and he had accepted it. Fleetfoot had been a puppy when Dorian had gifted her to Aelin, and Rowan came into Aelin’s life much later on, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t harbor some lingering grudges against her.

Gods above, he was annoyed at a dog.

And yes, it wasn’t even entirely Fleetfoot’s fault what had happened, but if she had been calmer or maybe had followed him like she was supposed to, it wouldn’t have happened. Rowan wouldn’t be sitting in the ER, bleary and on a lot of painkillers, waiting for a doctor to come see him about his ankle…that he was pretty sure he had fractured, if not broken.

How was he even supposed to explain what happened to the doctor? It wasn’t like he was doing some strenuous exercise or anything of the sort. Rowan audibly groaned as he banged his head against the pillow underneath his head, willing for anything that would take the memory of the last hour away. 

His day had started out normally, albeit a bit sad, but only because his wife was at work today while he was off. It was rare that they were off together, so he was used to it, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t upset about the entire situation. Since he was off, though, he had taken up the job of doing some of the house chores that the two had been neglecting to do after getting home from work, such as picking up the random clothing articles that had been strewn across their apartment. He knew he was missing a shirt, and Aelin was most definitely missing a bra or two, which he had found underneath the furniture in the living room, and he had made the mental note to maybe slow down next time.

But he was also sure that he was never going to remember the mental note. 

When it came time to take Fleetfoot on her first walk of the day (yes, first), she was already practically bouncing off the walls with the excitement running through her body. Her tail was wagging, and she had pounced on him four times just while he was trying to get her leash around her body. Soon enough, but still not soon enough, Rowan had Fleetfoot all ready to go, and he was ready to go enjoy the sunshine and the pleasantly cool weather of mid-September while doing his best to wrangle a wild dog.

Honestly, he was somewhat jealous of the fact that while he was able to calm his wild wife, nothing could be done from his side to calm the wild dog. That was Aelin’s job.

And of course, with a wild dog came the hazards of having to keep a constant eye to make sure she didn’t eat anything she wasn’t supposed to or accidentally run into the middle of the road. Rowan knew that she was incredibly well trained and would listen to his commands, but he didn’t want to take the risk of other nearby dogs or Fleetfoot getting momentarily distracted by something across the road. And so there he was, a man with his dog, until he tried to cross the road because said dog was being ansty. Then, he was a man in incredible pain with his dog barkly loudly and trying to soothe him with her tongue.

The curb. He had walked off the curb on top of a sewer grate, and the uneven footing twisted his ankle far enough that he let out a grunt of pain before crumpling down as he lost the ability to hold his weight up. Fleetfoot had tried to help in the best way she could - with a lot of barking and nudges and licks to soothe him, and he had appreciated it at the time, but it’s not like the dog was going to help him up and get him to the hospital.

Unfortunately, that meant calling the one person he knew without a doubt would be free at noon on a weekday. 

Fenrys.

At first, Fenrys had been concerned, like the good friend he should’ve been. Until he saw Rowan sitting on the side of the curb with Fleetfoot’s head hanging off of his thigh, her tongue out of her mouth as she panted. And then, Fenrys was doubled over laughing his head off as he leaned against the closest pole. It took them a few minutes to get Rowan into Fenrys’ car because the asshole kept stopping to laugh, and it definitely didn’t help that any movement sent a searing jolt of pain up Rowan’s leg. Eventually, they did make it to the hospital where he was put on painkillers and had X-rays taken while Fenrys was dog-sitting for him.

Which brought him to the moment when Yrene Towers Westfall walked into the room with a small smile on her face.

“Hey, Rowan,” she greeted as she picked up the patient chart that was clipped to the side of his bed.

“Hi, Yrene,” he attempted to smile back but it only turned into a grimace as he tried to shift his foot.

“So, it does look like you have a fracture running through your ankle, and you need to be on bed rest for three days and wear a boot for three weeks."

Rowan snorted at that. "A pediatrician on bed rest. Imagine how fun that’ll be when all the kids see the boot.”

"It would've been longer if Aelin had her way, though," Yrene gently teased. "She was supposed to take you until she saw your name on the patient X-ray."

"She’s listening outside, isn't she?"

"Yes, I am!" He heard her voice from outside the door. Yrene softly laughed before leaving a set of prescriptions on his bedside.

“I’ll see you later, Rowan. Take care,” she said as she left the room, and it was seconds before Aelin came in with a smirk on her face. Immediately, Rowan knew this wasn’t going to be good, and he groaned.

“You heard?” he asked, not even bothering to explain. 

“You honestly scared the crap out of me when I saw your name when I was taking my next ER patient, Buzzard,” she teased as she sat down next to him in the bed and grabbed his hand, twining their fingers together. Her face was steady but her voice gave away the amusement. “But then I saw Fenrys brought you in, so while Yrene was looking at your X-rays, I called him. He gave me the gist of the situation.” 

“I blame that dog of yours,” Rowan protested, albeit a bit weakly.

“That dog of mine was worried about you.”

“If the dog wasn’t so anxious to cross the road, I would’ve seen the grates.”

That brought out a loud laugh from Aelin, and Rowan wanted to smother himself with the pillow. “God, you’re never living this down.”

“Trust me, I know.”

Taglist: @thegreyj @backtobl4ck @leiawritesstories

[f1]

Albon thought long and hard over whether to return in Singapore | 2022 Singapore Grand Prix

