River—KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar, Day 9

I wish I had a river so long,
I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

~ “River” by Joni Mitchell

Beloved Ruby sent over her KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar gifts—two gorgeous women’s winter coats and a men’s outfit with striped sweater—and Z said, “So let’s go skating!”

We had a wonderful time at the gorgeous frozen river/lake at Angel Manor. I was able to set the windlight to a late Sunday afternoon winter light straight out of my real life, so the skating seemed brisk and fun. We took a ton of photos between us. I treated a few of them in PS, which is not my usual, but they seemed so nostalgic.

I loved the gifts Beloved Ruby has made for the calendar, all of them lovely and truly generous and I had a great time finding the scarf from xxRyvenxx, the mittens from Izzie Button, and the tights from Bax Coen to dress the look up. Z had a fine time dressing his up for skating and both of us did tricks with our AOs all over the pond. Kaya Angel has outdone himself on this gorgeous build. It’s straight out of my own winter.

Shylah Honey has made this darling hair for the Winter Trend and it includes a HUD for changing the color of the headband as well as for the hair itself. The curls framing my face were ideal for this almost old-fashioned look. My skin was one of Rocketta Haven’s I got during the Skin Addiction Black Friday sales, a luscious-lipped, blushed pale skin that offset well with all the red I was wearing.

We had so much fun! More photos can be found on my Flickr.

Hair: *~*Damselfly*~*Winterrose Non-Rig Mesh by Shylah Honey for *~*Damselfly*~*, available at Winter Trend *

Skin: [KOOQLA] Nico – Tan 02 (db) by Rocketta Haven for Kooqla

Eyes: #adored – dream eyes – velik by Constance Daehlie for #adored

Coat: [RUBY] – WINTER COAT – RED HOUNDSTOOTH by Beloved Ruby for [RUBY], GIFT available exclusively in the KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar *

Scarf: *+S.F.+* Cute Cuddle Scarf – Grey by xXRyvenXx for Sweet Fireflys

Stockings: BAX Soft Shine Pantyhose Black 35 Seams by Bax Coen for Bax Coen Designs *

Mittens: Izzie’s – *resize* Mittens relaxed black by Izzie Button for Izzie’s

Skates: ::V Style:: SKha V.3 – Red Ice Skates by Stephanie Kazyanenko for V Style Boots

AO: :KH: Ice Skate AO by Sala Snook for KAMI-HITOE

 

On Z:

Hair: INDI *Oversized Beanie* light grey – night (resize) with by Jamie Holmer for INDI

Skin: -Belleza- Ewan med 0 bald by Tricky Boucher for –Belleza–

Eyes: IKON Hope Eyes – Coffee by Ikon Innovia for IKON

Beard: [IC] Mesh Full Heavy Beard Hipster (Black) Beard by Mayc Clowes for Iron Claw

Outfit: [RUBY] – CARDIGAN SWEATER – BLACK/GRAY with [RUBY] – WARM JEANS – DARK GRAY and[RUBY] – WARM KNIT SWEATER – BLACK by Beloved Ruby for [RUBY], GIFT available exclusively in the KittyCatS & Friends Advent Calendar *

Scarf: DoCoMo_Muffler by Yoshiyuki Yoshikawa for Disused Articles

Gloves: Mesh Unisex Leather Gloves by Meli Imako for Meli Imako

Skates: AvaBoy – Ice Skate Black by Lilac Niven for AvaGirl & AvaBoy

AO: AvaBoy – Ice Skates Tricks Control by Lilac Niven for AvaGirl & AvaBoy

 

Couples poses:

oOo Studio: Coax

{pose maniacs} 27 by Mari Stipe for Pose Maniacs

{pose maniacs} 21 by Mari Stipe for Pose Maniacs

Taken at the ice skating pond next to the Rose Theater, Angel Manor as created by Kaya Angel

A Mermaid with Materials

“…to slip beneath the surface and soar along the silent bottom of the sea agile and shining in water honeycombed with light.” ~ Ellen Meloy

I love the new materials feature in the SL Viewer. Tori Heart sent over June Dion’s latest—a mermaid ensemble—and I played around. Please notice how it looks in a static shot with my typical lighting. You can still see some materials shimmer but once you mess around with windlight and lighting—it’s spectacular! Check out the video!

The outfit comes with mesh and system pieces to make not only a mermaid but a human as well. June has included a pose stand (which I use here), a simple AO (which I did not use in the video), and a skin tattoo to make the skin look shimmery as well as the many pieces to make up the mermaid.

“I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.”

~ T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

Hair: TRUTH HAIR Candy – Black&Whites04 by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH< *

Skin: Glam Affair – Lulu 01 DK by Aida Ewing for Glam Affair *

Eyes: pearl – arctic sea – medium bright by Lano Ling for Poetic Eyes *

Outfit: ::: B@R ::: Black Scale MermaidCover by June Dion for BareRose *

Pose prop: [LA] Enchanting Siren by Evangeline Cortes for Lostangels

AO: :KH: Mermaid AO by Sala Snook for KAMI-HITOE

I wish I had a river…

It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on

I am not a huge fan of on-location photos. The backgrounds kind of detract from the clothes, which is really what I am doing here. But Stephen Venkman and Cocovia Zoilin built a beautiful skating area on their sim and invited me over for skating today and I was very grateful after wrestling with gingerbread house icing. (It’s an adhesive—need I say more?)

Skating there reminded me of one of my favorite holiday songs by Joni Mitchell. I tried to dress appropriately and came up with this mashup of favorite designers. Sweater from Janie Marlowe, skirt from sachi Vixen, tights from Memai Avon, cowl from Morphine Janick (who has a sale on right now.. go go!), earmuffs from Antonia Marat and freakin excellent mittens from Nena Janus. A wind-kissed skin from Toast Bard gives me the touch of girlishness that skating requires.

My skates are Bax Coen’s v2 set, which come in white, black, gold and silver with a new alpha layer option. She has packed them with the same resizing scripts from her boots and a skating AO that is quite nice. However, I opted to upgrade to Sala Snook’s AO, which has all sorts of fun stuff like jumps, skating moves, twirls, etc. The whole combination today made skating so pleasurable, especially in the crisp air of Stephen’s and Coco’s sim.

I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on

~ “River” by Joni Mitchell

Hair: >TRUTH< Quinn Streaked – cherry by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH< *

Skin: (fd) Bird Skin – Dust 1 (Red Brows) by Toast Bard for fashionably dead

Sweater: **MIS** Bell Flower Sweater – Cranberry by Janie Marlowe for Mischief (no longer available but you can find some good stuff of hers at Jane)

Skirt: Adam n Eve Clothes – Cord Skirt – Black by sachi Vixen for Adam n Eve *

Ear Muffs: /artilleri/ Knit earmuffs! *black* by Antonia Marat for /artilleri/

Cowl: [SG*] Desire – Purple by Morphine Janick for the Sweetest Goodbye

Mittens: *League* Sheepskin Mittens –Berry by Nena Janus for *League*

Stockings: [ Last Period ] socks 0001 Gray by Memai Avon for Last Period

Skates: BAX Ice Skates Black by Bax Coen for Bax Coen Designs *

AO: :KH: Ice Skate AO by Sala Snook for KAMI-HITOE

In the Deep Dark Sea

The Fantasy Faire will be coming to a close April 25. If you have not visited, I urge you to splurge a little on the other side of life in SL—a life of role playing and mermaids, fairies and tinies. It’s well worth the expense to expand your horizons.

The first night I walked the Mer Market at the Faire, I came upon a most glorious creature floating and flipping around in an amazingly… well, shrimp-like mermaid outfit. Pyewicket Tiger was the creator of his own beautiful mermaid ensemble, and I *had* to have one. I chose a mystical sea unicorn, which is unisex and fits me very well (though I admit it removed the beard). I purchased a skin in his underwater cavern to match and make what you see here.

Also available at the Faire are the AOs and poses and dances. I set into motion dances by yuuki Solo to snap some of these shots. Swirling around in graceful pirouettes and swirls, fins fluttering in radiant color in the cool deep sea is mesmerizing and relaxing to watch. I purchased Sala Snook’s brilliant Mermaid AO and watched myself tread water and swim from store to store, slipping through the water like a nymph.

“for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea”
~ e. e. cummings

Skin: Glitter Skin Blue by Pyewicket Tiger for Pyewicket’s Myths at the Mer Market sim

Ensemble: Sea Unicorn by Pye Lt Blue by Pyewicket Tiger for Pyewicket’s Myths at the Mer Market sim

Eyelashes: Detour – Klee Dot Lashes by Keri Clip for Detour

Dances: +yb mer Dance2f and +yb mer Dance9 and by yuuki Solo for .:Yo bailo:. at the Mer Market sim

Animation Override: :KH: Mermaid AO by Sala Snook for :KAMI-HITOE: at the Mer Market sim