Atlantis Rising

I went to a concert tonight. It was really good and it was on the sim called, Atlantis Rising. I enjoyed the songs. The singer was Maximillion Kleene and he was really good. When in the online game of Second Life, I hope you get the opportunity to go to one of his concerts.

Next to Maximillion you might notice a cow. It was very funny to see the tipping cow every time someone gave him a tip.

The Beach

I've been enjoying the water today from the sandy dunes. I think this is the best way for me to have the best time.

I've been looking for a great chair in real life and in the online game, second life. I've discovered it's hard to find in both worlds.

I'm finished with those nylon chairs. I don't think those plastic chairs are comfortable. I really don't want to sit on a blanket or a low chair in the sand.

There is a chair out there with my name on it and I hope to find it in both worlds. If you have any suggestions please email me vivwritter@gmail.com

Enjoy Life!

The Speedy Adventure

Today I went on a water adventure. I went on a speed boat. It was a very fast speed boat.

While I really had a wonderful time, I must say I learned something very important today. I don't want to be in the water. I don't want to be on the water. I simply want to look at the water. So, if I was entertaining any ideas of going on a cruise, today those thoughts died.

It is so difficult to look cool when your stomach is in turmoil. As I walked back to the house, I still felt the waves of the ocean. Even as I write this I am feeling queasy. I think I'm going to get somewhere quiet and "Be Still".

Maybe I should just stick to pontoon boats.

The Vineyardsl

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tin%20Teddy/214/64/24

I love the vineyards in my area. I love to drive by them but I really love to go in and walk through them. In August and September I pick grapes and have a lovely time doing so.

Yesterday a beautiful couple had their wedding at the wine vineyard nearby. They spent their first night of marital bliss in one of the romantic cottages designed for newlyweds.

While there are no grapes to be picked right now, it is still a lovely sight to see and a beautiful place to wander around. I sat in the vineyard today with a glass of grape slushie and was delighted by everything I saw. The promise of a bountiful Fall is on its way! What a lovely thought.

When I came home I wondered if Second Life had any vineyards. So I did a search and I haven't come up with any thus far but I asked a few friends about it.

I did find Tin Teddy Garden Centre. They sell wonderful objects so you can make your own grape vineyard. That was fun. Maybe I'll find some vineyards on my travels. If I do, I will post a few pictures.

Enjoy Life!

Julia Hathor

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Summersgate/219/20/24/?title=Summersgate

I love to highlight my favorite artists in the online game of Second Life. I highlight Julia regularly because she is always coming out with new things. She has got to be one of the hardest working artists in Second Life. It's not like she is just throwing this stuff out there either. Her work is really well detailed and intensely great.

Today I went to another one of her houses. It was absolutely wonderful! I would love to have this house in real life. Above are pictures of the house but they really do not do it justice. You simply must go in world to really appreciate the hard work Julia puts into her creations.

Simply said, there is no artist like Julia in Second Life. I hope you stay around for a long while and stay kind.

Happy 4th of July!!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Carnforth/22/217/22/?title=Carnforth

Nicknamed, "Libby", Liberty Tesla did a wonderful job creating "Lady Liberty"

I love the 4th of July! When growing up this was yet another holiday where my family got together. We started getting ready for this day many days in advance. The cook out was huge and were never disappointing. The family was outside with music, good food, and personalities that made us laugh so hard that we ended up in tears of joy.

It would never fail to have neighbors come over because we sounded like we were having such a great time and we were. The more the better was what we thought. There was plenty of food and fun for everyone.

Later on in the evening we would go into the city to see fireworks and there didn't seem to be an ending to the fun! The best year was when we went to the Statue of Liberty. That was amazing.

In the online game of Second Life there are several sites to purchase items to make your Second Life 4th of July, a great celebration for you. Here are a few sites you might want to visit while in world:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sonsy/198/167/322/?title=Sonsy

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Minna/53/155/29/?title=Minna

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cork/76/120/28/?title=Cork

Go and have a fabulous day! As always,

Enjoy Life!

