I bought a pro flickr account! That means, I can take tons of pictures of my virtual adventures and not worry about hosting space! Yayz! I tested my new account by visiting the Evolutions Museum and taking as many pictures as I could. This museum was quite cool because it shows how things in SL have improved since the beginning. Pretty amazing.


Ok, I am strictly a Camaro girl, and love my '88 Camaro Iroc/z28 IRL, so Mustangs are bad news for me. :P But, I have to admit, this prim Mustang was indeed pretty darn cool.


One of most interesting exhibits for me was this. I like the idea here, very interesting.

I did take tons more pictures, but blogger would dislike me if I posted them all here. So, check them out on flickr, if you are interested!

SLURL: Evolutions Museum, Arcana (220, 102, 23)

Its been a while since I went exploring. I love The Far Away, with all its wheat field goodness, so I was curious if there was something similar. After coming across this post, I did an "OMG!" and tp'ed there as soon as I could log in. This place is really pretty with corn fields, tall grass, and I managed to get some pictures.


Though, this latest version of Windlight messed up almost every good photo opportunity I had. Transparent items are visible from a distance, and almost every shot I wanted, I was able to see gross, distracting white boxes.


But, I did find a few places to take pictures. This place was fun, and I'll definitely be returning to get more pictures in the flower fields.

SLURL: The Garden of Afterlife, Southhampton dAlliez (63, 124, 22)

I swear, I have the worst luck with buying formal gowns. I have previously had an issue with a Nicky Ree gown, when the package was missing the glitch pants, and I was told I was wrong. I bought a dress from Sparkle Skye, and had pretty much the same issue.

I have bought a beautiful stunning gown from her before, called the Celestial Wedding Gown in blue, and I love it very much. I had no issues when buying this gown, which is the only reason why I went back to her for another.

So, I purchased the beautiful Winter Jewel gown. Now, let me just say, I am not fond of the "sparkle" options, so I wanted non-sparkle pieces. They were included in the Celestial gown, so I assumed they would be included with the Winter Jewel. Well, two important pices I wanted only came with sparkle options. Usually, that wouldn't be a problem, I would just slip a no-bling script in the piece and be done with it. However, these were no mod.


So, I sent a quick IM to Sparkle Skye, thinking the lack of no sparkle pieces was a mistake. She sent me a more organized folder, telling me that they should be in there. Nope. I IM'ed her again, apologizing the entire time, saying that they are not in there. After being told that she was busy, and dealing with something else, I was done. I spent almost $8000L in her shop that day... perhaps I am just self-centered, and my customer service views are screwy, but I think it was quite important that I be helped as soon as possible. I got one piece over 4 hours later, and the second piece over 7 hours later. Seriously, is it that difficult to just take the bling off something? Or give me mod pieces so I can take care of it myself?

*Sigh* Through all this, I also found one of the fur tiaras that was labeled no sparkle, but did in fact, have it. Though, I dare not ask about that. But, in the end, I did get the pieces I asked for, so that was good. It is a beautiful gown, and I love it... but I really didn't like the service I got.


I was actually inspired to buy that gown because of Alienbear Gupte's amazing Miss SL Universe jewelry set! Isn't it stunning?! And, I have talked to Alienbear on a few occasions, she is totally sweet, and has amazing customer service ^^

Shhh~ don't tell Bats I bought this! I'm really having a blast decorating this area with the random things that I love. I had a kotatsu in my first place in Cherry Tree Rentals, and carried it over to our mainland in Flounder, but when we moved away from the mainland, the kotatsu just didn't have a place anymore in our new house. So, when I saw this okota from Overdrive a few weeks ago, omg, I wanted it! Bats didn't seem like he cared for it much though, so I didn't buy it.

But, after putting my furniture in and playing with sculpties in the skybox for a while, I felt something was missing. I thought about it for a while while I read some blogs. When I came across this post (omg, if you don't read that blog, you must! Awesome freebies are often listed there. I don't understand or read much Japanese, but I can pick out the occasional FREE with a SLURL. ^^), I knew exactly what the place was missing. I quickly remembered where I seen it, and TPed away.


