Stepping Out

I'm very happy when coldLogic releases new dresses. This style, my favorite of the latest new releases, shows some skin while staying classy. It also works beautifully with my new hat and hair from Lelutka. The texture change hat is separate, so it can be worn with another hair - or just slip a different hat over the sleek rigged mesh hair. How's that for versatile?

Credits:

coldLogic dress - spelling.sea mocha

Hucci Embessa Leather Sandals - Collection

Maxi Gossamer - Bracelet - Khaleesi's Temptation - Bracelets

Slink Mesh Feet (Av)

Slink Mesh Hands (av)

LeLutka GOGO hat

LeLutka GOGO hair - AuburnHaze

Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 01 F

Winner

I couldn't decide who is the biggest winner, coldLogic for the new release gym shorts, or Diesel Works for the women's basketball pose prop and poses, available at Liaison Collaborative. It's a team effort so they win together. This picture makes me feel kind of powerful, so I guess I win too. Wanna play?

Credits:

coldLogic shorts - ramsey.heather (new release)
coldLogic top - daniels.blush (new release)

Maxi Gossamer - Rings - Khaleesi's Ring Of Power
Slink Mesh Hands (av)
Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 01 F
Glam Affair - Cleo - Freckles 2
 Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Aged Bronze, w3)
D!va Hair "Mimi" (Type A)(Red amber)
Mandala Simple Ears HUTUU
Beetlebone Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's summer and I feel like living in bikinis, hats and flip flops. I want to do nothing but hang around on my What Next float (a Zodiac item), drinking iced tea and admiring the view of my sim. I'll leave only to shop for hair and shoes to fit my SLink feet.

I love a good hat hair, so when Truth released male and female hair versions of this cute ball cap with a texture change hud, I snapped both right up. Well, I snapped them up after making a half-hearted swipe at inventory maintenance to please my typist, but that's a different story.  The male version in the pic below can be easily co-opted by us short hair loving girlie-girls with a little resizing.

Credits:

Baiastice Chain Bikini-flowers print

Maxi Gossamer - Rings - Atlantis Moon

Slink Aussie Thongs Rigged Female Medium Blue

Slink Mesh Feet (Av)

Slink Mesh Hands (av)

TRUTH HAIR Jolene [Size 2 Head] - Gingers01

What Next} Soda (prop, comes with the float)

Second Pic

TRUTH HAIR Joel - Gingers01

Erratic / Cary / Double Tank
Deco Earrings

Glam Affair - Cleo - America - Clean F

Glam Affair - Cleo - Freckles 2

Mandala Simple Ears HUTUU

Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)

Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Aged Bronze, w3) 

Digital Proportions - A Strawberry Singh Challenge

I hadn't done Berry's digits challenge in prior years so her new digits challenge is a fresh subject for me. I've learned a lot from Berry's blog on this subject and am happy to take part. It certainly has me thinking about my shape.

I got the free avatar ruler from the marketplace and was surprised that it registered me as 6'7" tall. According to the edit window in the SL viewer I was 5.95 feet, quite a difference. I'm 5'9" in real life and have no desire for Dolly to be short in Second Life.  I read the very informative blog by Penny Patton which explained the disparity to me. I'm still left in a quandary, though, because Second Life in general is scaled more to the larger proportions.  I like that my feet touch the ground in most chairs and don't want to be significantly smaller than the men of SL. At least I understand now why some female avatars are so short, though I haven't seen many male avis following suit.

I kept Dolly's original shape (made by me) for a long time with only a few adjustments until mesh and standard sizing appeared on the scene. At that point Dolly fit most closely into a medium size, so I adjusted my avi shape to the medium digits. Dolly always had small breasts (about 33), and the breasts of the medium avi were much larger than my preference. So eventually I took Dolly's standard size figure down to a small. I miss the little bit of belly, butt, body fat and muscle, but not being very busty in real life, I felt uncomfortable with bodacious (to me) boobs.

My shape was copybotted a few months ago and is available for sale on the marketplace. I fumed about it for about a week, then forgot it. Recently I had an ah ha! moment and modified my face slightly so the avi sold on the marketplace is no longer me. Also while I was at it, I reduced slightly the length of my torso and legs. Changing to a small had left me feeling they looked too long (they're still too long, maybe, but I do things by degrees when I decide to make changes).

Proportions Challenge Questions:

1. Do you try and keep your avatar’s body proportionate and similar to the “average” proportions pictured in Berry's post? – I was more interested in creating an avi that had the proportions I had in my 20's and 30's, with a few fantasy improvements. Are real life models "average" proportions? No, they have long necks, long legs and long torsos. I didn't want to look emaciated like some models, but there's a difference between slender and emaciated.
2. What do you dislike the most about the SL avatar mesh? – Now that hands and feet have a nice fix thanks to Siddean Munro of SLink and other builders, my biggest annoyances are the way shadows fall on the face in harsh windlights and the sharp bumpy edges of the av. More subtle expressions and better teeth would be nice, too.
3. Does it bother you when you see other avatars that are not proportionate at all? – I am sometimes amused to see blocky bodybuilders with teensy heads, and boobilicious girls who would fall over in real life, but I'm not bothered by it.
4. Even though this is a virtual world and people can be anything they want to be, do you feel when they are in human form, they should try to keep their proportions close to average? Not at all. Average is another word for boring. That said, if clothes, houses, furniture and poses don't fit your shape, don't whine to me.

