Your own personal Jesus (And Oleg Dou. And nip slips.)

Hey, see if you can find Jesus in this picture.

Speaking of going to hell, usually I wouldn't be caught dead in anything that exposes my nips. I'm just not that kind of girl. Just call me Prudy McPrudess of Prudeville.

But I really like this Naughty Alice dress from Sugar. The skirt is mesh and the details are fantastic. But yes, just a warning: This saucy take on Alice in Wonderland (also available in Little Red Riding Hood Red and Snow White-inspired Black) is PRO-NIPPLE. So get ready to air those babies out!


Uh, yeah, I covered mine with contraband Hello Kitty pasties, which were a gift from my friend Soph. She found them on Marketplace. (Shocker!)

I also wanted to show you one of the JeSyLiLO skins inspired by the work of acclaimed Moscow photo artist Oleg Dou. If you're unfamiliar with his art, visit his Website HERE. To quote him on his style: "I am looking for something bordering between the beautiful and the repulsive, living and dead. I want to attain the feeling of presence one can get when walking by a plastic manikin ...." (Source: Oleg Dou official Website)

I think creator LiLO Glom did a beautiful job on these skins. She's got some very ethereal ones at her store that are the most true to Dou's surreal vision, along with a slightly sweeter Valentine series. And she recently released the Oleg Dou Pierrot line at ZombiePopcorn Carnival – I'm wearing one of them. (She's also got one carnival-exclusive Pierrot skin there. It ends tomorrow, June 30.) To get the full effect, I recommend wearing the included shape.

Shoot, I need to segue somehow to Jesus. Consider the subject abruptly changed.

I found this mesh Jesus on Marketplace. I thought it was a lawn ornament. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it can also be worn as an AV. (Use a full-body alpha layer with it.) I put it on and wandered around as Jesus for a while, but then I started to feel a little blasphemous. So I launched him into the sky over my house, where he's just kind of hanging around now.


I may still wear him to a club one night though. Maybe we'd kick ass in a Come As You Are contest.

ROLL CREDITS
Skin, Shape, Eyes — JeSyLiLO at ZombiePopcorn Carnival – Oleg Dou Pierrot, GoSTon J3 ("ghost tone"); teeth and cleavage versions, shape and Candy Eyes in Yellow included, 700L
Hair – Truth – *NEW* Brandy w/Roots in Champagne; rigged mesh, includes roots and standard versions, 250L per color pack
Shoes – ISON – Color Block Prism Pumps in Red, 249L
Dress – Sugar – Naughty Alice in Light Blue; includes stockings, mesh skirt, 299L
Kite pose prop – LISP at Collabor88 – Shindig Kite Pose Set; 10 kite poses in wearable and rezzable poseball versions with texture-change mesh kite, 148L. The June collection ends July 7.
Catholic Jesus! – All Meshed Up on Marketplace – limited quantities available, 100L. That whole All Meshed Up Marketplace store is filled with amusing mesh AVs, BTW. Check it out.

VISIT INWORLD
JeSyLiLO Main Store – Oleg Dou section

Nice bulge!

New Enaid mesh eyes at Vision by A:S:S!

("I'M WATCHING YOU!")

You get two versions — clear and natural whites. I prefer to call the natural ones "veiny" though. And my AV uses Visine.

Each set also includes an eye alpha layer, a resize HUD . . . and a pair of system eyes in case you get a little crazy with your mesh resize HUD and decide to see how big you can blow up your eyes and then start laughing really hard and then get too weary to fix them or even put periods or commas in long run-on sentences and you think "Maybe I'm too juvenile for mesh eyes — THANK GOD there's a system pair."

They're beautiful though, huh? (80L per pair or 600L for a fatpack of 10. See the colors and what they really look like HERE.)

**and she never received review copies of eyes again**

Meanwhile, if your maternal instincts are kicking in but you don't have a linden to spare . . .


Free baby, TANNED AND BOXED! (Version 3)

You don't have to breastfeed in that tanning bed anymore!

. . . OK, see now I feel bad.

I mock because my life is so empty.


Seriously, there are five babies of varying shades and dress in this free set. And an adjustable holding position in each baby. And they make sounds and everything. Very generous. Now you don't have to be rich to be a pixelated parent! Get them HERE. (I did.)

I think I'm done. My apologies to Vision by A:S:S. Thank you in advance for not kicking mine.

**time sensitive** LAST CHANCE to grab SL9B gifts!

Hihi! You've got about nine hours left to get over to SL9B and check out the exhibits before they close to the public today (Wednesday, June 27) at 11:59 PM SLT.

At one point this week I intended to see ALL of them, but I realize now it's never going to happen. Oh well. I'd like to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make SL9B possible and everyone who took the time to create an exhibit. The SL birthday celebrations always remind me why I fell in love with SL in the first place — all the people and possibilities and creativity.

As always, there are a ton of amusing and/or awesome freebies at many of the exhibits this year. Here's a rundown of some of them with SLURLS in case you want to jet over and grab any. I meant for this list to be much more extensive, but I'm going through this thing where looking at my computer monitor makes me nauseous. I think it's because I'm starting to associate it with unemployment, dwindling finances and job application rejection emails. Ooch. Thus the short list.

