EJ's Closet

“Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.” ~Oren Arnold

So here we are, just past Black Friday and on our way into the holiday season. I have not shopped on this weekend in many, many years. I boycott the stores on this weekend because I have a friend that works in retail who has been robbed of her holidays  and time with her family because she works long grueling hours through the season. I am sure we would all shop just as much if the hours were shorter, and feel better about it because we knew the retail clerks were having time to enjoy the holidays too. But this was not to be the subject of my post today so I’ll get back on track….

I have had time to pause and do a lot of thinking lately. Yes, this can be a scary proposition, but do not fear, it has been a good exercise for me. I am feeling rather more in the holiday spirit this year than I have in quite some time. Perhaps it is because I am looking forward to some family time that has been sparse in recent memory. Or perhaps it’s because we are scheduled to welcome 3 new family members in the next month. No, Santa is not bringing any puppies or kittens, but a pair of twins is part of the equation. I just find myself feeling rather optimistic about the holidays and the gift of family. On this track, I have been pondering about the mindset of people around this time of year. This thought has bounced around my grey matter in the past, yet still it remains relevant; Why can’t we be this giving, generous, polite, and forgiving all year long? Why do we feel we can only be ‘in the holiday spirit’ one month of the year?

As a wonderful friend of mine always says…that is just my take on it. My wish for everyone is to enjoy this holiday season and make time to be a better you…and be comfy!

Goodies:

Top: Sweater Shirt, Nordic, BlackRose

Pants: Acire Slacks, Dark Blue, Purplemoon (::PM::)

Shoes: Flaunt Shoe, Red, Azoury @ MOM (The Men’s Only Monthly)

Earrings: Nyorai, Silver, Mandala

Location: Vespertine

As you may have guessed I’ve been a bit off my normal track of late. The old saying about the straw that broke the camel’s back is where I have been. My poor camel was so overloaded his hump turned into a slump. Without boring you will the details, my personal life, business life, and my SL life have all been rather tumultuous lately. You know how you can handle anything if you have one refuge to retreat to and recharge in? Well, mine have all been in a state of disrepair. Needless to say, some things became very low on my totem pole of priorities; like my blog posting. I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to those who have been there for me. There have also been a few folks who, without their knowledge, have said and done something and made my day when I thought I would barely be able to make it through, much less actually form a smile. So thank you to people who listen and laugh and cheer others. You are a blessing to the universe.

I want to publically say a huge THANK YOU to two very wonderful designers who have been supportive of me by including me in their bloggers list. Those two people are Trinityraine of Trinite and Jaylen Oh of Me So Sexy (MSS) . I am wearing the new Ellen Shoulder Coat of MSS, and a pair of my favorite shoes from Trinite, The Sophia, in pink. I can’t say thank you enough to these two wonderful designers.

I wore this outfit to the Pink & White Party for the Fantasy Angels where they announced the first ladies to continue the casting process. Several folks messaged me telling me they loved this look. Those types of compliments always bring a smile to my face and make my day.

Thank you again for allowing me a break and I will do my best to be more consistent in the future. Now I have such a backlog of outfits to share and lots to tell you about what I have been doing. I better get busy!

Goodies:

Coat – Ellen Shoulder Coat, Checker Pink, MSS @ O9 (modified the alpha to wear the coat on it’s own)

Bustier – Natasha bustier, Ivory, Zaara

Slacks – Skinny Leather Pants, Finesmith

Shoes – Sophia, Pink, Trinite

Necklace – **C+** necklace, Silver, +:+WTG+:+

Earrings – Nyorai, Silver, Mandala

Hair – No. Drama, Reds, No. Match

“Solitude is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it.” ~ Deepak Chopra

There are times in one’s life when you just need to stop and catch your breath. Times when you need to look at where you are and where you want to be. Evaluate what is happening in your life and set the ship on the right course.

I’ve been doing a lot of that lately in both places where I live. I’ve been trying to eliminate the things that muddy the waters or take away focus from what it is I really want for myself. It’s not an easy exercise. Asking yourself the hard questions about your life and where to go next. The hardest part is trying to build up the confidence to know whether what you choose is the right way. It’s even harder when you don’t have all the facts. The best anyone can do is make a good guess and hope it turns out well. Some people have a knack for making the right choices that pay off down the road, others don’t. Alas, I seem to fall into the latter group. I try and not be reactive, think through the important decisions carefully. Yet time after time what I thought had been a solid and thoughtful decision, turns out to take a turn for the worse. So here I am, at another crossroad in my life, again without all the facts needed to be sure I am making a good decision, and yet I must make a decision due to an impending time constraint. So get out the coin and flip it into the air and wait patiently to see which side faces upward, then go with the result. Jump off the pier. I think I need to find myself a Kevlar corset.

