The world around us

I simply love the trend towards personalizing gifts. There really is no better way to make a person feel special. My current favorite is the personalized candy bar wrappers you can order specifically for the occasion such as graduation or wedding or anniversary. This is something really different and unique, but the down side is that it won’t last long. For a memorable occasion like a wedding, where you want to give out party favors, something a bit more long lasting would be better, so that your guests can remember the occasion for a long time to come.

There are lots of sites where one can get party favors, but this one called Allinonefunfavors.com has a really good selection of stuff on offer, including customized gifts for baby showers, christening favors, personalized mint boxes, table centerpieces and much more. They do cater to rush orders, which is what when usually ends up doing in the rush rush of trying to do everything by oneself.

The International House of Pancakes or Ihop as its more commonly known, has made a bid of over $2 million for the Applebee’s restaurant chain. Ihop had in February said that it was looking to buy a chain that wasn’t a competitor. The pancake and coffee chain has 1,300 restaurants as compared to Applebee’s 1,900 locations. Applebee’s started off with a bang, but has been in decline for the past few years, while it’s competitors such as Olive Garden and Red Lobster zoomed ahead with growth rates of 86%.

I do hope Applebees can come back up since it was one of my favorite places to eat when I was in college and when I lived in Merriam, KS, a suburb of Kansas City which was right next to Overland Park, KS where Applebee’s is headquartered. I loved their restaurant on 95th St near the mall and my favorite order was the fried chicken salad.

According to retail consultant Burt Flickinger III, shrinkage is rapidly increasing and is going to cost Wal-Mart an estimated $3 billion. The losses are in the form of shoplifting, employee theft, supplier fraud and paperwork errors. Wal-Mart has not officially revealed its shrinkage rate, but analysts suspect that it is rising and coming closer to the industry average. Theft is a big issue in the retail industry and cost $41.6 billion in 2006, according to a study done by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida. The report found that 47% of shrinkage was due to employee theft and 32% due to shoplifting, while paperwork errors occured 14% of the time and supplier fraud for 4%.

Nothing better than to feel warm and cozy indoors when its cold and snow outside, right? I find it really hard to wake up to a cold home and especially the cold marble floors of the bathroom and kitchen. So, when I heard about underfloor heating, I was thrilled and very sure that when we make our own house, this is what we will get. It just seems like a much more efficient way to heat up a home, and there is no bulky radiator taking up space along the wall either. Underfloor Heating ensures that there are no hot or cold spots in the house, being the most evenly heating systems there are. WarmFloors uses an innovative kind of heating system using carbon and gets installed just below the floor, under the wooden or laminate floors and can heat the floor and the space effectively and quickly. There is a digital thermostat to control the temperature and the better insulated a home is, the more effective this heating with be.

Pier 1 Imports has been struggling with a lot of problems in the past few years but there is news to cheer about finally. The company’s new CEO has announced his turnaround plan for the company which has increased the value of shares by 8.8% to $8.50. CEO Alex Simth became CEO in February and aims to lower costs, close non-perorming stores, put an increased emphasis on merchandising and improve the overall supply chain and marketing procedures.

Coming home to stay here with my in-laws is just like staying at a luxury home! Well, it really is all that and more. The house is huge, elegantly furnished and has 5 bedrooms with en suite baths and dressing rooms, a huge living and dining area, kitchen and pantry, laundry room, 4 balconies and a servant’s room and bath. It’s great to come here to catch up with my family, relax and be pampered. Since we’re on the 10th floor, we have great views and always a lovely breeze.

The Gap is one step closer to getting back to becoming profitable again. The company’s saw its web sales increase at a faster pace than store sales, which were again at a dismal level. The companies combined web sales for Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic for the first quarter qrew by 22.6% while total sales grew only by 3%. Web sales for the retailer reached $195 million as compared to $159 million for the same quarter last year. Gap’s interim president and CEO Bob Fisher said that the company is trying to focus only on their core business and streamline its operations.

Yes, well it really wasn’t meant to be a vacation, but there’s no way I can come home and try to concentrate on work. The weather is so lovely (touch wood!) here in Delhi all of a sudden and I’m having a great time taking lots and lots of pictures of the views here, all of which are really beautiful. Yes, yes, I’m taking about Delhi only, well actually about Surajkund which is officially in Faridabad, but it’s pretty much the same thing. Will take some more pics and download them this evening most likely.

I wrote on my travel blog about how much I enjoy staying at non-conventional places when going on vacation. Rather than a regular hotel, I find it much more interesting to find a nice villa or penthouse apt and stay there instead. Yes, there is more work involved, but it’s a better way to enjoy a vacation, especially when you’re going for a longer time. In the same way, there are lots of Caribbean villas available, such as Tortola and Virgin Gorda villas that are sure to give you a better experience than anyplace else. One would think that just by being where they are all Caribbean real estate options would be incredible, but there are some that are better than others and at CVOA you are sure to find only the best ones.

I’ve started attending yoga classes in the morning, well only two days so far, and am quite enjoying it. Usually the hardest part was the waking up in the morning to go for the class, but now that I’ve got quite used to waking up early to work, doing an hour’s session of yoga is not a tough thing. Plus the weather in the morning is the only time it’s really any good anyway, so it just makes sense to take advantage of it. This is the first time that I’m seriously trying to learn yoga, and although I’ve learnt bits an pieces of it before, I’ve never quite had such a positive attitude to it. Hope it continues when I get back to my normal routine at home too!!