Archive for January, 2012

NADA Boats – Marine Appraisal Guide

If getting ready to purchase a sailboat, motorboat, or PWC it’s often advantageous to have a clear idea of its value. This is where the NADA boats guide comes into play. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is able to appraise second-hand boats and personal watercrafts, as well as marine accessories, such as outboard motors and road trailers. And this all helps in times of negotiating with dealers or brokers.

Researching the value of pre-owned vessels is made that much easier in conjunction with N.A.D.A appraisals. In addition to helping the seller establish the value of a given item, the boat guide can also assist the purchaser. When it comes to viewing a boat or jet ski for sale, a ballpark figure will already be in mind and therefore its less likely to overpay.

Shopping Guide

After completing an online application at NADA Guides, the returned prices often seem to represent the average retail price. So a sailboat that’s been meticulously cared for and in a condition that’s better than average is likely to sell at a higher figure than that noted in the pricing guide. And a more accurate picture seems to be given on a boat or motor that’s not older than 5 model years.

NADA boats has been able to establish itself as a trusted name in the world of appraisals and offers a rapid approach to determine the market value of a boat between 1970 and the present date. These price guides can also help in deciding if it’s the right time to upgrade or to stick with the present set-up until the financial conditions are more favorable.

NADA Boats – Marine Appraisal Guide

How to Talk Dirty to a Guy Through Texting

Men love dirty talk from their girlfriends. Now with SMS you can reach out and send dirty text messages to your guy anytime, anywhere.

The best dirty texts you can send a guy are ones that create vivid sexual images of the things you want to do to him or things about you that you know trigger his lust.

Shopping Guide

Once you implant those images in his mind, he won’t be able to stop thinking about you and will be racing home to you all hot and bothered.

Here are 3 tips on how to text dirty to turn him on

Tip #1: Be explicit

For example: Instead of texting, “I love it when you touch me,” try “I love it when you touch the small of my back. It sends shivers up my body.”

Tip #2: Be very descriptive by using sexy adjectives

For example: Instead of texting, “I love your strong shoulders,” try “I love to feel your your hard, chiseled shoulders when you wrap your arms around me.”

Or try this…

Instead of texting, “I love the way you kiss me,” try “I love to feel your soft wet kisses on my neck and the way you gently bite my earlobes. It drives me wild!”

Tip #3: Take an everyday, mundane, activity and add a naughty twist to it

For example, you’re out doing some shopping and you want to send your guy a sexy text like this…

You: “Hey babe. I’m at store checking out the new sexy teddies…”

(pause for several seconds to create anticipation)

You: “I holding one in a hot leopard print…it made me think of what an animal you are when I’m wearing a sexy teddy:)”

See how these sexy texts were very descriptive and took an ordinary activity and made it hot and sexy? They created vivid sexual images in his mind that will linger with him and build anticipation of being with you as soon as he can.

Send these kinds of dirty texts to your guy and revel in the response you’ll get. It’s wicked fun to be able to turn on your guy be sending him dirty and sexy texts anytime and anywhere. He’ll be totally distracted thinking lusty thoughts about you.

How to Talk Dirty to a Guy Through Texting

Guilt Free Shopping – A Guide to Ethical Fashion

The ethical status of a product has recently become a key concern of consumers. Now ethical fashion championed by designer Katherine Hamnett and ethical label People tree is gathering momentum and quickly becoming an important force in the designer world. London fashion week has even launched ‘Estethica’ a section dedicated to eco-sustainable labels. But what is ethical fashion and what is all the fuss about?

Ethical fashion is all about ensuring the clothing that you buy has not had a detrimental effect on people or the environment. Pesticides cause an estimated 3 million cases of severe poisoning and 20,000 deaths each year, mostly in developing countries. By buying clothing made of organic cotton you can help minimise the effects of toxic pesticides on people and the planet.

Shopping Guide

Recycling is also very hot at the moment with the vintage look becoming a key trend with celebrities. Up to 1 million tonnes of unwanted fabric goes into landfill in the UK every year. Charity shops are often the first port of call for the label and style conscious shopper. Thousands of shoppers also use eBay as a way to access second hand clothing from their favourite label at a fraction of the price. Labels such as Junky styling, from somewhere and Worn again recycles fabrics reworking them into something new and up to date, helping to decrease landfill and reduce the carbon footprint of clothes manufacture.

