Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Dressing for the Weather, Pt I

I don't know how it is where you are are, but here where my typist lives, we're in that transitional weather season where it's 20F one day and 65F the next and if it's warm it's raining and if it's sunny the wind is gusting. Ahhh, late Fall, you make it hard to sort my wardrobe.

Now, while SL hasn't added a new feature where our little avatars shiver and turn blue when weather grows cold (and after WindLight, weather seems the next logical step - think WindLight makes your avatars face looks sallow? Just wait till drizzle's running your makeup and frizzing your hair!), I still like to dress seasonally - so this week, that means coats and sweaters and all things that go well with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

First up is this adorable coat that isn't exactly rain gear but the cheery color reminds me of rubber ducky yellow slicker and boots. Made by Arimidi Gisaci, the Francia Woven Coat comes in a variety of colors. I rarely wear yellow in RL or SL, so it was with some serious nailbiting and hesitation that I chose this one - in the end it was the bright cheerfulness that made me smile on an otherwise grey day.

The Tights are by Lotta, labeled "nep knit socks - caki' in my inventory. They are a thick wooly green, guaranteed to keep your legs warm when the wind is gusting. Keeping my head warm is the Danielle beret by Tesla - a wonderful addition to anyone's wardrobe because it's color-changing. I've finished off the outfit with Adam n Eve's Stompi Boots in Apricot. Like most 1 piece ankle boots, you can see that they cut into my ankles a bit in an extreme pose like this one, but I saw very little problems actually moving around normally. And they are a ridiculously low price, so I don't care if my ankles suffer a bit.

The hair I'm wearing is 0 Style's "Now Seeker" in Brunet and the skin is one of two sets I've been wearing almost exclusively this past month - PixelSpa's Stella di Roccia in Almond. This make-up set is Chanteuse, the cat's eye version. Each make-up comes with a cat's eye version and a regular eyeliner version, and the make-up combinations are all lovely. The eyes are Tuli silver eyes and look just like the sky outside my RL window.

Skin: PixelSpa / Stella di Roccia - Almond Chanteuse (cateye liner)
Hair: 0 Style / *now Seeker* Brunet
Eyes: Tuli / Silver
Hat: Tesla / Danielle (color changing)
Coat: Armidi Gisaci / Francia Woven Coat - Yellow
Tights: Lotta / nep knit socks - caki
Boots: Adam n Eve / Stompi boots - Apricot

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

For those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!

For those everywhere, thank you for sharing your lives with ours in Second Life.

And to all of you - have some turkey and stuffing! Your avatars look half starved!

Skin: Stella di Roccia - Almond, Nude, PixelSpa
Dress, Hair/Hat: Plain Dress - Blue. Ghanie Lane@Garda - Plain and Modest
Turkey: Love, Aly, 1L


(I can't tell you about Mickey's - he patched together an outfit and I made him a quickie hat to match!)

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Home Again


After a lengthy hiatus caused by the real world, we finally got back to work on our new house. (Good grief, we started in July!)

It's now finished and nestled snugly into the Winterfell forest. We've begun furnishing it and in another day or so we're going to call it done.

Here are a few pictures.

We both worked on the build and I have a new respect for Second Life housebuilders. The basic shapes are easy enough, but getting all the seams to line up and the pieces to fit together is harder than I ever appreciated.

Morgana did all the textures and did a marvelous job. That's also a harder task than it looks, especially when trying to align edges.

The basic design is two main sections separated by an arched passthrough. One end is the bedroom and living room. On the other end is a ballroom and a gallery overlooking it. The second-level room above the archway houses a bath.

The turret at the top was a late addition Morgana built, with some usable space inside. It tops off the main structure perfectly, without overwhelming it or getting swallowed up by the size of the building under it.

So it took some doing but it's done. We have a home again, a one-of-a-kind that we're really proud of. It was a fun project, and we collaborated on it well without any real disagreements over what was needed. Having done it once, we'll avoid some mistakes next time -- if there is a next time, as I think we'll be happy in this for quite a while.