My adorable kiddo has bought a fancy, shiny, new sim from Linden Labs! She's been wanting one for a while, and was able to get one for Christmas! And that being said, I've been given the task of sim design. It's a HUGE job, much bigger than I've even encountered, really. Sure, I've had homesteads before, but... there wasn't that many prims to play with, so it wasn't such a daunting task.

Merry Christmas from the Pennell Family! I hope your Holidays are safe, amazing and filled with love!

(This pose is up for sale on my marketplace page if you'd like to do any last minute holiday photo-taking!)

Recently, Misty and I went on our fall vacation! Well, it was a winter wonderland in fall, anyway. We invited a family friend (who is pretty much family anyway), Liiani to come on vacation with us, as well! It was fun, we had such a great time! We didn't do nearly as much as I wanted to though, as Liiani had work some days, and I had RL obligations to tend to for several of the days. But, it was still a successful vacation! (This will be a image-heavy post, as I'm going to dump the week's worth of photos here!)

Naturally, we have to pack up! The three of us got our stuff together, packed up the car and away we went! We had to have warm blankets, heaters, and lots of pillows, because where we were going, I had heard it was going to be COLD!

Once we got there, I made sure the kids were bundled up, everyone had long sleeves on, and we went exploring! Of course, once we were done, we had to stop and pose for a photo. They look tired after our explore adventure, don't they?


We also settled in the cabin for a movie night! I had put on Finding Dory for us, and we all really enjoyed it! It was great to bundle in the cabin on a winter day with a movie!


Next activity on the list... snowman building! The best part of snow, is being able to play in it! There's no better way to play in snow than building a snowman, for sure!


Of course, I definitely cherished my time with my favorite family member, my adorable daughter. I snapped this photo, and this is probably my most favorite of us right now! It came out so great, I knew it was going to be perfect even before I took it into Photoshop.


What's a winter wonderland vacation without being able to stay in the cabin in your PJ's? To me, there's nothing better than spending time with loved ones, in your pajamas.


I had a lot of fun, and I was even more glad to hear that Liiani and Misty had fun as well. We're already looking forward to our next vacation together!

Halloween is quickly approaching us! Misty and I have been chugging away at a lot of the fun and scary events in SL lately! We did the Halloween Tour last week, watched the Nightmare before Christmas, and last night, we did the Trick or Treat Neighborhood! It's been fun!

I've also signed our house up to participate in the [free bird] Live Trick or Treating. I really enjoyed the House to House trick or treating last year, and I really hoped something similar would go on this year! This one seems more involved, as you have to be online and at your house when the trick or treaters come knocking. We're signed up for the 9-11 slot, so it should be awesome!

We dressed up as witches for this Halloween, and I think we look pretty adorable, if you ask me! (Well, Misty looks adorable, I look.... I dunno). So, here's our official Halloween photo!

I did decide to start putting the poses I make for her and I on the marketplace, so if you're interested in purchasing this pose for you and your family, you can grab it here, for $10L. It even comes with mirrors!

In my opinion, fall is the best time of the year! The gorgeous colors, the smells, the crisp air, but best of all, all the foods laced with pumpkin spice! I love the fall season sooo much! And, recently, we've been getting ready for our fall family photos.

First, I did one with just Misty and I. We had a visitor who was around exploring the sim we live on during this photo, and she came over to have a chat with us! Making friends everywhere we go!


And this, our official family photo. while Jeffry doesn't log in much anymore (other to buy me $Ls), he's still part of the family. So, he was forced to sit for a photo with us.

They both turned out so beautifully, I'm so proud of my amazing family, who sits so patient during making poses, taking photos and holds smiles for what seems like forever. Well, except Jeffry, who's head makes him perma-mad.

It's been about 2 weeks now since I had asked Misty to be my daughter. Things are still going really, really wonderfully! I really found the connection with a child that I've been really striving for. She's much like a little compact version of myself. Very much my child, in many different ways. LOL!