Fairtrade labels such as People Tree ensure that workers making their clothes have been given a fair deal and are not part of the three billion people in the world working to earn less than a day. The number of fairtrade labels is growing and this has ensured that it is possible to have a conscious and wear the most up to date and hottest and most stylish fashions.

Guilt Free Shopping – A Guide to Ethical Fashion

10 Ridiculously Easy Christmas Gift Basket Ideas

There are many themes you can use when crafting your own holiday gift baskets. However, the list below contains some traditional gift basket ideas as well as a few for special friends on your gift list. You can get most of your crafting supplies at local stores like Hobby Lobby, or if you shop on the Internet, simply type “gift basket supplies”.

Let’s start with one of my favorites to share with your inner family and close friends.

Shopping Guide

1) The Traditional Christmas Gift Basket:

Fill your basket with hot apple cider mix large mugs, homemade Christmas ornaments, a letter or poem on why Christmas is important to you, matching mittens, hat and scarf (or, depending on your climate you could substitute sunglasses, sun block lotion, a cool destination theme cap) some mistletoe and or other fragrant scents. You could even include a popular Christmas music CD, and for a super nice touch… some home made Christmas cookies – with the recipe included.

2) Christmas Decorating Gift Basket

Fill a basket with nativity set, assorted Christmas ornaments (store bought, but better if hand-made by you,) decorative lights, homemade candles or seasonal candles from your local craft store and a little traditional mistletoe and holly

3) Coffee Lovers Gift basket

Fill a basket with gourmet coffees, coffee mugs, novels, or books on coffee regions and making processes, dark chocolates, and a decorative bookmark that you make yourself)

4) Chocolate Lover’s Gift Basket

Fill a basket with, chocolate cookies (home baked is best,) chocolate bonbons, chocolate sauces, chocolate syrup, chocolate dipped coffee spoons and for a special touch wrap them in cellophane with a bow, hot chocolate mix, chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate flavored coffee beans and some chocolate recipes from around the world

5) Christmas Survival Kit

Spray paint a basket white, then stencil the International Red Cross symbol on each side. Fill the basket with Tylenol – to take away the headache of overdoing, Tea – to calm, relax, and soothe away the tension, peppermints – to settle the tummy from overindulging, Slimfast – to kick off the diet you will need to start, pocket date book – to track all of the ‘to do’s, CD that includes soothing quiet music to listen to while wrapping gifts, tape – to use to wrap the gifts because you forgot to buy any, a package of gift tags that you made, your favorite quick and easy yummy cookie cookie recipe and last, but not least include some nice bath oil or bubble bath to soothe the weary body

6) Faraway Grandparent (or relative) Gift basket

Fill a basket with children’s artwork, gifts made by the kids, frames for family pictures (let the kids buy plain wooden frames and decorate them with stickers,) videos of the family, a long-distance calling card. Extras: fill out the basket with candy, coffee, tea, biscuits, Christmas ornaments, candles, etc. Include printed notes from the kids with “why I love you Grandma/Pa sentiments)

7) Golf Lover’s Gift Basket

For the golfer, fill a basket or a golf bag with golf tees, golf balls, a baseball cap, sunscreen, score cards, a small towel, a can cooler to keep a can of pop or beer cold. A nice touch is to personalize the towel or baseball cap (you can stitch on them, use fabric paints, etc.)

