McDonald's New Product : Big Mac Bond!

"McDonald’s, an American fast-food chain, became the first non-financial foreign company to issue yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong, raising 200m yuan ($29m). China has recently eased some currency controls as it tries to increase yuan-denominated transactions", said The Economist Newspaper Limited (2010) on its weekly business summary.

Are you a fan of McDonald? Maybe you will like its new Bond Happy Meal product exclusively made for hungry Investors. The sales record is awesome, people crave the yuan-bond as much as they crave for Big Mac! At the same time while the three-year Bond launched, McDonald just opened up its 1000 restaurants which is the fastest growing McDonald outside United States (Bloomberg L.P., 2010). Are you a fan too?

The Bieber Charm

I spotted these pictures of Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber photo shoots for Elle Magazine in Skinnyvscurvy. Funny Funny Funny.. =D I'm gonna buy this Elle edition!

Gray Addiction

My color and fashion mood lately : Gray!
According to a website, Gray is the symbol for security, maturity and dependability. Even though some people might say that gray is a grand-ma color, but I think gray gives a really warm impression, especially during winter. I love gray coat and gray hand gloves! :) Next gray item on my definitely-to-buy list: Ankle Bootie!

Here's some of my gray stuffs! And my late nite fashion hehe..

Disney's School in China

Who can resist the Disney's temptation? Besides theme parks and all the movies, Disney offers new entertainment in education. Apparently, Mickey Mouse and partners have a new job, teaching English!!
The combination of cute Disney icons and cartoon songs and some animations really attract the children to learn English in a fun way. They also adapt the Disney movies to name the classrooms, such as 'Andy's Bedroom' from Toy Story film (The Wall Street Journal, 2010). The good thing, they also combine the Western and Chinese cultures during the teaching process, for instance, the image of rice is shown in a bowl instead of a plate (as we know that the Chinese eat rice in a bowl with chopstick).
Since October 2008, the growth of Disney's school is amazing, they have already opened up ten schools (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2010). Moreover, Disney management is super optimist that they can open up ten other schools in a year. This business is a win-win solution for both China government and Disney corporation, while the growth of English-speaking children rises up to 12% annually, Disney will also boost its revenue from the children' demand of visiting the theme parks. Can we say that this new teaching English business is just one of Disney ways to diversify its kingdom?

Is Life (un)Affordable

What is affordable? What we think expensive might not be too expensive for some people and what is cheap for us might be luxury stuff for some others.. Define affordable then!

As for most girls, fashion and beauty come in one package. But, is fashion affordable? It is true that beauty and fashion stuffs vary from $10 (maybe cheaper if you get the made-in-ch**a ones) to thousand or even millions of dollars.. But, price never lies and it defines the quality of the products (well.. I think).. Are beauty and fashion affordable?

I do wear beauty products (Vitamin C and UV cream to protect you from Cancer are beauty products too) and I do love fashion, bold gorgeous accessories, nice leather bags, smooth silky dress, good comfortable shoes, but they all come with high-sky price.. Are they affordable then? I do sometimes buy expensive bags (Fyi, I love designer bags), but, unfortunately, I need to save for months or even years to get what I want.. Do I need to skip my hangout weekends (admit it that hanging out cost you money!) and save the money to get the It bag? Are my friends worth the sacrifice? How can I afford both my friends and fashion?

Not to mention that health is also expensive and I scream to see my dentist bill.. How about the anti-aging cream and anti-oxidant infused sport drinks and those A-to-Z vitamin pills, and high-calcium packed colostrum milk, they are expensive! Oh, and how about insurance payment, even though you call it long-term investment but you still need to put quite some money since you were like 5? And Botox when I am 40! Cost me hell..

Then again, even some guys define their dream girls by saying "how can I afford her", Sounds familiar?

Are you chickened?

What do you think about this ads? I found it really funny and it represents the 'forcing-fear' of fashion models..

Chef Wannabe

For those who are kitchen illiterate, including me! Hehe..
I love good food, but unfortunately, I don't like to spend time in the kitchen and neither a big fan of cooking.. But, one day, out of nowhere, I tried to do some experiences with my cooking skill (oopsss..) I decided to make Spaghetti (with mixed meat) and it turned out that it wasn't that that bad for a beginner like me hehe.. These are the ingredients and with some magic, I turned those into yummy meal! :)

Italian noodle or we call it Spaghetti, Onion + Garlic, Ham + Sausage + Minced beef

Voila! The result of my mess in the kitchen.. Bon Appetite! :)

Ketchup Lunchie

I had a wonderful afternoon lunch with my BFFs (two actually and missing the others :<) from high school and they came in one package with their boyfriends, including mine hehe.. Not much talks in the beginning because we were starving and.. M doesn't live at the same city so we were kinda have a limited time to catch up and stuff.. Food was great, weather no! Hot and humid! But, the laugh and the jokes were awesome!! Really the best cure for stress!! Another wonderful news is that we are planning to have a mini-reunion in 2 months, how great is that?? No serious talk was made, only the jokes and the laugh and the funny high school stuff and the old pictures when we all looked so high-school material and again the jokes and the laugh and the weeding!! M is getting married next year, congratzzz!!! When is F gonna get married too, considering she has the longest relationship among us haha, get ready for those baby bumps!! (Evil laugh*) Btw, super happy to have that ketchup lunchie and also super super excited to have that mini-reunion coming!!! ;)

Jazz up Your Ankle

Bootie is the new hot item!! I've been reading few fashion magazines these months and Ankle Boots are always there!! Here are some hot picks :)

What's your favourite? I wish I can have all of them, but my top choice are Miu-Miu and Alaia and (can I choose one more) Mulberry, the bootie studs my heart.