When I first met her, I mentioned that I have many photo frames in my house that needs to be filled up. Well, Misty and I seem to have taken up the challenge to fill all those empty frames up. Of course, though.... I know we have a lifetime together to take ALL the photos together!


We've been doing all kinds of things, from exploring, shopping, PaleoQuest (even if we do get frustrated at it), to even watching more movies! Some days, it feels like I haven't only known her for three weeks, it feels like so much longer.

This one, I'm keeping forever, no matter what happens.

Over the course of about three months, I have had a panel up at Heritage. I've been really wanting to adopt a child, and it's been a heartbreaking process. It was the same the first time we adopted, but for some reason, it seemed harder this time. I have been on trials with great children, and met several more. Although it didn't work out with them, I still hoped for the best for them. I had decided, that once this last panel expired, I wasn't going to put up another one.

One night, I was standing at Heritage, when I was IM'ed by a special little girl. I felt that her and I instantly had a connection, which is what I really needed with a little girl. For the next week, we spent more and more time together. We killed zombies, watched a movie, went to Arcade yard sales, and I made her move in my house with me. Pretty much right away, I knew I wanted this adorable girl to be my child. I struggled to not call her my daughter during the trial, to try to hold off asking her to be my family!


When I finally asked her, she said yes with no hesitation! I was so excited! So yesterday, she became my daughter, and a Pennell. Compared to other trials I have had, I've known her a short while, but it already feels like I've known her forever already, in a good way, of course! She changed the way I live my Secondlife already, in just the matter of a week. I wouldn't have it any other way! I adore my new daughter, and hope she sticks around with me for the rest of my SL existence!

Geez! Has it really been so long since my last blog post? Sometimes, I swear I forget I even have a blog! Anyway, a couple of months ago, I actually moved to a sim that I LOVE. It's a small, cozy, family sim that really just has one extended family living on it. I consider myself very, very lucky to have been chosen to live among them. Of course, as soon as I saw the opportunity to live there, I jumped on it. However, I never really posted about it, I'm not sure why. Even in my last blog post, where we are packing to go to Greece, I took the photo there. I didn't even mention it, oops!

While I have been living there, I haven't really put much effort into making it 'home' though. I had a house, furniture, and a little bit of landscaping, but eh. I was growing bored with the house, and decided to get a new one. Once I plopped the new house on the land, I really made an effort into making it feel like a place I will feel proud of. After all, I love living on this sim, I should show it!

I spent all weekend trying to figure out what I want to do with it, adding furniture, buying new furniture, landscaping it.... It's been rough! But, I finally got a result I am in love with!

The front of the house. It's peaceful, happy, and looks like it belongs in a postcard, I think. LOL! I love the front of this house, cause of the front deck. I chose this house for fall, because of the decking. I LOVE to decorate for the seasons, and this will make a fantastic place for fall pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and all the adorable Halloween things! I'm so hoping that the House To House Trick or Treating happens again, I loved it so much last year!


The back of the house! I have a little pond area, and off to the left side of the photo is a little cinema/movie area. I do need to find some outdoor seating for it that I like, so that's a work in progress right now. Also, the upstairs deck is a work in progress as well, as I need even more outdoor seating up there! (Why are they so difficult to find?)

But, all in all, not bad! I'm really proud of it!

Oh, yeah, I have a blog! Let's drop down another blog post today, shall we? Tonight, we leave for Greece de la Oleander! When we visited the Rainforest, Jeffry wanted to do a vow renewal. Well, we booked our honeymoon to Greece, and put down a wedding area. One thing lead to another, and well, it didn't happen. Because, reasons that I'll not talk about today. But, the honeymoon was all paid for and the date has been set, so I'm deciding to go anyway.

I was intending on taking the packing photo by myself, but Jeffry decided to be in it at the last minute. I'm not sure he plans on going to be logging in much at all during the vacation, really. To be honest, I feel a little bit like Carrie in Sex and the City, going on her honeymoon with her group of best friends. But that's okay. Like Carrie, I plan on surrounding myself with friends and some awesome Dragovars while I'm there! We'll have a lot of fun, I'm sure!

