Chic at Phil's Place

The (*chanimations "SurpriseCake!" was a gift along with loads of great things I will show you in the new year. This cute cupcake prop and hat come from Cupcakes &  Poetry, a shop nearby and also a gift. My mouthwear was one of the Advent dollarbies from CONCRETE FLOWERS-  and is entitled U GREEDY CHRISTMAS BITCH! I am so glad I had an occasion to use it.

Have a great celebration and I'll see you in the New Year!

I have a new party dress. It fits me perfectly and lifts lightly in the breeze. Layers of fine lace cascade from the shiny satin bodice and I feel very much the feminine female -- one with a slightly hidden sexy agenda.


Whether I dance and laugh gaily or stand at the edge of the revelry, the new year will arrive. It won't wait for my permission, and that is how it should be. Whatever unfolds, I will welcome it joyously -- because I feel beautiful.


Style Notes:

Hair: .:[ Tiny Bird ]:. Kissy Kissy - Ginger
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/br) dec VIP gift
Clothing: *Solange!* Holiday Dress - Black/Red (review copy)
Shoes: Studio SL, red sandal retro bright (NLA)
Accessories: DM Designs Gems 'n' Roses Necklace Red/Silver; [ANIMAH] cigarette holder

Poses by LAP and Luth

A new decade is close at hand. It has been a good year for me in many ways. I have met many new people, had tons of great adventures and definitely improved my skills. All good.  Grim Bros. sent out this clever steampunk hat to the group the other day. Some of my best memories of 2009 involve the STEAM hunt and my time in Arkham. It was fun to revisit some of my old haunts this morning as the year begins its journey from one year into another.


This is Steelhead City Port Harbor.  The complex of Steelhead as grown greatly since I last visited and now encompasses six sims. Some are residential, some commercial. It is a bustling place. Even when it is empty of citizens, it pulses with activity.

A lot of bloggers have mentioned that they "borrow"/"steal"/"copy" my locales. They aren't mine of course. I just find them -- often  by accident, sometimes by exploring and now and then from a Flickr photo. If I didn't want to share, I wouldn't. We can always use more beautiful photos! Let's just hope that there will be more wonderful places to see and photograph in the upcoming year.

Style Notes:

Hair: homemade hat hair.
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/br) dec VIP gift
Clothing:  blakopal Desert Expedition Lady, MALT Shiney Leggings; INDI - Gloves black
Shoes: hoorenbeek : LE.LOOK! l'homme - Boots
Accessories: Grim Bros. : have a good time new year tophat; blakopal Desert Expedition Lady

Poses by LAP

Another year is about to begin. Looking in my inventory, I've done a fairly good job of featuring new items that have caught my fancy this season -- all except for this luscious scarf from [LeeZu!]. It seems like it has been haunting me forever. I love it, but haven't had an occasion where an outfit called for it. So, today, I decided there was one simple way around that -- build an outfit starting with the scarf.




As seems to be happening a lot of late, my first plan failed. My second took a detour and here I am in the snowy twilight of a destroyed world. It is beautiful here. I never realized how lovely quiet decay can be.




Most of my outfit is lost in the shadows. Only the scarf is new however; the other items have been featured before.

As the water flows around my chilling ankles, I look toward a new year with new beginnings.

Visit Neptune Tokyo

Photos have not been edited. That is natural snow :D.


Style notes:

Hair: [V] Vignette Sophia Onyx (always free)
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/br) dec VIP gift
Clothing: Jeckalicious Leather Coat Nightwalk; MALT Shiny Leggings; SHIKI-Turtleneck (tinted black)
Shoes: -TESLA- Shiny Felicity Heel *Red*
Accessories: [LeeZu!] Miss Mara Scarf  UNISEX /simple fire (group gift?); Jeckalicious Bloody Doll Gloves; Ear Candy ~ Red and Black Hoop Earring

Exploring is definitely one of my favorite pastimes at Phil's Place. There is so much to see and discover. Each corner offers a new glimpse of content creation, a vision of someone's imagination in pixels.


I took another trip to Old New York this morning.  Comfy clothes and camera in hand I wandered until I found a decrepit food wagon.




Now I wouldn't want to actually EAT anything made in this din of grime, but it definitely had interesting photo opportunities.

I had fun with my new camera prop, just exploring the brightly lit streets.Yes, it is true. I am easily entertained :D.






