Hawaii Pono’i, nana i kou mo’i, ka lani alii, ke alii
Makua lani e, Kamehameha e, na kaua e pale, me ka ihe

Aloha kakahiaka

May 1st in Hawaii Nei is first and foremost considered Lei Day, and while I do love playing at being all sorts of things in SL — a faun, a siren, a medieval maiden — there are times when I love being able to make my avatar feel like home, so I’m always tickled when I come across items in SL that remind me of my beloved island home. ^_^

Here are a few of my favorite items I’ve found; more info on the items below will appear after the cut (if the cut even works at all on the feeds lol):

Plumeria flowers are super common in Hawaii, so I was really pleased to find these well-made plumeria hair ornaments and this lei. The blossoms for your hair actually come in three colors, and go on either side of your head to indicate whether you’re single or spoken for, cute touch imo!

I’m infatuated with this hair, partly because it reminds me so much of the way the dancers from the hula halau will arrange their hair when about to perform in events like the Merrie Monarch Festival.

This orchid lei actually comes in two colors; I chose the white one but you can also get a pink version.

I had wanted to rez a copy of this lei in order to unlink it and create a matching hair ornament, but it’s no modify. I think I may suggest creating a matching blossom for tucking behind the ear, to the person who made it. ^_^

The kukui nut lei is often used for dressing up for formal events. I was thrilled to find this! The place where I found it also sells an anklet version; because they’re copy/modify, I was able to mod one into a bracelet. <3 I might try rezzing a copy of one of the anklets later so that I can unlink the prims and mod a couple into a pair of matching earrings.

This is not something I’d wear around my neck in RL, lol, but it’d definitely work as a decorative hanging in my car on the rearview mirror (right now I’ve got a dried orchid lei hanging there). I thought it looked really cool, though, so I picked it up :p

When my friend Tea (who is also from Hawaii) and I saw this hairstyle, it immediately reminded us both of home! The local girls often put their hair up in a style similar to this, myself included. After pairing this hairstyle with shorts and “rubbah slippahs” (flip-flops to all you mainland folk), I can almost smell the ocean, hear the chatter of people on the beach and the occasional braddah playing his uke and singing, and taste the spam musubi.

The ubiquitous maile lei, common at weddings and graduation ceremonies and hula festivals all throughout the 808 State, is actually nowhere to be found in SL. The closest thing to it I’ve found are these ti leaf leis which mimic the look of the maile. These are at the same place where I found the orchid leis.

If you feel like listening to a bit of Hawaiian music, here’s a favorite stream of mine that’s on my parcel’s music stream changer, you’ll hear the likes of Israel Kamakawiwoole, Kealii Reichel, and Hapa:

Mountain Apple Company

When my friend Gogo found out about Lei Day, she decided to set aside a spot on Juicy just for celebrating this ^_^

Okay, and now for those details about what is being worn in the pics above…

1st image: Hair - Laqroki, Princess; plumeria lei - Juicy Beach Shack; hair plumeria blossom - Aitui

2nd image: Orchid lei - Pixelated Petals

3rd image: Hair - Laqroki, Loveaffair; kukui necklace - Aitui

4th image: Hair - Kin, Luv; necklace - Dee, bone fishhook necklace; slippers - Detour

While I was working at Laqroki yesterday, I happened across a newbie Linden. A quick look at his profile revealed that he was freshly rezzed (it was devoid of any other info at the time) so I IM’d him in the hopes that he’d eventually “wake up” and I could help him pick out some new goodies for his avi. After all, it’s not everyday that you get to give a Linden a makeover, right? ^_^

I stood around him for a bit but he never did leave Away status, so I figured I’d take a humorous little pic — the one you see above — and give it the smartass title, “Asleep On The Job”.

Well, guess what! I found out today he’s the new CEO of Linden Lab, lmaoooo… I am going to have to send this pic to him. <3 Hopefully he doesn’t reject my inventory offer o.o

Welcome to the top place on the SecondLife™ food chain, Mr. Kingdon. May the lag not afflict you with too many ass-tachments

My blog is going back to being just that — my blog.  My little body shape shop that I started almost a year ago, mela’s, now has it’s own little home on the web which you can find here.  It’s being featured on the Fashion Planet feed, as well.

