Category Archives: Life Style, Home and Garden

A Damn Fine Cup of Coffee

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Relaxing at Agent Cooper’s desk with a damn fine cup of coffee from Schadenfreude.

When my father died, my sisters called to tell me. It was not unexpected and was, in many ways, a relief for him and everyone who loved him, but that does not lessen the loss or the finality of death. They gave me the news and I sat there, quietly stunned at how much more painful it was than Thought it would be. I think I whimpered, trying not to cry. So my oldest sister said, “Go make yourself a coffee. It’s a good thing. I’ll call you back after you’ve had a coffee.” I had to laugh to myself, because coffee as comfort is so very much the legacy of my dad, a first generation Swedish American.

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Such a messy desk! some of the mess comes in a great collection of clutter from Tres Blah at The Arcade that are must have pieces to turn houses into homes.

Coffee is a ritual for Scandinavians who consume more coffee per capita than any other people in the world. Most people in the US are familiar with coffee breaks at the work place, but in a Swedish American home, there are coffee breaks every day, when we would all sit down together and enjoy a good cup of coffee with some bread and cheese or some fruit or a dessert. And by all, I mean all. Children get coffee with milk as soon as they are old enough to hold a cup without spilling it. Continue reading

In Living Color

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How many of us have predominantly black, grey, and white clothing? How many homes have all white walls and neutrals with a “pop” of accent color? We don’t have achromatopsia, so why do we live like we do? Why are neutrals considered more tasteful than active, vibrant colors? 

Did you know that those classic white statues from ancient Rome and Greece were not originally white? They were painted and full of bright gaudy color. I wonder sometimes if the centuries of elevating their pristine monochromatic grandeur are why we are so shy with color in our lives today.
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Imagine If Jane Austen Got Angry

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This Spring session of The Arcade has one of the most exciting Arcade sets of all time. For once, it’s a good thing to get lots of commons while seeking your rare. You will need several pieces of the common wall to surround your manor house with a beautiful courtyard. Anyway, it’s just an extraordinarily complete collection with 2 houses, an outbuilding, landscaping and interior furnishing, even a well and a wooden cart. 

 

Yesterday was World Book Day. That, combined with the wonderful Primavera in Toscana set from 8f8 at The Arcade got me thinking about my favorite books of the past year.  What rose to the top was Elena Ferrante’s magnificent Neapolitan novels. Now, the novels mainly take place in a poor neighborhood in Naples, not in a rich manor home in Tuscany, but know, we Americans are supposed to think there is no difference, right?

Actually, the wall reminds me so much of the wall surrounding the Spanish military base where I was living with a Spanish family while attending my senior year in Algeciras, Spain. The one difference is that the wall in Spain had flowers on the top, trailing down the white walls. There were always two guards outside with a sign “Todo por la patria” on the wall next to the guard station. Can you imagine an American military base with a wall covered with flowers?

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I love the contradictions in this dress and coat from NYU. NYU specializes in minimalist design, the aesthetic beauty of a dress and coat coming from the lines and forms of the clothing, not from embellishment or patterns. The dress has this severe post-war austerity except that slit on the skirt is thoroughly modern and not the least bit austere.

John Freeman of The Australian wrote of Elena Ferrante, “Imagine if Jane Austen Got Angry.” The Neapolitan novels tell the story of two women, from their childhood to adulthood. There is a lot of anger in her novels, but also humor and love. They seem so raw and honest, as though the author cannibalized her life to tell the story, though we cannot know as Elena Ferrante is very private. Still, the narrator in this Neapolitan tetralogy is named Elena and plans to be a writer. In terms of the usual publicity authors relentlessly pursue, she said she did all she needed to do for her book, she wrote it. I love that!
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The Healing Power of Sprites

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We can imbue talismans with tremendous power through the powers of faith and suggestion. If you believe something will work for you; it often will. Monica Outlander of MiaMai has created in real life and now in Second Life®, a collection of talismanic sprites that  can bring health and happiness to those who invest the power of belief in them. If your worldview is more prosaic and devoid of supernatural beliefs, they can also be enjoyed for their quirky adorability and the come with a magnificent free shelf that can be used to display these sprites, but I think I will also rez a few more of these shelves for otters things as well.

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There’s also a home protection sprite hanging on a branch that is equally adorable. The gorgeous house is the Hudson Townhouse from Scarlet Creative and can be found at Collabor88 this month.
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New Mouth Because Why Not

“The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.”
~ Voltaire

There have been a few mesh mouths out, and I LIKED the way they looked but any time someone tried one on and said they liked it they also mentioned what editing they’d have to do in PS to “make it look right”.  I don’t mind putting on a filter to give a different look to a pic other than SL lighting but I won’t blur or whatever else to make products “look right”. If you can’t wear it around in SL without it looking nuts, I don’t think it’s a good value.  I don’t have PS so that’s also an issue but hey I COULD get it. I wouldn’t make products look ok with it though, I just have huge issues with that. Continue reading

In the Spirit

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I am literally in the spirit, the Spirit Charlotta blouse, pants and suspenders from this month’s Collabor88. The blouse comes in multiple versions so it can be worn with or without the suspenders and with other options than the pants. The pants are pleated so they are a bit big around the hips and taper to a cuff that reveals fabric matching the blouse. The suspenders come separately for maximum flexibility. I always like it when separates are truly separate pieces.

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Scarlet Creative released a lovely townhouse at this month’s Collabor88 and I enjoyed decorating it, mostly with elements from Trompe Loeil, Floorplan. & Consignment, and junk for this month’s Collabor88 as well as some things from Apple Fall and ::db:: that I had in my inventor

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You are my sun, my moon


A week without internet is a long time is 2015. You realize the little things you take for granted, you don’t have immediate access to the world. You don’t have total unfettered communication with your friends.

Things start to slip. You realize sometimes you didn’t really have a grip on somethings anyway, they were already gone. Some things you decide to let go and some battles you don’t feel like fighting anymore.

There is a lot of time to think, in the silence left behind when there is no net. Continue reading

The Folly

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When Inex Hax shared her newest release for The Secret Affair on Plurk, I had to comment that it looked like it might just be my favorite of her designs ever. After getting in world and trying it on, it turns out I was right! It’s yummy and comes in white, black red, yellow, pink and blue. I loved each and every one of the colors.

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…but it’s over now.

How ’bout a round of applause?
A standing ovation?
‘Cause you put on quite a show
really had me going
Now it’s time to go
Curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining

But it’s over now. Continue reading