The tripod version includes a pose built into the tripod as well as a poseball for easy adjustment. The poseball is mod and visible - invisible by touch.

As promised, I have grouped all my Windlight settings used in the Places posts in 2009 and put them in a zip file. You can download them here at MediaFire.  There are 37 in all. Use them as a starting point to explore those Windlight sliders and have fun.

For more on installing the Windlight settings, see this post from the permanent links in the sidebar.

Plans change. I saw a photo on Fickr of a great monochromatic city which inspired me to make a completely black and gray outfit -- even skin and eyes. After many combinations I settled on this look, a mixture of new and old. Alas, when I tried teleporting to the site it was no longer in existence. So many lovely places are disappearing.


Outfit made, I decided that a new to me spot was definitely called for. I ended up at Black Maj, a place I had often admired in photographs but never visited. My completely monochromatic scheme took on dusky shades of gold, no matter how much I tweaked my Windlight settings. So shall it be! Change is good. Adapting is even better.


My skin was a review copy from the first of the Fall skin fairs. I love it with this shape. A whole new me that I haven't visited in awhile. An "alternate" me in some senses. She won't be around too long as I am more comfortable in my almost two year old shape, but she is quite lovely. And I can tuck her away for another day when I am feeling adventurous.

Photos taken at the edge of Black Taj.


Style notes:

Hair: Rock Candy *RC* Rockstar Hair
Skin - Shape: GeEs Design - Skin - Marlin Drow - 04 (review copy), Shape It Up! Lioness (review copy), Kunstkammer Surrealist Eyes - Black Darker (group gift)
Clothing: [ AYUMI ] Zippers - Black (new release - review copy), Celestia Studios Black Fishnet Tights, DCNY black gloves
Shoes: BAX Prestige Boots Black (these resized to larger calves beautifully!)
Accessories: :+*U&R*+: LE.LOOK! la femme - Earrings - Mazurka (color change)

Sometimes we have a great notion. And sometimes we will go to great lengths to bring it into reality. I bought this pose last evening at CnS e-motion. There was a small display of dollarbies on a pillar. Most of them were for couples, but this one intrigued me, and this early morning found me with an idea in my head.

Where the idea started and where it ended up were far from each other. The photo above is the result. Getting three gals together with the same outfit was a little tricky, but this great jumpsuit from R.icielli was a Vain holiday gift, so that was a good starting place. The Victoria set comes in a variety of great colors and all layers. I've featured it before, but it is worth a second look -- en masse.

That's me on the left. Difficult to tell? :D. My friend had the new Tuli skins, but unfortunately they didn't fit her well, and she is a bit shorter. So I sent her over my shape and a new Chic was born. I'm sure she will hurriedly get back to herself as soon as possible, but it was fun.

We tried to take pictures at Happy Mood, but the poseballs wouldn't rez even though rezzing is allowed, so I took a shot of the lovely night sky and put it on a prim in the studio.

Ah, the steps we go to for a pretty photo!

Our shoes are from Image Reflections from a hunt long ago. Last time I checked they were still available. Hair by Amacci and Calico Creations.

The pose ball set has no permissions. No mod, no copy, no transfer.  

The New World is a richly detailed area that bills itself as the "SL First & Original Ancient Maya Civilization 16th Century RP Sim based loosely on "Apocalypto" and RL Facts". This is a strict RP sim which includes dressing for the role. As a visitor, of course you have no role, only a visitor tag.



It takes awhile to get to the Mayan area of the sim. You need to be properly attired, travel through the maze of shops to reach the tunnel with TP access, agree to the rules and THEN choose your destination. I suggest the city gates as the waterfall is far away from the major photo op areas and there is no flying or hopping. I walked through lots of trees and hills (yes through) to arrive at the pyramids. It was definitely worth it.


I will say that this sim has the very nicest visitor outfits that I have seen. The necklace is stunning and the outfit stylish in whatever world you may visit. The hair comes in the package and there is a set for men also.  You can pick up a free bow and quiver set of weaponry at the entrance point. I did, but when I rezzed it, it updated and there were some techie messages, so I left it for later.

I tried a variety of skins on for this shoot and settled on the dark version of Tuli's new Eva skin. I am so happy she is including a dark tone this time around. While they are more difficult to photograph (for me anyway), they do lead to authenticity as well as choice. Both are good in my book.