If you are part of the mela’s update group but somehow missed the latest notice that I sent out, make sure you take time to check out the notice archives soon.  We’re giving each member one free posepack, but this is a time-sensitive offer.  The deadline to send in your notecard is Saturday at 11:59 PM!

Please note that open enrollment to the group has been temporarily turned off, so make sure you’re still in the group after Saturday since I’ll be verifying that all notecard senders are group members.  ;)  Enrollment will reopen once I’m done sending out the posepacks on Sunday.

While you’re looking in the notice archives, don’t forget to grab the free skins that came out on April 6th.

Niki made some new skintones and makeups! You can find this group gift/preview by looking in the group notice archives.

Hi, it’s Natasha again!  If you are part of the update group for ROSEMAR, then you’ve already probably received this group gift.  It’s all twelve skintones with a new makeup.  The makeup includes blue eyeshadow, but the best part is the pretty pink blush and pink lips.

My favorites are the Manhattan, Teak, Twine, and Whiskey skintones, since they are closest in color to what me and Niki want.  The Almond and Cinderella skins are really pale and could even pass for one of those “goth” skins.  Rosemary Galbraith also has a good range of darker skins.  I may wear a lighter skintone but I notice these things, lots of skin makers will have a bunch of white skins and then only one black skin.  Darker skinned people are not all one color!

To join the update group, search for “Rosemar”.  You can see other makeups at the store located in Popfuzz:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/PopFuzz/60/128/35

Lately I’ve been lauding SL as a way to indulge in dressing up in fantastical ways that one would not in the real world. Sometimes, though, you come across an item in SL that makes you want to dress your avi in a way that is comfortably familiar and resembles the way you dress yourself in RL.

Tonight I came across a set of sculpted wedge shoes from HAYSURIZA that did just that for me.

Pictured above are HAYSURIZA’s Miki Wedge shoes in Autumn. Seeing these shoes instantly reminded me of my favorite pair of wedge heels and made me have a yearning for putting on the kind of laid-back, low-maintenance look that I favor for normal everyday use — a denim mini, a blouse, and then slap on some lipgloss and you’re ready to hit the road

The Miki Wedges come in five variations. Pictured next is the Spring version, which is a creamy off-white color and comes adorned with some pretty pastel baubles:

What appealed to me first and foremost about the Miki wedges is that they seem perfect for pairing with casual outfits; they’re pretty without being too dressy. I can totally imagine kicking these off and tossing them on the black sand at the beach without a second thought Up until now, I’d been wearing the Sunny and Brown Leather versions of my Maitreya Frisky wedges to death. (The brown leather version had been a group gift and I’m not sure if it’s available anymore.) These will make for a nice change. ^^

The texturing details on these shoes are very nicely done. I like the stitching details all along the strappy parts of the uppers, as well as the subtle highlighting. I especially like the textures used on the wedge heels for the winter, earth, and autumn versions, because they look so lifelike. Attention was also paid to the texture on the bottom of the shoe (which I did not take a picture of).

Four of the Miki wedges are named for the seasons, and the fifth is named Earth. The Winter wedge is black with a silvery colored stitch, Summer boasts a pinkish-coral color with white stitching, and the Earth version is a light yellowish-brown color with like-colored stitches. All versions feature a silver-textured buckle on the ankle strap and a few silver grommets, except for the Autumn wedge, which is given gold-textured details instead.

You can demo all of these shoes for free at the HAYSURIZA shop. To check them out, visit HAYSURIZA in Osaka: Osaka 138, 48, 21

Other SLURLs and credits follow after the cut.

Skin, prim lashes, manicure, and hair is from RaC. Eyes are from Simtropia. Plumeria flower hair adornments are from Aitui.

1st outfit is the Yelena ensemble from Last Call, featuring the tunic in Olivine.

2nd outfit is the Sidney dress, also from Last Call.

If you want these outfits from Last Call, keep in mind that your time to grab these is very limited! After this month draws to a close, all Last Call items will be deleted from the Ginny Talamasca’s inventory.

