My Christmas Present

I totally love winter in SL. I live in a warm climate, so I really get into bundling up for the virtual snow. Today, I'm wearing an old, old, favorite. In fact, it was one of the first things I bought after I joined SL in September of 2007. It's the gray knitted sweater from Kurotsubaki - a store that's still one of my favorites. Kurotsubaki is on the Drowsy sim, which is worth a visit even if you're not shopping.

And there's a reason everyone has been blogging the new group gift skin from Curio - it's totally gorgeous. You get five shades and each has light and dark brows. I have been in skin heaven this holiday season.



This hair is a gift too - Bunny from Hairy Situations. The hat is scripted with tons of different textures. And the jeans - well, I only own one pair of jeans in SL and they're from Zaara. Who needs anything else?

And now on to my Christmas present! I keep to a strict budget in SL and normally the La Vivien books from Courtisane would be well out of my price range. You can't buy a single color - they're scripted to each have three color options that you can mix and match if you want. So they're EXPENSIVE. But they're so beautiful that I completely lost all my willpower. You can individually change the color of the main shoe, the tip part, the upper and lower ankle sections, and the flower. They come in some lovely and crazy color combinations, but I'm pretty conservative with shoes so I'm wearing them in the Sepia tone with the flowers in Earth.


Oh, goodness. Staring at that picture has me remembering how much I liked the gold/red set as well. No! Must . . . Resist . . .

Ibizarre

Ibizarre is a store I always forget for some reason. Then I'll see a cool outfit somewhere and ask where it came from and remember how great this store is. I've been wearing the dress on the right, the Highwaist Tweed Set, for weeks now, since I saw it in Second Style Magazine. In the center is the Jewel Dress. This is the midi skirt and it also comes with a mini. On the left is the Draped Jacket. The jeans and shirt under it are from Zaara.

The shoes are Clover from Zhao. They're one of my favorite pairs of SL shoes.



This skin is an awesome freebie from Cyanide called Uma - find it in all shades under the Christmas tree. The hair is Luna from Calico - another hair I've been wearing everywhere lately.

Now back to collecting those holiday freebies!

Hey! I'm Photoshopping!

Okay, actually I used Gimp, but "Hey! I'm Gimping!" sounded weird. But I needed to show off these skirts from Obsession. So I decided to get ambitious and do one of these layouts. And it worked! No one is more surprised than me.

These skirts are seriously cute and cheap - just $L35 each. As you can see, they mix and match easily.



I'm also totally in love with this new hair from Maitreya. This is Malou and although it didn't do much for me on the vendor, when I demoed it I just loved it. It's paired with my new favorite skin (and only the second skin I've ever paid full, real prices for), the Avalon skin from Glamour, which is apparently the skin label at Fancy Fairy. This skin comes with two different face tattoo options (hence the Avalon connection) but also looks amazing without them. I especially love that in combination with my tintable chromabrow brows from Sin Skins I'm able to get the best orange eyebrows I've achieved so far.

Other stuff:

Left: cream turtleneck from the Bundle Up set at Vitamin Ci; Carmen pantyhose from Insolence in shiny light gray; Christmas books from Ztique.

Center: red knit sweater from Meteo Rain (freebie); white tights from the depths of my inventory (in other words I have no clue where they came from)

Right: red top from my inventory - folder says the store is Crimson Shadow, which seems to be a precursor of DeLa; white mink wrap from Blacklace; the Carmen hose again in medium gray; Maitreya's black Slinky Stilettos.

Jewelry is the BohemeMia set from LeeZu.

Science Friday

For those of you who don't listen to American Public Radio, Science Friday is a show about science (duh) that airs every Friday (double duh). It's also the reason I'm in Second Life. I had heard a few stories about SL (Woman loses her husband to virtual mistress!!) but never really been interested in it until Ira Flatow (who appears in-world as Ira Flatley), the host of Science Friday, started reporting about it and eventually set up Science Friday Island, where every Friday at 11:00 a.m. SLT they stream the show and take questions from avatars that they answer on the air. He was so into it that eventually I had to check it out.

