Windlight

Ocean of Confusion

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1 Kuro Vintage Floatie B

She was a mind floating in an ocean of confusion.
― Caroline B. Cooney, “The Face on the Milk Carton”

Some days feel that way. It is how I felt from the moment I awoke at 5:19 AM, glaring at the glowing red numbers of the clock beside my bed. There is much that competes for space in my head. Memories are mixed with moments of the now, tangled up with hopes for the future. Occasionally they all collide and the result is like floating in a sea of befuddlement.

A good night’s sleep will cure me. It usually does. But restful slumber lately has been merely a flight of fancy, a pipe dream, a longed-for fantasy. It has led me to another post where I’m not sure what I want to say.

Soooo…I’ll just tell you about this adorable floatie, by Kuro. It has nine single poses and two couples poses. The animations are fun and range from lazy to whimsical. When you use the couples poses, a second inner tube (sans umbrella) pops out for your partner to float upon. This is extremely convenient, having been dumped into the lake when trying to share a tubie in days gone by.

I don’t know much about the OneWord event, except this is round two and the theme is “Vintage.” That is enough to draw me to check it out. It opened at noon today, so I hope to see you there.

…if I can float my way across this ocean of confusion.

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

Swimsuit: ValentinaE :V.e. Naomi Swimsuit XS Turquoise by VaentinaEvangelista
Necklace & Earrings: Pure Poison – Gaby Jewelry Set by Shaleene Kenin (Group Gift)
Hair: *ARGRACE* MIZUKI – True Red by rika Oyen
Skin: [PXL] Creations [PXL] JADE NAT PetalPink MEB C2 (FR) by Hart Larsson
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Feet: Slink Mesh Feet (Av) Flat by Siddean Munro
Hand & Feet appliers:[PXL] Creations – [ PXL ] Slink Hand & Feet Appliers NAT by Hart Larsson
Eyes: Amacci Gaze Eyes – Ocean Blue by Carina Larsen
Lashes: Mon Cheri *MC* “Falsies” Eyelash by Freya Oliveri

*Float: Kuro – Vintage float by Luana Dawg (available at OneWord Bi Monthly Event – Vintage May 1-31)

Best. Hair. EVAH!!!!

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1 Argrace Haruka

If you read the credits of my posts or have visited my SLurls To Favourite Places page, you have seen me mention *ARGRACE*. While I may have been aware of this store before, it really hit my radar at Hair Fair last year. This has become my very favourite hair store in Second Life and rika Oyen, the designer, has pretty much guaranteed that anything she releases becomes an insta-buy for me. Haruka was no different.

When I took a look at the photo in the note card from the *ARGRACE* group when I logged on today, I zoomed straight to the store. I didn’t even bother trying on a demo – I just paid my $L250 and dashed home (I also bought the other new release, but I’ll save that for another day).

Now, I know there have been other windblown styles before – I even have a couple – but either the colour wasn’t quite right for me or I got a severe halo effect around the edges of the hair. True Red by *ARGRACE* is my current favourite red and there was virtually no halo effect with this hair. And I would wear this hair out – not just for a photo shoot. She has caught the movement perfectly – I only wish my real hair blew around this beautifully in the wind!

When I got home and put Haruka on, the next question was, “What do I wear???” Fortunately, The Dressing Room Fusion has a new round and I thought this dress from Kunglers would be perfect. I slipped on my 21 Shoe Hucci slingbacks, and I was set. I ran to the dock, struck a pose and off I went.

For this photo shoot, I used Torley’s sunsets. I won’t bore you with how many shots I took (it was over 40 lol) but this one just grabbed me when I looked at my raw shots. The lighting is so dramatic and it set off the fiery red of my hair well.

I am including a cropped version of this photo so you can see the hair close up. I did play with the hair a bit in processing, but mainly to enhance the highlights from the Windlight setting. I probably didn’t need to do it, but hey…I did anyway 😀

1 Argrace Haruka Crop

It has been a while since I have been so excited about a single purchase in Second Life. But who wouldn’t be excited by the Best. Hair. EVAH!!!!