This is the city proper. There are rentals for RP members here. I enjoyed the pyramid area the most. There is even a quest with puzzles to solve. I figured out the first test, but there are three before you reach your reward -- whatever that may be.

I wouldn't say this is an ideal photo op spot as you do need to stay in character clothing wise, but it is a lovely place to visit.




I used some of my existing Windlight settings. I have uploaded a large variety over the last months, so I am going to abandon that extra step at the end of the year. I do have plans to put them in a folder that can be download from Mediafire. Watch for a post on that sometimes soon.

We're back!

The feeds are full or wonderful, NEW, exciting posts with great photography and lots of style. I can't remember when I had so much fun gazing at the pretty pictures.

We all need breaks and this seems to have been a good one. Yeah!

Now I am off in search of some vista. I've got a need for some beautiful places.

THANK YOU fellow bloggers for making my morning.

Sometimes we just need to get away to a quiet place that is not our normal resting spot. I seem to have a lot of friends who have given up on their mainland parcels. They still have them; they are free 512s. But the servers are too slow or the skies are too crowded or the neighbors are too noisy -- or all of the above :D.

This is a boon for me as they let me play. And a little spot of beauty is a good thing whereever it may be. This is the Despite and Still medium sized garden from Pocket Gardens. I have blogged about these great ready made landscaping areas a few times, but always the smaller versions. Tonight I received a pack that included the larger sizes. The 3 x 5 version is my favorite. It comes with a menu to change the base color as well a the flowers. The wall prims you see in the background are included. It only took a few minutes to set everything up and I had a peaceful place amidst the crowded din :D.

I chose the alpha ground texture which let's the dirt base of my platform show through. The weeds won out over the flower version. Just a click and the transformation occurred. I like the grungy feel to the space.

There are plenty of posing spots. Just click and you have an instant photo op. I added my season changing trees from Herb's Garden. The space is still pretty empty but I have some prims to spare for another day.





Style notes:

Hair: Amacci Hair Adena ~ Dark Copper (from the freebie wall)
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/br) dec VIP gift
Clothing: KOSH- TAINTED HOODIE RED, INDI - Jeans black (from the Chad set)
Shoes: ::Duh!:: Black/Silver Slip-on Clogs
Accessories: RISING STAR - Nyx Earring - EP - (review copy)

And this lovely 3 x 3 garden is the current Subscribo gift. The bird even sings!  Perfect for you and your significant other. I TPed Benicia over to fill in that spot for the demo.

It weighs in at a mere 12 prims plus one for the optional base. So much beauty for so little cost. I love the colors!

And in case you were wondering, I am on the SOM list *wink*.

There's nothing like a good workout at the end of the day. Stress, be gone!  This new gym outfit from [AYUMI] is perfect for sweating off a few calories. It comes with sock, tee and super cute boy shorts that hug you SO well *wink*.


Hard to believe, but this was the first time I have changed colors on my MK Super Sneaks. It was easy and I'm coordinated. Yeah!  I chose  TRUTH's Amy Jane hair because I always like a headband at the gym.

So now I'm going to take a well deserved rest, grab a glass of wine and do another kind of relaxing.

Style notes:

Hair: >TRUTH< Amy Jane - Walnut-Java
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 4/br) dec VIP gift
Outfit: [ AYUMI ] Gym Class - Red (review copy)
Shoes: MK Fashion Sneaks Wedge Platform
Accessories: SLEEK water bottle

There is a blogger challenge going around. I'm not exactly sure who came up with the idea of picking out three things (and ONLY three) that you can't live without. We HAVE to have skin on *wink*; The Labs won't let us go without, so that is actually two clothing or accessory items. I've felt a bit guilty for not blogging these last few days, even though the feeds have been quiet. Many of us are taking some time off. So here's a quick post. I didn't have to worry too much about color coordination :D.

Edit: I found the original challenge.  It sort of morphed  and I guess nakedness wasn't needed. Still this was a fun post. It's always a challenge to be both naked and PG for the feeds. And I already did my personal Top 10 a couple of weeks ago.





 We have had so many lovely gifts this season it is difficult to come up with favorites. This darling "boy" hair from Amacci (Morgan) is pick one. It was near the landing point in a holiday box. Two female hairs are in the other two boxes. The cap is color change. The hair is one of my favorite RED colors. You won't miss me! If you TP over be sure and check the lucky chairs and the freebie hairs close by. And of course try out the new styles. You can never have enough hair.

