preFabulous: MudHoney Hoxley House

Do you have land that you never use but you hold on to it anyways?  I'm renting two places now which is pretty good for me.  I used to be a serial renter.  I keep a plot of land (937 prims-woohoo!) because I tend to hoard prefabs and like to change houses frequently.  (I'm also renting a cute little cottage on an awesome sim which I'll tell you about another time).  But since I only seem to get on SL once or twice a week, my Prefabulous posts have been less than frequent.  I'll try to get on more.

The Hoxley House created by Rayvn Hynes of MudHoney reminds me of Greece.  I'm always telling people that if I had enough money I would buy property in Greece (because it's probably cheap right now).  I love everything Rayvn creates (and nope, I don't get review copies just so you know) but especially her prefabs.  I hope she continues to make houses because, well, I need to feed my habit.

Wow!  I need to be more social ;=\

I love stairs that lead up to the bedroom.

house:  Hoxley House, MudHoney
landscape: UrbanizeD Garden, The Sea Hole, Zoe's Garden, [Organica]
decor:
Porch:  Dreamscapes Art Gallery, [ba], Blue River Designs
Downstairs:  Artilleri Home, {what next}, [North West], Little Boxes, Second Spaces, Sway's, Tatty Soup, Awesome Blossom, nordari
Upstairs:  Lisp, Cheeky Pea, Second Spaces, UrbanizeD, Clutter, Dreamscapes Art Gallery, {what next}

Fashions
top & legging, Kunglers @ The Dressing Room Blue
Dasia Pyjamas, Somnia

welcomes October

October!!  My favorite month in both sl and rl is finally here.  I loved Halloween inworld last year-so much so that I blogged twice a week.  Nowadays, I'm happy if I can churn out one post a month.

There's a great new shopping place on the grid, The Theme Park.  The owners of Embody have done a great job creating a relaxing atmosphere with mountains and the sounds of water.

And some of your favorite stores are there:  Crackberry, Cool Beans and and Clutter just to name a few.  There will be two sale events each month and each designer is required to have at least one sale item.  So put it on your list of places to visit!  I'm sure there will be some great items in the upcoming months.

I'm wearing the Boo Dress by Greymoon and makeups by both Cool Beans and *elymode*.  Poses are by Embody.

skirt/top: Greymoon (at Theme Park)
poses:  Embody, Slasher Pose (at Theme Park)
makeup 1: *elymode*, Sunken eye-shadows and cheek (at Theme Park)
makeup 2: ::Cool Beans::, Pumpkin Face (at Theme Park)
tights:  Rotten Toe, Torn Tights
hair: Truth, Rowena
place:  Cadeling Garden

*Numb*

I am heartbroken this morning.  I am angry.  A grave injustice happened at 11:08 last night.  Let this be the lesson that finally ends the death penalty.

rip Troy.  Your death will not be in vain.

place: Darkness Forest

buBBlegum Weekend 1

I've been wanting to join in on the bubblegum challenge thingy for awhile now.  And even though the weekend is over, what better way to start Monday morning but with green hair (+jane's mesh dress)?

dress:  Jane, Sack Dress
hair: Wasabi Pills, Mocha hair
pose:  Glitterati
place:  Arctic Greenhouse

faith and Desire

Gidge Uriza over at It's Only Fashion has a SL Weekly Words Blogger Challenge.  I'm a little behind but here are my week 1 words:  Faith and Desire.

dress:  [Moxie], Cyber Dress-New
tattoo:  Para Designs
hair:  /Wasabi Pills, Eve Hair-New
poses:  Glitterati-Annual Sale through September 1
place: Koreshan City

searching for Swimsuits

Rl has got me shopping around for a bathing suit.  Yeah, I know I'm a little behind seeing as it's July 4 today.  And I'm not even looking for a cute one.  I've made a couple of long term goals recently that I hope to accomplish in the next couple of years.  One of them is to complete a triathlon.  *laughs*  Yeah, right!  I don't even believe it myself! Actually, it's not that impossible.  I'll do short races.  I've already started a running and biking program. It's slow going but I'm on my way.  And how can I resist all the fun I have, annoying everyone around me by talking about my running mileage and how sore my quads are!

...But I've been avoiding the pool like the plague.  I think, though, if I get a really amazing suit (the kind that will able me to swim faster and longer without drowning) then I could potentially reach my goal in 2012. There's no way I could do one this summer but I'm helping out with several races in July and August.  Inspiration helps but I also get intimidated by people who have 9% body fat.  Don't you?

So if you haven't done your beachwear SL shopping yet (in a roundabout way, I always try to connect these rambling posts back to SL), I encourage you to check out Has Been's great selection of swimsuits inspired by the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and yes even the 1980s!!  I love Has Been and have a ton more stuff to blog from there.  But that's for another day.

The fireworks were awesome tonight.  The night sky was so beautiful and so clear that I felt like I could just reach out and touch the moon.  Happy Fourth to all the US'ers!!

