Category: fashion and shopping

fashion shows, shopping expeditions

New Shoes (a silly little post)

I was running errands the other day and just happened to find myself next to the shoe store. I didn’t think I NEEDED any new shoes, but I thought I’d check out the stock, see what was new, see if there was anything on sale, see if anything appealed to me. After all, we are changing seasons which does mean less warm, toe-showing weather and more wet, soggy, keep-the-feet-dry weather.

Amazing as it might sound, I found THREE pairs of shoes that appealed to me. And slippers to replace my favorite no-skid Penn State socks. Some of you are new to my blog, and don’t know me from my SecondLife days. In those days I was renowned for my spike heels and steam-punk boots. I do still have most of those shoes and boots, but I’ve found lately that my “beach” persona has been more dominant. I’ve been wearing sandals, flip-flops and top-siders all summer and I’m loathe to give up the ambiance. I have 2 pairs of top-siders – one faded, stained sea foam and the other pink. Neither seemed right for fall, so I had to indulge in a new color. The other pair, although they look kind of like slippers, are so comfortable that I couldn’t resist. I NEEDED a pair of fall shoes that weren’t boots. You will probably call these boots but as they say, if the shoe fits, buy it. 🙂

4 new shoes
please note that I do still like buckles and metal on my footwear!

Blurred Boundary

Ahuva's Steampunk ShoesAll who know me know how I feel about shoes: they are jewelry for the feet. In SL Ahuva is known for her hair and boots/shoes. In the tangible world it’s probably much the same. *grin* In that spirit, I show you my latest footwear: Oxford by Hades. (Hades used to be known as Metropolis.) I saw these shoes at a Steampunk festival in the early summer months and fell in love. I traveled out of state to find them so I could size them. *grin* When they didn’t have my size, I turned to the internet for gratification.

I know that there are those of you who say that my shoes are the reason I limp. Wrongo. Just to make it VERY clear: there is NOTHING wrong with the left foot and it wears the same shoes as the right foot. nyah, nyah, nyah. I’m so glad the weather got cool this week. I figure I’d best get in all my fav shoes before the surgery just in case….

My coworkers are the best, as I believe I’ve mentioned before. They may think (know) I’m just a little bit crazy, but they do support me in my eccentricities. Thanks to Michael for taking the pic of the shoes. Thanks to Bill and Michael for finding this song for me: Kirsty MacColl singing “In These Shoes“.

Como se puede bailar? Es un escandolo
(But the way she dances, it’s a scandal)

Winter = SL

getting ready for the holidayThe temperature is dropping. (Okay, not today and tomorrow – we’re supposed to hit 65. But it DID snow last week.) Christmas music is on the radio. My neighbors turned on their holiday lights. Thanksgiving has come and gone (leaving a LOT of extra weight in its trail 😦 ). So that means it must be winter. I notice that I seem to be logging in to SL a lot more than I’ve done in the past few months. Is it the weather? Is it that FL things have settled down a bit? I don’t know why exactly, but I do seem to be logging more time inworld.

Yesterday I responded to a call for avatars – human and dressed in vintage clothing. That seemed simple enough. I got Calli to help me with the clothing. She took me to Old Time Prims. VERY cool store. I bought several outfits AND hair. Yes, I know. I actually bought different hair. Let’s face it. My usual Ahuva hair is NOT vintage. After we were dressed I took Calli with me to the call. *grin* Once there we were sworn to secrecy, bound with horrific oaths, and basically warned with dire and drastic punishments if I told you what we did. I would tell you anyway, understand, but then I’d have to kill you (as the saying goes) and I’ve grown rather fond of you. *grin* So all I can say is tune in to Honour.

Blue prezziesOn the other hand I CAN tell you about the nifty gifts I received at a concert. I went to hear Taunter Goodnight at Effie’s Designs’ Christmas party. Effie had a gift box near the stage. You can see all the fun things she had packed into: a fireplace, a blanket, a lamp, a chair. Bamboo claimed the chair of course. 🙂

Speaking of prezzies, Calli always thinks of me. She understands that Christmas is not my holiday, even though I DO enjoy the excitement. So I have my first Chanukah gift – my VERY cool Chanukiah Hat. You can’t see in the above photo(because I’m too lazy to figure out again how to make a video) but the dreidels actually spin (turn). 🙂 I love it. It certainly does make a statement, doesn’t it? If you wish to make a Chanukah statement, you can find the [TMH] Chanukah Top Hat at The Mad Hattery.

thinking about the holidaysSo after spending hours, yes HOURS, inworld, I needed to settle down and contemplate the upcoming holidays. I need Chanukah candles. I should probably think about a holiday card. I wonder if the ducks will cooperate this year; some years they have been quite unobliging. Are there any good holiday parties going on? I wonder if I can convince Prad to do a reunion again this year…….

Redecorating With Roses

After finding Ample Clarity‘s one-prim chairs with poses at PrimPossible, I went on a mini-shopping spree. Oura and I both had gift certificates for Cheeky Pea, one of my absolute favorite furniture stores, owned by Isla Gealach. You can see her furniture all over my homes – piles of pillows, chairs, swings (:CP: Auntie Veda’s Garden Swing), baskets, chaise lounge. I just love Isla’s style. She was having a clearance sale so that, combined with the gift certificate, was irresistable. Of course once I had everything home, it was time to unbox and rearrange. 🙂 I put my new pile of pillows (:CP: Old Pillow Pile) by my new chaise lounge (:CP: Lounge). (I did like the old one, but it had only 2 poses and it was getting a bit threadbare. I think Bamboo must have been playing on it when I wasn’t around.) I also added a campfire down (:CP: Beadnell Beach Retreat) by the water so it would be warm enough on cool nights to still visit the ducks. I tossed my old swing set and put in the Cheeky Pea one.

As I flopped on my pillows, I could see AnnMarie Oleander’s endless stream of vehicles on the road. I mused that it would be nice to have some sort of privacy screen up on the patio. Then it hit me – I’m a builder. I can MAKE my own privacy screen. *grin* Imagine that. I forget that I can do that.

So I went through my landscaping materials from my days as Head Gardener at the office. I played a bit and tried several versions. Gold screen, short rose vines, long rose vines. multiple rose vines. *grin* It was fun. I’m not 100% pleased with any of them but I AM pleased with knowing that I can build what I want and need. 🙂

Hmmmm. Maybe I should do wisteria instead?

A New Addition to the Cales

My good friend Hunter took a break from SL for a bit, but he returned this past fall. YAY!!!! SO glad to have you back in town, Hunter! And Hunter looks better than ever because he is accompanied by the lovely Catarina. Hunter and Cate expanded my life by introducing me to the Vroom Vroom Reindeer. *grin* But they expanded THEIR lives by having an SL baby! So the Cales are now THREE: Hunter, Cate and Quakenado James. 🙂 Isn’t he adorable? And so well-behaved too – no fussing or complaining even though we were hanging out at lucky boards chatting.

I have to mention these lucky boards and the lovely lovely jewelry you can buy and win. yoona Mayo is the creator of ::Cocoon:: jewelry. I LOVE her work. I first encountered yoona’s jewelry when I was modeling for Shenlei Flasheart. Shen often paired her outfits with yoona’s jewelry and I had some great necklaces from then. Shen had another fashion show in January (Auld Acquaintance) and sent me the Look-Book for it. Her dresses were gorgeous and paired again with yoona’s jewelry. I fell in love with one of the necklaces and KNEW it would be perfect for my Erev New Year’s Eve dress. I contacted yoona to confirm the style name (Isis). yoona not only gave me that information, but also clued me in to her shop *PDD* Pas De Deux Annex in Juliet with all the lucky boards. *grin* Of course, she’s very clever besides generous. You can’t win BOTH the earrings and the necklace of a style. You’ll end up buying one of them. But her prices are soooooo reasonable and the pieces are well worth the L$s.

So Cate and I were hanging out at the lucky boards, chatting, when Hunter and Quake showed up. We got to talking about past events, and dress up affairs, and ball gowns, and lucky chairs. I remembered one store that I adored. It had a lucky chair and the most gorgeous outfits. Several of the clothes I’ve been wearing this winter season were from Haute Couture Sim Fashion by Moxie Polano. Several months ago I’d gone looking for HC, but I must have used the wrong LM and didn’t use search and so I didn’t find them. While we were talking, Hunter and I both searched and found Moxie and the store. So we tp’d there to look at the fashions. Still stunning, but no more lucky chair. *laughing* That lucky chair was SOOOOO popular, there was a velvet rope put up so we wouldn’t crowd the chair, and we had to wait behind the rope, hoping for our letter. The dress I wore for Erev New Year’s Eve was Moxie’s from Haute Couture. I staked out that chair for DAYS to get that dress. 🙂 I’m so glad Moxie and HC are both still here.

I think it speaks very well of Quake AND his parents that he shopped and tp’d with no fuss and no, ahem, accidents. *grin* Maybe next time we get together I will even nerve myself sufficiently to hold him. *grin* Congratulations Cate and Hunter!!!! I wish you much joy and happiness! *HUGS*

Who Loves Me?

OMG!!! The last 12 hours have seen an influx of unexpected gifts in my life. One is easily explained. *grin* My husband was multi-tasking, doing things in a hurry and shipped our gift to his mother to OUR house. *laughing* I KNEW the free shipping was too good to be true. Then there was this little box for me – a Chanukah gift. A candy-coated caramel apple from Amy’s Gourmet Apples along w/ 4 chocolate truffles. No card. I called Amy’s to find out the name of my benefactor. They said there was a piece of paper included that said “Fulfillment Center”. Well, yes, but what does that MEAN???? Apparently it’s some bank or other company program. You accumulate points, can pick a gift with those points and either claim the gift for yourself or send it to someone else. I seem to be the someone else, but I have no idea who to thank for the generous thought and yummy gift.

This morning I logged into SL and received a box from Xstreet SL: A Magic Box from Mahalee Breen – the Machinista All Red Viewer 2.          OMG!!!!! LOOK AT THEM!!!!!!! AREN’T THEY GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! They are from Carmen’s Shoes.