I'm sending oceans of gratitude to all the generous exhibitors who are giving out gifts this year. Also, grab all the notecards you can – you could learn about some interesting places, events and stories. I have.

– Let's start with the FREE BIRTHDAY KITTEN from KittyCatS. I know you're all probably aware of it by now, but I wanted to include it just in case you've been asleep for two weeks or something. So look at that pic up there and go grab it like you want it. Even if you're not into KittyCatS now, I'd grab it with a hoarder's mentality and throw it in your inventory — you can always birth it later — because YOU NEVER KNOW when you'll get an urge for a kitten in SL.

Get it HERE.

That Haruko Geisha Mesh AV by Dirty Linx in the pic (that's me!) is not an SL9B gift, but I'm diggin' the whole mesh avatar concept because you can lower your avatar rendering cost significantly by wearing one without having to go bald and shoeless. I found it — WHERE ELSE? — on Marketplace HERE for 149L, and there's also a tiny version for 99L HERE. (Other kimono colors and makeups are available, so you may want to browse the Dirty Linx's Marketplace store, if this thing floats your boat like it did mine.)

Maybe I should just dub myself The Marketplace Blogger. That place is an endless source of mirth for me.

More free stuff, minus the four-paragraph descriptions. Just click them for the SLURLS:

– FREE PLANES!

– FREE RIDEABLE SHETLAND PONY!

– FREE TINY SNAIL AV!

– FREE SILVER SCULPTURE OF A DEAD WASP! (Or maybe it's a bee! Or a fly!)

– FREE LEOPARD, ZEBRA AND GIRAFFE SAFARI HATS AT THE AFRICA EXHIBIT!


Shown: Free leopard-print safari hat. (Also: Hair - Lelutka, Belle in Harvard; Skin – Rotten, in Decay, by Fallen Gods at Zombie Popcorn Carnival; Zombie Throw-On Top – PaperBag; Jeans – Garage jeans in Turquoise by League; Shoes – Color-Block Prism Pumps in Red by ISON)

I haven't been to the Africa sim since I was a noob and some griefer-tribal guy chased me around with a GIANT (as in cannon-sized) PENIS that would make me crash every time he smacked me with it. Hopefully that dude is gone by now.

– FREE BIOBREEDS DOBERMAN! (Unlike the KittyCatS gift, this one is not alive though. Wait, I mean it's not dead either. It's a model.)

– BIRTHDAY BEARS!: Many of us are mourning the absence of a Linden Bear this year, but there are several great alternatives. There are a few bears and their locations noted in THIS POST on the SL9B Website. I also found several cute ones at the Dragsworn exhibit HERE. And there's a Juggling Teddy on a Stick (along with other gifts) at the top of the Tinies of Raglan Shire exhibit (just click the pedestals that surround the sundial).

– NOOB SPIN DANCER! I know you're asking "what the hell?" but I really have no words. You'll just have to go check it out for yourself.

– EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO MAKE A RAILROAD, INCLUDING TRAINS AND TRACKS!

– PRINCE PROSPERO AVATAR AND STORK STATUE!

– ALL KINDS OF OLD-SCHOOL NOSTALGIC FREEBIES (in the tunnel) AND PROBABLY MY FAVORITE EXHIBIT AT SL9B! (Time Tunnel by Campanula Aeon)

Wow, and my list totally stops here. I'm probably going to spend the next several hours over there for one last wander, so I may be updating this post throughout the day if I find more cool things. And feel free to leave your own discoveries in Comments.

I realize I should have posted this stuff days ago, but you know I live by the "better late than never" credo.

I stripped for Nomine at SL9B

Designer Munchflower Zaius at Nomine recently released some limited-edition Ameno gowns that really knocked me off my pixel feet when I saw them.

The shading and details on these gowns are gorgeous. She originally made only 12 of each color, but then she added a few more. I just checked, and there's ONE Ameno Chestnut gown left, which is what I'm wearing. And I believe there are about four or five Ameno Pomegranate gowns remaining. (See photos on Nomine's blog HERE.) They're 1000L and can be worn in a variety of ways. The headdress is included, along with shoes (not pictured). If you buy one, be sure to pick up and take the box with you.

Proceeds from the sale of the gowns go to help replace Munchflower's poor, dead computer. SL is her primary source of income. A notecard she sent out to her group said the following:

"Recently I've gone through a string of crap luck and well...now my laptop has died. Unfortunately, a number of other things have also died and I am about a mile past broke. Without my laptop, I have no job." (The complete notecard is in her Subscribo history.)

There's a fundraiser page for her HERE.

Here's the big-foofy-skirt version of the dress:


I'm at one of my favorite exhibits at SL9B so far, which is Inside Art by Ginger Lorakeet. (I'm also "sitting" on a pose in that picture. I don't usually smash myself up against art like that.) Every painting there is interactive. But if you go, join the fight against lag and don't get all dressed up like I did. I only stayed for a few minutes, I swear. You can tell by the hasty photos.