Alexander Albon admitted he wasn’t certain he would be able to return to action this weekend after experiencing complications arising from surgery two weeks ago. The Williams driver was forced to miss the Italian Grand Prix after developing appendicitis. He underwent surgery on Saturday but suffered respiratory failure and had to be taken to intensive care. Being sedated had a physical impact on Albon, in addition to the surgery itself, and created extra uncertainty over when he could return to racing. “It was more kind of bed recovery to begin with,” Albon explained during the FIA press conference in Singapore today. “It’s quite a tricky one because you’re basically waiting for your lungs to recover. And at the same time, your body can’t move as well as it normally can. So you can’t just jump back into normal training, you have to slowly build into it. So it was kind of starting Monday last week when we really started to push it and see what we can do. “I treated it like a nine-to-five job, training and recovery. Of course, recovery is really important, basically throwing everything [at it], and day by day I was getting better and better.” Despite his rate of improvement, Albon was unsure whether he would be able to race in Singapore. It is widely regarded as the toughest race on the calendar due to the bumpy, punishing track and combination of high ambient temperatures and humidity. “I got to a point where the recovery was going really well and I don’t think we truthfully had in mind Singapore on the cards,” he admitted. “But just with the speed of the recovery, it was definitely a possible thing. “We sat long and hard to think about it, shall we do it or not, and I feel like I am ready. Of course we have to wait until FP1 tomorrow to see where it’s at because driving around here is a bit of a different beast.” The operation Albon had on his appendix is usually straightforward, he said. “It’s a relatively simple procedure. I think it only takes a couple of hours to be operated on. But obviously you don’t understand time when you’re sedated.” It was only when he came around that he discovered the operation had proved more complicated than expected. “When I did wake up, I thought that was the procedure finished. It was only they said, ‘well, you actually have gone through a little bit more than that’.” However the consequences of his respiratory problem proved less severe than was initially feared. “I was supposed to be in an induced sedation for two or three days, but in the end my lungs cleared out within 12 hours, so I was already up pretty much shortly after.” Albon says he won’t know until practice whether he will be fit enough to do Sunday’s two-hour race. “Mainly we’re looking at long runs [in practice]. The short runs, [for] anyone, it’s quite a comfortable thing to be able to drive these cars. But by FP2 especially you do get a really good idea of how it’s going to feel on your body for the race. “I’m not planning to not race, I’m planning to be there, and truthfully I feel pretty confident in my body, but of course nothing quite compares it to the actual toll of driving these cars.” Despite being forced to miss a race, Albon said the disruption to his season was not as bad as it could have been. “In terms of setbacks, it’s a small one really,” he reflected. “I’ve missed out on a race. I’ve been very lucky I’ve had very good doctors around me who were in Italy to get me back into a good place. So I feel very fortunate.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 Singapore Grand Prix Browse all 2022 Singapore Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net

[aracaj]

Renaissance Writers

We Need to Have a Moment of Silence for Wanda Maximoff’s Character Development (A review of WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)

Jacara Kelly

June 20 2022

After learning of Wanda Maximoff’s importance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I took it upon myself to binge watch the entire season of WandaVision in one day/evening: this day being a very random Tuesday. And honestly, it was worth every minute of sleep I missed that school night; and I immediately understood why Wanda had such a strong fanbase. I experienced every emotion while watching this insane story unfold, and this ultimately led to my extreme love for Elizabeth Olsen, who makes Wanda Maximoff a really difficult character to hate. So, I guess you could imagine my surprise when she became the villain in the newest edition of the Doctor Strange Franchise.

WandaVision, released in January 2021, tells the love story of Avengers Wanda Maximoff and Vision… well, what could have been their love story, had Vision not been killed in Avengers: Infinity War. Dealing with overwhelming grief, Wanda uses her strong powers for the worst, creating an alternate reality that impacts the lives of once normal civilians. The show stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda, Paul Bettany as Vision, Kathryn Hahn as Agatha, and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeu. The execution of this entire season and how perfectly the story unraveled was really amazing to me. This is arguably the best series to be released in Marvel’s phase four, which is rumored to be coming to an end soon. Olsen’s performance as Wanda in this show was amazing. It was captivating, and her talent is one that keeps an audience hooked even while binge watching a nine episode show on a school night.

Another thing that I loved about this series is the way time passed. WandaVision begins as a 1950’s sitcom, and by the end of the season, the show was a Modern Family type sitcom. This is something I’ve never seen done before in a show, and watching the show go through different era’s on television was very entertaining. The show got nominated for 23 Primetime Emmy Awards, and the fact that it only won two of those 23 is something I will never forgive the award show for. I would recommend this show to anybody who asks for it.

Given the way that the limited series ended, I was convinced that Wanda was doing great and put the negative use of her powers away for good. So when it was revealed (very shortly into the movie by the way) that Wanda/the Scarlet Witch would be the villain, along with her reasoning behind being the villain, I was confused to say the least.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars actors Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Benedict Wong as Wong, and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. In the movie, the Scarlet Witch is fighting to attain the powers of America Chavez to move through the Multiverse to be with her family that she created in WandaVision. But… in the series finale of WandaVision she seemed to have put those mistakes behind her and realized that they aren’t real. I believe that the cast did a wonderful performance, especially Gomez, who is only 16 years old. She did a great job as this character, and I heard that Anthony Mackie even was her acting coach at one time. I would recommend for people to watch this movie once, but I’ve definitely seen better from Marvel.

A lot of fans (especially  my mother) were disappointed in this movie because they didn’t like the way that Wanda was portrayed as a villain. Personally, Wanda can do no wrong in my eyes, so my views on the character didn’t change at all after watching the movie. Again, this is all thanks to the great Elizabeth Olsen, who amazed Wanda Maximoff fans playing both the hero and a villain and still was able to be a highly adored character.

[cecisinjapan]

Another Multi-Day Catch-Up

May 12, 2022

Honestly, not much of a day. I had my usual three hours of class (got back the kanji test—got the 100 I was feeling), plus the weekly bonus conversation class. The teacher for the conversation class is funny. One of the questions we discussed was what animals we can’t stand (he seemed to believe people fall into two camps: can’t stand snakes or spiders—unfortunately, I didn’t get to share my opinion this time). Eventually, he drew on the whiteboard to explain to us that he thinks snails are acceptable, but that slugs aren’t. I’m still confused about that one.

But because it was a rainy day, I went back to the dorm after class and passed out. I know rain always made me sleepy before coming here, but I feel like it’s gotten more extreme here. I wonder if the barometric pressure or something has greater variation than I’m used to or something. I keep getting completely knocked out when the weather changes.

Since that ate up the rest of the afternoon, I had to spend the evening taking care of homework. Exciting stuff.

—

Friday, May 13, 2022

I’m so mad that I didn’t realize there was going to be a Friday the Thirteenth while I was here. But also it’s Japan, so it was already a long-shot for me to find a tattoo event like I usually attend in the States. Darn.

During class, we were blasting through the last chapter before the midterm. I’m so glad that most of the grammar points so far are ones I already have some exposure to. This would be overwhelming if it was new. But I definitely get the feeling that had I come here straight after my college Japanese classes, I probably could have tested one level higher than I managed.

