Going All Mesh On Us

Easel with modern paintings and animations.

[kusshon] is going to change to only mesh items, so some old but still lovely sculpt stuff is going at 60L or less ... and there's a hunt on for 8 pumpkins filled with cute furnishings, two of them mesh, until November 1. Lludmila loves [kusshon] and the pun in the name. Cushions with a kiss! Beolas, das verdient einen Kuss.

Curved retro shelf.

Table with chairs and animations and props.

Delicate Queen Anne occasional tables and a precious
umbrella stand.

Cat Shelf Cuteness

Cutest Thing Evah: Cat Shelves. Gacha for 50L at Izzie's. Pick up the free dripping blood jewelry while you're there!

Having Issues

Cool birdhouse from Night of the Living Cart Sale Mini-Hunt

The plan was to post pix of some of the really cute stuff Lludmila picked up at The Night of the Living Cart Sale and Mini-Hunt. She had on some clothes she'd found (yes, sometimes she is allowed clothes - she originally went to see what Cupcake Clothes had and to buy those cute fall flats from d.l.s. that Annthrasite blogged about) and an array of some of her favorite prizes or 10L sale items. It was artfully arranged. Then I failed to click the second button to save it - apparently. And I carelessly removed everything from the photoblock.

I did manage to get a shot of the birdhouse I found later, putting it up on the wall on Waldinsel. I still have that, but I was surprised to see that I didn't have a photo of the tidily arranged haul. grr.

You can probably tell by how few and far between the posts are that I have some ... issues. This is actually a lot of work. My avs actually go out and hunt down 98% of this stuff (that's half the fun), open the boxes, deploy or wear things, evaluate how well they work or if they're worth keeping, take a picture, put on or out the next item - lather, rinse, repeat. I should also be remembering where the items came from and record the slurl for the shop or venue. This is usually done in Notepad as a reminder and so I don't have to be in SL to finish the blog, but I'm not always organized. And then there are the times that rain interferes by knocking out my internet. Oh, and I have a day job.

So, you don't get fancy backgrounds or lighting in these shots and sometimes I just can't be arsed to blog.

And I don't know that I can be arsed to go back and redo that picture, so let's just say there are some cool 10L items on the cart sale (among some interesting more expensive items), and some really fun things for 2L in the mini-hunt. The mini-hunt is fun and ranges over the snowy, spooky sim. The brains are difficult enough to find (look on, under, in anywhere and open things) in noonlight, much more so in the sim's chosen lighting. Because the prizes do cost 2L, be sure to check the pix on the website here before you buy. Lludmila made a list of things she really wanted ... and still didn't find them all. These folks are fiendish, y'all!

Happy hunting/shopping!

Sidenote: For the first time in ages Lludmila was hit on during this hunt. She meant to tell this guy that his auto-translator was lousy (she had to look at the Portuguese to figure out what he was really saying), but he was getting in the way of her hunting ... and she couldn't be arsed. She just said "No, thank you!" and went on her merry way.

Update: Annthrasite helps Lludmila out with
her own finds. Bless her! 

"Thanks, kiddo!" "Inga problem."

I Simply Remember ...

Lludmila waits for a house to rez at the
Collabor88 Home and Garden Showroom. 

I've been remiss of late - not posting anything on my blogs. I've got lots of good reasons. Well, reasons, anyway. It's hard to photograph, trim, write up, document items. So I have decided to just list a few favorite shops here - and post some photos if I feel like it.

This post is limited to houses and furnishings. I have no end of both - much of which was exceedingly cheap or free, "free" being my favorite color. But there are several shops I will go to and actually pay for things. Okay, I cheat with Trompe Loeil - I get that stuff from Collabor88. Oh, I dread the coming of Collabor88 each month - knowing how little resistance I have as well as how difficult it is to even get in there in the first week to ten days.

Frostbite Cottage, Willoughby Lakehouse, Cortona Villas,
Rustic Cabin, Beach Bungalow, oopsie - Outdoor Rock Shower,
Chatham Loft Skybox. Note how some houses hover in midair. 

So, that's my first shop: Trompe Loeil. I have counted 12 houses/buildings from Cory Edo, whom I follow on Plurk where she entices us with unfinished versions of things for Collabor88 and FaMESHed. I avoid FaMESHed because I think the wares there are over-priced. Some of these TL structures have only been deployed long enough for me to say, "Ooooo, miiiiine." I've lived in others. By "lived in" I mean I kitted them out with furnishings and spent some time with them. They are all gorgeous. They are perfection. And that is my only quibble with them. I don't live in perfection in RL, so a lack of scrapes and dings makes me uneasy. "Perfection" is not necessarily realistic.

Barton Creek Tower section, Caramel (with Trompe Loeil furniture),
the Moose that made me so happy, Westlake Mini in the trees.

I have only four buildings from L2 Studios, but I have used them all. L2S structures are all about dings. My absolute favorite house was the Caramel, which has been deployed several times. The Westlake Mini was out for ages because I liked it so much. By "ages" I mean many months. Second Life time works like dog years, only even faster. The Writer's Shed is now up on Awen - and is sprinkled with quirky things from Art Dummy, Kusshon, Ionic and Sway's.

