“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” – Coco Chanel
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Aristotle
Yes, is has been a while since my last post. A new puppy, the pandemic, quit a job I had for many years, renovate a home, and started a new job…most by my decision and all life changes that had me busy elsewhere. If I am honest, also a needed break from judgement and disappointment. I took time to gather my thoughts, decide what part a virtual place would have in my life, and if I really wanted to take part.
I figured out that what I really needed to do is decide if I was enjoying myself, was this still fun for me? My answer was yes!
I love fashion, and runways, and styling, and shopping to find just the right thing…and being creative; that most of all. SL gives me a channel to express the person I am on the inside, and I hope that shows through. The one big change is that now I have a pooch that also is a joy to spend time with. Now I am splitting my time and doing what I love, but better managed.
I love styling and now have to play ‘catch-up’ in this blog with some of the cool things I have been putting together from things I love around the grid.
Hang on and stay tuned if you would like to join me on the ride and see where we go.
Now, if I can just relearn how to make a blog post?? If I am lucky, maybe get a few of my favorite brands to sponsor me and challenge me with new things to style?
“Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.”
Jose Marti
I want to share an experience I had recently that I thoroughly enjoyed. I felt privileged to be selected to be a part of an amazing group of twelve women vying to become a brand ambassador. This competition, however, felt more like a shared experience than a competition. It was a group of twelve wonderful and kind women, all trying to achieve the spot on the team to promote a long-standing SL Brand; Luxe Paris.
If you are not familiar with modeling in Second Life, I can share that modeling in SL has been around for a while. Some time ago there was a large community supporting designers and charity causes through the SL Modeling community; from runway shows, to special events, to advertisements and publications. Although the numbers of opportunities have diminished, there remains a community of dedicated individuals in Second Life keeping fashion exciting and vibrant. Many of these people have ties to the fashion industry in their professional life, or used to work the fashion industry. Some however, are new to this world and have the opportunity to enjoy the profession virtually. Whatever the level of experience, there are many talented and kind people in Secondlife enjoying fashion and creating fashion for SL residents.
Below are outfits I styled for the Luxe Paris-Look of the Year contest. All of the clothes you can find at the Luxe Paris main store. Some of the outfits I used for the challenges, and some of them were just for fun. I decided to take some photos and share them with you. I hope they might make you smile.
I wore this to the opening luncheon. I love the chance to put on a hat and gloves. Reminds me of my mother. She was such a fashionable woman.
Chanel…never goes out of style.
More fun in Black and White. I loved this outfit, funky and fashionable.
I love colors. This was right up my alley….and another purse to feed my addiction.
One of the challenges was to style a favorite movie star for a scene in one of their movies. I presented Miranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep was amazing in that role. The animal print was just the touch her character might select for a day when she was heading out to the fashion industry jungle.
I could not resist doing a little something extra…Carmen Miranda, movie star and fashion groundbreaker. She was a force of nature. So much fun, and who else could wear fruit as headwear and rock it.
Another fun style. I love the short hair for this…and color again…lots of color.
The final challenge was to style something for a Ball celebrating the Earth and sponsored by Stella McCartney and Elton John. So, I thought sustainable materials and outrageous fashion combine. I needed something subtle and crazy at the same time. I fell in love with the color of this gown and knew I had to wear this.
I thank you for browsing through my closet today and allowing me to share something that was so much fun for me.
Do something nice for yourself today and something nice for our planet.
” I love life. I’ve sometimes been spoiled, desperately unhappy, burdened with sorrow, but despite everything, I remain convinced that being alive is an extraordinary thing “. ~Agatha Christie~
Like many people across the globe, I have been spending a great deal of time at home. The new part of my life involves a puppy, so for me staying at home means lots of extra time with my new puppy. It has been joyful, frustrating, and life changing. I have had pets before, but not in a long time. I think I forgot how much they change your life. I have been blessed that this little guy is a very sweet little fella. I hope I can make him happy. I know he has provided me an unmeasurable amount of unconditional love. Something hard to find in this world.