Off to Greece de la Oleander I go!

So, I have been at Camp Neverwood on my mini since Sunday, and let me just say - I feel like this is how a camp is supposed to be! FSE Start of Summer camp really pales in comparison to Camp Neverwood for me. As I said in previous posts, I really struggled to have a good time at the FSE one. I heard a lot of people had fun there, but meh. It just wasn't for me. Pretty much as soon as I got on the plane to Camp Neverwood, I knew I was going to love it. The arrival experience was completely amazing, I loved every second of it.

This might be a longer post, with more photos than usual. My apologies, but I have a lot to show!

I blogged a little bit about day one of camp in my last post, but after I wrote that, I also went to storytime that night. Let me talk a little bit about how important this photo is. I'm super-shy with people I don't know, and I get really quiet, basically until I feel more comfortable to talk, and that everything I say isn't going to come out wrong. It's not logical, I know, but it's who I am. This photo was day one. I actually felt comfortable, and confident enough to get up in front of everyone, and sit on the counselor's lap. This... just doesn't happen for me, usually. It was really incredible, being able to do that.


Day two was just as amazing as day one. I went to hunt a snipe, we armed outselves with garden tools, and had storytime in the caves when the snipe found us! We battled it, then took it to the doctor to get better. It was so munch fun, I was laughing the whole time. Later, we built lanterns to set out on the water after Tribute night, which I think is on Friday.


There's always so many events that I want to attend on the schedule, and I feel like I don't have enough time to do all of them! There's an event almost every hour, and as much as I'd like to, I can't go to all of them! I go to as many as I can, and try my best. And, believe it or not, I'm still gaining confidence with everyone, and with every minute I spend there, the more comfortable I feel around them.


On day three, we made war face paint! I loved that event, was definitely one of my favorites! In every class, every storytime, every meal, I never feel ignored like I did at FSE. People say hello to me when I say Hi to them, and when I say something, they make me feel like it's important and I'm never a bother to them. I'm never forgotten about or overlooked at this camp. It's fantastic.

And, that was only the first three days! I can't wait to see what else happens for the rest of the camp!

The last day of the Start of Summer Camp was yesterday, and I will be honest... It did not get any better for me, like I was hoping it was. Sadly, I really looked for reasons to not be there, to do other things. The experience was not personal, I was ignored/overlooked by the counselors, and it was just in general, not fun. But, I did get a few photos.

One of the nights was movie night, and I took this photo. The plan was to watch Finding Nemo that night, but I couldn't get the movie to work, got frustrated, sat alone, and in the end, I just logged off and went to bed. I heard it was fun though.


The best time I had though, was during parent's night. I had asked my grandpa, Envi, to come for me, since mom had RL to do that night. So, he came to camp to visit, and I forced him to find a semi-photogenic location at camp and snap a photo with me. It was great to actually have a good time while at camp.

That being said, once this camp ended on Saturday, a new camp started up today! It took a lot of stress at first, but eventually I got into this camp! I was SO happy, when I heard I got taken off the waiting list and added to the camper list, it completely made my week. as soon as the FSE SOS camp ended, I went home and packed for Camp Neverwood. My mom was not avalable to take the packing photo with me this time because of RL, but that's okay, it still turned out adorable by myself!


Already, I am having much more fun that I was at the last camp. I feel like the 'getting to camp' experience was so much fun! We started off at the airport, like normal, then we were shot out of the sky by cannonballs from Captain Hook himself! We swam to the nearest docks, battled Captain Hook's crew to take control of the Jolly Roger, and then Peter Pan piloted the ship and flew us to camp, it was really fantastic!


The sim that camp is on... it's absolutely gorgeous! I was was struggling trying to decide on where to take today's photo, there was so many places that would have been amazing! And to be honest, I didn't even leave the bunk/campfire area. LOL! There is SO many events, And TONS that I actually can't wait to go to! Today was day number 1 at Camp Neverwood, and already I have had more fun than I did at the Start of Summer Camp. The counselors are also wonderful, even including the quiet, shy me, and including me even in RP. It made me smile even in RL, and it meant a lot to me, just the one thing that I was included in.