Michael Jackson in Second Life

It was an interesting adventure I had today. I saw what people were doing to work out their grief over the passing of Michael Jackson. They were not about making money but just the opposite. They wanted to honor the music and talent of this human.

It was a welcomed change from what I constantly see on television. I seemed to slip away from the "how and why" he passed on to what he did with his musical talents.

I'm sure all of those questions surrounding his death will be answered someday but for this day the people in the online game of Second Life were interested solely in celebrating the man and his music.

The sheer magnitude and labor intense exhibits were fascinating. If you have the opportunity to go in world, just do a search for Michael Jackson and many memorial exhibits will pop up. Whatever way you feel about Michael Jackson, this one thing seems to be true at this time. He touched the lives of many.

Let's Talk About Love

I enjoy listening to this song. Here are two versions of the song. There were some who actually tried to compare the two. I thought that was crazy. They both bring something different to the song and present different interpretations. I happen to enjoy both. FYI, there are many other renditions of this song but I happen to enjoy these two. I hope you do too.

Inventory Organization

A while back I had a situation wherein I had to return things to an avatar in the online game of Second Life. It was difficult and frustrating for me because my inventory of objects I have collected over the years has grown. Just like an unorganized closet or a messy house in real life, when you need to put your hands on something, you may not be able to. This was the case with me. So what I ended up having to do is go through my inventory piece by piece, item by item to find things. Not cool!

For those of you who want to try the online game of Second Life, this is one of the first lessons you really need to know. How to organize your inventory is a crucial lesson. There are several places to purchase items to help you organize your inventory. Above you will find pictures of some of the places I found in the online game of Second Life. If you do a search while in world, they will pop up.

Interesting to note that if you know how to script and build you can make your own and many have. There are also classes to teach you how to organize your inventory as well. Some of the classes are free and some have a fee. Once again if you search for classes while in world several will pop up.
Well, I am only half way through my inventory now but I am not in any hurry. Once I get it all organized, you can bet, I plan to stay that way. It just makes it easier to....

Enjoy Life!

My Friend Tamra Sings!

Today I had the delight to hear Tamra sing and Xander play the violin in the online game of Second Life. I really enjoy her streaming in live from New York. If you get the opportunity to go to one of her concerts I promise you will not be disappointed. Both Tamra and Xander are talented beyond words and we are blessed to have Second Life to bring their music to us.
Everyone there today had an incredible time. Thank you Tamra and Xander for sharing your great talent. He was streaming from Holland and Tamra was streaming from New York. They were just fabulous!
By the way, she will be back at the end of July. You simply must be there.
I think "Fields of Gold" brings me to tears each time I hear it. The finale was awesome! Tamra sang, "Time to say goodbye". Just awesome.

All the Best

What I find wonderful living where I do are the kind people. I always knew I would have to live near kind people. I was walking down by the water yesterday and a neighbor called me over and offered me fresh vegetables. How cool was that? It was very cool and very kind.
My neighbors have large fields and they love to grow vegetables on their land. I was happy to be the recipient of these fresh vegetables. With the holidays upon us, I can't wait to grill some of these vegetables.
I am grateful for kind people around me.

Elysium

I wanted to call my magazine Elysium. I spoke with my best friend about it. I had to explain what Elysium means. The response went something like, "That is too deep for a magazine. No one should have to think that deep." Well, I guess I'll go back to the drawing board on that one. I must admit I did go deep on that one but I love the word Elysium and I really love the history of the word. Oh, well it's wonderful to have people in your life to tell you the truth when you need to hear it. I love the people God put in my life.

Claudia13

As promised I want to highlight a wonderful artist, Claudia13 Rossini, from the online game of Second Life. Claudia is one of the many in the artist community but is a stand out to me because of her texturing. I love how she textures objects but particularly furniture. They are simply beautiful to look at. I spoke with Claudia and she was really kind and told me she has been building for about 15 months. To master what she has in that amount of time is incredible. I know of many who have been in the Second Life community a great deal longer and still can't compare. The above pictures were taken at her shop. Here is the address: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tarpon/118/106/701/?title=Tarpon. Please go and....

