It's been a long time since I have woken up with a renewed hope for the day, I certainly did this morning. Things have been so amazing lately and last night I did a bit of soul searching and cleansing. The last week or so alone has deepened my love for EQ2 with Sands, running our own guild together finally, touring the castle he promises we will have (lemme say, wow) and building something together that each of us never thought we would have again. From his amazing leadership skills, the astounding amount of Oda Clan members that remember him and are flocking back to their home in the guild, and the way he loves me daily... today is filled with more hope than I could have imagined. No, I haven't been drinking, yet! I'm just so extremely relaxed, happy, and excited for what each day brings that no one, and I mean no one, can bring me down.

So, when I saw these pieces from Naive, I thought wow, perfect! I love Naive, seriously, I want to establish a paypal contract with them and have them just send me their new releases. My inventory may be bursting at the seams, but this stuff is my favorites, by far.

I still spend a little bit of time each day wandering through the fashion feeds, even on days I don't get to log into SL at all. I chanced upon a blog post about ::EmJay:: and actually logged in to go do some shopping! I was lucky enough to land with the designer on site, I always love getting to talk to designers. The design line is relatively new to SL, and she has fast been added to my favorite designer list!

The dresses and tunics also have a fabulous variety of patterns and colors, I always have such a hard time picking out one thing that of course the fat packs quickly found their way into my inventory. I officially lay the blame on ::EmJay:: for pushing my inventory over the 40k amount! Someone should get to cleaning that out *looks around*

At the moment ::EmJay:: only has the one small location, but I have no doubt at all that the designer will be expanding or moving to a larger shop soon. She is working on a selection of mens and womens T's, I got a little sneak peek and they are fantastic!! Will be sharing those as soon as I have them in my hot little ::EmJay:: folder, that's for sure. The separates are great for mixing and matching, the below shorts are some of my favorite!

I also snagged a few eyes, but didn't get a chance to take any pictures with them yet. The images here is just a handful of the things I purchased, every single clothing piece is from ::EmJay:: of course, so be sure to take some time to visit and shop until your inventory hits 40k too! What, I can't be the only one that shops so much that she has to go buy more because she can't find anything, right? Er...right?!

I know, I know I keep saying that I will just be coming in as often as I can and tossing up a fashion related post, LOTD, etc. However, this is a blog dang it! Blogs need text, they need stories and ramblings to keep people reading. They need a bit of spice, and life and...ok I have no idea what they really need but this is my blog and I figure I can fill it with whatever ramblings and nonsense I want! Oh, oh the power of text!

It's been a pretty busy week her so far, and its only Tuesday! I'm really looking forward to a fabulous late afternoon/evening today in eq2, but this morning I took a little bit of time and snuck into Second Life for some shopping and found Coquette on the feeds. Throughout this entire entry all of the clothing, shoes and jewelry are from Coquette, a fabulous little shop that has already filled a couple of folders in my inventory. Once I organize it that is...yea, never going to happen! I like my mess, apparently. Just as I start to get organized a shopping need washes over me and off I go! Coquette is a perfect place to satisfy that need and the last image here was a gift for their group not overly long ago, be sure to join it when you stop by.

I always love walking into a store and walking out with complete outfits, it makes my inventory just that much happier. With these outfits I included hairs from ETD, Truth and Magika, used poses from Striking Pose and Vain and one other (below) that I cannot for the life of me seem to find again. If anyone recognizes it, feel free to toss the information into a comment and I will modify the blog entry. So see, not overly painful with the rambling today, and it was almost all SL related! Imagine that...but don't expect that to be the case come, oh I dunno, tonight. Or tomorrow...or... the next day. Have a fabulous day people, its a beautiful day out there and I hope it stays that way for you all!

Many of us have heard someone utter the words, 'It's only a game...' Some might believe that, but then there are others that take virtual worlds a bit deeper. I don't only play Second Life, I also play EverQuest II with Sands and have met some of the most amazing people there. It may be a game that we play, but the people we meet and the friendships we form are very much real to me, as they are to countless others.

