Branding Your Store Through Music

Shopping nowadays is a total sensory experience. Stores would use their window display to attract the attention of shoppers, use a certain perfume or cologne to make clients remember them when they smell that scent and use a certain type of music to complete the total package of the store.

I entered a store once and it really had good music playing. As I browsed around the store I enjoyed the music so much that I stayed longer and even purchased a lot. Considering that I really didn’t want to buy anything at first! The music sets the consumer in a certain mood.

According to a study done by the Association Consumer Research, they found a positive correlation between mood and the amount of unplanned purchases but no association with actual or excess time spent in the store.

The total look of the store mattered to me because I was looking for a different kind of experience. Being a music lover myself, music in the stores creates an enjoyable encounter for a consumer like me. Every time I hear song that store is playing, I remember the store. I remember the experience of going to the store. I also want to go back and make me want to buy from the store. I remember seeing an in ceiling radio and in wall speakers mounted on their walls and ceiling. No wonder why the sound was so pristine.

Music also sets the tone of what kind of image you want for your store. The one that I experienced played jazz and standards. This type of music is usually played in a bit classier establishment. Others would play a different genre. This would depend on what the store is also selling. Starbucks would also play American standards and world music. It would give you the impression of classy coffee.

The music played in an establishment plays an important role in branding. It helps in setting the disposition and attitude of the buyer. It also helps in creating a positive recall in the total look of the store. It makes the buying experience more enjoyable.
Set the mood and play that music now.

5 Tips On How You Can Go Green With Your Kitchen

I spend a lot for hours in the kitchen everyday. I love food preparation and of course I love eating. My family loves having great conversations in the kitchen. As per my wife, she loves those small chit chat inside our kitchen while having an excellent cup of brewed coffee and listening to a soothing music coming out from our in ceiling radio.

Before you react and say, “Is this article connected to what I am looking for?” read on so you would appreciate what I have to say. I am sure that you will learn from this article.

Since we love spending our time inside the kitchen, I might as well turn my kitchen into an eco friendly hub for my family. I researched the Internet and I found out that there are hundreds of ways on how I can turn this kitchen around. Let me share with you how I intent to make it a go green kitchen. Read on, enjoy the food and good music.

1. Let me start with our lighting. I will replace all my bulbs with LED bulbs. This will definitely save money on electricity. I will also have my architect check on having a skylight roof, which I can use during daytime. Nothing beats natural sunlight as our source of lighting inside the kitchen.
2. My wife and I were planning to use granite for our counter top. Since I am now planning to going green, I would rather use a recycled stone-chipped composite countertops which resembles a granite and also as durable as the former. Granite is mined and is somehow destroying the beauty of mother earth.
3. I will not use chemicals for cleaning the counter top and other surfaces inside my kitchen. I intend to use washable microfiber cloths instead. No more paper towels which will also help in saving the trees of our environment. You can also use vinegar for cleaning countertops and removing stains in your kitchen.
4. I will also replace my old fridge to save on electricity. If your fridge was purchased before 2001, you should definitely replace it with a newer model. I learned that next to AC, fridge consumes $1400 in electricity costs. Older fridges are wildly uneconomical.
5. Change diet. Instead of buying canned foods, I will buy local produce. Thinking about food miles is also good consideration. Bringing that food on your table requires a huge amount of energy, which has an impact to the environment.

Going green can start at the very heart of my house. I will definitely start this today while enjoying my food and my relaxing music.

Relaxing Inside Your Bathroom With A Soothing Music

Music and taking a bath is always connected. My wife would usually open her radio while taking a bath. And while she is having a bath, she would not just listen but would sing her heart out. She likes listening to classical and rock music. It depends on her mood, if she is taking a quick bath, she would go for rock music and if she is planning to take a bath for an hour then she will listen to classical music and light up some scented candles and diffuse some aromatherapy oil.

Sometimes I wonder why she takes a bath for an hour. She would normally say that it’s a form of relaxation for her. I tried it once but I really can’t stay for an hour. I also tried singing while taking a bath but it didn’t go well. Our neighbor complained and reported me to the police. Kidding aside, even if I try to listen to different genre, it would only take me half an hour and I am finished. There’s just something about women and taking a bath.
Going back to relaxing and music, I learned that music has indeed a positive effect when you are taking a bath. For one, music can cause you to hurry up. Sometimes if I listen to pop music or rock music, I would only last 5 minutes and I am already done. It sets the mood, if it’s a slow music; you tend to be slower, if its fast music it makes you move faster. Just like driving a car while listening to Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”. Even if you don’t like to go fast, the song would influence your feet to step on it even more.

I have intentionally installed an in ceiling speaker inside our bathroom to make way for my wife’s relaxation time. This is one of her alone time away from the kids and me. It is the only time where she can fully relaxed without thinking of anything except her time alone. I also bought a new in ceiling radio so she can listen to her favorite radio stations while taking a bath.

Soothing classical music helps calm y wife’s mind. It relaxes her body and rejuvenates her soul. That’s why I want her to have that time every day to make sure that she remains calm and feeling fresh after a tiring day with our children and with the house chores.

