I’ve been getting back into Plurk over the recent months, and Cajsa Lilliehook put up a wonderful piece of information on her timeline tonight, shared by Skye Donardson — the jewelry collection of the late Giulia Pelos, better known in world as Squinternet Larnia of Donna Flora, has returned for sale.
Budgetary reasons forced the closure for a time of the store that was being maintained as a memorial to one of the finest maestras of virtual Italian design, as well as a friend to many Residents in world. We lost her close to six years ago to cancer, and the Grid became a touch less colorful and delicious as a result. Her then-current store was maintained in her honor, but had to be closed, as I have noted.
However, Skye Donardson has found some fresh land and opened it back up, with all proceeds after rentals going to Relay for Life to support the fight against cancer. The store is smaller, as Skye is focusing on Squinternet’s jewelry (most of which is sculpted). She looks to have a substantial slice of the collection up for sale, if not the whole thing.
For you younger Residents, who never knew the beauty of a Donna Flora design, this will be your chance to pick up some of the fashion history of Second Life, as well as do good in fighting the disease that took a fine woman from us. Teleport in, and enjoy!
When last we met, Jemmy was giving me the Dickens — in a joshing sort of way — over not properly introducing Morgan to the readers … in a Technicolor photoshoot of colorful alien skins and fantasial costumes.
To which … I agreed that she was right. And, as Morgan looked on in fascinated horror, I started to make my plans ….
They say it’s always 5:00 somewhere, and we chose our five o’clock to go to The Blarney Stone. Harper tells me “the Stone” is one of the longest running pubs in Second Life; looking at her old posts and the pictures, I believe her! I think it’s gotten a little more gentrified over the years, but it’s easier to find good seats now, from the looks of the old tables and chairs.
Which is a good thing if you’re wearing these shoes! Both of us have gotten a taste for extreme heels lately, and Lori Novo (shoutout!) had these on her blog in a recent piece. We also both loved the Meva Cubes dresses from the current round of Cosmopolitan (rush out to the place if you haven’t yet; remember, they cycle stock every 2 weeks). The boots are HUD-controlled, so there are more colors than just gold and silver. We decided to match the strips of studs on our dresses, instead of the dresses themselves.
You’ve seen our skins and you can’t see our makeup that well in this shot — the only one I took, actually — so I’ll just hit the high points below. There’s a larger photo on Flickr, in PNG, at wallpaper size, so you can download it and look at stunning beauty every day if you like, lol.
It was a Saturday evening, two nights before the official public première of The Land of Fantasy’s new revue, which Lady Ariel Sherman and her writers had christened Nights of Fantasy. Newsstream writers, critics and celebrities from across several stellar cubes of planetary sectors had been invited to a preview of the show, and an after-party to celebrate. And the mood of the people milling through Sherman Mansion at that party, hosted by herself and her husband, Lord Adam Sandhara, gave Ariel every encouragement that the reviews soon to be written and off-hand interviews to be given would be strongly in the positive. Her smile gleamed almost as much as the sheen of the garden lights from her golden integument as she moved through the crowd of information-hungry reporters and celebrities who toasted her with sparkling etrinya wine and air-kissed her when they saw her.
Four years ago, such an event hadn’t been needed. The news coverage of the freeing of over 700 citizens of the Limlight Republic from bondage, following their near-total conversion into cyborg “pleasure workers,” had still been fresh in the public’s mind when the original version of Ariel’s revue premiered. Now, Nights of Fantasy needed to compete in the market alongside the other entertainments on the pleasure planet Videra, and that meant publicity. Ariel had set the marketing group her theatre always used to work on it, and that included Dara Furtano, the young woman who had arranged and masterminded this party.