I am genuinely, completely excited for this week's camp activities! They all look fantastic!

Yesterday, was day number two of the Start of Summer camp! I'm really struggling, having a difficult time there, to be honest. I do not know many people, everyone has their cliques, and it's hard to fit in, especially for me. In RL, I have huge social anxiety, and yes, it applies in SL the same way.

I'm having trouble finding beautiful places to take photos in, the sim is not photogenic at all. And, the activities really aren't the type of activities I enjoy. I was really hoping for things like building classes, dancing, actual scheduled movies.... but there's nothing really that I find entertaining enough. I think I look more forward to the breakfast/lunch/dinner events, than anything else. Even then, everything is so cliquey that I find it not very fun at all.

The counselors have their favorites, it's easy for me to get overlooked and ignored. I also find one counselor REALLY hard to understand when he is talking on voice. I can never understand a single word he says. Which makes it more difficult. *shrugs*

I was looking forward to this, I will stick it out until the end! But, in the meantime, I'm going to probably continue to do my own thing, by myself. In the meantime, I hope it gets more fun for me!

Ennaline, my mini, is currently at camp! I've been really, really wanting to go to a real camp, and I have been waiting very impatiently for this one! This particular camp is put on by First Step Elementary school, the Start of Summer Camp!

Yesterday, mom and I did our camping photo, which turned out absolutely adorable! I couldn't have planned out a better photo, it turned out just as cute as I envisioned in my head. Well, to be honest, I didn't know what I envisioned when I was prepping this scene. I just started rezzing things out, and it really just came together on it's own. This is without a doubt, my most favorite photo of us right now.


The flight to camp was so much fun! I know and understand it's SecondLife, and to some people, it's just a "game", while on the plane, it really felt real! Our pilot really sounded like a pilot, the airplane had sounds like an real life plane taking off. It was great. We were even greeted by a counselor who showed us to our cabins! It was awesome!


On the first day, we all explored around, decorated our bunks, and at the end of the day, there was a performance by the FSE dance team. And also a luau. It was great! I, however, ended my day by taking a jump from the diving board into the ocean! (But, it's okay! Because I totally was wearing a life vest!)

I am so sad that last night was our last night on vacation! We had so much fun, I wish we could have stayed longer! But, a vacation isn't nearly as fun if you stay all the time, right? At least... that's what I'm telling myself right now. I will definitely miss it, but at the same time, I love being at my home. Anyway! The day started well, a very gorgeous day (as every day is in the rain forest, I assume), as I took my daily "waking up" photo.

Turned out cute! It was always so hard to get photos, because everywhere is gorgeous, I could never decide on a place to snap the photo! I wanted a photo in like, all the places! I really, really, really can't wait for out next vacation here!


But! Last night, was our "formal night". I set up the dance area with photos from the duration of our vacation, and some snacks. Jeffry DJ'ed country love songs to me. I really wanted to do a formal night, because I never get to dress up, and I really enjoy doing it. It was also a way to really celebrate the end of our vacation, and Jeffry had a surprise for me. He was talking about the "surprise" for the entirety of our stay, so I was really anxious to see what it was. As I touched on in a previous post, he had been sending me on a hunt through the sim, searching for bottles with messages in them. Then with a clue to the next one. He had also put codes in the notecards, that spelled something out... but I wouldn't know what it said until I had gotten to the last bottle.


So, what did the notecard say? When I got to the end of the bottle hunt, I put all the codes together, and found out that he had asked me to renew our vows in SL! We have been SL married for almost 7 years and married in RL for over 2 years now. I think it's about time we did so. We probably even should have done them at 5 years together, but RL got in the way, and all. We weren't really in SL at that point very much. Naturally, I said yes.