After class, I ended up having lunch with one of the teachers I don’t actually have (she helps out with the US Program stuff, since she’s one of the English-speaking teachers). It’s funny to hear her talk with the students who are so eager to move out of the dorms because by Japanese standards, we have a very easy commute. But it also reaffirmed the fact that I would not want to teach here. Twelve hour work days are normal to her???? Sure when I taught in the States, 9-10 hour days were my usual, but when you combine that with the fact that here they usually also work on Saturdays plus have a 1.5 hour commute (each way!), my old job seems very reasonable! Never thought I’d ever say that.

After that, I hit up the stationery store. Such an easy place to spend too much money. There was some gorgeous washi tape going for 700円 a roll. I managed to stop myself this time, but I was sorely tempted.

Since it was Friday, the others decided to go out. Feeling restless after being denied my usual Friday the Thirteenth fun, I of course tagged along. We got drinks and food first. I ordered nori tempura (fried seaweed, basically) and that would probably have been more than enough for my stomach, but the guys over-ordered to share, so I had a little bit of quite a few things. Including smoked quail eggs. Those are surprisingly good. Mostly just a smoky flavor.

But then we ended up at a game center. One of the guys really wanted to do DDR, and I got really excited about that. There were four of us there—me and the three guys—and I got to handily defeat two of them, but the third left before I could kick his butt, too. (Of course, I was a little bit of an asshole about it—I found where the machine let you choose songs from specific previous releases and went straight to the songs I knew… but they were hopeless anyway, so it probably didn’t matter). I miss DDR. It’s so fun. I should play it more while I’m here and have access to game centers.

—

May 14, 2022

Some mix of the weather and having two drinks last night knocked me on my butt for the day. I woke up at my usual time, had some breakfast, tried to start homework, then went back to sleep for about three hours.

When I woke up again, I decided to take it a little easy. Clearly my body needed it. I still did my homework, but I didn’t push the studying angle. I did hit up the 100円 store for a few things (I even found something that works as a cute little gift for my dad I think!).

But otherwise, it really was a nothing day. Not ideal with the midterm on Tuesday, but if I needed the rest, I needed the rest.

—

May 15, 2022

This was the study day that I had intended for Saturday. I woke up and got to it. I ended up doing somewhere around 6 hours of studying.

I took a couple breaks in the middle, of course. Otherwise my brain would have actually turned to mush. But yeah, there’s the midterm on Tuesday to prepare for PLUS there’s a regular grammar test on Monday. You know, why not?

But I’m definitely a little worried for the midterm. I know that I’m not in danger of having to repeat the level currently, but if I bomb the midterm, that could change. I’d rather not have to pay to repeat the level if I can avoid it.

This has been a fairly boring update, I know, so here’s a picture of a flower.

[wineanddinosaur]

Will the Sommelier Profession Ever Be the Same After Covid-19?

The first time I really thought my career as a sommelier and wine director might be over was Saturday, Feb. 29. That was the day that the first U.S. casualty from Covid-19 was reported in King County, Wash., where I live and work. While Covid-19 had already entered the public consciousness at least in part, that was the first night I directly saw its impact on my line of work: Cancellations for that night’s dinner services reached levels previously only seen when it snowed in Seattle, and they only continued to pile up over the next week. I knew that my position in particular would be extremely vulnerable in the short and medium term, as wine education, purchasing, and sales would take a back seat to figuring out how to pivot to delivery, takeout, and, frankly, figuring out if the restaurant company could survive. I was laid off on March 15.

This has been the fate, or at least the potential fate, of sommeliers and wine directors throughout the United States ever since this virus arrived, and even with hopeful news of vaccines on the horizon, the threat has never been more acute to sommeliers.

Take it from long-time wine professional John Wabeck, who has now worked through his second economic and professional crisis, the first being the 2008-09 Great Recession. Warbeck spent the last three years as the beverage director for the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group in Pittsburgh before being laid off in November. If he were an owner, Wabeck says, “I’d do exactly the same thing. Beverage specialists are the first to go and the last to come back when times get tough. Honestly, I feel like I did such a good job in putting systems in place that I cost myself a job, because the restaurant general managers should be able to handle reordering and stocking.”

Even those who have managed to keep their jobs have seen things change dramatically. “I don’t really do anything in person at all,” Cappie Peete, beverage director at AC Restaurants in Raleigh, N. C., says. “I’m a content builder at this point: We do weekly wine packs that are themed based on seasonality or based on a specific region or variety. It’s that, plus helping everyone keep their curbside menus curated.”

While curating wine packs or organizing cellar sales might allow a sommelier or wine director to stay employed or even learn a new set of skills, that doesn’t change the fact that on-premise wine sales in particular are suffering. In-person dining has been limited or banned in many parts of the country for almost a full year, and every wine director and sommelier I have spoken to agreed that take-out and delivery sales for wine are a tiny fraction of what on-premise sales would normally be. This is because most wine drinkers are relying on grocery stores, wine shops, and direct-to-consumer sales for their wine needs, leaving restaurants forced to sell off inventory just to generate cash flow, even wines that had been cellared for years.

Many of the best opportunities for big sales are off the table. Take it from Bobbie Burgess, wine director at Restaurant Tyler in Starkville, Miss. “Most of our guests are people who come for sporting events — college football, women’s basketball, and baseball,” she says. “Plus, we would get a lot of business that comes in for the university. We do get locals as well, but we really rely on travel.” With those events either canceled or limited, restaurants all over that rely on special event traffic are even more imperiled than restaurants as a whole; and their wine programs in particular tend to depend on celebrating fans or otherwise enthusiastic drinkers to boost the bottom line.

Beyond that, an entire genre of restaurant that provided regular demand for wine professionals might be on the verge of extinction, or at least severe contraction: the expense-account restaurant. Typically (but not always) a steakhouse, these restaurants rely on a steady stream of business travelers and the corporate credit cards that come with them. With experts predicting that business travel may never return to previous levels, these restaurants will struggle to find an audience that actually has the plastic to pay for $125 steaks and $25 glasses of mediocre Cabernet Sauvignon.

Looking forward to a time when in-person dining returns more robustly, wine professionals share a mix of excitement and trepidation, as well as a recognition that things won’t just “go back to normal.” As Peete explains, AC Restaurants “will definitely be opening with a streamlined menu, in part out of necessity because we sold through things and we’ll be working with a smaller team, but also because only time will tell how and when we can expand.”

Burgess sees her goals and priorities shifted. “It used to be this thing that you wanted to have a Wine Spectator Award,” she says. “In my first year, I earned three wine list awards.” But curation seems like a luxury. “Now I’d much rather have a menu that rotates and moves through wines. I want to have more like 150 selections,” she says. For Restaurant Tyler, Burgess plans “to start small going into 2021, and then trying to expand in 2022.”

