HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To anyone reading this post, SL or not, please accept my warmest wishes for a wonderful 2008! Let the rezzing begin!

I'll end the year with pictures of two special friends, both a bit "furry" ;)

First my treasured friend, Artistic Fimicoloud. She is an artist, a gallery owner and a breast cancer survivor. She has taught me more about courage and the importance of attitude than anyone I know. I love you Fimi! We're at Park Galleries, which she bought last year from the founder, Angel Enoch. I THINK we were in the process of moving things around a bit. Fimi's work is amazing -- visit her gallery [SLURL to come] for her story of how painting has helped her live fully with her changed health. I'll also try to find some pictures of Fimi's wardrobe -- she has totally conquered the world of dressing the female furry. She's a chic lil fox she is :)


The other is my little rabbit, Philip, who recently joined my SL and is a friend to everyone he meets :) I owe his presence in my pixelated life to my friend and ETD colleague, Noena Merlin. I think her "snowbunny" and Philip are a bit of a "number" [>>wink<<]


Worthy of note in the Philip picture is that I am wearing Elika's new style, Nadia, based loosely on the limited edition Sea Nymph from last July. The color is cinnamon burnt. I like her "burnt" textures as they add a note of depth to her wonderful range of reds. With it I am wearing Eolande's color-change beads designed especially for this style. Not to mention those Second Mirage Christmas freebie earrings and the Persona Holiday group gift sweater in green! I'm pretty sure the skin is Tête à Pied Lustrous 2 in buff as I wore it throughout the holiday season :)

And again -- a wonderful 2008 to all both in RL & SL!

Party Clothes!

Although I was away the first half of December, I did get to attend a few holiday parties. My dress of choice was "Confetti" by the indefatigable Simone. The flexi skirt has texture and movement that are both flirty and elegant at the same time. And the detail on the skirt and bodice are simply scrumptious ;)

I'm wearing the Vine necklace, earrings and bracelet from DK, the hair is ETD's new Emily in caramel and the shoes are also by ETD, Orsay stilettos in red. The skin is Tete a Pied Dakota ... I'll have to check the number when I get back inworld later today.

Before the season gets away!

I thought I should post what I've been wearing around the grid, in the Christmas spirit ;). The freebie frenzy was nice while it lasted, but to be honest, after a couple of rounds I only went to a few of my favorite places in order to avoid further inventory bloat. For a small avi I have a BIG inventory [most of it ETD hair of course ;)] and waiting for it to load is trying my patience! [Time to find a quiet island and do some serious pruning and sorting.]

Okay -- The pants and the hair are NOT from the Christmas rush. They are SWA's silk pants in red [I must have them in every color by now LOL] and ETD's new style "Emily", a current favorite of mine, in caramel.

Starting at the top -- the antlers are from Callie Cline, given to me by a friend for Christmas. Second Mirage provided the Christmas tree earrings for free next to their advent calendar :) The green sweater was a group gift from Persona. The necklace was a L$ 15 holiday special from JCNY and the boots-- SIGH -- are the Ziggy ones from Tesla -- amazingly cute and, despite the high heel very wearable.

I did acquire more "loot" than this, but there is a limit to an avi's attachment points LOL. So as we head for [hopefully] a safe and sane New Years let's give a huge HURRAH to all the content creators who made out holiday shopping much more fun!

Wishing one and all a wonderful holiday season!

As the gift-buying frenzy comes to a peak in both SL and RL, I'd like to pause to remember why we are celebrating. Below is a picture I took in France recently of a "santon" crèche scene at the Santon Museum at St Trophime in Arles. [Here's an explanation of the tradition.]

May your season be both blessed and merry!

Another nice content creator!

I met Aphrodite Outlander when she was shopping at ETD this morning. We had a nice chat, during which I figured out that she was THE Aphrodite of Aphrodite Creations, whose new dress I had seen on Fashion Planet and admired. So when my shift ended a friend and I wandered over to her store to have a look around. Her prices are more than reasonable and the designs are terrific!And Aphrodite was there too! All I can say is get yourself over there. Not only are the dresses wonderful, but she was kind enough to model one for me also.

