Even More Change!

Oh my goodness, it’s amazing how much can happen in a short amount of time!!

So as I’ve mentioned before, we are redoing Bluebonnet from the ground up. We’ve been putting in quite a bit of work on the land. It’s coming along great, I think! Filling in the empty spots isn’t the easiest for me since I’ve never been all that great at decorating land, but it’s been pretty fun!

We still plan on only having 5 parcels for rent, but we have 2 tiny apartments above the book store and the thrift shop, and I’m considering renting those out too. Like, I’ll decorate them and rent them cheap. Yearssssss ago, there used to be furnished rentals that would give you like 10 prims for 20L a week or something like that. It was super super cheap! I am not sure if people would be interested in that at all, but I still plan on decorating the apartments. I think it will be fun!

But are you ready for our BIG change??

Ever since Jeremiah and I decided we had a future together, we batted around the idea of more kids. We were definitely not opposed to the idea, but it wasn’t anything we were actively seeking to do. But… our dear little friend Lyra was looking for a foster family. So we talked about it. Then we talked to Birdy about it. Then last night the 4 of us talked. Andddd…

We have a foster kid!

We are so beyond thrilled that she has chosen us! She is the sweetest thing, and I think we’re going to have so much fun together. Hey, she likes books, Harry Potter, and Disney. What more could we ask for? 😀

Just Say Yes

I’m back!

I know what people really want me to talk about. What happened? Why did I mostly leave Second Life for a time? Why are people who were in my life no longer in my life? There are a lot of questions and I get that. But truthfully? It doesn’t really matter. People are going to believe whatever they want to believe, regardless of what I say. All that really matters now is how I move forward.

And I think that’s where this blog comes in.

At it’s very core, it’s always been about me, and how I keep moving on in Second Life. Long time readers know that I started out one way and kept moving forward through different relationships, different hobbies, different everything.

I want to go back to what this was in the beginning. Stories. Adventures. Being immersed in this SLife that I continue to live. And I really hope, to whoever still reads this, that you’ll enjoy it!

Because you know what?

Everything starts with YES.

Diamonds On The Inside

Hey guys! I keep meaning to be better about updating this blog but… well. You know. *laughs*

I’ve had some changes in my SLife lately. It’s weird. Usually when something happens, I run here and spill my heart out. But I am not ready to do that yet. I’m still adjusting to things and just not ready to talk. Eventually. That’s what I keep telling myself.

But a change that I CAN talk about… I’ve started making YouTube videos! It’s so fun! I’m not very good at it really. I’m trying to learn how to edit better and how to talk a little more slowly! I don’t know why, but I talk SO fast if I’m not really thinking about it, especially if I am not actually talking to someone. So yeahhhhh…gotta work on that.

So far I’ve done one video on a house that I decorated a bit, and then 2 more on the AnyPose system. I think I’m most proud of this last one I did, even if it’s still painfully amateur!

It’s definitely outside my comfort zone doing these, which I really like. And I get sooooo stupidly excited every time I get a new subscriber! *laughs* It’s really pathetic. But whatever! I like it. :-p

Only now I want to make more videos and have noooo idea what to show! So if you have ideas of things you’d want to see or hear me talk about [because let’s face it. Rambling is what I do best.] then just let me know! I need all the ideas!

Anyway, I guess I should stop sitting on this bridge and go do something with my Saturday. 🙂

Ever So Pretty!

I *think* Lolita is almost done with decorating Bluebonnet!

I mean, I could be wrong, but honestly, I can’t think of anything else she could possibly add! Every bit of land has been tended to and the place looks AMAZING. I can honestly say that this is the best Bluebonnet has ever looked in its history, even before the place was called Bluebonnet. [Long time readers/friends may remember that when the sim was transferred to me, I renamed it.] Everywhere I go on the island now, it’s gorgeous. We have a road that goes allll around the island now and I LOVE to drive. [Don’t listen to my family. I’m a great driver!!!]

It’s funny, though. I knew Bluebonnet like the back of my hand for so long. Now when I look at it, I don’t know where anything is! *laughs* I tried to find what I thought was the middle of the sim last night but I was wayyyy off. Because for so many years, the middle of the sim was up on a hill. It’s like my direction is all off!