8) Fisherman’s Gift Basket

Find a large basket or, use a tackle box and fill with assorted lures, leaders, long nose fishing pliers, gloves, guide to local fishing, DVD’s on fishing tournaments, and gift certificate for a rod or reel

9) Baby Boomer’s Gift Basket

Fill a basket with books and magazines on men or women’s health issues, a variety of herbal teas, skin care lotions for maturing skin, hair care products with herbal scents, skin care accessories such as exotic sponges, brushes and loofahs, humorous coffee mugs, 60′s CD’s of great groups like the Beatles and of course… humorous articles on aging

10) Father/ Mother Gift basket

Fill a basket with subscription to his/her favorite magazine, favorite cologne/perfume, comfy warm slippers, a handmade coupon book… i.e., (take the day off Dad/Mom…I’ll mow the lawn this time, wash the car, run errands, paint a room, etc.,) a gift certificate to his favorite sports shop favorite cookies or treat, a personal letter (in your own handwriting) telling him why you love and what you admire about him/her, favorite popcorn spices, favorite movie, a nice picture frame (with the picture of the family in it)

OK! There you have it. But Wait! Here’s your bonus! Just kidding… I guess I’m watching too many infomercials. Your going to get several more great gift basket ideas, just because the Holiday season is all about giving. Here are two more great homemade Christmas gift basket ideas.

Idea #1 Executive Gift basket

Fill a briefcase with a Daytimer, business card holder (one for the wallet, one for the desktop,) pen and pencil set, business newspaper subscription, emergency shoe polish travel kit, reference books like a new updated dictionary, CD of business forms, coffee mug with gift certificate to Starbucks, etc.

Idea #2! Exerciser’s Gift basket

Fill a tote bag or backpack with microfiber towels, water bottle, workout DVD or magazines, power bars, sports drinks, sports socks, headband, and for a really good boss… a trial spa or gym membership

Take these Christmas gift basket ideas, mix them up and use them any way that makes sense to you. Just remember one thing. Everyone loves to receive a personalized gift basket. You don’t have to wait for Christmas or any other holiday. Just sit down and organize your ideas for each person you’ll be giving a basket to. Many times you’ll get a break by purchasing in bulk. Use this to your advantage and don’t go shopping and buy on impulse. You’ll end up spending more than you planed; become a smart shopper this season.

10 Ridiculously Easy Christmas Gift Basket Ideas

The Marble Mall, for Shopping in Bangkok

The MBK mall or Mahboonkrong mall has become synonymous with shopping in Bangkok. Ask any Thai what is the best mall to visit in Bangkok? And they will no doubt answer MBK mall. When the mall was built in 1985 it was one of the largest shopping centers in Asia. The sheer size of the mall means that it has lots of shopping outlets which appeals to different segments of the population.

Today this gargantuan mall is made up of eight stories and is finished of with marble houses close to 2,500 shopping outlets, 150 food stalls and a cinema complex. Due to it’s sheer size the MBK mall has become a icon in Bangkok and is instantly recognizable. Since the mall is located in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping and entertainment district in Sukhumvit, it is usually a place that is much frequented by tourists. The mall is also popular among locals especially fashion conscious Thai school girls.

Shopping Guide

The mall has a daily visitor count of over 100,000 with about 30,000 of them being tourists. Bargaining is commonplace here, though it helps if you know some Thai, also be sure to choose the right shop. The mall is known for selling cheap electronic goods and mobile phones however it also has a variety of other goods on offer as well. The eight floors in the mall are loosely divided as follows:

1st – 3rd Floor: Clothes, Cosmetics, Shoes, Jewelries, Leather items, Accessories, Paintings, Photo studios, Hair Salons, etc. 4th Floor: Mobile phones and accessories, Communication equipments, Walkman, CD and MP3 players, Electronics. 5th Floor: International Food Court, Restaurants, Furniture. 6th Floor: Souvenir shops, Food center

7th – 8th Floor: Entertainment complex, containing 8 movie theatres, 28 bowling lanes, Karaoke options, and food and drinks.

The Tokyu department store which is a Japanese department store that sells household appliances is on the North wing of the fourth floor, this floor also has a direct link with the SkyTrain.

Hotels on Sukhumvit road [http://www.royalpresident.com/z986/location.html] offer unprecedented access to the shopping mall because if their geographical proximity as well as through the SkyTrain link. A number of Bangkok serviced apartments are found in these areas that are a viable option for long stay travelers.

The Marble Mall, for Shopping in Bangkok

Shopping for Imprinted Promotional Items

You’ve worked hard to start, build, and/or maintain the strength and dignity of your company – you have every right to be proud of your accomplishments! You deserve to see your name in print! So the next time you have the need for promotional items for a trade show, holiday and/or thank-you gifts for your employees and customers, why not have your company name imprinted on them?