Speaking of love, I just love this new dress. I saw it and had to have it. As a redhead I was drawn to the rich gold color, although it comes in many different colors. This color is the perfect blend of a deep mustard and rich orange that makes it so irresistible.
With my new puppy and his demand on my time, I am finding I have less time to spend in SL. So when I take a break from puppy (i.e. when he is napping) I am happy when I can find something that jumps out and screams “wear me!”
I hope you are finding new ways to spend time in your ‘new normal’ and that you have found new ways to connect with family and friends that brings you joy.
Sometimes I think how much fun it would be to go back to when I was young. There is a saying that “youth is wasted on the young”. I believe most of us would agree that if we knew back then what was ahead for us, we would have enjoyed ourselves more during that time in our life. It was a time when all we had to do was play and try to stay out of trouble.
I recently participated in a children’s fashion show in Second Life. I have been involved in the modeling side of SL for some time now. I can honestly say that I have not had this much fun since Frolic Mills ‘retired’ and the whole world of SL modeling forever changed. I came into modeling in SL due to my love of fashion and design. As a model for Second Life designers, you were expected to know a great deal about the technical side of virtual life. You had to know how to move, how to style, how to adjust items so they ‘fitted’ your avatar perfectly (within the bounds of the technology), and much more. It was not easy to achieve. There was a lot of competition and a lot of very talented people in the SL fashion community.
This past weekend I got a feeling of the fun we all used to have back stage during those times. We all worked hard, but we also enjoyed being able to present a fun and well done show for the designers. It was a joy to feel like a kid again, even if only virtually. I had so much fun making the outfits look their best and trying to find the perfect walk and poses to represent the child side of me. It was fun!
So here are the three outfits I had the privilege of showing off on the runway last weekend.
As you sit at home, forced to slow down, and have more time to think, I hope you might remember that time in your life when you had no cares or worries and rediscover the optimism and joy of youth. The world has become a fast paced place. It is hard to find time to enjoy life the way we should. Use this time to play games, be creative, or just find other ways of doing something routine.
Goodies:
Romper: Designer – Uni Duni Baby
Lorena Romper
T-shirt: Designer – Lily Ren (lilyrenwillows) of Lily Ren’s Closet
Lily Ren’s Closet, Nooks sandals, Pink
Lazo Fluffy Leggings, Black
Bunny Dress: Designer – Stasha Benelli of Kiddlesticks
Kiddlesticks Bunny Jacket dress (shoes and hat included)
“You are the most powerful tool in your life. Use your energy, your thoughts and your magic wisely!” ~Dacha Avelin~
So I finally got around to making these images presentable for you. I took them while wandering around looking witchy at the end of October. Such fun!
I captured theses views at a lovely photographic Fall sim called Broken-Farron. I found this sim through a blog I like to follow for great info on many things, especially wonderful new places to visit; Caits World .
All of the photos, except the one with me in it, are raw images. Can you believe it? I hardly had to do anything to them. This sim was so lovely. I really admire it when someone takes their time and carefully includes all the little touches which creates such a fun and interesting place to explore.
It was hard for me to select just a few to share with you to show you the beauty of Farron. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did in creating them.
Goodies: Tunic and Skirt – Moon Elixir – Mira – Tunic and Mira Skirt Boots – Heels-Exmore Thigh Boots Hat – Tessellate-Halloween Witch Hat
ROCK YOUR RACK 2019 October 5, 2019 – October 19, 2019
7th Annual Rock Your Rack Event is on the way!
Breast cancer is one of the leading health crises for women. 1 in 8 women, and an every increasing percentage of men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. There is currently no known cure for breast cancer, and its early diagnosis is critical to survival.
Models Giving Back is pleased to present Rock Your Rack, an annual fundraising event combining the best of SL Music, Art and Fashion to support the work of breast cancer charities and raise awareness for early detection which is critical to a positive outcome for this devastating disease.