Who loves me??? Who do I thank? Yet again – no card was included. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!!!!! Oh I WANT these shoes in EVERY life I lead. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

Seven in the Sky with Platinum

As many of you know, getting my cat to take his meds can be a drawn-out process. I was waiting for him to finish ingesting and so of course I drifted over to the computer. If I’m on the computer, I may as well login and see who’s inworld, right? Dale was in world! We’d not chatted in a bit so I IM’d hello. (And Dale is used to me having to go afk to encourage the cat to eat more.) Dale was on a hunt. I groaned and covered my metaphorical ears with metaphorical hands. I do NOT need any more stuff. Most certainly I do NOT need to go on a hunt. I never even open most of the boxes I get on hunts. Even though I get some pretty fantastic things on hunts, come to think on it. And I know that there is a horse-y hunt coming up one of these days and I suspect I will do that.

Dale is doing the Platinum Hunt. He was in the ninth store on the list, which is No.07, a men’s clothing store. You can find it on Mushroom Island. number seven also sells skins. He’s not all that far along yet unless he’s hunted more since yesterday. This sounds like a high-class hunt as well as an interesting hunt. Many of the stores are places where I have shopped successfully. But even so, I wasn’t really registering the hunt part of our discussion until Dale mentioned that there was a freebie: I ❤ Plurk. Now THAT I had to have. *grin* I know, I'm odd. Love me anyway. So Dale sent the taxi and I hurried over and scored a freebie I ❤ Plurk shirt, heaven only knows why. Dale wanted to rez his Hunt prize so he wandered out of the store. I followed and found myself in a lovely lovely courtyard.

I'm not sure what makes this spot so special. Perhaps it's the warm glow of the lighting. Or the vines on the walls. Or the stones in the courtyard. Maybe the arches? The big tree? I saw the checkercloth-covered tables and I had to sit. Dale joined me and we both cammed about, pointing out features that pleased us. It was a brief visit, but thoroughly enjoyable. I would love to go back and sit and shmooze there again. Sip some wine, maybe have a little cheese and crackers. The merchandise was fun and good quality (check out Dale's new rolled up pants). Be sure to schedule your shopping trip so that you have time to sit and check out your purchases in the courtyard at number seven!

The Bronx Zoo Cobra on the ….. Slither

This is too funny to ignore. There is a venomous Egyptian cobra missing from morning check-in since Saturday, March 26th. The reptile house at the Bronx Zoo is closed until further notice. Please note that this is a female snake. My guess is that she’s off to do her spring shopping: a new hat, perhaps a boa, a new shoe…. *grin* Zha thinks the snake is looking for skinny jeans. 🙂

In the meantime, she’s tweeting up a storm. How is she tweeting? you may ask, as many others asked. “There’s an asp for that” she has replied. *grin* ooooo – and now you know how Eve was convinced to eat the apple – snakes are VERY clever and VERY funny.

The “zookeeper” and the mongoose are also tweeting.

In the meantime, as the snake has informed the city of NY: snakes and apples, perfect together.

Steam 4 Hunt


Faust is back! Yay!! 🙂 And Faust loves Steampunk. He headed off to do some shopping and discovered that there was a hunt in progress for the month of March. It’s the Steam 4 Hunt, running March 1-31 and you can read all about it on the Steam The Hunt blog. The blog lists the stores, has pictures of the great prizes and contains more information as well.

I joined up with Faust in the second store and was so intent on finding gears that I forgot to start taking pictures until a few stores later. Certainly the first few stores were INCREDIBLY cool and interesting. I started taking pictures in E&D Engineering. The textures on sale there are simply fantastic! I was itching to start building just so I had an excuse to buy the textures and use them. Dale joined us there and we wandered about looking at all the items, not even trying too hard to find the gear. *grin* Deep Blue Sea Designs was another fun and appealing store. Faust was finding gears and I was wandering about admiring all the neat things for sale and the playful build. Oura joined us by the time we reached the Yellow Jester so she was there to admire Dale’s acquisition: a jester hat! I nearly added to my rocking animal collection at Capalini Fine Furnishings in Babbage. Faust and I spent quite a bit of time rocking away. Michele joined us at that point and the five of us kept hunting. And shopping. I have to say that from a store owner’s perspective, it was a successful hunt since all five of us bought items along the way, not just grabbing prizes and tp’ing out.

The next day Faust enticed me back in to keep hunting (he’d long since jumped way ahead, collecting gears and fantastic prizes). The store itself was quite small but was packed full of goodies. Xcentricity in Babbage is wonderful, just wonderful. The sim is fun and VERY steampunk. The store is full of intriguing objects. I really want the Rocket Boots. Not only do they look like fun, but they remind me of a friend who no longer comes into SL very much. 😦 Faust planned to go back for the Gatling Gun Top Hat. I may NEED a pith helmet, as well. 🙂

This is DEFINITELY a fun hunt. I don’t think I’ve even unpacked most of the prizes. The stores themselves have been the real prize and pleasure for me! Faust has been enjoying himself. He has promised to write a post in his inimitable style, cluing us in to his experiences. *grin*