Ghost Town.

Pose : Left - *!R.O!* Dark Magic (includes book prop.)

Right - [The Emporium] A. Conjure Static Pose (Included with Candles, info below.)

Location : Daddy's Secret Garden (Haunted Maze area.)

Added Props : [The Emporium] Floating Candle - Natural

Birdy - Altar set - Cauldron (Gacha)

Today I'm going to show a few hunt gifts and freebies. 

I may have been a little slow when it comes to taking part in the hunts, so if they no longer exist I apologize, it just seems like their aren't enough hours in the day sometimes. Perhaps that's what Pickle & Paloma are making a potion for above? 

Most Monday's I will do a Man-Pickle post, I have no excuse today, other than I seem to get wrapped up in Halloween far too late, and then have all these ideas buzzing around, so I'm sorry if a Man-Pickle post was expected! He'll be back next week though!

I think it's absolutely amazing that some of our talented SL creators are still willing to give out hunt gifts/group gifts and freebies. When I first started SL I would spend hours trailing the grid for some quality freebies, and with the introduction of the MadPea hunts & puzzles, Secondlife is becoming a far more immersive place to spend time as the users create these experiences for us. If you like MadPea, you could also check out the Bubble Productions Ride of Doom which is a bit similar, but more 'family friendly', so you can take your littles & teens along without worrying about scaring them silly. It's possible to do the ride within 1-2 hours, including the quest afterwards and it's all been lovingly created by family friendly creators, too!

I'm sure there are many, many more rides and haunted houses, and interactive areas available, but these two are definitely my favourites this year. Feel free to comment below with yours! <3

All the Pickle things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Skin & Eye Appliers: Insol: Lily skin GIFT 

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Lipstick : #adored - widow walk lips - night terror edition (Former Gift @ Nightmare Event)

Ears :  ^^Swallow^^  Pixie Ears 

Earrings : KOKORO{<3}PEACHES - Nightmare Earring (Former Gift @ Nightmare Event)

Hat & Hair : /Wasabi Pills/ Malin 

Dress : EVANI - Halloween GIFT

Nails (Maitreya Only) : Go&See * Bloody * Nails @ Season of the witch

Hand Spider : * Stelloane Arachnophobia on your hand (Former Gift @ Nightmare Event)

Boots & Garters : Phedora ~ Harley Boots @ Kinky Event

All of the Paloma things : 

Left : Body & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Skin : Glam Affair - Maya - Catwa Mesh Head Applier (Gacha)

Head : CATWA Lona 

Eyes : Left - -SU!-Delora Eyes Fatpack /ULTRARARE (Gacha) @ N21

Right (including Spiders) - NOX. Arachnophobia (Former Gift @ Nightmare Event)

Eyeshadow : Bossie. glossy eyeshadows 

Mouth tattoo : [theSkinnery] Stitched Mouth (Hunt Gift For Once Upon a Nightmare)

Eyeball : [Cubic Cherry] {Nommy bulbs} (Former Gift @ Nightmare Event)

Ears : L'Etre Horn mesh ears

Hair : *barberyumyum*S07ghost

Collar : [sYs] GRIMM collar

Dress :  [sYs]  GRIMM dress 

Nails : Astralia - Compatible mesh nails system

Nail Polish : Hello Dave - Nail Appliers - Astralia - The Bold One (Free Gift @ Astralia)

Rings : Kibitz -- Widow rings @ Kustom9

Scarification Tattoo : part of the CURELESS [+] Little Red Wolf / RARE LOOTBOX 

Shoes : Phedora ~ Spectra heels @ Once Upon A Time 

All in good time.

Location (& Pose) : Fall Trace

I've been thinking about the word "Fall" a lot lately. Being English, I tend to mostly use the term "Autumn" in relation to the season, and it always amuses me that Americans tend to use the word "Fall". For me, when you fall it's probably bad. Falling equates to pain, as you can't really fall over without smacking something. I vividly remember the last time I fell over as a fully grown adult; I woke up desperately needing to pee (like you do), hopped fairly eagerly out of bed and promptly got a foot twisted in the opposite leg of my pajama bottoms. I'm sure I slow-mo'd all the way to the floor, arms whirling comically as I attempted to right myself before hitting my knee and forehead on the floor with what must have been a fairly resounding thud. I also whacked my elbow so badly I took a visit to the emergency room only to find out it was a simple sprain. It took weeks for me to get the full movement back in that arm. 

It leads me to ponder the term "Fall in love" too. I'm not sure I want to 'Fall' into love. I'd like to be fully aware i'm doing it. I want to relish every moment, to run headfirst, kicking and screaming into that feeling, not just trip and find myself there. Maybe I'm finally growing up.