Its cute isn't it? It has four seats, each with a different animation. And! OMG, even when you sit down at the okota, the blanket lifts up for you, so your legs don't go through prims! Its definitely the most realistic heated table I've ever seen in SL. I think one day, Bats will come online and when he wants to rezz a cube, he will be like "WTF happened to all the spare prims?!"

/me kicks the sand guiltily.


Anyway, on to something else I'm excited about! OMG, I made those myself! I've been experimenting with sculpties in rokuro, and came up with something that actually looks like what its supposed to be! Well, at least I think so. They are supposed to be a bell, and a hat. *Beams*

I'm trying to blog more, can't you tell? ^^ So, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, I mentioned I wanted pink furniture and a giant fluffy bunny for my little skybox workspace. And! After a few hours of saying "I wuub yooos" to the partner... he finally gave up and let me get them! Yay!

At first he wasn't sure, and wanted to see the furniture set I had in mind. Of course, I prepared in advance, and tp'ed him to the place with pink furniture. He didn't seem to mind the color, but noted that the poses suck. I agree, but... really, I stand on a pose stand all day, and have no interest in sitting on a couch. But still, he had to try every single pose, and made me pose with him. Well, I bought it anyway. And he doesn't ever come up to the workspace unless I ask him to, so there really is no need for poses. I'd take all the poseballs out if I could to save on prims, but, well... its no mod. Which sucks, because I'd love to even put my own animations in there.

I wanted a fur rug to put under the table, and tried to remember where I seen one. During CSR, I remembered seeing rugs at a particular place called Creamshop. They had tons of rugs, but not fur, as I originally wanted. I got a set of them anyway, thinking it would grow on me, but after seeing it under the furniture, I still preferred the fur. So, I hit up SLExchange, and found the perfect one. It was $200L, and came with a cuddle pose. I took off the cuddle pose, and only used the rug... its exactly what I wanted! No nekos or furries were harmed in the making of the rug :P


As for the next thing I wanted... I actually *guiltily* bought even before asking him. My finger acted on its own, I swear! So, I call him Fluffeh. Its short for "My Fluffeh Bunneh". ^^ I seen this around the grid for a while, but really only decided I wanted one during the Creators Stamp Rally. A small kitty arm attachment was a prize, and I got it. It was so cute! Now I got meself a giant bunneh. ^^

I am utterly in shock of the things Bats lets me rez on the land sometimes. Like, everything I ever wanted, he didn't have a problem with. If he had told me he wanted a giant bunny... I'd have looked at him like he was nuts. And pink furniture? Yeah, that would just be weird.

I sooo love my little workspace. Even when I received the notice from Illusions about their retirement sale today, I didn't want to leave! Though, I did will myself to go, and picked up some amazing masks for very cheap!

I have been using a sky platform from my MystiTool to do my work from. My photosphere and pose stand was rezzed 700 meters off the ground above Bats' and my house. I spend the majority of my day up in that box, taking pictures, editing prims, and all that... so it gets boring just looking out at the sky all day long. I asked the partner if I could put a specific skybox up for my picture taking and stuff - surprisingly, he agreed ^^

I was sooooo worried that my Photosphere would not fit! I made sure the skybox was mod/copy before I purchased it, in case I had to make a second floor, or something. But, it shocked me to see that it barely fit without any modifications! I took off the ramp and the rail thing from the sphere, to give me more room in the rest of the skybox. Turned out pretty well, I think.


Yeah, this little set up is just temporary, I hope. I need to butter up Bats before I ask him if I can decorate with a Tangram bunny and pink sculptie furniture. O.O But, I have my pose stand and a little random bean bag chair.