Goodies:

Top – Mesh Tank, Royal Floral, Trinite

Shorts – Mesh Shorts, Orange, Trinite

Earrings, necklace: Equestrian, Cae

Sand: On my feet from walking barefoot on the beach

What is it about lavender that is so soothing? I have always had a love of the scent of lavender. My grandmother always used lavender soap. I’m not sure if it was just the huggable nature of my grandmother, or the scent of the lavender that gave me a sense of calm when I was in her orbit. Even now when I sense the light aroma of lavender a sense of calm envelopes me.

A couple of years ago I was awakened to the joy of lavender pillow spray. What a special treat! I don’t use my little spritzer every night, but when I am feeling a bit out of kilter I indulge myself and mist my linens. I have found that I drift off blissfully, the cozy feeling calming me to sleep. It might be my imagination, but I think I get a better night’s sleep.

Maybe this is why I love the color of lavender so much. The memories and the calm it provides.

This fun and flirty dress by MSS (Me Sew Sexy) is lovely in lavender. It’s a perfect summer look paired with a cute black sandal.

I think my grandmother would love this dress. She also loved flowers so the roses make it be perfect. Of course, I’d have to wear lavender perfume! Thanks for indulging me as I took a little stroll down memory lane 🙂

Goodies:

Dress: Rose Cocktail, Lavender, *MSS*

Shoes: Nora, Black, *MSS*

Earrings: Jasmine Earrings [Antique] Silver and Diamond, Stargazer

As I looked at where I live, I am happy. So I am taking some time to do a bit of flag waving. I am glad to be living in a country that has a blend of people from all over the globe  sharing space, thriving and living together peacefully, for the most part. Although there are times when things are said or happen I don’t agree with, or a wrong that has been perpetrated by some wacko (technical term), for the most part we are a country of just people going to work or school every day trying to make a better life for ourselves and the next generation. Ok, let’s be honest…maybe just earn enough to buy that next pair of amazing shoes.

I’ve done some traveling in my life, enough to understand that you can find good folk in every place in the world if you look for them. Wouldn’t it be great if more people realized we are more alike in what we want then different? Oh pardon me! I am supposed to be flag waving. So hurrah for the old red, white, and blue. It’s time for a bit of New Glory. Let’s be better humans. Let’s be better promoters of kindness, manners, and decency to all people.

And when we can, let’s try to export that to other places we visit and show people how we can cooperate to allow people to have their own way of doing things that is not ‘wrong’,  just different. No one has all the answers and differences make us unique. I heard someone say once that “God loved an infinite variety”. It would be sad if everyone was the same; boring even.

So, I put on my new red overalls, hitop Keds, and blue hearts and celebrated the passage of one more year of Independence for a country still trying to finds it’s way in the world. Bar-b-que anyone?

Goodies:

Dress: Jumper Dress, Red, Aesthetic @ The Chapter Four

Shoes: Unisex July 4th Hitops, [Phunk]

Necklace & Earrings:True Hearts, Maxi Gossamer

Cuffs: Gold, erratic

Ring: Safari Tribe ring, Gold, Ison

Pose: Slouch

Sometimes I just love to slip into something new, fresh, and comfy and go out for a walk. There was no better place than the lovely sim L’Arc en Ciel. I shall miss the subtle tones and little nooks that Asa Vordun created as they were always a nice escape for me. I took one final trip to her sim and spent some time just revisiting each little corner of the sim. It was time well spent. I’d hate to have not taken the time to have one final walk through her creation.

Not much else to say I’ll just stand and look at the fairy dust settling to the ground.

And then walk off into the sunset happy that I got to visit here for a time. Farewell to L’Arc en Ciel. Gone but not forgotten.

Goodies:

Top: Vibrant Vest, Red, Pixicat @ Collabor88

Skirt:  Locu Skirt, Tropical, Vero Modero

Shoes: Zest Pumps, Ash, Maitreya

Necklace & Earrings: Kalistar, Maxi Gossamer

There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want. –Bill Watterson

Ever have one of those weekends where you wake up Monday morning wondering where your weekend went? I think I just effectively wasted two entirely good days puttering around and feeling as if I accomplished absolutely nothing of significance. I did all the average household chores, pulled some weeds, watered the flowers, had a meal with friends, finished reading a book I’d been reading intermittently for a couple of weeks now, and did my weekly food shopping. Yet, here I sit at my desk wondering where the weekend went. Is it just me?

