I was forcing myself to sort some inventory last night, and spent hours and hours doing it. So, when I came across some skin demos and tried them on - they actually looked pretty good to my tired, bored eyes. I filed them away, hoping to remember them when I was able to actually focus on them. And this morning, when I woke up and logged in, I went directly to the folder to look at them again. I was surprised. They actually look pretty cute! :O

The price is a bit steep, and that's what's really holding me back from buying it. I'm not sure I like them enough to spend $1500L on one. But, for some reason, I can't stop thinking about it.

Build, texutre, build, texture. The story of the second life I live now. Finishing this build has become my obsession, and I am determined to finish it by Wednesday. I've decided on textures, and am now in the process of finishing up on aligning them.

ImpEle will be the new name. The name, Imperial Elegance is way long, and really not an image I want to portray anymore. So, ImpEle - is just Imperial Elegance shortened. I've been contemplating this change for months, and finally decided to go ahead with it, as I got bored with positioning prim letters for a long name.


I was kinda bummed with how the stairs turned out. They looked great with plywood, but they didn't texture well. Ah well. I still like them. :D


There is a ton of empty space, and there probably will remain a ton of empty space for a while. XD My little building before this one only filled half the walls, and this is at least twice as big.


The pillars! OMG, I have to say little about them. The number one thing I hate most about building anything, is picking out the textures. I usually find a floor and/or wall I like, but everything else... I have no idea, and am so picky, that I never find anything that looks good. I spent a whole day sitting, brooding over what type of texture to put on them. The second I slapped on this texture, it was perfect, and I immediately loved it. :D

Its turning out really, really well. I'm very excited to finish it. :D

For a while, I've had absolutely nothing to do. I'd sit at home, uninspired, irritated, completely bored out of my mind. I started playing FreeRealms, and that kept me occupied for a while. Then The Sims 3 came out. And OMG, now I am having so much trouble finding time to do anything at all. I have a whole list of things to do.

1. A ton of posts for Yabusaka (I really am doing it, I swear!) ;_;
2. Blog a few looks I put together for Fashion Labyrinth.
3. Blog about chickens.
4. Obsess over said chickens.
   
5. Finish new store build.
6. Finish new pose set.
7. Finish 5 more couple's poses.
8. Decide what will be a late June picks rewards (and make it).
9. Set up fishing for new store build.
10. Talk to Azure complaint team about inconsiderate plot neighbors.
11. Finish my Sims 3 house.
12. Upload that Sims 3 house.
13. Do new members only quests on FreeRealms.
14. Understand that stupid TCG on FreeRealms.

So. Yeah. And now, I shall be off back into SL so I can be able to scratch something off of that list.

Wow, I was still inspired to build, even after finishing the staircases! :O So, I started out with the pillars, banisters and trim. I think it looks pretty good. Its extremely primmy, but I do have quite a bit of prims to play with, so that's good. :D

I am kinda pleased how its turned out so far. Its still far from being finished, but I am sooooo glad I'm inspired to start working again. I've had so many ideas for new poses, I hope I feel up to making more and more stuff after I finish my build :D


I love how the stairs turned out - they look so awesome. And, I do owe a special thank you to a friend who gave me an awesome tool to help me out with them - just as I was about to rip out my hair. :D


The coolest thing, which I am totally excited about - are the new vendors. I've always wanted to try some new animation vendor design, which is different from everything else. I'm tired of seeing the boring circle/square platforms with arrows - so to keep up with my summer, bright and happy theme, I bought some cool lilies, and put them down for my vendors. :D

Also, today was a day I've been waiting for, for months. The Sims 3 came out today! \o/ I've had it on preorder for weeks, and I marched my little ass up to the GameStop closest to my house right when they opened at 10am - and had my copy of The Sims 3 by 10:05am. And naturally, I had to snap some screenshots. ^^


Its so much better than I expected. The graphics are awesome, my computer has no problems playing it, the sims look so much better than they did in The Sims 2, and Sai has a total happeh when playing it.


It was an awesome break from building my new store, and I'm totally excited to see what awesome custom content will be coming out.

