I had two heart attacks, an abortion, did crack... while I was pregnant. Other than that, I'm fine.

Sorry for the long delay, but I assure you this one was worth it. I wasn't even aware until today that this item was for sale somewhere.

A while ago I picked this up at the Fifty Linden Friday* sale at Lamb. It's called the DIY Haircut and it conjures the image of a certain Gallic girl. I wound up buying it on a lark, thinking it might be fun for occasional wear. Well, let me tell you, this has not been the case. I get compliments for it wherever I go and it is now my go to hair style for most casual occasions.

It is super fun, with a jagged home made cut edge to it and fly away bits that give a messy look. Perfect for popping out for a crème brûlée or an movie. The cost is L$300 for a colour pack, free demo available.

Photos taken in the Paris collection of sims, featuring the standard tourist traps, from the Eiffel Tower, to the Champs Elysees to the Moulin Rouge.

Also seen in the pics:
Ducknipple Doom Jacket in Red for L$ 175 each or $390 for the fatpack of all 6 colours. I will blog more about this fantastic jacket later.

Long Awkward Pose Jazz Hands set, L$400 for the set, LAP is great for setting up photo shots as they freeze you in a nice action pose.

* Fifty Linden Fridays, in case you haven't heard, is a weekely event where some top quality vendors put out an item or 2 for the bargain price of, you guessed it, L$50. There are many imitators, but this one is the real deal and some amazing bargains on clothes, shoes, hair, jewlery, household items and just fun silly stuff can be found. Search for the group in world and wait for the notecard to come!

As Long As We Can Sail Away - Part II

The wind at our backs and sails full of wind, we set forth for the open seas. Leaving the Trudeau Yacht Club, we sailed south towards the Blake Sea. The Blake sea is an interesting place to sail for a few reasons. There are over 30 interconnected sims here of open Linden owned ocean, each with some details such as shark infestations, wrecks and lighthouses. On the West side of these are mainland sims, continents and islands. On the east are a series of private sims with various themes and activities, ranging from New England fishing villages to 19th Century naval warfare. Here are a few places of interest:

Blake Diego, home to the Blake Seas Battles group that arranges old time naval warfare. You can buy a fighting ship right there and engage in some ship to ship combat.
Blake Sea Crowsnest, a lighthouse on some rocks in the middle of the Blake Sea. A nice place to stop and explore a bit. The lighthouse is shown in the picture above.
SS Galaxy, this build of a cruise ship extends over 3 sims!

...and lots more.
Once we arrived at Crowsnest, we dropped anchor, changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed some time in the sun. Vi is wearing the artilleri Katee Bikini in Navy, as well as the Maggie and Bang Bang Tats. Her lovely retro hair, Velvet Moon in Vampire Red is from Clawtooth.

I have on the 5th & Oxford Narita Swimsuit in red. I love both of these suits. They are quite modest, no butt floss, just good coverage and still, IMO, quite sexy. I would wear either of these to the beach in RL.

As Long As We Can Sail Away - Part I

I have recently taken to sailing as a means of exploring SL and passing the time. It seems like a magnificently civilized means of travel, sails crisp in the wind, salt in the air and all that. The weather is certainly always beautiful for it.

After trying a few free demo boats, I decided to dive right in and pick up a proper boat of my own. After shopping around a bit, I chose the Trudeau Knock About Sloop. I wanted something smallish and classic looking, and this fit the bill quite well. It has clean, elegant lines with a small cuddy cabin, mainsail and jib. The hull features several colour change options (shown here in "bright" showcasing the woodwork) as well as several options for seating you, your crew or guests. For those so inclined, the cabin also has some cuddle poses in case you need to batten down the hatches and call it a night.

The sailing dynamics are something else too. Wind direction, speed and variability can all be set by the skipper, who then has to set the sails for best sailing. The sails can be trimmed to best capture the wind and making flapping noises and slow you down if you don't have them set properly. Sailing into the wind, just as in a real sailboat, requires tacking. If you have crew, they can set the sails while the skipper steers and barks out orders. For manoeuvring in harbour you can use a motor and the boat can be moored should you just want to drift about. All this can be done through commands with the major features available via HUD. It sells for L$2000 and Trudeau offers a selection of other fine old timey sailboats in their store.


Of course, my long sabbatical from posting here should not be broken without reference to fashion. Today I am joined by my good friend Viola, about to embark upon a sea voyage at the Tradewinds Yacht Club. Vi is shown wearing the cover girl Chloe dress in powder green. It has a lovely lacy fringe and retails for L$295. Her shoes come from J's and if you look closely, you can see they have realistic separate toes poking out and are called the Cross Belt Pumps, here in Silver. They go for L$350 per colour or 1200 for a fatpack. The skin shade, nail colour, and ring are all menu adjustable. Vi's hair is the Linda set in burgundy from Truth, very good value at L$125 for a pack of 5 shades. Skin is Petal from Curio, in pinup with freckles for L$1000.

Almost forgot about myself! I am wearing the L$175 Sand Shack Surf Co. Somer Dress in Tomato. It has a very realistically draped sculpted skirt part and a prim fold on the chest. Also from SSSC are the Boardwalker shoes, here in White also for L$175 and they make the perfect shoes for a day of sailing.

Review: Viewer 2.0

It has come to my attention that there is a shiny new viewer available from Linden labs, one of the 2.0 variety. Seeing as how there are all these people running around using it I thought I'd give it an open minded shot. Did not like. Here's a list of the problems I found:
- It eats cookies in bed and doesn't clean up the crumbs
- It hasn't called its mother in some time
- It cuts off those "do not remove until delivered to customer" tags from mattresses before they've been delivered
- It borrows your car but never fills it with gas
- It puts the empty milk carton back in the fridge
- You know those clothing tags that itch you relentlessly? They were put there by Viewer 2.0
- When it's borrowing your car, it also changes all the radio preset buttons
- It's after your Lucky Charms
- Toilet seat left up? That's Viewer 2.0 for you
- Oh, and in addition to changing the presets and leaving you on empty, it cranks the radio way up so it scares the pants off you next time you get in

In other words, Viewer 2.0 is kind of a jerk. I'll stick with 3rd party viewers for now.

Something New From Ingenue

For the sake of disclosure, I have to admit up front that I am not a big fan of wedge heels. However, for those who do like them, Ingenue has a well done new set available called Citron. They come in a wide range of colours for L$275 a pair, or you can collect them all for a limited time in a fatpack at 50% off. Or, you can get the rose coloured pair (shown here) from the instore midnight mania board free for a limited time!


And in case these aren't your cup of tea, right now there's a sale on another set of heels, the Lilium, for L$137 per pair, also in a wide variety of colours. The feature a cute little bow in matching and contrasting colours and fatpacks are available.

If, like me, you are pleased with this year's fashion trend, in both RL and SL, of higher waist lines, then you'll be very happy with the latest offering from Ducknipple. Hopefully this stylistic rejection of butt cleavage stays with us and we'll no longer have to look at people's underthings every time they bend down to pick up that quarter they dropped in the grocery line.

New are 8 versions of the cocktail dress, complete with a sculpty skirt and belt. They are wonderfully airy and summery, perfect for that trip to the seashore or a quaint old European town. As is the usual for Ducknipple, the detail is marvelous, with stitching, seams and fine folds all apparent and nice detail in the belts. They are L$175 each, or the 8 set fat pack, which I bought, goes for the bargain price of L$500.

My favourite, shown above, is the cherry set.

The red plaid set is also quite nice. Check out all the colours in store. Now, like a lot of new sculpty clothes they do require some adjustment for best fit and the sculpty parts interfere with some animations, but these are well worth it.

Also new to me are the December Glasses No.49. They have scripted colur change for frames and lenses (shown here in wine with clear lenses), adjustable positions and bling should one still desire bling effects. Available for L$300.

First 2 shots taken in Luxembourg City, a lovely sim recreating the old fortress city.

Wednesday Post

Last Thursday I popped into fri.day to pick up a new outfit for a hot date I had on Saturday night. The store, owned by Parvati Monday, features some great clothes, poses and hair.

What stood out to me was the Reverie.Dress. At first glance, it hardly looks like a hot date item, but this outfit is great for taking you from morning to night, any day of the week. The bargain price of L$250 gets you layer upon layer of a vary versatile outfit available in 8 colours or a fat pack for L$1400 for those that like all the colours.


It starts with a more business like outfit, complete with tie that can be worn out or tucked in. Perfect for those long days in the office.


Then you're ready to grab dinner after work by tucking the dress under the top, a little more casual.