I wanted to show the lingerie that's also included with this outfit, so I proclaimed, "To hell with propriety!" and stripped in front of everybody there. Then I hung from a painting. Nobody clapped.

Oh the things I do for this blog.


BOOBS! (That was for the Googlers out there.)

Ugh, sorry — the graphics on my dinosaur Mac are more raggedy than usual today. It might be because I downloaded that lame Second Life knockoff Utherville – Virtual Glamour yesterday and probably blew up my graphics card. Click and look at their ad. LOOK AT IT, SERIOUSLY. Gosh, what a novel marketing idea. ("1000's OF MUST-HAVE OUTFITS!")

Hey, I read an SL Secret last weekend (No. 23) that said some bloggers are all about themselves and never put pictures of "a variety of avatars" in their blogs.

I'm a people-pleaser, so here's another avatar:


I forgot to get her name. Oops. She was there interacting with another painting, which was radiating pixels, BTW. That's not my camera for once.

I personally don't feature a variety of avatars in this blog because I'm kind of a loner. But for the record, I have been known to feature a variety of farm animals. So there's that.

VISIT INWORLD
Nomine
Inside Art by Ginger Lorakeet (SL9B exhibits close June 27)

MORE INFO
SL9B Website
Fundraiser Page for Munchflower Zaius

ALSO WEARING
Skin - Akureka at CHIC² – Bianca, Pale (Chic Exclusive), Cleavage Version (It makes me look so sophisticated!)
Hair - Lelutka – Ariel in Harvard

"Apparently the skeleton in her closet wears a red bow."

Sometimes when I'm writing a blog post like this one, I think about what would happen if, say, I got killed in a car accident or a plane crash or in some other untimely death scenario. There would be a little weeping and much drinking, then a trek to the church on the other side of town for some kind of dysfunctional memorial service — which, as specified in my will, would have an open bar in the back —and then more drinking. Once all the formalities were over, my grieving family would sort through my things and probably throw most of it away. Eventually they'd find my laptop and open it, maybe hoping to find some funny photos or read something that'd bring my voice back to life for a few minutes.

They'd find the folder named "Blog" on my desktop.

They'd say, "Gosh, we didn't know she had a blog!"

They'd double-click it.

And then they'd find this picture:

And then the only sound in the room would be a collective gasp, no doubt followed by a confused and horrified, "What the holy f*ck?!"

On Marketplace:
Hello Kitty Humiliation Outfit, 249L, by GZ Fetixxx

I've been fearlessly collecting Hello Kitty contraband ever since a friend told me that Linden Lab could crack down any day and delete all the Hello Kitty (and other trademarked) items from my inventory. So I keep everything in one folder called "Hello Kitty! OOOOOO - YOU'RE IN TROUBLE!" That way if it really does happen, all I'll have to do is check that one place to see if anything survived the Hello Kitty rapture.

Um, but Hello Kitty's slip-n-slide latex adventure — complete with matching STRAP-ON (they should have put a little red bow on it) — will not be joining my prized collection of Hello Kitty happy happy fun time, like my HK house, toaster, guitar, watch, radio and hot air balloon, to name a few treasured possessions. I have to draw the line somewhere.

I guess I'm not as devoted a collector as I thought, because there's no way in hell I'm buying a Hello Kitty Humiliation Outfit. That is just so wrong on so many levels.


Oops. (HELP! SO MANY EYES ARE WATCHING ME!)

Well, OK, I caved because I discovered a secret desire to run around in jeans and the top. ("I'll take your done-to-death Hello Kitty T-Shirt and raise you my Hello Latex implants!") And actually I have a number of outfits that could be beautifully enhanced by that Hello Kitty uniboob.

*dies laughing*

Damn, every time I think I have SEEN IT ALL, Marketplace comes along and GUFFAWS in my face. I like it though. It keeps me on my toes. So if you see a Marketplace oddity that merits blog love, please send me the link.

Photo location: “Future Communities” by Noke Yuitza at SLB9

My big buggy eyes and your hellbound vagina mouth

My personal preference is to start every blog post with a picture. So before I begin, here's one for all you
ass-kickers out there. FREE GUNS on Marketplace, and they look pretty cool. Get them HERE.


OK. Moving on.

So I have absolutely no idea why some SL bloggers proclaimed it Red Lipstick Wednesday yesterday or what noble cause everyone's rallying for now and whether they're supporting red lipstick in general or a person who wears it or what. I did see the SL Secret about it (oops, now removed), but as with 99 percent of most SL Secrets, I had no idea who it was slamming. I'm not one of the popular kids and I'm not on Plurk so I hardly ever get the scoop on stuff like that.

And OH LAWDY I'm sorry, but I can't handle all this red lipstick talk without sharing this story. Don't let the following big blocks of text scare you. READ IT! I promise you'll like it. Here we go:

Last week, my RL friend went out on a first date with a guy she met on ChristianMingle.com. It was a dressy date at a nice restaurant and she wore red lipstick. (Should we gasp here? I have no idea.) At dinner, the guy told her that he'd let it slide that one time, but in the future, red lipstick would be a deal-breaker. He said red lipstick was originally created to entice men by reminding them of a woman's labia. As such, he just couldn't date a woman — let alone kiss one — with a FILTHY VAGINA MOUTH. *falls on the floor laughing all over again* Yes, I paraphrased the last part. I'm sure he said it was "not Godly" or something. Regardless of how he said it, WOW, that is some AWKWARD first-date dinner conversation right there.