Specialized staff is also likely to become a luxury that most restaurants can’t afford. As has been common at many smaller or less wine-focused restaurants, many larger restaurants are possibly considering folding wine programs into a broader set of managerial responsibilities.

The dedicated sommelier might well become a rarity in the post-Covid landscape. “If I were an owner [of a post-Covid/Covid-era restaurant/restaurant group], I’d want a well-rounded staff,” says Burgess. “I’d want to have people who, if someone gets sick or it’s a busy night, can get behind the bar and make cocktails, or take a section, or bus tables.” In a Covid-era restaurant, Burgess adds, “It’s the only way we will survive, because we can’t afford to just have floor somms.”

Wabeck puts it more bluntly: “Every time I’d mentor somebody, I’d tell them, ‘you can’t just do beverage, you have to bus tables.’” There will undoubtedly be some fine dining establishments in the post-Covid era with floor sommeliers and robust wine lists, but the smallish bistro or neighborhood joint might well feel like a 200-bottle list and a dedicated wine professional is simply a luxury they can’t afford. If I’m right, well, there goes my own career, and an entire class of restaurant workers.

A year ago, the American sommelier was riding relatively high. The job title had joined chef and bartender as one that customers recognized as signifying skill and knowledge. Yet when the dust settles on 2020, the sommelier might well be viewed in the same light as the maître d’, a relic of a bygone era. “All I’ve done my whole life is restaurants,” Wabeck says. “If the restaurant industry collapses, what do I do?”

The article Will the Sommelier Profession Ever Be the Same After Covid-19? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/sommelier-profession-covid-19/

[johnboothus]

Will the Sommelier Profession Ever Be the Same After Covid-19?

The first time I really thought my career as a sommelier and wine director might be over was Saturday, Feb. 29. That was the day that the first U.S. casualty from Covid-19 was reported in King County, Wash., where I live and work. While Covid-19 had already entered the public consciousness at least in part, that was the first night I directly saw its impact on my line of work: Cancellations for that night’s dinner services reached levels previously only seen when it snowed in Seattle, and they only continued to pile up over the next week. I knew that my position in particular would be extremely vulnerable in the short and medium term, as wine education, purchasing, and sales would take a back seat to figuring out how to pivot to delivery, takeout, and, frankly, figuring out if the restaurant company could survive. I was laid off on March 15.

This has been the fate, or at least the potential fate, of sommeliers and wine directors throughout the United States ever since this virus arrived, and even with hopeful news of vaccines on the horizon, the threat has never been more acute to sommeliers.

Take it from long-time wine professional John Wabeck, who has now worked through his second economic and professional crisis, the first being the 2008-09 Great Recession. Warbeck spent the last three years as the beverage director for the Richard DeShantz Restaurant Group in Pittsburgh before being laid off in November. If he were an owner, Wabeck says, “I’d do exactly the same thing. Beverage specialists are the first to go and the last to come back when times get tough. Honestly, I feel like I did such a good job in putting systems in place that I cost myself a job, because the restaurant general managers should be able to handle reordering and stocking.”

Even those who have managed to keep their jobs have seen things change dramatically. “I don’t really do anything in person at all,” Cappie Peete, beverage director at AC Restaurants in Raleigh, N. C., says. “I’m a content builder at this point: We do weekly wine packs that are themed based on seasonality or based on a specific region or variety. It’s that, plus helping everyone keep their curbside menus curated.”

While curating wine packs or organizing cellar sales might allow a sommelier or wine director to stay employed or even learn a new set of skills, that doesn’t change the fact that on-premise wine sales in particular are suffering. In-person dining has been limited or banned in many parts of the country for almost a full year, and every wine director and sommelier I have spoken to agreed that take-out and delivery sales for wine are a tiny fraction of what on-premise sales would normally be. This is because most wine drinkers are relying on grocery stores, wine shops, and direct-to-consumer sales for their wine needs, leaving restaurants forced to sell off inventory just to generate cash flow, even wines that had been cellared for years.

Many of the best opportunities for big sales are off the table. Take it from Bobbie Burgess, wine director at Restaurant Tyler in Starkville, Miss. “Most of our guests are people who come for sporting events — college football, women’s basketball, and baseball,” she says. “Plus, we would get a lot of business that comes in for the university. We do get locals as well, but we really rely on travel.” With those events either canceled or limited, restaurants all over that rely on special event traffic are even more imperiled than restaurants as a whole; and their wine programs in particular tend to depend on celebrating fans or otherwise enthusiastic drinkers to boost the bottom line.

Beyond that, an entire genre of restaurant that provided regular demand for wine professionals might be on the verge of extinction, or at least severe contraction: the expense-account restaurant. Typically (but not always) a steakhouse, these restaurants rely on a steady stream of business travelers and the corporate credit cards that come with them. With experts predicting that business travel may never return to previous levels, these restaurants will struggle to find an audience that actually has the plastic to pay for $125 steaks and $25 glasses of mediocre Cabernet Sauvignon.

Looking forward to a time when in-person dining returns more robustly, wine professionals share a mix of excitement and trepidation, as well as a recognition that things won’t just “go back to normal.” As Peete explains, AC Restaurants “will definitely be opening with a streamlined menu, in part out of necessity because we sold through things and we’ll be working with a smaller team, but also because only time will tell how and when we can expand.”

Burgess sees her goals and priorities shifted. “It used to be this thing that you wanted to have a Wine Spectator Award,” she says. “In my first year, I earned three wine list awards.” But curation seems like a luxury. “Now I’d much rather have a menu that rotates and moves through wines. I want to have more like 150 selections,” she says. For Restaurant Tyler, Burgess plans “to start small going into 2021, and then trying to expand in 2022.”

Specialized staff is also likely to become a luxury that most restaurants can’t afford. As has been common at many smaller or less wine-focused restaurants, many larger restaurants are possibly considering folding wine programs into a broader set of managerial responsibilities.

The dedicated sommelier might well become a rarity in the post-Covid landscape. “If I were an owner [of a post-Covid/Covid-era restaurant/restaurant group], I’d want a well-rounded staff,” says Burgess. “I’d want to have people who, if someone gets sick or it’s a busy night, can get behind the bar and make cocktails, or take a section, or bus tables.” In a Covid-era restaurant, Burgess adds, “It’s the only way we will survive, because we can’t afford to just have floor somms.”

