Sunday Best

Gift from Paris Metro.
Some parts are mesh.

This gift from Paris Metro is a nice use of mesh.  We're Phoenix users and there are only so many alpha bits we can wear at one time.  Consequently, I complain (mostly to myself) about mesh and grouse when I try to get on a V3-style viewer - and spend all my time crashing and relogging.  Gah.  And then we try to squeeze different avs into the mesh clothing and it either doesn't work or ... it's just lame.  So far the experience with mesh at Paris Metro (and G Field) has been good.  It's worth wearing shoes with invisiprims again. 

This week's group gift from The White Armory.

No worries so far about mesh and TWA.  Just one gorgeous gown after another.  Ho-hum.  Oo! but this one has wings!  There are fairies at the bottom of our garden - and they sure are overdressed!  There are little blings painted on the decolletage to draw attention to where the outermost edge of the areola might possibly be lurking but actually isn't.  What a nice touch and just avoids sluttiness (mostly by covering up the rest of the torso and all of the legs and arms).

Hee hee hee!

I'm tired of including slurls.  For heavenssake, just look it up in search!

The Sign of the Cat

Kiyomizu Mall is having a winter hunt to find ninja cat.  Some are very very tiny and might require some looking. Some are right out front. A couple of the cats you will have to visit the main stores to find their cats - but it's totally worth going, especially for the attack-snowman and the kimono.

 Much of this is Japanese style that doesn't look quite right on Lludmila, so Angel was kind enough to try it all on.

Accessories

Choker & earrings from (I forget - sorry!), ears hat from Lamp-Ya, high crown hat from Nano Style, cat hat from mimi noir.

Casual hoodie and Santa shoulder pet (from Ron Shop).

 Mesh hoodie, shirt, & panties (not pictured; jeans not included) from M*Motion.

Kimono from Mizuki Kimono Shop - many more freebies there!
Table separately from M,K Design.

Mizuki Kimono comes with hair and geta ... but not the table.  The kimono does not come with the table and the table does not come with hair and geta.  I just want that to be straight.

Lovely pink kimono from En.

You have to visit the main store for the En kimono - but, holy cow!  It comes with everything pictured (and not pictured - you can barely see the little handbag): hair, hair ornament, geta and tabi.  Of course, the danger is that when you get there, you'll see all the other gorgeous kimonos that are only 100L.

Angel fell for it:

Merry Kiltmas

Not so warm & cozy without that poncho, eh?
I think I see nips!

We've already covered some non-clothing items here available at The Looking Glass Sim in their shopping area under the tree.  Well, more stuff has been put out including the above outfit from MacMoragh & Muse that comes with kilt, poncho, scarf, tam, and boots!  Below is the offering for men (also with kilt, tam, and boots) ... and petites weren't left out, so if you're even smaller than Lludmila, there's something for you here, too.

Men's outfit from MacMoragh & Muse

Field Day

G Field has out a new Christmas gift, as well as a second chance at last year's prezzie.  It's mesh - but there hasn't been anything mesh-y Lludmila's gotten from there that didn't fit perfectly.

XXS in blue.

In red - couldn't find the cute red flats
with the white pompoms.

Unslutty at Ho Wear

Fabulous gown and hair from Ho Wear.

More great purple.

Outrageously fabulous kimono.

We thought we'd joined the Ho Wear group back in October when we were blown away by the freebies.  Then we never heard anything.  So we went back to check - and they've put out 21 gifts for Christmas!  OMG!  The outfits range from sexy to goth to goth sexy to normal to costume ... some that come with skin, shape, eyes - pretty much everything except footwear.  The kimono is the only gift that came with shoes, in the form of geta.
The presents aren't hidden or small - but they are all over the shop and its extensions.  There is something there for everyone, even those of us who stick with unslutty!

POE-etry

Amacci skin with Paris Metro gown (scarfed).

Paris Metro gown with cape.

 It's time for that Peace on Earth hunt - and there are some really nice things out there. Amacci has some hair and skin as their prize (the hair, being in two wintery colors of white or blue-white, is perfect for Lludmila).  This gorgeous bottle green gown is the prize from Paris Metro - one of our favorite places.
Not pictured: shoes that match.  Darn. Now Kathy needs shoes to go with this.
Dang, you don't even need to look very hard for these!

Amacci 
Paris Metro

Well, THIS Isn't Going to Help!