Our house is just about finished, too. I really think getting a slightly smaller house was a good thing. I do wish it had just ONE more bedroom, but it’s not really a necessity. I’m still adding a few touches here and there but mostly just randomness from The Arcade at this point. I’m still not QUITE sure what to do with our back patio, though. I have ideas, but I think I’m being lazy about actually doing anything. I was extremely under the weather last week to the point of sleeping pretty much all day for several days. Which was terribly annoying, to be honest. I feel somewhat better now, but my brain is still foggy, which is why I probably cannot figure out what to do with the patio. It’ll come to me, though. It usually does.

Or I’ll just stick a big ol’ tree on it and be done with it. *laughs*

Life Is A Highway

First things first. I’m not sure anyone could possibly understand how much I love this car right now. I mean… this is honestly my most favorite car that I’ve ever had in SL and I used to have a hot pink one that flew. I’m so in love with this car! It’s from Consignment and you can get it at The Arcade this month. I LOVE IT.

Okay, now that I’m done squealing about my new car…

All of my renters have left Bluebonnet. 😦 It’s sad. Emerald wrote a really lovely blogpost about her time on Bluebonnet, complete with pictures of the the fun she had living here. Some of them left me “notes” on their parcel info so I’d find them before they left. It’s been… emotional, to say the least. But honestly, that’s why I fought so hard to keep the sim running. It was them.

But, things change. Life is a highway and all that jazz. 🙂 And I am LOVING having the Oleanders living here now!! Oh gosh, you guys. The sim… well, it’s never looked so good! Lolita is doing such an amazing job, I am eager every day to run into SL and just be here! I was so stressed with the sim for so long, it was getting to where I didn’t want to log in at all because logging in meant chasing people for rent and everything associated with running this sim. To not have to do that anymore is incredible. And to live on what is becoming such an immensely beautiful sim is just wonderful!! She worked on half the island over the weekend while the other half was still occupied and I love it so much! Now she can start working on their own home and the other half and I can’t wait to see it all!

But the road is calling and my car and I have to go!

At The Beginning

It’s almost 4am and I’m exhausted, but I’m also a bit wired up, so I thought I’d blog and bore myself to sleep. *laughs*

So because I already had some of my renters move out and so much empty parcel already, Lolita got started on the corner for our home tonight! Oh gosh, you guys. Watching her make something out of basically a flat piece of land is incredible! I have neverrrr been that great at landscaping and as most people know, my landscaping skills basically boil down to “Throw some trees on it!” In fact, I had almost 2000 prims just in trees on our parcel when I was picking things up. That’s a LOT of trees.

But my sis, she’s really creative and what she’s doing for the sim is a little different than she’s done on other sims. I snapped a picture as she was putting a few more things down. How awesome does it look already?!

I’m so excited to see how the sim is going to come together! My mission when I log in later today is to get our house more put together. I started a bit but nothing major. I was too busy running all over the roads looking at this and that! Maybe we should have a sim-warming party when everything is done?

Ugh, I better to go to bed before I end up logging in again to work on the house.

It’s So Happening!

It’s starting to feel real that in less than a week, Bluebonnet is undergoing its biggest change in years. I’ve been picking up trees, joining the land together as people leave, and then last night I did something that has never been done.

I flattened the center of the island.

Back when I first came to Bluebonnet, there was a mountain in the middle of the island. It basically ran almost the entire length of our parcel, separating us from the two other renters on the other side. Two or three. It’s been so long, I can’t remember. I just remember one of them had a Batman signal coming off their roof. Little by little over the years, I’ve demolished the mountain, but I never have actually gotten rid of it. The last remnants of the original mountain were the two hills we had that I put a bridge between. Flattening the middle felt good. It’s like yet another step in the right direction.

I’ve been a little down about the whole thing. I mean, it’s a big change and I don’t always deal with change well. But after Lolita and Takeo came over tonight, and we ran around laughing and my sis told me some of her plans, I started to get really excited! I just can’t wait to see what she comes up with and knowing that we can just run to each other on the sim rather than pulling up maps or waiting for teleports is going to be awesome! She pulled up the road that is in my picture [I took the pic a couple of hours before they came over] and the only things left on our parcel are our house, 2 chairs and a couch, a couple of platforms in the sky, and a few odds and ends that I need to either return to the family or drag them with me so they can pick them up. I’m picking up the house tomorrow even though the last remaining renters have until Tuesday evening to pick up their homes. Lolita says she can get started with what’s already empty, so woo! It’s happening!