Wabeck puts it more bluntly: “Every time I’d mentor somebody, I’d tell them, ‘you can’t just do beverage, you have to bus tables.’” There will undoubtedly be some fine dining establishments in the post-Covid era with floor sommeliers and robust wine lists, but the smallish bistro or neighborhood joint might well feel like a 200-bottle list and a dedicated wine professional is simply a luxury they can’t afford. If I’m right, well, there goes my own career, and an entire class of restaurant workers.

A year ago, the American sommelier was riding relatively high. The job title had joined chef and bartender as one that customers recognized as signifying skill and knowledge. Yet when the dust settles on 2020, the sommelier might well be viewed in the same light as the maître d’, a relic of a bygone era. “All I’ve done my whole life is restaurants,” Wabeck says. “If the restaurant industry collapses, what do I do?”

The article Will the Sommelier Profession Ever Be the Same After Covid-19? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/sommelier-profession-covid-19/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/will-the-sommelier-profession-ever-be-the-same-after-covid-19

[lindyhunt]

16 of the Best Shopify Stores to Inspire Your Own

Ecommerce is predicted to account for 17% of all U.S. retail sales by 2022. As ecommerce grows, so does competition, making it hard to differentiate your website from everyone else's.

It isn't enough to have a one-of-a-kind product: to attract your ideal audience -- and more importantly, to turn that audience into passionate brand ambassadors -- you need a one-of-a-kind website.

A sleek and captivating Shopify website can attract a large audience and even act as your start-to-finish marketing pitch.

But you need to know what makes one Shopify website better than the rest. Here, we've curated a list of 16 best of the best Shopify stores to inspire your own.

Whether you're new to ecommerce and about to design your first website, or an ecommerce veteran considering a redesign to outshine your competitors in 2018, this list offers plenty of creative ideas.

Top Shopify Stores

UgMonk

Pipcorn

Taylor Stitch

Happiness Abscissa

Skinny Teatox

HELM Boots

BioLite

Pop Chart Lab

Luca and Danni

Harris Farm Markets

So Worth Loving

Great George Watches

Choose Muse

Brilliant

Holstee

Kylie Cosmetics

1. UgMonk

Jeff Sheldon starts the "About" section on his UgMonk website with a simple question: "Why was it so difficult to find fresh, high-quality, unique items in a modern aesthetic?" His Shopify site is simple and fresh, and exhibits UgMonk's clothing, workplace items, bags, and prints in the same modern aesthetic style he sought while designing his unique products.

2. Pipcorn

When you think about popcorn, I'm betting the first concern that comes to mind isn't "is it healthy?" Pipcorn knows this, so their homepage features a simple slogan: "Most tender, crunchy, delicious popcorn … and it won't destroy your teeth like the ‘generic' stuff." The best websites know their target audience's primary concerns (in this case, the taste of popcorn and the kernels in teeth), and sell them on those solutions upfront.

If you look on their "About Us" page, you'll find Pipcorn's products are also non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, and whole grain. Even though this could have easily been incorporated into their slogan, they chose to exclude it in favor of tackling our bigger concern: Does it taste good?

3. Taylor Stitch

The inner child in me loves Taylor Stitch's website because of the creative alternatives displayed when you hover over a product: a jacket, for instance, flips to an image of a model posing with the jacket on a motorcycle.

The Taylor Stitch website does something else really cool, too: it almost immediately calls more attention to its message than its products, with "Three Simple Ingredients" written across most of the images you see on the homepage. Taylor Stitch doesn't just make high-quality clothing. It also aims to reduce waste and help the environment by creating clothing with recycled or 100% natural products.

On their website, you can't miss their environmental efforts, and I'm betting this is a differentiating factor for most buyers when they come across the site.

4. Happiness Abscissa

Many of the websites I mention on this list have clean, straight lines. Happiness Abscissa is unique. It shows a playful side by displaying a layout with bright abstract images, and even products hanging from different angles.

The company's logo, a crooked "Ha," draws in the viewer's attention, and then they use Ha in a sentence without defining the word, further stimulating viewers' curiosity. You get the sense they don't take themselves too seriously, affording the viewer a cheerful and fun experience.

5. Skinny Teatox

I myself was tempted to purchase the Teatox product when I checked out this site (in my defense, they were having a one-day flash sale I did not want to miss). The Skinny Teatox homepage immediately confronts your biggest concerns ("Is it natural? Yes. Will it work? Yes."), and uses pastel colors and cute icons of bikinis and mugs to convey a fresh vibe.

As I've noticed with a few other Shopify websites, Skinny Teatox places its products on the homepage with an easy "buy now" call-to-action. For a company that isn't too complex to figure out ("All Natural Detox Weight Loss Tea" is written beside the company name in search engines), I think it makes sense to offer the viewers what they want upfront.

6. HELM Boots

"Our boots give men confidence from the ground up, confidence to take steps they've never taken before." Immediately, HELM incentivizes viewers through emotion: I might just be a guy looking to buy some boots, but yes, I'd definitely also like some confidence and bravery while I'm at it. The website looks elegant, and you can find everything from the homepage, which is designed to convert viewers at various stages of the buyer's journey and assuage doubts as you scroll.

7. BioLite

I might be a sucker for the little details, but the product images on BioLite's website are enough to make me want to buy something (they look 3-D and illuminated, and some even look wet from rain!).

Since BioLite's major selling point is its humanitarian impact (the products bring affordable energy access to places in India and Africa), the first thing on the homepage is their slogan, "Gear That Brings Energy Everywhere," which will appeal to their target audience. The navigation bar at the top also has a clever twist: beside each product title, there are little black-and-white cartoon drawings of the product.

8. Pop Chart Lab

This site looks like one of the vintage and trendy prints they sell. It's also organized in different categories depending on a viewer's browsing preference.

First, Pop Chart Lab's Shopify store has a scroll-down navigation with sub-categories ranging from, "NYC" to "Kids" to "Hip Hop" to "Wine." They also have a carousel with some of their top prints on display. Below the carousel, they offer "wholesale," "gift guides," and "scratch-off" collections, for viewers who are having a difficult time discerning what they want. The shop manages to appear simple, despite its vast array of different print products, which is no easy feat.