The Writer's Shed - in some artsy midnight mode.

Waldinsel is littered with my buildings and Waldron suggested I could just pile them all up at 100 meter intervals, but he's nice enough to let me stick stuff all over and I don't want to wear out my welcome. And too many houses are distracting. Yonks ago there was a hunt on some island where you could get a coffee shop, if you found the egg or whatever the prim was, and that building lived in my inventory unused (typical) until recently. I was so intrigued by the overly generous freebie (I think an entire building with really nice textures is pretty darn generous) that I went to the shop's showroom and looked at all the houses. I picked one called, prosaically, "08" and purchased it. The two of them now stand side-by-side on a huge grass prim (oh, so much easier than trying to arrange a house on uneven ground), "08" now filled with almost every piece I've ever gotten from this last favorite shop-where-I-will-actually-pay-for-stuff, Zinnia's.

Cambodia inspired jungle pool (subscriber gift), psychiatrist
furniture, bathhouse (and HY's 08), more Zinnia stuff.
I'd add more, but frankly, there's so much. Go look at my
Flickr pages.

I love the colorful southwestern style from Zinnia's. Sure, I've accumulated some free stuff through the hunts from there, but I've also bought quite a bit. As colorful as it all is, it all seems to coordinate. I haven't been so happy with decorating since I found the moose head to put in the Westlake Mini (see L2S photos above). There is no more room in "08" and I've already had to remove a bed so I could put in a daybed instead. And if she puts out something else, I suppose I'll have to sacrifice some other furnishing to stick back in a file folder for a while.

There are so many other places with great things (Post is one that springs to mind), but these are the main three.

The Dreaming House is probably just up long enough
to admire it. Sigh.

Shops:
Trompe Loeil Mainstore
Collabor88 (Several favorite shops are regulars there - Clawtooth & Barnesworth Anubis, for example. Collabor88 opens on the 8th day of each month and is heck-on-toast to get into.)
L2 Studio
Zinnia's

Other Locations:
Lludmila's Pied a Terre in Awen (Wormhole to Chatham Loft skybox inside)
Willa Waldinsel (a collaborative work in progress)
Cafe Lludmila (just 'cuz)

Small Pleasures

Beware of lazy cat!

What does Lludmila keep in her shed?

L2 Studio put out a new house, which Lludmila had to go see because she's addicted to houses and one of her favorites came from there. The latest creation is usually set out a short ways from the shop, all kitted out with furnishings to inspire the buyer. Lludmila didn't stay long looking at the Padre Island house because there was a couple on the bed sexting each other ... in chat and not IM. Sheesh.

Anyway, while trying to escape from an embarrassing situation, Lludmila saw an open storage locker-type thing. Wondering if it were part of the house and if the doors worked, she clicked on it. It's a free broom cupboard! You can bet she "bought" the freebie and took it home to stick on the outside of her current house as a garden tool shed!

On the side of the shop (near where you rez) there are some cute signs that are freebies as well. Lludmila chose the "Danger: Beware of Killer Cat" to go with her new static cat feature (that came from the Dreamland Designs fireplace collection). The cat looks just like our RL cat, Collage. The only thing you need to beware of Collage is to be sure to be out of her way when she tries to run away from you. A truly scaredy cat.

The many sleeping positions of Collage.

OMG! Just like the static cat! And about as much movement!

I have to keep cat beds at the desk to keep them from sleeping
on the scanner/printer and breaking it like the last one.

Amazing Things

Annthrasite doesn't look out of place or anything. 

Annthrasite was innocently trying to wrangle some freebies out of Paisley Daisy when she saw a gorgeous fountain out in front of the shop. She clicked on it to see where it came from and got the landmark for the shop. Wow. The role-play oriented furniture is beautifully textured and detailed and low land impact - but not cheap. However ...

Hmm, seems to be available for another 18 days ...

They are holding a one year anniversary celebration with some snazzy freebies. So, hop along to aisling and just gape at how beautiful things are. Oh, and play Las Vegas with the gachas. There are some really cute vintage office accessories for 50L a try!

Bright Colors at Paris Metro Gallery

Currently at the Paris Metro Gallery is a show of the art of Indea Vaher. Indea's paintings are folk art representations of life on a fictional barrier island of the US coast. The work is reminiscent of South Carolina artists, Jonathan Green and Jeffrey Callaham.
This is, in fact, my part of the world. These beautiful and highly colored paintings evoke the wind of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gullah people of the area and bring back memories of my previous life on the barrier islands.

As usual, Paris Metro has a lovely outfit inspired by the paintings and this time have added a chair! Both are free.

Skirt, mesh top, and hat.

Chair in rich color with many animations.

This Weekend Only!

Year of the Horse giftie!

Moriko Inshan is making the Hanaya - Yummy Collectibles group free to join, this weekend only.

She says, "And for anyone who has joined since April 1st, if you send me your transaction detail for the 250 L cost to join, I will reimburse you." She has awesome group gifts!

Hanaya sells beautifully detailed flowers, furnishings, and structures.

Skating shack hunt prize that gave skates.

Hanaya - Yummy Collectibles

Can You Hear Me, Particle Tom?

Ooo! Spooky!

Lludmila loves the particle shows. There are some stills by Lexi and Particle Tom now on exhibit at the Panorama Gallery. Some of them are not totally still, but that doesn't show up in this 2-D rendering.

Love color!

Portraiture.

If you don't believe how much Lludmila loves the particle shows, check out her collections on Flickr:

Flow
Love
Ubuntu

... but only if you have a lot of time on your hands because I'm afraid we overdid taking photos! You really need to experience these shows live with the music, so click on the Panorama subscribo to be kept abreast of those and other events!

And the Winner Is ...

Can't do anything about the glasses, they're no-copy.

I've probably complained about this before. Your avatar goes to a sim, just to go shopping perhaps, and is greeted with a warning notice about how many scripts she's wearing. If you don't trim down, you will be ejected. You look around the shop or the sim and don't see anyone there. You pull up the map and there are no other dots. Whose SLexperience are you ruining?
My avs don't need a lot of scripts to go shopping, so there's no problem removing my no-copy, color-change glasses or my texture-change shoes, but it does make me feel unwelcome, which I think (having had 20 years of Customer Service lectures) has a negative impact on my willingness to return.
Come to think of it, I haven't been back to those shops.
Then there are the lag-fests like Collabor88, where people are desperate to get their avs in and wait forever for things to rez and don't seem to mind being unable to move. No warnings about scripts there. I definitely strip my av down to go.
So, I was somewhat pleased when I saw the script meter at MFFIII. Yes, the lag was debilitating, even with a low-inventory avatar I'd sent in. That apparently had more to do with the time of day and general activity on SL. When Lludmila went in at another time with her 41K inventory, mesh outfit, glasses, resizer boots, she had very little trouble. And while her script usage wasn't at its lowest, it wasn't as bad as some, and we could see that on the board.
And the board asks you to please consider your script weight if your name is in the red, not "Get your scripts below 7 or you'll be ejected." It's up to you to decide if your weight is causing lag. It's polite.

Now, if only we could navigate that maze! Check out my Flickr page for photos of some of the hunt prize outfits we managed to collect!

And the winner is ...

Whoah! Check out Kyle!

You can look good and still go light on scripts.

It's a tie between Annthrasite and Cal! Go alts!

Tabloid Paparazza

Lludmila was asked to take some wedding  photos recently. There was a large attendance for a popular couple in her group, so lag was ferocious and she crashed four times before giving up at the reception.We shouldn't always blame the lag; it could be our server. Anyway, she took over 150 photos.* Many of them look like duplicates, such as those pictured. But if you look at them closely, each one tells a different story. 

Smile, dammit! ARGH!
Pressed wrong button. Smile again, please!

Avatars are constantly shifting position. In the above photos, the couple are actually just waiting until time to teleport to the reception. Their typists may not even be there. Still, the avatars move. They look this way and that. They are caught being ... natural. Our human brains start ascribing thoughts to them. Timo looks at Galia's arse admiringly - or so it seems.

Lludmila stands quietly (somewhere - her typist has already forgotten where she was last) and watches the minimalist dance between two figures. She takes as many photos as she can in hopes of getting one really good one, but then when she goes back to look - each one has something of interest, something that expresses, if not what two other people feel, maybe what feelings are inside her own self.

Best wishes, Timo and Galia. The ceremony was delightful. I hope you enjoy the photos.

love,

lludmila and marf

*Feel free to peruse the set - although a few were removed. Not sure why. It's not as if there are space considerations on Flickr.

The Beauty of Rough-Cut Weathered Woodgrain

Fox with monocle?

There's another outstanding art exhibit at the Panorama Gallery right now. Detailed photographs of weathered wood in "Fencing In Beauty." The photos are merely numbered, so it's up to you to see more!

"Is it just me, or are there faces in the wood?"

The Workaround

As mentioned on the Other Blog, sometimes there's just one tiny thing that's keeping a mesh outfit from absolute perfection. The dress looked great on Lludmila, so Annthrasite ran out to do the same hunt to get the dress for herself. But, when Annthrasite put it on - uh oh!

Total perfection except at the elbow. And this will not be helped by a larger size.

Because it's the non-mod alpha.

So, here's what Annthrasite did. She went into Appearance to Edit Outfit. She chose New Glove.

She picked a nice color to blend, and then adjusted the size for maximum coverage with minimal extra glove.
After saving it with an appropriate name, she moved it to the outfit's folder so it would always be there and would all come together with a "wear."

Here's what it looks like by itself. The glove layer can go higher, but it didn't need to. This is the "0" point for fingerless.

It can barely be seen in the bell of the sleeve

And now Annthrasite double-dog dares you to find it. And she didn't have to learn how to tailor an alpha (although she should probably learn that some day) and rescued a 1L hunt gift without extra charges for upload. Go dance to your heart's content, Hon!