Young indeed, Ariel thought as she spotted Dara under a wooden gazebo in the garden and went over to speak with her. Figuratively, Dara was less than a year old, though she had been born over twenty years before. Dara had requested that Ariel provide the means to convert her into a ‘borg herself, for reasons that still mystified Ariel in some ways. Ariel had resisted every request — until an accident at the theatre had almost killed her and her daughter, Zana. Dara, nearby at the time, had saved them, which placed Ariel in lifedebt to Dara; and, after more discussion, had agreed reluctantly to the conversion. She had found no cause to regret that concession; indeed, Dara, already an excellent publicist and marketing executive, had grown even better with her now total recall of needed data, as well as the ability to synthesize solutions on the fly. And her already present beauty had been intensified by her conversion into a silvery cyborg.
“Dara, if I had to give the night a review, I’d say you’re what they used to call a boffo success,” Ariel smiled as she stepped under the gazebo. “Thank you so much for what you’ve done for us. And you are as charming as could be in that gown! I thought it would look good on you.”
Dara smiled back, if shyly, and dipped a small curtsey to her host, the fuchsia folds of her dress billowing about her in the bob. “Thank you back, lady. The same could be said about you, how well the show went off; it was fantastic! And your dress is lovely, too.”
“Something I pulled out of my closet; I hadn’t had a decent place to wear it until tonight, and I don’t think you can find it anywhere now. Who knows, but it may come back into style after tonight.”
Accessories:Adam n Eve Opera Gloves for SLINK Hands (Black); Anachron group gift cigarette holder; Chop ZueyFrench Kiss suite (bracelet, earrings, ring, necklace) and Lala in Love wedding suite; Heth Haute CoutureRoyal Star brooch (you’ll find this on the men’s side; I’ve borrowed it for Ariel’s Republican Order brooch)
Harper suggested we go check out a club called Cyberia Openstage. The Destination Guide (a handy thing at times for newbies or relative newbies for finding fresh places; even you oldbies should try it sometimes) lists it as “a sci-fi themed place with an open stage for all aspiring and established deejays.” And we loved it when we got there; someone was playing electronica at the time, and a batch of people were grooving the beat. We recommend it for music and dancing, if you ever want to go clubbing someplace that doesn’t require a ball gown.
I’m taking a quick moment to think about my mother and all she did for me back in the day. I miss you and love you, Mom….
If you would like to commemorate your own Real Life family, stop by EarthStones and pick up the Family Tree of Life necklace. You can purchase it with up to seven scripted birthstones; this one has four, for me, my husband and our two children. One of Abraxxa’s nicest pieces!
Especially this latest set, Perles de Gloire, sold for Zuri Lyric by PurpleMoon, which is perfect for a strapless ball gown or other high-octane fashion event. The star of the full suite is this two-piece back-duster necklace, which will probably require a little adjustment to get to lay properly. Zuri and Poulet, however, include a graphic showing how to do it in three easy steps, so it shouldn’t be any trouble at all. (As usual, there is a master script for changing the colors of all pieces built into the necklace, or you can adjust individual pieces after changing the necklace around. All elements from the jewels to the pearls can be altered.)
There are bracelets for both arms — two-piece sets again, so you can make the strands as thick or thin as you like, or leave off the big central bauble and wear the two-strand piece alone.
…along with earrings, and two rings, one for each hand. I hope you enjoy them….
…but do remember to put something on besides your Lazuri before going out on the town for the night. (You can always take it off later….)
Interesting combination, you say? Perchance. All I can say is that I finally found a few matches for W in Vanessa Blaylock’s alphabetical inventory challenge. I dug out the green wax bangles that I have on my wrist here with some luck; they came from Yak & Yeti several years ago. And the “war” is this hairstyle from Vanity, Love After War. You can’t see all the pileup or the tail in back due to my position and the brick walls at the Blarney Stone, but it’s a big updo that works quite nicely.
No, Q is not for “queen,” although that would be the easiest thing. (How many of us girls don’t have a few royal costumes socked away in inventory [grin]?) I wanted something different. Quartz is also a “common” available item, but not as common as royalty, I suspect. So, for Vanessa Blaylock’s alphabetical inventory challenge, I pulled out these Ruffle Around earrings with quartz centers. They’re probably best for a daytime look, but they have some versatility to them, depending on the nighttime dress you choose.
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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