9. Luca and Danni

There's something addictive about an ecommerce store that changes as you scroll. Luca and Danni's page is highly interactive: as you scroll, some images get bigger and others get smaller, boxes of bracelets open up within images, and some images follow you down the page. It can be tricky to offer so much movement on a page while remaining coherent, but somehow, Luca and Danni accomplish this. There's also a very zen vibe to the whole layout, with images of palm trees and cactuses, and calls-to-action with language like "brighter days: shop soil to sky," and "find what speaks to you."

10. Harris Farm Markets

This is a family-owned company, something you can't miss from the homepage. It's casual and playful, with text that looks like a child's handwriting and colorful drawings of fruit (there's even an adorable drawing of a bee with animated wings!). Even the calls-to-action sound laid-back, like "What's nature been up to?" It's so genuine, you can imagine a family building the site together.

11. So Worth Loving

Sometimes, being evasive pays off. While it's not always a good idea to hide your products from the viewer, it can be a very smart move if your product doesn't make sense without understanding the backstory. With So Worth Loving's site, you don't even see the t-shirts for sale until a third of the way down the page. By that point, you've already read their slogan, a little bio from the founder, Eryn, and a full narrative about how the site began.

The site leans into personal touches, with handwritten-looking quotes scrawled across images and very normal looking images of people posing in t-shirts. This is a great example of knowing your audience enough to break the rules.

12. Great George Watches

I'm not an experienced watch shopper, so when I first read, "Made with Swiss parts and 100% square," on Great George Watches' homepage, I thought maybe "square" was a fancy term I'd understand if I knew watches. But as I scrolled and read, "Think outside the circle," I realized these terms were unique to Great George Watches, which are all square-faced.

By emphasizing what makes their product unique before even showing the produce, Great George Watches captivates the viewer. I love this shop because it has a refined and polished look, with black-and-white photos and an attention-grabbing red call-to-action button.

13. Choose Muse

Choose Muse incorporates a full-display video of a man putting headphones on and using Choose Muse's product right from the homepage. The video starts playing immediately (as opposed to offering a play button option), which is especially eye-catching. I usually think simple is better when it comes to design, but Choose Muse proves me wrong, incorporating compelling designs with a ton of images and text, while still retaining a clean and enjoyable viewer experience.

14. Brilliant

For a math and science website, Brilliant is surprisingly easy-to-navigate (even for someone like me, an English major … ), with big, colorful block buttons to choose the math concept you want to learn. This shop is also a fantastic example of using a call-to-action button wisely: there's a big "sign up for free" button prominently displayed in the top right, and then another at the bottom of the page, after you've scrolled past the information you need.

The site doesn't have a navigation bar, but instead uses the web page to answer all the questions a viewer might have.

15. Holstee

Holstee does a fantastic job of designing their site in tiers depending on a person's initial level of interest in the product. For starters, you see the text, "We help you along your journey to live more fully and mindfully." If you're already convinced, you can click "Join today" right below the text. If not, you can continue to scroll down the homepage to find pain points this product reduces, read a "Holstee Manifesto," see Membership benefits, check out testimonials, and find publications Holstee's been featured in.

Throughout the page, there are various calls-to-action, like "Choose a plan that's right for you," and then, at the end, "Become a member today." I love this site because it becomes increasingly convincing and in-depth as you scroll: it's clear they use their homepage as a start-to-finish marketing pitch.

16. Kylie Cosmetics

As one of the top 10 most followed accounts on Instagram, Kylie Jenner's Cosmetic brand is one of the bigger brands using Shopify today. Her site has a very distinct girly-girl vibe, with a bubble-gum pink background showing off her lip kits and gloss.

Kylie's site is also well-organized for her audience: the lip kits, her best-known items, are shown first on the homepage, with "top sellers" below that. I didn't feel overwhelmed looking through the various cosmetic products like I thought I would, and what really stood out to me about Kylie's site is the fun, colorful layout. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm betting it appeals to her target audience.

See a store design above that you like? First, grab the guide below to find out how user-generated content can give your business the gusto it needs to attract and retain online shoppers.

[tortuga-aak]

I lost my job after 14 years — and it's made me realize that a day job might not be the best way to build wealth

Flickr/Eelke

After 14 years, an investor was laid off from his full-time job, giving him time to focus on his side-projects and family.

He realized self-employment is stressful — it comes with the unique challenges of self-scrutiny and less stability.

Having a break between full time jobs is allowing him to be selective about what his next step is.

He also says that earning a salary as well as additional income from a side job is the path of least resistance for reaching financial independence.

  Around friends and neighbors, I'm using the phrase "in between jobs" to describe my current employment situation. That's a convenient euphemism to make it sound less bad.

Most people aren't familiar with my business so they only see a jobless Dad of three kids married to a non-working Mom, dealing with a mortgage and the same suburban costs they struggle with.

I used the term "unemployed" the other day with a former co-worker and I sensed sorrow in his reply text message.

"Oh damn," he wrote.

In a town where conversations often revolve around employment, I'm conflicted about my actual status.

Yes, I'm between jobs because I left a job and intend to go back to a new one. Yes, I'm technically self-employed because I work on a business that earns money. Yet, I was laid off and I'm looking for work. So I'm unemployed.

The way I frame my story changes depending on who I talk to. The truest answer is it's a long story that only my family and a few friends understand.

And you.

Regardless of what it's called, I like my status right now. I'm home every day. I make breakfast for the kids and take them to school. I go to the gym when l feel like it. Errands are easy.

We have multiple income streams and cash savings to get us through this period, so we're not stressed or panicking about money. Though our cash savings account is shrinking and I don't like that.

My side business work is fulfilling and challenging. It makes money and has the potential to grow more. That's exciting.

It's all got me thinking… what if I don't go back to work full-time?

Never enough

For those new here, I lost my job of 14 years in early October when my project lost funding. I was always treated well, but my employment situation was never ideal. I hope to go back to work full-time in the new year in a similar field.

I miss the benefits and salary.

Even so, my plan remains intact to leave full-time work by 2022 and retire completely and never work again at age 55, one year before my Dad retired.

During this period of searching for a new position, I have time to focus on my side projects to set them up for future growth.

Working for myself, I'm under constant personal scrutiny. Whatever I manage to accomplish on any given day is never enough. There's always more to do. More writing, more optimization, more tracking, more upgrading, and more organization. I'm trying to automate where I can. But my business requires manual work on my part.

On top of that, since I'm home all day, I'm under constant pressure to be accessible to my kids. When I worked in an office building, they couldn't knock on my door to ask for a butt wipe.

Young kids don't understand the concept of work. All they want is more time with Dad. Being more available is part of why I'm embracing this lifestyle in the first place. But balancing work and kids while self-employed is much more difficult than I anticipated.

Waking up early is more difficult too. Planning out my day is not a straightforward as I hoped. When I work during the day, I tend to justify that working in the evening and on weekends isn't necessary.

Maybe it isn't. But that feeling of not doing enough is always there.

My biggest fears if I don't go back to work

As a sole breadwinner, I'm responsible for providing health and dental insurance for my family. Without a sponsoring employer, insurance is expensive. I want excellent insurance, not average insurance.

We are on COBRA for now, but it's been a slow and somewhat stressful process.

Maybe this is something I need to get over. Plenty of self-employed people have good coverage for their families. For now, at least, I want this aspect of my life to be stress-free. Working for a good employer with excellent benefits would put my mind at ease about healthcare for my family.

Another fear is that the local or national economy will sour while I'm unemployed. This scenario would be bad for my side business if the market tanks and people stop reading about investing. And it would be difficult to find a new job.

Not working for a salary puts a damper on my ability to grow wealth. I'm not contributing to retirement accounts and I've paused our college savings for now. Both actions make me uncomfortable.

At age 42, I'm not ready to draw down my wealth for the rest of my life.

A salary is a solid baseline. Any side income is gravy on top. This combination, I still believe, is the path of least resistance to financial independence for me.

But I may have that all wrong.

What scares me about going back to work

If I go back to work, I won't be able to work on my side business as much as now. My side business could be the real path of least resistance to financial independence. It's a riskier venture, but perhaps the more lucrative one.

Going back to full-time work, in a way, says that I can't make enough money as an entrepreneur. But I'm conflicted because this blogging business was never meant to be a full-time gig.

However, online businesses have a way of growing exponentially. Potentially. Not guaranteed. There are many risks and speed bumps.

My new job may require too many hours and I won't have the time or energy for my side gigs. Definitely possible.

Another fear is I could go into worker ant mode and fall into contentment and lose my ambition.

But the most painful aspect of full-time work is the loss of control of my time. I love choosing what to do each day. Even though I always feel short on time, having the choice is a premium luxury.

Looking back at the last 14 years of my career, the hardest part of the job was the time commitment. The work wasn't so bad. But 40 hours per week is a lot despite being normal. The full-time job prevented me from extended traveling. It prevented me from seeing my kids four mornings a week. And it meant that my work was ultimately making someone else wealthy.

The happy medium

Weighing everything over and over again, I've come to the conclusion that after some time in between jobs, I can position my side business to flourish and return to a healthy and lucrative nine-to-five career. I'll need to be selective in my job choice so I am not overwhelmed by a full-time work commitment where I still have some control of my time.

Finding the right balance might take a while. I am at the point in my career when I can be pickier with employers because I don't really need the job. Yeah, it would be tough financially not going back to work full-time if the business doesn't thrive. But our savings and passive income can carry us for some time.

We can always move to achieve financial independence. And there's "always money in the banana stand" to keep us going.

But I'm not ready to stop building wealth.

More than anything, the desire for good health insurance is driving the decision to go back to work. Until my side business income surpasses what I can make as a professional, I don't expect that to change.

Conclusion

Now that I've been unemployed for two months, I've seen the challenges of being self-employed.

Actually living the self-employed lifestyle is a blunt realization that it's not as easy as it seems. The challenges are real and many.

So far, this experience reaffirms that going back to work is the right choice. Though it hasn't changed my broader goals of leaving full-time work in a few years and retiring completely at age 55.

When I do go back to the daily grind, I'll be relieved to have the coveted benefits to support my family, re-energized to do good work, and intoxicated by the notion that it may be the last job I ever have.

NOW WATCH: What happens to your brain and body if you use Adderall recreationally

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[lindyhunt]

16 of the Best Shopify Stores to Inspire Your Own

Ecommerce is predicted to account for 17% of all U.S. retail sales by 2022. As ecommerce grows, so does competition, making it hard to differentiate your website from everyone else’s.

It isn’t enough to have a one-of-a-kind product: to attract your ideal audience -- and more importantly, to turn that audience into passionate brand ambassadors -- you need a one-of-a-kind website.

A sleek and captivating Shopify website can attract a large audience and even act as your start-to-finish marketing pitch.

But you need to know what makes one Shopify website better than the rest.  Here, we’ve curated a list of 16 best of the best Shopify stores to inspire your own. 

Whether you’re new to ecommerce and about to design your first website, or an ecommerce veteran considering a redesign to outshine your competitors in 2018, this list offers plenty of creative ideas.

1. UgMonk

Jeff Sheldon starts the “About” section on his UgMonk website with a simple question: “Why was it so difficult to find fresh, high-quality, unique items in a modern aesthetic?” His Shopify site is simple and fresh, and exhibits UgMonk’s clothing, workplace items, bags, and prints in the same modern aesthetic style he sought while designing his unique products.

2. Pipcorn

When you think about popcorn, I’m betting the first concern that comes to mind isn’t “is it healthy?” Pipcorn knows this, so their homepage features a simple slogan: “Most tender, crunchy, delicious popcorn … and it won’t destroy your teeth like the ‘generic’ stuff.” The best websites know their target audience’s primary concerns (in this case, the taste of popcorn and the kernels in teeth), and sell them on those solutions upfront. If you look on their “About Us” page, you’ll find Pipcorn’s products are also non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, and whole grain. Even though this could have easily been incorporated into their slogan, they chose to exclude it in favor of tackling our bigger concern: Does it taste good?

3. Taylor Stitch

The inner child in me loves Taylor Stitch’s website because of the creative alternatives displayed when you hover over a product: a jacket, for instance, flips to an image of a model posing with the jacket on a motorcycle. The Taylor Stitch website does something else really cool, too -- it almost immediately calls more attention to its message than its products, with “Three Simple Ingredients” written across most of the images you see on the homepage. Taylor Stitch doesn’t just make high-quality clothing. It also aims to reduce waste and help the environment by creating clothing with recycled or 100% natural products. On their website, you can’t miss their environmental efforts, and I’m betting this is a differentiating factor for most buyers when they come across the site.

4. Happiness Abscissa

Many of the websites I mention on this list have clean, straight lines. Happiness Abscissa is unique. It shows a playful side by displaying a layout with bright abstract images, and even products hanging from different angles. Their logo, a crooked Ha, draws in the viewer’s attention, and then they use Ha in a sentence without defining the word, further stimulating viewers' curiosity. You get the sense they don’t take themselves too seriously, affording the viewer a cheerful and fun experience.

5. Skinny Teatox

I myself was tempted to purchase the Teatox product when I checked out this site (in my defense, they were having a one-day flash sale I did not want to miss). The Skinny Teatox homepage immediately confronts your biggest concerns (“Is it natural? Yes. Will it work? Yes.”), and uses pastel colors and cute icons of bikinis and mugs to convey a fresh vibe. As I’ve noticed with a few other Shopify websites, Skinny Teatox places its products on the homepage with an easy “buy now” call-to-action. For a company that isn’t too complex to figure out (“All Natural Detox Weight Loss Tea” is written beside the company name in search engines), I think it makes sense to offer the viewers what they want upfront.

6. HELM Boots

“Our boots give men confidence from the ground up, confidence to take steps they’ve never taken before.” Immediately, HELM incentivizes viewers through emotion: I might just be a guy looking to buy some boots, but yes, I’d definitely also like some confidence and bravery while I’m at it. The website looks elegant, and you can find everything from the homepage, which is designed to convert viewers at various stages of the buyer’s journey and assuage doubts as you scroll.

7. BioLite

I might be a sucker for the little details, but the product images on BioLite’s website are enough to make me want to buy something (they look 3-D and illuminated, and some even look wet from rain!). Since BioLite’s major selling point is its humanitarian impact (the products bring affordable energy access to places in India and Africa), the first thing on the homepage is their slogan, “Gear That Brings Energy Everywhere,” which will appeal to their target audience. The navigation bar at the top also has a clever twist: beside each product title, there are little black-and-white cartoon drawings of the product.

8. Pop Chart Lab

This site looks like one of the vintage and trendy prints they sell. It’s also organized in different categories depending on a viewer’s browsing preference. First, they have a scroll-down navigation with sub-categories ranging from, “NYC” to “Kids” to “Hip Hop” to “Wine.” They also have a carousel with some of their top prints on display. Below the carousel, they offer “wholesale,” “gift guides,” and “scratch-off” collections, for viewers who are having a difficult time discerning what they want. The shop manages to appear simple, despite its vast array of different print products, which is no easy feat.

9. Luca and Danni

There’s something addictive about an ecommerce store that changes as you scroll. Luca and Danni’s page is highly interactive: as you scroll, some images get bigger and others get smaller, boxes of bracelets open up within images, and some images follow you down the page. It can be tricky to offer so much movement on a page while remaining coherent, but somehow, Luca and Danni accomplish this. There’s also a very zen vibe to the whole layout, with images of palm trees and cactuses, and calls-to-action with language like “brighter days: shop soil to sky,” and “find what speaks to you.”

10. Harris Farm Markets

This is a family-owned company, something you can’t miss from the homepage. It’s casual and playful, with text that looks like a child’s handwriting and colorful drawings of fruit (there’s even an adorable drawing of a bee with animated wings!). Even the calls-to-action sound laid-back, like “What’s nature been up to?” It’s so genuine, you can imagine a family building the site together.

11. So Worth Loving

Sometimes, being evasive pays off. While it’s not always a good idea to hide your products from the viewer, it can be a very smart move if your product doesn’t make sense without understanding the backstory. With So Worth Loving’s site, you don’t even see the t-shirts for sale until a third of the way down the page. By that point, you’ve already read their slogan, a little bio from the founder, Eryn, and a full narrative about how the site began. The site leans into personal touches, with handwritten-looking quotes scrawled across images and very normal looking images of people posing in t-shirts. This is a great example of knowing your audience enough to break the rules.

12. Great George Watches

I’m not an experienced watch shopper, so when I first read, “Made with Swiss parts and 100% square,” on Great George Watches’ homepage, I thought maybe “square” was a fancy term I’d understand if I knew watches. But as I scrolled and read, “Think outside the circle,” I realized these terms were unique to Great George Watches, which are all square-faced. By emphasizing what makes their product unique before even showing the produce, Great George Watches captivates the viewer. I love this shop because it has a refined and polished look, with black-and-white photos and an attention-grabbing red call-to-action button.

13. Choose Muse

Choose Muse incorporates a full-display video of a man putting headphones on and using Choose Muse’s product right from the homepage. The video starts playing immediately (as opposed to offering a play button option), which is especially eye-catching. I usually think simple is better when it comes to design, but Choose Muse proves me wrong, incorporating compelling designs with a ton of images and text, while still retaining a clean and enjoyable viewer experience.

14. Brilliant

For a math and science website, Brilliant is surprisingly easy-to-navigate (even for someone like me, an English major … ), with big, colorful block buttons to choose the math concept you want to learn. This shop is also a fantastic example of using a call-to-action button wisely: there’s a big “sign up for free” button prominently displayed in the top right, and then another at the bottom of the page, after you’ve scrolled past the information you need. The site doesn’t have a navigation bar, but instead uses the web page to answer all the questions a viewer might have.

15. Holstee

Holstee does a fantastic job of designing their site in tiers depending on a person’s initial level of interest in the product. For starters, you see the text, “We help you along your journey to live more fully and mindfully.” If you’re already convinced, you can click “Join today” right below the text. If not, you can continue to scroll down the homepage to find pain points this product reduces, read a “Holstee Manifesto,” see Membership benefits, check out testimonials, and find publications Holstee’s been featured in. Throughout the page, there are various calls-to-action, like “Choose a plan that’s right for you,” and then, at the end, “Become a member today.” I love this site because it becomes increasingly convincing and in-depth as you scroll: it’s clear they use their homepage as a start-to-finish marketing pitch.

16. Kylie Cosmetics

As one of the top 10 most followed accounts on Instagram, Kylie Jenner’s Cosmetic brand is one of the bigger brands using Shopify today. Her site has a very distinct girly-girl vibe, with a bubble-gum pink background showing off her lip kits and gloss. Her site is well-organized for her audience: the lip kits, her best-known items, are shown first on the homepage, with “top sellers” below that. I didn’t feel overwhelmed looking through the various cosmetic products like I thought I would, and what really stood out to me about Kylie’s site is the fun, colorful layout. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m betting it appeals to her target audience.