So here are the two I bought. First Tender Allure in gold. The top has two layers, which adds depth to the system shirt. The skirt is smart. And the leggings! Oh my -- I am in love with them. What is nice about her clothes is that you can mix and match with her pants suits.






The second dress I bought was Greyceful, named after a good friend of hers. It has a dark, almost gothy feel -- and with the scarf suits the winter sims we are seeing right now. It comes with two skirt lengths, both smarter than I am LOL

One of the things I like is that for a small amount of lindens you get two or three color combinations. Aphrodite is not only nice, she's generous! I'm sure glad she came into ETD this morning!

Details: Hair in the second picture is the new Emily from ETD in Copper. In the first picture Lisa II in Cinnamon, also ETD. The skin is the group gift from MM -- Pale Lime. Boots are my usual Calf Boots from ETD in black.

You might get what you ask for :)

**THIS BLOG WILL BE ON HIATUS UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF DECEMBER AS I WILL BE TRAVELING IN FRANCE WITH 15 STUDENTS**

I will get to the other nice content creators in SL eventually, but Kat Palmer has granted my [and others'] wish -- a Breckenridge jacket without the bottom black panel.

Thank you Kat! My addition to the earlier outfit is the Très Blah black turtleneck [minus the "turtle"] from their "Tweed" outfit. This way the belt on the Encore "Tease" trousers show. Merci mille fois Kat!

Hair is ETD's Maaliyah in Cinnamon and the skin is the group gift Paon 4 from Tete a Pied in buff.

Another pretty thing from Immortelle

Kat Palmer has done it again! This is her new Breckenridge jacket in Raisin. [Sorry for the crappy shot -- forgot to reset my resolution and I'm short on time today :(] The textures of the jacket and the gently spiky furriness of the cuffs and collar are entrancing. I'm wearing it with the Encore Tease outfit pants in lavender and my ETD Calf Boots in black. The skin, if you could see it :(, is one of the new Dakota ones from Tete a Pied. It's the first skin I've just gone and bought without hours of mulling -- it is amazingly fresh and detailed.

I have only two small quibbles: One, that I would rather that the black "shirt" area [showing because the jacket is open] were transparent so I could wear a black turtleneck under the jacket. The other one has to do with HUD attachment points as my AO got bumped by one of the cuffs. Problem resolved, but it places my AO module in a screen location I'm not fond of. Oh well -- a little suffering for a lovely jacket is worth it! ;)

Great minds!

Milla Michinaga just blogged this coat with her usual PS flair and stylish panache! So who am I to do likewise?

Well to say that this is one of the few times I have literally RUN from the Fashion Planet feed to a store and snatched it up! It is the best coat I have seen in-world at any price and the good news is that Ivalde's prices are always reasonable.

This is Ivalde's Kita coat in beige, and as you can see it fits well on the smaller avi as well as on Milla:)

I'm wearing the new SWA Suede Pants in cinnamon, Maitreya's Dune boots in olive and my old standby -- Eglantine in the old couture texture, Citrus. And just a reminder ... I'm not going to PS much here ... I just don't have the time, nor the skills. And for the best resource for in-world links see Milla's "locations page"
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And here's a picture I took once I'd installed my snow machine at my house. The skin is the Tete a Pied group gift, Paon 4 in Buff. The boots are my favorite Calf Boots in black from ETD, hair is Ashley in Burnt Cinnamon from ETD.

Baby, it's cold outside ...

This is my first real change of seasons in SL, not that we need to, but any excuse for some shopping I'll take :) So I've been exploring the new items out there for us in the Winter Wonderland that SL is becoming these days.

I took the "something old, something new" approach to this outfit. Well I suppose when your avi's only 6th months old, nothing is really OLD, but here goes.