Being the curious kitty I am, I ended up Googling the term "Fall" in relation to autumn, and found out this fun fact :

"city dwellers began to use the phrase “fall of the leaf” to refer to the third season of the year when trees lose their leaves. The word fall comes from the Old English word feallan which means “to fall or to die.” Over time, the phrase was shortened to fall."

I've never heard of the term "feallan" either. Thank you, Google.

All of the things :

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Skin : Essences - Rachel @ Shiny Shabby

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Applier :  Go & See * Hole * Catwa Eyes @ The Dark Style Fair

Hair & Scarf : /Wasabi Pills/ Aspen Mesh Hair

Sweater : .miss chelsea. Brea Sweater  @ Uber

Skirt : .miss chelsea. Brea Skirt @ Uber

Socks (Applier) : fri. - Cozy.Socks 

Shoes : Phedora ~ Sorcha Flats @ Uber

Wake me up.

Location : Malal's Autumn

Bagels : *SL* Charlotte Bagels - Sweet Lies Box 1 COMMON (Gacha)

Today my eyeballs just won't stay open, I'm sure we've all been there!

One of the things I love about blogging is the fact that it pushes me into wandering around SL to find new places. I stumbled upon today's location simply by searching "autumn", and boy am I glad I did.

Like many of you, I'm a bit of a (woefully awful) gacha gobbler, and will happily throw bunches of L's into a machine in an attempt to get a bargain. A lot of the time I will curse myself for putting my pennies into the machine and not just checking marketplace, but the temptation is just too much for me. Anyhow, when I saw this bagel cart, I automatically associated it with coffee (which is a necessity) and breakfast, and with hopeful excitement, the thought of waking up. Pairing it with this gacha treasure of bagel bag and bagel, it made the perfect scene.

I wanted to go for a casual look today. I know it's coming up to Halloween (how could I miss that??), but autumn/fall is my favourite season, and reminds me of one of my favourite people now missing from SL.

I'm sure we all have someone we miss, and a memory of them we'll never forget, in SL and otherwise. Mine will always centre around her love of cats (fence sitter), anything remotely sparkly or with chimes, and the autumn and winter seasons. I remember laughing a lot, crying a lot, venting a TON and generally sitting and enjoying her company. We became terrible people together, and embraced that until we felt good again. Pulled together by a negative entity, and pushed away in a similar fashion. She was there for some of my lowest points, and losing her was definitely THE lowest point in my entire SL.

Wherever you are, old friend, I hope you're well.

Again I am reminded of how incredibly lucky I am to be surrounded by such bright beacons of light. 

There's a party later and I'm actually looking forward to it. 

Until then, here's some fashion stuff I like:

All of the things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Skin : Essences - Rachel @ Shiny Shabby

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Applier :  Go & See * Hole * Catwa Eyes @ The Dark Style Fair

Eyeshadow :  Veechi - Distress Shadow  @ N21

Lipstick : [PF] CATWA LIPSTICK - Pure Matte (Nudes)

Ears :  ^^Swallow^^  Pixie Ears 

Hair : .Entwined. Rose  @ Uber

Tattoo : *Bolson / Tattoo Mr. Hyde  @ The Mens Dept.

Choker : NS::  Halloween Necklace (Group Gift - Group is 100L to join)

Backpack : PHEDORA / Twinkle Bat Backpack (Group Gift for FMD - Group is 800L to join)

Sweater Dress : SPIRIT - Aqua sweater @ Uber

Socks & Boots : #EMPIRE - Edelweiss @ Uber

Conversate.

Poses : Left : FOXCITY. Stairs (Sitting)-4m

Right : FOXCITY. Milk Bath VOL2-4m

Background : anxiety %cellardoor

====

So, yesterday was the two year anniversary of me starting the Kaleidoscope blog.

Today, I decided that I'm going to try and use this as what it is. MY blog.

For a long time, I've avoided writing much here, purely because I have a tendency to blurt, rant, overthink and then hate everything I write and in reality, I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to read a bunch of Pickle nonsense. However - here we go. No doubt those who come for informative fashion advice will just scroll right past this and that's just peachy, you do you, Boo.

Today I wanted to introduce you properly to my alt, Paloma. She's been featuring fairly regularly here and I feel like she needs a name to her face!