Lotus bikinis for 1L

Lludmila always complains about the size of her inventory and so she might possibly collect some freebies, photograph them, and then delete them.  So, she thought she'd pick up this box of Lotus bikinis dollarbie* and maybe keep one of them.  After all, she loves purple, black goes with everything, oh the peacock is nice, but red just isn't her - oh, that's nice too, well at least the orange will be - oh.  In the end she only discarded the white one.  These bikinis get the Unslutty and Undead Seal of Approval for coverage.  No buttcrack, no pubes.  So much for keeping the inventory under 42K.

Yellow lion, butterfly net, red panda tiny av

Not far away are more free freebies (ha ha ha!): a red or a yellow lion costume (be sure to wear clothes underneath, but you might lose an attachment or two), a butterfly net that emits butterflies after you click on the ground, and this really, really cute red panda av.

Red panda here and yellow lion at the nearby temple.
Butterfly net here as well as a ton of other stuff that's free as well as some great musical instruments (including a Theramin!) that aren't free, but don't you need them anyway?

*More on this fair in a cross-posting.

Lollygagging About

Free prison garb, dirty hands, guitar.

While visiting one sim for a freebie, Kathy ran across a raft of them.  There's a freebie shop there with a wide selection of freebies offered (as well as a box for cowering in the event of a sim crash).  It's always worth wandering around a shop or a sim because you never know what gems you will find.

A bit of Whimsy.

 Also in the same sim was a hat shop called Whimsy with the most elaborate toppers.  There is also a free Thanksgiving themed headband.

And if you see a tip jar/hat about ...

Try to show your appreciation for any bargains or freebies you find.  Shop owners: be sure to put out a tip jar.  Kathy remembers being poor and homeless and appreciates all the freebies she's collected over the years.  Now that she has the stipend, she likes to show her gratitude.

Awww, ShuShugar!

Group gifts at ShuShu

ShuShu's group is free to join. Very colorful clothes, shoes, accessories.

Womenstuff and Otherstuff

Womenstuff Hunt consists of 200 shops and a 50L group joiner fee.  The list of shops and their hints is here. Apparently, there will be two sets of gifts and the first set is out now.  Below are some of the gifts from this hunt as well as some other stuff.  I mean, you're in the shop anyway - might as well do all the hunts there, right?

Two dances from Aveyo and Humanoid.

Aveyo and Humanoid both provide dances in the hunt, but if you click on the Aveyo and rez in front of Humanoid, just turn around. Aveyo is behind you.  The Humanoid location is a different one from the one in front of you, so a confused person might spend a whole half hour or more looking around that one to no avail ... ohwhattagiveaway.

Dress from Shiki, make-up from Croire, pants outfits from Prism (not Womenstuff). 

Taupe shoes (but they went nicely with the grey) are from Lindy Modern and Retro Shoes, make-up from Croire, the two outfits from Prism were from the Gobble Gobble Hunt and Shaken Not Stirred Hunt.  The pistol actually fires - bwah-hahahahaaaa!

Rfyre, SF Designs, ChiChickie, Camilla's.

Annthrasite really loved the outfit from SF Designs and might never take it off.  Earrings and bangles are from Rfyre.  The hair is a group gift from ChiChickie and just happened to be Annthrasite's color.  Last but not least is part of the outfit available from Camilla's.  It also comes with a knit cap, blonde hair, and clunky boots.

These are just a few of the shops on the hunt and any two of these outfits would make it worth the 50L.

Oh, Rats!

Outfits from the Raging Rat Hunt

There's another Chinese Zodiac theme hunt going on at the sim surrounding House of Nishi, the Raging Rat Hunt.  This time you search for rats starting at this point.  Click on the hunt sign for the first hint.  This is an adult sim but the hunt prizes should appeal to anyone.  We sent Annthrasite because she doesn't mind a bit of sluttiness, but Lludmila went back to pick some up for herself.

Shoes and boots

All you have to do is follow the clues and find the rats ... which aren't that difficult to find, but you do have to range all over the sim.  If you finish, there's a gift certificate in it for you.  Oh, and while you're wandering around, some of the shops might possibly be participating in other hunts (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

Sapphire necklace from the
Something Old Something New Hunt

The Appropriately Named Shop

P'tt'n onneh Riiiiiitz!

You won't see little Lludmila in these, but Kathy was brave enough to put these on and recommended them to a trashier friend who was so thrilled she joined the group at Ho Wear and actually bought an outfit.  These free outfits from the Ho Wear Halloween shop are just the ticket for the inevitable holiday parties.  Some come with shapes and skins (and some boffo hair!), but, as you can see, you don't have to wear the provided shapes and skins to look good.  You can look like yourself ... only deadlier. 