And hell no, my friend never went out with him again. Knowing her, I'm sure she was very classy about giving him the boot, but I wish she would have told him that a guy who scrutinizes women's lips and evaluates their resemblance to labia is an INSTANT deal-breaker for her. Can you imagine him walking around town every day surrounded by all those loose women with their glistening labial smiles? His mind must be reeling with psalms and acts of contrition ALL DAY!

Um, so yeah, now when I see red lipstick, I think of that story and cringe a little. (Seriously, I don't think there are any normal single men left out there.) So, THANK YOU, all you WANTON SL bloggers, prowling the streets, looking for helpless Christian men to tempt with your luscious genitalia-red mouths! Wipe off those pixel puckers and get your asses to church! And wash your mouths out with holy water while you're at it!

Anyway. I can't imagine all the pervy Google searches that are going to lead to this blog post now. Oops. *gives the pervs a big CARTOON WAVE and flashes them my CARTOON BOOBS*

BEFORE I GOT SIDETRACKED, ONCE ABOUT A TIME THIS BLOG POST 

WAS SUPPOSED TO START RIGHT HERE

And now, a random observation fueled by my desire to get these stupid pictures off my desktop.

I saw this Leah skin in Spring Breeze by Glam Affair at The Dressing Room and snatched it up because, frankly, Glam Affair could throw up a vendor there that just says, "MYSTERY SKIN! AND NO DEMO FOR YOU!" and I'd still buy it. That's a steal for 70L!

But when I got home and put it on, I just wasn't feeling it.


MY, WHAT SLEEPY YELLOW EYELIDS YOU HAVE!

But then I put on Fashionably Dead's Twiggy makeup that's currently at Collabor88 and it resulted in this quirky goggle-eyed look that I'm sort of diggin'. I mean, yeah, it looks a little like I have crusty yellow stuff coming out of my eyes now, but let's just call it art. I'm also wearing Burnout Lipshine by M.O.C.K. Cosmetics. I'm not wearing it as a statement. I'm wearing it in honor of my friend's mouth that's apparently going to send her straight to Hell . . . or at least into a life of prostitution.


MY, WHAT BIG BUGGY EYES YOU HAVE!

So yeah, I basically deconstructed and reconstructed your whole skin, Glam Affair! Sorry about that!

All hail the power of makeup layers! How did we ever live without them?

That is all. I told you it was random.

THOSE CREDITS THAT NO ONE REALLY GIVES A DAMN ABOUT
Hair – D!va at Collabor88 –Sayaka2 in Cat's Eye
Skin – Glam Affair at The Dressing Room - Leah MedTan in Spring Breeze
Eye Makeup – Fashionably Dead at Collabor88 – Twiggy
Lips — M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Burnout Lipshine (group gift, 100L to join. SOOOOOO WORTH THE LINDENS, LADIES!)
Eyes – IKON – Utopia Eyes in Pale Trojan Blue

That awkward moment when a RL person finds your SL blog

Unladylike! Don't look up my dress!

That pic really doesn't have anything to do with this blog post. I've just gotten really into PlantPets recently, particularly since they cost absolutely nothing to maintain (just click to water them!), they're temp-rez so they're only about three to five prims each, they pop out transferrable plant babies (seeds) about every two months, they've got that Christmas-morning anticipation with the possibility of birthing rare or elite seeds . . . and I suck at keeping plants alive in RL. See! Anything is possible in SL — even a green thumb!

So speaking of RL and foliage, let me preface this part by saying there's no underlying message here or a cry for help or anything like that. It just so happened that a couple of weeks ago I was surfing some silly Website like Buzzfeed and I started clicking on various links. One click led to another – you know how it goes – and suddenly I was reading (and then watching the accompanying documentary) this article on the Suicide Forest of Japan, or the Aokigahara Forest, as it's formally known.

It's estimated that more than 100 people a year commit suicide in the Aokigahara Forest. The topic morbidly fascinated me. I Googled it and found a well-written blog post by a guy who went there with his friends and documented the trip with photos and videos. Although it was a great read and merits a link, I'm not going to link to it because I left a very personal comment there in response to someone else who had commented that she couldn't imagine why so many people went to that forest to kill themselves.

I meant to post the comment anonymously, but to my horror it posted as Emerald Wynn, whose Gravatar links to this blog. I thought about deleting the comment, but then I shrugged and thought, "What the hell?" My comment probably came across as slightly mental anyway, so it'd probably be no surprise to anyone who clicked it and found a blog written in the voice of a pixelated person, talking about a pixelated world like some kind of wacko with a split personality.

I have since gotten some emails from people who read that comment. Since they did indeed click through to this blog and got the Emerald Wynn email address here, a few have asked questions about Second Life. As with most people, they weren't familiar with it, didn't understand it and wanted to know what the deal was and why I was writing about it – for four years, nonetheless.

I'm not gonna lie: It was kind of embarrassing and exhausting explaining it repeatedly. And speaking as a PR professional, I kind of wanted to shake Linden Lab a little. If we look at the popularity of anything from Facebook, which could possibly be considered the ultimate success story in social networking, to Pinterest, it's obvious that social networks in their various forms are appealing to an increasingly broadening demographic at a rapid pace.

So I don't understand why Linden Lab isn't highlighting a huge aspect of Second Life, which is a creative, three-dimensional, extremely sensory platform for social networking, or better yet, exchanging ideas. Frankly, that's the way I try to normalize it when I try to explain it to people. You like chatting with your friends? How 'bout doing it in an amazing, artistic sim with avatars that have infinite possibilities for customization. Want to share your vision for fashion, architecture, interior design, landscaping? Forget your Pinterest boards – do it here. It's way more fun. There's something about the way Linden Lab is positioning Second Life – or not positioning it – and where they're positioning it that just doesn't seem to be working. Why am I still and frequently trying to explain this place to people?

In this age where everyone's communicating and expressing themselves primarily through technology – to the point where some of our interpersonal skills are even suffering – you would think Second Life of all places would be thriving. And who knows – I haven't checked recently, but maybe the numbers show it IS thriving. (UPDATE: OOPS I probably should be reading New World Notes more often. Click HERE for Hamlet's thoughts on this topic and some stats.)

Yet I still find myself explaining it, justifying it and often feeling embarrassed about being a part of it. You know how many of my RL friends know I'm an SL resident? One. And she's always "concerned" about it. In her mind, it's akin to World of Warcraft, and "those people are weird gamers who never leave their basements." And you know how many of my RL 300+ Facebook friends are even aware of Second Life? Five . . . and I met those five people in Second Life.

Linden Lab, your PR/marketing tactics are fail right now. And I say that with love. I dream of the day when my AV can come out of the closet to mass acceptance. Somehow I doubt it's ever going to happen.

Hey, check out my octopus!

I got it at Photon's Castle, home of all things awesome.

VISIT INWORLD
PlantPets Main Store – If you too like PlantPets, let me know so I can give you my seeds when I get them
Photon's Castle

AND ANOTHER UPDATE: OOPS I probably should be reading New World Notes more often. More on LL's marketing approach HERE.

FOR MORE INFO
The Suicide Forest of Japan - By the way, I checked and we don't have an SL version of Aokigahara Forest, or if we do, I couldn't find it in Search. I guess that's a good thing? Although it IS considered one of the most haunted locations in Japan, so it might make for a cool haunted SL destination. Somebody get on it!
PlantPets Website – Includes a user guide, FAQ and species catalog if you want to browse the available plants.

Team Gala

This (oof, pretty crappy, low-res, desperately needs a texture rebake, sorry) pic of me sporting Curio's Cupid 2 skin was taken two years ago. And as I type that sentence, I cannot believe I'm still blogging SL. SHEEEEZUS I need to get a life.

The original post is HERE and obviously I was caught up in some kind of catty drama back then. Apologies for the immaturity of that post. To be honest, I don't even remember the details. My memory is shot to hell. I blame age and a bad Xanax habit.

Speaking of back in the day, I was looking at some old SL photos last night and feeling kind of sad about the devolution of this blog. I used to have things to say – and my pics were full of friends and well, action, if you can call it that. Now I just sort of wander around alone saying, "Look at this. Now look at this. Hey, look at this thing. Look – pretty!" I tell myself that I'm trying to support SL creators by drawing attention to their stuff – and that's partially true – but mainly I'm just at a loss for subject matter and humor these days. (But I can navel-gaze 'til the cows come home, apparently.)


So I keep my mouth shut. I've cultivated this "I don't give a sh*t" attitude about SL, possibly because I'm finally outgrowing it. I try not to get too involved in SL strife anymore. I have enough of it in RL. But these accusations against Curio creator Gala Phoenix make me want to put that T-Rex back in my front yard (yeah, remember when I used to be fun?), climb to the top of it and scream, "BULLSH*T!" without the asterisk.

When Gala sent out a notecard to her group last night referencing the controversy and explaining her silence, I'll admit that I said, "Huh?" and had to Google this mess. I'm not on Plurk. I don't pay attention to a lot that goes on in SL. Occasionally I'll IM a friend and ask her to explain some drama to me, but for the most part I really don't give a damn.

Now here's the part where I'm supposed to launch into a passionate explanation of why I believe what I believe and why you should believe it too, but this isn't the year 2010 anymore. Or 2009. Or 2008. (GOD DAMN, THIS BLOG IS A FOOKING DINOSAUR!) I didn't come here to rant. I just wanted to publicly show my support with some old, jaggedy-ass pictures and some links, if you give a damn about any of it.

And I guess the keyword here is "old" – old pictures, and these aren't even the oldest. I've been wearing Curio skins for almost as long as this blog has been in existence. Who the f*ck is Hush Skins?

LINKS
What the hell are you talking about? - The SLUniverse thread about all of it. Get out the popcorn.
What she said – A blog post I like that says just about everything I wanted to say here and also explains the situation in detail.  In other words, not as freakin' lazy as I am.
And what she said
And what they said
Check yourself before you wreck yourself – Interesting post comparing Hush skin textures to League's
A picture is worth a thousand words (and possibly dollars) – Interesting Flickr stream
Gala Phoenix's blog post
Hush Skins legal documents – oh sorry, the Webpage is now gone. Here's a screenshot. Thank you to blogger Arica Storaro for sharing.

Girl, that's not your dress (LpD and Tzal)

I saw this Carmen dress at LpD today and thought it looked kind of interesting and cool. So now I'm wearing it. And I'm thinking, "WHOA NELLY, THAT'S A LOTTA DRESS!" I'm afraid I'm not woman enough for it. NOT WOMAN ENOUGH! I know that a glamazon fashionista could pull it off, but in my case I'm pretty sure this dress is wearing me instead of the other way around.

I'm also sort of filled with regret that I didn't buy the soft blue/floral print version (see it HERE on Marketplace) instead. I stood there agonizing over this decision for five minutes. There's also one that's pink with black polka dots. I ended up choosing the stripes because I thought they would balance out the voluminous shape of the dress, but now I'm realizing it looks a lot like my ex-boyfriend's duvet cover.

Oops.

Don't get me wrong – I'm not bashing it, I SWEAR. (In fact, I'm still wearing it RIGHT NOW.) I'm just lamenting my choices. But the moral to this story is sometimes we have to take risks when we shop, kids! Anyway, you might like it – or one of the other versions – which is why I'm blogging it. It does have a cool shape for pictures. Just think what a real photographer with a decent computer could do with it.

WHAT I'M READING NOW
As long as we're on the topic of "when good clothes happen to awkward people" — if you're not reading RL fashion bloggers Tom and Lorenzo and you like witty commentary on celebrity and runway fashions, you really should head on over there. They're hilarious and a fun read. They have an occasional feature called "Girl, That's Not Your Dress," which is what sparked this whole blog post. It's the first thing I thought when I put on mine.

FREE SKINS ALERT
Hey, I found another skin designer I love. Abigail Bouevier has a store called Tzal with really gorgeous skins. In fact, I have yet to find a skin there that I don't like. She also spoils her customers with what's probably the most extras I've ever seen in a skin pack. Each skin comes in a bare version and includes 14 eye makeups and 19 lip colors as tattoo layers so you can customize your look to the nines without having to buy separate makeup. Her skins also include a shape, brow colors, two brow shapes, two freckle options (full and partial) and, most importantly, CLEAVAGE. I love Second Life because if you don't have any cleavage, you do not have to pay $6,000 USD to get some.

This skin is Dee in Sunkissed in her natural state. I appreciate the fact that this skin really does look sun-kissed, as opposed to other skins that are called "sunkissed" and instead are an unholy shade of brown.


Wooo! Lovely! Damn, I wish I looked that good without makeup.

Here she is, guzzied up and with cleavage (also in pic at top):


NICE BOOBS!

I gave her some eyeshadow in Heather (included) and a teeny tint to her lips with one of the light lipsticks (included). And yeah, I'm warming up to IKON eyes.

If you'd like to sample Tzal skins for yourself, there are currently two gorgeous skins in the store as group gifts, and the group is FREE to join. Yes. Let me say it again. FREE BEAUTIFUL SKINS — GO GO GO!

That is all.

VISIT INWORLD
Les Petits Details
Tzal

ROLL CREDITS
Dress – Les Petits Details – Carmen in Stripes, 350L (P.S. It's NOT mesh. Refreshing!)
Skin – Tzal – Dee in Sunkissed, 1200L. See above post for the litany of everything that's included.
Necklace – Yummy – Miss Havisham's Broken Heart, 180L. I heart Yummy. HEART IT IN ALL CAPS!
Boots – Ingenue – Jude Boot in Maroon, mesh, 395L
Hair – Truth – Roma w/Roots in Champagne, 250L per color pack. Scarf is texture-change. Also includes no-roots and bangs versions.
Eyes – IKON – Utopia Eyes in Pale Trojan Blue, 150L. Change the name please, because every time I see these in my inventory, I think of condom-colored eyes. Sorry.
Poses – [LAP] – from various sets. All pose sets are half off or more because the store closes June 15.

Save Our Pets! (and some sad goodbyes)

There's a fundraising event going on right now called SVPAP Project Rescue, and I'll admit that I'm having a bit of a problem with the language barrier in the notecard describing it.

The gist of it is that it's an effort to raise money for the Sociedad Valenciana Protectora de Animales y Plantas (SVPAP). I plugged the Website into Google Translate and garnered that we'd call it the Valencian Society Protection of Animals and Plants, and that this nonprofit organization — headquartered in Valencia — sponsors several worthy animal welfare projects, including feline sterilization, pro-animal rights legal advice, a veterinary clinic and a refuge for abandoned animals. Relevant links to more information are below.

I went over to the venue today and got several cool and very affordable things (see credits below).

In some sad news, two stores that have been around since I was a noob are closing.

To me, Long Awkward Pose — and more specifically, its creator Dove Swanson — is the pioneer of the SL pose industry. (Laugh – is it an industry? It is now.) I discovered the joy of poses through [LAP], so it saddens me to learn that the store will close June 17. Until then, all pose sets there are discounted at 50 percent off or more.

DV8 is also closing; unfortunately I don't know the exact date. I'm not sure how to describe DV8's style — let's go with "cyber sexy." I can tell you that my inventory is jam-packed with the store's wild hair, kick-ass boots, vivid clothes and generous hunt prizes. They will be missed. At the moment, EVERYTHING in the store is on sale for 50L, so run over there and stock up on DV8's distinctive fashions before it's too late.


Meow.



VISIT INWORLD
SVPAP Project Rescue
Long Awkward Pose
DV8

FOR MORE INFORMATION
SVPAP Project Rescue Website (SL)
SVPAP Website (RL)

ROLL CREDITS
Skin – Sugar at SVPAP Project Rescue – Hello Kitteh, includes four tones and cleavage options, 250L (100% donation item)
Mouthie – PSYCHO:Byts at SVPAP Project Rescue – Trapped Mouse (WITH 59 ANIMATIONS, Y'ALL!), 100L (100% donation item)
Tattoo – Ayna~ at SVPAP Project Rescue – MewMew, 99L (100% donation item)
Eyes – Peippo at SVPAP Project Rescue – Nature Eyes, includes four colors, 60L (100% donation item) (Just a heads up – if you like the whites of your eyes to be really white, these are not the eyes for you.)
Top – Ingenue – Lottie Bustier in Cherries Jubilee, FREE, Mesh Around Hunt prize (ends June 15)
Skirt – Evolve – Dandy Skirt in Ecru, FREE, Mesh Around Hunt prize (ends June 15)
Boots – DV8 – Rivet Kitteh Boots 2.0, 50L (Closing Sale)
Poses – [LAP] – from the Sweetheart pose set, 100L (Closing Sale)
Hair – Ploom at Collabor88 – Daydream in Dipped, includes optional hair flowers, 88L at May Collabor88 (HURRY – ends June 8)
Ears – Battle Angel – Hope Rose Ears, previous RFL Hunt prize

In Bloom (CHIC², Mesh Around, some minor bitching, blah blah blah)

Hey, the CHIC² birthday event is officially open, in case you haven't read about it in 90 million other blog posts. I was sort of pleasantly amazed to see my name on the blogger list. So here I am dutifully blogging the hell out of it. They had to really twist my arm, too!

I like this pose from the Fly Lily pack there because it looks kinda boozy. (Either that or "Bitch, don't mess with my topiary.") I'm sure boozy wasn't the intention of Fly Lily creator Melina Fetuccio, but I can make almost anything look boozy with very little effort.

In other "look at this CHIC² stuff I like" news, I wanted to trumpet the glory of this mesh Summer Love Maxi Dress by MONS because it's lovely and I don't have to eff around with a skirt shape or triangle crotch prims to wear it. I do have to eff around with a mesh shape, but fortunately that's pretty painless, thank you alpha layers.

Also, for some reason I always forget how much I like YourSkin & YourShape skins until I put them on, and then it's usually a happy reunion. I'm loving this Rachel skin. She looks a little sultry. Or boozy. Whatever floats your boat. Maybe everything looks boozy to me tonight because it's Sunday night aka "Game of Thrones" + "Mad Men" + vodka/cranberry juice + Dunkin Donuts night. It's a recipe for awesome and my RL is EXCITING!


For a nominal fee, I can come over to your place and pose provocatively with your plants as well.

So are you guys doing the Mesh Around Hunt? As soon as I saw these Desire Ankle Boots by GoS on the hunt Website, I hustled over there to find them. I didn't have to look long because while I was at the store, I saw three different chicks TP in to land directly on top of the "M" we're supposed to find. ARE YOU KIDDING ME with the cheat sheets already?? Didn't that hunt start, like, yesterday or something? Dear Fellow Hunters, when you TP into a store to a landing point that's on top of a shelf or behind a plant or whatever, that's a pretty good sign to the rest of us that YOU'RE CHEATING. And you know what? If you're using a cheat sheet, YOU'D BETTER GIVE ME A COPY or I'M TELLING!

That is all.

VISIT INWORLD
CHIC² Birthday Shopping Event, runs through June 24

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Participating CHIC² vendors
Mesh Around Hunt prize pictures and hints (Hunt runs through June 15.)

ROLL CREDITS
Dress – MONS at CHIC² – Summer Love Maxi Dress in Pink, 200L (Bought)
Bracelet – U&R Dogs at CHIC² – Turandot Bracelet in Cinnamon, 150L (Bought)
Skin – YS & YS at CHIC² – Rachel in Cat Eye, 800L for a single makeup (includes eyebrows, cleavage, freckles, teeth, hairbase options), 2000L for the exclusive CHICPack (includes three makeups, six shapes, six pairs of eyes and many lips/brow/hairbase/freckles/teeth/cleavage options) (review copy, thank you!)
Topiary – Trompe Loeil at CHIC² – Mesh Topiaries 5-pack, 300L (review copy, thank you!)
Poses – Fly Lily at CHIC² – CHIC² Birthday Set, includes 25 poses, 100L (review copy, thank you!)