I sat on the phone with Sands tonight, during his dinner break, rambling per usual while he ate. I got an incoming call right as we were hanging up to find one of our friends from EQII on the phone, near tears. She had been trying to get ahold of me to make sure she could talk to me before I logged into game. The minute someone says that, you worry. With good reason, this time, as she explains quietly that one of our dear friends and guild leaders passed away a couple of weeks ago. There is much more to this story, but I don't feel this is the place to draw it out, but needless to say it got me to thinking about these 'games' and the people that play them.

After talking for about 30 minutes I told her I needed to go and call Sands so he could find out from me before logging in, and within 30 seconds, he was calling me again, out of the blue. Just a game? No, we form connections with people, online or off, and I am always amazed by them. The people I have met within both games, and that I let myself get close to and love, are just as important as face to face friends. You are able to open yourself up in ways you might not in F2F (that's face to face, RL and SL mingle too much for it not to be real). You can form even deeper bonds because you have so much more time talking, and letting yourself be you. Not everyone agrees, and that's ok, I am just sharing my opinion and view on the entire matter.

It made me realize there are a lot of people I would be devastated to lose. Those that I haven't come to and told them exactly how I feel about them, or how much I appreciate them. Luckily I have the chance to do so now, even though I never will with this other friend again. Its going to be a tough night, he will be missed so much... sending much love and hugs to those closest to me, and each of those affected by his passing. I don't need to name you, you know who you are and after tonight you know you mean the world to me. I wish you all a beautiful evening surrounded with those you care for. Make sure they know it....

Dina's Duds
Dress: Pixeldolls
Jewelry: Cursed Jewelry
Pose: LAP
Skin: Redgrave
Hair: Magika

When shopping just doesn't do it for me anymore, I tend to tear down whatever house I am living in and start over. I was missing my garden home for some time and decided today was a good day to take everything down (again) and start over, building in my small corner what I once had on a quarter of a sim with my friend Kerra. I split our new corner in half, just like before, and the afternoon was spent gardening. This is just one of the new spots in my 'new home' but over time you will surely see more. Because of this day of gardening, I failed to even look at the clothing area of my inventory, imagine that! So, a fast post with what I was gardening in. Who says you cant look good while digging around in the SL dirt?

Dina's Duds
Dress & Shoes: LeLutka
Hair: Zero Style
Skin: Redgrave
Pose: Tuli

Lelutka has recently put out a nice sized release, this is just one of the many fabulously sweet outfits. Unfortunetly for me, my shape doesn't make outfits like this every day wear, but for pictures, you cant beat a beautiful scuplted dress like this one. Coupled with a pose by Tuli, I am delicate, sweet, and look almost innocent. Hey, who is laughing? I do!

Dina's Duds
Dress & Shoes: LeLutka
Hair: Zero Style
Skin: Redgrave
Pose: Tuli

One of the best things to see come across my time line on plurk are new creations from my favorite stores. Naive is, without a doubt, one I watch for! Each release brings out pieces that are an awesome addition to every inventory, even the over cluttered like mine. My favorite piece this time is the 'Awesome' shirt! Yes, the word of the day here at GI is 'Awesome'!

The last photo here was just a bit of creative expression on my part tonight. I haven't been spending as much time wandering the grid just snapping pictures as I once did, mainly because I have so much else gong on, online and off. This was just a stolen moment of escape. Escape from all the people that are pulling at me, not intentionally of course. These are people I want to be there for, and help as much as I can, I once in a while just need the small escape to collect myself else end up no help to anyone. So many have things going on in their live(s) that I wish I could fix, but the best I can do right now is simply to be there for them. I have strong shoulders, but even strong women need someone to lean on once in a while. I don't think I would get through my days nearly as well as I do if not for Sands and his amazing support. I have a feeling we are going to end up needing new cell phones soon, for how much time we spend talking! The best part of my day is just getting to talk until we fall asleep, and I don't think I tell him or my other very dear friends just how much I love them for all they are, and all they do for me. To him directly, I love you, and am amazed by every day we spend together. So, I took my moments of escape, and look forward to another fabulous week with you all!

Just a small sampling of the things that I 'had to have' from Sugarcube yesterday. Every once in a while I stumble upon a store that people have probably known about for forever and a day, but its still my fabulous find! I obviously have this bad habit of neglecting my accessories, as seen in the above pictures, but later I did manage to get my lazy self into my inventory to hunt down the awesome bag from ETD and jewelry from Cursed for the last image. Looks like a great outfit to do what in? Oh yes, more shopping!