After dinner, you're ready to let down your hair and kick up your heels for a night on the town when you take the top of and wear the wonderful little black dress on its own!

The outfit comes with multi layers for every piece and prim sleeves and collar and tie plus a skinny belt.

Also shown in the first 2 pics is the fri.day Dylan hair. Sets are $L250 and available in the usual pack of blonds, brunettes, blacks and whites. The last shot features the fri.day Marie hair, same price and colurs options, but with a colour scripted flower too.

First pic taken in the Urban Ghetto Sim. Second shot taken in the very interesting Hotel Chelsea sim, featuring an SL version of Manhattan's famous Chelsea Hotel. The last shot is from one of my favourite clubs, alt7. They play a great selection of indie and alternative music with DJs from around the world.

The first pose is from my ORACUL Ao set, the second and third come from Long Awkward pose and were $L50 each, with full sets available.

The internet ated this post, but now it's back

For those out of the loop like me, the new hotness in SL is motion capture AOs. They take RL motions, catch them in some kind of trap, and import them into SL. It may seem inhumane, but we all benefit from it in not having goofy duck-walk or choppy home made animations.

Among the most popular recently have been those from ORACUL. They're quite realistic, but more importantly, they're super cheap. I picked up the Math Teacher set for only L$150 and it fits all my standing, sitting and flying needs. Rather than the regular series of sweeping movements into a set pose many earlier AOs had, this one is splendidly fidgety with natural looking subtle movements. It's hard to convey all this through pictures, so do yourself a favour & TP over to ORACUL where you can try before you buy.

However, buyer be warned somewhat here. They may not be suitable for less skilled users as the instructions that come with them are very vague, but for advanced users the set is modifiable, so you can add or eliminate animations as you see fit if you don't mind going in and messing with the scripts. But still, IMO, this set is well worth it if you take the time to figure it out.

Also seen:
Shoes: PornStar Slip-ons, available at the Ducknipple Mainstore
Pantaloons: Armidi Limited A001 Jeans [Light Classic]
Cardigan: Silent Sparrow *snug* Cardigan, which features cute little safety pins to keep it fastened.
The first two photos were taken in the Art Box Sim, where you can "get into" different pieces of art! Very fun, check it out!

Home Sweet Home

After a couple years in SL, I've decided to take the plunge. I've signed up for the premium membership. A quick bit of math revealed, for what I seem to send on SL monthly for a supply of Lindens, I could get a Linden House to go with it if I got a premium account. So I decided to give it a shot.


The main reason for me to sign up was for the house; it would be nice to have a place to change clothes that wasn't so public and to easily rez boxes and objects for review. I realize I could have rented mainland or some island sim, but wanted to give this a shot.

Currently there are four different themes to choose from; a Japanese theme, a fantasy theme, and forest/chalet theme and a suburban theme. I liked the modern style of the suburbans so I went with them. You get 512 sq of land which is covered by your house. In between houses is public protected land and each sim has common areas with places to sit to meet your neighbours. The house is is counted separately from your land (it actually belongs to some guy named Governor Linden), so you get 117 prims to fill it with. Not a lot, but with more and better sculpty furniture, a short supply of prims is becoming less of a problem.

There are a few rules though. You can't build a skybox there, commercial activities and adfarms are not allowed and there are no adult Linden Homes. To me, none of these were drawbacks - in fact they were positive attributes.

The neatest thing about it to me is the ability to customize the look of the house. Every detail in mine can be changed, from trim to floors to the patio stones. It is all controlled via a web page, either in the viewer or a separate browser. Windows and doors can be set to open, shuttered or curtained for privacy and doors can be locked to keep newbies from wandering in.

After just under a week, it seems to be working out fairly well, and I am happy so far. The biggest challenge is to stay under the 117 prim limit and I'll have to get suitable low prim furniture to do so. I'll keep the blog updated on how it all works out.

School's Out

I cast this forth into the ether, in hopes that someone out there is reading it. Well, I know someone is reading it (thanks Mr. Oh!), but wonder if I'm reaching an audience larger than one. Here's hoping.

It occurs to me that school, at my Alma Mater at least, is out. After often desperate attempts at finishing papers and writing exams, students set forth to their summer vacations, summer jobs or back to summer courses. What better way to celebrate than with League's new Teachers Pet outfit. Four colour sets are available (here I'm wearing the blue set), and it has a multitude of layering possibilities and combinations along. Here I have on the full outfit, with shirt and jumper. It includes prim collar and cuffs and the prim skirt even has the shirt tail included. It sells for L$325.





To compliment the outfit, they also offer Gartered Socks for L$145 with a wide selection of colours and two different lengths in each set. I have on the matching blue set here and am also showing the Teachers Pet shirt without the jumper, which includes underwear.











A few favourites appear in these pics as usual - the Clawtooth Fancy Fancy hair again edited to match the outfit, the Tesla Elise 2 Mary Janes and the SE Modern Eyeglasses.

To first photo was taken at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies sim, the RL version of which is a leading foreign language studies institution. After sneaking into the presidents office for a few candid shots, I went down to the lecture hall for a few more formal pics. The second photo was taken in the League main store.

When I was a girl...

...I'd lie in the dark
Listen to the rain hit the roof on the shed
The train across the field would be shakin' the bed
Blissful shivers under the covers.

Trees makin' shapes with the moonlight in the shadows on the walls
Miles from nowhere in a valley off the highway.

- from In a Valley by Carolyn Mark

Sometimes I think Carolyn Mark is writing from inside my head. Except I know she exists in RL, plays guitar much better and dresses more snappily.¹ Still, her songs haunt me and make me all goose pimply when I listen to them. Well, except for Edmonton, which just makes me laugh.

So what does this all have to do with clothing and fashion and SL? Everything. Take the outfit I am showcasing today for example. To me, it creates a mood, sets a scene, leaves an impression. It is romance, luxury and elegance. Plus I think I look quite good in it. Not hard though when you have a store like Silent Sparrow.

This is the sylvan suite in "rose" for L$300 sold near the lucky chair. Other versions, in the room with the rest of the frocks, go for L$400. While there is a violet version that looks suspiciously identical to the rose version, other colours can be had there too.

And it is simply gorgeous. The detail is exquisite, with lace and folds and sheen and layers that give it such depth. There are multiple layers and options, ranging from the modest full Lolita jacket² with prim collar and skirt, to a strapless gown. Gloves are included too.

Again, I have on the Laqroki Saturday hair and Second Eyes Modern Eyeglasses, this time I tinted them myself to match the dress better.

This time the pic was taken in the Mont Saint-Michel sim. The photo doesn't do the sim justice, but it really is worthwhile to check out. It's a fairly faithful reproduction of Mont Saint-Michel off the coast of France, a rocky outcrop connected to the mainland by a causeway. It has an interesting past with use in religion and defence dating back over 1300 years.

1 I'm pleased that my spell check recognizes snappily as a word.³
2 Lolita fashion may not be what you think it is. Rather than a reference to the Vladimir Nabokov novel and subsequent Kubrick film it is on the contrary a fashion subculture based in modesty and beauty with echoes of the Victorian era.
3 I'm also pleased I got to use footnotes in today's post.⁴
4 See note 3.

Something new from DE Designs

Just a quick post today about something brand new from DE Designs. This store always has some great stuff, and the outfits come in many layers and you can make different combinations from the same set. The Carine 10 comes with 3 items for the top - a shirt, a low corset and lace high corset - that can be worn in any combination. Also included are pants and a skirt. I'm shown wearing the oxford shirt, which has prim cuffs, with low corset and the skirt. The set is being sold for an introductory price of L$250 until April 16th, after which it goes for the regular price of L$500, so hurry! The store display shows all the variations, from modest to quite risqué.

Other items shown are the same as the previous post (I wanted to get the word out fast).

A Few Formalities

I'm always a fan of a good Jazz club; taking in the music, cocktail in hand, waiting for that special someone to invite me onto the dance floor for a Fred and Ginger moment. One of my favourites is Frank's Place. It has a good variety of music and interesting people. Of course, an evening out would not be complete without something gorgeous to wear. Here's one of my favourites.

The NYMPHETAMINE Tre'Satin Formal Dress sells for L$800 and has great detail, with cute little bows. The sheen, which is usually hard to pull off in SL clothing, is well done here. Check out the rest of the store too. The clothes are spread across 3 separate buildings so be sure to visit them all. There's a wide variety of very sexy Gothic/Victorian/Steampunk/Lingerie clothes here and all are well made. Very much worth the price for something that will stand out in a crowd. You might be lucky and find a few good hunt items for good measure.

Also in the pic, I have on my Laqroki Saturday hair in black. It comes in a variey of colours for L$250 each, demos available. Wire framed Nea-Ban Fury glasses complete the look. They feature adjustable tint, colour change frames and lenses and can be flipped up on top of your head. They sell for L$175 and you can get a demo.

Anatid titty twister

In the interest of disclosure, like my post about artilleri below, I should let you know that Ducknipple is also one of my favourite stores. It might also be true that the store owner, Beanster Potato, has an SL restraining order against me given my girl crush for her and her awesome clothes. But how could you not? Ducknipple clothes have that well worn feeling to them, like that favourite sweater you've had since college and you just can't bring yourself to stop wearing, at least around the house. Most things just look comfy with a little bit of wear around the edges. As an added bonus, Beanster seems to participate in a lot of SL hunts, so the chances of finding a hidden freebie is always high.

First up we have a little combination of outfits. The top is the Cherie hoodie in blue. I got it in one of the many hunts they participate in, but it also sells for just L$90 and has a prim hood and cuffs. The Viking skirt, also a hunt item, retails for $L180. It comes in a variety of colours, has great detail in the belt and fits really well, at least on my avatar. They are nice enough that I have a few. The tights are from the Zwaffel v.03 set, more about which will be detailed below.

Also shown:
TESLA Elise2 Mary Janes





Next is one of my all time favourites, the Zwaffel v.03 set. This outfit makes me long for the days of sitting back in a big comfy chair in a university library, sipping dark coffee and pouring over books about 11th Century England . It comes complete with sweater featuring prim collar and cuffs, sculpty prim skirt and pair of well worn wooly tights. $L 200 gets you the set.

Also Shown: TRUTH Balmoral Pumps. I got these free, but they don't seem to be available any more.







In both pics:
MIRONE FAYE V2 hair in ebony. $L 300

First shot taken at Ducknipple, second at Penn State World Campus. As usual, click the pic to enlarge.

Artilleri Bombardment

I will unashamedly admit that Artilleri is one of my favourite stores in SL. I love the retro look Antonia Marat brings to all her clothes. Not only that, the clothes have multiple layers for each piece, so you're never stuck tyrying to jam on 2 shirt layers to make an ensemble. Here's a few of my favourite outfits from there.

Here I'm wearing the Poodle Power skirt set in red. It sells for L$220 and comes in a variety of colours (fatpack available too). Topping it off, I also have the Sabina II hair in ebony. This is one of my favourite sets of hair. The bandanna has colour change, plus a variety of fun textures from polka dot to leopard print. L$200 each. And of course it wouldn't be a PJ Thornton Post without some kind of glasses. Keeping with the Artilleri theme, I'm sporting the gladys glasses, again available in a variety of colours, L$120 each.

Also shown in this pic:
Truth Balmoral Pumps
*Sheer* Fishnet stockings


Next up is a combination of a few outfits. First of all, the ingrid highwaist skirt retails for L$ 120 each and comes in different colours. The Elspeth cardigan goes for L$150 and each comes with a plain or polka dot version. Underneath, I have on the top from the kitty dress at $L200 while my eyes are protected from the sun with the Onyxia sunglasses in black (L$120). The shoes (mimi cherry with a cute skull/cherry detail) are no longer available and again I'm wearing the Sabina II hair, this time with a polka dot bandanna.

Also shown in this pic:
*Sheer* Tights in black

Both pics were taken in the artilleri sim. As usual, I'm wearing the Redgrave Leona skin, PBI Sailor Tats and SE Motion Infinity AO poses. Click the pics for a larger version.

Yay! First post!

I woke up this morning thinking I needed a nice hairdo with a headband in it. When I logged in, I went off to the 50 Linden Friday hunt in search of something that would fit. It wasn't quite Fifty Lindens, but when I dropped into Clawtooth they had this gorgeous hair called Fancy fancy and I had to have it. $L 275 gets you 5 colour choices and the headband has a colour change script plus the cute bow can be removed! They also had a nice freebie there, one shorter style, but with about 30 colour variations.

Also shown:
Redgrave Leona Pale Skin
HSC Cocoa Dress
Second Eyes Modern Eyeglasses
Push Button Industries "The Sailor" Tats (to my knowledge these are no longer available)
SEmotion Infinity Poses