Also in the Halloween shop are some inexpensive items, such as that great Frankenstein in formal dress (Cal added the neck bolt because he just can't leave well enough alone).

Not bad, just pixelated that way.
More from Ho Wear.

Also going on is the Creative Angels Hunt (where you pick up a HUD here first - free) and here are some samples from two of our favorite places, Tristan from Suki's Silks and a very colorful fairy from Paris Metro's satellite store.  The HUD has the landmarks for all the shops so you don't have to open anything to get to the next shop or do them in order.

Boots and sword not included, fairy's hair from Ho Wear.

Ho Wear Halloween freebies and cheapies.
Creative Angels Hunt for all things fey.
Orange heels (that also turn black) from the Pumpkin Prints hunt at Isis - plenty of hunts going on and good subscribo gifts.

On Our Toes

We roll back the carpet and move the sofa for some dance.

Lludmila's mesh ballet shoes in the special birthday color (Canada Mint Pink?) arrived today as a group gift from Isis!  She's just thrilled.  They came with a HUD so she could match her skin tone (hee!) and this weekend all items (including the ballet shoes) will be only 31L for the birthday sale!  Must collect all colors!  (Calm down, girl!)

Don't forget! Isis also has some ballet poses (although Lludmila is caught in mid-arabesque here from a dance animation from Moonworks) for you "Black Swan" fans.

Still loving the [ba] barnesworth anubis New Orleans skybox.

Paris Meshtro

Art by Olympes Rhode

The Paris Metro Gallery has another great exhibit and gowns to go with it.  The exhibits are great enough without the gowns, but it's worth going to see them anyway.  I particularly enjoyed this exhibit.

If you are like Lludmila, with an odd shape, mesh doesn't always work no matter what size and we refuse to reshape ourselves.  Although the Paris Metro exhibit gift gowns contain some mesh items, if the mesh doesn't work for you, you can wear the outfit without it.  I don't know how many free outfits we've discarded because the mesh just wasn't working out.  I find this annoying, even though we're talking about free clothes.  Is this bad of me?

Anyway, Paris Metro has solved this problem for me.  Lludmila's torso is just too short for the mesh corset in this homage to the art by Olympes Rhode ... but it's just as great without the mesh piece!

With and without mesh corset

On the main floor is art by Kylie Sabra, who uses some interesting techniques ... and a lot of red.

Art by Kylie Sabra

The dress that goes with this collection has a mesh skirt and jacket.  The mesh worked really well in this outfit, but still can be worn without the mesh jacket.  The sheer skirt doesn't require an invisibility layer.   Many thanks to Paris Metro for the exhibits and for all the free gowns we've scored off them in the past!

With and without mesh jacket

Ornamental Ox Hunt Outfits

T-shirt and Russian Futuristic Urban outfit.
Kindle came with the couch prize and
Lludmila refuses to put it down because it's a nicer one
than her RL Kindle.

Butch and Femmie (put that Kindle down, Lludmila!)

Elegant burgundy hat

The Ornamental Ox Hunt is a sim-wide hunt with outfits for men and women and accessories from many of the shops in the sim.  This is in an adult sim and some of the outfits don't fit under the title of the blog (but are still very nice - all full outfit prizes came with shoes!), as well as some of the locations ... such as the Dungeon.  Look for the colorful ox prim - each one providing a clue to the next one.  It's easy!

Hunt Swag!

Yay! It's the Swayland Summer Hunt!

The Swayland Summer Hunt is quick and fun.  Find the flowers and get a notecard that's either empty or has one of the passwords to collect a gift from Sway's, nonino, zacca, and DCD.  The flowers are just sprinkled about where anyone can find them and aren't hidden in cruel sneakiness.

Also, I recommend going to dirty.little.secret and soaking up all the hunt prizes there - but whatever you do, don't leave your empty boxes around!  There's a zero-tolerance policy on that.  It's nice of that shop to allow you to rez and open your packages there, so don't be a poo-poo head; clean up after yourself!

Dress from dirty.little.secret - hat, bear, and floor cushion from Swayland hunt.

From Zacca, a straw hat, good for men and women.  From nonino, the blue and orange stuffed bears, both rez and wear versions.  From Sway's, the floor cushion with many poses that also rezzes a guitar for a rousing chorus of "Kumbaya."  From DCD, the delicate, floral silver necklace.

