I’m a participating vendor at Mum’s The Word, a new discount room that will run from the 7th to the end of each month. This January, 19 vendors have placed discounted items out for sale for $75, $150, or $225 dollars. I visited there today and picked out a few nice items from the other creators participating in the event and show them off!

The Mini steampunk top hat from Altya’s Dream Creations and Toys is super cute, with lots of moving cogs and pistons. And I’m showing off the girls in the sexy lace bustier of the the Jacinthe Mini Dress in Brown from Sweeter Than Candy.

Posing in front of the Dark Magic Library Writing Desk from The Elegant Goth with poses from HopScotch.

Dark Magic Library Writing Desk from The Elegant Goth has a lot of great gothy details including a seat with 4 poses and a quill that gives you a feather pen to write with.

Visit Mum’s The Word or read more about it on their blog here.

Items from Mum’s The Word (January):
Desk: The Elegant Goth! – Dark Magic Library Writing Desk – $L225
Dress: Sweeter Than Candy – !STC Jacinthe Mini Dress Brown – $L75
Hat: Altya’s Dream Creations and Toys – Mini steampunk top hat – $225
Bracelet: Secrets of Gaia – Copper Pentacle Bracelet – $75
Poses: *~*HopScotch*~*- Pose Me Vi (6 poses) – $L75

Additional Credits:
Skin: -Belleza- Aiko medium 3 HB cleavage
Hair: [e] Just – Essentials Collection
Eyes: pc eyes by LL – gold sapphire – Poetic Colors
Shoes: *GF* Ribbon Slingback Shoes[V2] – G Field
Setting: Lapin Feu – Marquis Castle

As the holiday season approaches, I find myself looking at the year in retrospect and going over the events of the past year and what I have learned from them.

Two of the biggest events from this past year that impacted my life in big ways were Tropical Storms Irene and Lee. Mother Nature had her way with us in a big way. And while others around us had devastatingly worse damage than we did, I learned never to underestimate nature and its ability to turn your life upside down.

My last blogs were way back at the beginning of October. I had full intentions of resuming a more regular schedule of blogs at that time. I was excited even because I had so much stuff from designers I needed to catch up on from before the storms hit us and I hadn’t gotten to them. I was busy demolishing my entire basement and going through stuff that was still good enough to keep or stuff that had to be thrown away.

I won’t let the words – “I’m going to make sure I do this” pass through my lips anymore. No sooner had I said that I intended to blog more regularly than I was hit with some sort of infection that threw me for a loop for about 3 weeks. I’m not kidding you I was frightened at how sick I was. I had antibiotics, nosespray, inhalers and cough syrup and then when I still wasn’t getting better I had another antibiotic on top of all of that. Two antibiotics at the same time. Unheard of by me. Ever. I eventually got better. Thankfully. But two weeks later, before I was even catching up on stuff that went undone while I was ill I was sick again. I could not swallow or sleep I had such bad throat pain. Another round of antibiotics that made my throat feel better but threw my stomach out of whack.

The Monday after Thanksgiving I intended to “go back to the gym”. I will never let those words come out of my mouth again. I never made it back to the gym. Instead, I did something to my knee walking down the steps to the basement to do laundry. I’ve felt this pain before. Back in 2006 when I had to have knee surgery. I’m hoping that if this knee is torn that I can rest it enough so that the tear can heal on its own.

Going forward into 2012 these are the things I am going to work on. I’m going to stop taking too much on myself. I am not Superwoman. I can get an incredible amount of work done when I can focus on them but I’m not going to pile too much on myself. I don’t need the stress. I’m going to take things one day at a time. Not going to plan things and make to do lists and drive myself crazy when I cannot get them done. I am going to use up the extra time that I have to spend more time with my friends in SL.

Enough babbling about me and more talk about the outfit I am wearing. (Sorry it must be the vicodin talking). LOL! I logged into SL this morning and received a gift from =^^= MIAO. It amazes me how the little things in life still make me so happy. The gift was an incredibly adorable pair of ornament earrings. They are color changeable. You can change the color of the metal on top of the ball, the color of the ornament itself and the color of the ribbon. Thank you Kesseret for the earrings and the smile that you put on my face today.

My entire outfit is from Jane – a store I’ve fallen in love with. The skirt is the first mesh item I’ve blogged. The scarf, tights and the undershirt (layering tee) were all free gifts available at Jane’s store. My boots are the Milan Suede Scrunch Boots from Rebel Hope. I loved them so much I bought the fat pack! The hair is the Keeley hair by Truth and it is a perfect hairdo to show off earrings.

I’d like to take a moment to thank every designer who gave me things to blog this year. It truly is appreciated. I am going to attempt to get to everything I missed.

Here’s to living for the moment, taking things slow and taking time to smell the roses in 2012! Happy Holidays everyone!

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Skin: LAQ Jennie 2 fair
Eyeliner: [a.e.meth]
Hair: Truth Keeley Streaked Chocolate
Outfit: Jane Kiki Sweater Raven, Hadlee Denim Mini Skirt (MESH), Lil Piggies Tights Cable Knit Milk, Loop de Loop Scarf Rainbow Light, Layering Tee Powder
Boots: Rebel Hope Milan Suede Scrunch Boots Black
Earrings: =^^= MIAO Gift
Poses Used: Serenade Ultimate Female Modeling Pack

The moment that I put the Melisande Gown from Evie’s Closet on and matched it up with this Erika hair from Truth I just fell in love with the look on my avatar.