The next designer in my inventory is Adam n Eve. One of the points of this blog was to help me downsize my inventory - if I don't want to blog about it, out it goes! These purple leather pants, pretty as they are, almost hit the trash. I loved them, but for some reason it took FOREVER to find shoes and a top to go with them. Part of the problem, of course, is my no-exposed-midriff rule. I had plenty of cute tanks and tees, but the pants are pretty low cut so eventually I ended up going with this white sweater. I was hoping I would get to sit in host Ira Flatley's chair, but sadly it's programmed just for him.

The sweater is from a shop that doesn't seem to be around any more called Little Town. I loved that place. Everything was so cheap - I think the sweater was like L$30. Officially, the pants are the Aubergine sculpted leather pants and they come on both layers so you can tuck them in boots if you want.

If for some reason the Lindens decided to decree that there could only be one shoe designer in all of SL (and God knows they could - I don't understand half their decisions) I would be totally fine with it as long as that designer could be Fallingwater Cellardoor. Shiny Things could easily keep me beautifully shod forever. These are the Mary Jane Mules in Pale and are currently priced at L$100 in the sale room. A total steal.

Science Friday Island has this nice seating area where you can sit with others to enjoy the show in Fridays. There's also a patio area with some links and info about issues of the day. And you can get a free "Science Fridays" t-shirt. If it came on a jacket layer I'd be wearing it in all these pictures!

The skin in this picture is the Trixie skin from A Piece of Candy - I believe you can still get it free in the diamond hunt going on there. Hair is ETD's Starley II in auburn.

So drop by Science Friday island on Fridays at 11:00 for some educational entertainment!

Slurls:

Science Friday Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/science%20friday/224/235/22

Adam n Eve: http://slurl.com/secondlife/genesis/185/168/38

A Piece of Candy: http://slurl.com/secondlife/jersey/193/48/22

Shiny Things: http://slurl.com/secondlife/shiny%20falls/173/181/37

ETD: http://slurl.com/secondlife/etd/124/132/29

SL Botanical Gardens

Gowns! Gowns are the bane of my existence in Second Life. I love them, they're beautiful, but I never really go anywhere where I'd wear one. And, of course, so many of the great freebies designers put out are gowns. I can't bear not to grab them, but then I never wear them.

Well, the next designer in my inventory is Abia Capalini and the Audrey gown was, at the time I got it, a freebie. (Of all the many, many gowns in my inventory I don't think I've actually purchased more than 5. Maybe not even 5!) It's not free any more, but you can still get it at the store for L$299. The gown comes with a long and short skirt (short picture below - I was trying for a cool lighting effect but I think I failed!) and the long skirt has a nice double-tiered look. There's also a bodice option without the lace insert, for those much more daring than myself. I don't go bare to the navel in either life!

I've been hearing forever about the Second Life Botanical Gardens but had never visited it before. What a gorgeous sim! Really, it's totally worth checking out whether you're looking for a romantic getaway or just a quiet place to hang out by yourself. There are a lot of beautiful pavilions and gazebos (with my favorite thing - pose balls!). I couldn't resist this sexy loungy pose.

This absolutely gorgeous skin is L$10 (yes, ten lindens) at PixelDolls. It's the Twilight skin and can be found in the sale section. I think I've said before that a lot of the higher end skins in SL don't really fit my shape. I seem to be very lucky with the freebies and cheapies! The hair is the always reliable Gurl 6 - Mariah in Natural Red. Gurl 6 is one of my top go-to places for great red hair, and there are always lots of freebies and good sales.

The shoes you can barely see are the Laque pumps from Storm Schmooz and the earrings are #117 from Kraftika (maker of some of the best hoop earrings in SL!)

So head down to the SL Botanical Gardens for some beautiful scenery and check out Abia Capalini for some gowns that won't break your budget.

Slurls:

SL Botanical Gardens: http://slurl.com/secondlife/the%20botanical%20gardens/109/69/25

Abia Capalini: http://slurl.com/secondlife/world%20of%20style/231/131/24

PixelDolls: http://slurl.com/secondlife/port%20seraphine/128/129/257

Gurl 6: http://slurl.com/secondlife/gurlywood/109/110/21

Storm Schmooz: http://slurl.com/secondlife/sawsnake/162/218/24

Kraftika: http://slurl.com/secondlife/jewelry/196/118/37

Guest Submission!