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

Dress: (Kunglers) TDRF #036 – strapless dress – Floral by AvaGarnder Kungler (available at The Dressing Room Fusion March 2014)
Shoes: ::HH:: Hucci Uvol Sling Back – 21 Shoe by Eboni Khan (colour no longer available)
Earrings: Cae :: Promise :: Earrings by Caelan Hancroft
Hair: *ARGRACE* HARUKA – True Red by rika Oyen (NEW)
Skin: [PXL] Creations [PXL] JADE NAT PetalPink MEB C2 (FR) by Hart Larsson (available at The Skin Fair 2014)
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Feet: Slink Mesh Feet (Av) High by Siddean Munro
Hand & Feet appliers:[PXL] Creations – [ PXL ] Slink Hand & Feet Appliers NAT by Hart Larsson
Eyes: Amacci Gaze Eyes – Ocean Blue by Carina Larsen
Lashes: Mon Cheri *MC* “Falsies” Eyelash by Freya Oliveri

Dock: Cheeky Pea :CP: Bae Dock w/Blanket by Isla Gealach

Pose: oOo Studio Poses – oOo brevity_three by Olaenka Chesnokov

Photo taken with the LumiPro HUD

Roxie And The Donkey Lady

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1 Roxie House 3

If you follow my blog, you have seen my attempts at home & garden photography. Some are more successful than others. I am a huge fan of several photographers who specialise in this type of work, but as I have previously mentioned, none more than my friend, Rwah. If you haven’t visited her blog to check out her epic black and white work, I urge to to do so. I will even make it easy for you – just click here.

Normally when I do H&G photos I arrange the furniture and decorations on a set with three walls and a floor, leaving the front and top open. This allows me more freedom to play with shadows and lighting. I get frustrated when I am shooting an interior and I can’t get my Windlight settings to work out – if only I had the building skills to move a window or door to allow the light to stream in where I want it!

Sunday, after DJing a set to which I dragged Rwah so Grumper could meet “the Donkey Lady”, we went back to our home so Rwah could see our latest house. I bought the Roxie Beach House by Thaino Design a couple of months ago and have been tinkering with furnishing it ever since. I admit to having a few butterflies since I respect Rwah’s sense of design so much, but her first comment was, “Peep, this is so YOU!” I could hardly argue and I was pleased that she seemed to like it.

I have used the upper deck for several photos on my blog, but I haven’t shown the interior yet. Not that I haven’t tried; I just haven’t been able to produce any photos that I was happy with.

So, last night, I tried again. I am not going to say how long I worked on getting a single shot of one corner of the bedroom that I am showing here, but in the end I was pleased enough with the result that it finally is seeing the light of day. Rather, it is seeing the late-afternoon sunlight as it streams through the window.

Never mind that this is an east-facing window and I cheated like heck to make it appear to be sunset; that is one of the joys of Second Life – we can make the sun rise in the west and set in the east.

So, Rwah, this one is on you. I will persevere with bringing more of our home to my blog…eventually. I like my hair on my head – not in fisted bunches as I pull it out 😉 And that invitation stands – the door is always open for you to stop by to take photos or just hang out on the island ♥

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

Build: Thaino Design – Roxie Beach House by Thaihiti Baroque
Bathtub: Trompe Loeil – Vintage Bathtub Brass by Cory Edo
Table & decorations: Spargel & Shine Antique Bath Table Rose by Tess Spargel
Mirror: LISP Mesh – Anna Window Mirror – Full Bright by Pandora Popstar
Shelf: -Tres Blah- -tb- Kitchen Basics – Shelf (Blue) by Julliette Westerburg (Gacha Prize)
Candles: LISP – Coco Tea Lights 3 flames by Pandora Popstar
Heart decorations: A.D.D.Andel! Hearts On a String-Green by Andel Rhiadra
Rug: *ionic* mora carpet by Iakua Arriaga
Chair on deck: {what next} Orlaith Deckchair (rose) by Winter Thorn