Tag Archives: umeboshi

Yearbook Challenge

Yearbook Smile Saying Cheese does not work

Nonconformist of the Year – The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw. .

Second Life® Memestress Strawberry Singh has kicked off 2015 with a fun blogger challenge. She asked folks to shoot a high school yearbook picture with a smile – and explain how we achieved that smile. It was not easy, but I did manage a ghost of a smile.

How I Did It: I used a combination of methods, adjusting my face shape, using tips from Melanie Kidd.  Then I turned on slow animations following Gogo’s tips on slow motion animation and Iris Ophelia’s tips on lip-synching.

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Saying Cheese did not work at all!

Yearbook SmileI also tried using emotes on the AnyPose HUD I use to control my eyes in combination with the lip-synching and slow animation. OH well! PhotoShop can help.

Yearbook

 

Poses: Adorkable
Truth Hairbase – copper
(Kunglers Extra) TDRF #051 – earring – silver
*Dura-Boys&Girls*45(Mocha)
*MC* “Falsies” Eyelash – Upper+Lower (add)
AnyPose Expression HUD v1.0 – Wear Me
ISON – angora sweater -S- (plum)
[PXL] MIA NAT Opulence ~ Makeup 03 MEB C2
[UMEBOSHI] Eon eyes Dark Green (med)

Resolutions and Regrets

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I have not made any New Year’s resolutions this year. I did not last year or the year before or any year that I can remember. It has never been part of our family tradition. Our family New Year’s was a day of family gathered together for feasting and fun. New Year’s Eve was never a drunkfest either. Instead, it was a day of housecleaning and food preparation. I have cleaned the over on New Year’s more times than I can count. It all comes from this idea of starting the year as you mean to go on − with a clean house and plenty of food and family to share it with. Of course, my family always served lutefisk for New Year’s dinner and that was most definitely not how I meant to go on.

SL Raw Shots

I asked on plurk if folks had regrets from 2014. Many people said they did not have any which is great for them. What I thought was most interesting is that several folks said they regretted that did not do something sooner. That means they did something that made things better for themselves and only wish they had done it earlier. That means that even their regrets come from a better place. I like those regrets. Actually, that is my big regret for the year. I wish i had put my cat Oscar on Xanax earlier, the first time the vet suggested it. I would have have saved a lot on laundry.
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The Perils of Ponchos

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I don’t know about you, but for me, ponchos have always been problematic. I bought my first poncho in Spain – knit with thick, luxurious wool and closing at the neckline with gorgeous unvarnished wood buttons. It was so warm and cozy and it felt like wearing a blanket, which meant it really needed to be worn on cold days. So here’s the thing. In Minnesota, if it’s cold enough to wear that poncho, it’s too cold to wear that poncho. The wind would blow up underneath and chill me to the bone. An engineering flaw for cold weather. So every time I see ponchos, I think of my few attempts wearing my gorgeous poncho and remember those bone-chilling gusts of wind sneaking in underneath and think – nope, not for me.

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What I needed was one more like this poncho from Zenith – to wear indoors kind of like a high fashion snuggle. But it’s Second Life and so even though there’s snow falling and the pond is frozen over, the winds that ruffle my hair are soft zephyrs carrying billowing warmth – not bone-chilling blasts from Polar Vortex.
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Mmmmmmmm, Jackets

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I dreamed I was there in Jacket Heaven and oh what a beautiful dream. But then, it was not a dream! Tres Blah really did release a perfect jacket in five metallics just in time for Christmas. I love jackets and need them desperately because so many tops and dresses are strapless. I don’t mind strapless in a formal, but for everyday – nope, not for me. I want some sleeves! These jackets are sold along with some cute rompers at N°21, the event that just opened yesterday. Yes, I hit teleport several times to get in, but once I was there, everything razzed easily and quickly and I cam-shopped happily.

Snapshot

Speaking of formals, Baiastice has released the annual Winter Collection of formals just in time for the holidays and they are gorgeous. This classic comes with a regular skirt or one with a tulle overskirt. I elected to wear the tulle. I snapped a picture when I was over at The Liaison Collaborative picking up the necklace and earrings I am wearing. It’s beautifully decorated for the holidays.
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Christmas Lights

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My favorite Christmas decorations, in general, are the lights. I love seeing houses alight with color and trees dressed in glittery finery. I like the outdoor Christmas decorations the best. That is why these trees from 3D trees make me so happy – especially after I turned off full bright and turned on lights, so they actually emit a colored light that affects their surroundings. Standing in a circle of light seemed like a fun way to shoot this beautiful gown from Gizza released in time for the holiday parties.
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Layers

14 Dec 17I am in love with this sweater dress combo from Milk Motion available at Collabor88 this month. Be sure to check it out because each sweater actually is an entire wardrobe of outfits.
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Sleighing Under the Influence

Oh, Deer

While doing some practice runs for the big day, the reindeer had a little accident. You can see Donner up in the tree and Blitzen is obviously blitzed, just look at the vacant expression on his face. I am not sure he even knows what happened yet. I stopped by to survey the damage, but no one was seriously hurt. I am sure there is time to repair the sleigh by Christmas. I only hope those packages were empty samples and didn’t have anything fragile in them.

Oh, Deer

What does one wear to a sleigh accident? Why a nice warm wool dress and a beautiful wool scarf, of course. The dress if from Thalia Heckroth and the scarf is part of a hair plus scarf combo from Rowne for Collabor88. It comes with a HUD to change the scarf textures so there is plenty of choices available.
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Bright Lights, Big Trees — With a Mini-Tutorial on Lights

Raw - direct to Flickr

I love the form of this sweater dress from NYU. It subtle shift from regular knit to rib knit to hug the waist and forearms is gorgeous. I love the slight blousing out on the sleeves and the top. It comes in two versions, with and without a collar. I chose the collarless option because I decided to add the gorgeous oversized shawl from Baiastice. Both items come in many colors to allow you to find your own favorite. (All photos are raw shots loaded directly to Flickr from Second Life®. They are not even cropped because the viewer crashes when I try to save to disk.)

Raw - direct to Flickr

I really love how the scarf drapes in the back as well. I included to picture to show off the wonderful Christmas Lighting Pine Trees from 3D Trees and explain how I edited them to make them even better.
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Innovation

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One of the most satisfying pleasures in Second Life® is witnessing moment of true innovation – the imaginative brainstorms of creative people that change our ideas of what is possible. We did not have prim hair or flexi hair until someone thought of it. And then everyone thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Once someone thinks of it – it seems so obvious, doesn’t it?

Someone had to come up with the idea of a sculpted foot in a shoe. The Slink hands and feet were an innovation that sparked an explosion of mani/pedis and Slink-compatible shoes. I have seen capes and jackets before that come with poses so your arms go in the pockets, so when I first saw this cape from ISON, I did not realize how innovative it is. But those arms in my pockets are part of the cape. It comes with a collar and gloves that can be set to a range of colors using a HUD or turned off altogether. It’s magnificent and innovative and I wage we will see more outfits with built in gloves.

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The hat hair from Little Bones is a perfect match, controlled by a HUD as well, from which I selected a red hat and teal band and silver metal findings.  Continue reading