Happy Birthday to Lilly's!

I have to send out a quick birthday greeting to Lilly's Irish Pub that turns 1 year old today! In my opinion, Lilly's is THE best Irish pub in SL. The people are friendly, the music is great and the Sim is gorgeous! No weird flashing eyesores here on the Glendalough Sim. Everything has been done beautifully in traditional Irish seaside style complete with old romantic ruins, churches and cottages for resdential use. By the way, if you're planning a wedding, the stone arched courtyard with lots of white candles and roses is a must see!

Lilly's has always been a sentimental favorite of mine. Not only am I bit Irish in RL, but Lilly's was one of the first places my friends and I stumbled upon in our newbie days. We were only a few weeks old when St. Patrick's Day rolled around, and Lilly's gave us the best music, dancing and welcoming atmosphere, even as we danced around in our silly green freebies :-) Also, the music is not limited to Irish ballads only, lots of rock themes to go around. Join their group to get the full extent of their musical range - and enter their many contests.

Do yourself a favor and put Lilly's on your short list of favorite dance places! You won't be sorry!
Sif

Spooky Nights & Halloween Frights!

If you can't tell already, Halloween is a HUGE deal in SL. Not only are there cute Halloween freebies everywhere, but the decorations, dance parties, costume contests and haunted houses can quickly fill up your calendar! Don't forget to visit your favorite stores for freebies and discounted costume accessories. RFyre has some gorgeous witch hats and gowns with orange, red and black colors. Sparkle Skye just released a beautiful harvest ball gown at a discounted L$500 price for members. By mixing and matching some of your finds, you can create a unique look. This ensemble is from the two deals mentioned above. By taking off the fairy wings that originally came with the ball gown, adding the witch hat and some jewelry from Alienbear Castle, I created a fancy witch ready to waltz.

Before October 31st passes into ages past, take a group of friends around to a few of the haunted themed Sims. This activity is fun alone, but even more fun with friends. The Sim featured in the following pictures is the Halloween Horror Village in Antiqua Paradise. The place is huge and includes various areas dedicated to horror movies and tales of fright. Many different pose balls can be found to make the adventure even more rewarding. The various death scripts are quite comical, including the guillotine, coffins and being eaten by a giant spider. Rumor has it that Freddie Kruger even lurks in a hidden chamber.

Another great place for a hauntingly good time is the House of Horror at Paradise City. Wandering through the house will allow you to encounter a haunted dance lounge and trap doors to various places hard to get out of....fun place to lose your friends! From there you should try to catch a ride on the Love Bugg Pumpkin on Lovers Lagoon which seats four people and sends you through a haunted house ala amusement park ride complete with scary clowns. This one is unique, but on Saturday night, the place was crowded and the extreme lag made the ride slow down until it crashed. If you go on a week night, I'm sure the ride would be better.

Speaking of tales of fright, don't forget libraries...seriously! Most of them are hosting scary storytelling sessions that feature classic literature, like this recent reading of Bram Stoker's Dracula held at the West of Ireland Library and Cultural Center. These sessions are held in voice by some very talented people, many with RL theatre backgrounds....so it's well worth the visit!

My advice.....there are so many events, you should invest in more than one costume...you'll need them!

Happy Haunting!

Sif

House Hunting Part III - Renting Land

When the concept of rezzing my own house on land came to my attention, I immediately thought I had to upgrade to a premium account and purchase the land. However, when I began to search the land sales listings, only a small percentage were actually for sale. The rest of the "land sale" listings were actually rentals offered in the guise of land purchase. If you truly purchase land, you do need a premium account and have to pay monthly tier fees to Linden if you purchase anything over the allotted 512 square feet size - which is, in reality, a tiny parcel. Then, if you get tired of your parcel, you have to continue to pay the tier fees until you sell the land to someone else. Based on the sheer volume of small land parcels available in SL, selling a parcel could take months, unless you spend more fees for classified ads to attract buyers.

Then there is the problem of neighbors. You may find the most beautiful parcel of land imaginable, but a few months or weeks after rezzing your new house, you suddenly have new neighbors who build something ghastly or distracting to your guests. Then what happens? If you've purchased the land, you have to sell it to move - and good luck selling with weird builds next door. Or, as in my case, you like to change your home with your mood. I had a beach house during the summer, and a Tuscan home in the fall. This type of change is only practical if you rent the land.