Enjoy Life!

Ain't Love Grand?!

Today I actually left the house and went to the beach for a while. It was really hot today but down at the beach the lovely breeze off of the ocean was so pleasant that I enjoyed the day. After a day at the beach I took my daughter and friends putt putt golfing. They had a fabulous time.
I have to see if there is putt putt golf in the online game of Second Life. I know there are loads of other games people play but I hadn't noticed if putt putt was one of them. I'll get back to you on that one. In the meantime, I will go back to the house and continue exploring Second Life and being inspired by the lovely artwork.
In my next blog I have to tell you about Claudia13, an artist in Second Life. She said it best when she said that to texture furniture in Second Life is an art. That it is, indeed. I have only seen a few people really master that art and she is one of the best. She textures furniture the best I've seen in Second Life thus far. Look for a feature on Claudia13 and her virtual goods. I can't wait to show you some great work.

Enjoy Life

I'm on a roll!

I'm on a roll! Sometimes you just need a kind word and it's just the thing to get you back in the saddle. I have been writing all morning. I am taking a wee bit of a break now to celebrate. It's hot as blazes outside so going for a walk now would be crazy for me. The older I get, the less I tolerate heat.
I never tire of looking at this magnificent view from my window. Just looking up and out brings a wide smile across my face.
Don't you love my little mouse? I do. I love that it's pink, which is a favorite color of mine, but I also prefer it when working on my laptop.
Well, I better get back now. I'll go out and take pictures later and post them soon.

Enjoy Life!

THIS feels GOOD!

Well, you know I am taking this magazine writing class. For an assignment we were asked to write several query letters. This is my first magazine writing class so I did the assignment but submitted it with a great deal of fear. Imagine my shock when the professor had this to say about my query letters:

Viv, I think you've knocked this one out of the park. You've got two entirely different articles on the same basic topic, and that's efficient writing at its best. Plus, your query letters are spot-on. I think you could send both of these out at the same time, the first one to general-interest magazines, and the second one to business and financial magazines.

Nice job, my dear. No nudges for you except to blast these out.

Now That Felt Good! It makes me happy and encourages me to move to the next step. You see, you never know until you try. Wish me luck and I hope you will go out and try things you really want to do too.

Enjoy Life!

Have you heard of the online game Perfect World? My young daughter is too young to play the online game of Second Life but wanted to play a virtual online game. She came across the online game Perfect World. You have to check it out. She has loads of fun. If you have a young one that enjoys good fun then maybe you would like to check out Perfect World. Tell me what you think once you have, vivwriter@gamil.com

Enjoy Life!

It's in the News

Wow! It's hard to take all of the news in. From the death of fidelity in the marriage of a political figure(surprise!) to the death of icons, God Bless Us, everyone.

Coffee Time in the online game Second Life

You simply must go and have a cup of coffee in the online game of Second Life. It's wonderful!
I found several coffee shops and enjoyed visiting.

Stone Ground Coffee House was very well decorated and I will use some of the art work I found there to furnish Nana's Noshes.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Five Sisters/60/101/26/?title=Five Sisters


Coffee Time is one of the songs found on Natalie Cole's album, Still Unforgettable.

Memories

Lakes

I had to do an article for class and I am writing one on the health of our lakes. It has been informative to say the least. I think the outcome will raise an eyebrow or two.

I did visit a lake in the online game of Second Life. That was beautiful. Hope you like the pictures taken there. I'll share some pictures of our real life lake as well in another blog.

Enjoy Life

Inspiration

I've been buried in my work all day. I had to step away for some inspiration. I headed over to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Serenity Falls/6/119/21/?title=Serenity Falls. Julia has several fabulous sims and this is one of them.
I enjoyed spending time by the water. In real life I walked down to the water too. I truly love being near the water.
Well, I suppose it's back to work.

