Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's Eve!!

Last night was our New Year's Eve Eve party [because a lot of folks go out tonight] and wow - was it FUN. I was already laughing and excited before it started because my group was active and chatty the way we used to be, and it was wonderful! We had almost 40 people at the peak of the party, and everyone was just joyous and being crazy. The party lasted longer than I expected and even after the music was over, several stuck around just to chat, which surprised me a bit.

I think what it is, and what I've seen others saying, is that for some reason in 2010, we were kind of antisocial. I know that I was, for the most part. Things got so freakin' touchy for a while. I know I sure wasn't in the mood for parties or anything like that. It was easier to stay at home with Aldwyn and/or Ulaa. It seems like others were the same way. They stayed at home and didn't bother going out.

But it seems like times are changing. We don't want to be just tucked away all the time in our houses or on our platforms. We want to chat with others, have fun, dance, and just BE. Heck, we even said we wanted more SL weddings! Family, friends, good times and fun parties - that seems to be what we want out of our SL in 2011.

You know what? That sounds quite alright by me. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. Please please please be safe if you're going out. If you drink, don't drive. If you have to be on the roads [sober!], watch out for other people. I want to see all of your shiny happy faces in 2011!



[And I just realized today is the 3rd anniversary of my blog! Holy cow. LOL]

PARTY TONIGHT!!!

As promised, the SLURL for tonight's party!! The parcel is currently closed except to Bluebonnet residents so I can finish putting the final touches on the place. :) Here's the info! We'll see you at 8pm!!

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

I'll apologize in advance for the picture. It's more pixelated than I'd like because my video card settings for SL and for The Sims have to be different and I forgot to switch it back. It was supposed to be a great picture and some funny segue into my blog post, but I'm so distracted by the pixelation...well, whatever. Here.




The new year is fast fast fast approaching and I'm really ready for it. I did my New Year's goals over in my other blog, but of COURSE I need to do some for SL too!

1. Get the review copies I'm given under control. I am so so so bad at not opening things right away, and that is so very wrong because I really am grateful to everyone who is kind enough to send me something for my blog. I have probably 30 unopened boxes sitting in my Objects folder from the past couple of months and I need to open and sort them. I think it's just that I'm usually doing something in SL when I'm on and I don't have a chance to look, then it piles up.

2. Have more parties! We do have the New Year's Eve Eve party coming up on Thursday, but it used to be that I'd throw a party every Wednesday. Then every other week, then once a month, and then nothing at all. And that really kind of blows because sometimes that's the only time I get to see my friends. Everyone is usually so busy and I hate to just be all up in their IMs. Of course, they're probably thinking the same of me. LOL I've had a lot of people tell me they miss the Hump Day parties and the trivia parties, so definitely more of those in the coming year.

3. Read and comment in more SL blogs. I kind of stole this one from Tymmerie. I don't really read a LOT of SL blogs and the ones I do read, I almost never comment in. I need to fix that.

4. Be a better friend to my existing friends, and don't be scared to IM people on my friends list. I feel like this is a goal I make every year, but there's a good reason behind it. As you all know by now, I have seasonal depression every year. I can fake being chipper and upbeat for a while usually, but those who know me best know that if they didn't pull me out, I'd just sit quietly by myself for a few months and not talk to anyone. This year it's hit me a little harder than I wanted to admit, sometimes to the point of not being able to force myself to leave the house, but I'm lucky that I have good friends who know when to be in my face and when to back off a bit. So when things for me get better and I can do it, I will be better to them, and for them. ♥ And well, I just need to talk to more people on my friends list. So often I think that I don't have much to offer, or that they're busy, or that I'd just be annoying, that I don't talk. I'm not the best conversationalist in the world, but I can try. :)

I think this coming year will be a good one. I think we're all due a really really good year.

New Year's Eve Eve Party!!!

I just realized I actually sent out real invites last year for the party, but I'm lazy this season. LOL But hey! Party! On Thursday! :) I'll have the SLurl for the party room up on Thursday for everyone - here, on plurk, and on Flickr - so keep your eyes open!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

I wish you all a safe and happy holiday, full of good food, good presents, and most importantly, lots of love and laughter.

That's what YOU think!

I haven't had a really good opinion piece in a while, but a blog post was brought to my attention today and a quote from it made me roll my eyes.

"So while I understand that a lot of designers refrain from giving out review copies, we bloggers rarerly blog things we have to pay for."

So. Not. True.

I would gather that in most of my style posts, I've paid for at least 80% of what I'm wearing. It takes money to become a blogger, something that most people starting out fail to realize. Unless you're blogging nothing but freebies, it takes money. It is such a horrible misconception that bloggers have their Second Lives basically paid for. Sure, there are some bloggers that get a ton of review copies - but those ones are few and far between.

Now I'll admit that I'm fairly lucky. I've made friends with some pretty kickass creators, and I get things for free here and there. Other lists that I've managed to get on, it's because I have bought things in the past from that store [you're delusional if you think creators don't check that] and I've blogged items from there before.

But, for the most part, I spend a GREAT deal of money financing my hobby. Yes, hobby. Fashion blogging is not a job for me. None of the creators I blog pay me except in thank yous and sometimes in free items. If there is something I think I'd like to blog and I'm not on that creator's blogger list, I buy it. If it means that I sometimes show the same item a few times in different posts, hey, that's just how it is. I do not ask for review copies. I'm the one who chose to be a fashion blogger, so it's up to me to finance that. Any free items I'm given, whether from a friend or from someone who happens to like my blog, I am grateful for.

This quote from this blog bothered me because I see how hard my creator friends work. And I also see how they choose how a blogger gets their items. Some take the somewhat easier route of passing blogger copies to a blogger group and hope that someone blogs them. Others have a delivery system that sends to a list of people that they like. And some others still do it by hand, passing out to bloggers that they like. Almost always, with the exception of the group givers, they choose bloggers who have either blogged their items before, or who have at least shopped in the store before.

YES. SHOPPED. As in "Oh hi, you spent the money to buy something from me." They are 10 times more likely to give to a blogger who requests a review copy if that blogger has shopped with them before.

Because you know, we see how it goes. We see the bloggers who believe that having a blog means they can ask for the whole store.

Honey, it so doesn't mean that at all.

You can't have a blog that has no posts and yet ask for fatpacks of items from stores that you've never shopped at before. Yes, we all start somewhere, but usually we start by opening our wallets.

So, Ms. "Bloggers only blog what they're given" Ma'am. You are desperately, completely wrong in your statement. Maybe YOU only blog free items you're given, but the rest of us are shopping, and I'll take a guess that our blogs will be around longer because of it.

Love Thursday

I know, I did my sappy Aldwyn post last month. But it's Thursday, and I haven't done a Love Thursday post in a while, annnnnndddd.... we've been together for 6 months today! :)




Yesterday reminded me why I love being with him. Even when he's busy [and he is often quite busy], he makes time to listen to me. Not that what I have to say is usually so super important, but he acts like it is. :)

Oh, and let's not forget that he lets me tell Plurk that I'm over him sometimes several times in a day, is terribly terribly patient with me when I'm in my bratty moods, let's me throw his dog out when I'm mad, and thinks I'm funny when I curse. [Which is often.]

He's pretty awesome. I think I'll keep him. ♥

Language is the source of misunderstandings.

There's been a lot of talking lately. Oh, don't get me wrong. I like to talk. And in a place like Second Life, sometimes that's all we CAN do. But once in a while, I think there's too MUCH talking. Sometimes it's better to just hold your tongue and let things fall the way they will.

That being said, a long time ago, I used to do posts of pictures I found while cleaning off my desktop. I take pics a LOT in SL. Maybe not as many as I used to, due to the crashing issue I seem to have if I take more than 5 or 6 photos in a session, but I still take quite a bit. I was clearing off the desktop and found some pics to share. :)

This picture of Aldwyn and me makes me laugh! We were just sitting and I doubt he was even looking in world, but every time his hand came up, it made me think he was choking me. Heck, I'm such a brat, he may actually want to sometimes!




We've been in this pose before, and it's a sweet one in the right angle. In this one, I look like I'm saying, "You're going to listen to me, mister, and listen good!"




I caught this photo of Ulaa when we were out on her parcel. I was playing around with the Kirsten viewer that night to get shadows and stuff. I think it's cute. No, I don't know why she's in the snow in a skimpy dress.




We were out at a sim where they sell a lot of stuff for kids. Forgive me, but I totally blanked out on the name of the sim. It's super cute, though!




Would you like some lemonade?




Oh. Right. We're not kid avatars. We don't fit in these seats.




These are mean snowmen! They are tossing around the head of the other one! Guess they never heard of the Pink Shirt Day. I don't know who made this, but it's pretty funny.




Love is when you show up wearing antlers and a red Rudolph nose, and your boyfriend STILL thinks you're totally gorgeous.




I picked this Santa Snuggle Bunny out at the Albero fair. Adorable! I love things that I can hold or hug.




Well, that's it for now! This is why this blog will never be on any feeds. Who the heck really wants to be scrolling through eleventy million pictures? At least if you guys come here, there's a chance you don't mind doing it. Maybe. :)

Dear SLanta...

Dear SLanta,

Hi! It's nice to see you've come back to the island. We have much to catch up on, and we will, but for now, here is my Christmas list.

Well SLanta, the truth is, I have no idea what I'd like. I mean, have you SEEN the state of my inventory?? It would be easy to say I want more furniture from LISP Bazaar [because I always want furniture from there], or shoes from Shiny Things and J's, or clothing from a dozen different places. But it's most likely I'd just buy all that stuff anyway, or get it as gifts from others or review copies.

No, SLanta, what I want for Christmas this year, I'm not sure you could put in your bag. What I want is for my friends to feel happy and loved. I want people to be successful at their endeavors. I want them to remember that a little grace goes a long way, and that sometimes the best thing a person can do is forgive. I want those closest to me to receive everything that their hearts desire. I want everyone to have fun, laughter, and peace.

Till next time, SLanta. :)

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

I've been playing around with Kirsten's new viewer for the past couple of days. It's got some good qualities - the main ones being the shadows and the depth of field newness. Supposedly you can see depth of field in LL's mesh viewer, but I couldn't. Kirsten's runs a lot better for me when using these features.

If you don't know what depth of field is, and I sure as heck didn't know it had a proper name before this week, it's when something is in focus and the rest of the picture is more blurry. Like this!




I have done photos like this before in SL but I had to heavily rely on the blur brush in Photoshop to achieve the look. In the Kirsten viewer, it was all done for me! Nice!

Do I think this is a game changer? Yeah, I kind of do, especially where fashion bloggers are concerned. The introduction of shadows started it. Most of the time, if the shadows aren't used excessively, the photo simply looks more polished. I'm a fan of my own photos - they're bright, clear, and you can see what I'm showing - but naturally photos from someone like Strawberry Singh look much more polished and complete because of her use of shadows. [And because she's just truly awesome at what she does.] And for machinima? Well, let's face it. New machinimas using this are going to be amazing.

I don't like to keep the shadows and the depth thingy on all of the time, though. I don't NEED shadows. I like things bright. And walking around with depth of field is odd because everything is basically a big blur and my eyesight is bad enough.

But oh...it does make for some great photos.