Welcoming 2009 at the Bubbly Nightclub!

New Year's Eve is one hot event in SL....revelers are dressed to the nines, and every hour there is a New Year somewhere in the world to celebrate with a kiss! It goes without saying that the romantic ballrooms and clubs are jam packed with couples and singles alike. If you haven't visited some of the romantic dancing places in SL, you're missing quite an experience. From blues to salsa to formal ballroom, several wonderful venues exist to suit your mood. Regardless of choice, the most popular places have several things in common: great music, detailed romantic atmosphere, friendly staff, beautiful dancing animations and shopping on the side. The one problem with many of these popular venues is the lag. Many evenings, the number of avatars present, dancing with complex flexi attachments makes rezzing and walking somewhat of a drag. So it is a great delight to find lesser known places with all of the qualities of the popular ones.
I stumbled upon the Bubbly Nightclub on the Ratopolis Sim about a month ago, but hadn't actually been back for dancing until last night. What a special night to choose this romantic spot! The architecture is very stately with warm toned marble/granite and ocean views. The dance floor is a perfect size flanked by long windows, columns and red curtains while the second floor contains a fully functional dining experience. Best of all, this place was gorgeous without the extreme lag! There were several couples enjoying this place, but not nearly as many as the main romance hotspots. The music was a perfect blend of vintage romantic vocal jazz and slow big band. A reminder that the dress code is formal at Bubbly, and if you need any help picking out that special attire, there are many shops and a wedding chapel across the bridges on the Mediterranean style port (looks like architecture by Barnesworth Anubis which creates the ultimate seaside romantic atmosphere). Be sure to head around behind the ballroom toward the ocean after walking down the stairs....there are proposal animations, a gondola ride and wine cellar underneath the ballroom....this helps Bubbly live up to its mantra: Where Romance is Alive!

Bubbly sure knew how to decorate beautifully for the evening, and the dance animations were very romantic. One of them even included this sweet kiss animation, just perfect for the stroke of midnight! Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a hopefully brighter year! Bubbly will definitely be one of my favs this year!
Sif

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!