This Year’s Sim Sponsor is Digital Farm Systems. Other sponsors include Awesome Breed Creations, Dark Betty, Emerald Couture, MOZ Fashion Designs, and Yasum Fashionart.
This year’s event will support the National Breast Cancer Foundation which provides free mammograms, education, support and early detection services to anyone in need.
Designers will be providing limited edition creations with 100% of the sales of those items going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation along with a fine selection of the newest, exclusive and most popular designs for your shopping pleasure. And, of course, the very popular 10L hunt will be up and running in the 85 different designer booths and 25 different artist booths.
This year’s event officially opens to the public on Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 12:00 am SLT and will close at 11:59 pm SLT on Saturday, October 19, 2019.
Together we can make a difference!
Those who are unable to attend but wish to support the cause, may visit the Model’s Giving Back official donation page at https://fundraise.nbcf.org/MGB2019 where donations can be made directly using a variety of means.
**************************************************** About Models Giving Back
Models Giving Back is an agency of professional, certified SecondLife models who give of their time and talents to raise funds for legitimate and verified SL and RL charities.
Models Giving Back was founded in October of 2012 by Jamee Sandalwood after a previous agency dedicated to charity work was forced to close due to the owner leaving SecondLife. Jamee felt the work that was being done needed to be continued and set out to lead the models that were already a part of the former agency into new and bigger endeavors at the newly created Models Giving Back.
To date the agency has partnered with dozens of designers and provided models for runway, print and other functions that support charities around SL.
Rock Your Rack is the creation of Jamee Sandalwood and is owned exclusively by Models Giving Back in SecondLife.
******************************************** About the National Breast Cancer Foundation
The National Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1991 by breast cancer survivor, Janelle Hail. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1980 at the age of 34. At the time of her diagnosis, there was little information about the disease, and she was forced to make a decision about her health with few options. After her treatment, Janelle made a commitment to help women around the world by educating them about breast cancer and the importance of early detection. NBCF’s mission is to save lives through early detection and to provide mammograms for those in need. This mission includes increasing awareness through education, providing diagnostic breast care services for those in need, and providing nurturing support services.
I was excited about this post for the holidays and I hope my BVN holiday post meets the expectations of my giftie Azizaone (Aziza Harvy). She shares that she has four children and lives in Australia; someplace I have yet to see.
I looked at azizaone‘s blog and flickr and got the feeling that she is a fun loving person who likes fashion and cute things. Because of this I decided to gift her a cute Christmas card pic from inside a giant snowglobe.
Thanks to one of my friends, I was able to snap my pic from inside a very special giant snowglobe. Along with my big teddy bear friend, I wish her and her family the very happiest of Christmas’ and a fun filled peaceful new year.
Every day we wake. We prepare ourselves for our day in the expectation that we will do those tasks we need to complete. Then we return home to rest, sleep, and repeat the same actions for our next day. No matter what we engage in, we all have expectations that life will happen as it should each day, or at least somewhat close to the plan. That is living; but is it really?
When you are in the process of living each day, doing the things to provide the essentials of food, shelter, clothing, and some element of fun or relaxation, you seldom stop and think about your course or the big picture of your life. It is in the quiet times that we can take stock of ourselves. If we are lucky and are 100% honest with ourselves, we can improve the person we are.
My personal experience has not been the expected path of school, marriage, and children etc. My path has been always a bit off the ‘normal’ track. My timing in life has never been right. I sometimes wonder if I was born late and have been spending my whole life running late. I have always had the feeling as if I was behind, trying always to be the best I could be, but failing. I think of things after the fact. Maybe it’s because I am always analyzing things to see how they could be better. Perhaps that is a good thing, or just a massive character flaw. I am not sure if I will ever answer that question. The one thing I have come to realize lately is that I do finally think there is a positive outcome to all this introspection. I always strived to be a good person and thought I was, but my belief is that my recent efforts have made me become a better person. I have had the courage to really look at my actions and see the results of them on the world around me. I have made the effort to change my way of reacting to others so I am creating better outcomes, both personally and professionally. In the end this is the only thing we do control, namely the way we react to the things that happen to us.
