Favorite Jeans

You know how you fall in love with a pair of jeans and wear them all the time? Your other jeans hang in the closet waiting for you to pull them out, but you grab for those favorites unless they’re due for an appointment with the washing machine or you have to dress up more than the fraying, faded favorites can handle. I’ve discovered a pair like that in Second Life.

I’ve bought several pairs of jeans but never seemed to want to wear them until I stumbled upon these. Stumbled is the right word. I was at the Artilleri sim riding around on a scooter (did you know you can accidentally ride into the ocean and still manage to make it back on shore without mussing your hair — I love Second Life). I stopped in front of one of the stores and as I was in shopaholic mode I decided to explore. The jeans were shown in one of the images to buy and I liked the faded color but didn’t expect much from them. Ah, how wrong I was! Emma Gilmour’s Hipster Cowgirl Jeans found at the Sand Shack Surf Co. (artilleri 92, 180, 24) give me that comfortably faded look I love:

Let me give you the rundown on what else I’m wearing:

• Hair – Hairapy’s Drew in Black
• Skin – Celestial Skins Cashmere Mid Red
• Glasses – Insolence’s Danielle Turtle Shell 2
• Tank under shirt – ETD Wife Beater (a color tintable freebie from ETD)
• White shirt – Canimal Office Affair (nice outfit with a skirt, tie, and a sheer version of the shirt)
• Shoes – Shiny Things Kickabout Mule – blue flowers

As for the jeans, here’s some more views:

So, since I have my favorite pair of jeans I thought I should also show you some shoes that I like to wear with them. You’re seeing me in the Kickabout Mules from Shiny Things. Here’s a better look at them:

I’ve found some other shoes — besides my favorite boots that I wear too much of — that I like to wear with these jeans. I definitely need something casual so these two pairs of shoes get to come out of my inventory closet depending on what top I’m wearing:

The first pair is also from Shiny Things. They’re called Boho Sandals and are the black version. The second pair is the Lo-Kool Kicks in white (I also have the camo version) from KK Footwear.

What’s really neat about Second Life? I teleported to the store to verify the location and guess who pops in? Emma Gilmour, the designer of the jeans! I got to walk over and say thank you for making great jeans for me. You can’t do that too often in real life can you?

Quality Family Time

I’m enjoying time with family, so don’t expect any posts today and tomorrow. We had a big birthday bash last night — our family does two birthday parties a year and if your birthday falls in one of the “halfs” you are one of the birthday folks.

Last night it was a luau themed party. I got “leied” and wore a silly grass skirt over my regulare clothes. There was a sing-a-long with family. My brother Steve even brought amps and mikes and guitars and whatever else one uses to make music. Cousin Eric brought his guitar. Sister Sue has the grand piano, so there was plenty of music had by all. I was outside watching my niece, nephew, and great-niece swim with my brother-in-law while I talked life, education, and politics with my niece.

Today I’m joining my sister and her kids, and possibly my brother-in-law, in going to see Hairspray. We should have fun.

Below

Tonight’s movie in the DVD player is Below. So far it’s very atmospheric. Of course, any movie taking place in a submarine offers plenty of atmosphere – usually a claustrophobic one.

Update: Wow. Nicely done ghost/submarine movie. Not that there are many in that genre.

Sam Seder Interviewed in Second Life

Tonight’s Second Life adventure was brought to you by a great group of progressives: it was an interview with Sam Seder, author of FUBAR and radio host, as part of the preparations leading to the YearlyKos convention. The convention is next week, but tonight Jimbo Hoyer interviewed Sam. Sam’s avatar was pretty darn good:

There was a good crowd there to listen to the audio stream:

It was a good interview that ranged from radio to blogs and beyond. And afterwards? There was dancing!

I even got a shot of me in the middle of a dance move. Sigh…is there a rule that action shots always seem to  get you in a pose like this?