So, I spent a good portion of yesterday and this morning working on my new store build. I've had the land on Taygete for almost a month now, and have not been inspired at all to do any other build. Summer is coming, and I've wanted to make my new build more summery, lighter, and less depressing.

Its not near being finished, but I think it has a pretty good start. I have a lot to do, and am kinda winging it as I go along. I think I'm happy with the textures that will go on the build too - they are exactly what look I was going for. :D

I think my vacation from plurk really did good things for my inspiration - I feel up to building, blogging, creating looks for my fashiony blog, and pose making again. :D

I could not resist this. Nope. I seen the meme thing Marnix started - and had to do it. :D If you are browsing blogs at work, or have kids hanging around - scroll by really, really fast, because in the coming picture, Sai is naked! :O

I rarely do naked pictures, because I am extremely shy. But, this looked fun, and a great opportunity to show off Sai's cute little butt :D

This will be another random blog post, because - my SLife is still extremely boring. :P I'm still not at my best lately, and I think I've found my cause of it. Plurk. I've put myself on plurk vacation, and I dunno if I will ever go back. ^^

Tuesday was my second rez day. It was interesting to look back at how far I've come in SL and what I've learned since I first rezzed. I learned a lot, about myself, others, and random things. I first came into SL to learn about Shinto and Buddhism as philosophy's, but somehow got sidetracked into other things. I still feel excited when I come across a temple or shrine though. :D

Anyways. :D Since I've been spending a lot of my time in SL idling away at my home, I decided to make it look at little better. The most recent addition to my land is this really cute outside sim island. It sits outside sim borders, and you can't walk to it, or walk around on it - but you can sit on it, IM, and do all sorts of normal things. Its supposed to make your land look larger, which I think it does, and its really adorable. Its a nice touch for my land, I think. :D


I'm trying to get inspired to make poses again. So, I bought this full perms grand piano, and I plan on making a couple poses around it. And yes, I do plan on including the piano prop with the pose pack. :P I took the roller things off the piano since I took this photo, they just looked strange to me xD


I was also tired of hunting around for a small, cute tattoo for my lower back, when I wear bathing suits. Summer is coming, and I plan on wearing many of them. :O So, I hunted down some hibachis photoshop brushes and made my own tattoo. Its adorable, and I love how it turned out. I might make a lighter, more faded version, slap it on all layers and send it out as a group gift to my update group. Just in case someone else might have a use for it. :D

I've been feeling very blah lately. I'm not sure why. Alee and I are apparently over. It only lasted a short time, but I have new found respect for myself, and learned lots of things about myself during my time with him.

I'm not sure why I feel so beh lately. I don't feel like shopping, don't really feel like building my new store build, and I even close all group chat windows when I log in. It seems all I want to do is sit at my land and stare at a wall lately. Its totally not fun, but, I'm not sure how to stop feeling all emo.

I do consider myself very lucky in SL. I have a home, which I love, a semi-successful store, the ability to go on random shopping sprees when I want, a couple really great friends, and a small bit of talent in a few random things. I should be able to shake this emo-ness off, consider how lucky I am - but, what's the point if I can't enjoy it all right now?

I also decided that I'm going to treat myself to getting professional photos done, to hang on my bedroom wall. I was looking to have about 3-4 photos done of myself - with a few specific ideas I have. I wonder if anyone can recommend a great photographer to me? *puppy eyes*


During this time, I decided to start playing Free Realms. Its somewhat of a good break from SL, actually having little missions to finish, do little puzzle mini-games, and explore a new, beautiful virtual world. Its fun, keeps me busy - and I'm so excited because on Friday (when my bank decides to accept my paypal money transfer) I'm planning on buying some StationCash (I guess that's their form of game currency), and a membership, so I could do more missions.

Free Realms is actually a really great game. Its not so much a chatting platform like SL is, but more of a game with goals and missions to complete. I didn't think I would like it so much, but I'm shocked, because I am totally addicted to it.

