Tag Archives: Pose Anywhere

Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn

Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us not to look at sunset as the end, but as a promise of a new beginning. It seemed somewhat appropriate for this post featuring several items from the June showcase at Collabor88. Tomorrow is the final day. Collabor88’s sun sets at midnight, but brings the promise of a new dawn at midnight on the 8th when the July Showcase opens with its brand new theme, Treasured Memories. I so love that Collabor88 avoids the cliche themes and color schemes that tend to surround holidays.

June’s theme was crisp and clean and that’s how I feel in this lovely set from Zaara. The coverup comes in sheer and opaque options and fits perfectly over the swimsuit. There’s a HUD to specify the suit color and whether the trim is silver or gold
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So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause.

Black and white is abstract; color is not. Looking at a black and white photograph, you are already looking at a strange world. Joel Sternfeld

The Instruments monthly showcase is featuring designs inspired by Star Wars this month. Among the designs, you will find this fabulous gown inspired by Padme’s outfit in Episode Three. Padme’s lament, “So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause.” seems particularly apt at this time when crowds of people applaud the creation of databases to track people because of their ethnicity and armed vigilance committees march outside mosques and call themselves patriots. I guess those people have not studied history (or watched Star Wars), a tabula rasa of ignorance on which the future of tyranny is being written. Of course, the Force is with us all to resist tyranny by resisting fear. We know what happens when fear inspires hate.  It has happened before and if we fail to learn from that, we have only ourselves to blame.

Black and white is abstract; color is not. Looking at a black and white photograph, you are already looking at a strange world. Joel Sternfeld

I stopped at Winter Moon for the photos, since the dress is black and white, I thought black and white pictures would be great. By the way, I think the scarf that is part of the Padme dress may work well with other outfits. The Padme outfit includes the dress, scarf and sleeves that I am wearing as well as a crown, earrings and rings that I am not.

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In order for the light to shine brightly, the darkness must be present.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
Francis Bacon,the great scientist-philosopher wrote, “In order for the light to shine brightly, the darkness must be present.” The truth of this is demonstrated every time I work with projectors. They are brightest when it is darkest. I thought of this quote, though, in relation to this avant garde outfit from Liziaah. It explores form and texture and through its form, the interplay of dark and light. Released in deep, dark shades of aubergine, royal blue and black, the colors provide the darkness.
In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
Explorations of form, curving shapes and an open back reveal the light of exposed skin made brighter by their relation to the dark, rich fabrics.
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Go For It!

Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second

So, this is not one outfit, but pieces from two, or three if you count my shoes, outfits that I put together. The Nisha blouse is paired with a solid black flirty flip skirt and the Kenia pencil skirt is paired with an elegant halter top. I was immediately drawn to the pencil skirt. I always am, it is one of my favorite forms in fashion. However, as much as I liked the halter, I struggled to get it to work with the alpha cuts on my mesh bodies. I noticed the blouse and thought that the two prints would work well together and produce a more exciting, bolder look than each print alone with  a solid item. Luckily for all of us, DE.Boutique releases their items as separate pieces, even though they are in one outfit. This gives us the freedom to do our own thing.

I will confess I am a little in love with Deborah Vos and DE. Boutique even though I have never met her or even sent or received an IM from her. It is just that I liked this outfit (there’s a bit of a story there) so well, I checked out her Marketplace and found so many things I want, with that combination of sophisticated and classic style and bold, modern sensibility that is completely in tune with my aesthetic. DE.Boutique is completely new to me, a discovery at this month’s showcase event The Instruments that runs through October 6th. They have a new sim, so delete your old landmarks and Teleport to The Instruments‘ brand new home.

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and the sun wields mercy

and the sun wields mercy
JUMO just released Arthuriana – a skirt and top combo in chocolate, oil, marsala, navy and violet The dress comes with a luxe wreath of gold and pearls, earrings, bracelets and a headpiece. However, I was inspired by the print  to take the outfit in a different direction.
and the sun wields mercyAs you can see, Arthuriana has Wow! factor aplenty with its design details such as the dramatic sweep of the skirt and drama of the cutout back.
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I have loved the stars too dearly

I've Loved the Stars Too Fondly

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

Most of us have an atavistic fear of the dark. It makes sense, many animals hunt at night. While we may hunt by day, at night we are the prey. I have always loved the dark, though. During the day, the lake I grew up on would be busy with people fishing and waterskiing. I have had more than one daytime close call with a speed boat driven by reckless people who never think to look for swimmers. I loved to swim in lake at night when the boats were silenced and sleeping, put to bed for fear of being run aground in the narrow lanes between the islands. While there might be a few hundred people on the lake during the day, at night I was often the only one. Of course, it was never quiet. There were the frogs, crickets, owls, timber wolves and best of all, the loons, all competing for lead vocals in the nightly concert.

We were in the country so the moon and stars reflected and refracted in the waves. I would swim toward the ribbon of moonlight even knowing I could never catch it. I suppose it was my own brand of recklessness, swimming alone for hours among the stars, but it was magical, too. Sometimes I pulled out my canoe and paddled so i was lined up with the moon’s reflection and then jumped in, diving down to the touch the bottom of the lake which never got much deeper than forty feet. I liked the deep water where the lake bottom was made of marl rather than muck or clay. Something about swimming in utter blackness captivated me and I never felt afraid.