Grilled Ribs And Beef With Peanut butter Sauce

Car Radio (Photo credit: nedrichards)

I may not be a professional chef but I can definitely cook excellent food. I just love cooking especially when it comes to grilled food. I usually like grilling baby back ribs and chicken. But for the 4th of July, I prepared grilled baby back ribs and cooked some beef with peanut butter sauce. It tasted great and my family loved it. The ribs were mouth watering and it just tasted like heaven. Now the beef went well with the peanut butter sauce that I’ve made. It was a whole day event worth celebrating. Of course it was the fourth of July so I invited a few friends over to join our family in celebrating one of the most special holidays here in the US.

I just want to share how I made it so you can also do it on your own and taste my super delectable food! You will definitely enjoy it and your family will surely ask for more.

Allow me to start with the baby back ribs. I rubbed it with salt, pepper and cayenne powder and then I let it stand for an hour. I rubbed the mustard and then placed the ribs in a self-sealing plastic. Mind you, while I was preparing this inside my state of the art kitchen, I was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”. I have this elegant looking in ceiling radio and in ceiling speakers that are installed in my kitchen ceiling. It gives me a different kind of mood while cooking my food. Listening to good music and preparing an excellent food totally rocks!

Now going back to cooking, you can let the ribs stay in the fridge for 24 hours to make the flavors penetrate the innermost part of your meat. Let’s go to the beef. I would suggest that you buy the tail part and the shank. This will make your beef sauce more tasty and flavorful. Saute the beef with onions and garlic then boil it for 1.5 hours or until tender. Once it’s ready, drop your annatto oil to make it a little reddish in color. Then you can add your peanut butter. You can add vegetables to add more flavors to your dish. Boil for a minute then turn it off and serve.

Going back to the ribs, take it out of the fridge and start grilling it. You can use steak sauce to baste it while grilling to add more taste.

I enjoyed this meal, my family loved it and my friends were clamoring for more. Try it and you’ll definitely love it.

Cooking Your Favorite Food With Humor and Laughter

Did you know that laughter can make you look young and can relieve you from any stress? Aside from eating healthy food, humor should also be a part of your kitchen. Some would say that eating healthy food is boring. I would agree to some extent because I myself can’t have a full week without eating pork, eggs, fried food and more. But coupled with a great conversation and laughter plus an excellent music coming out from my in ceiling radio, that will definitely change the mood from boring to exciting.

So how do you combine humor, food and a good music? Well here’s how I do it at the comfort of my own fancy kitchen:

1. While preparing all the ingredients, I would usually set my mood by deciding what type of music will I listen to and what food will I prepare.
2. After determining the mood, I’ll turn on the radio and set it to my favorite radio station.
3. Preparing the food for the family is not too easy. Of course if you want your family to be healthy, you have to research what good and what’s not. While researching, I usually pour out wine and dance around the kitchen. Sometimes I look crazy dancing on my own while singing to my favorite music, but most of the times I dance with my wife inside the kitchen.
4. While chopping the onions, carrots and my other ingredients, I would start a conversation with my kids. I would tell them jokes that are also connected to what I am doing in the kitchen.
5. And while we are waiting for the food to get cooked, we sometimes go down the memory lane and try to remember our good times inside the kitchen or outside our house.
6. I would usually prepare a set of plates and try to add humor to how I plate our food. Sometimes I would cut vegetables that would look like a cartoon character. You can be creative with how you set your table and food.

Get out of the box. Find new ways to make your kitchen experience an extraordinary one. Be humorous and be creative! If I can do it, you can do it also.

Having A Coffee Break At The Kitchen

Nothing beats a cup of perfectly brewed coffee after a hard day’s work.  This is what I do every time I finish my work and when I am about to start writing.  A cup of coffee will not only relax my body but it will also open my mind to new ideas and concepts that are useful for my blog posts.

Dringking coffee while listening to radio

I am currently at my kitchen listening to good music while enjoying every sip of my freshly brewed coffee.  I have this in ceiling radio installed in my kitchen a few months ago.  At first I was hesitating in getting one but as I asked around, these small speakers that are mounted inside your ceiling are really beneficial.  In fact it comes with a radio tuner that is operated by a remote control that I can just easily use if I want to change the station.  Having coffee and listening to good music…perfect!

If you were to visit my house, you would notice that I don’t have those huge speakers in my living room and in my bedroom.  I am quite a minimalist and I would want to maximize the space that we have in our house.  I went online to check how I can be a minimalist while enjoying the luxuries of life such as drinking coffee and listening to good music at the same time.  I learned that in ceiling and in wall speakers are now gaining popularity especially for those people who have little space but would want to have good music.

I talked to my wife and I asked her if she wants to shop for this type of sound system and she agreed.  By the way, my wife is also a minimalist and she likes our house to be elegant even with the small space that we have.  This is also the reason why I got her to say yes in buying those speakers that we can install in our kitchen, bathroom and living room.  My wife also enjoys listening to good music while taking a shower that is why she requested one in ceiling radio for the bathroom.

Well to tell you honestly, I just love the thought of drinking my favorite coffee and tuning in to my favorite station.  Drink one now and listen to good music!