My second pick is the new group gift from Tuli, Eva. This is a medium tone; one of many included in the pack. Find it in the group archives.


Some folks are just doing face shots with this challenge, but I am a brave gal. My third pick is my new camera. I had lots of fun making the camera, tripod and poses and you'll be seeing them in my posts now and then. Props are good!  The camera and tripod above are linked  and come with built in pose. I tried to keep the prims down as much as possible as I have used up most of my 937. Oh My!   I made the hand held camera in several versions with both vanity and vista poses. If I have to pick between the two versions, I'll take the hand held as it is more versatile.

As a side note, this is the first time I tried the Emerald animation preview. It works great and definitely saves time going over to the beta grid to test for free. It does freeze you in a pose if you don't upload, but that isn't a biggie for me since it takes me many tries to get the pose just like it want it. So if you see me around and I am oddly frozen, I'm just working on additional poses :D.

Now I am off to take some vendor pictures for the cameras -- WITH clothes on :D.

I wasn't planning to post today. Other projects were on my agenda. And then I ended up in this fantastic snow globe and I had to share.


And speaking of holiday gifts, If you haven't picked up your sculpty candy cane set from my PhotoGraphique shop (6 prims and free), then come on over. They have been very popular and I am happy to have played a small role in the gift giving.

Edit: VERY sorry. The map seems to be having lots of problems of late copying to the clipboard. It just "doesn't". I am usually good at checking but missed this one. So SLURL to my shop is now correct. :(

Style Notes:

I put together my outfit last eve from some of my favorite gifts of the season as well as some closet basics. It started with the hair from Maitreya (Le Look group boards) and grew from there. With lots of layers it was a fun exercise. The LE LOOK items are still available I believe. Join the group; click on ALL the goodies for both men and women on the boards at the center of the sim.


Hair: Maitreya : LE.LOOK! la femme - Hair/ Hat - Coffee
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 5/br) dec VIP gift,  WWI Snowflakes on my Lashes
Clothing: Fashion Nomad now  :: Aleida ::  (sadly leaving at the end of the month - sale in progress) *FN* Moroto Retro Spring Jacket - black dots, *Nuclear Boutique* Valentine's Pants (Black) NLA, *BOOM* Subtle Creek Hunt Tank, KOSH- CASSIOPEIA VEST WINE,
Shoes: [Decoy] Jully Boots - Cocoa
Accessories:  miel : LE.LOOK! l'homme - Scarf, KOSH-HIBERNATION NECKLACE

Poses by LAP and Glitterati.

There is a winter festival going on at Drowsy. Lots of snowflakes and glow, reindeer and dogsleds. There is also a tall tree with dollarbies as decorations and a few free goodies in a small cabin. I donned my warmies and ventured over to see what I could see.


And if you haven't explored Drowsy, just make your way through the cave entrance, follow the path and get a glimpse of the area. My favorite spot is still the library.



Style notes:

Hair: sf design hat hair
Skin: []::Tuli::[] Eva (tone 5/br) dec VIP gift
Clothing: .:MALT:. Fashions Sweater - Merry Xmas Gift 09 (part of a great gift pack out today), LE.LOOK! la femme - Leggings  (current group gift)
Shoes: ::Duh!:: Snow Booties Tall Scarlett (review copy)
Accessories:.Acid & Mala Reaction gloves - DTCH, {Boutique}  Plaid Shearling Hat (blogger group gift), Callie Cline stylish shut up! mouth wear (gift)

Poses: LAP

The retailers of the VAIN group have been sending out presents and notecards with LM to presents all month. I have blogged a few and kept several for later. This jumpsuit is definitely one of my personal favorites. It is from RICIELLI who I am embarrassed to admit I hadn't heard of. Oh my!  Super cute and definitely sexy it comes with fantastic detailing.

My mirror and pose are from (*chanimations (adult sim). Two other poses are included as well as an outfit with dramatic boa. I love the detailing on the mirror.


I have a bit of an addendum here. In keeping with the vanity theme, Pulling Strings has some great Paparazzi poses out today for $1 -- FOR FOUR.  They come in pose balls. You might want to get two sets so you can open one. I think I may go back :D.  They are both fun and multipurpose.



