The Power of Retail

Who doesn’t want to live in Florida! The very word conjures up the easy life, beaches, parties and so on doesn’t it? One of the most popular places to live in the state is the east coast of Florida, the Orlando area. Orlando it turns out has something for everyone. Kids love it for all the theme parks, women love it for all the shopping, men love it for all the amazing sporting activities, from golf to fishing, and of course there is a huge convention industry, which brings in thousands of visitors for conventions and seminars. Living in the sun is still a hot trend!

Tourism is a huge industry in the Orlando area, which creates a fun atmosphere for residents as well. The cafe’s and restaurants are always buzzing, there are always sales and specials on offer making it a fun place to be. And who doesn’t want to live in a fun and happening city! I just couldn’t resist looking at some Florida houses for sale that Kolter Homes has on offer to see if I can picture our family there, living the vacation kind of life one imagines it to be. Buying a house isn’t necessarily the cheapest thing these days, but at least it’s not as expensive as it was a few years back. There’s a bit of a consolation in that, isn’t there! So even though buying a house is a huge investment, it really could be the best time to make that investment, since the prices aren’t at their peak and will definitely be on the upswing soon.

One of the most important things you can do when searching to buy a house is to understand and research the area, so look up Florida Information online and see all the technical details about the state. Florida has a large number of master planned communities, and living in one of them is the ultimate goal for a number of home buyers in the state. Most of these developments such as the ones by Kolter Homes have custom-built homes, so that they fit your lifestyle and way of life perfectly.

The past few days, I’ve really wasted a lot of time on the internet searching for some decor books to buy. I have always loved collecting these books, but several years back stopped buying them, since I felt they just got outdated to soon. But that’s where I was wrong. If you pick the right ones, if you know your style, then they really never go out of style. So, that’s really the key. Anyway, I found a bunch of really great books and saved them on my wishlist, but the one that I couldn’t resist buying right away as a book on holiday cottages. Wow, I wanted to live in their pages, to recline on some Adirondack chairs, taking in the view, sipping something cool in my tinkling glass. That’s the life! That’s what summer vacations are all about.

I’ve always loved the simple style of cottages, a little bit rustic, a little rough, a little basic, but oh so memorable. Having traditional things around me makes a room really stand out and so for a cottage in the Adirondacks, having traditional chairs would be a no-brainer. It’s all about letting go of the things that control us in the city, in our daily lives. It’s so important to sometimes, just let things be as they were, 30, 40, 50 years back.

These days there are so many great sites to get ideas for getting started with arts and crafts at home. Take your pick from everything from Beads to painting to fabric printing to paper craft, it’s all there for your taking just to be found on the internet. I’ve always found that some of the best and most fun crafts can be created from these sites and the materials they have. It all comes down to your creativity and flair of making something out of nothing. Beads are fun and easy to begin with, so you can do something as simple as adding them to tassels for curtains or runners. Take your pick and see happens.

When it comes to selecting a new apartment or house, at the top of my priority are the bathroom and kitchen. I have to have some really nice looking fixtures, but also the most practical ones when it comes to cleaning them and using them. This is especially true for bathrooms, since cleaning bathrooms can be a pain if they’re badly designed and constructed, and if they are done right then it’s the simplest and quickest thing in the world. For one thing, I am really moving away from having a tub in the bathroom. I mean, I just cannot remember the last time we actually used it as a tub. Shower stalls are just more convenient to use and clean and most importantly, they fit our hectic and fast paced lifestyles better. I found that to be a popular sentiment when I researched it online as well, and more and more manufacturers are seeing the point. Take a look at a lot of modern hotels, they are doing away with tubs in most of their rooms as well. I like a clean and sleek look like those found at www.betterbathrooms.com, which are modern but not too avant garde that I’m going to get black and blue in bruises when I go to the loo at night half asleep. Sleek doesn’t have to mean sharp corners! Designing a bathroom is a serious job and I think it’s a good idea to get some professional to take a look at the proportions of your room to see what will fit the best.

I love to write letters and to make it personal I really like to use my own set of rubber stamps. Getting some custom rubber stamps is not as big a deal as many would think. Just pick a design, order it and voila, you have your own personal design. For small businesses, it’s a really good way to publicize your products in a cost effective manner. On my last trip home, I got some lovely patterns of rubber stamps made, but I’m still to use them. They will look really good as a letter head or even work as a card itself, if I find myself out of blank cards and need one pronto. Having a few extra rubber stamps, whether for fun or for business is never a bad idea.

When it comes to home renovation, often people make the mistake of spending on the wrong areas of the house. Traditionally, the two rooms that require the most investment are the kitchen and the bath, and this is really where all the money you put in comes back as an investment of sorts in the long term. Having the right kind of faucets, could make all the difference in both plumbing bills as well as saleability in the future. So, instead of spending too much money on other areas that can easily be replaced and refurnished at a later time, it is better to invest in high quality and long lasting plumbing equipment.

One of the banes of frequent travelers is that they miss the little things they do at home on a daily basis, even something as small as watching your favorite show on TV every night, creating a nice comfortable routine of sorts. Well, now it is possible to watch your favorite shows no matter where you are with the Slingbox, which acts as a universal media player and lets you see your shows on your internet or on a TV, which ever way you like it. The Slingbox can be set up to watch videos from the Internet and relayed to your TV wirelessly. Compatible with standard as well as high-definition TVs, the Slingbox is a great addition to your home.

I’ve always loved art, even though I was never good at drawing or painting myself. It wasn’t until I took my Art 101 class in college that I realized that I was good at other things in art, such as more crafty things, collages, and so on. Now I realize that I am good at photography too I try to buy some art from each place that we have lived in. I don’t care whether it is large or small, a famous artist or an unknown student, my only requirement is that it must appeal to me, and that I must be able to have it on my walls. So nothing gory or ghastly for me, but not the other extreme of flowers and puppies either. The print in the picture is an etching of a gladoli and I bought it in Bangalore, at the annual arts fair. I wish I had bought some more.

The retail scene in Dubai has always been quite vibrant and continues to be as such even today. Yesterday I visited the newly opened Dubai Mall, built by Emaar and billed to be the largest mall in the world. I was disappointed in many ways, but mostly because so many of the stores are yet to open and one can hear the sounds of construction everywhere. Outside the mall, towards the back where the fountain is to be eventually, its a maze of construction vehicles, pipes and so on.

As in all malls in Dubai, the main attraction is not its shops, but the extra stuff to pull the crowds. The older Mall of the Emirates has a ski slope, Ibn Batutta Mall has seven courts and is built along these themes, Wafi City is all about the glory of the Egyptian pyramids, an The Dubai Mall is vying to outdo all of them with its enormous aquarium, complete with sharks, sting rays and thousands of other fish, 33,000 other fish to be exact.

Nothing is small scale here, the aquarium window is the largest in the world and has already been included in the Guinness Book of World Records. There is also a 48mt long tunnel through the aquarium and a Discovery Center that covers three zones: Rainforest, Rocky shore and Living ocean. The Rainforest Cafe is located conveniently nearby, although it is yet to open.

If the aquarium doesn’t interest you, there is also an Olympic sized ice skating rink at the mall. Yes, yes this still is the desert, but who’s to know once you’re inside, right?

Of all the malls I have been to, this is definitely the most technology savvy. All of its internal maps of the malls are touch screen, so you can find the store you want to go to with ease. There are huge electronic boards that change color and move up and down to create an amazing look and feel. I don’t think I’ll be going to the mall much for shopping, but these extras are definitely interesting.

Abercrombie & Fitch has been known to hire people for its stores solely based on how they look and this policy is ruffling feathers once more. The brand has always hired people with the ‘abercrombie look‘ which is likely to be an illegal method and some say that the company could fact legal action. As long as the company does not discriminate on race or gender, it is all legal. According to Todd Corley, Abercrombie’s vice president of diversity and inclusion, the “face” issue is based more on the presentation of a person and not only on his or her face.

The ideal abercrombie sales worker is said to be “all American, clean, wholesome” essentially the “girl or boy next door” look. If you don’t meet this criteria, then you are sent to the stockroom and are not allowed to talk to customers at all. Staff is evaluated based on secret shoppers who ask questions like “Was the cashier attractive?” and so on.

“There’s no real problem to discriminate against ‘ugly’ people,” said Jahan Sagafi, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, the firm that represented the plaintiffs in the original diversity suit. “The problem is when you define beauty to incorporate white, which it essentially does at Abercrombie.”

Ms. Carmichael and Mr. Payne are both white and say they don’t expect legal or financial compensation. Instead, they believe their demotion signifies a disturbingly shallow mentality in youth-focused retail.

The job is “a cattle call and you are hired based on looks, not your ability to fold clothes or work with people,” Mr. Welch said.