Another mesh dress from dirty.little. secret and alternate colored bear and hat, with necklace.

Unrebellious

Cute outfit from MiuMin in The Rebel Playground hunt.

If there's any particular style Lludmila likes, it's asian: Japanese, Chinese, Indian ... houses, costume, design (and in this, if anything, we take after Momma).  So, when there's a hunt or freebie in the eastern sims, she's there.  There were a couple of cute outfits from MiuMin and +NK+, but you had to find both tricycles at each shop to get the whole outfits.

Outfit and wings "sold" separately at +NK+.

I'm always saying this, but it's true.  When we are on hunts, we look at the other merchandise just in case there's something we can't live without - each hunt is an opportunity to discover a new shop with interesting offerings.  In the case of MiuMin, it was the doll case with the poses.  It was 100L and, although all know what a tightwad I am, I just had to spring for that for Lludmila.

Finish this photo session or die trying!

And this was just the packaging!
(From +:::+Natural+:::+ )

What's an Avatar To Do?

A refreshing swim waiting for the Lucky Board.

It's funny how things affect each other.  In RL(tm), I can only wear the most comfortable shoes after suffering more than a year with plantar fasciitis.  In the virtual world, my avatar can wear, and indeed has many free pairs of ultra-high heeled shoes, but what do I like to put on her?  Yep, it's flats.

The heat is oppressive this summer, seems to be unusually so although it might just be my "power surges."  There is no temperature in virtual life ... but what do I want to see on my avatar?  Yes, again (golly, you're good at this!), it's shorts and sleeveless tops.  I can't imagine seeing her in a fur coat, wool, or fall colors.

So, Lludmila can wear anything in the world, but I continue to prefer things I would like: reasonably modest (no pubes, buttcrack, or areolae), seasonally appropriate, and not painful.  This indicates the amount of identification we have with our avatars.  Others may react differently, but we all dance in our heads when we watch our avatars dance - they are an extension of our selves.

So, it's inevitable that some of us might become entangled emotionally ... and here's what's been happening with me.

Yesterday Lludmila was out hounding some 60L Weekend bargains at one of her favorite shops and upon rezzing was assaulted by a script-nazibot telling her she was 18 scripts over the "line" and would be continually hararsed until she removed some.  Well, I can tell you, that gave me a turn.  I was wearing some prim feet and they do have several scripts in them.  I opened on in edit mode to count the scripts in one foot (while the script-nazibot continued to remind me and call me names) and "only" found seven.  I checked everywhere else and that was all that had scripts in it.  Then I looked around the shop ... I was the only one there.  I decided I'd risk "ruining everyone else's experience by producing lag" and leave the feet on.  It was a furniture shop - every dang thing in there had scripts as well.  Did they not count?

Later, in the middle of the Rebel Somethingorother Hunt, I arrived at a shop that suggested I check my script count by right-clicking on my avatar and getting a count and providing me a notecard about scripts and lag.  I was starting to get a complex about this!  Later I removed my pretty prim feet and looked into deleting unneeded scripts from them, but maybe I'd like to change the toenail color or add toe-rings or the anklets that make the join of the prim less noticeable.  Lludmila is not always Lludmila.  There are other shapes (and colors of skin) that are put on, so if I take the scripts out of an item, another shape won't be able to wear it.


I got all frowny.

Today, after larding Lludmila up with hunt prizes, I put the shorts and corset top back on her (but not the prim feet), and toodled off to get my weekly freebie gown from another shop.  Usually you are bombarded with notecards upon entering about behavior and appropriate dress, but this time there was nothing.  Lludmila walked unencumbered down the red carpet until she reached the group gift poster and suddenly there was one of those auto-messages in green about appropriate dress, aimed right at me.  Me!  The original and inimitable Unslutty Undead.

You know what that reminded me of?  Remember in school when one or two kids did something awful and everyone in the classroom had to be harangued and shamed?  That's what this is like.  Why does no one complain about lag at one of the functions we attend where everyone is loaded with prims and scripts and we laugh about our ARC?  There can be 20 of us, all dancing and carrying on and waiting for things to rez.  How is that different from 18 scripts over the line at an empty shop?

Maybe I'm so used to lag that it doesn't mean anything to me, I dunno.  But I do know this, and it may be just me, lag doesn't bother me nearly as much as being shamed when I enter a shop.  You know what, though?  I don't have to go back.*

Fully clothed - but naming no names.

  *Not that I'd be missed at some shops ... where I've never bought anything but just accumulate freebies (but I do post photos and blog about them).