If you do want to take the plunge into actual land purchase, examine the land covenant in the "about land" section when right clicking directly on the land. The land covenant will let you know what type of building is allowed. This is VERY important! Some land covenants are very open and allow almost any type of build, which is tricky as explained above. Other covenants are very restricted which detail the size of your build based on parcel size, and how close to the property line you can rez, or what style of house allowed. In my experience, for sustained re-sale value, the more restricted in the area of style, the better the overall atmosphere remains. Just because you purchase the land, does not mean you own the entire sim, so you will want to see how many prims are allowed on your particular parcel - not all land prims are the same - some sims are more generous than others when it comes to prim allowance - and don't forget to look at the prim level of the house you are going to rez!

If you decide the rent the land, you usually have the same privileges as a true purchaser, but retain the freedom to vacate as the mood hits you. Of course, renting the land might be a little bit more expensive, but not very much, so it's definitely an option worth considering.

So, if you are happy with your previously rented little space, why would you want to build your own house? For me, visiting a prefab home showroom once had me quickly hooked. Once I was made aware of the existence of these large stores, my lovely little rented house suddenly seemed inadequate. The wonderful thing about these supercenters of architecture is the ability to tour each home at leisure.

The sheer variety of homes available is staggering, although the majority of homes available in SL are contemporary in design....not only because this design is popular, but also because it is an easier design to build. Some of the contemporary designs are simply stunning due to high levels of textural quality. My preference lies in homes that closely resemble RL architecture, but the sky is literally the limit in SL when it comes to designing homes. Besides elaborate skybox houses that float high above the land, any other kind of imagined architecture can be found. Fantasy houses, such as treehouses or castles, are also very popular depending on the land you choose to build on.

Matching your house to the land is probably the first major element you should consider when toying with the idea of building or rezzing your own home. If you want a ski lodge, don't rez one on beach front property....and besides, the land covenant probably would not let this happen anyway. But, once you are ready, simply visit the potential parcel just as you did when shopping for a home rental, and pay the weekly rental box in the same manner. Once your resident group is activated, you are ready to get rezzing!

Here are a few of my favorite prefab stores:

Barnesworth Anubis Pre-Fabulous Homes and Furniture: Barnesworth is probably my favorite place for nice solid homes with great detail. However, much of the details used in Barnesworth's designs are not photographic details, but beautiful subtle shading in each prim. Designs also include very nice moulding touches with walls that are not paper thin. Stairs are also real stairs and not one prim ramps with stair textures.

Satir DeCuir's Houses Homes Prefabs: A nice favorite for historical and ancient designs. Satir specializes in cabins, farmhouses, ancient roman villas and moroccan designs. Again, great detail with walls that are think enough to keep your outside plants outside.

Fire and Water: Absolutely gorgeous prefabs in the fantasy style. The details are stunning with thick walls and the floor plans are open with courtyards and fountains. Well worth the visit to see what SL talent just waits to be experienced. The furniture store is also a great find!

Villas on Villa Prefab Houses: A fairly new designer that only offers about eight villas in two design styles. The walls here are very thin, but the wide open spaces inside with beautiful photographic textures make this a must-see for those thinking about a Parisian or Tuscan villa. Each villa also comes with a wine cellar. Prims are low, but the villas are a bit pricey. There is a treasure hunt always going on to allow winners the choice of their favorite villa as a prize....but this means a lot of visitors and quite a bit of lag.

Enjoy,

Sif

House Hunting SL Style - Part II

To begin the rental process, you must first find an available house. Some residential sims contain a nice showroom with pictures and rental rates of the available houses in a convenient slideshow sign. Once you have an idea of the house you would like, be sure to teleport there first to tour the home before you commit to the rental. You can pay the rental from the slide show display or directly from a rental box outside of each house. Once you have selected the house you want to rent, simply click on the rental box and pay the amount of advance rent you want to deposit. ***NOTE*** Before you pay this rent, be sure to read all land covenants associated with the parcel. Just like land purchase, rental houses usually have a land covenant that restricts how you build on it. For instance, some places do not allow flags above the houses or anything that could distract from your neighbor's view. Customarily, this covenant is included in a notecard either in the office or as an option in the rental box. If this is not readily available, simply right click on the land parcel and choose "about land". There should then be a tab named "covenant" to give you the details.