I almost didn’t want to change outfits or hair again, ever. But being as I’m a blogger it seemed that that was not such a great idea. But I have saved the outfit to my favorites and will quickly change into it when I’m alone and run around on my island in it like Phoebe and Monica ran around in their wedding gowns on that episode of Friends.

I also managed to capture what I think is my favorite profile picture I’ve taken of my avatar since I started playing SL.

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Gown: Evies Closet (*EC*) - Melisande Gown – Green
Hair: Truth – Erika – chestnut
Skin: LAQ – Jennie2

I love this So Boho Dressing Screen from {what next} and Winter Thorn was kind enough to send one along for me to review.

There are TEN adorable poses in the So Boho Dressing Screen. This is one of my favorites. It has a sort of Gone With The Wind kind of air to it. Can you see it?

And look I’m being coy here but showing off my lovely shoe at the same time.

This pose over the top of the screen shows off your hair and jewelry very well. Very useful for blogging. I wanted to say peek a boo here but I know how cheesy that would’ve sounded.

I zoomed in on one of the poses and got a perfect shot of my Mishka shoes by LeLutka. I don’t remember offhand which pose it was but it is in there (I know I’m a bad blogger, spank me!). Note to self – write stuff down when taking photos.

Another pose and another zoom in to show off my Danni hair from Truth and my Olympia Pearl Necklace by MIAO.

The textures in the wood and the scarf are changeable and you can even get rid of the scarf all together if you want. I liked this pose because not many poses with the knees bent are pulled off without making your legs look mutilated and this one is decent.

Ah and now to relax after a long day of taking photos.

Go get your So Boho Dressing Screen at {what next} or shop at {what next} on the Marketplace.

Thank you Winter!
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Skin: LAQ – Jennie2
Hair: Truth – Danni – sandalwood
Blouse: Jane – mystic blouse – milk
Pants: Jane – port crops – cream
Shoes: [LeLutka] Mishka – thrown
Jewelry: =^^= MIAO Olympia Pearl Necklace
Lashes: Amacci Eyelashes

One of the things that I love about SL is that no matter what the season is in real life, if I want to put on a bikini and go to the beach, I can. And I did.

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Bikini – wallflower by -paper.doll-
New hair from >Truth< Marielle2 in chestnut
Skin - LAQ Jennie2
Eyeliner – [a.e.meth]
All Poses from [LAP] Long Awkward Pose

Well Mesh officially came to the grid earlier this week – exciting stuff I know! I’m really interested in the possibilities of mesh and have been poking Blender with a stick these last few months trying to get a handle on the basic controls, uv mapping etc… it only took me 3 years to get where I am now with zbrush.. haha so I know I’ll get there.. eventually.

There are a few creators working with mesh that I’ve been following on Plurk – one of which is Maxwell Graf of Rustica. It’s been really great watching his experiments with rigged mesh clothing for his new lines bitch. and bastard. Unfortunately there are still some things left to be desired before we can go full boar with mesh clothing as he addressed in JIRA Request for Rigged Mesh Parametric Deformer – which I encourage you to read, vote and follow.

Earlier this week he released a set of mesh handbags from bitch. which I must say are absolutely fabulous! There are 4 color options to choose from (seen here in Pattern / brown). I know there is a considerable amount of work (and patience) that went into making these bags and I am super impressed with the fine details both in the mesh and the textures!

Remember: You need Viewer 2 (v3+) or Mesh compatible TPV to view mesh objects.

And … not to forget the guys… this morning he put out these nerdy (but great!) BC Frames from his men’s line bastard. There are four frame colors (with multiple lens options) to choose from for just $L1 each! I know they are supposed to be for guys … but they look really cute on – so I’m gonna wear them anyway! And you can too – I think they’ll be out for a limited time so go grab them soon!

UPDATE: There are glasses for the ladies out at Bitch. now too!

In this look:
Glasses: bastard. – MESH BC Frames / Clear Tortoiseshell
Purse: bitch. – mesh purse Patterns / Brown
Dress: Tres Blah – Ciao Baby Dress
Shoes: *G Field* – Ribbon Slingback Shoes in Brown
Hair: Truth – Lucia Espresso
Skin: Belleza – Aiko Medium 3 Cleavage
Eyes: Poetic Colors – Gold Flakes Sapphire
Freckles: Adam n Eve – Freckles
Props : Green Cupboard – Cleo Design
Poses: Just A Pose

**AngelWing** Lavender Maiden Gown

Tuli Audrey Tone 2 Boost Cleavage
Truth Kalia Champagne with Mixed Flower
[LAP] - I <3 Girl Bloggers Pose Set

Son!a Kira Black Gown
Maitreya Gold Shanti Black

Truth Kami Honey
Tuli Audrey Tone 2 Boost Cleavage
[LAP] Free Retired Poses

While picking up my bloom doll avatar at Surf Couture a few weeks back I noticed a few newer releases including the Sundance Halter Top and Cafe Shorts and the Olea Boots. Put these all together with what I think might be my favorite Truth hair of ALL TIME, Leilani, and I came up with a rather cute summertime look. You can judge for yourself.

Surf Couture – Sundance Halter Top, Cafe Shorts and Olea Boots

The Leilani from Truth Hawks is a free-flowing wavy style tied up with a color-changeable headband and detachable flowers.

Tuli Audrey Tone 2 with freckles
Truth Leilani Almond with Pink Flower
[a.e.meth] cat eyeliner
Poses by [LAP] – [Long Awkward Pose]

**AngelWing** Pink Naerose Set Thank you Angel

[:T:] Jade – Sunkissed Skin – Subtle Cleavage
[:T:] Jade Shape Thank you Tuli
Truth Jacqueline Thank you Truth