Pictures and prices are taken from Neiman Marcus and Net-a-porter

The Facebook Language

Here's the articles that interest me The Language of Fakebook published in New York Times."Being 'friends' on Facebook is more of a fantasy or imitation or shadow of friendship than the traditional real thing" said the article. When we write I miss you guys on someone's wall, does that really mean 'I miss u'? Well, of course we miss our friends and those crazy sweet moments among us. But, the stuffs that what we write might seem less emotional and less meaningful or maybe, some intentionally write louder and in capital to exaggerate things. Having all those emo-icons and some 'helpful and handy' application enable us to even act like in the high school drama. Ironically, some are just writing things on Facebook in order to stay exist and famous among their friends. It is just the matter of showing off. Are we taking the wrong way to stay in touch with our friends? It seems that the traditional ways of being friends does not work anymore, but then, without internet and Facebook, is there any easier ways to stay connected and get updated with our friends?

Chocolate Peanut Butter :)

No, today is not holiday, but simply taking my day off and rewarding my self. Waking up late, sipping my home made latte on my bed, wearing pajama all day (haven't showered too), having a big box of Toblerone ready next to me, and gonna have chocolaty peanut butter toast (soon), Jazzy music playing, could life be any better :)
Live your life to the fullest coz you only live once - Carpe Diem!

More about China and Japan (Now Germany)

The hot news about Japan overtaking China’s third place does not stop there. More and more issues are bubbling up as more and more people are discussing about where these complicated economy situations will bring the two Asian tigers to. While Tokyo is having an awful headache about yen getting stronger, Beijing is adding problems by piling up yen worth around $5.3 billion, said the Japan’s Ministry of Finance. Moreover, China has already made $20 billion worth of yen investment this year makes yen much stronger than it should be at the same time adding risk to trading activities with Japan (The Wall Street Journal, 2010).Then, who is taking the blame?

While Yen becomes more expensive, China’s Yuan has dropped pretty sharp these few days. China’s economy model by keeping its currency low make the world thinks that there is a need of more strict currency regulations. “European leaders are no doubt anxious to see more Yuan appreciation”, include Germany. The strong Yuan will make Germany more competitive in term of its export to China. Hannes Hesse, Head of the VDMA Engineering Association also said that “Without China we would hardly have seen this (Germany) recovery – it’s a frightening trend.” It proves that China has bigger influences to the world's economy more than we can imagine. (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2010)

Extremely Skinny vs. Unhealthily Fat

If you take notice, the trend now is being extremely bonny skinny!! The posters and articles about being healthy and the importance to spend 5 hours a day in the gym are everywhere, even in the shopping malls’ toilet!! Meanwhile, the convincing advertisement how delicious and how convenient fast food is, even the 4 years old kids are at least once ate McDonald (well, not those in Afrika).

BBm is really handy and people are sending pictures thru it and look what my friends sent me. I love these pic I get :) What do you think?

Quote of the Day

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted

R.Pausch

China in the Spotlight - Ranked Second Largest Economy

Is this a shock? “No” answered Robert Feldman, chief economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities in Tokyo. “People have been expecting the Chinese economy to grow at a rapid pace and become physically larger than Japan for many years, so it is not a surprise” He clearly stated. (Thomson Reuters, 2010).
This statement is not just a random forecast or playing guess. According to both Government figures released on Monday, 9 August, China's second-quarter unadjusted GDP of $1.3369 trillion surpasses Japan's second-quarter unadjusted GDP totaled $1.2883 trillion (Thomson Reuters, 2010 and The New York Times Company, 2010). Even though in the first and second quarter of 2010 Japan's GDP amounted to $2.5871 trillion slightly surpassed China's $2.5325 trillion, China’s economy will certainly be bigger than Japan’s by the end of 2010. Why? Japan’s economy is mature enough and the growth has been stagnant for more than a decade while Chine is an emerging country in which it has a lot of room of expansions and China has proven its power and strength by maintaining the double digit growth figure.
Even though Japan’s GDP is ranked 3rd, with a per capita of $37,800, Japan’s people are much richer than China’s. Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo mentioned that with China’s per capita at only $ 3,600, China overtaking Japan is just a symbolic (HuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 2010). However, this symbolism defeat might be a wake-up call especially for Japanese leader, claimed Schulz of the Fujitsu Research Institute.
Besides, on Wednesday 11 August, Dollar is reported to decline for 10 percent in the last three months against yen, and the figure shows its lowest drop since April 1995 to 84.72 yen (The New York Times Company, 2010). The fact that Japan’s slow growth is far below the forecasted figure and strong yen might be signs that Japan is suffering the effects of deflation while struggling to boost its export.
Speaking global warming, China’s surprising achievement is not only by defeating Japan taking the second largest economy country, but also by being the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2006 (The New York Times Company, 2010). Having this title does not make China proud. This country shows its enthusiasm to play a greater role in the debate over climate change and how to slow the growth of greenhouse gases. Moreover, China has created a program to reduce the energy used by 20 percent by the end of this year compared to 2006.
These ambitious attitudes, not to mention the three decades of spectacular growth and being the world’s biggest exporter passing Germany last year , has made China in the spotlight and forecasted to pass United States to become no.1 economy by 2030 (Thomson Reuters, 2010).