Dress 2: Sugarcube, Hair: Maitreya, Shoes: Shiny Things, Skin: Redgrave, Pose: LAP

Just a quicky today, went and picked this dress up over at :Bijou: because I simply could not resist it. If I could spend every day wandering around in dresses like this, I so would! Using my normal Redgrave/Zero Style combination for skin and hair and the ever amazing Diesel Works poses.

Dina's Duds
Dress: :Bijou:
Hair: Zero Style
Skin: Redgrave
Poses: Diesel Works

First we have those that are far to kind and giving for their own good, and I adore them for their bravery of putting themselves out there. There are those designers, every day bloggers, residents, clubbers, shopping addicts (which could be any of the others too, someone stop the shopping!) photographers, the list goes on and on. These people are here to truly make friends and enjoy SL to its fullest, without partaking (willingly, that is) in the massive amount of shenanigans or otherwise negative aspects of SL. Sometimes they are pulled in, often times for simply doing something they thought was good, only to be insulted and treated like they had ulterior motives, and they get left behind in the dust of drama. Oh noes, I said the D word. Heaven help me now!

Second, we have those that are here to be what they probably wouldn't in RL, yet they find a massive outlet for it here in SL. Rude, abrasive, cruel, gossip whores, rumor mongering individuals who often times seem to have nothing else going on so they need to get involved in everything. Everything, that most times has nothing at all to do with them. I have to wonder, what is there to gain by that? What does one get out of being cruel to others, to tearing them down in order to feel better about themselves? About being 'feared' and fooling themselves into think this fear is respect by the community, because I can promise you...it isn't. Knowing that people wont speak against you because they don't want you to turn on them is not respect. Knowing that the same people are discussing your actions and know of you, yet don't really know you does not make you a SLebrity (most ridiculous word in the SLorld, tyvm). Having friends that are willing to jump on the bandwagon with you just to build up themselves or their business, isn't a real friendship either. I have no idea why these people survive so long in SL, or why the community lets them even, other than the fear of being their next victim, but they marvel at their power here and abuse it (and other people) daily. I don't understand it because I treat everyone as I would want to be treated, was cursed by being raised that way. Even when someone does something that I should stick up for myself about, I stay in the background and still refuse to say or do things that might hurt someone because I value peoples emotions. Perhaps, more than I should?

Third, there are the people somewhere in the middle ground. Those that are some of the most amazing people I have ever come to meet, but are stuck being frustrated and fighting against the hypocrites and the fiasco that the second group causes. These are the people that can come out and try to defend the first group, by doing things that don't even come close to measuring up to the cruelty or abrasiveness of the second group and yet somehow be ripped to shreds for it. They are the ones that come in and point out 'hey, you are ripping person A up for defending themselves against person B who just did far worse than you are accusing person A of' and then they, as person C gets the brunt of the seconds group amazing amount of anger and cruelty. Even better, because of the fear they have instilled in others, they can do whatever they want, no matter how mean, only to be supported by their groupies. By default, in case its confusing, the groupies become classified as the second group. They could easily be the first, but by supporting and being cruel in the ways of the second, they fall in line. Followers that also flip between the second and third group, depending on where it benefits them the most. Ok even I am getting confused at this point...

Um, did I insult someone? I am by no means pointing fingers here. If you see yourself in one of those groups, then it isn't by my hand but your own, though I do think there is a fourth group, that would be the people that have *no* idea that this community in SL even exists. Oh, to be that fourth group again! So no, I am not here to tell anyone what they are or are not, I am just simply sharing some of my observations as a fly on the SL wall for years now. I have always stuck to my own small group within the community (ok its just word of the day now, use it in a sentance too, its fun =P) and have been really happy that way, as a person who lingers between the first and third group. These are also the people I surround myself with, even though some might even think one or two should be classified as the second group. I can honestly say, without any doubt or fear of saying so, they would be wrong. Amazingly, I don't have a single person that is truly close to me or that I love that I would ever consider of that group.