I have a guest submission! Which means I have a reader! Whoo-hoo! :)





My friend Ivy wanted to show off this great suit she got from Cattiva e Cattivo so she asked me if I'd blog it. Of course, I agreed. I learned a lot, including how much harder it is to take pictures of other people! It was a great experience for me.

The suit, Strictly Business, really is cool. It comes with tons of options on tons of layers. Long jacket, short jacket, peplum, skirt, pants, blouse and sweater options, too much to show in one blog post. The pictures will give you some highlights.

If you do any business in SL, or if you just like a businesslike look, check this one out!

Ivy's shoes are the tan Stephanie pumps, also from Cattiva e Cattivo. Her skin is Lazolli's Phoebe line and her hair is the Perfect Pile-up from Curve Appeal. She's also wearing bangles from Ticky Tacky. Part of the fun of this one was visiting some stores I'm not familiar with and making new finds. So thanks, Ivy!

Slurls:

Cattiva e Cattivo: http://slurl.com/secondlife/agard/197/192/26

Lazolli Skins: http://slurl.com/secondlife/mirabella/180/190/28

Curve Appeal: http://slurl.com/secondlife/nelleman/165/174/122

Ticky Tacky: http://slurl.com/secondlife/horst/52/84/23

Interrupting our Scheduled Programming

Okay, time to come back after battling the nasty virus that's kept me down the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, it wasn't the swine flu! I had to take a quick break from my alphabetical exploriation of my inventory when I read about this beautiful Sim in the New World Notes blog. Alchemy Immortalis is eventually going to be some kind of bed and breakfast inn experience but while they're under construction it's still very much worth visiting this lovely, spare landscape. It reminds me of something out of a Bronte novel so I decided to do the whole Victorian thing.

This lovely dress is actually $10L at Kleineschwein right now. Head over to Caledon Eyrie and pick it up. Then channel your inner heroine and wander the hills searching for your Heathcliffe!

Slurls:

Alchemy Immortalis - http://slurl.com/secondlife/empress%20and%20hierophant/11/156/37

Kleineschwein - http://slurl.com/secondlife/caledon%20eyre/69/205/22 (Caledon TPs always land in common areas so from the arrival point walk south past the stables and the pretty fountain to find the Kleineschwein building on your right.)

Hair is Shane from Curl Up & Dye - http://slurl.com/secondlife/inari/32/228/22

Fanway Park

This one is short and sweet just to show off the cardigan. This is actually a picture I took for a challenge on the Fab Free flickr. (And if you're not reading the Fabulously Free in SL blog, you should be. Just about every freebie on the grid eventually ends up there.)

Last spring I was begging for cardigan sweaters and couldn't find any. This year they're everywhere. Since we're on the As in my inventory you get to see the Wonderland sweater from A-Bomb. This was originally a freebie but now you have to pay all of $50L to get one. I've paired it with the glitch pants from Baiastice's Grandma Glitter suit. The entire Grandma set is available for free at Baiastice. (The slurl below will hopefully take you directly to the freebie area.) Take a minute to browse the store, too. Sissy Pessoa is one of those designers really pushing the envelope of SL fasion.

The shoes I'm wearing are an old pair I picked up forever ago - I have no idea where. Sorry! The Hair is Miss B's Natalie hair - that store doesn't seem to be around any more. Geez, Lessa, what good are you?

The skin, on the other hand, is available and free. It's Cher's Rez Day Skin - designed by Cherlindrea Lamont, the founder of the Fabulously Free blog. They have a site in-world where you can pick up this skin and a bunch of other nice freebies.

The baseball stadium is a little place called Fanway Park. I go there surprisinly often to take pictures. It's small and usually empty. If you ever need a baseball backdrop, that's a good place to go.
Here ends this lame post. If nothing else, go grab the freebies at Baiastice and Fab Free!

Slurls:

Fanway Park: http://slurl.com/secondlife/fairchang%20vista%20ne/88/88/23

A-Bomb: http://slurl.com/secondlife/snatch%20city/97/30/29

Fabulously Free: http://slurl.com/secondlife/mc%20east%20river/95/39/30

Baiastice: http://slurl.com/secondlife/baiastice/46/176/35

The Magic of Oz

The first thing I'll say here is that if you haven't been to The Magic of Oz sim, you've got to go. If you have one tiny ounce of whimsey or fantasy or nostalgia in your body this is a place you don't want to miss. It's also a place I figured I'd never find a way to blog because I just don't have outfits in my inventory that scream "Magic of Oz."

