#and while it's drying i need to order doordash

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

.

[bnhaficsforthesoul]

General Boyfriend headcanons for Dabi? Both sfw and NSFW? Sorry if you already asked something like this before!!

my husband

he can be kind of bipolar in how he acts with you - one day he's barely acknowledging you and the next he's clingy and loving

he gets better about this over time, but the start of your relationship is always going to be rocky. he's very much set in his lonely ways, and all he cares about is his own revenge, so you coming along kind of messed that up

the start of your relationship would be through tons of sexual tension, where you're probably openly into him and he's being stubborn

I really doubt he has much sexual experience, he might not be a virgin but if he has had sex before you it was only once or twice. he really doesn't like bothering with people

but there's something about you that makes him feel like he needs to fuck you, and he needs to own your body as a whole

so his attraction towards you starts as purely physical, but eventually moves to you as a person as he gets to know you better and sees how well the two of you work together

he is possessive and jealous. he doesn't like to admit it, but he doesn't like your attention on other people, and he isn't afraid to kill someone for being too flirty with you

he almost always is touching you, be it in a perverted way or just lazily resting his hand on your body somewhere

dabi would never lie about loving you, and it's very serious to him to say so. so he makes sure not to say it until he is sure

he is fully okay with you doing whatever you want to his body. it's yours after all

but you could decide you want to redo his staples yourself, or give him a new piercing, whatever you want and it's fine

pet names were rare when you first got together, the best you'd get was a condescending sweetheart from him, but over time he now calls you baby and occasionally doll

if he's living alone, he always has the ac down to like 50. his fire makes his body run hot, but his ice resistance makes him not feel cool unless it's actually freezing

he's such a whore sometimes, he totally dry humps you if you bend over while in public or smacks ur ass

he teases you constantly, about almost everything. he's kind of a bully honestly

you used a little too much salt in your food? he's pretending he's dying of dehydration. you mis speak somehow? he's bringing it up for the next 2 weeks. Your underwear is peaking above your pants? suddenly they're up your ass and he's teasing you about what panties your wearing. he's mean

most of your time with him is very casual, not a lot of dates, just hanging out together. watching TV, on your phones, maybe little home activities if you have hobbies.

when you do go on dates, dabi loves star gazing. he's actually secretly a nerd, and he was super into astronomy as a kid. not all of that information has stayed with him, but he does still remember little facts and his interest is still there

he does steal you food a lot. whether he walks into a store and grabs whatever he wants then leaves, or he walks into restaurants and steals the doordash orders, he keeps you well fed. you'll have to cook though, he's not great at it

he does get panic attacks every once In a while, and at first he tried to keep you away during these, even going as far to scream at you and tell you to fuck off before giving you a half assed apology the next day

but now, he openly searches for you if you're not right there, and tells you outright that he needs you. he let's you hold him close, and he listens carefully to all the sweet words you tell him, and he calms down much quicker now. you are his safe space

most of his kisses are random, and fairly rough. he likes heavy make out sessions where your bodies are pressed as closely together as possible

he covers you in hickies a lot. it goes with his possessiveness.

he really likes smoking either with you or just with you there if you don't smoke. be it just cigs or weed, he likes the vibe of smoking with your s/o

hes pretty good at drawing, though he is a bit out of practice. but something about you makes him want to draw more. so expect to find tons of little doodles of yourself scattered around

he likes showering together- he doesn't like showering in itself really because the water doesn't feel great on his scars, but you're so gentle with him while you wash him that it's nice

he hates when youre gentle with him any other time though. he doesn't want to feel babied or like you think he's weak. he would rather you rip out his staples one by one than baby him for his injuries

he's really bad at texting. to be fair he really isn't on his phone a lot, but that means that if you're away doing something you might not hear from him at all. it's not that he doesn't miss you, it's just not the same texting

calling is slightly better, but he does feel kind of weird on calls unless you do it often

it's very often that he acts like you're being dorky or embarassing or just unfunny, but he'll be giggling to himself thinking about your lame jokes later

I feel like he could at least somewhat play a couple instruments. when he was younger he was probably learning violin or piano but wasn't super interested, but as he got older he took interest in guitar. he's not great, but he can play a few songs

nsfw

in most every way he's very rough with you. even if you're upset and looking for more sentimental sex he struggles

mainly because he wants to be able to fuck you without all the emotions tied to it, he is very nervous about being vulnerable

sex with him usually entails a lot of teasing, rough manhandling, degrading, all that kind of stuff

he loves throwing you on the bed and forcing your legs open or your ass in the air

he obviously wouldn't keep going if you said to stop, but he loves free use

even if he was the one who was clearly horny and you weren't really, he'll still be sitting there calling you a dirty slut, so desperate for his cock, practically begging to be fucked

he would love teasing both holes if you're afab, being in your cunt while at least his thumb is in your asshole

if your amab, expect your tip (and only the tip) being pumped as he fucks you, trying to make it so sensitive you can barely handle it

he loves overstimulating you, making you try and push him off only to keep moaning and begging for more

his favorite position is probably a relaxed doggy? idk the name but basically ur almost fully on ur stomach but your ass is still elevated

he will burn his hand or his name into your skin. he makes spankings burn more by heating up his hands

he is definitely a sadist, but he is also a masochist

he loves when you hurt him back, he likes a fight even though you're unlikely to win

(he does have a subby side that you discover later in the relationship, but you would literally have to tie him up and make him take your dick/strap before he admits he wants it)

he is open to fucking you in public, he kind of likes the idea of other people seeing you get fucked so good by him but not being able to even touch you. he definitely considers doing this in front of people who flirt with you - just bending you over right there and slamming his dick in you

he thinks it's fun to make you think you're done, like he just came deep in you and got up and you're still catching your breath so you don't even notice him position himself behind you until his dick is in your stomach again

he thinks it's so fun to have you screaming his name while the whole league is around, even though literally no one cares

he puts hickies in places where you can easily forget about them, like the back of your neck, so you get used to hearing someone walk by you and be like God damn because you didn't know you needed to cover that up

[osamusbigtits]

kuroo drinks his old, cold coffee. he finds he doesn't care that it tastes bad, just needs to wet his dry mouth. he just needs to send this email and finish two reports.

typing away, kuroo doesn't notice when his coffee is replaced by a glass of ice water and a chair rolls next to his own.

it's not until soft music plays from kenma's laptop that kuroo even realizes that kenma's awake.

kuroo looks over, brows furrowed together, before he checks the time.

silently, kenma slides the water closer and starts to do his own work.

kuroo takes a drink and returns to his work. his chest feels lighter with kenma next to him. kenma hands kuroo his phone, open to doordash so kuroo can order some food. his stomach grumbles. he didn't even realize he was hungry.

"I can pay," kuroo says, but kenma waves him off. "can you get some tea, also?" kuroo asks and kenma nods.

after a while, kuroo turns and kisses kenma's temple. he whispers a soft "thank you."

kenma slides a post-it note over that just says "I know."

[judgementdaysunshine]

Whoever you want from your master list (women) x reader

Reader and whoever having a beach day and then getting home and cuddling because I really need some fluffy stuff rn

Sunny day

Pairing: Cathy Kelley x Fem reader

Description: You and Cathy have a day at the beach and an unexpected day in

The sky was clear and the day was filled with nothing but the sun shining and the intense heat that followed right behind as you and Cathy walked down the boardwalk to the beach. It was the first real day off either of you had in a long while with you wrestling on the WWE roster while cathy was an interviewer backstage, you had been working in your garden realizing how hot it truly was after an hour and a half of planting and picking flowers out of your garden leading to your idea of a swimming trip that became a beach trip when the two of you found out that a local beach was only two hours away from your shared home and not too far from one of your favorite restaurants in the area that both of you hadn't been in a few months deciding to make a day of lunch out of the beautiful weather as you sprayed and rubbed each other with sunscreen. Music played from the nearby bar as the two of you sunbathed on a thin blanket for an hour which added a good amount of color to your skin which was slightly pale due to not really going out whenever you were home mostly because you were always exhausted most of the time, the two of you laugh while splashing each other in the water before swimming out until the water was three inches underneath your chin floating quietly while cathy dived underwater and swam out a bit farther away as you followed behind and slowly went underwater for a few seconds before getting out and drying off leading to the two of you sitting in the Italian restaurant in your bathing suits eating pasta, garlic bread with tomato soup, and a bit of pizza which you took home for later on. As soon as both of you walked through the door you were smiling feeling the chill of the AC before the two of you were in the shower washing off the sand and whatever sunscreen was left almost dozing off with her fingers running along your scalp while she washed and rinsed out your hair, the two of you laid in bed as episodes of Reba played making the two of you laugh while cuddling each other enjoying sips of Starbucks ordered from Doordash that began an evening of watching reruns of old shows and movies both of you grew up with while cool air blew throughout the room and the two of you were glued to each other under the covers when it got too cold.

[202310271]

Facebook 1

A nice snack to grab is “overnight oats.” Fill with milk, oats, and “the good stuff.”

I got 6 jars online for $16, $2.67/jar, each 16 oz. 4-5 in. 1 lb. I may need more if they take long.

It’s nice it’s not something like meat, just cheese, just dry goods, something with too much sugar or high fructose corn syrup, a coffee with caffeine, expensive addictive frozen pizza products and little side dishes or messed up Tyson processed chicken strips/nuggets (with like pieces of cartilage in several or so over every pack.) Just a vegetable drink is not enough. Sweets can feel trashy to the U.S. or too heavy and eventually not tasty. DoorDash may have too many fees, and going out may take too much energy even if you “have a car.” Smoothie are good, but this is  different and has the cereal or “oats.” I only got one kind of overnight oats ingredients, and I got bored of my strawberry smoothies, or blended apples with water though it tasted fine and went down quickly, like 4 or 5 apples at a time, good with NutriBullet which releases vitamins by blending so finely somehow. Another good thing so far is sliced pieces of ham but the regular kind not deli cold cuts. The extra sharp cheddar cheese blocks, sliced into chunks or in other ways with it is good.

So, I can wake up and grab the chunks of cold ham and cheese.I just made the overnight oats and had some not finished soaking when I woke up. I just had some now after doing some laundry and before doing more, and it’s worked well. Sometimes, I just don’t eat or order because I don’t want more ham, chicken, beef, pork, turkey or in sandwiches etc., with the chopped potato “fries” and my cooked vegetables which are improving. So, that’s what overnight oats are good for. So far, I had them as oats (large packages,) whole milk (2 gallons in fridge,) coco powder (“4-6 heaped TEAspoons / day” but no sugar? and tasted good concentrated at bottom of little glass jar,) honey (large pack,) and vanilla extract (got a cheap replacement store brand.) So, oats, whole milk, coco powder, honey, and vanilla extract, in al 6 jars and I’m on the 2nd one. It seems good as an emergency if you don’t want something like meat in the morning or just eggs or an omelet or strong dessert, or in between strenuous and taxing chores or tasks, something I think I will like as a dessert or just a snack… So, it’s good for after a stressful activity, going out, exercise.  It can replace dessert or serve as morning coffee, while you make something like a meal for breakfast during/after, which I had soup of just beef and 3 beef cubes, stir fried broccoli, and baked big potato fries. It’s good whenever you are hungry, some breakfasts, if you just don’t want meat.

[childrenoflight-darkness-nothing]

You know me, only suggestions I have is "comfort? 👉👈"

tw for. sick fic and the general icks that can come with it.

jace coming home to a quiet and dark apartment

Rest greeting em with a chirp while jumping up onto the kitchen counter for scritches

Rest eventually ends up on Jace's shoulder while ey take eir boots off get rid of eir keys. Normal just getting home lets get rid of all the Outside stuff.

Loud purring is the only noise in the apartment

Aside from the hum of appliances and electronics

Curtains are tightly closed. All lights are off.

Nyar's not in the living room. But the couch blanket is a mess on the floor (looks like rest did it tbh; pulled it from it's normal spot)

Jace peeking into Nyar's room

Cat still on eir shoulder

Frowning at a perfectly made bed

Not a wrinkle out of place

Opening the door a little wider

And holding the doorframe while ey run over the details ey noticed when ey got home. Nyar's car. His keys in their place. Everything perfectly as it should be just. Quiet and dark.

How he hadn't mentioned having any plans.

How eir last text to him went unaswered. But ey hadn't really worried over it. Figuring he was busy. Or, that he was napping as evidenced by the apartment when ey got home.

Worrying if something happened. If he'd been hurt. Or gotten jumped. If he'd been apprehended.

Just as quickly turning down those thoughts.

Rationalizing that ey were being crazy and overbearing. That he was probably just out with one of the crew. Forgot his keys.

That he'd text em later or be home whenever. And that everythings fine

And ey didn't have any actual evidence worth worrying over.

It hadn't been but like 30 minutes since ey'd texted him last.

He was probably just out.

He didn't need to update em on his every plan and wherabouts.

Then a cough sounding from down the hallway.

In the bathroom.

Not a room ey'd checked because the light was off.

Jumping and kinda dislogding the cat on eir shoulders in the process

Knocking on the bathroom door with a quiet "Ny?"

Only getting a groan in response.

Cracking the door open, "can I come in?"

"You okay?"

Nothing.

Nyar laying on the bathroom floor when ey finally enter a few moments later. Slowly reaching to turn on the light. Warning him first.

He's pale and clammy. And when ey kneel down beside him he's burning up.

Holding his chest. Face pressed into the coolness of the floor. Squinting and groaning against the light.

Jace pulling his head into eir lap after grabbing some washcloths and wetting them under the faucet.

Dabbing at his skin. Laying one out over his forehead, on his arm. Running a damp cloth over his neck and checks. Wetting and trying to cool any exposed skin ey can easily reach.

Humming a little under eir breath. And speaking softly.

Just trying to get him cooled off. To ease his suffering how ey could right now on the bathroom floor until ey could get him to bed or on the couch and get some medicine in him

Watching his face closely

Telling him ey would've come home sooner if he'd told em he was starting not to feel well.

Dribbling water onto his lips. Dry and cracked.

Using eir free hand to play with his hair a bit

Then settling back a little as the anguish on his face starts to ease.

Putting in a doordash or whatever order for more meds and stuff to keep him hydrated and gentler things for him to eat in case his stomachs messed up. and some comfort snacks and things in case it's not.

Sitting with him on the bathroom floor until he starts to stir again

Asking if he wants to try and get to bed. Or if he can at least sit up for em for a minute in order to get medicine into his system.

[esoomris]

like i try to not be too hard on the night shift b/c i know it’s mostly teenagers and high school is hard enough without me giving them hell, but i really wish they didn’t have some sorta seek and destroy instinct for literally every useful writing implement

like. we get doordash orders. i would write the name for the order on the lids of the drinks. i did this using a sharpie. one day the sharpie vanishes. i look in the office and find a whole big box of sharpies. like 12 of ‘em. i grab a sharpie from the box. few days later it’s gone. grab another. while later it’s gone. this goes on and on. sometimes i find them, y’know, like in a corner or rolled under the register, but most of them just vanish without a trace. 

one day the big box of sharpies is empty, and i can’t find any lying around. ok, i say, that’s fine, because we have these dry-erase markers i can use instead. we have five dry-erase markers. next week we have four. next week we have two. last friday i come in and both of them are lying on the counter with no lids. i had to track down the lids. they were nowhere near the markers. one of them was dried out completely, the other was surprisingly fine. we now have one dry-erase marker. i suspect not for long.

or, like, we have to put labels on open food containers, right? date and time of opening. every morning i open the store, and every morning i have to print out labels for the cupped sauces and cookies and stuff. one of the sauces is new, and they haven’t put it in the computer system yet. so i have to hand write that label. for this i need a sharpie, or a ballpoint pen. we do not have any sharpies, as established, but there are loads of ballpoint pens. all over the place. you can’t move a box or pick up a piece of paper without a ballpoint pen rolling out. so i start using the pens. the pens start disappearing. went from dozens of pens just lying around to a single ink cartridge+nib with no casing. and i’m using it b/c it’s what’s there. it disappears too.

so i, like, go digging around in drawers and shit, and find a working ballpoint pen! and i’m like, i am so tired of digging around for pens everywhere. i’m pretty sure the night crew is either taking them or losing them at a frankly staggering rate. so i hide the pen. there’s a big stack of boxes and tablets and charging cables that basically never gets touched, so i put the pen behind all those. for a few days, it’s fine! i go there every morning, there’s the pen. i write the literal one thing i need to write with the pen, then i put the pen back.

today, i come in. the stack of junk has been moved. the pen is gone. i cannot find any more pens.

y’know what NEVER disappears, though??? the highlighters. we have so many goddamn highlighters. 4 of those 4-color 4-packs, at least. loads of highlighters. you can’t barely fit the one(1) remaining dry-erase into the cup where we keep writing stuff because it’s just chock-full of highlighters.

you can’t write on cups with these highlighters. the ink is too pale, it doesn’t show up. you can’t write labels with the highlighters. the labels are plastic, the ink just beads up and wipes straight off. we have so many, so so so many USELESS highlighters, and i can’t even keep track of one (ONE(1)just ONE) ballpoint pen that i am actively trying to never move.what the fuck. like, hey. what the fuck.

[animalhumanemn]

My mom and I would go to local animal shelters every Sunday. We weren’t looking for a pet, in fact the day we adopted Mouse, we had an argument about a joke I had made. I said “well it’s time to go get another dog!” My mom was not up for that challenge. She threatened not going at all if I didn’t take it back.

We got to the shelter and visited the cats first, the little pets second, and finally the dogs. We were walking down the entrance, giving each dog some of the treats from their little treat tin. And then we saw Mouse. Of course, at the time he didn’t have a name, it was just a bunch of numbers. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and I remember seeing that parts of it were white from being dry or something. Once we all laid eyes on Mouse, we knew it was over. That was our dog. He was spread across his little bed and didn’t even lift his head to look at us. He looked like he was severely depressed.

We asked a staff member if we could spend some time with him and they let us into his little area. He still didn’t get up to greet us. We started petting him gently and he responded well to it. My mom, Natalie, finally picked him up and held the sides of him up, and placed him in her lap. He was upright, though, because her knees were bent. She cradled his head in her hands and he smirked a little bit. My step siblings and I grabbed his water and tried to wet his tongue with our fingers. I took a photo of my mom holding him and sent it to my stepdad. My mom said “we just have to see what Mike says.” Mike responded almost immediately with a “bring that buddy home.” My mom then handed him off to me while she went to get a staff member to discuss the next steps of adoption. I placed Mouse back in his bed and we all went to the front desk.

The ladies there said it was his first day on the floor and they knew he’d be snatched up immediately. My mom started coming up with little names we could give him, and the ladies suggested “Mouse,” because that’s what they had been calling him since he came in. That was that. Our new family member’s name was Mouse. Of course we were curious as to where he came from. The same ladies said they couldn’t reveal too much due to privacy rules, but that he was a rescue from a hoarder house. I immediately pictured him being neglected, abused, bullied by bigger dogs with a bigger appetite. Once we got home, we took him out of his crate. He already started to perk up. He was sitting straight up and his ears were high and mighty.

We decided he needed a bath for a fresh start. We placed him in the sink and he was so small that even if he wanted to, he couldn’t climb over the top of it. We scrubbed him down and dried him off. From that point on, Mouse and I were attached at the hip. I would hold him on my left arm so that his head was in my inner elbow, his right arm was draped over mine, and my left hand cupped his butt (with the tail covering his little butthole).

He died this year on the day of the six year anniversary of his adoption. He died in front of me, in my hands. In those six years, I never thought I could love a being as much as I loved him. I would call him “my little man.” During the summer, when I would go out with my friends, I would actually leave earlier than everyone else because I missed him, or because it was raining out and I was worried he was scared. When I would hold him, which was all the time, I could feel my chest fill up with warmth. He ate table scraps every single day. We would order little things from restaurants or DoorDash just because we knew he’d love it. For the past two years, his collapsed esophagus got worse and worse. My mom and I were at our friend’s cabin with their family when I realized he needed to be spoon fed. I was overjoyed. It was the cutest thing in the world spoon feeding Mouse. He would look at you all excited and he would eat so much more than normal. It was perfect.

Losing Mouse has been one of the worst losses I’ve experienced in my life. I know that sounds ridiculous because he’s a dog. But, I realized that adopting an animal that has gone through tremendous trauma forms a different bond than adopting a dog from a breeder. The love you have for that animal is almost motherly. And you know that love is reciprocated back to you because of the way they follow you around, look at you, or even just trust you. Adopting from a breeder forms the attachment of “this person gives me food so I love them”, and that’s fine! But, Mouse made me realize how much you can really love someone who isn’t human, someone who doesn’t provide you with anything other than their company. Mouse’s past left marks on him. He had broken ribs that healed improperly. When Mike slicked his hair back one night, Mouse started growling at him and barking at him as if he thought Mike was a threat. Those marks left on his body and his mind caused a reaction in me and my mother that made us want every one of his days to be the best day of his life. If he wanted to sleep, we would give him a heated blanket to lay on. If he wanted to eat, we were there with the spoon. We brought him on road trips and camping trips. We brought him to restaurants with us in the summer so we could sit outside.

Mouse may have had a rough story in the beginning, but the conclusion of that story was blissful. Now, I feel like adopting from anywhere other than a shelter is neglectful of the future “Mouse” that could be. I’m so grateful to have had the amazing pleasure of being in his life. Dogs really are the only simple things in life. 

— Ruby

[angiesbizblog-blog]

Pandemic Entrepreneurs Are Delivering Your Groceries

The year has started out a mess, and the mess continues as people find themselves out of work much longer than they can afford. The unemployed are finding that the stimulus help can only cover so much before it runs dry. With the loss of jobs has come something new, Pandemic Freelancers.

These pandemic freelancers, as I like to refer to them, are coming out of the woodwork to find odd jobs that will make them spare cash. Bills do not take a vacation, even if regular employment can. While the pandemic did eliminate some freelancer positions as well, some are flourishing. In particular, the personal shopper.

Companies like Instacart, DoorDash, and Shipt are seeing a surge in subscriptions and a need for people to fill those orders. Pandemic freelancers are taking advantage of these opportunities, and they are doing quite well in the process. Instacart shoppers, for example, average around $10 per hour for the jobs they do. In bigger cities, this can increase considerably. The more jobs taken, the more money that can be made in a day. In smaller towns it may be harder to reach a good goal, but taking on extra zones is also possible. The more zones worked regularly, the more money earned on a regular basis. You are your own limit when it comes to taking orders, and picking which orders you want to take.

Of course, opportunities like this have some downsides. Full service shoppers deal with wear and tear on their vehicles. No car? No income. Many stores have begun to offer curbside grocery pickup, creating competition for the companies offering these services. There is also the fact that jobs are random. There is no guarantee for a set income. With many jobs on a first come, first serve basis, it can also mean the jobs disappear faster than they can be selected. It all depends on who is faster with the click. When working in multiple zones, there is no telling how much traveling will be required. Demand shifts daily, so finding a good zone to remain in may be difficult.

These freelancers shine above the rest for many reasons. From self motivation to organizational skills, it takes a lot to be successful in any business. The biggest key to their personality is their entrepreneurial spirit. That drive to run their life like a business, because it is essentially a business, so they can make what they need to survive is admirable. It is why they succeed!

Not all pandemic freelancers will remain freelancers once the economy has rebalanced. After all, steady income has a strong lure on its own. Freelancing, like any entrepreneur knows, means working harder without the guarantee of a paycheck. However, this crisis has allowed many opportunists a chance to see what they can do when in a pinch, and they have learned something new about themselves. They learned what it is like to be in business. It may have even made some dreams reality.

At the end of the day, these people have found a way to generate an income when there was none. They are an inspiration to anyone out of work, and living proof that within disaster comes hope.

[millennial94meets-world]

A GENERATION: QUARANTINED.

Is it coming to you live if I’m just chilling in my apartment and taking my time blogging about the new way of life many generations are having to endure without a FaceTime selfie update? Maybe not. Who cares. 

You do. That’s why you’re reading this. Because for many of you, this is day 9 or 15 of quarantine depending on where you are in the country, and you are SO bored that you ended up in a rabbit hole that led you here. Welcome. I could use some more followers just like you could use something to do for the next ten minutes. 

For many millennials and introverts alike, nothing has changed. Nada. We are doing the same things we have been doing: avoiding human contact, jumping into rabbit holes out of boredom on social media platforms, eating take out from DoorDash, and binge watching our faves on popular platforms. So to the rest of the world...we send the warmest welcome. 

The difference? Now we are being asked to do it. 

It’s easier to stay home when you WANT to hide, but it’s a little different for some of us to stay home when you’re TOLD to hide, hence why many people are taking those cheap flights to anywhere without caution, putting bar nights on their social media stories without a care to rebel, and trying not to hit their heads against walls as they are stuck indoors with family they would otherwise optionally see occasionally. Praying for you. 

Anyways. While everyone is stuck indoors and sharing their hourly updates of how nothing has changed, or how they are continuing to innovate their new, and hopefully temporary, “norms”, I thought I could also share a few tips on how to stay positive (oh God, no, not for COVID-19), be productive working at home, still be productive if you are temporarily/indefinitely laid off, or have trouble getting through that to-do list you have been making for 5 years (don’t be ashamed, we all have one). 

Tip #1: Stay Positive. 

I know, I know. That looks more like: StAy pOsITivE, but hear me out. Wake up every morning and set one positive intention; whether it’s limiting your social media scrolling, getting a nice long yoga practice in, getting through a few chapters of a good book, turning the garage into a real gym (no, that treadmill being weighted down by your air-drying laundry does NOT count, Becky), getting a good handle on your [new] online classes, or checking up on your grandparents because #quarantinecheck . Keeping a good positive mental attitude is good for the longevity of this quarantine. This isn’t going to last forever, and it helps to make sure that even if the Corona virus doesn’t infect your immune system, that you don’t let it infect your mental health. It’s also going to help you achieve the rest of this list. 

Tip #2: Productively Working From Home.

Say good-bye to cubicles and awkward coffee breaks in the break room with that guy from IT that has a crush on you that you hardly know, and say hello to a much more hostile work environment depending on the adult and child population in your home. You’re about to find out just how much pressure you can take with that deadline. Breathe. I am not an expert on kids because I don’t have any, so I won’t pretend to be. If you’re looking on advice on how to wrangle those little devils, you’re in the wrong place, sis. For everyone else, get up like you would every morning, eh, maybe like an hour more of sleeping in, but get up, get dressed and put some concealer on or whatever. Make some coffee and find the dog/cat/rabbit/hamster leash you threw in the back of the coat closet because you and Fluffy are going for a productive brainstorming walk. Yep. You’re taking the dog, or the cat, or the rabbit, or the hamster (or whatever poor fluffy adorable creature that you never take for some productive exercise) to work from now until this sh*t is over. Make it a 10-15 minute walk (depending the type of pet) and set some productive work intentions. Make a list on your phone. When you come back, set up a creative desk area if you don’t already have one. I use one end of my dining room table by folding one of my favorite patterned scarves in half and laying down as a foundation for mental separation where the cats are NOT allowed to lay. Place some candles from your room or living room on your desk for some “office ambiance”, put up a standing picture frame if you like, notepad and pens, and maybe some cute paper weights? Whatever floats your boat. Start by checking your emails or whatever you would normally do to start the workday at the office, and just keep the ball rolling from there. Set a lunch break, and stay out of the kitchen until then (unless you, like, actually need to get a snack)! We all know what too many snacks lead to....(I’m not saying don’t eat what you want, by all means necessary, snack your PANTS OFF, but save them for after work because we are trying to get sh*t done, okay?)....anyways. If you start feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list, take a break and call your Nana or your mom or dad and chat to check in for like 15 minutes. Talk about your day with them, then get back to it. It helps to get some social interaction, especially because you would be getting that at work with your co-workers. Make sure that you set a solid time to end your “workday” and try to stick to it! You got this!

Tip #3:  Being Productive “Working From Home”.

This one is for everyone who has been told that their places of employment have been shutdown temporarily or indefinitely by the government or city officials due to risk of exposure. Set an alarm for the morning for like 9 am or 10:30 am, and get drink some water (we know you had more than a glass of wine last night, and quite frankly...same). Make some coffee or tea to-go, and strap the pup/kitty/bunny up for a walk! We are all going to get some Vitamin D and fresh air ladies and gents. While on your walk, set some daily intentions to do some school work, start a blog (hehe..), take care of any adult-responsibilities that you have been putting off because you just haven’t had time during the week to do it (your banks are still doing drive-thru extended services, so no excuses), make a chore list, make a plan of invading your local grocery store [during business hours] in hopes of finding [not hoarding] lost treasures like toilet paper, conference calling your project buddies from class so you can knock out that B+ even in quarantine because we all know the policy in the syllabus doesn’t even protect you from a worldwide quarantine, or you can take the time you need to take care of your unemployment status! You can still do so many things under these trying times. Start something new for your self or cross off some serious adulting moves. Take this time to meditate,  learn about the “joy” of meal-prepping (don’t do this one, it’s miserable), finish that weird painting you started with the girls during a poorly timed wine and paint night at your place (remember? There were snacks and more bottles than canvases and you guys got too drunk and a few brush strokes in you stopped and started to Instagram-stalk your exes and their current girlfriends?? Yeah. You remember), YouTube some yoga routines to start flowing for some MUCH needed positive stress-relief, clean the hell out of your kitchen AND closet (you know you need to donate the sh*t you don’t wear anymore. It’s just taking up space, Jen), or start doing some morning or evening runs with your dog. Take this quarantining time to start new and positive habits that you have been thinking about picking up lately but have been too busy to do so. YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME NOW. 

Here’s mine, I started a self-care regiment of taking super reds and greens when I get up in morning and go to bed at night, and I started getting up earlier to take my dog out to play fetch while I drink my morning coffee (I don’t run for sh*t, f**k that). Start with something small like I did. If I can do it, you can do it. 

Tip #4: Do Your “To-Dos”.

Seriously. Find that list. Make that list. Slap it on the dining room table and give it a good talking-to. Tell it about how you’re not taking anymore of its bullsh*t, and this ends this week. PROJECT YOUR FEELINGS. Then get to it. Maybe drink some coffee first? Idk. Whatever gets you going. Keep in mind a few things though:

1. It’s okay if you only do one thing today because you can take the rest of the week or the rest of the quarantine to finish it. Nobody is judging you, but you, sis (A good life mantra).

2. You are the boss of the list, not the other way around. Take charge, sis. 

3. You don’t even have to go in order from top to bottom. Maybe start with the easiest and most convenient things to do at home, and then work your way out. Or alternate between easy and more challenging if you want to make it more fun. The point is: go at your own pace, this isn’t a race. You know what they say about things that rhyme *insert enthusiastic smile and eyebrow raise here*.  

4. Do not, and I cannot stress this enough, do NOT judge yourself for how long any item has been on the list. What matters is today, and your motivation to take on these tasks. So pop some headphones in, and go get em’ tiger. 

Remember, 2020 is NOT cancelled. It’s just postponed for some self-healing. I hope this helps, and that everyone who reads it can find something that they will take away and put into motion in the weeks to come. Speaking of weeks to come, I am now out of wine, so I have to add a trip to the store to my to-do list lol.

 Happy Quarantining guys!!

[problematicallysexy]

let me use the lube i bought on you. i want you to feel good — i don’t want it to hurt. i want to eat you out before we do anything, just so you know that this is all about you. cum on my face & whine when i keep going for a moment. let me tell you how much i love you & how much of a good girl you are while i get ready to finger you. let me make sure you’re okay with this; let me make sure that you’re 100% sure. let me leave soft kisses on your neck while i slide a lubed finger inside of you & tell you how perfect you are for me. let me make sure you’re okay before i put another finger in. let me call you my precious little bunny when i find that one spot that makes your mind go blank. let me make you cum on my fingers until your nails dig into my back & you moan my name. let me make sure that you’re still alright & that you want me to keep going.

when we’re done, i’ll pull you into my arms & thank you for letting me take care of you. i’ll leave kisses all over your face while i tell you how perfect you were for me. i’ll stay there with you — cuddling & playing with your hair while i tell you how much i love you.

let me pick you up & take you to the shower to clean you up. i’ll take one with you, too. i’ll wash your hair & back for you. if you need me to wash anything else for you, i will. i’ll give you little kisses after we’ve rinsed off. i’ll dry you off first if you want — & if you need me to. let me help you get dressed. let me take you into the main room & sit you down in front of me while i sit on the couch. let me brush your hair out for you & do my best to make sure there’s no tangles. i’ll give you my phone so you can order doordash for the both of us while i braid your hair.

i love you so much. i want to take care of you. i want to make you feel good. you mean everything to me, & i want you to know that. i want to fuck you until you cry, yeah — but i also want to marry you. i want to go to death valley with you. i want to take you to places you’ve never been. i want you to be the person i die with; i want to be with you forever, even after death. if you’ll let me, that is.

i love you, bunny.

[blogboyreadery]

Give it Up Bro

It was day 2 of intensive upper level class on the Old Testament and I was struck with one thing in particular today... the writers of the Bible were literary geniuses. Masters of the craft dude. The Bible is a complete (well, almost - at least until the second coming) master-work of writing and theology. The whole thing is comprised of countless stories and ideas that all work together to form one cohesive story about the creator and His relationship with His creation.

I’m not going to just type out that the Bible doesn’t have it’s dry parts, (genealogies, laws, etc.) BUT I am going to say that every part contributes to the most fascinating piece of work in the world. The oldest imagery and most intricate parts of the Old Testament perfectly set up the resolution and re-actualization of the New Testament. There’s metaphor, poetry, prophecy, history, parables, and so many more pieces of writing. And it all works together. 

So then how come I have such a hard time getting myself to read the freaking thing?

I feel like I have such high aspirations for myself when it comes to my spiritual life. I’m going to be so healthy, so prayerful, so in-touch with the word, all that hyper Christian-y stuff. But then actually doing if is hard. It’s been hard enough to just write in this blog every day and all I have to do here is share my own thoughts on God. Implementing new things into life is hard. I think it’s because in order to introduce something new, you probably have to say goodbye to something old.

This is where it gets hard I think. What if I have to give something up that I like? Or something that’s easy? Or makes me feel good? It’s one of the most mature and ethical disciplines humans can do; say no to instant gratification now so that I can have something better later. The world is built on getting the easy thing now, and it’s trending more and more in that direction. Look at DoorDash. I don’t even have to get off the couch. Yeah, it costs $10 more dollars in delivery fees, but it’s easy. Or social media. I don’t even have to have friends to know what other people are doing, or to share what I’m doing. Yeah it’s incomplete human connection, but it makes me less lonely right this second. There’s so much more, but you get the point.

I’m not saying that getting food delivered or following your friends on instagram is all bad, but if you needed to give these things up could you? Could I? What about Netflix before bed? Or my phone on the toilet? I even just saw an add for a waterproof case that sticks to your shower wall so you can watch videos while showering. If I can’t give up my phone just to take a shower (which, honestly, I have a hard time doing sometimes. I told Grace to take my phone from me when I go into the bathroom or else I’ll just scroll the ‘gram forever) then can I give up some of the time I spend on it? Or what about sleeping in? Or eating sugar? Again, not bad things, but if I can’t give them up I think I’m in trouble.

I wonder what I’m having a hard time giving up (or moving aside) in order to spend more time reading the Bible. Maybe it’s staying up late. Maybe it’s my Nintendo Switch. Maybe it’s my phone. Maybe it’s something else. I think it’s worth asking this question more. And if I figure it out, then I hope I have the guts to do something about it.

[austinpanda]

Dad Letter 061221

13 June, 2021

Dear Dad--

Well, the past week featured a few minor disappointments! Nothing too serious, and in fact, most of it was at least indicative of more positive events to come. As an example, my boss is giving me a new schedule at work which I severely hate, but it’s definitely only temporary, to exist as briefly as possible before he’s able to switch me to full time, which is what we both want. So...bad news, but it’ll get better.

The week began, as I mentioned last week, with a particularly potent heat wave, which put high temps above 90 for three days. Maine just can’t handle shit like that. My plant scientist friend has a very nice house, which he’s improving to make nicer by the day, and it doesn’t have central air conditioning, because NO ONE has central air conditioning here, it seems like. When it gets up to 92 outside, it hits 95 inside, in every part of the trailer that isn’t affected by our window AC unit, which is most of it. You visit a hot part of the house, like the bathroom, or the kitchen, to do whatever needs doing, and you sweat your ass off, and you run back to the air conditioned part of the living room to cool down, and repeat. And it makes going to sleep difficult, because it’s still so hot by the time you go to bed. Thankfully, that shit ended when we had an unexpected spate of normal weather, which put high temps back in the 70s where they goddamn belong.

Here’s something else that didn’t go as planned: my movie night! Of all the things that could have gone wrong, can you guess what went wrong? It was too cold! Now that the weather is normal again, we had some cloud cover yesterday, and by the evening, it got chilly. The plan was to have the plant scientist guy and his spouse over to watch Alien (the original, from 1979), but by the time the movie ended, it would have been close to 50 degrees outside, and we decided to try again a little later in the summer, like next week.

Still, though, I spent the last two nights setting the projector up outside and preparing the space. I had to figure out where the extension cord would go, and where the projector would go, and where the screen would go, and where the chairs would go. I had to place the screen, and measure shit, and clean certain spots, and install plastic wall hooks, which are what the screen hangs from. I had to buy a citronella candle, because the air outside is 30% mosquitos right now. I did a bunch of sweeping, the asphalt pad that our trailer is on, to make it pretty. I took down the bird feeder temporarily. I put some lights outside. And when it got dark last night, I watched about 30 minutes worth of movie by myself just to see what it was like, and it was pretty damn nice. (Cold as fuck, especially for June, but no one forced me to move to Maine, dangit.)

Thus did I achieve proof of concept: The cheap projector that I purchased works wonderfully. The picture is nice and big, like a little drive-in movie theater, and more than bright enough, and sharp enough, too. So...I actually rigged up a projector and showed some movie on my house! As soon as it warms up a bit, I can start doing this whenever I want. I’ll be able to have friends over to join me, which was the main goal the whole time, and watch a movie under the stars. And we will speculate on what the poor people are up to, since we’re so obviously blessed with life’s riches. Dammit.

Here’s another thing that made last week a big cornucopia of bullshit: I’m being taught the most difficult audit at work. Remember I mentioned the Seven Pillars of Bureaucracy. I had learned four of the audits already. Now they’re teaching me an audit of such complexity that it makes the others look like tinker toys, and it’s really miserable. It’s a whole day at work, in my cubicle, with my boss sitting next to me, walking me through the audit, step by step, looking at spreadsheets, with him pointing at the spreadsheet, and saying, “Now highlight that thing. No, not that thing, the other thing.” And then he gives me some background why we do that particular audit step in that particular way, and instead of providing context and clarity, it only adds new flavors and colors to the confusion.

Him: See, because remember I told you about how the cash in and coin in are represented here, so the OTB breakage something something hand pay commission something something patron voucher something something found money at the kiosk, then returned it to main bank, but didn’t claim it, so you have to reflect that here in the “Cash In/Coin In OTB Breakage Hand Pay Commission Patron Voucher Found Money Kiosk Main Bank Unclaimed Spreadsheet,” otherwise the amounts in the corresponding other spreadsheet won’t wash. Does that make sense?

Me: ...I mean…

But the learning process is working the way it always works. The first day, the audit takes all day, and we’re lucky if we finish it. The second day, we finish it with time to spare. Third day, it takes a bit less time. Eventually I’m able to complete the audit on my own, using only my notes, and checklist, and brain, and after a while, I don’t need my notes any more. We’re just having to slog through the shitty phase of the process.

And now my schedule changes in a way that I don’t care for! I’ve enjoyed having short days, and more of them, so it’s now necessary that I work longer days, and fewer of them. My schedule is about to switch to Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, full time shifts. I’m not looking forward to having to work on Sunday, but I’ll adjust. It’s fewer hours than I’ve been working, so paying my bills just got an added degree of difficulty, but it won’t be for long, and then I’ll be working full time. Once I’m working full time, I shouldn’t have any difficulty paying the bills and setting some aside for savings. Then I begin looking for a newer car!

You know what else happened last night that was some bullshit, aside from the weather being too cold to enjoy without also building a fire, which we can’t do, because of the proximity of my kerosene tank? Zach went to bed, and I was sitting on the sofa, kinda had the place to myself, and I realized I hadn’t eaten in about seven hours, and I wanted someone to make a pizza and bring it to me. I convinced myself it wasn’t financially irresponsible by observing that I could get three meals out of it. Tried my go-to pizza joint; they’re not making deliveries. It’s a Domino’s, and they’ve stopped making deliveries. I don’t know why this is! Perhaps they ran out of pepperoni, or the drivers revolted. Next, I tried installing the Domino’s app on my phone, to see if that would get me a different result. It did not.

Then I decided to install the Pizza Hut app on my phone and just order from them. The Pizza Hut app informed me, while apologizing nicely about it, that they didn’t deliver to me. So I got on my DoorDash app, which is a food delivery app, and found out that THEY would bring me Pizza Hut, as long as I ordered through DoorDash. This I now utterly failed to do. Before long, I got a call that said it was calling from California, when it was actually a guy from Pizza Hut in Bangor leaving a message saying, “Yeah, we’re sold out of that kind of crust. Also you ordered the same thing twice. Call me back please.” My thinking in response to that was, “I don’t want to talk to anyone. Why do you think I used the app in the first place?” I cancelled one of the online orders, but couldn’t immediately find a way to cancel the unrequested second order. Eventually I received an email that I could use to cancel the second order, although they said the Pizza Hut had already started making the pizza, so I was still going to be out 16 bucks. Then I made a tuna sandwich and cried onto it, using the tuna sandwich to dry my tears. (I did not actually cry, and the tuna sandwich was actually quite good.)

So now it’s Saturday, I don’t want to show a movie on my house because I have to get up early for work tomorrow, (In response, the weather is much nicer than yesterday.) and continue learning the hardest audit. I will conquer it shortly! And I’ll get us pizza for dinner tonight, maybe, because I now have a bunch of credit with Pizza Hut.

More next week. All my love to you both!

[riichardwilson]

How Web Designers Can Help Restaurants Move Into Digital Experiences

About The Author

Suzanne Scacca is a former WordPress implementer, trainer and agency manager who now works as a freelance copywriter. She specializes in crafting marketing agency, web … More about Suzanne Scacca …

The restaurant industry has begun to undergo a major digital transformation. Those that want to survive will need a website that can handle the new way of operating, which means they can no longer afford to hold onto that cheap website they built for themselves years ago. And this spells big opportunities for web designers interested in working in the space.

As much as I’ve always loved the experience of going out to eat and ordering in takeout, it’s very rare that I enjoy visiting a restaurant’s website. But I get it. The restaurant industry tends to run on very slim profit margins, so it’s hard to justify spending money on a professionally designed website when all they want it to do is list their hours of operation and menu.

However, I envision all that changing in 2020 (and beyond) as restaurants are forced to expand into digital in order to survive. Unlike a website that a novice might hack together with a cheap site builder, establishing a competitive digital presence isn’t something they’re going to be able to do on their own.

That’s why web designers should seriously start thinking about expanding into this niche.

How Web Designers Can Help Restaurants Move into Digital

Usually, when something serious shakes up the restaurant industry, those that want to survive will adopt newer and better technologies to adapt. So, it’s not like restaurants are strangers to digital transformation. Until now, though, the focus has mainly been on investing in technology that improves how they work in-house.

With everything that’s happened in 2020, though, restaurants are going to need web designers’ help in doing three things that ensure their survival in an increasingly digital world:

1. Modernize The Restaurant Website

Whenever I write one of these posts, I spend time reviewing a few dozen websites to find the best examples to make my point. I’m not going to lie, this one was tough. While I knew I could turn to national chain restaurants to find modern-looking websites, I had a really hard time with others.

While it’s not impossible to find an independent restaurant operator or local chain that has a great-looking website in 2020, I’d say that at least half of them are way behind the times, if they even have a website at all.

Remember when websites were designed like this?

An outdated restaurant website in 2020, blurred out to protect its identity. (Source: Anonymous) (Large preview)

I’ve blurred out the restaurant’s name and details to protect its identity, but you can still get a sense of how bad this design is for 2020.

Restaurant websites can’t afford to be crappy, non-responsive placeholders anymore. They need to become impressive digital presences that set the stage for what customers will experience when interacting with restaurants as diners.

Let’s take a look at how In-N-Out Burger has nailed modern web design. The first thing you’ll notice is it’s a responsive design. On desktop, the website fits the full width of the screen, so there’s no wasted space around the border. It looks good on a mobile device, too:

The In-N-Out Burger mobile website is responsive and easy to read. (Source: In-N-Out Burger) (Large preview)

Also, take notice of the images. This is a burger joint, so you should expect the website to be full of burger photos, which it is. However, there’s something interesting to note about the burgers you find on the site.

The In-N-Out Burger website uses perfectly framed images and well-chosen transitions. (Source: In-N-Out Burger) (Large preview)

When someone enters a page where there’s a burger photo, the food slides into the frame as if someone were sliding it over to a customer in the restaurant. It’s a neat little transition and many visitors to the site might not even realize what’s happening, but it makes the experience feel more lifelike and interactive.

Transitions aren’t the only things you can do to create this sort of experience. Background videos taken within the establishment work just as well as it gives customers the opportunity to walk through the establishment instead of relying on static images that only paint part of the picture.

Another thing restaurant websites need to improve is how they’re organized.

When people are ready to go out to eat or to dine in, don’t waste their time trying to force the restaurant’s history down their throats (which many of these sites surprisingly do). The navigation as well as the order in which CTAs appear on the home page should reflect the actions customers want to take.

The thought process most likely goes like this:

“I’m not sure what to order. Where’s the menu?” (Menu)

“Do I need to make a reservation or can we just go whenever?” (Reservations)

“Where is this place again?” (Locations or Contact)

Or, these days, #2 looks more like this:

“Do they do takeout? I wonder if they’ll deliver it.” (Order Online)

There are other things customers might want to do on the website. Like buy gift cards or merchandise, sign up for rewards or apply for a job.

So, while the above tasks should be a priority in terms of what visitors see first, make sure to look at the site’s data to see what else they’re interested in doing. Then, make sure those popular actions take center stage in the navigation and site design.

2. Empower Them to Diversify Their Income

Under normal circumstances, profitability is a problem for many restaurants. Add a crisis to the mix and it’s going to become downright impossible to generate any profit — that is if they rely solely on dine-in business.

Long before COVID-19, consumers were already showing a growing preference for digital dining solutions.

According to Peapod, 77% of U.S. consumers said they preferred eating at home than going out. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to ordering in from a restaurant.

27% preferred to order groceries online and pick them up from the store.

26% planned to use grocery delivery.

20% were interested in meal kits.

Then, you have information from Technomic and the National Restaurant Association that found that about 60% of all restaurant sales in the U.S. come from off-premise dining.

For restaurants that haven’t yet made the leap to digital dining options, they’re going to have to ASAP. This isn’t just a temporary thing either.

Restaurants that fail to digitize going forward won’t survive.

So, web designers are going to be needed to help them build out the following:

An online ordering system for their website or a link to an external service,

A reservation system (for when in-house dining is available).

That’s just the bare minimum though. For instance, this is what Snooze Eatery has done:

Snooze Eatery advertises delivery or pickup on its website. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

The first thing visitors see on the website is the online ordering option. When they click “Place Your Order”, they’re taken to the restaurant’s proprietary ordering portal:

Snooze Eatery’s online ordering portal. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

This in and of itself is a great solution for restaurants to have available through their websites as it allows them to control the ordering process and capture more of the profits (but that’s up to your clients to decide, of course). That said, many restaurants are getting creative and going beyond traditional online ordering options.

Below the fold on the Snooze Eatery site, visitors will find this banner:

Snooze Eatery now offers neighborhood provisions. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a good number of people who want to be able to order food online but then prepare it for themselves at home. While that would previously have left restaurants high and dry, that’s not the case anymore as many restaurants are expanding their offering to include family-style meal kits and groceries like Snooze.

This alone means that web designers are going to become increasingly more important for restaurants. And don’t expect the work to end there. Restaurants will also need your help building other monetized offerings into their websites. For instance:

Gift cards;

Merchandise;

Subscription services for meal kits, alcohol deliveries and more;

Online memberships for cooking classes, premium recipes, etc.

If they don’t have one yet, they’ll also probably need help creating a rewards and account management system as well.

3. Fix Their Brand Images on Third-party Sites

Although the website should be the engine that powers everything for the business online, restaurants need other sites to help with visibility, too. For example:

Facebook to share photos, advertise location information and collect customer reviews;

Instagram to share photos, restaurant updates and customer-generated content;

Yelp and TripAdvisor to collect customer reviews and feedback;

Google My Business to create a local presence in Google search and Maps as well as to collect reviews;

Delivery services like DoorDash to outsource delivery to;

Reservation sites like OpenTable to outsource reservation bookings to.

If customers are looking for restaurants online, they need to be willing and able to meet them where they are… before eventually bringing them to the website.

Although it’s ultimately the restaurant’s responsibility to create these pages, you should provide assistance when it comes to the visual branding piece. For one, it ensures that there’s some consistency between all their platforms. Also, it enables you to fill in missing pieces that restaurateurs might not think about.

Let’s take a look at Rhode Island staple, IGGY’S:

IGGY’S website visitors are introduced to the restaurant with an image of its iconic clamcakes. (Source: IGGY’S) (Large preview)

The waterfront eatery immediately gets down to business and provides visitors with 3 options for ordering online (based on which location they want to go to).

Here’s what the online ordering portal looks like:

IGGY’S restaurant’s online ordering portal. (Source: IGGY’S) (Large preview)

Notice how good this looks. It takes what would otherwise be a text-only menu and turns it into something much more attractive and, arguably, more effective in driving up sales.

Now, contrast that with IGGY’S online ordering through DoorDash:

DoorDash customers can order online from IGGY’s restaurant. (Source: DoorDash) (Large preview)

The items on this page rarely come with descriptions or images.

Now, IGGY’S is a well-known restaurant around Rhode Island, so this might not be a dealbreaker for online customers. However, new customers might approach the menu with more trepidation than the one available through the IGGY’S website since it’s devoid of details.

This is where your visual-centric approach comes in handy. By making sure each item comes with a high-resolution and mouth-watering photo (the same as the one used on the site), you can optimize this sales opportunity for them.

It’s also important to ensure the brand elements are consistently presented. That way, if an existing customer runs across their favorite restaurant on DoorDash, they won’t hesitate to order because they’ll instantly know it’s their favorite restaurant.

For example, the logo on DoorDash is nothing like the one on the website in terms of quality or looks:

The DoorDash logo for IGGY’S doesn’t match the one on the website. (Source: DoorDash) (Large preview)

Be it the logo or another branded element, you want to make sure that 1) it matches the website and 2) looks good. This goes for online ordering sites like DoorDash as well as all the other ones I mentioned earlier.

Wrapping Up

We’re at a point now where restaurants can no longer be reluctant or stingy about improving their digital presence. And, as a web designer, this should get you excited.

There’s a lot you can do to help businesses in this space beyond designing basic websites. Because so much of their digital transformation involves making sales online, you’ll get to design experiences that are intuitive, modern, and mouth-watering while also creating new monetized pathways for them.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-web-designers-can-help-restaurants-move-into-digital-experiences/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/621829319644397568

[scpie]

How Web Designers Can Help Restaurants Move Into Digital Experiences

About The Author

Suzanne Scacca is a former WordPress implementer, trainer and agency manager who now works as a freelance copywriter. She specializes in crafting marketing agency, web … More about Suzanne Scacca …

The restaurant industry has begun to undergo a major digital transformation. Those that want to survive will need a website that can handle the new way of operating, which means they can no longer afford to hold onto that cheap website they built for themselves years ago. And this spells big opportunities for web designers interested in working in the space.

As much as I’ve always loved the experience of going out to eat and ordering in takeout, it’s very rare that I enjoy visiting a restaurant’s website. But I get it. The restaurant industry tends to run on very slim profit margins, so it’s hard to justify spending money on a professionally designed website when all they want it to do is list their hours of operation and menu.

However, I envision all that changing in 2020 (and beyond) as restaurants are forced to expand into digital in order to survive. Unlike a website that a novice might hack together with a cheap site builder, establishing a competitive digital presence isn’t something they’re going to be able to do on their own.

That’s why web designers should seriously start thinking about expanding into this niche.

How Web Designers Can Help Restaurants Move into Digital

Usually, when something serious shakes up the restaurant industry, those that want to survive will adopt newer and better technologies to adapt. So, it’s not like restaurants are strangers to digital transformation. Until now, though, the focus has mainly been on investing in technology that improves how they work in-house.

With everything that’s happened in 2020, though, restaurants are going to need web designers’ help in doing three things that ensure their survival in an increasingly digital world:

1. Modernize The Restaurant Website

Whenever I write one of these posts, I spend time reviewing a few dozen websites to find the best examples to make my point. I’m not going to lie, this one was tough. While I knew I could turn to national chain restaurants to find modern-looking websites, I had a really hard time with others.

While it’s not impossible to find an independent restaurant operator or local chain that has a great-looking website in 2020, I’d say that at least half of them are way behind the times, if they even have a website at all.

Remember when websites were designed like this?

An outdated restaurant website in 2020, blurred out to protect its identity. (Source: Anonymous) (Large preview)

I’ve blurred out the restaurant’s name and details to protect its identity, but you can still get a sense of how bad this design is for 2020.

Restaurant websites can’t afford to be crappy, non-responsive placeholders anymore. They need to become impressive digital presences that set the stage for what customers will experience when interacting with restaurants as diners.

Let’s take a look at how In-N-Out Burger has nailed modern web design. The first thing you’ll notice is it’s a responsive design. On desktop, the website fits the full width of the screen, so there’s no wasted space around the border. It looks good on a mobile device, too:

The In-N-Out Burger mobile website is responsive and easy to read. (Source: In-N-Out Burger) (Large preview)

Also, take notice of the images. This is a burger joint, so you should expect the website to be full of burger photos, which it is. However, there’s something interesting to note about the burgers you find on the site.

The In-N-Out Burger website uses perfectly framed images and well-chosen transitions. (Source: In-N-Out Burger) (Large preview)

When someone enters a page where there’s a burger photo, the food slides into the frame as if someone were sliding it over to a customer in the restaurant. It’s a neat little transition and many visitors to the site might not even realize what’s happening, but it makes the experience feel more lifelike and interactive.

Transitions aren’t the only things you can do to create this sort of experience. Background videos taken within the establishment work just as well as it gives customers the opportunity to walk through the establishment instead of relying on static images that only paint part of the picture.

Another thing restaurant websites need to improve is how they’re organized.

When people are ready to go out to eat or to dine in, don’t waste their time trying to force the restaurant’s history down their throats (which many of these sites surprisingly do). The navigation as well as the order in which CTAs appear on the home page should reflect the actions customers want to take.

The thought process most likely goes like this:

“I’m not sure what to order. Where’s the menu?” (Menu)

“Do I need to make a reservation or can we just go whenever?” (Reservations)

“Where is this place again?” (Locations or Contact)

Or, these days, #2 looks more like this:

“Do they do takeout? I wonder if they’ll deliver it.” (Order Online)

There are other things customers might want to do on the website. Like buy gift cards or merchandise, sign up for rewards or apply for a job.

So, while the above tasks should be a priority in terms of what visitors see first, make sure to look at the site’s data to see what else they’re interested in doing. Then, make sure those popular actions take center stage in the navigation and site design.

2. Empower Them to Diversify Their Income

Under normal circumstances, profitability is a problem for many restaurants. Add a crisis to the mix and it’s going to become downright impossible to generate any profit — that is if they rely solely on dine-in business.

Long before COVID-19, consumers were already showing a growing preference for digital dining solutions.

According to Peapod, 77% of U.S. consumers said they preferred eating at home than going out. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to ordering in from a restaurant.

27% preferred to order groceries online and pick them up from the store.

26% planned to use grocery delivery.

20% were interested in meal kits.

Then, you have information from Technomic and the National Restaurant Association that found that about 60% of all restaurant sales in the U.S. come from off-premise dining.

For restaurants that haven’t yet made the leap to digital dining options, they’re going to have to ASAP. This isn’t just a temporary thing either.

Restaurants that fail to digitize going forward won’t survive.

So, web designers are going to be needed to help them build out the following:

An online ordering system for their website or a link to an external service,

A reservation system (for when in-house dining is available).

That’s just the bare minimum though. For instance, this is what Snooze Eatery has done:

Snooze Eatery advertises delivery or pickup on its website. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

The first thing visitors see on the website is the online ordering option. When they click “Place Your Order”, they’re taken to the restaurant’s proprietary ordering portal:

Snooze Eatery’s online ordering portal. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

This in and of itself is a great solution for restaurants to have available through their websites as it allows them to control the ordering process and capture more of the profits (but that’s up to your clients to decide, of course). That said, many restaurants are getting creative and going beyond traditional online ordering options.

Below the fold on the Snooze Eatery site, visitors will find this banner:

Snooze Eatery now offers neighborhood provisions. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a good number of people who want to be able to order food online but then prepare it for themselves at home. While that would previously have left restaurants high and dry, that’s not the case anymore as many restaurants are expanding their offering to include family-style meal kits and groceries like Snooze.

This alone means that web designers are going to become increasingly more important for restaurants. And don’t expect the work to end there. Restaurants will also need your help building other monetized offerings into their websites. For instance:

Gift cards;

Merchandise;

Subscription services for meal kits, alcohol deliveries and more;

Online memberships for cooking classes, premium recipes, etc.

If they don’t have one yet, they’ll also probably need help creating a rewards and account management system as well.

3. Fix Their Brand Images on Third-party Sites

Although the website should be the engine that powers everything for the business online, restaurants need other sites to help with visibility, too. For example:

Facebook to share photos, advertise location information and collect customer reviews;

Instagram to share photos, restaurant updates and customer-generated content;

Yelp and TripAdvisor to collect customer reviews and feedback;

Google My Business to create a local presence in Google search and Maps as well as to collect reviews;

Delivery services like DoorDash to outsource delivery to;

Reservation sites like OpenTable to outsource reservation bookings to.

If customers are looking for restaurants online, they need to be willing and able to meet them where they are… before eventually bringing them to the website.

Although it’s ultimately the restaurant’s responsibility to create these pages, you should provide assistance when it comes to the visual branding piece. For one, it ensures that there’s some consistency between all their platforms. Also, it enables you to fill in missing pieces that restaurateurs might not think about.

Let’s take a look at Rhode Island staple, IGGY’S:

IGGY’S website visitors are introduced to the restaurant with an image of its iconic clamcakes. (Source: IGGY’S) (Large preview)

The waterfront eatery immediately gets down to business and provides visitors with 3 options for ordering online (based on which location they want to go to).

Here’s what the online ordering portal looks like:

IGGY’S restaurant’s online ordering portal. (Source: IGGY’S) (Large preview)

Notice how good this looks. It takes what would otherwise be a text-only menu and turns it into something much more attractive and, arguably, more effective in driving up sales.

Now, contrast that with IGGY’S online ordering through DoorDash:

DoorDash customers can order online from IGGY’s restaurant. (Source: DoorDash) (Large preview)

The items on this page rarely come with descriptions or images.

Now, IGGY’S is a well-known restaurant around Rhode Island, so this might not be a dealbreaker for online customers. However, new customers might approach the menu with more trepidation than the one available through the IGGY’S website since it’s devoid of details.

This is where your visual-centric approach comes in handy. By making sure each item comes with a high-resolution and mouth-watering photo (the same as the one used on the site), you can optimize this sales opportunity for them.

It’s also important to ensure the brand elements are consistently presented. That way, if an existing customer runs across their favorite restaurant on DoorDash, they won’t hesitate to order because they’ll instantly know it’s their favorite restaurant.

For example, the logo on DoorDash is nothing like the one on the website in terms of quality or looks:

The DoorDash logo for IGGY’S doesn’t match the one on the website. (Source: DoorDash) (Large preview)

Be it the logo or another branded element, you want to make sure that 1) it matches the website and 2) looks good. This goes for online ordering sites like DoorDash as well as all the other ones I mentioned earlier.

Wrapping Up

We’re at a point now where restaurants can no longer be reluctant or stingy about improving their digital presence. And, as a web designer, this should get you excited.

There’s a lot you can do to help businesses in this space beyond designing basic websites. Because so much of their digital transformation involves making sales online, you’ll get to design experiences that are intuitive, modern, and mouth-watering while also creating new monetized pathways for them.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-web-designers-can-help-restaurants-move-into-digital-experiences/

[laurelkrugerr]

How Web Designers Can Help Restaurants Move Into Digital Experiences

About The Author

Suzanne Scacca is a former WordPress implementer, trainer and agency manager who now works as a freelance copywriter. She specializes in crafting marketing agency, web … More about Suzanne Scacca …

The restaurant industry has begun to undergo a major digital transformation. Those that want to survive will need a website that can handle the new way of operating, which means they can no longer afford to hold onto that cheap website they built for themselves years ago. And this spells big opportunities for web designers interested in working in the space.

As much as I’ve always loved the experience of going out to eat and ordering in takeout, it’s very rare that I enjoy visiting a restaurant’s website. But I get it. The restaurant industry tends to run on very slim profit margins, so it’s hard to justify spending money on a professionally designed website when all they want it to do is list their hours of operation and menu.

However, I envision all that changing in 2020 (and beyond) as restaurants are forced to expand into digital in order to survive. Unlike a website that a novice might hack together with a cheap site builder, establishing a competitive digital presence isn’t something they’re going to be able to do on their own.

That’s why web designers should seriously start thinking about expanding into this niche.

How Web Designers Can Help Restaurants Move into Digital

Usually, when something serious shakes up the restaurant industry, those that want to survive will adopt newer and better technologies to adapt. So, it’s not like restaurants are strangers to digital transformation. Until now, though, the focus has mainly been on investing in technology that improves how they work in-house.

With everything that’s happened in 2020, though, restaurants are going to need web designers’ help in doing three things that ensure their survival in an increasingly digital world:

1. Modernize The Restaurant Website

Whenever I write one of these posts, I spend time reviewing a few dozen websites to find the best examples to make my point. I’m not going to lie, this one was tough. While I knew I could turn to national chain restaurants to find modern-looking websites, I had a really hard time with others.

While it’s not impossible to find an independent restaurant operator or local chain that has a great-looking website in 2020, I’d say that at least half of them are way behind the times, if they even have a website at all.

Remember when websites were designed like this?

An outdated restaurant website in 2020, blurred out to protect its identity. (Source: Anonymous) (Large preview)

I’ve blurred out the restaurant’s name and details to protect its identity, but you can still get a sense of how bad this design is for 2020.

Restaurant websites can’t afford to be crappy, non-responsive placeholders anymore. They need to become impressive digital presences that set the stage for what customers will experience when interacting with restaurants as diners.

Let’s take a look at how In-N-Out Burger has nailed modern web design. The first thing you’ll notice is it’s a responsive design. On desktop, the website fits the full width of the screen, so there’s no wasted space around the border. It looks good on a mobile device, too:

The In-N-Out Burger mobile website is responsive and easy to read. (Source: In-N-Out Burger) (Large preview)

Also, take notice of the images. This is a burger joint, so you should expect the website to be full of burger photos, which it is. However, there’s something interesting to note about the burgers you find on the site.

The In-N-Out Burger website uses perfectly framed images and well-chosen transitions. (Source: In-N-Out Burger) (Large preview)

When someone enters a page where there’s a burger photo, the food slides into the frame as if someone were sliding it over to a customer in the restaurant. It’s a neat little transition and many visitors to the site might not even realize what’s happening, but it makes the experience feel more lifelike and interactive.

Transitions aren’t the only things you can do to create this sort of experience. Background videos taken within the establishment work just as well as it gives customers the opportunity to walk through the establishment instead of relying on static images that only paint part of the picture.

Another thing restaurant websites need to improve is how they’re organized.

When people are ready to go out to eat or to dine in, don’t waste their time trying to force the restaurant’s history down their throats (which many of these sites surprisingly do). The navigation as well as the order in which CTAs appear on the home page should reflect the actions customers want to take.

The thought process most likely goes like this:

“I’m not sure what to order. Where’s the menu?” (Menu)

“Do I need to make a reservation or can we just go whenever?” (Reservations)

“Where is this place again?” (Locations or Contact)

Or, these days, #2 looks more like this:

“Do they do takeout? I wonder if they’ll deliver it.” (Order Online)

There are other things customers might want to do on the website. Like buy gift cards or merchandise, sign up for rewards or apply for a job.

So, while the above tasks should be a priority in terms of what visitors see first, make sure to look at the site’s data to see what else they’re interested in doing. Then, make sure those popular actions take center stage in the navigation and site design.

2. Empower Them to Diversify Their Income

Under normal circumstances, profitability is a problem for many restaurants. Add a crisis to the mix and it’s going to become downright impossible to generate any profit — that is if they rely solely on dine-in business.

Long before COVID-19, consumers were already showing a growing preference for digital dining solutions.

According to Peapod, 77% of U.S. consumers said they preferred eating at home than going out. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to ordering in from a restaurant.

27% preferred to order groceries online and pick them up from the store.

26% planned to use grocery delivery.

20% were interested in meal kits.

Then, you have information from Technomic and the National Restaurant Association that found that about 60% of all restaurant sales in the U.S. come from off-premise dining.

For restaurants that haven’t yet made the leap to digital dining options, they’re going to have to ASAP. This isn’t just a temporary thing either.

Restaurants that fail to digitize going forward won’t survive.

So, web designers are going to be needed to help them build out the following:

An online ordering system for their website or a link to an external service,

A reservation system (for when in-house dining is available).

That’s just the bare minimum though. For instance, this is what Snooze Eatery has done:

Snooze Eatery advertises delivery or pickup on its website. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

The first thing visitors see on the website is the online ordering option. When they click “Place Your Order”, they’re taken to the restaurant’s proprietary ordering portal:

Snooze Eatery’s online ordering portal. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

This in and of itself is a great solution for restaurants to have available through their websites as it allows them to control the ordering process and capture more of the profits (but that’s up to your clients to decide, of course). That said, many restaurants are getting creative and going beyond traditional online ordering options.

Below the fold on the Snooze Eatery site, visitors will find this banner:

Snooze Eatery now offers neighborhood provisions. (Source: Snooze Eatery) (Large preview)

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a good number of people who want to be able to order food online but then prepare it for themselves at home. While that would previously have left restaurants high and dry, that’s not the case anymore as many restaurants are expanding their offering to include family-style meal kits and groceries like Snooze.

This alone means that web designers are going to become increasingly more important for restaurants. And don’t expect the work to end there. Restaurants will also need your help building other monetized offerings into their websites. For instance:

Gift cards;

Merchandise;

Subscription services for meal kits, alcohol deliveries and more;

Online memberships for cooking classes, premium recipes, etc.

If they don’t have one yet, they’ll also probably need help creating a rewards and account management system as well.

3. Fix Their Brand Images on Third-party Sites

Although the website should be the engine that powers everything for the business online, restaurants need other sites to help with visibility, too. For example:

Facebook to share photos, advertise location information and collect customer reviews;

Instagram to share photos, restaurant updates and customer-generated content;

Yelp and TripAdvisor to collect customer reviews and feedback;

Google My Business to create a local presence in Google search and Maps as well as to collect reviews;

Delivery services like DoorDash to outsource delivery to;

Reservation sites like OpenTable to outsource reservation bookings to.

If customers are looking for restaurants online, they need to be willing and able to meet them where they are… before eventually bringing them to the website.

Although it’s ultimately the restaurant’s responsibility to create these pages, you should provide assistance when it comes to the visual branding piece. For one, it ensures that there’s some consistency between all their platforms. Also, it enables you to fill in missing pieces that restaurateurs might not think about.

Let’s take a look at Rhode Island staple, IGGY’S:

IGGY’S website visitors are introduced to the restaurant with an image of its iconic clamcakes. (Source: IGGY’S) (Large preview)

The waterfront eatery immediately gets down to business and provides visitors with 3 options for ordering online (based on which location they want to go to).

Here’s what the online ordering portal looks like:

IGGY’S restaurant’s online ordering portal. (Source: IGGY’S) (Large preview)

Notice how good this looks. It takes what would otherwise be a text-only menu and turns it into something much more attractive and, arguably, more effective in driving up sales.

Now, contrast that with IGGY’S online ordering through DoorDash:

DoorDash customers can order online from IGGY’s restaurant. (Source: DoorDash) (Large preview)

The items on this page rarely come with descriptions or images.

Now, IGGY’S is a well-known restaurant around Rhode Island, so this might not be a dealbreaker for online customers. However, new customers might approach the menu with more trepidation than the one available through the IGGY’S website since it’s devoid of details.

This is where your visual-centric approach comes in handy. By making sure each item comes with a high-resolution and mouth-watering photo (the same as the one used on the site), you can optimize this sales opportunity for them.

It’s also important to ensure the brand elements are consistently presented. That way, if an existing customer runs across their favorite restaurant on DoorDash, they won’t hesitate to order because they’ll instantly know it’s their favorite restaurant.

For example, the logo on DoorDash is nothing like the one on the website in terms of quality or looks:

The DoorDash logo for IGGY’S doesn’t match the one on the website. (Source: DoorDash) (Large preview)

Be it the logo or another branded element, you want to make sure that 1) it matches the website and 2) looks good. This goes for online ordering sites like DoorDash as well as all the other ones I mentioned earlier.

Wrapping Up

We’re at a point now where restaurants can no longer be reluctant or stingy about improving their digital presence. And, as a web designer, this should get you excited.

There’s a lot you can do to help businesses in this space beyond designing basic websites. Because so much of their digital transformation involves making sales online, you’ll get to design experiences that are intuitive, modern, and mouth-watering while also creating new monetized pathways for them.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-web-designers-can-help-restaurants-move-into-digital-experiences/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-web-designers-can-help-restaurants.html