Now comes the even harder work of getting back into the world. I deliberately, and with some level of precision, removed myself from the everyday bustle of life. I did this due to a specific event that rocked the foundation of my existence. However, as someone once said, it’s not how we get knocked down, but rather how we get back up and revive ourselves, that shows the true test of our character. I was always considered by my friends and family as the one who always managed to overcome difficult situations with ease. To be honest, I just did a great job of veiling my emotions. Those close to me were all confused at how to react to my withdrawal. As most people do when they are unsure of what to do, they did nothing. This made it very easy to pull back into my shell. In our busy, rush, rush world today, it’s amazing how easy it is to pull away from people, and how hard it is to regain that closeness once lost. Crawling back out of a self-induced isolation on your own is painstaking work. You can lose days so easily so that when you look back, what you think has been a brief period, turns out to be wasted years. As we all know, time can’t be recaptured once passed.
I suppose what I am trying to say is this… It is good to take some quiet time for yourself to consider how you are doing on the ‘life-living’ checklist. It’s ok to take some time to heal from a tough situation. Always give yourself some quiet time for reflection. However, make that pause brief, and then jump back into life before it leaves you regretting the time you wasted and lost days of being on the sidelines. Life is for the living; the good, the bad, and the difficult. Being happy is a choice, it is so worth the effort, never too late to start, and enriches not only your time in this world, but creates ripple effect of enriching and improving the happy quotient of those that are in its wake, and that is most definitely worth the time to ensure.
One of my favorite things is my garden and playing in the dirt in general. I have had time to work in my garden recently. It had been neglected this year due to various factors that kept me away from it and focused on other things. Gardens need attention or they become overgrown and/or perish. I find great comfort in gardening. It provides a lovely splash of color in an otherwise green space and it sooths me. I enjoy having a little order, a bit of chaos, and loads of color in my garden. I like to sit at the close of the day and enjoy a glass of iced tea or wine while I sit and listen to the birds having their evening trip to the feeders and bath. Life happening around me and the sounds of nature is grounding for me. This is why I missed having my garden in order this year.
Another of my favorite things is fashion. I enjoy a well put together outfit. Even more, I enjoy finding and pairing fabrics to make clothing. It is rare to find a good fabric store these days since sewing clothing is becoming a lost art. I used to love to go to the fabric shop with my mother. All the colors and textures to browse through was a joy we shared. I loved mixing and matching fabrics in different ways to create fun and unique outfits. I liked that I was wearing things I had made that no one else would be wearing. These days, with life being so fast paced, it is hard to find the time to sew much. If you do find the time, it’s hard to find quality clothing material. Most fabric shops are devoted to craft fabrics and unless you are sewing for a four year old, craft fabrics are not suitable for creating an (adult) outfit.
There was a wonderful fabric store in my home town run by a lovely young woman. She would take buying trips to New York to buy wonderful fabrics and buttons from London and Europe for her clientele. I miss that store. It was the last local shop I can remember going to that had great clothing fabrics. I suppose I will need to make a trip to New York to find a well-stocked fabric shop. I will also have to bring my wallet. Fabric is not as economical as it once was.
This love of sewing is what connected me to the world of fashion and brought me to know various designers. I loved seeing a designer look and trying to create something inspired by that for myself. I learned pattern making and how to take a pattern and adapt it for what I wanted. Vogue patterns were some of my favorites. I liked taking simple designs and using different textured fabrics and unique buttons to make something special. I was in awe of Coco Chanel. She was a ground breaker for fashion and women designers. I made myself a classic Chanel suit once and the whole time I was sewing I played Edith Piaf’s music in the background. Maybe I thought it would help my sewing be more authentic. I remember one of my first Vogue patterns was from a design by Issey Miyake. To this day I love his work. Claude Montana, Tom and Linda Platt, and so many others are a part of my pattern collection. It was so easy to look chic with such fabulous designers letting Vogue deliver their designs to the home seamstress.