And here is my mini rant. I tried to take these photos at VAIN. That was the logical place to shoot.  After 10 minutes things had still not rezzed. This was not Vain's fault. I was at another mainland sim yesterday where it never loaded. We are talking 30 minutes, two tries and I crashed twice. I never crash like that.  The new mainland with no folks is slooooooow and the old mainland is unbelievably bad lately. My sim seems to be pretty good but my estate owner reboots the sim three times a week on a schedule. Things are not good out there. We expect lag and problems when we TP into crowded areas, but when there are only a couple people in the sim? People will really start dumping or giving back mainland if this doesn't improve. I already know some folks who are waiting "just awhile longer" to see if it gets better. What's the point of having land you can't do anything on but wait for textures to rez?


But, a small glimmer of light appeared with the LL search system. Someone on the Vain group (ah a tie-in :D) was looking for a product and couldn't find it in the store. I suggested she try typing in the name of the product since she knew it. I read that there was a major improvement in search with a "go" button to take you to specific items. I hadn't tried it, but thought it might work for her. And woot, it did.

Just a quick post to report a friend's find. Right next door to RunoRuno is a little shop named Burned Rice. For a mere linden you get FOUR of these 2 prim sculpty noodle chairs with great pose and impressive shadow. Each chair has a different shadow so you can use the ones you need depending on your windows. They are also copy and mod. What a find!  The are apparently left over from the Albero summer fair which was so laggy I never got anywhere. So for props or low prim housing needs, these are perfect. They reportedly rez quickly so that is a plus.

Also shown is the cute little skybox house from Amerie's Naughty. It is 10 x 10 with a window box with flowing rain. Very cute and easy to fill with great stuff on your 512 - 117 prim plot. It is no mod so the presents stay but they are festive along with the lights. The only thing Sami changed was to cover the skully rug with one of her own with help from Torley. The group gift should still be in the archives and I saw that it was also available at the shop.

That's the late night news. I loved this picture so wanted to share.

Oh, when I went over to RunoRuno I realized it was the very same shop -- in the same local that I had blogged LONG ago. It's always so nice to see designers making there way in the virtual world. Gold stars.

PS. The couch in the background is from Sway's Advent event. I have one too.

It has been a world wind day, but I've managed to finish the Down the Chimney Hunt as well as go through almost all the lovely gifts that keep coming my way. So here is a brief wrap up of things you know about already and hopefully some you don't.

You only have a FEW MORE HOURS (maybe a day) to get any DTCH items you missed.

The comfy chair is from ☀ Deco*licious ☀ (DTCH) and comes with table and books. The back is color change by menu (lots of choices) and the seat has a variety of poses. And it is low prim! 

EDIT: / me embarrassed for not reading the notecard. Exhaustion might be the reason :D. The WHOLE chair changes color as long as you are not sitting in it. Woot!


Yeah! The fireplace and candles as you may remember are part of the DTCH prize from **Tryst - Furniture For Couples (previously featured). My top is from Tyranny Designs (DTCH) and comes with a optional trim scrunchy bottom.


My hair is just out from Alli&Ali.  There are two colors of this out as gifts at the store, PLUS this one is available on an Xstreet promotion for $1. And you can send to a friend. Isn't that cool? Open this link in a new window and find it here.

I really like this hair. It comes with optional bangs (I chose eyelashes over bangs) and has a beautiful back fall. Perfect for period garb. The skin I am wearing came out as a gift from Tuli. I've been too busy to check the feeds today, but I am guessing most of you know about this. It is a preview of the new skin  Eva (tone 3/br). If you missed the group post, find it in a pack of many tones in the group archives. It will not be in the mushroom. This is in some ways a fantasy skin. There is a pale green shade on the forehead in the Ice Princess style that is coming out a lot now for winter. The tint is hardly noticeable on the lighter shades but is more pronounced on the dark tones. While I am not terribly thrilled with the fantasy effect, I am VERY happy with the look of the skin. It is a bit like a cross between Hope and Bella. Lovely and soft, waiting for it to arrive will be difficult :D.

I am also wearing the Snow on my Lashes eyewear from WWI (DTCH previously featured). I do love these.


My leggings are from DUH! and my new ankle boots are today's gift from BAX on the Le Look board. I am so glad we can wear these five inch heels without tottering. Virtual land is a good place!

The piano is old and a friend's and not in any hunt, sorry.

PS. There is a really fun poseball set for a large group at Slash Me Poses (DTCH). If you have a bunch of friends and like to take photos, you'll want this!


I have LOTS to do in Realityland tomorrow so there may or may not be a post. Have a great Sunday.