I've been having quite a few of these random blog posts. I don't really know why. Probably because my SL has been quite boring lately. I've just been snapping a few pictures now and then, and that's about it. So, this will be another random-ish blog post as well.

I finally furnished the lower level of my house, and brought Sakura, my little corgi out again. I snapped this picture and thought it was too cute not to share.


I was feeling a little sad, and decided to try to cheer myself up by firing off some fireworks. I bought these fireworks a long, long time ago, and they are so pretty - they make me happy. :D

And then this afternoon, I needed some serious retail therapy. I was roaming about Baiastice, checking out their discount room, buying some things, and stumbled into the Stiletto Moody side store located there on the sim. I went to check out the main store, and see if they gotten any better from the last time I went.


I seen these. I told myself I would never, ever, ever buy Stiletto Moody's ever again, and when these came out, I swore they were the ugliest things I have ever seen. However, it has been awhile since I treated myself to something expensive and totally useless, and I shelled out the $2199L for them. I'm crazy, I know. I seriously don't plan on taking these off for a while, because dammit. I *will* get my money's worth out of them, just you watch! :D

A new house was long overdue - come on, you guys -had- to know it was coming soon, right? xD The little black house I've had on Bluebonnet originally was temporary until I found a new prefab that I don't already have.

I've been eyeing this one for a while, but - it was much more expensive than I really cared to spend. But, after seeing it at the Home & Garden Expo, I bought it from the RFL vendor, which was the only way I could justify my purchase of it. I love it because its bright, airy, chic and springy. I'm hoping it gives me more pose inspiration than my dark, gloomy, little black house. :D


I've also been working on updating my look a little bit. For the longest time I've had the same eyes and eyelashes. Hey, if it isn't broke - why fix it, right? Well, I spied Alicia wearing some really beautiful eyelashes, and pestered her to tell me where they were. FULL PRIM EYELASHES. Yes, I spent an entire day fitting each and every lash into place. XD But, they are absolutely beautiful - so worth the time I spent.

I also came across a photo in someone's plurk that made my jaw drop onto my desk. Her eyes in the picture, were so gorgeous, I ran out and shelled out $200L on them, and I think they are here to stay. They aren't as big as I'd like - I prefer big eyes because my AO makes smaller eyes look really weird - but, I think I'll sacrifice that for really beautiful eyes. :D


I also spent some time with Alee while he was building. This picture was taken while he was taking a little break - so I got a few cuddles. :D

Alee and I visited Japan Kansai and the surrounding sims a little while ago, but I didn't somehow grab any pictures. So, I decided to go wander around with the Shadow Viewer again, because the place was just so beautiful, I wanted to grab pictures with shadows.

It was actually much more productive just to go and snap pictures. I love trying to find the best lighting, and the best angle for a photo with the Shadow Viewer, its so much fun.


But then you throw in the beauty of a historical Japanese sim - and I'm in total heaven. There's just so much to take photos of, I had no idea what to take pictures of first. xD


Normally, I'm not a fan of local lighting, and usually have it off - but this sim did such a great job with capuring moods and such with their lighting, I had to leave it on :D


There are tons of areas to explore at Japan Kansai, from foresty places, to teahouses, to rice fields, and even temples.


And even loads of places to take fantastic photos at. :P


It looks so realistic, even broken down boats are just laying around. ^^


Foresty place. Its so cute - it even had a little wooden plank walkway above the water to cross.


A palce to sit, and admire the... monkeys? O.o;


This was a little secluded place in the middle of the water, you can kneel on the pillow and watch the scenery as well :D


I loved the boats on this sim. They are really well done, and they even rock with the waves of the water.


I think the Shadow Viewer makes things tons beautiful, even the prettiest sims in SL can be made 20 times more stunning by just snapping up pictures in using shadows.


But the sim itself is still really beautiful, and definitely worth a look, if you like Japanese sims. It didn't seem like Alee was much into it as I was, but he still was having fun (I think) :D


Aaaaand, since I always have to snap a picture of me in the sim - here's this one. :D

SLURL: Japan Kansai (128, 128, 2)
Viewer: Boy Lane's Shadow Viewer