The Power of Retail

The joy of vacationing is to travel to new places, but it is also to go back to familiar and well loved places. I find it very calming and relaxing to go back to a place that I have been to before, since there is none of that rush around to go see as many things as possible, but instead is a nice relaxed time. I think something like a fractional ownership would be a really great option for me, so that I could go back to the same place and really create my own sense of home and belonging there. It’s important to have such a place to rejuvenate and refresh while on vacation and I really am quite taken with the amazing natural beauty of the area. Looking forward to doing some more research on this.

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The past week seems like we’ve been on vacation, there is a wonderful relaxed air around us, almost as if we’re at one of these St. Barts villa rentals on a long, long vacation. What a nice dream right? Well, the next best thing after actually going on vacation is to dream about going for one, and there’s no better type of vacation than a relaxing beach one right? I was always a mountain vacation type of girl, but several beach vacations over the past few years has totally converted me into a beach vacation girl. There is a wonderful relaxing element there that is not present on a mountain vacation. I do love to go for treks though and have been missing them a lot. Hopefully, I will be able to go on one soon!

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A photograph that I took last month and I really like. The blue sky and the angle of the pine tree came out really nice I thought, and the frame at the top of the roof also added a lovely touch to it. Kasauli has been a regular haunt for me for ages, since I was a child actually, and I have grown to love it more with each trip. I do despair at the dirt one now sees in the khud sides and the way people drive without regard to their own and others safety, but as long as you have a few minutes alone in the pines, everything goes back to being perfect again.

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Now that we’re back from our trip to the hills, I am even more sure than before that one really must have a home in the hills, or at least have a long term rental that one goes to every year for the sake of continuity. I love traveling to new places, but being able to go to the same place also feels really nice and cosy of sorts. It would be great to have one of these Branson condos where one could spend some time each year, so it feels like a home away from home. There really is something so charming about the hills, and Branson is a great place to head to thanks to its wonderful nightlife of country music theatres with live performances, great restaraunts and beautiful scenery no matter where you look.

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A nice picture to end my blogging adventures for the day! This was taken last week on a short trip to the hills. As usual, there was lots to photograph there, but since it hasn’t rained for quite some time, there was a lot of haze and one could not get to see any of the peaks in the distance. We’ll have to keep that for another time, but for now, here’s a differnt kind of pic.

Enjoy!

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Since I’ve been spending a lot of time jazzing up my laptop, I’ve also got a new usb flash drive for any additional work that I need to do. The best part of having a laptop is the flexibility that comes with it, and since my work is also one that requires working on and off, regardless of where I am, it’s the perfect way for me to work. It has really changed the way I think of work and the way I take on assignments, and is probably responsible for making me more efficient since I have to work from different places at different times. Hoping I will be able to continue doing so in the future as well.

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Ever since the first time I went to Branson, Missouri, I have had a soft spot for it. It was for work that I first went there, but it soon became one of my favorite weekend spots when I lived in Kansas City. Branson Missouri is a wonderful gem of a place that offers a lot of variety to visitors. There’s everything from great country music shows to incredible restaurants and breathtakingly beautiful views in and around Branson.

On my first trip there, we did the usual touristy routine, visited the museum, saw a couple of shows, ate at the famous spots and so on. On each subsequent visit, I have tried to discover an unknown and unseen part of town and the surrounding areas, which is something very easy to do in Branson. There are a variety of packages to chose from when you visit Branson, depending on what shows you would like to see and what kind of food you would like to eat. It can get quite confusing, since there is a lot of options to select from.

There are also some pretty great outlet shops there, so if you are interested in shopping, you’ll have lots of choices there as well. The theme park has also been attracting lots of people and is a great place to spend some time there. My favorite part of Branson is its natural beauty and simple charm, something that I just can’t get enough of.

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It’s great being home for a while…as usual, my trips are quite unexpected and sudden and while they cause a bit of chaos for a while, they do make life a lot more interesting as well. The last time I had 4-5 days to plan a trip, buy a ticket and fly back. This time it was quite similar and I have under a week again to book a ticket and come back home. So, I have become a expert packer and leave all my basics in both my parents and in-laws homes, so I don’t need to carry much. That’s really the only way one can pick up and leave at a moment’s notice.

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Its been a long time since I went to Branson, but I remember the town very well. It was a rainy weekend that I was there, but there was something just so charming about the place that I found myself reminded of the hills where I had grown up. From an investment point of view, Branson is quite a good option, since tourists are always looking for Branson rentals, especially during the summer months. In the winter too, the city gets quite a few visitors and becomes a rather charming little place to escape to. Since I grew up in the hills, I love going for vacations there and would love to have a permanent place to stay there as well. Let’s see what the future brings us!

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The weakening US economy is leading to many interesting changes. One of them is that retailers in New York City are starting to accept foreign currency such as Euros and several others as payment. According to Robert Chu, who owns East Village wines, “We had decided that money is money and we’ll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank.” Where at one time, the US dollar was the strongest of currencies, the current situation with the sub-prime crisis has turned the tables and European tourists are thronging the city to take advantage of this reversal. Most shops on the border of Canada and Mexico have long accepted Canadian and Mexican money, NYC was not one location that accepted foreign currency.

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