I've Loved the Stars Too Fondly

I miss living by the lake and going swimming. Lakes in Oregon are glacier fed and not really suitable for swimming. That has not stopped me, but in water that cold, you can’t laze about in the water and drift. You can’t lay back and let yourself sink into the inky water and pretend you are floating among the stars.

Of course, standing on Kalopsia’s broken floor is not exactly sinking into inky depths either, and I am standing, now swimming, but I am eagerly waiting for sun to set and for the evening chorus to begin. I am with cranes instead of loons and they are paper (from DDD for Collabor88), so they will be unaccountably quiet. If they could speak, however, they would rave about my adorable dress from ur.favorite.one (u.f.o.) that is at Collabor88 this month.
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Noli Me Tangere

Noli me tangere

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Lea8 is home to the stunning Love, Henry, an installation that celebrates one of the most consequential love affairs of history, that between Henry VII and Anne Boleyn. But Henry was not the first man to fall in love with Anne. Before him was Harry Percy and Sir Thomas Wyatt who wrote that poem about her after he had been warned off. He went off to Italy for a while, though he came back in time to be caught up in the contrived ruse to eliminate Anne to make way for the third wife who finally gave Henry the son he so desperately needed. Noli me tangere

Henry and Anne are a popular subject because love matches are rare in royal history and their story is so very rich with passion and drama. However, their story is also important because the world would be very different if Henry had not fallen so desperately in love with Anne. This led to his rupture with the Catholic Church and with Spain. It’s possible without passion urging him forward, he would have waited for Catherine, who was not well, to die before seeking a new, young and fertile wife. Spain did not have Salic law and he may have looked to their example and pushed for a change in English law so Mary could inherit. He definitely would have married her off before menopause so she would have been able to have children. Henry would never have raided the wealth of the church and England would never have had the funds to build its great navy.

While it is possible Mary could have married her cousin James V and united Scotland and England, I doubt Henry would want a son-in-law in waiting on his northern border. It is too bad, we could have been spared Mary Queen of Scots and the countless books making a heroine of a relentlessly stupid woman. It is more likely Mary would have married her Spanish cousin Charles V (father of her eventual husband) and, if Henry had no son, he would have ruled when Mary took the throne. Without the war with Spain, the British would not have defeated the Spanish at sea and both North and South America would have been Spanish colonies. England would have remained a Catholic country and there would never have been a Glorious Revolution to rid her of a Catholic king which means John Locke may have never written his treatises on government that were the foundation for the American, French,  Vietnamese and many other revolutions

Noli me tangere

The Arborea gown from The Annex is a stunning ecru silk taffeta gown worthy of a queen. It has lovely leaf print panniers.

Protestantism might have still spread throughout Europe, though, and brought with it The Enlightenment and democracy, but it would have been slower and later and it is possible it would have been suppressed far, far longer. Religious wars and persecutions probably would have continued even beyond the 40 Years War because Spain, and with it, the Holy Roman Empire, would have not lost so much power and money to England and would have had more resources to wage war against Protestantism. The British might never have become a worldwide Empire without its great navy, the direct result of its war with Spain when the Spanish King tried to overthrown Anne and Henry’s daughter Elizabeth. Since Spain’s method of colonization was very different from England’s model, the entire world would be vastly different.  Continue reading

Details

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While big elements of a design may draw our eyes, it is the details that win our hearts. Sure, I love the beautiful color combinations in this floral crown and in this dress, but it is the beautiful butterfly and seed pods and the gorgeous ruching that make them special.

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I love how this look came together, the bold dress from Valentina E. is a perfect foil for the organic modernism of Kunglers jewelry and cheeky retro-chic of the undo from Vanity Hair – and each item has exquisite attention to detail.
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Day to Night

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When we can change clothes with a click of button, carrying our entire closet with us wherever we go, we aren’t burdened with the challenge of trying to dress for the office and a date with one outfit. However, I thought it might be a fun thing to try anyway. I will concede the skirt is short for the office, but overall, I think this made a fairly good office look. I wore a lovely structured jacket from Elate with a snug waist that flows into a petal-like near peplum. I added a big fluffy bow from Yummy! to add a touch of modesty to the bodice. The bow was a pale mint, but I tinted it to limit my shades of green to two, not three. Both of these finds are from the March Collabor88.

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But when five o’clock rolls around, the jacket is coming off and that fluffy bow is being rotated to hang over the shoulder, so the gorgeous and sexy bandeau style bodice on this fabulous mini from Cracked Mirror is visible in all its glory. You can find this dress at faMESHed.

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Things my father taught me

Using alternatives to PhotoShop - I edited this with LunaPic to emphasize the pouring rain.

I have many great memories of my father. I remember him singing and playing banjo, dancing with my mom and telling stories with a twinkle in his eye. I remember his voice and his laughter. One of my strongest and most powerful memories, though, is from a day he made me miserable and angry.

My dad and a picture of the woods above the river

I grew up in the country on the far side of a lake, deep in the woods. It was a 3.5 mile walk to the school bus, though I often shaved some off that by taking deer paths through the woods. That day it was raining and dad offered to give me a ride to the school bus stop. We had gone about a mile when a squirrel ran in front of the car and we could hear a slight thud as it was struck by the car. Dad pulled over to make sure it was dead, but it had run off into the woods.

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