I've never really had a problem with alts, unless they're shady. People I care about are aware of the fact I use alts (yes, multiples of) and why I chose to use them. For me, Paloma is my sanctuary, so opening up and sharing her with you is actually a big deal. (Also, how do you describe your alts? I mean, they're all me, so should I still refer to her as "Her" or "Me"? I'm going with "Her", because I'm "Me, Pickle" here. Now I'm even more confused, because I'm never not me...)

For a long time, I sat on my platform as Pickle, and didn't explore beyond the few 'regular' sims I'd very rarely visit. My SL had become more and more enclosed and it was difficult for me to branch out due to meeting the 'wrong' types of people and feeling trapped, bitter and jaded by the negative I'd experienced. 

Paloma has actually opened up a few doors for me. Thanks to the feeling of freedom I experienced on her, I've developed entirely new relationships with people I would never have found without that free feeling. I'm in a much happier SL place, and although I still have days where i'm "meh" about all the things, I also have more days where I'm more likely to be "Hey, it's almost like I fit here!" again. I'm involving myself in activities I never thought I'd try, and through those activities, i'm meeting even more new and wonderful people. I'm no longer wastefully spending my SL time standing like a statue  

I've even met a man that doesn't appear to be a complete dick (at the moment! I hope you read this, Jer!) and I'm so sickeningly contented, I sometimes annoy myself.

So what's the purpose of Paloma in terms of Kaleidoscope? Well, as I've been spending a little more time on her lately, I didn't want to forget about my passion for blogging. So I dress her up, and naturally want to show her off. Because of the freedom I feel being on her, she's become slightly more alternative than Pickle, and I feel like showing the products I love in a different way will only serve to benefit the readers/information seekers more. I hope you enjoy her, as much as I do!

Before I run off and squirrel about everything that has been rolling around in my head for - well, forever - , I want to thank you all for reading/checking out my blog up until now. I am genuinely, completely in awe of the support, likes, shares, positive words and constructive criticism that I have received. It is a piece of me. It is entirely mine. It is a place I have used continually to explore creativity, push my boundaries and explore who I am, and having others to share it with is beyond amazing. I will thoroughly encourage this to anyone who just wants to document the process of growing in ANY field. It's wonderful to look back and be able to see an improvement.

I never know how to stop writing once I start, but I guess you came here for goodies, so... here they are!

All of the Pickle things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Skin : Essences - Rachel @ Shiny Shabby

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Appliers : : LOTUS. Soleil Eyes 16 (Catwa) RARE (Gacha) @ Kawaii Project

Eyeshadow : : Veechi - Toasted Liner  @ Uber

Blush : : Veechi - Harvest Chill Blush  @ Uber

Hair : *Besom~ Kenadee *Browns* @ N21

Jacket : Stealthic x Toksik - 2. TKS Outfit (RARE) @ Epiphany

Bodysuit :_CandyDoll_ Mala Bodysuit Denim @ Epiphany

Shorts : _CandyDoll_ Mala Pants Black @ Epiphany

Boots : _CandyDoll_ Mala Boots High (RARE) @ Epiphany

All of the Paloma things :

 Body & Feet : -Belleza- Freya 

Skin : (Enfer Sombre*) Catwa Skin applier - Porcelain -  Izumi (1) (Gacha)  @ The Secret Hideout 

Head : CATWA Lona 

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes

Elf Ears : BentBox Sylvan Ears 

Eyeliner : . MILA . Princess of Darkness Makeup

Lipstick : In the Catwa hud!

Blush : :: MOMOCHUU :: Nanako blusher

Hairbase : .Tableau Vivant \\ Catwa HB2
Hair : Tableau Vivant \\ Braidy (curly) @ Epiphany  

Horns : .Olive. the Spooky Horns @ Epiphany  

Skull hands & Bow accessories : Astralia - Witches hair decor (9L Kustom9 GIFT)

Glasses : .random.Matter. - Rose Glasses @ N21

Feathers : .Aisling. Velasco

Bra : _CandyDoll_ Mala Star Bra @ Epiphany

Bodysuit : _CandyDoll_ Mala Bodysuit Fall @ Epiphany

Hands :  Slink Dynamic

Nails : Astralia - Compatible mesh nails system

Nail Polish : Hello Dave - Nail Appliers - Astralia - The Bold One (Free Gift @ Astralia)

Shorts :  _CandyDoll_ Mala Pants Black @ Epiphany

Leg Tattoo : [ATI] Koi Love II...

Shoes : #EMPIRE - Bee Balm 

Do you remember?

Pose : <K&S> ~Leonard~ Poses 3, 1

Props : Fapple- The Traveler @  @ The Mens Dept.

All of the things : 

Body & Hands : [SIGNATURE] Gianni - Mesh Body

Skin : *Birth* 'Hades' Catwa Scarred @ The Mens Dept.

Head :  CATWA HEAD Stanley 

Eyes : Go&See * Hurt * Catwa Eyes @ The Dark Style Fair 

Ears : [MANDALA]SIMPLE_EARS_HUTUU

Hair base : Stealthic - Male Hairbase 

Hair : Stealthic- Narcotic 

Tattoo : DAPPA - Genji Tattoo. @ The Man Cave 

Outfit : {COLD-ASH} Mens MESH DEAN Chinos &  HEMSWORTH Tucked Shirt 

Shoes : not so bad . mesh . DARIO shoes . blue leather

Kiss me in the moonlight.

Pose : FOXCITY. Sits VOL1-3

Background :BUENO  - Night Life-Street Build Scape (Gacha) @ Kustom9

All of the things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Skin : Essences - Rachel @ Shiny Shabby

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Appliers : : LOTUS. Soleil Eyes 16 (Catwa) RARE (Gacha) @ Kawaii Project

Eyeshadow : Veechi - Cappuccino Shadow [Chai] @ Epiphany

Blush : Veechi  - Bistro Blush @ Epiphany

Lipstick :  Veechi- Metal Matte Lipstick @ Epiphany

Hairbase : Just Magnetized - Basic Hairbase - set 03 for CATWA

Hair : *Besom~Claire *Extentions Pack* For LuxeBox October

Harness : ISON - julie leather harness (black)

Dress : ISON - julie v-cut bodycon For LuxeBox October

Nails :  Go & See  * Maitreya Nails * @ The Dark Style Fair 

Shoes :  #EMPIRE - Rubiginosa @ Shiny Shabby

I'm a believer.

Pose : Edited FOXCITY pose using Animare

Background things : BUENO-Photo Printer-Pop (Gacha)

Stockholm&Lima: Failed Adulting Laptop (Gacha)

Apple Fall Books & Map

All of the things : 

Body Hands & Feet : -Belleza- Freya 

Skin : Essences - Rachel @ Shiny Shabby

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Appliers : : LOTUS. Soleil Eyes 16 (Catwa) RARE (Gacha) @ Kawaii Project

Ears : ^^Swallow^^ Pixie Ears 

Hair : *barberyumyum*T03(brown)

Bangs : *barberyumyum*bangs(B)

Tattoo : DAPPA - Lost Boys Tattoo. @ Men Only Monthly

Tank : Vinyl - Quinn Tank

Pants : {MYNX} Pajama Pants - Striped Floral

The madness I like.

Poses : Left : BellePoses - Soha - Bento 

Right - [La baguette] Busty 9 (non bento)

Background :   BUENO -Night Life-Beams 80s (Gacha) @ Kustom9

 {anc} mist cloud & nebra beads

All of the things : 

Left : Body Hands & Feet : -Belleza- Freya 

Skin : Essences - Tawny Group Gift (Note : There is a 100L fee to join the group. There's also a 100L SALE going on in store right now. You do NOT have to be in the group to take advantage of the sale, so head over and throw your money in that direction, skin whores!)

Head : CATWA Catya

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Appliers : : LOTUS. Soleil Eyes 16 (Catwa) RARE (Gacha) @ Kawaii Project

Eyebrows : Bossie. sarah eyebrows [catwa]

Eyeliner : Veechi - Reflection Liner

Mask : BTTB ros mask @ Kustom9 (9L GIFT)

Hair : Stealthic - Fatal 

Choker : .random.Matter. - Hwasa Choker 

Bodysuit : e.marie // Bodysuit Boss Light {freya}(Gacha) @ Epiphany (Note : Wear your boobies on "Perky"!)

Boots : Phedora ~ Ginger Boots @ Tres Chic (Note : Mainstore relocating, new info soon!)

Right : Body Hands & Feet : -Belleza- Freya 

Skin : (Enfer Sombre*) Catwa Skin applier - Porcelain -  Izumi (1) (Gacha)  @ The Secret Hideout 

Head : CATWA Lona 

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes

Elf Ears : BentBox Sylvan Ears 

Hair & Visor : little bones. Syrah 

Choker : #Foxy - Thin Velvet Choker 'Catchin Feels' @ Kustom9 (9L GIFT)

Tattoo : { Speakeasy } Valiant Tattoo 

Bodysuit & Cardigan : e.marie // Bodysuit+Cardi Bold {freya}(Gacha) @ Epiphany (Note : Wear your boobies on "Perky"!)

Boots : Phedora ~ Draney Boots @ Kustom9 (Note : Mainstore relocating, new info soon!)