HappyHouse Goes to Lethbridge: Broken Vacuums, Side Missions & Tattoo Expo Weekend

Road Journal

Apparently I’m filming YouTube videos now. Yup. YouTube. Jeffy is expanding. 😂 This one started with a trailer, a shelf I should have fixed earlier, a broken vacuum, and a side mission before I even made it out of Edmonton.

It Started With a Trailer

The plan was pretty simple.

Load up the trailer.
Get everything ready.
Head to Lethbridge.

Easy.

Except I’d been putting off fixing one of my shirt shelves, so naturally I decided right before leaving for a tattoo expo would be the perfect time to finally deal with it.

Because why do something when you have plenty of time when you can do it under unnecessary pressure instead?

Shelf fixed. Progress.

Then I figured I should vacuum the garage because we were filming and the place looked like… well… a garage where I make a shitload of shirts.

Vacuum breaks.

Wtf Jeffy.

Eventually we got everything loaded up. Trailer packed. Ready to go.

And then Emma texts me.

BROTHERRRRRRR.

Could we maybe have discovered this information ten minutes earlier? 😂

Side Mission

So before Lethbridge, we’re now going to the wholesaler.

More shirts.
More hoodies.
More running around.

Then FINALLY… Lethbridge.

And honestly, every time I get there I remember why I love doing these shows.

Good People

Thursday night we went to Pops Pub as a little welcome-to-Lethbridge hangout.

I hadn’t seen a bunch of these people since Red Deer, which was right before I opened the HappyHouse store.

And that feels like a lifetime ago already.

There’s something really refreshing about being around people who genuinely care how you’re doing.

Not because you own a business.
Not because they want something.
Just because they’re your people.

That part of expos might honestly be one of my favourite things.

The Show

The expo itself was great.

Saturday was a little quieter. Apparently there were a bunch of other events happening around Lethbridge that day, which honestly worked out pretty well for me because I somehow found time to get three tattoos.

Whoops. 😅

Some days are packed. Some days are slower. You adjust, make the most of it and keep moving.

The wild part is we still managed to match last year’s revenue for the weekend, which felt pretty damn good considering how Saturday went.

So apparently the formula is:

Sell shirts.
Get tattooed.
Hope Sunday saves the weekend.

Perfect system. 😂

Apparently We Make Movies Now

Dillon came out and filmed a bunch of the weekend too.

And the footage looks sick.

Do I know exactly what I’m doing with all of it yet?

Absolutely not. 😂

That’s kind of the point of starting the YouTube stuff.

I want to document what building HappyHouse actually looks like while I’m still in the middle of it.

Not five years from now when everything is polished and I pretend I had some master plan.

Because I absolutely do not have a master plan.

Bowling Alley?!

Saturday night after the show we headed to Brewhouse for some beers and appetizers.

And apparently there’s a bowling alley in the basement?

Sick.

No idea how I didn’t know that.

After Sunday wrapped up, everything got packed back into the trailer and we headed to Blowers & Grafton for one last hang before everybody went home.

And just like that, another expo weekend was done.

The Part I Keep Thinking About

I obviously want HappyHouse to keep growing.

More customers.
More stores.
More people wearing the shirts.
More ridiculous Jeffy side missions apparently.

Weekends like this are a good reminder that the business isn’t really the part I remember afterward.

I remember the people.

Laughing at dinner.
Seeing friends I haven’t seen in months.
Someone stopping by the booth to say hi.
A slow Saturday somehow turning into a good weekend anyway.

Fix the shelf.
Deal with the broken vacuum.
Go grab the hoodies.
Load the trailer.
And keep moving.

Stay Happy. 卌