I told you how excited I was that a piece of the YearlyKos convention would be available in Second Life. I’m looking forward to next week’s convention and am ready to enter the convention hall:

A Different Kind of Avatar

You know how much I love to write about my Second Life avatar and what she wears and how she looks? Well, I created a new kind of avatar today, but not in Second Life. I created my Simpsons avatar. Yes, what would I look like if I were a character on The Simpsons? Um…not pretty.

You too can discover your Simpson look at the The Simpsons Movie web site. I giggled through the whole process.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll stick with my Second Life look, which isn’t based on what I really look like (ah, that’s the secret!):

Harry Potter Saga is Over

I’m feeling sad about the end of the series, but have to say, the last book is thoroughly satisfying. I finished it off this morning and while reading all of it I cried, laughed, and felt terrified throughout. A very good read.

Goodies from Second Life

As I wait for my tea to steep so I can return to the new Harry Potter book I thought I’d show you some of the fun new items I’ve purchased in Second Life. I really am a Barbie at heart.

There was a sale going on at Bossa Nova. Moire Georgette was selling some of her stuff at some screaming good deals (I bought a bathing suit for free and a dress for one linden!). I’d gone into her shop before and hadn’t felt like shelling out the lindens for her stuff. It just didn’t appeal to me, but I’m learning that the pics on the store wall never give you the full feeling as actually wearing the clothes, so I decided to try some of her clothes. Oh my. I’m in love:

This is the Leia dress in black. There were some fun colors, but I wasn’t sure if I’d like it on, so went for the black (hmmm…I may have to go back and get some more). I love it. The textures are gorgeous. The black is more of a charcoal gray, and what do you know? I have a pair of black boots that matches! I even have the perfect bracelet:

The boots are Maitreya’s Dune style. With the sculpty uppers they look nice, soft, and suedey (is there such a word to describe suede items?). The glasses, which I’ve begun wearing every so often, especially after discovering Artilleri’s selection of colors and styles, are Artilleri’s Cateye Retro Star styles. I bought a few other pairs of different types and colors while in Artilleri’s main shop (by the way, I’m lazy — I assume if you’re interested you’ll use the Search in Second Life to find out how to get to these places. If you need help let me know by posting a comment and I’ll get you the TP coordinates). The bracelet is from Earthtones and is part of the Romance Shades Bangles pack. This one is the wide version called Shades of Shadow. The hair is by Calla and is called Viscaria. The skin is my new favorite: Celestial Skins Cashmere Muted Lips Peach – Mid style.

I also picked up some new hair at Cake. I saw this hair mentioned at the Second Style blog and thought I’d check it out. Oh my, I’m glad I did. It’s given my avatar a whole new attitude. Here’s the hair along with the free bathing suit from Bossa Nova, plus a necklace that I also picked up from Cake:

Um…Celestial Skins really does do a lot of shading around the breasts to give you that extra oomph. I really have the slider set low (it’s under 40) for the breast size, but I guess I won’t complain. The hair style is called Rumor, and I’m loving it.

Here’s another hair style I picked up at Cake, called Poe. Pictures don’t do it justice. Let’s just say that it’s waaaaaay flexified and those ringlets wave about a lot in a breeze. I also think that the black hair texture probably doesn’t show off the curls as much as a lighter color would. I’m also wearing a new bracelet from Cake:

Here’s more of the Bossa Nova outfits:

The first two images are the Mariana dress in red. In the first shot I’m wearing some new hair from Artilleri called Jami. I’m also wearing a pair of the color-changing ETD Summer Slingback shoes in white (I’m able to adjust the color of the straps) and the bracelet is part of the same Earthtones pack mentioned above. The second shot shows you my favorite fun style: Hairapy’s Heather style. Very 1960s with it’s headband (with a color-changing flower!) and flipped up curls, you can add two kinds of bangs to the hair, the full fringe or sideswept bangs. I’m also wearing the Sin Skins Sultry Red skin. Red lips were called for with that outfit. The other two outfits are the Zuzu in plum with the longer skirt — it comes with a long and short version — and the one linden Copacabana dress (a deal!). In both shots I’m wearing the Rumor hair style. Can’t you just feel the attitude that I’m emitting?