ALSO SHOWN, NOT AT CHIC²
Shoes – GoS – Desire Ankle Boots in Baby Pink, FREE, Mesh Around Hunt prize (thank you to creator Gospel Voom!)
Hair – Truth – Tashia w/Roots, Champagne (♥ Truth)

Kicky Little Dress (Happy Birthday to CHIC Management AND my boobs!)

Happy Second Birthday, CHIC Management! Whenever CHIC hosts a shopping event I get giddy, so hells yeah I'm celebrating this milestone! Thank you for two years of well-spent lindens, CHIC, and bravo to fearless leader Keira Seerose!

Guess what else is celebrating a birthday this week: My fake RL boobs!

(Laugh — YES! I'm totally stretching for blog material here, and yeah, I chose boobs so maybe you'll read it. I know there are 9 million posts about CHIC2 today. At least mine has some references to nipples and nudity.)

It's true. After daydreaming about it for something like 20 years, this time last year I finally got a boob job. I went from a double-A to an all-American C cup, and frankly, my life has not changed as miraculously as I thought it would. People don't stop and applaud when I walk by. Nobody's throwing me a boob parade. Men don't gasp in amazement at my chest and ask to take pictures of it. Hooters has not called me of its own accord and offered me a job. Life with boobs is sort of just as non-eventful as life with no boobs.

OK, wait, I take that back. I dated a guy for a while, and then when I broke up with him he got a little crazy. Wouldn't stop calling me. Left long melodramatic messages on my voice mail. Sent me annoying text messages. But the thing was, he didn't say things like, "I miss you." Instead he would say things like, "I miss your body." Yes. He pined for my boobs after I yanked them out of his life. It drove him to madness. (Until he met his next chickie, which didn't take long at all.) So there's that, I guess. I didn't need to try as hard to have a shining personality or be witty and endearing when I was with him. All I had to do was stick my boobs in his face and he seemed pretty happy.


I did buy a kicky little dress like this one in RL, though. It's cut just as low too. And then I put it on and was too self-conscious of my bouncy, water-balloon cleavage to even LEAVE MY HOUSE. Oh the IRONY!

What does this have to do with Second Life? You're right — ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Sorry. I guess I could tie it all together here by saying that while it seems really strange for my RL self to finally have breasts, it doesn't seem strange at all for me to pump up the sliders on my AV. I am perfectly comfortable with my femininity when it's in pixel form, but I guess still not so much when it's bouncing up and down in front of my real face. Cosmetic surgery will not fix a wobbly self-esteem, and life is a self-imposed mind game we're constantly trying to win. There's your sage observation for the day, kids.

Um. Anyway.

I've never shopped at the store Echo before, but I saw this dress at a bloggers' preview of the upcoming CHIC-squared (I have no idea how to make that little tiny 2) birthday event and bought it because I loved the vibrant colors. I also bought this event-exclusive new Glam Affair skin, Mia. While some designers had review copies out, these two did not during the time I was there (which was pretty early), so hopefully the fact that I shelled out actual lindens for this stuff will serve as testament to my genuine affection for it.

God damn, that sentence gave me a headache.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give you the SLURL yet, so check back here tomorrow or in future posts if you need it. The event features 150 beloved creators and runs from 4 p.m. SLT June 3 through June 24. The venue is kind of cool — SHOPPING CUBES! (I have no idea what the formal terminology is, but why the hell don't we have these in RL? They could give us motorized wings when we shop there. Actually, it looks like something cool you'd see in Japan. So get on it, Tokyo.)

Here's a really bad picture of one corner (still in the works):


For a list of all the participating creators, check out the CHIC Management Website HERE RIGHT HERE CLICK THIS.

ROLL CREDITS (the things I bought are noted)
Dress – [ECHO] at CHIC2 – Measure Mesh Dress in Lime Teal, 150L (Bought)
Necklace – [glow] Studio at CHIC2 – Seahorse Necklace, 150L (Bought)
Earrings/Ring – Chloe at CHIC2 – Honey Drop Earrings in Honey, 125L; Honeycomb Ring in Honey, 125L
Skin – Glam Affair at CHIC2 – Mia Natural, CHIC2 Exclusive, 1299L - includes six eyebrow versions (Bought)
Makeup – Pekka at CHIC2 – Hydra Lip Balm (3), 120L includes five shades

ALSO PICTURED (not at CHIC2)
Hair – Truth – Roma2 w/Roots in Champagne, 250L per color pack, includes texture-change scarf, non-bangs version, non-roots version
Eyes – Vision by A:S:S – Northern Eyes, Grass
Shoes – R2 – Mele in Off-White, previous Collabor88 item (not sure if it's in stores now but the rest of R2's shoes are cool too)

AND A HUGE THANK-YOU to my friend Eurydice Barzane for her generous gift of an SL shopping spree for my RL birthday, which made the above purchases possible. I love her blog – she deserves a flock of followers. Check it out and MAYBE SHE'LL WRITE MORE! (Laugh)