It’s RFL time again! Honestly, if it weren’t for Evie’s Closet participating, I probably would’ve held off going for a few days to avoid the inevitable crowds and lag. But… limited edition versions of the Love Story gown, Devotion dress, and another recoloring of the Romany Kiss being offered for free? Dude, that’s worth whatever amount of lag I must endure and however many crashes I must experience in order to get my hands on those asap

Here is the Love Story gown, exclusively for RFL:

Evie sent out a notice to her update group tonight that a red (my favorite color!) version of the Devotion dress was being sold only at the RFL Fair, never to be seen again once this is over. I was literally in the middle of writing a sentence via IM to Gogo when the notice hit my client, and I totally forgot I was talking about, hehe. I already have the white version of Devotion, which I really love, so when I found out about the red one, I *had* to get it. I made a beeline for the fair, where I was told I was the first person to grab it :p

Here is the Devotion dress in Blaze, for RFL… and btw, it is transferrable! I’m contemplating going back to buy extra copies to maybe give as presents later:

And finally, this freebie is being offered at Evie’s Closet at the RFL Fair, the Romany Kiss recolored:

Get thee to the Evie’s Closet booth at the RFL Fair in the Spring Sim: Rezzable Design 184, 185, 28

And of course, while you’re there, wander around and grab all the other limited edition items!  There’s TONS of fab stuff.  ^_^

Other credits and SLURLs to follow…

Skin & Prim Lashes from RaC, Eyes from Simtropia.

Love Story RFL:  Hair - ETD; Pearl choker and earrings - LIX Designs

Devotion gown in Blaze:  Hair - RaC Hair

Romany Kiss recolored:  Hair - Hayate’s Hair Lab (H2L)

Romany Kiss recolored - Hair -

I’m naughty — I had these in my inventory for a bit and only got to blogging them today! It’s just that I’ve been busy/consumed/obsessed with different projects. This post will be picture-intense, so to balance things out I will attempt to refrain from indulging in my usual verbosity. Emphasis on the word “attempt”. :p

Okay… today’s post is all about a lovely shop named Kouse’s Sanctum. I first learned about the white-haired Kouse Singh on flickr, where she posts beautiful images from the fantasy side of SL. Think Avilion, elves, and dragons. ^_^ Well, I guess I’ve been residing under a sculpted rock or something because it was quite a pleasant squee-worthy surprise to discover that Kouse has been crafting beautiful gowns.

First gown up: the magnificent Celestial Empress gown in Azure. You know, my favorite color is actually red, but show me a dress like this and I could easily forget that fact, hehe. An Evanescence song came on the radio just as I put this on, so I might’ve channeled a very slight bit of Amy Lee when accessorizing. ^^

Here is the Emerald version:

You know what’s great about gowns like Kouse’s? Pair them up with a romantic hairstyle like this one and you get a perfect showcase for your lovely shoulders, and imho there’s blessed little out there that can capture that right balance of fantasy, romance and sexiness without venturing into tramp territory. Gratuitous shoulder shot next :p

Kouse is generous. This next version of the Celestial Empress is called the Midnight Kiss, and it’s a group freebie and even comes with a tiara and necklace.

The corset lacing along the back is positively delicious. I’m a big fan of stuff that shows off the curvature of the spine; the more, the better, I say!

Another series of gowns to take a look at is the Lady Serenity. This next photo shows the Cirrus version of Lady Serenity (worn with white hair in honor of Kouse ^^):

There is a subtle difference between the two dresses in that shot above — the skirt on the right is actually somewhat transparent. All of Kouse’s gowns come with different flexi-skirt options. Some are slightly transparent, others are built larger so that you can use the outfit as a ballgown.

Lady Serenity comes in other colors, too. Here it is in Red Rose:

Again, the two skirt options:

Last but not least, the Lady LeShelle dress in Forest:

Lady LeShelle comes with two prim belts in silver and gold. I meant to show the Lady LeShelle gown in black, too, but I couldn’t find some of the prim pieces in that great ever-expanding maw that I call my inventory.

Pay a visit to Kouse’s Sanctum to pick these goodies up and to see even more of her selection: Garindan 10, 146, 263

Other credits and SLURLs after the cut. Missing SLURLs will be provided later when I log back in and can grab them; until then, the Search tool is your friend.

All skins, prim lashes, and manicures are by RaC unless otherwise stated. All eyes are by Simtropia unless otherwise stated. All poses are by either Poseur or Reel Expression.

1st gown (Celestial Empress in Azure): Choker - Goth1c0; Chest Tattoo - Inks & Kinks; Snakebite piercings - Nikita Northolt (I think she will be opening up shop sometime this week); Hair - BP*

2nd gown (Celestial Empress in Emerald): Hair - Candy House; Earrings & Necklace - First Impressions (freebies)

3rd gown (Celestial Empress in Midnight Kiss): Hair - RaC; Tiara & Necklace - re-read the damn post lol

4th gown (Lady Serenity in Cirrus): Hair - Armidi; Eyes - Nomine

5th gown (Lady Serenity in Red Rose): Hair - ETD; Earrings - Paper Couture (these are a bit older; if you can’t find them in the shop then you should be able to find them at Shop OnRez)

6th gown (Lady LeShelle in Forest): Hair - RaC

I admit, I abandon my avi in SL on a regular basis.  Sometimes for hours, even.  The amount of times that friends have found my avi on my sky platform staring blankly into space, uncommunicative and unresponding, probably numbers into the hundreds, no joke.

My profile makes it clear to people that I’m afk (Away From Keyboard for those of you not familiar with the term) a lot, but I’ve found that people in general don’t really pay attention to that little tidbit of information.  They also tend to ignore the part that says I may not respond to IMs in a timely manner if I’m busy working on something.  (Even some of my friends are guilty of this, writing persistent “hellooooooooo??!!”s when I’m working at RaC and helping customers.)

I used to use the Set Away feature a lot, but since all that does is put an “Away” over your av’s head it’s only useful as a visual indicator to people within your immediate vicinity.  People IMing you from remote areas have no idea that you’re AFK, there’s no auto-response message… unless you use Busy Mode.

So yeah, I used to use the Set Busy feature a lot, too, until I discovered that it automatically rejects ALL inventory offers.  I don’t want to do that, I want to be able to choose to accept the inventory when I come back to my computer.

My friend Vivi pointed to a posting on the jira titled Multiple Levels of Busy Mode, proposed by WarKirby Magojiro:

Busy mode blocks pretty much everything. It’s good for some situations, but not others. For example, when you want to spend private time with a single person, or a small group of friends, and be “busy” to the rest of the world.

Or even the opposite, being busy to the immediate company, while dealing with matters elsewhere remotely.

I’m proposing six different levels of busy mode.

1. Absolute Busy mode. Like we have now, blocks everything.

2. Friends only mode - Would block IMs and inventory offers from anyone who is not on your friends list. People on the list would be inaffected.

3. Important calls only mode - When someone IMs you, they would be displayed a message that you are only to be interrupted for important matters, and given a dialog box asking “Is it important?”. The message would be customiseable, so we can define what important constitutes. This would be a wonderful thing for busy business owners. Who could set the message to something like “Read the manual first, and visit our support website: <url goes here>”

4. Regional busy mode. Would act like the current busy mode, for everyone who is outside the current sim. Everyone in it would be able to communicate with you as normal. Good for when you’re in meetings, or enjopying private company.

5. Local busy mode. Like regional, but even more focused. only people within a user defineable radius (default 50m) would be able to communicate. All others would get your busy mode message. This would be good for private meetings in relatively public areas, like talking in a private room, at a busy party. Or just to avoid overhearing other people’s annoying chat, by setting the radius very low.

6. External busy mode. Blocks everyone within the current sim, only. Those outside it would be unaffected. This would be to allow you to avoid having to communicate with people in the area, without seeming rude. Good for lindens who want to seem busy

These all sound like excellent suggestions and I would love to see these implemented.  I would imagine lots of business owners would especially appreciate these sorts of Busy Mode options, too.

If you’d like more Busy Mode options, please go to the posting on the jira, log in, and vote on it!

Okies, that’s all.  I have to go afk now.  :p