He already has plans, for our vow renewal ceremony. When we married in SL, we kind of eloped (much like our RL marriage at the courthouse). And we want it different now, filled with fun, friends and family. And afterward, he said we can go to Greece as our vow renewal honeymoon! So, with that being said, I think that I might talk to Lolita soon, and see when Greece de la Oleander will be open and prepare our ceremony around then.

Yesterday was day 5 of the vacation, and it was movie night! When I was exploring the sim, I was SO happy to see that there was a place to play media, AND there was a DVD player with included movies for us to watch. It was so nice to have that for us! But anyway... first, my daily vacation "waking up" photo for day number five.

Honestly, I am a bit sad that tonight is our last night at The Rainforest de la Oleander, I might cry when we have to pack up and check out on Wednesday morning. The sim is gorgeous, and even if we were here for a month, I don't think I'd have gotten as many photos as I would have wanted. More reason to come back again, right? Though, I think that when we decide to vacation again, I'd check out Greece de la Oleander. Then come back to the rain forest.


Anyways! One of the movies in the DVD player was Grease! Obviously, we had to watch it! It's such an amazing movie to sing along and cuddle to! And, naturally, once we finished Grease, we watched Grease Live! in RL before we went to bed. It was an amazing night for us. I also got to open up "Clue 4", on Jeffry's treasure hunt for me. I'm still a little nervous/scared about what tonight holds for me with the last clue.

Tonight is our "formal night." I've still got to decorate the area we are going to use for dance area, take Jeffry shopping for a fabulous suit, and we got to rent a stream for him to DJ! Ack! So much to do! *flails*

Yesterday was day number 4 on our fabulous rain forest vacation! Sadly though, Jeffry never logged in yesterday, so I didn't get a photo of the two of us like I planned. I did, however snap a photo of me, around our hut, kind of a "waking up" photo as I've found that I loved to do while I've been here!

Tonight, we're doing movie night, and tomorrow is our last night on vacation, so we're planning a formal for the two of us. Should be fun!

Today was day number 3 of our rain forest vacation! It was play in the water day! Jeffry and I spent the day in our swimwear, splashing around everywhere. I've REALLY been trying to hard to take really beautiful photos, and all things considered, I think I've been doing a good job! I've been really playing with my favorite windlight setting for photos, playing with different water settings. I'm very happy with today's photos!

First, a fun dip into the beautiful, glassy, clear waters of the rain forest! Although this photo looks like it's going to be nothing but a huge belly flop, it was still fun! After I took this, Jeffry had me going on hunt around the sim. He has hidden several bottles with notes in them for me to find throughout our vacation. So, I find them, click on it and it gives me a notecard with a tid-bit of his feelings, and a clue to find the next one. It's been fun so far!


Of course, I needed to get our daily photo of the two of us. We floated on the sim for a little while, and I snapped this photo. This intertube is actually one that came with a bikini, and is meant to be worn instead of rezzed. But, for the photo, it was a gorgeous intertube, and I chose to use it. It was like, 56 land impact! I think it was worth it though.

Today is day number 2 of our Rain forest Vacation! Well, We arrived last night at the rain forest, but we didn't really get any photos. I was way too exhausted after stressing about our packing photo to even think about planning out another photo once we got to the rain forest, to be completely honest. But, today, I woke up super-excited and absolutely refreshed for photo taking!

I adore this photo! I made the pose, with the idea that I'm coming out of our hut, stretching and ready to take on the day! It turned out much better than I set out to do. The sim is just so photogenic, it's really hard to take a photo that just... doesn't look good. I know that I'm not the best photo-taker, and I and completely aware that I don't do the Rain forest enough justice, I think!


After we had our coffee and woke up, we went on a horseback ride through the many paths that wind around the area. I had a lot of fun, really running around, exploring a lot of the things it has to offer. It was probably my first time really taking time to really immerse myself in it and explore. Lolita has turned off fly abilities on the sim, and I think it's so much better to walk and experience everything than just flying around from point A to get to point B.