I love my little skybox workshop. It is so adorable and quite inspiring. I almost never want to leave it! Especially the window! I chose Australia, because I'm not sure I would like to look through the windows at the World Trade Center in the original NY1 Skybox. Now... if only Bats would come online so I can ask about some furniture... *crosses fingers*

Hehe, I thought this was a cute idea, so I couldn't help myself! Make your own at MagMyPic.com.

Anyways, I was sick pretty much all weekend, and when I came online, all I wanted to do was shop. Suddenly, my AO seemed boring, so I set off on a venture to find new animations. My AO is one of the most important items that I own, and throughout my time in SL, my criteria for the perfect one has changed. Before, it used to be good as long as the typing animation doesn't show. Then, after a few more AOs, I wanted something with a lot of fluid movement, one that is cute, does not show head movement, and something that has a bit of class. Typing animation really doesn't matter anymore.

A while ago, when I was looking for an new AO to get away from my DNA one, I shopped around for a bit, and came across Vista Animations. The stands were perfect, not quite fit to my body, but I didn't mind that - I really liked them. Walks, flying animations, hovers - those were not the best. So, I used compiled animations from all different places... as I've blogged before.

I get bored easily with looking at certain things, so it was only natural for me to get bored with this AO. So, over the weekend, I headed back to Vista Animations, and shocked myself at how many more stands I purchased! I was even scared that I would run out of memory in my Zhao! I found some amazing ones in several of the different vendors. Vista Animations has become my favorite place to buy animations for my AO. I am really enjoying the one that I built for myself, and I tell you: the Zhao-II its much more easier to understand the second time! I breezed through the notecard this time.

However - I really liked the walk in my DNA AO. I had asked the creator if he would sell me just the walk from the DNA, but I never heard back from him. TT_TT Its the worst when a creator never gets back to me - a simple 'No' would have perfectly fine. -_-

Making skins was one of my goals in SecondLife. When Eloh Eliot began making the PSDs to her wonderful skins public, I had a huge push to start learning. Then, when I was told about the Another Fundraiser, I had an even bigger push. So, I began working on a modified skin from Another Shop!

So, here is the first candidate I have and have been working on. I changed the skin tone, made shading darker, and highlights lighter. I also added some pink nail polish to both the fingers and toes. I like having some cleavage in the skins I wear, so I made the shading around the bewbs more prominent.


And here is the face and makeup. I removed some shading and highlights from the face, as well as all traces of blush. I added different eyebrows, and created my own makeup. I am calling this skin "Masked" right now because thats what the makeup looks like to me - a mask.


A close up shot of the upper body. I really think this skin turned out pretty well. There is a slight issue with a seam on the belly, but no matter what I try, I can't get it to go away. I do hope to make more makeups and variations of this skin because I really did have a great time making it ^^

ZOMG. Yesterday was the 6 month anniversary that Bats and I were officially partnered! I can remember all the experiences we shared together, from the freakish neighbors in Cherry Tree Rentals, our first land in Flounder, all the great areas we explored, our first Christmas together, and even finding our dream house in a wonderful Dreamland paradise.

Our first date was on June 23rd, he moved 2 doors away from my apartment a few days later, and we were partnered on July 5th. He "proposed" at our favorite location at the time, the Finnish Sauna in Kaunis. Even today - that place holds special meaning to me. While we didn't have a wedding, I had fun launching fireworks off the roof of our apartment building to celebrate having his name in the "Partner" box of my profile.

My goal when I came to SecondLife was to explore Buddhism and Shintoism as a philosophy and a religion, but when I met Bats, that all changed. He has become the center of my SecondLife. Without him around, my SL would fall to pieces.

So, Bats - Thank you for staying with me for 6 months, even if you feel like you can only edit your own pants. :P Thank you for not killing me when I accidentally retexture our hardwood floors with gold ribbon. Thank you for being such an inspiration to me, and giving me the will to create bigger and better things. Thank you for being Imperial Elegance's number one model. And most importantly, thank you for giving me a reason to stay in SecondLife.

I look forward to our next 6 months together, and before we realize it, we will be celebrating our 1 year on July 5th, 2008. ^^