Old, the black PixelDoll skinny jeans for boots from the Port Seraphine sale. "Old" the Armidi Gisace men's turtleneck sweater in beige. [Well it WAS last month! LOL] Old, the belt from the discontinued Ariana outfit from Last Call. It's one of the few belts I have found that looks good on a small avi -- after a little "tweaking" that is ;) Old -- the freebie earrings from Cailyn.

New [for me at least], ETD's calf boots in black. New for all of us, the Lydia hairstyle from ETD, a recent group freebie. And NEWEST! The Cherries flexi scarf from Artilleri! The scarf replaces the turtleneck prim on the sweater, but with such a snuggly adorable flexi scarf I'm toasty! And the skin is NEW, one of the new ones from Chai, Alloy in the Ginger tone.

So let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Dashing through the Snow ...

Yeah -- I know it's a bit early, but I'm away the first two weeks of December so need an early start :) I've been out shopping for holiday decorations in SL and finding wonderful ones. I've also a dress in my sights at Simone for those holiday parties.

The picture was taken at the Esplanade in Geranium. Lost among the humongous tree and the working train are myself and my friend Artistic Fimicoloud. [also "vertically challenged"] The snow falls and crunches underfoot, right next to a beach. How much more SL can you get? Drop by and visit the galleries there, bring your skates as there is a rink and watch the train go round and round the tree!

Very Sad News

We all just learned today that half of the creative talent of Last Call has passed away.

My heart goes out to the one that remains. You are in our thoughts and prayers as is your former partner.

We who work at ETD [one of the Quad sims] knew no more than other SLers why the Quad was closed, so we are just as shocked and saddened as you all must be on hearing this news. Please support the remaining partner in their time of trial.

Who is nice...

I have had the good fortune to chat, at least briefly, with a few content creators on the grid and I must say they are NICE. Among those on my list would be Kat Palmer, sacha Vixen and Starley Thieren. Today let me talk about Kat.

I don't deserve Kat's niceness, as I was working at ETD when I received an Immortelle subscribe-o-matic update. I thought it was a url for another store being dropped on me by someone in the store, which is an ETD no-no, so I IMed her with our standard reply. After Kat figured out what had happened and explained it to dense moi, we chatted away a bit and I've enjoyed our interaction ever since.

For example, I LOVED the new Morocco, but wanted it in more desert-ish colors so I asked Kat nicely and voilà! Now the thing about Kat's clothes for me -- she has a very specific color palette that on the wall often looks pale to me , but when you put them on -- well that's when you know why they are so wonderful! Here's the Morocco in cactus. I took the pictures to show the detail -- the leaves aren't very desert like, but I thought they would show off the dress a bit!

ETD is for me!

Well you knew I was going to say that since I work there LOL, but one of the reasons I am very happy to work there is that Elika's hair fits my small head. On the slider my head is a 41, when most hair on the grid is designed for 50 or above. Certain brands of SL hair swallow me whole. It's not their fault -- I have a small head. Some hair creators are up front about the size issue and one reason I like Gurl 6 is that they provide different sizes -- and believe it or not I wear a medium there!

But it's ETD that warms my virtual hair follicles. More often than not I plop on an ETD style and I'm good to go. Once in a while I need to slide it back on my head or lower it, but very seldom do I need to resize, which is a GOOD THING as "edit" and I have had some ugly moments! But I DO try to remember what we tell our customers -- make a backup copy FIRST before you go futzing around in "edit".

Above on the right is my first "bought" hair [I had some freebies before that I think. I will show you my "system" hair someday when I am feeling braver ;) ] A good friend took me to ETD when I wanted a new dress and hair for a party at The Dockside, my club of choice :) It is Keeley, and yes that's the city chic "skin", well before my first new one ;)


Next on the left is my long-time "go-to" hair, Maaliyah and me in my first real "skin", Sparse by Gala. It is with this skin I became a red-head in SL, only letting my inner blonde out when she insists. The tee-shirt is a creation of a good avi friend of mine, made in response to my shopping habits. He may still have it for sale someplace in his pub in Pumori. The earrings are dragonfly by Earthtones.