We decided to end our second day of vacation with a good meal of cheeseburgers, fries, corn dogs, onion rings and soda. It was a really great day, filled with photos, exploring and fun. I'm also trying to make a lot of the poses that I'm going to use for our vacation photos (most of which I plan on putting on the marketplace to sell).

Can't wait for day 3 tomorrow! My husband is trying to get me out of the house tomorrow morning, so he can plan "something", I'm kind of nervous to see what he has cooking in his head!

Tonight, the Heartsdale's leave for vacation at the Rainforest de la Oleander! It's been a really, really long time since Sai and Jeffry actually did anything in SL together (probably ever since we moved in RL together, that's been like, 5 years). And even then, I don't think we've been on an actual SL vacation.... ever. It's about time this happened! I've been wanting to go on a vacation, and when I saw Lolita Oleander post about them on her Flickr, I knew the time has come. I made the reservations with her last week, and I've been WAY excited ever since!

I spent several days trying to put together our packing photo. It was a exhausting job of trying to accumulate enough luggage, and bags. Even more exhausting was looking through my inventory, trying to see what else can I put in the photo. I had the hardest time trying to find a pose that fit my vision. In the end, I made and went through about 50 different placements/poses around this stuff, before making this one with Anypose.

It turned out so perfect, I couldn't have planned it out better. I really wish that TMP head allowed a smile, though, as it makes it look like Jeffry really despises the idea of this vacation. LOL! But it's okay, because I look excited enough for the both of us! But anyway, it's fun, silly, and perfect for us! I love it just the way it is!

I'm really going to try to take at least one photo of us a day there, because in the 5 years that we have been together in RL, we have very few SL photos of us. I really want to fill the picture frames in the house of us! All the photos in our house are super old, pre-mesh photos! THE HORROR!

So! Here's hoping for an amazing week at the Rainforest for us! I have nothing planned, because I haven't been on the sim yet - but I'm sure it will be a busy, fun week!

It's a little over halfway though the RFL Family Fun Fair, and it's occurred to me that I haven't taken as many photos as I have been wanting to! So, I decided to go around and snap a few photos today. I said in my last post that I'm treating the experience like I am at camp, and I've very happy I made that decision because, it really kind of feels that way to me! I'm enjoying so much of it, the building events (we made a pet rock, a candle, and also a bear!), the games (bumper boats, paintball, pushing each other around into lava, yay?), and starting almost every morning with a story time. It's been absolutely amazing.

One of the things I've been having the most fun with is - collecting badges. Some events, and some stores give out badges that you can link up to your lanyard. It's a fantastic idea, and it's really motivating me to do things that I did not think I would try otherwise. I would have typically looked at an event and thought, "that will make me look so stupid", and not even go to it. But, I've been making a point to myself to try everything at least once. And you know what? It's been so worth it, there hasn't been an event that I did not enjoy!


So far, I've got nothing bad to say about the Family Fun Fair, everything has been amazing, fun, and I'm still looking forward to every single day there!

The RFL Family Fun Fair started yesterday! I have been SO excited for this for weeks! Mainly because, I heard that there will be bunk rentals, and it will have fun activities like camp does. OF COURSE I needed to rent a bunk there. As soon as I was able to, I logged in and immediately ran to decorate my bunk! I had no idea what kind of bunk I wanted, and even had no idea where to purchase one. But, I improvised, and while my bunk probably isn't as cool as everyone else's, I think it turned out pretty neat! A lot of the other kids seem to be camp pros, by attending the previous Camp Hardknock, and the Playdate Cruise, but this is my first "bunk decorating experience."

I'm really loving this fair thing! I've been trying to go to as many event things as I can, and really enjoy as much of it as I can! I'm loving being just a kid, wearing weird things, and supporting the RFL charity! Today, I've worn weird glowing goggles, a laser gun, a KFC bucket container on my head, and a balloon headpiece! It's fun, and I'm really trying to make an attempt at coming out of my shell a little bit.


While I know this is not camp, I'm really trying to treat it like it is! And that's okay, because I'm having so much fun, I can't wait to see what the rest of the week will bring for me during this fair!