The second thing I have to say is that the Aimee dress is totally not me. I just don't go for the "living doll" approach to dressing my avatar. But that dress has been haunting me ever since it first popped up on the blogs a while ago. "It's so beautiful!" "I'll never wear it." "But it's so beautiful!" "But I'll NEVER wear it."

Of course, when I was at A Piece of Candy last week prepping my Princeton post (alliteration alert!) there it was in all its glory, and I thought of the Oz sim, and next thing I knew my balance was down by $250L.

This really is a nice dress. Beautifully textured, totally affordable, great fishnet stockings included. And it works perfectly here in Oz. This post will be a bit more picture-heavy than in the past because there's so much to see in this great sim. You land at the crossroads and can follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, the Witch's Castle, Munchkinland, the poppy field, the Scarecrow's cornfield; there's tons to explore. And it's full of nice little poseballs which I've already said I appreciate.

Here I am checking out an emerald fountain. The boots I'm wearing with this outfit are the very first shoes I ever bought in SL - they're the tapestry ankle boots from Lassitude & Ennui. These are the black, of course, and they also come in taupe. (Note to self - remember to take more close-ups!)

The Aimee dress definitely needs some fairy-tale hair and I found that in the Maiden style from Bewitched. Bewitched and its sister-store House of Heart have great sales and lots of freebies. If you're not in their group, you should be! And, oh God, bad blogger, only my 3rd post and I can't remember what skin I was wearing. And I can't find it. Ah well, nobody's perfect.

So I'll leave you with one of the coolest parts of the Oz sim - the witch's castle. Flying monkeys and all. (Clicking on the pictures, by the way, will bring up a larger version so you can see Oz in all it's glory.) And next time we'll be back to more of my normal style, I promise!

The Slurls!



The Magic of Oz: http://slurl.com/secondlife/magic%20of%20oz/138/125/24



A Piece of Candy: http://slurl.com/secondlife/jersey/215/93/24



Lassitude & Ennui: http://slurl.com/secondlife/nouveau/61/61/30



Bewitched: http://slurl.com/secondlife/tropical%20escape/181/77/22

Princeton

Ever since I first visited the Princeton Sim I've been telling people about it. I've never been to the real Princeton (totally not Ivy League material) so maybe someone who has can tell me if it's a good representation. In any case, it's a beautiful build with tons of information. The library alone (above) is packed with all kinds of interesting stuff that changes frequently. You can play a super-sized game of chess, browse wildlife illustrations, view various videos, listen to audio clips, you could really spend a whole day exploring everything.


The first non-numerical store in my inventory is A Piece of Candy. Sticklers for grammar will say that that belongs down with the "Ps," and you're right, but I'm blindly following the conventions of my inventory, grammar be damned.


I always forget how much I love this store between visits. Then I go there and remember what quality clothing Candy Enoch provides at seriously low prices. In fact, while visiting the store to prep for this post I got sucked into buying the Aimee dress, which in no way belongs on a college campus (unless they have a Masquers' Ball like my alma mater used to) and which will be the subject of my next post.

This is an outfit I paid money for as well, the Wray outfit. I actually really like the schoolgirl aspect of it. I love the brown turtleneck, the sweet houndstooth skirt, and the stockings, which come in two colors. The belt is on the glitch pants so no crazy fitting issues there. I've paired it with my most favorite boots - Slink's Angelina stilettos. I refuse to be a stick woman in SL and the Slink boots fit my apparently freakishly large calves with no adjustments at all.

The lovely earrings are the Agroglyphe earring in gold from Bliesen + Mai Tai. They are scripted so you can change the size and texture of the pendants. You also get an unscripted pair for those laggy sims. My skin, I have to admit, is something you can't get any more. I was lucky to just start figuring out skin at the time that Eloh Elliot gave away her skins and designers in SL came together to use them for a fundraiser. Every skin sold for $50L. This is from the line that Arikinui Adria of Nuclear Boutique fame did, and you'll be seeing a lot of them. They're my hands down favorite skin in SL.