On the right is my current go-to hair [I'm wearing it in "sunny" on my "about" section here]. This was originally a couture collection style called "Unique". Now, after the new store rebuild, and with the couture styles being folded into the rest of the styles, it is called "Eglantine" and can be found in the flexi section at ETD. I am craving the willow pack ... I'm not sure which skin .. but it could well be Celestial Studio's "Fall 3." The cardigan is the woolly one from CKS, the necklace is an Alienbear "freebie", made for Sassy's Secrets a while ago and the "camisole" is actually the top from Simone's wonderful full length dress, Adia. Since I don't have many formal occasions to attend, I think I will start trying out some of those tops with pants.

Sometimes it works the first time!

Sometimes it works when you put it on! I'm referring to prim attachments, particularly belts, which for me seldom work without adjusting -- they are either too high or too low or too big and I look as though I am wearing a hula hoop!

But this prim belt from a Veschi, freebie landed in the right place and stayed, making Sam a happy avi :)

Request: That other short avis let me know what you'd like to see covered in this blog.

Caveat: I'm not going to spend hours in photoshop, so don't expect the gloss of some other blogs. Also I will eventually post slurls, but right now that is not going to happen.

Fashion notes:
Outfit: "freebie" from Veschi
Shoes: Samantha from Kimberly Casanova
Hair: ETD's Unique [now Eglantine] in Rust [texture discontinued:(]

Now this I can live with ...

As you can see on the left, one of my treetopping friends has daintily tucked her toes into the floor. On the right we have moi, feet merrily dangling in midair. While I look a little silly, at least I'm not getting splinters in my toes LOL.

Fashion Notes: On the left we have Maitreya's wonderful Grace heels in black, on the right the Buckled Ankle Boots from Shiny Things in deep red.

Paving the road ...

So much for good intentions! RL has all but swallowed me whole :(

I really appreciated Tymmerie's comment emphasizing the POSITIVE aspects of SL for the short of avi. Flying is wonderful, even with the challenge of those red ban lines. And not having to hem skirts and trousers -- well yeah!

I just dropped a new coat off at the RL tailor yesterday. It was a "petite" and over 2 inches needed to come off the sleeves:(

On the other hand those popular ruffled cuffs in SL often need a bit of *tweaking* before going out in public. After all you wouldn't want to drag them through your virtual soup would you?

And then there are the "full length" formal gowns with no-mod flexi skirts -- one of my biggest SL pet peeves. In my case they are "full and a half length" and I spend the evening dragging my skirt through the floor behind me. Sometime a picture does better than words. [taken at my gallery, Souvenirs at Park Galleries.]

[If you can't see the picture, my skirt extends well below the opening in the floor. ] Perhaps designers might consider providing two sizes? I have seen that in a few cases recently and it is MUCH appreciated in these here parts.

My world and welcome to it!

There are plenty of challenges in Second Life as demonstrated in this video. Once you get past those there is slow rezzing, lost inventory and regions crashing, not to mention avis crashing. When you add a forest of 7 foot avatars to the mix, a small avi could get lost! [A frequent comment I hear from my friends is "Where are you Sam?"]

Well of course, you say, she could be 7 ft too! And that's true. But my choice to remain small wasn't really a choice. I am short in RL and am happy thank you very much, so I saw no reason to suddenly shoot up 2 whole feet. But I DO have to confess that recently I *tweaked* my avi all the way from 5'6" in heels to 5'7" -- how daring!

Sure I get noticed -- I've been asked if I am a child avi [let's not go there:(] The comments range from funny to a bit rude, but being short in SL helps me keep my RL & SL well connected. And I'm pixel proof that being 7' is not necessary for grid happiness. [A new hard drive would help though...]

Okay what will this blog cover after we run out of short jokes? I will deal with some of the problems of being short, but also with a bit of fashion as well as reflections on the pixelated universe our avis inhabit. This will not be about my "Real Life", but, of course, who I am and how I think will come through. Sam is, in every sense that matters, ME.

I welcome comments, but will reserve the right to remove bad short jokes LOL.