Black and White

I have a couple of things to mention today. First of all there are a couple of group gifts that I consider must haves. Dura released a great third anniversary unisex hair for group members. The striking necklace I'm wearing is a Pure Poison group gift for the month of June. Both groups are free to join and worth the group space they take.

Secondly, I have lately been admiring Kaelyn Alecto's Flickr photo set, Black&White series, erotic and lovely (and some NSFW). It has inspired me to attempt some black and white images of my own. I'm still in the process of discovery. My first attempt at a B&W erotic photo is included below. I'm sure you won't be scrolling down because it's NSFW. (wink)

Credits:

Dura The 3th year Anniversary hair (group gift)
Pure Poison - Yola Necklace (group gift)
Glam Affair - Cleo - America - 05 F
Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)
Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Aged Bronze, w3)
Slink Mesh Hands (av)

MANDALA SIMPLE EARS HUTUU
Tee*fy Aurelia Summer High-Low Dress Creme

for second photo

Lelutka Athena hair

Mandala Pearl Rain Necklace

SLink photo prop eyelids

Summerfest '13

Summerfest '13 is a really great event - amazing builds and top quality merchants. I really felt part of a crowded beach scene as I wandered the little shops on the boardwalk in my bikini. I spent too many Lindens there, but you know that's a measure of a good shopping event.

Baiastice, which already had some of my favorite bikinis, released two new must-have styles in many colors at Summerfest. I have a hard time resisting (I can't resist, in other words) a special event skin from Glam Affair, so I also picked up Summer with its slightly burnt freckled nose and cheeks.

Credits:

(top)
Baiastice 3D Flowers bikini-nectarine (at Summerfest)
Mon Tissu Harlow Sunglasses Brown
Slink Mesh Hands
Glam Affair - Summer - America 05 C (at Summerfest)
D!va Hair "Mimi" (Type A)(Red amber)
Kunglers Extra Gaia - Copper  ring
   
(bottom)
Baiastice Chain Bikini-flowers print (at Summerfest)
LeLutka - VENT hair - IrishRed
Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)
Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Aged Bronze, w3)

Ask Weird Questions, Get Weird Answers

I think we're going to be hearing a lot about how nosy Strawberry Singh is this week with her weird questions meme! But the upside is that I can be nosy reading everyone else's answers while righteously pointing at Berry as the nosy one. I CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Monday Meme Instructions: Copy and paste the following questions and answers into your blog post, delete my answers and input your own. Remember to leave your link in Strawberry Singh's meme post comments so we can all come by, read your answers and secretly judge you.

1. Which was the last sim you visited? (Other than your home) I'm tempted to go someplace racy to put here for the shock value, but really it was the Summerfest sim.
2. Does your avatar look like the real you? A younger and thinner idealized me, maybe. My ass was never that fine.
3. Do you wear underwear/panties underneath your clothing when out and about on the grid? No, I hardly ever think about underwear with alphas! Even my undies are mesh these days (and meant to be seen).
4. If you won a million linden dollars, what would be the first thing you buy inworld? I'd definitely get a sim and landscape it within an inch of its pixels just to take pretty pictures in. Then I'd change it all on a whim about once a month.
5. Have you ever bought something in SL and then realized afterwards that you had already owned it from before? I used to. Now, unless it's a new release or a new-to-me store, I do an inventory search to make sure I don't already have it.
6. Have you ever done anything in Second Life that would be considered illegal in real life?  Of COURSE not. Unless you mean in roleplay, then yes. Lots. But I've done my jail time for those things! Most of them, anyway. I plead the fifth on the rest.
7. If you could go out on a date with any other avatar, who would it be?  I'm blushing. Really, any hot avatar with a smart and humorous typist would be a potential candidate. I'm only half shallow.
8. Who, in your opinion, was the greatest avatar to ever slive? I DON'T KNOW! WHY ARE THESE QUESTIONS SO HARD? Phillip Linden, maybe? He thought up the whole SL thing anyway!
9. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done inworld? It's probably more embarrassing to think about WHO I've done rather than what.
10. If your avatar had a mind of its own, what do you think it would say to you? Oh, my avi does have a mind of her own. Mostly she just asks for money and gets quite pissy if I say no. Our conversations go something like this: 

          Dolly: I need money for hair.

          
          Me: You just got six new hairs that you haven't even taken a blog picture of yet.
          

          Dolly: None of those fit under my new hat.
          

          Me: What about the hair you already have? Something will work. You have 800 hair styles.
          

          Dolly: You're exaggerating. Just give me money. Don't you get it? I can't blog that hat in an old hair.
         

          Me: You could have thought about that when you bought the hat, so no. Not until you straighten up your hair folder.
         

          Dolly: WHAT ARE YOU, MY MOTHER?

Credits:

Yummy Ball Chain Necklace - Happy Face (at Collabor88)
coldLogic top - moore.blush
DECO - MESH Patchey Ballcap (pink) (New!)
Slink Mesh Hands (av)
LeLutka - ALICE hair - AuburnHaze (Not New)
Glam Affair - Cleo - America - Clean F
Tuli Parted lips 1 (freebie)
Beetlebones Mesh Lashes V.01 (Dainty brown)

Mayfly - Liquid Light Mesh Eye (Aged Bronze, w3)