But this is your company name that we’re talking about here- you can’t trust this project to just any printing establishment- you need a true professional, just like you, to make your imprinted promotional items stand out amongst the masses. If you’re at a trade show, you want YOUR promotional items with YOUR name on them to stand out. The same thing goes for thank you and holiday gifts- you need to WOW everyone with innovative promotional ideas and quality workmanship.

Shopping Guide

First things first, don’t limit your resources. You need to shop around to get the best variety of promotional items, and the best place to begin your quest is right here over the Internet.

After you’ve found your ideal promotional item, you need to do a bit of research on the company. Don’t be afraid to ask for customer references and testimonials, for a reputable company will have them readily available for your viewing pleasure.

After you’ve decided on whether or not you’ll be conducting business with this company, you’ll need to talk about pricing and the ‘etceteras’ involved. As an FYI, the industry average is a 50% deposit paid up-front before any work on your order will begin, with the balance due when the order is shipped. Shipping charges will depend greatly on the amount of your order.

Be sure to look for any and all hidden fees, as some printers of promotional items such as hats, t-shirts, stress balls and pencils can add screen charges, set-up fees and other types of expenses to your bill. I’m not saying that these fees are bad in any way, just that they should be all out in the open before you agree on anything.

Guarantees and warranties can make one feel all warm and snuggly inside, offering a sense of security on un-chartered waters. Shipping date guarantees are very popular in this industry, guaranteeing your order will be shipped by a pre-designated day or you will receive a portion of your money back. Price guarantee is another, creating a worry-free shopping experience, for if you find an identical item at a lower cost someplace else, the difference in price will be refunded to you (and sometimes a bit more for your trouble).

Customer service is key in this industry; so if you feel uncomfortable at any time, express your concerns to the company-at-hand- they should work hard and quickly to rectify the situation for you!

Shopping for Imprinted Promotional Items

32-Inch LCD TV Buyers Guide

If you are looking to find the best 32-inch LCD TV to get the most enjoyable television and movie entertainment for one of the rooms in your home then hopefully this article can be of some help. As with any cutting edge technical products anyone buying a new television set and wanting to look into it a bit so that they can choose the best features and compare specifications will soon find that it can all be quite bewildering and confusing. There is always lots of jargon and technical terms that don’t really relate to how you are actually going to use your television. So here are a few of the features that you should be looking out for so that you can be sure to choose the best 32-inch TV.

Everyone knows that HDTV, or high definition television, is best because you get clearer more detailed pictures. But all HD is not equal. Even within high definition there are different levels and standards. If you want to find the best then the term which you should be looking out for is 1080p, which is the highest resolution you can get.

Shopping Guide

Colors are another thing to look out for. Standard LCD TV sets always have some light coming out of the set, even if they are supposed to be showing the color black. Look for something that has an infinite black feature or at least some technology to give deep blacks. A high contrast ratio will mean that colors look more vivid, but if you are comparing sets then make sure you are comparing like with like – there are two different ways to write it – using the ‘native’ contrast ratio is best, and just be aware that if there is a massive difference in value then it is probably because of this rather than a massive difference in quality.

Viewing angle can be important, as the picture often looks distorted if you watch from a tight angle, but some sets do have added technology to reduce this problem.

Apart from these things it really depends on how you plan to use your new 32-inch LCD TV. Many new sets have web widgets, RSS feeds and other features to allow you to access internet content on your TV, but in my experience most people don’t use them much so don’t pay extra for these unless you are actually going to use them. Having different preset modes can be good, so that your set automatically optimises itself for fast paced sports action or console gaming where is is important there are no delays in the picture being displayed.

Another cool feature that I really like is a light sensor. You may not realize how much changing light conditions can affect how the picture looks, so a television that can detect the ambient light and adjust itself can make a big difference. In a similar vein a glare resistant screen can be good.

Hopefully this info will help you to make the right decision and you will be able to fully enjoy whichever set you choose to buy.

32-Inch LCD TV Buyers Guide