A Selfish Post? Maybe.

Today I am sharing an image I took this past week of an outfit and some ankle boots I worked on as I try to recreate my store, and actually do something I can only hope is worthwhile on some level.

It's been a challenge to fit in working on the store while also working on an SL wedding (not mine, I assure you) and working with an SL modeling agency as the Executive Assistant/landscaper/all around pain in the arse.

Add to that the fact that my leg is screwing up again (I'm trying my damnedest to avoid another hospital stay) and I've been medicating and lying in bed a lot, the challenge is even greater.

Fun times.

At any rate, I have made the effort to drag myself out of the bed and make a post here at 8:00AM, and then I'll try to get into SL for the first time in a couple of days (I think, I've lost track of time) and push myself back into more creating and catching up on any work I've fallen behind on.

The outfit I made comes in five colors, and is already up for sale in world (I still have to do the marketplace links. Ugh), but I have put up a blog post here [I really need to find a blogger for this store blog, I can't keep up with this and everything else I do]  that shows the vendor ads for each color. I called it Cozy Days, because I am terrible with naming stuff. The ankle boots are for SLink high feet, and they come in 12 different colors. I named then Jen boots, after a friend. They know who they are, most likely.

The image on this post will only show the Blue/Grey colored outfit in Cozy Days, as well as the Rain version of the Jen boots.

As an aside, I added the shadow on the ground via Photoshop, using a tutorial from Daeberethwen Arbenlow, which you can watch here.

...though I admit I had to make a duplicate layer of my image and erase everything around the body to do it, and I still need to polish up on making shadows better, but everyone has to start somewhere. (Thanks to Dae for making the video!)

The Goods 

• Hair: Kerry in Red by Ploom
• Head: Sadie by LOGO
• Skin: Adore (Bare/Red Brow - Tone 5) by Lumae
• Body: Lara by Maitreya
• Hands: Avatar Enhancement Hands (Casual) by SLink
•  Eyes: Wraith (Left Eye) & Ghost (Right Eye) by IKON
• Clothes: Cozy Days in Blue & Grey by Faisean (my store)
• Feet:Avatar Enhancement Feet Deluxe V1.2 by SLink
• Shoes: Jen Ankle Boots in Rain by Faisean

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To Catch A Potato Thief

So there was a photo challenge issued on Plurk, and it lead a list of people assigned to partner up for a photo shoot together of any theme. These photos, once done, would be placed in the Flickr group, Nigel's Mixed Nuts. I've been so extremely slack on my blog postings for a long, long time now...that I decided I would share my photos here, as well as on Flickr.

For the January round of these challenges, I was fortunate to be paired with someone I've been friends with for a long time, Loki. Now, if you haven't seen Loki's Flickr stream, then you should...because he takes amazing photos. Even if you aren't interested, you should still go look, because Loki deserves the views in honor of the pesky potato attacks I've launched on him, forever. Poor guy.

Also, if you don't look at his Flickr stream, you'll miss his photos from the same shoot, which will undoubtedly be a million times better than mine.

Anywho, on to the photos!

My Goods (in the photo):

•  Skin: Lumae :: Adore : 1 - Pearl :: Tulips {RedBrow}
• Shape: Anastasia (Nima Skin - LoudMouth) (Self-made, not for sale)
• Ears: UNISEX[MANDALA]STEKING_ears_ver4
• Hair: *Calico* Clara - Reds
• Hair Base: AD - hair base 1 - crimson
• Body: Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara V3.3
• Mouth: .Loud Mouth. - Alli Classic 
• Lashes: *MC* "Falsies" Eyelash - Upper+Lower
• Hands: Slink Avatar Enhancement Hands V2.3 - Casual
• Feet: Slink Avatar Enhancement Feet High Left V2.3
• Eyes: IKON Hope Eyes - Ghost & Wraith
• Makeup: :::Sn@tch Party Girl Makeup (Creamsicle-T):::
• Dress: DE Designs - Thyri - Black
• Shoes: Eudora 3D Elvira Heels (Slink High) Black

To see what Loki is wearing, he may put the information on Flickr, but I cannot attest complete certainty on that!

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Planet Earth Is (Always) Blue

For the majority of the week, so long that I can't even remember the exact day I went in now, I was in the hospital. IVs, blood work pretty much daily, bad hospital food (and sometimes a lack of), the whole nine yards...so my week was already pretty lousy.

And then I woke up early on January 11th (according to my Plurk timestamp) and saw that the world had fallen down.

Mine stopped.

David Bowie. I refused to believe it. He had just put out an album, Blackstar, and I had not too long before that made a Plurk about his 69th birthday. Suddenly, the Thin White Duke, our Star Man...our Goblin King, our slightly insane lad from Brixton, was gone.

It hit hard. Perhaps harder than it should have, to an outsider.

I was always 'weird', a misfit...someone who definitely didn't fit in as well as anyone else around my peers here in South Carolina. I probably still don't, although I find I don't really dwell on it as much as I did in my younger days.

I found solace in music, movies...books. There were a lot of books and music. One day, I got to sit and watch Labyrinth, and I saw this man with wild hair and a singing voice that blew my young mind away. I was hooked, and I think I even found my first crush. He was a misfit, a weirdo....he was like me. He was a better version, of course, and I came to revere that. He took what I (and so many others) felt, and still feel...and he embraced it, and he made the world stand up and take notice. Through him, being 'weird' was suddenly...okay. It was more than okay, it was celebrated. Sure, there were haters, as no one can escape that, but they just didn't matter...they could have their opinions.

He made us belong, even if it was just amongst ourselves. He was our Duke, and we adored him.

But now he has departed this earth. He has gone home, and planet Earth truly is blue.

I know I am.

Thank you, David, our Thin White Duke....
thank you.

Thank you for making this weirdo misfit from the south feel like she had a place, even if she hasn't completely settled into it yet.

...our stars will look different forever, because you are now among them.

Shine on, you brilliant man.

 

 The Goods:

• -{The Attic}- Eyeshadow (Soft Pink)
• [mock] Guyliner 2k (eyeliner only)
• Sn@tch Mystery Makeup (Tattoo-Silver)
• +Fallen Gods Inc+ Aladdin Sane face makeup
• IKON Hope Eyes Ghost & Wraith
• *MC* Falsies Eyelashes
• .Loud Mouth. - Alli Classic w/ Vampire Teeth
• Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara
• Analog Dog crimson hair base
• /Wasabi Pills/ Serena Mesh Hair (self tinted)
• Lumae :: Adore : 1 - Pearl :: Tulips (RedBrow)
• [MANDALA]STEKING_ears_ver4

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Another blow to my heart; Alan Rickman. I am not even sure what to say right now.

He was amazing, and like David, far too young to be gone.

He showed us pure talent, and with a grace and charm that will never be matched again. He never played a villain, he play interesting people, and that was his opinion. It was mine as well.

He leaves a hole in this world that will never be filled.

Hans Gruber. Elliot Marston. Sheriff of Nottingham. Colonel Brandon. Metatron. Alexander Dane. Severus Snape. ..down to his last (upcoming role reprisal) as the voice of the Blue Caterpillar in Alice Through the Looking Glass...he will be remembered and cherished.

Raise your wands, Potter fans. Raise them high.

For everyone else...raise your glass, your lighters..hell, raise your cell phone flashlight.

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