The hair is a freebie - Icing's Miko Omegamu's Valedictorian hair. You can pick it up on the freebie shelf at Icing. It normally has two crossed pencils holding the mini-bun in the back but I edited them out.


The student union at the Princeton Sim is very cool and modern and currently houses a display of wildlife illustrations. The patio has these great chairs with poses built in - I'm not very savvy on this stuff so I love anything that will pose my avatar for me. In this picture I've added A Piece of Candy's Vintage Cardigan in yellow. You can't actually get the yellow in the store (it was a group gift, I think), but it is available in a lot of other great colors.

Here are the slurls:

Princeton: http://slurl.com/secondlife/princeton%20university/144/148/24

A Piece of Candy: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jersey/194/61/24

Slink: http://slurl.com/secondlife/sanctum/63/128/34

Icing: http://slurl.com/secondlife/mischief/111/190/24

Bliesen + Mai Tai: http://slurl.com/secondlife/harshap/168/127/59

Capitol Hill

So at the very top of my inventory is Jacqueline Boehm's shop 1-800 Betties. I have two outfits from this shop - the Miz Secretary, which is shown, and the Jazz Suit which is a pantsuit version and does not seem to be available at this time. So you only get to see the skirt. Jacqueline's shop has a lot of great retro-inspired fashions, including some nice shoes and lingerie and a few things for the guys. The prices are very reasonable, too.




To photograph this fairly conservative suit I thought right away of the Capitol Hill sim. Actually two sims, Capitol Hill North and Capitol Hill South are dedicated to a greater understanding of the political process in the United States. There is information available all over the sims on all aspects of government.


For instance, click the little pink piggy bank to get a notecard detailing recent government spending. Near the pig is a note card you can click on to read the text of the recent stimulus package. Everything seems to be updated regularly. During big events (like elections and debates) they stream live news feeds and folks gather and discuss. The sims are technially non-partisan but discussions I've attended have a very liberal bent!

This suit is pretty severe, so I paired it with a really sexy hairstyle - Calla's Bellflower. My skin is Mela's Sakura Kawaii line in the Ahiru makup. (Mela's skins look great on my avatar and they are cheap, cheap, cheap!) My eyes, which I never change, are from E's Handpainted Fantasy Avatar. Lashes are Sin Skin's Vanity lashes. My shoes are the iconic (and free) Slinky Stilettos from Maitreya. Is there a better basic black pump in all of SL? And last, but not least, my shape is all my own - with system skirt hips, of course! :)

And here are the slurls:

1-800 Betties: http://slurl.com/secondlife/roosa/245/23/28

Capitol Hill: http://slurl.com/secondlife/capitol%20hill%202/127/233/30

Calla Hair: http://slurl.com/secondlife/calla/128/110/35

E's Handpainted Fantasy Avatar: http://slurl.com/secondlife/yeol/97/225/69

Mela's Shapes, Hair, Skin: http://slurl.com/secondlife/lo%20lo/34/69/28

Sin Skins: http://slurl.com/secondlife/port%20seraphine/184/155/267

Maitreya: http://slurl.com/secondlife/maitreya%20isle/175/213/23

Welcome to the Average Avatar!

Just what the metaverse needs, right? Another SL fashion/sightseeing blog. Well, it's what I need right now so I'm going to do it!

Hi! I'm Lessa Joubert and I've been in SL for about a year and a half now. In other words, forever. I'm just what the title suggests - an average girl with tens of thousands of items in her inventory and no place to wear them all. I've been wanting to do more with SL lately, and I'm so not a builder or designer. But I like taking pictures (although I confess up front to never having even seen Photoshop) and I love shopping. And I love reading SL fashion blogs. So I came up with this idea.

I'm challenging myself to go through my inventory alphabetically and create outfits and then find cool (and preferrably appropriate) sims in which to take pictures. Hopefully, if I ever have a reader or two, you'll get to see some nice clothes and a location you'd like to visit.

I'll try to keep things short and I'll try to only blog clothes you can actually acquire at this time.(Although I know I'll slip on that - who doesn't want to show off all those great Last Call outfits?) Some stuff will be freebies, some not, some designers will only take up one blog entry and some (hello Barerose!) will take up several. Some stuff will be new, some totally not. Who knows? It'll be fun for me even if nobody ever reads it!

So on with the show!