Once you have selected your house and paid the rental box, your possession of the place will depend on whether your new landlord is online. If they are not, you will have to wait until they invite you to the group permitted to build. This may take 24 hours, or it may be immediate. Either way, you still need to go shopping, so be patient and enjoy this new adventure in commerce!

If you thought clothes shopping was fun, wait until you get to decorate your new place! A whole new level of fun awaits as there are nearly as many furniture places as there are clothes shops! **NOTE** Make sure you remember your prim allowance for your new place and be sure to look at each item before purchase to ensure you buy the lowest prim furniture you can find. If the item's prim count is not listed in the buy hover box, just right click the item and select "edit" to see the prim count listed in the general tab. Trust me, the prim count can build quickly - so choose wisely! Oh, and no need to purchase TV or radio if you are renting the house, most rental units (not all) include these gadgets already installed in your house and ready to go!

Below I am listing a few of my favorite furniture places...so enjoy! However, some of them are more beach related so I will annotate to help guide you to the shops that will best fit your taste.

Lok's Low Prim Furniture: THE best place for low prim, low price furniture! Huge warehouse of things to choose from for every room in the house! I love the artwork and the rugs available...great selection and nice details for the price....if you need a low prim item to fill a bare corner...try here first...you'll be glad you did!

Eldrich Interiors: Truly the home of low prim/high detail furniture. The sculptie nature of the furniture adds an element of vinyl detail not often found in SL. However, I would only select these if your video card is fairly new. They have a notice at the front about the graphic settings you should use if you purchase these products. My only worry would be having guests adjust their graphics to better see your decor - might be awkward. They are a bit pricey, but the low prim for sectionals is worth the buy....the green couches in the pics below are from Eldrich. Also VERY nice feature: no visible pose balls - the seating is menu driven and offers guests a choice between several different poses!

Shops of Pendragon: I have to draw people's attention to Calavar/Pendragon again. The shops themselves are a bit small in number, but the additional architectural elements available are beautiful! You can choose from ancient designed fountains, columns, fire columns (my favorite), roman art, low prim giant palms in moroccan pots, and ancient design houses that are amazing! Definitely worth the trip!

Idea Home Center: Ultra contemporary furniture, but well designed - not your customary box shapes normally found in contemporary SL furniture places. Also a great place to buy nice memory pieces - structures that allow you to place your own SL or RL pictures inside for a personalized display.

Antique Artistry: I just found this place a couple of weeks ago. Wonderful mixture of high texture antique furniture alongside some contemporary designs. She also sells victorian houses if you're interested. Nice prices too!

K Design Tropical Island Furniture: My absolute favorite beach furniture stop! The prims can be a bit high, but the prices are great and the details are wonderful! The beautiful turquoise tent-like structures and gathering places are stunning and are perfect beach ensembles! Almost all of the patio furniture seen in my pics below came from K Design....gorgeous stuff!

Tiki Beach: Next to K Design, this is my other favorite place for beach furniture. This place is actually bigger and includes wooden piers as well as other landscaping items. Prims can be a bit high, and the pricing is decent, but the variety can't be beat...you will enjoy spending an afternoon here!

Organized Confusion: Very charming little place with loads of furniture that has a high level of detail. Both indoor and outdoor furniture is available. Some of the styles include primitive french country which is popular in RL....very rare to see in SL. Prices are reasonable and prims are decent. Definitely worth the visit!

Well, here I am in my new place....fully decorated....but, I didn't stay there long. I stayed for about a week until one of the units that faced the bay opened up and I snatched it before someone else could come along. As you can see, it had a better view and was relatively the same rental price. BUT, as I had mentioned in my previous post, close neighbors can expose you to public displays of affection - sometimes in the extreme - so I only stayed about a month until I yearned for a more intimate setting to bring colleagues....and perhaps to provide more room for dancing :-) So stay tuned for Part III as I explore an alternative adventure in residential experimentation: land rental and house purchase!

So, until next time, here's Sifriya, soaking up the sun and reading, naturally!

House Hunting SL Style - Part I

The thought of securing a residence for my avatar was at one time extremely laughable in my opinion. I already belonged to a business location and was considered a "resident" of this island which allowed me to select it as my "home" location. It was a very nice, large and safe environment complete with large sandbox for unpacking and changing clothes. Once SL was shut down, my avatar no longer existed and therefore had no need for a bed and jammies to pass the time while I took care of RL business.

Two things changed my mind about this concept:

1. Our large open sandbox was so open, that my poor avatar had no privacy, and in the middle of a wardrobe switch, she was frequently surprised by curious visitors....yes I know it's not real, but let's be honest, some of the avatar shapes and skins are rather realistic and it's just disconcerting to be surprised by male avatars just standing there not saying a word and enjoying the view. Sometimes the curiosity bordered on griefing since these observers were usually newbies and could not control their directions or flying....quite annoying.

2. While attending a volunteer meeting, one of the participants invited us to her SL home to make the group meeting a bit more private. Wow. The place was beautiful and our meeting had a nicer flow in this relaxed and spacious atmosphere.

These experiences got me thinking about what was necessary to own a piece of the grid.

Ok, so after exploring Linden's explanation about owning a small 512 sqm piece of land as allowed under the premium account (which involved about $10 per month), and after reading the tier scheme that applied to any parcel larger than your allowed 512 sqm, my eyes began to cross and I was disenchanted with the permanency of such a commitment based purchase.

Instead, I did a search for rental since I knew that commercial booths could be rented, and mixed among the results were house rentals available. The choices were amazing...any type of environment complete with any size house could be rented. Some homes were furnished some were not. Here is a breakdown of what I found:

A handy little store dedicated to rentals available: The Rental Directory

I loved this place. It was an easy way to view the different types of land/houses available to narrow down what type of atmosphere you would most enjoy. Some of the ads also included pricing samples to give you a price range - not many of these, but enough to get you started.

Pricing for house rentals are per week based. When you first see the price per week, it can be a bit of sticker shock, especially when you see the size of house per price level. Each house also has a prim limit - the maximum number of primitives your furniture can total while residing in the dwelling. If you rent a pre-furnished place, your prim limit would be very low; If unfurnished, usually very reasonable.

On this outing I decided to focus on beachfront property. It is summer afterall, and I've been very impressed by some of the tropical setting sims. If done right, they can be gorgeous. What I mean by "done right" is a tropical sim that doesn't look like a large square sim divided by canals into smaller sand box shapes. Granted, if it is land you rent or buy in this fashion, you may have the option to edit the terrain. If not, or if the house is a rental, your only option to change the look of the surroundings is to disguise your plot's rectangle with strategic landscaping.

Above all, shop around....take your time. One thing I also came to value as I looked at the possible rentals was the presence or lack of a group social area. Several places included the use of community areas along with the rental. This feature can be very nice for entertaining or as a way to make new friends out of your neighbors!

Ok, so I finally chose a place to call my own (for awhile). I decided on Kaia Estates run by a very nice landlord Meggie DeCosta. Meggie has other residential sims to choose from and I think you will like the detail she includes in these estates.

I didn't want to spend a whole lot, and for the price, Kaia is quite nice! The little tropical port with free use of the estate provided boats and jetskis is charming. Very appealing for visitors and comes complete with social gathering places such as a Starbucks and a wine room. There are even satellite shops of some of your favorite places, such as UK Couture, right there near your residence...very handy.

Besides the port, group membership also includes...

the use of a pirate lagoon, complete with pirate ship and diving actions....

a romantic lighthouse area set towards the sunrise....

the ruins of an ancient underwater city, complete with colorful fish....

a private cove with free use of the yacht....
a middle eastern inspired pagoda and lounge area for meetings or get togethers....
a roman/greek ruin with dance floor.....
a zen garden.....
and houses for rent that fit both the tropical taste and the forested seaside.
One really great thing about this sim is the natural placement of the houses on land that was designed in a more natural formation. No square plots here, the natural waterways (free to use with your boat) with little surprises such as fire pits and gazebos, make this place a cut above the rest.

I found a cute little place for L$600 per week on one of the inlets....basic in design, and looks small when first viewed. But inside, the houses are quite spacious and the simple shape allows for ultimate view of the scenery since two major walls are windows. BTW, Meggie just announced that she is lowering the price by L$50 on all units!
One note about choosing your place....take a look at the rating of the area. Kaia is mature, which doesn't mean a whole lot since they don't advocate pdas, but I have walked out onto my deck to scan the lovely horizon and inadvertently come across my neighbors out on their deck going at it like rabbits....so if you don't want to be at risk of such a blinding experience, pick a house with neighbors a bit farther away, or look for PG rated residential areas.

Stay tuned for my next segment about the rental process....and shopping for furniture!

Searching for Fashion Fun and Other Events

Boredom should never be a word used in SL. There are way too many things going on to keep your SL social calendar crammed full. My first advice is to join your full (or near full) capacity of groups. Search for things you like to do, places you like to go, hobbies near and dear to you in the groups section to find other people and events that share your interests. Once you join these groups their events will be sent to you in the form of notices that offer details and teleports to the social event planned. For instance, I wanted to check out the Holiday action taking place on the 4th of July....so I entered "4th" in the events search tab and pulled up loads of events taking place, from treasure hunts to parades, to dance parties....the amount of fun going on was vast! I checked out a couple of places, but my favorite spot to party this fourth was an impromtu dance party held on the back porch of the White House at the Land of Lincoln Sim. No period dress was required for this event and the music and company were high quality. The attendees were even treated to a fireworks display at the end of the dance...great fun! (BTW - If you can find a nice Civil War era ballgown to wear, there is a historic Ball event planned for Land of Lincoln on Friday night July 11th!)

For the regular event seeker, and to get a glimpse at the newest fashions making their debut in SL, I recommend searching for the word "fashion" in the events tab to locate fashion shows going on. Your best results will be on the weekends of course, but some of the fashion shows involve charity fundraisers with auctions and other great coordinating activities. And don't forget the "notify" function at the bottom of the event description to have reminders sent to you before the event begins!
Just last weekend I searched for "fashion" and came across a fashion show that I missed, but when I teleported the event location anyway, there were still models hanging around and I was able to learn about a neat new period gown designer...definitely worth the teleport! My second fashion show listing described a show that was in progress on the S.S. Galaxy cruise ship! What an experience! The ship is huge with several decks of mall shops and a very nice fashion runway on the upper level. You can even rent rooms and take a cruise - honeymoon suites available :-)

The people and models can make you lag a bit, but take a seat and relax...the models make several trips up and down the runway to allow for the rezzing drag.
What a great way to see the new designs on actual avatars! And as they stand around after their run, you can zoom your camera in to get close-up views of the clothing quality. Definitely a fun and informative way to spend some weekend time in SL!
Enjoy!

Sifriya

More (nearly) Free Fourth of July Fun :)

Hip hip hooray! My RL alter ego and I are both off for the holiday after today! To celebrate I put together another Independence Day outfit:



Both camisoles are from SWA's "Patriotic Cami Freebie Pack."

The shorts are from Free Spirit,and they are free of charge! They are part of a package with a Spanish flag t shirt and some fun poses. Upon landing at the teleport spot, the package is a big poster on the wall behind you.

The shoes are from Seasons, and I got them for free in their Independence Day Star Hunt.

The sunglasses are freebies from Prim Optics, and the bracelet was personal gift to me. The shape is from Body Doubles. The free skin is from Frick, and the hair is free from Diversity Hair.



Enjoy! This outfit cost $1L for the hair :)

Some (nearly) Free Fourth of July Fun

I'm working on a series of posts about skins in Second Life and one thing I've found out is that you can look fierce for free. In honor of Independence Day here is an outfit I put together for the occasion:



The cool stars and stripes pants with the skull belt come from Strayer and cost $1L.

The shoes (I feel like I can click my heels and end up in Kansas with them!) come from Seasons, and I got them for free in their Independence Day Star Hunt.

The top is part of Adam n Eve's Happy Fourth Swimsuit gift, which costs $1L for a pack of US and UK themed bikinis.

The hair is "Victoria" in navy from Diversity Hair.

I got the Catherine Deneuve shape for free in a camping chair at Body Doubles.


The skin is a fabulous free theme skin from Frick. Fricka Morgath, in her words, "specialize[s] in Fantasy, Gothic and
Wildly madeup skins!" Her skins are fun, good quality, and very reasonably priced. This particular skin is called "Fireworks" and comes in a pack with a tanned version, a goth version and a shape. She even through in the cool red white and blue sparkly thing that you can see over my head in the picture. I'm wearing the tan skin with my outfit.

Here is a close up of the "tan" version:




Notice the nice details in the makeup. The Peacock Blue eyes are from The Body Politik, and the hair is "Elizabeth" in Mahogany from ETD.

Finally, here is a closeup of the "goth" version:



The hair is "Jocena" in Black from Diversity Hair. I put together my Independence Day outfit with some things I already had in my inventory and an addition $2L.