I also got hijacked last night just as I sat down to style for today, so I decided to pull out something handy that I haven’t shared yet. I love this combo. I will add the goodie list later but for now I think the slacks are Purple moon, the top is Zibska (?) and the make-up I know is Madrid Solo. This is one of my favorite little stools.

Tomorrow? I shopped and have lots of lovely new things to share this week. There were a lot of irresistible items I had to have. I did honest! They yelled at me as I walked passed them, I had to stop. I think my Linden Express card is hiding deep in my wallet today recuperating.

Now for me, off to work and see if I can do something memorable at work today. Happy Monday everyone!

Goodies List: Coming soon! As Promised

Top: Spikey Fur tank, Creme, Gizza

Pants: Alison Pants, Moss Green, Purple Moon

Shoes: Izzy Print Heels, Shoenique

Cuffs: Cuff, Gold, Erratic

Ring: Anuttra ring, Mandala

Earrings: Ceekeey, Gold, Mandala

Make-up: Magnolia Morning, Madrid Solo

Where did our spring go? It’s summer and it’s hot. For the places in the world where the European dress norms of the self-professed ‘civilized world’ rule, I can’t imagine what it must have been like just 100 years ago trying to manage to survive a stifling heat under what was deemed essential layers of clothing. I am very fortunate, or is it spoiled, to be able to take advantage of the modern convenience of refrigeration. I was thinking today what would I do if faced with these temperatures without the benefit of the cooling breeze of a happily purring condenser unit?  I think I might just melt into a puddle and need to be collected with a sponge.

There are still many places in the world where air conditioning units are not a staple of a modern home. In some cases it’s because the local temperatures do not warrant them, but in some places it’s either a matter of the technology not being available to the local economy or the cost being more than reasonable for the common household. I consider myself lucky to be able to enjoy the summer days in comfort.

With this said, I thought the best place to wait out the heat is on a lovely beach watching the waves play along the shoreline. This is the best place to be when the temps are on the warm side.

The place where you can sit back and enjoy the heat, cool your toes in the ocean, and wonder at the splendor of it all.

I love the beach. Now all I need is a nice frosty beverage. Bliss.

Goodies:

Bathing Suit – :V.e. Hedonist Bikini, Leaf, Valentina E. Couture

Wrap- Sabra Kimono, Tribal 3, Maitreya

Glasses – Solaris Sunglasses, Golden. ANE

Sandals – Izzie Sandals, Chocolate, fri.day

****All of the above items may be found @ SummerFest

Bracelet – Celtic Dream Bracelet, Gold, [MAGIC NOOK]

I’m not sure how someone becomes an optimist. Is it how you are nurtured in your formative years, or perhaps something you are gifted with at birth? Maybe it’s a conscious effort that is chosen from sheer determination and willed into being? However it happens, I can raise my hand and say that I am one who has been bitten by the optimist bug. Not only was I bitten, but I have enjoyed and reveled in the after effect in a most enthusiastic manner. Hello, my name is EJ and I am hopeless optimist.

The odd thing is that many people view an optimist as someone who is naïve about the world around them. While there are some things I do remain unacquainted with, I don’t consider myself to be out of touch with the world. I think that the people who look at a positive outlook in a negative way, are the same people who look at life with a negative expectation. I have made choice to try and find the silver linings. I think I get that from my mother. She showed me that looking at things to find a positive will tend to create a more pleasing outcome.

So what is all this leading up to? Just to say that with all the recent events that the news reporting machine of this world has chosen to spread out in front of us, do what you can in your daily life to take those many stories that are lemons on your tree of life and make some lemonade. Then grab a tall glass and don’t stop at half full, pour yourself a glass to the rim with tangy lemonade, find a nice shady spot, sit back and relax, and watch all the traffic zooming by, content in the knowledge that you have chosen to make some lemonade. Heaven knows it’s been hot enough to drink a few gallons of the stuff!

Goodies:

Top- Sounja Skirt Top, Powder, AnaMarkova
Jeans- Bella Jeans, Dark, Trinite
Glasses-Cheeky Glasses, Zoom
Ring-Roho, Maxi Gossamer
Earrings-Vallari Joops, Maxi Gossamer