But my SLife isn’t all island stuff. I had a chance to DJ for a bachelor party for one of Tymmerie‘s friends tonight. I haven’t DJed for anyone except family in so long, I almost forgot how to read a crowd! *laughs* That’s one of those little skills you pick up as a DJ in SL [and probably in RL] that you don’t think is very important, but it is. Like, with the family, they all love music a whole lot, have very eclectic tastes, and humor my love of mashups. So they’re easy! But with others, you have to kind of play it by ear. I wasn’t sure what this particular group wanted, but I eventually got it! They were a funny crowd! No, I mean, they are actually comedians! I believe most of them perform at, or go to, Lauren’s Place on Tuesdays at 5pm SLT.

Oy, it’s after 4am. I better get to bed.

A Little Picky

My birthday train keeps rollin’ along! 🙂 On Saturday, I spent the day with my parents and got taken to lunch. They’re the ones who brought me into this world, so you know, it only makes sense that they should feed me. *laughs* Then that night, my family threw me a laser tag and dance party!! We did more dancing than shooting, but the shooting was fun, too!

We’ve been slowly picking things up on Bluebonnet in preparation for the 1st. Not everything yet, as I don’t want us living on a completely undecorated parcel for a week, but a lot of things. I didn’t really realize how dang many prims I used up in just trees! Honestly, once I picked up the majority of trees on our parcel, I freed up almost 2000 prims! Crazy!

The second part of us getting ready for the big change is wondering about our house. We love our house a lot. It is spacious and open with all the room we need and then some! In fact, it was a little TOO much room since 2 of the rooms almost never got used except for me decorating them for blog pics and keeping some random gacha items in there. Abby has been saying for a while that she felt like her room was too big because she could never decorate quite the way she wanted. But there are not too many really awesome home builders in SL these days that I have found. Either the houses are too small, too big, ridiculously outdated, SUPER primmy, have too much baked in lighting [don’t need the sun streaming into the living room at 10pm!] or they are straight up ugly. [Yes, I am picky.] So I figured, after 2 days of searching marketplace and grid hopping, eff it. We’ll just keep our house.

But last night I was looking at my Barnesworth houses, put one out, and thought, “Wait. This…could work.” We all went and walked around in the house. It’s the Hamptons Cottage that came out at C88 back in May, I believe. It’s only 3 bedrooms [I would have preferred 4] but it’s open enough to not feel too enclosed and yet small enough where we can decorate without feeling too spread out. The girls will have their own rooms upstairs and the master bedroom downstairs is awesome with a lot of windows. There are also two little spaces upstairs that I already have ideas on what to do with! I may end up changing the floor texture because the floors are dark and it makes the house feel just slightly cold to me, but we’ll see. It’s all exciting to me to get to decorate a new place for us to live. We’ve actually been in our house now for over a year! We put it up when Birdy had been with us barely a week. It makes me laugh now because I remember the days of where we had a new house almost every couple of weeks, plus I had 6 or 7 skyboxes up at any given moment. Things change. 🙂

Anyway, I’m in the middle of a step challenge with friends today, so I better get off my butt and get to steppin’.

Loose Ends

Have you ever done something in SL for years and years and then realize it’s coming to an end? And you know it’s a GOOD thing, but you feel a little lost knowing that you won’t be doing it anymore? My life right now.

Now that the renters know, I can blog about it. Bluebonnet is closing. Well, not closing closing. But after almost 7 years of me renting parcels to people, I’m renting out the whole sim to my sister and not dealing with the whole business of having multiple renters. It will now be a sim for the OZ family.

And this is a good thing. The SL economy has changed greatly in the past few years, as it does, and my kind of rentals aren’t really in fashion anymore. People don’t want big, undecorated parcels. They either want homesteads or pre-decorated, landscaped, smaller prim parcels. [Thanks, mesh.] I’ve been struggling greatly over the past year to keep parcels full and it’s been a huge financial burden. Aldwyn and the girls have had to help out WAY more than I have ever wanted them to, but at the end of the day, paying the remaining tier falls on me. Sims don’t pay for themselves and Linden Lab doesn’t care if your parcels are empty or if your renters have paid rent that week. *laughs* Nor should they. They’re not a charity.

To say I’ve been stressed about it is an understatement. It gets to where every month around tier time, I don’t even want to log in. I am paralyzed in SL until I know I have the tier for the sim. It shouldn’t be that way. It really shouldn’t. Of course, if Linden Lab would make land prices reasonable… But that is a pipe dream at this point and I’m already luckier than most land owners, so I won’t get into all that.

I hated telling my renters that as of September 1st, they no longer have a home on Bluebonnet. Hated it. Sehra, Bone, and Emerald have lived on Bluebonnet since I got it back in 2008. They were the originals. The others have been there with me for a few months to a few years. That’s a long time, in SL, to have a home base. It does become your home. You would think, “Oh it’s just virtual. I can move.” But you still miss it. It was still your home.

Bluebonnet has had some wonderful people pass through over the past 7 years. Designers, bloggers, artists. If not for Bluebonnet, I never would have met Lolita in the first place! She is the first person that I rented to that I didn’t already have a friendship with. Worked out well, huh? 🙂

I first got Bluebonnet in September 2008. Bluebonnet wasn’t the original name and I didn’t expect to have it for long. It was kind of tossed on me and it came with renters. Renters who quickly left, but I still had to deal with them for a bit. For a long time, it stayed a beach sim. Nothing but sand as far as the eye could see. Then one day I woke up and thought, “Where am I? The middle east?” I asked the renters if they would maybe want grass and they all quickly agreed. That led to Bluebonnet becoming a change-for-the-seasons sim. In fact, I’m not sure we ever actually went back to sand. I think we all enjoyed the grass too much. And I loved seeing how people made their parcels their own world. Every parcel was so personal. It’s been beautiful.

But I’m happy for the changes coming up, too. I’m so excited to have the family living all together. It’s something we’ve talked about in the past, just kind of in passing, but I didn’t think it could ever happen. And Lolita makes amazingggg sims. Well, you guys have seen my pics of our Grand Canyon and Rainforest vacations. I’m not sure if everyone knows that she created those sims from the ground up, but she totally did. So to be able to live in a place she’s created is super exciting to me! And to know that next month, I won’t be struggling both emotionally and financially…well, that is its own kind of wonderful. But mostly I am just happy that we will all be together, safe and happy in our own place.

There are loose ends to tie up, of course. I am trying to keep my eyes open for parcels that my renters can move to. I have to start picking up items and sorting them into folders so that I actually know where things are. The girls have to start picking up their rooms. I have to fly around looking for all the things in the sky. But it’ll get done. It’s all moving towards something that will be so much better for me. But for now, I just want to look at Bluebonnet the way it is right this second and remember all of the people and parties and things that have happened there.

Who Knows What Could Happen?

I have to admit, I’ve been struggling getting back into the SL swing of things since my vacation. Not that I had this amazing, fantastic time on vacation or anything. *laughs* In fact, for the first couple of days, the weather had me so miserable, I was about to NOPE on outta there and come home. What can I say? I am used to being in constant air conditioning. There were pockets of good, of course. It wasn’t a completely horrible experience and a lot of good came from it on a personal level, but I was extremely glad to get home. Only now that I’m here… I don’t know. I think because I came home to immediately start dealing with the main stress in my SLife, it has thrown me all off.

But, the nice thing about stresses in SL is that they can be fixed. Or changed. Or thrown away. After discussing it with the family, by next month, the main thing that has made me very unhappy in the past few months will be eliminated and I can breathe easier. Because I haven’t in months, and even now I’m still a little frantic about something. And I’m sorry I’m being vague, but until it’s completely in motion, I don’t want to get too in depth about it all. Soon, though, I promise. 🙂

My birthday is next week. Next Friday, actually. I should be more “OH NO, GETTING OLDER” about it, but I’m not. The only thing that bugs me is that I’m slowly slowly getting gray hair. I’ve found 2 of them in the past 2 months! Well, I say gray, but they aren’t really. They’ve been more of a pale gold. So I dunno. Maybe I’m going blonde in my old age. Or as my friend Beuanna said, I’m turning into my avatar. Hey, if I get the body to go along with that, I’m all in! *laughs* But other than the hair thing, I don’t mind the number. Probably because I still feel like I’m 25. Or 17. Or sometimes 12.

Although tonight, all I feel is exhausted, so I guess it’s bedtime.