Enjoy Life

Rare Mood I'm In

I have figured out much of what mac has to offer and there is loads to yet learn. I've gotten the basics to do what I do but wow, there is another world out there folks and I am so happy about it.
It is easy for me to be distracted because there is so much I want to do. I went to a few classes today in the online game of Second Life because I hadn't gone in a while. I plan to attend a reading tonight and it promises to be a good one.
I've gone back to chapter 3 in my book and have taken in everything my editors have given to me. I'm glad I was taking notes or I'd be lost. I love hearing wonderful comments about my work but that doesn't really help me. What my editors gave me did help me. "What would make this better"? Answer that question and that helps me.
Please continue to send me feedback. I have enjoyed the emails, vivwriter@gmail.com.

Enjoy Life

Happy Fathers Day

A Father's Day Prayer
Holy Father,

You are the one who knows how absolutely special fathers are.
You made them that way.

How else can a man work so hard, give so much, and love unconditionally,
without your strength?

So first, Lord, thank You for fathers, for daddies.
For big, strong men with tender hearts,
with hands that are calloused and rough,
yet so soft and gentle when hearts need mending.

Lord, help children to delight this day in being with their dads,
even if it must be only by phone.

May the precious memories flow, and bring laughter,
and new love and appreciation.

Lord, please take care of our dads.
Though they are brave and protective,
they must also be frightened sometimes,
when money runs low, when we need things, when we're hurt or sick.

Lord, when their hearts break because they can't do it all,
please help us to let them know how much we love them.
And how much You love them.
And you, too, Lord.
Happy Father's Day!
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Letterhead for Nana's Noshes

In our last InDesign class we learned how to make a letterhead for our company. This is what I came up with. Hey! It's just lesson two. I had fun and I'm still waiting for the lessons that will have some impact on what I want to use it for. I feel like I'm taking the scenic route to get there.

Pound Cake

I had one of the best pound cakes last night. I had fruit too so it would be a healthy treat.
Anyway, it was a wonderful treat. It was also inspirational as I am still working with Nana's Noshes.
In the online game of Second Life I have not been able to create a beautiful looking pound cake yet but maybe my luck will change. If you know of one, please let me know, vivwriter@gmail.com

Enjoy Life

Information Overload!

Wow, this has been a day! You know, someone once told me, "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it". Well, I got it and maybe I asked for too much.
I had my online classes today and then found out I have another class to add to it. I think I'm gonna have to clear off some room on this plate I am creating because I think I've taken on more than I can devour. I've gotta do something but for now I'm going to enjoy the wave of information coming at me at lightening speed. While it's overwhelming, I gotta say it's exciting.
I did get my new Mac today. I'm excited but once again more new information that I have got to learn quickly. No time to sight see.

MAC

Well,I was going to do a blog on my new mac computer today but things went from great to horrible in a short period of time. I was so very happy to get a new mac and everything I heard about it is true. The exception would be the disk drive. OMG!!!!!!! My disk got stuck in the cd/dvd rom. What in the world was that about? I could not get it out. Now what? I take it back that is what. I hate to do that but I must. I wonder how many people have had that problem.
Anyway, I will begin again later on this morning. I will try to...

Enjoy Life

InDesign

Today was the first day of class InDesign. I enjoyed the Photoshop class last year so I decided to try InDesign this summer. Well, I am gonna reserve judgement since it is the first day of class.
I have several reasons for taking the class but the number one reason is to format my book and magazine. With that said, today we learned some basics in creating a logo. You have to start somewhere right? I used what I learned to create the above logos. One was created in photoshop and the other was designed in InDesign. Can you tell which was which?

I LOVE these shoes

I love going shopping in the online game of Second Life. One purchase I made years ago was the above shoes. I fell in love with them and honestly would wear them with just about any outfit I put on my avatar. In real life I could never wear a pair of shoes like those. My feet would rebel.
I adore the design of the shoe and wish I could remember the designers name. Anyway, it's true. When you find a great pair of shoes, they do make you feel great.

Enjoy Life!

Molly

Meet Molly. She is a beautiful dog and is as sweet as any doggy I've met. Molly is not my dog but I do get to visit her often. Love ya Molly!

Enjoy Life!

My Afternoon

I had the most wonderful weekend. A dear friend came to visit me and we had a grand time. From catching up to telling about our newest adventures, I really enjoyed the time spent.
During the visit a neighbor of mine took us around town. I took the above picture there. It was a beautiful and peaceful place. Others thought so too as we heard voices lifted in song nearby. It was truly a wonderful afternoon.
My friend was amazed when I showed her Second Life. I agree, all the possibilities available to artists and designers are amazing.
It is my hope to continue learning more in the online game of Second Life and writing about my adventures there.
We also created notecards. To thank my neighbor for taking us around, we created the above notecard. You won't believe this but it really did take us two hours to create that notecard. I hope she likes the card. We put a great deal of love into it. We had a ball creating it and I do want to create more notecards and greeting cards but I am still working on, The Adventures of Viv Writer.
A word or two about my book. It is coming along very well. Most people hate editors and making changes to their work but I embrace it. I love feedback and because I can take direction well, I love making changes so that the book is better.

Enjoy Life!

Easy Does It

Darkness and the devil behind me

Open publication - Free publishing - More 1920s

I thought this was COOL! I love FREE things and I couldn't believe how well this author used free opportunities to get things done. I look forward to reading the book and hope to enjoy it.

SLiterary Magazine

Open publication - Free publishing - More fiction

Summer Break!!!!

Yes, it' that time of year again and I can't tell you how happy I am. If you could be just 1/4 as happy as I am right now you would be very happy.

I'm gonna go find an empty chair, a copy of a #1 Best selling novel, and a place in Second Life next to the ocean. Life is sooo good!

Enjoy Life!

Under African Skies In SL

I Feel So Close To You Now

It's closer than ever now, vacation that is. Vacation is a beautiful word in any language. As the time for a vacation draws near I feel so close to those days filled with rest, fun, laughter, meals cooked on the grill and lazy afternoons.
I am getting my reading lists ready and shopping for things that will make being lazy all the more easy.
You know, I could get use to lazy, hazy, days of summer.

Enjoy Life!

The Black Cat

My friend Julia Hathor has done it again! She has created another fabulous work of art. The name of this house is, The Black Cat. I had to go and see it. I really enjoyed it and purchased one after my tour of this wonderful house.

I can't believe the wonderful attention to detail, yet she is known for this in all of her work. Many of her creations stand out largely because there are very few who can do what she does so well.

If you can, please go by and see The Black Cat. If you like what you see drop a kind word in the form of a note, if you can. I'm sure you will find as I did that Julia is one of Second Life's residents who is kind and friendly.

As Always,

Enjoy Life!

Off with me!

Why is it that when I must go somewhere on Saturday, I drag my feet? Even though I am going on a fabulous adventure today with great friends and what promises to be great food, I am slow about getting up and getting on with the day. It's after 10:00am and I have found everything else to do but what I need to. In fact, blogging provides me with yet another excuse not to get on with the business at hand. Well, I think I love having my Saturdays to do with what I want, when I want, how I want. Let's face it, when you are on a rigid timed schedule six days a week, asking for one free day is not too much to ask for, right?

Anyway, I am off. I wish you all a fabulous Saturday shared with ones you love.

Enjoy Life!

Viv Writer and Me

Well I'm off on another adventure. With my avatar, Viv Writer, I have managed to travel all over the world in the online game of Second Life and I can't wait to begin another adventure.

I saw the 1995 video, "Runaway" and it just made me think of how the online game of Second Life has been a great place to get away from it all, meet great people, see wonderful art work and without having to purchase a plane ticket. You know how much I love to fly...NOT. I hope you have a good time exploring the online game of Second Life. Go have FUN!