Hello! It's been a while (again)! I'm still around, loving the life I live in SL! The family that my mini got adopted by in my last post, are still fabulous, I love them more and more every day that goes by! When this round's Arcade opened, I hit every yard sale I could find in search of a particular item. I really, really wanted the "Best Mother" award from the Commoner gacha. I *finally* found one, and made up a little lie to get her to take a photo with me, so that I can add our picture to it. I set up a cute little scene, and it turned out sooo perfect for the award!

I ended up gifting her the Best Mother award along with the Booger's Mother's Day bears, and she really enjoyed them! It's kind of funny though, every time we get a new house, those two things are the first things she seems to rezz out. She's so much like me, it's almost crazy!

I'm loving being a child so much. I feel like, the more I run around as a child, the more it feels more "me." It's strange. But anyway, the Dragovar family are planning a camping trip, and it sounds like it's going to be so much fun! I can not wait for it! Mom and I still have to get our packing done for the trip!

As for Sai, she's still around! I really want to try to experiment with just taking random photos, not just for the fashion blog. But just for fun! I've been playing with lens flares a little bit, and am quite happy with this one.


I love how photogenic this dress is, it's absolutely gorgeous! I've been checking out quite a few events, lately, and nothing is really catching my eye. I'm in a bit of a fashion slump, I guess you can say. But, as soon as I saw this dress, I matched it with this perfect pose in my mind, and away it went! Love it!

Let us talk families today. As I mentioned in my last post, I was setting up a panel at Heritage for my mini-alt, Ennaline. Well, I've been on trial with a particular family for almost three weeks now! As soon as I met them, I knew they were absolutely fabulous, fun, and the exact family that I was looking for! They immediately brought me out of my safe zone, with me being socially awkward and all. I found myself on Skype with them, talking even on my second day of meeting them. Which is RARE for me, as I've only felt comfortable talking on Skype to people I have known for years before hand! Even more shocking, this family is a really large family, which completely surprised me - I felt so comfortable around all of them, pretty much right away. Very unlike me!

The majority of the family, are also fashion bloggers, and they even run a super-adorable family blog! It was pretty much instantly that I knew the family was my type of "people". They included me in their family photos with no hesitation, they blogged about me on their family blog, I was invited along to all the family events, we played Blade and Soul together, and I definitely was treated just as part of the family. Some days, I found it hard to believe that I was still on trial, just because of how comfortable I was with everyone.


I adore all these people, but Kaysa, in particular - my demo-mom - is truly one of the best people I've ever come across in SL. She's incredibly caring, will sit and listen to whatever issue I had, and will listen intently to even some of the stupidest life stories I tell her. She made me try things I've never tried before, like stealing eggs from dinosaurs, and even something as simple as playing mini-golf! She's completely accepting of my big, Sai, which as I understand, is a difficult thing to come by when it comes to SL families. Sai will always be a huge part of my SL, so I was s incredibly happy to have found someone who is completely okay with it! I share so much in common with her in both SL, and even RL, it is mind-boggling.


I've been hoarding all these photos to myself. I kept telling myself it was because I didn't know when the right time was, but in reality, I think the reason I didn't post them was I kept asking myself "What if she doesn't like me as much as I like her?" I would have been way too heartbroken to post about them, and then the adoption didn't work out. So, I kept them all to myself, all the while hoping she liked me too!


Then, this happened. I took photos, but none turned out as gorgeous as Kaysa's. While I was out running about being silly with Nivaya and Nikki, I get called back to my room.My room was completely filled with balloons, and I was instructed to find the "single pink" balloon. Once I did, it teleported me up to a gorgeous skybox, where she asked if I'd be her daughter, officially! She posted her gorgeous photos of the garden on the family blog - Keeping Up with the Dragovars! I was going to blog it myself here, but her's turned out so much better! I'm not even going to lie - I was so happy, I ended up crying in RL. Yep. I asked her to give me a middle name, so on Monday evening, Ennaline became: