In The Summertime, Cover Songs & Dirty Laundry

Wow,

Summertime came and went in 14 seconds flat – ZOOOOM – gone.

Kind of like every job I’ve ever had.

Now I work (happily) for a company who’s name sounds like a porn start up.

Life is good 🙂

So, I’ve got a few things to rant about from the adventures of Elijah… Continue reading In The Summertime, Cover Songs & Dirty Laundry

90 Days in a Nutshell

Over the last 90 days my life has drastically changed in several monumental areas.  Rather than give you the “sorry I haven’t updated the blog” type of post, I’m going to sum up what has happened and where the blog is going in 300 words or less.

In April my father passed away unexpectedly (sort of).  What I mean by ‘sort of’ is that he wasn’t living a very healthy lifestyle for a number of years and battled with some pretty heavy demons for most of his adult life.  He had no will and didn’t leave anything behind (no insurance), so being the oldest of his children, I was left with the responsibility of his death.

Veronica and I are planning to get married next year and it looks like we’ll be having a fatherless wedding – which sucks.  Her dad was defeated by cancer, my dad was defeated by the bottle.

Shortly after my dad’s passing I was hooked up, through a mutual friend, with the managing director/owner of a pretty renowned web agency here in Toronto.  One thing led to another and after a single “sit down” with their department heads, I was made an offer that I would have been stupid to refuse 🙂

“At Home” Elijah is now officially working at a web agency as their lead internet marketing specialist (rated 4th best web development agency in Canada) and I have to say it’s been pretty awesome!

After spending 6 years mastering my online marketing skills and 3 years living the work at home life, I must say that the opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time.

Things were getting stagnant and I wasn’t feeling challenged enough.  Rather than working with local businesses, I’m now running social media campaigns and doing SEO for companies like Honda and Astral Media.

Just so you know – my web business is not on hold!  I still have my monthly clients and build awesome WordPress websites for small businesses, the only difference is between the hours of 10 to 6 I’m in “agency mode” and between 7 to 12 I’m in “work at home” mode.  More blog posts to come!

Cheers,

Elijah

P.S.  Correction – in 350 words or less 🙂

You Can Just Call Me The Job Hobo.

So, here I go again.

Packin’ my bags and on my way down another path, although I have no idea what path that is right now.

I feel like a job hobo or a “jobo”, if you will.  Always changing jobs, always with the new ideas, never knowing where they’re going to take me or who I’ll meet along the way.  Sounds invigorating right?  It is, but I find it exhausting to put time into something and then have to walk away from it.

I am currently actively job searching, because you see, the proverbial “poop” is about to hit the fan. It’s really unfortunate, because I really do love what I’m doing, home staging and design.  I love meeting different home owners and the challenge that comes with getting them and potential buyers to fall in love with their homes.  But everything changed REALLY fast when I realized just how unappreciated I was by my boss. My dad always taught me that actions speak louder than words . . . and in this scenario, he couldn’t have been more right. Considering how small the company is, it’s really hard to ignore it and keep moving forward. Since the day I was hired, all I’ve heard is empty promises and plans and ideas and none of it has come into fruition.

Couple that with things like a crappy salary, no vacation or benefits, 10 and 12 hour days AND no room for negotiation and I have to start asking myself what is important and what I want from my career. I’m all about paying my dues, but considering how much I have already been paying, this is a bit much.

On a plus side, I’ve gained tons of experience, I will have some pretty good contacts, I’ve pushed the boundaries of what even I thought I was capable of and I met Carrie. Our office admin/manager/assitant/phone answerer/email responder/fire-putter-outer/complaint-taker/gofer and life organizer is quite possibly one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. I have no idea how she manages to keep everything together for us, but on top of that she has another business with her husband and plans fundraisers and events. That girl is always doing something. She really is an inspiration. I’m pretty sure that the universe’s reason for me taking this job in the first place was for our world’s to cross. So I am trying to channel her energy . . . unfortunately I’m a really messy juggler.

And right about now, I feel as though I’ve got a whole bunch of balls in the air and I have no idea which one I’m going to end up catching. (Which would make me a juggling jobo? 🙂 ) I feel so torn as to which direction I should be moving in. On the one hand, theathomecouple philosophy is still engraved in my brain, and I think it would be awesome to be able to be a freelance designer, working from home, helping people like me with little or no money improve their homes and make them comfortable places to live.   (My philosophy is that interior design does not have to be expensive.)  On the other hand, real life and being a grown up means that I have to be realistic about money and helping to support the life that Eli and I live.

So I’m doing both.  Actively job searching to go work for someone else again and trying to get my own thing going.  I have made some headway though.   I’ve got my design blog going . . . lovefreshdesign.blogspot.com.  All my facebook pages and twitter accounts are up and running to try and get my name out there using social media. My methods are pretty primitive, but I’m learning and teaching myself as I go.  And to be honest, I end up checking back here to see what Eli’s been posting in the hopes that I can apply some of it to what I’m doing.

Another ball that I’ve got up in the air is Etsy, although I haven’t been as active lately in tossing this one.  And this area is  a microcosm of my indecision.  For those of you who don’t know, Etsy is a marketplace for all things handmade and vintage.  For those of you who know me, know this is right up my alley.  So I’ve got an account and a shop, but do you think I can pinpoint what it is I want to sell? Of course not.  I guess I should just put everything out there and see what happens . . .

I guess this is what being all growns up is about.  As Eli thoughtfully posted, I’ve recently turned the big 3-0 (thanks for all the b-day love!) and I’m waiting for my experience and wisdom to kick in.  It seems like so far, it’s all been trial and error, ups and downs and constant change.  The way I look at, this is as good as a time as any to start doing this.  Eli and Bleecker Street Media are successful.  Hell, if he can do it, so can I.

But then again . . . we have bills to pay.

Ugh, who knows.  Maybe by tomorrow I’ll have a job at the Starbuck’s down the street . . . at least there’s free coffee involved, this jobo loves coffee!

Top 10 Halloween Costumes For People Who Care Too Much About Halloween

Halloween is a time for tricks, treats, tracheotomy’s and trajectory vomiting.  It’s also a time for people who care way too much about costumes to truly display their passion and talent (or lack of) to the world.

In the tradition of top ten lists all around the web, I’ve decided to compile my own galleria of glorious Halloween costumes to honor, in remembrance of those who try really hard, especially on the 31st of October. Ahem… In no particular order:

Terrorist “Timmy”

Terrorist Costume for Kids

Here’s a guess… This kid is from Provo, Utah, and rather than get scolded for what appears to be an insensitive political gesture by his parents, he won “best costume” at his school Halloween party.

Free Mammogram

Times are hard and millions of people all over the world are not covered by a health care benefits plan.  This clever gent decided to take action into his own hands, and face.  Talk about being pro-active.

Human Lunch Meat

Again, times are tough, so why not promote a more economical form of what we’re told is a “healthy lunch”? I think a cowboy hat made of bread would really finish this costume off nicely.

Giant Alien Hooker

Scientific studies have proven that women love dressing slutty on Halloween.  If you’re dressing as an Avatar hottie, considering hiring midgets to follow you around for the night so you can really get into the role.

Naked Old Spiderman

Do you think there was a point, during the skillful execution of this costume, that this guy sat in deep thought trying to decide on whether or not his balls should be blue or red?

That Time of The Month

Support your wife or girlfriend in a whole different way! Let her know that her period doesn’t scare you, and you’ll dress as a box of tampons to prove it… because you’re a douche bag.

The Yip Yip Martians

Yip yip yip yip yip… uh huh… uh huh… Not Mars… Nope.

Sexy Storm Trooper

At this very moment I am ordering one of these suits for Veronica. What I absolutely love about this picture is the dudes in the back getting their shoes shined?!?  This could be anywhere in the world.

Bert and Ernie

I think everyone knows that Bert and Ernie came out of the closet years ago, so why not show those younger than you that it’s okay if gay puppets take baths together, as long as rubber ducky is around!

Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli

He-ey!  Guys who wear leather and ride motorcycles end up getting a bronze statue of themselves erected in a city like Milwaukee. Not a bad deal for a dude with the last name Winkler.

I don’t own, or claim to own any of these pictures lol.

Cheers,

Elijah