The last favorite thing I will mention here is my love for a great suspense novel. While I don’t read as much as I once did, I love sitting down with a well written suspense novel. I like trying to figure out the solution to the puzzle before the final pages. I am overjoyed when a writer puts in a final twist at the end that you never saw coming, but makes sense once you read it. Agatha Christie, John Ramsey Miller, Jeffery Deaver, John Grisham, and Dick Francis are some of my favorites; all for different reasons. It’s a mystery how some of those writers can craft such detailed stories that hold you from the start to the final page. Agatha Christie was the first author I started reading at a very young age. I was totally amazed how she wrote so many books all with a different plot and each book able to take you down a path of intrigue with a flare of the dramatic that could only come from her era, yet they are still as captivating and interesting to read after so many years since they were first published.
Thank you for letting me ramble on about my favorite things. What are some of yours?
Goodies:
Gardens:
Top – Osito, Stitched Frilly Top, Pink Gingham
Shorts – Blueberry, Jimena, Denim
Shoes – Unisex Sneakers, Black
Tool – Toolshed, Gardening tools, Shovel Narrow, Green
Chanel:
Jacket and dress – Lybra, Coco Set, White
Leggings – Izzie’s High Waisted Tights, Black
Shoes – Azoury, Loola Shoe, Black
Necklaces – Maxi Gossamer, Knotted Shimmer Pearls
Maxi Gossamer, Alexa White Choker Pearls
Bracelets – Mandala, Pearl Rain Season 3, White
Maxi Gossamer, Copacetic Tallulah Bangles, White
Suspense:
Coat – Cheeky, Trench Coat, Creme
Hat – Meli Amako, Mesh Summer Floppy Hat
Glasses – Zara Sunglasses, Black
Shoes – Tres Beau, Takeover Heels, Brown
Jewelry – Sigma, Wooden Bead set, Charcoal
Cell Phone – Elan, Cell phone
How very true. With the busy world we all live in, we can become caught up in the business of doing, and not being mindful about those whose paths we cross on our daily journey.
I was raised in a home where we were told to say please and thank you to each other. I assumed this was the way everyone was. I have noticed that there are people that do not say thank you as a matter of course. Listen the next time you are in a restaurant, on the subway, buying groceries, stepping into an elevator, or doing any simple daily activity. How many times do you hear that simple phrase?
I wanted to take a moment to thank a couple of people. Not that I don’t have many people to thank for things in my life, but these two people just happened to be two creative people I chose to use for an outfit today and it got me to thinking about saying thanks. I am wearing a dress called Eleanor. Yes, it was named this because I am a friend of the designer. Her name is Catalina Staheli and her brand is Aleutia. I think this dress is wonderful. It also come with a HUD with tons of colors which I really love! She has just begun to create fashion for SL. She is doing her best to make her brand fun, unique, and versatile. She is a bundle of energy and I don’t know where she gets it all. She always pours herself into what she is doing. I am cheering her on as she builds her business. Thank you Cat for all you do.
The second person is someone I did not know at all until I spoke with him in his store one day. His name is Ors Quan and his brand is Minimal. Ors is a wonderful designer of jewelry and a truly super person. I love his items and have just about every one of them now. I use them frequently because I love them! He has an aesthetic that is right up my alley. He is so very generous and I hope he is designing things for us for many years to come. Thank you Ors for helping me find the perfect item for some of my styles.
I challenge you to say thank you to someone at least once each day. Remember thinking it is no substitute for saying it. Especially to those people closest to you. Most of us are not good at mindreading.
EJ's Closet 