Crochet in Avocado

Veronica in Orange

Ava in Violet

Aloha in Pink/Blue

your subway awaits you...

bathing suits: Has Been
poses:  Reel Expressions

Crochet
hair: Vanity Hair, Lustful Nights
skin: Glam Affair, Layla light--deep blue sea (at The Dressing Room)

Veronica
hair: (fd), Sparks
skin: (fd), Earth Flower, Slasher

Ava
hair: Vanity Hair, Marian
skin: Cupcakes (also for Aloha), Hina (at sidewalk sale)

Aloha
hair: Vanity Hair, Spicey

tarot Labyrinth-the Magician

As the Fool steps off the cliff, he faces many emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual challenges but he will also experience many joyous moments along the way.

The first person the fool encounters on his journey is a man dressed in red who exudes mystery, masculinity and power. I should emphasize here that if a card depicts a male figure it doesn't necessarily mean the card is masculine. The same is true for cards with a female figure-it can mean many things and represent many people.  Each card is filled with symbols, male energies, female strengths...I Always find something new in a card that I've looked at 100 times.

For the purposes of this post, I'll refer to the Fool as he and the Magician as she.  The Magician is the first card of the Major Arcana hence the first road taken by the Fool. Whereas the Fool represents the possibilities in life, the Magician takes those possibilities and makes them real.  There have been times in my life where I have imagined the possibilities but let them pass me by.  Don't let that happen to you!

The Magician points to the the Fool and asks for his backpack and as she raises her right hand to the sky (or heavens depending on your beliefs) with wand in hand and directs her left hand to earth, the pack unfolds and reveals four tools that will be essential to the Fool throughout his journey.

These tools are a Sword which represents the element air, communication and mental thoughts; a pentacle which is earth and stands for money, work and skill; a Wand which is fire and represents growth, passion, creativity and action; and a Cup representing water, emotions, relationships, dreams and intuition.

The Magician is all powerful, all creative and all energy.  We want more power in our lives-we want to feel like we have control over ourselves, our futures.  Yet we don't realize that creativity is power and it can have a daily presence in our lives.  And being creative doesn't mean you have to draw a painting or design a dress or mold clay into something amazing-creating is anything done outside of yourself that has value and meaning to you.  Blogging gives me a powerful feeling-every time I hit the publish button, I know I'm sharing a part of myself to the internet virtual world.

When the Magician appears in your life it means that power is accessible to you.  The power lies in the motivation and excitement of a new beginning or a new project-the first steps of the Fool if you will.  Also, you have tremendous will to see this project through-your energy is focused on that goal just as the Magician takes the energy from the sky and directs (focuses) it to the ground or reality.   For the tools, take what you need from each one and learn from them.  And learn from your mistakes-we all make them.  For instance, I will communicate (swords) my needs more efficiently to certain people in my life.  Also, I will let my creativity (wands) flow and not force it because that only disrupts the energy.  I will organize my workload (pentacles) to something I can successfully and realistically accomplish each day.  And, I will trust my intuition (cups) because when something doesn't seem right or seems off, chances are they are off for a reason.

Another way to look at the tools is to see physical objects that you use daily to help you on your journey.    For instance, yoga and running are essential to my physical and emotional wellness (shown here by a yoga mat and Reek Raid Light Ups for girls).

Other tools I use daily are my sewing machine, a journal, books, a bike, tarot cards (of course!), fabric, a laptop, and pastels (art supplies in general).

Questions to ask:  What does magic mean to you?  What skills or tools do you need to take with you on this journey?  Where are you focusing your energies?  How can you utilize all four tools?  How can you integrate creative power into your life?

fashions and stuff

skin: Plastik, Vaila Skin
hair: Vanity Hair, Applonia
kimono: Sweetest Goodbye, Tonight
cross trainers: Reek, Raid Light Ups

Teahouse: Silk Road Hunt through June 30
magical/witchy stuff: The Grove

inTrospection and neon carroT

Someone I know died this weekend in sort of a freak accident.  He wasn't my best friend or anything but I know his family well.  He was a good man, a good father and a good husband.  I'm so sad because I have no idea how his wife or children (all adults now) will cope.  But you do.  Cope.

I haven't been on SL much.  I got rid of my skyland about a month ago because it seemed silly to be paying rent when I wasn't there all that much.  The truth is, I think I fail at Second Life.  If this were a game (*yes, I know this is not a game*), I would probably lose.  Or if this was Survivor, I would have been eliminated the first week. But one of my passions is writing and for some reason, I really love writing this blog.  I write stuff here that I would never share with my rl family or friends.

I deleted my facebook account a couple weeks ago.  Basically, I suck at all aspects of this social media/communication phenomena (but hey, I can sew!  And I'm running 2 miles now!).  This all came about because of two experiences.  I was in Starbucks one day (my usual order is a grande soy iced mocha no whip) and as I was looking around, I noticed how people were sitting across from each other but not really talking to one another.  Everyone seemed to have their heads down, looking at their phones.  The other experience was that I reunited with my best friend from college that I haven't seen in 15 years.  I was a little nervous because I had no idea if we would have enough to talk about.  But it was great-we started talking as if we had just seen each other the week before.  It was fun just hanging out.  I've missed her.  We also talked about how the whole art of communication is fading.  Will we know how to carry on a face to face conversation in 10 years?  Of course, we both majored in Anthropology so we tend to look at life through primate lenses.  My friend Alana has never been on Facebook.