I’ve shopped a few more places other than Cake, Bossa Nova, and Artilleri (I also picked up some neat bracelets from there, you can see one of them on the picture below). I picked up the Boytrap outfit from Amaretto, some earrings from Caminal, more skin from Celestial Studios (this time with Red lips), and even more attitude. I have to say it, I am one hot babe:

The tea finished steeping quite a while ago, so back to the adventures of Harry Potter!

Land Owning

I own land but not in real life — only in Second Life. I broke down last weekend and purchased a small plot on the mainland. My justification was that since I was spending money on renting a place then why not go ahead and buy something? So, for about $20 US dollars I purchased something near the ocean. Near…not next to.

Buying mainland property is something of a crap shoot. There are no covenants so you could find that one morning your peaceful neighbor has left and you are now living next to a swinging orgy club. So far I’ve been lucky. Some neighbors have come and gone this last week, some land terrain has been edited, and I’ve been pretty happy with my property.

After buying the land I thought about trying my hand building a house all by myself, but realized that I could have a place of my own much quicker if I just bought, plus an experienced house builder would use a lot less prims than me fumbling around. So standing on my 512m piece of land I decided to start small. I added some trees:

Aren’t I a great landscape artist?

I went house shopping and discovered a place called 512 Noland Avenue Prefabs. So, in about an hour’s time I bought several house demos, see how they fit on my land, decided on a model, bought it, and plopped it on my land. Why can’t real life be so simple?

I bought the house that I did because it allows great views out the large windows, but no one can see in, plus? It has a pool. Well, not only do I have land, a house, but also a pool:

Here was the view from my pool that first day:

See that house to the right? It’s gone now. Someone has also messed with the beach front property, but in a good way. I hate to think what it will look like when someone buys that land. Here’s what it looked like a day later:

Someone likes trees as much as I do!

So, it’s fun to landscape and decorate and live in a place like you would never live in. Check it out:

I’ve hung pictures, added plants, and a lovely wind chime. Just like in real life…except for the palm trees and sand and ocean and picture windows and….

DVD Choices

I’m not sure what to watch tonight. Last night I put in Miss Potter, a pleasant film about Beatrix Potter, the writer of “The Tales of Peter Rabbit.” Tonight’s film was Windtalkers. I’m debating whether to put another film in to watch or just go to bed and start reading the new Harry Potter book.

Choices, choices.

Hairspray and Smiling

Have you ever sat through an entire movie with a huge grin on your face? If not, go see Hairspray. It’s a delight.

I saw the original Hairspray and loved it, but never saw the stage musical based on John Waters movie. So, I knew the basic story, but was surprised at how similar it was to the original film, yet managed to make its own mark.

The songs aren’t memorable, but I enjoyed them as the cast sang and danced to them. In fact, kudos to the cast. Everyone was having fun. I’d say the weakest link was John Travolta. His performance as a woman distracted me. Still, it’s only one weak link out of tons of enjoyable performances.

I also think the movie is a great one for the younger crowd and with Zac Efron, of High School Musical fame, playing a large role, there’s going to be some girls who will want to see the movie. By the way, Efron does a good job.

Walking out of the theater I ran into an acquaintance, and like me, she also found it a movie that you can smile through. Go see it and get those smile muscles working.

Greenies’ Home

After reading Natalia’s post on the Greenie’s Home in Second Life, I knew that’s where I would fly off to on my next outing. Oh my, I do love the display of creativity displayed at this giant-sized home.