Needless to say, I immediately went home and deleted my facebook account.

So what is the point of this long winded post and what does it have to do with my friend dying this weekend?  I've been off and on sL for 3 years.  I came back this time around to start blogging.  It's amazing how your thoughts can seem like a rambling mess of confusion but can become calm and sensible after you sort through and write them down.  So I will continue to write here once in awhile at 3am in the morning when I'm struggling with insomnia (one part of sL success is to probably be on when your friends are and not at 3am when no one is around and all the coffee house events are long over).

Life is fleeting.  People you know today could be gone tomorrow.  People you want to know or who want to know you could be gone tomorrow.  This past weekend proved this for me. When something like this happens, especially when it's unexpected, you start evaluating your own life.  At least I do.  It's early Monday morning and I'm trying to figure out how to accomplish all I want in life.  And instead of texting my sister all week, I'm going to pick up the phone and call her.  And instead of catching up with friends through their status updates on facebook, I'm going to suggest meeting for coffee.  I don't want them to be here today, gone tomorrow.

The only thing I really know for certain is right now.  I tend to think about tomorrow, plan for tomorrow, worry about tomorrow way too much.  And regretting what happened yesterday?  Yep, I'm all over that.   Rarely am I able to just live today.  Well, fuck it. I'm going to live for today...at least today I will.

hair: Lamb, Mess
dress: Snowpaws, Array Mini
poses: Olive Juice

feed the Tree

This old man I've talked about
Broke his own heart,
Poured it on the ground.

Big red tree grew up and out,
Throw up it's leaves,
Spins round and round.

I know all this and more.
So take your hat off
When you're talking to me
And be there when I Feed the Tree.

hair: Truth, Karen in Toffee-New!
necklace, earrings: {{Ripe}}, Big'Ol Chrysanthemum
dress: Fab.Pony, Kimmy Tropical Dress-New!

Song: Belly, "Feed the Tree"

asparagus

Fashions
hair: Truth, alison in auburn-New!
dress: Jane, patchwork dress-New!
skin: (fashionably dead), bird skin
eyes: Tou Fromc*, stardust eyes
tattoo: pINK @ Project Fur Japan, help save the animals
pose: Doremi or at Pose Fair 2011

Place
Red Desert

the Fool

Have you ever wanted to do something crazy, or out of your realm but didn't because you were afraid of what the outcome would be?  Or maybe you were concerned with what others would think or *gasp*, "what if I embarrassed myself?"

What if you could do the above without consequences?  Or to put it more simply, what if you could do the one thing you always wanted to do without over planning, over thinking or overanalyzing?  Just go with the flow, step off the cliff and accept whatever comes your way.

I became interested in the tarot many years ago.  I can still remember getting my first deck, the Rider Waite, and being amazed at how all the colors and symbols seemed to come alive and pop off the cards.  I don't use the Tarot for fortune telling rather more as a way to see a situation more clearly much like someone might use praying or meditating to sort through things. And yes, I do read for other people.

                                The Fool from Rider-Waite by Waite and Smith, 1909

The Fool has always been one of my favorites (although I tend to say that about all 78 cards).  The Fool is 0 but you can also think of it as unnumbered.  I have always interpreted the number 0 as a clean slate, a new beginning, void of baggage (woohoo!).   In the Rider-Waite image (see above), you see a man about to step off a cliff.  He holds a white flower and a hobo pack sits on his shoulder.  Does the pack hold your past?  A white dog is at his feet perhaps warning him that he is about to take a big step which will result in falling or perfect spontaneity.  The Fool is a wanderer, a traveler, an explorer.

I have been acting the fool of late in my RL.  Nothing completely insane or worthy of a best seller but I am definitely stepping out my realm and the results are quite sweet. One mild example is I started running (again) and am thinking of doing several 10ks over the summer but I immediately have thoughts such as "What if I'm the last to finish?" or "What if I have to walk?"  Over thinking can often prevent you from doing things you really want to do.  So what if I don't finish?  I'm not doing it to be the first through the finish line.  I'm running because I love it and it's pure awesomeness!

Could you be more foolish in your life?  Can you do things on a whim or go on instinct alone?  In your relationships?  In your career?  Of course, you can be the Fool to an extreme and all those wonderful traits will backfire on you.  I have several people in my life who are complete flakes.  They drive me crazy!  They are literally being a fool and not caring about the consequences or the effect it has on others.  So go with your heart.  You don't always have to be foolish but we all need to take a risk once in awhile and be free and be nothing (remember that the number "0" is blank, empty, nothing). The hard part is deciding if the time is right for taking that risk.

Questions to ask:  Could you be more foolish about life (second life, first life or whatever life)?  Could you benefit from more spontaneity?  Should you take that step off the cliff without thinking what lies below or ahead?

Places
Crater Lake
Dark Moon

Fashions
dress: Yome Shojo, *ooo*sun
skin: Yome Shojo, *rave2*yellow