Here I am about to enter the house through what turns out to be the floorboards:

You enter and at first you don’t realize where you are. It all looks boringly bland and normal…until you realize you are in a doll house! Once you leave the doll house you begin to sense the size of the sim you are in:

Here I am in the living room. Someone else has discovered the space ships you can ride in from the Greenie Mother Ship:

I flew into the kitchen (flying is highly recommended as this place is too huge to walk around) and discovered a cat just like my Lulu-kitty. Luckily she was too interested in a Greenie in her food dish to notice me. Niiiiiice kitty:

So the Greenies who seem determined to take over this ordinary house are not quite the upstanding aliens that they could be. I caught them getting into things they really shouldn’t:

Exploring in the kitchen, I flew up onto a shelf where a cookbook that looks awfully familiar was sitting. Yep, I remember that cookbook from my younger days. I also loved the medicine with a handy, dandy lid to perch in:

I ended up at the Greenies’ Mother Ship:

I also found one of those space ships that I could fly:

My fun soon ended, because as I flew down from the Mother Ship I was suddenly booted out of the small space ship, and I was stuck outside the house. I suddenly felt quite like a bee, buzzing up against the window:

I tried to get back a couple of times, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the place is so popular that it fills up, thus I’m not able to teleport there. I’ll keep trying. It really is spectacular. It’s not just spectacular, it’s fun!

Meeting Coyote Along the Way

Guess what I saw this morning? A coyote. There he was off the dirt path Spencer and I were walking. Luckily Spencer never saw the critter, and I was able to snap the leash back on him just in case. The coyote looked at me, I looked at it, it looked at me some more (this was all from a distance), and then I made a noise, and it ran back up a bit into the woods, but still looked on as Spencer and I walked past.

As Spencer and I took a longer walk today since it was a day off for me, by the time we got back to that spot the coyote was long gone. Still, it does make one realize that I don’t live in the suburbs. And I have no problem with that.

YearlyKos, Here I Come! (in a virtual way, of course)

How did I not know about this? My love of all things DailyKos and all things Second Life weren’t communicating with each other, obviously. Which is silly, as I discovered tonight, for they have paired up. Though I had decided that I just couldn’t swing the convention in Chicago, I’m going to YearlyKos in Second Life! Whoo hoo!

Luckily I checked the events before heading home from work and saw that writer Glenn Greenwald was going to be interviewed in SL. Greenwald, the author of How Would a Patriot Act and A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency. Oh. My. God. I joined late so didn’t get to see or hear the interview, but joined in time to see everyone gathered around him (okay, gathered around his avatar). Then off to the side I see SamSeder Writer…was that the Sam Seder of Air America radio? I walk up to him and ask if he is, probably scaring the dickens out of him. It was!

I sign up for the YearlyKos Second Life (YKSL) and then join the gang on the dance floor (yep, dancing after the interview – how cool). So Greenwald and Seder don’t stick around, but guess who was dancing on the same dance floor as I? Who even spoke to me and gave me cash for being the first to sign up for YKSL (even though I don’t think I was first)? Oh my, it was General JC Christian of Jesus’ General, every heterosexually-speaking pixel of him! Eeeeek!

So, though I was kind of bummed that I was going to miss YearlyKos this year, even though I originally scheduled vacation time for YearlyKos, I’m happy now. I’m ready to help out and join in the fun in the Second Life universe. And how cool is it that when I select the tags for this post that I can select YearlyKos and Second Life?

Second Life in Real Life and a Starry Night

Many of you have seen the video: a bunch of real life folks acting as if they were in Second Life. I had meant to post it some time back, but never got around to it until Susan posted it in one of the discussions. So here’s something that still makes me laugh:

For something a little more (a lot more) elegant here’s Robbie Dingo’s creation of a Second Life Starry Night. Absolutely gorgeous:

Jumping in at Second Life

Well, though I’m no longer in the model contest I still have plenty to do in Second Life. I tried out skydiving. Leaving from Abbott’s Aerodome I was flown up to 3000 meters and let go with my new parachute. Here’s the action shot:

The goal was to hit the mark on a landing pad at Abbott’s, but I think I missed: