No fire.

Pose : Go&See * LoveBites * 9

Hi!

I am so amazingly thrilled with the way this picture came out I may have done a happy dance.

Sometimes, I can take a picture and love it and it's done in 4 minutes.

Other days, it takes me a while.

If it's not the pose, it's the lighting. If it's not the lighting, it's the background. Sometimes my hair will stick through my clothing, or my finger will dig into my body, and i'll have to spend up to an hour editing all those little pieces to make the picture fit together the way it does in my head. 

Today was one of those days, and I had to step away for a while, and come back and carry on.

There was a questionnaire that went out for bloggers to voluntarily fill out at some point... and I remember reading the questions and wondering whether i'm the only person in the world who experiences moments like I mentioned above. When it asked "How long does it take you to do a blog post from concept to completion?" I really didn't know how to answer. Some days, I can do it all in maybe two hours. Other days, it literally takes me ALL DAY... and the chances are before I've even started to take the photograph, I have had a conceptual idea in my head for at least half a day previous, sometimes a week or more, depending on deadlines.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining! I freakin' LOVE doing what I do, and I suppose in a way I am lucky that I can currently devote the time to it that I do.

I guess what I'm saying is that you really can't judge effort, or growth by looking at one picture... and that's true of people as much as it art.

xoxo

Soooo.. Shook has come out with some pretty effin' awesome nail addons. They come for Slink & Maitreya, and you can change two layers. I've enclosed a couple of gifs, and hopefully that'll be enough to set you on your way to understanding how these nails work. You can choose to have an ombre effect with two colours of your choice using the hud, or if you select both colours to be the same, you have some stunningly gorgeous single colour adornments for the tips of your fingers.

I'm wearing the Square version of the nails, and I'm using the metallics hud for varnish.

All of the things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Head : GENUS Project (babyface)

Skin : Essences Nari @ Kustom9

Eyes : LOTUS.Soulful Eyes 

Eyeliner : Veechi - Basic Matte Liner

Face Tattoo : DAPPA - Sinner Face Tattoo. @ Men Only Monthly

Glasses : -SU!- Poison Sunglasses

Hair & Hat : -FABIA- Mesh Hair   < Azara>  @ TLC

Dress : evani. - Ingrid dress @ Uber

Nails : #SHOOK - Baddie Claws {Short Square} @ Whore Couture 

Tuesday night.

Pose : FOXCITY - Me Time-4

Background & Foodthings : FOXCITY. Photo Booth - Crescent Room 

Coffee & Toast : {yumyum}Today's toast (Strawberry)

I'm super sleepy in the face today, I think maybe the weekend is catching up with me.. so maybe it's early nights for Pickle for a while? I mean, probably not, but I'll lay it out there and pretend like I'm sensible.

xoxo

All of the things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Head : GENUS Project (babyface)

Skin : Essences Nari @ Kustom9

Eyes : LOTUS. Flow Eyes @ Access

Hair & Hat : [RA] Ary Hair @ Collabor88

Choker : [VO.Z] Simple Strap Choker

Dress : #SHOOK - Kyrie Corset Dress @ Access

Boots : [BREATHE]-Kasume Heels @ The Fetish Fair

Invented.

Information that goes here is not here, cus of reasons. -blinks-

So yesterday, my rl daughter turned 16. I officially am OLD. I mean, I'm okay with that, but I'm definitely not okay with the fact that my only baby is now half an adult and legally allowed to do a lot of things I'm not sure I even understand yet... but I'm learning to deal with that! Anyways, that's kinda why you missed a post from me yesterday. We had a delicious meal at a lovely restaurant with the rest of the family, and there were no melt downs (even from my 10 month old niece, yay Harper!), and everyone came home sleepy happy with the fooditis. 

In SL news, Essences has completely redone their skin tones, which means you lucky Spoonies get a look at the entire new range, I know, I know... Pickle, you're always making us read, whyyy? Because I know that you secretly want all of the information, right? Maybe not, but if that's the case just look at the pretties and scroll down for all the details!

xoxo

These are the new tones from Essences! Starting top left, there's E1, E2, E3, E4 and on the lower row, E5, E6, E7, E8.  I've also chosen to show you all the Lotus eye options too, because that worked so well in the last skin tone thing I did and hey, might as well carry on with being pretend organized, right? (Not like i've been writing this since 10am this morning or anything *cough*)

Anywho, tap the picture to make the picture bigger, or scroll down even moaarrrr to find out where all this stuff is at so you can be adorable, too!

All of the things : 

Body, Hands & Feet : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Head & Eyeliner : GENUS Project (babyface)

Skin : Essences Nari @ Kustom9

Eyes : LOTUS. Flow Eyes @ Access

Hair : *barberyumyum*P01

Hairbow : NS::  Bunny Bow @ Fluffy Kawaii

I'll take the blame.

Pose : FOXCITY. Last Minute @ Uber

Decor : anxiety %sincerity [city fillers] @ Kustom9

NOMAD // Vintage Roadtrip Car // Blue (Edited to remove the surf board, and added items inside)

Kalopsia - Gift Boxes

My brain hurts!

I hope there's nothing breakable in that gift package...

Have some details!

xoxo

All of the things : 

Body : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Head : GENUS Project (babyface)

Skin : Essences - Lora (Genus) - Wearing pale01 tone @ Kustom9

Eyes : LOTUS. Nocturnal Eyes (previously at N21) 

Lipstick : -SU!- Matte Lip Essentials @ Access

Hair & Hat : (fd) Tea 

Choker : (Yummy) Crochet Choker 

Necklace : Kibitz - Nice necklace 

Outfit : evani. - Betty @ Kustom9 

Stockings : (appliers) from the erratic / cecilia - lingerie / noir SET 

Boots : Addams // Dr. Addams Boot

Socks : From the [Deadwool] Ulrich Boots

Restless lungs.

Pose : Bossie. Lisa pose 05

Background : MINIMAL - Manhattan Scene @ Kustom9

I retreat quite a lot, but today I'm having an SL get-together with some of my inworld family.

I'm kinda nervous about this. I've been with this particular family for almost a year now, but because I am quite an anxious Pickle, I've kept myself back from actually getting to know anyone outside of my "Mum & Dad". That means that I'm now over-thinking meeting all the people I haven't yet met. 

I was introduced to my mothers parents yesterday, and that went surprisingly well! 

I used to think SL families were a really weird concept, and then I was persuaded to make a child avatar by one of my besties and wham... I was convinced they were awesome.

I think they're basically like everything, RL or SL. They're your own little community.

I've been through a fair amount of drama within the families I've been associated... Narcissistic mothers, Flirty fathers, Jealous siblings and a bunch of other unrelated nonsense... but let's be fair, everywhere you go there's that risk, and the only choice you have to make is whether or not the people you surround yourself with are people who make you happy, feed your spoon consumption and don't take more than they're willing to give.

So sure, I'm nervous as fudge... but I'm also excited.

Excited because these people are potentially new friends, and despite my difficulties in interacting I'm lucky to have been given the opportunity to meet people that mean something to my existing SL family. We have games and maybe a movie, and some gift exchanges planned, so yeah, I'm anxious... but it's pushing me to open up, and that's gotta be good.

xoxo

All of the things : 

Body Hands & Feet: -Belleza- Freya

Head : GENUS Project (babyface)

Skin : Essences - Lora (Genus) - Wearing pale01 tone, with ginger eyebrows. @ Kustom9

Eyes : LOTUS. Nocturnal Eyes (previously at N21) 

Hair  & Hat : DOUX - Danna hairstyle @ Equal10

Sweater : SPIRIT - Deca top @ C88

Pants : .:villena:. - Zip Trousers - Plaid Red @ Kustom9

Shoes : [BREATHE] -Ruby Heels

Where you should be.

Pose : K&S - // I just love you // Bento pose (Slightly edited with Animare)

Pupper (not included in pose) : O.M.E.N - Christmas Morning - Puppy - Beige

Decor : {anc} NOEL. :  tears tree / 9Li RARE (Gacha)

DRD lazy Christmas chair

I'm so happy with how this picture turned out!

I roped in Durex again, because let's face facts - I gotta love me more than anyone else!

xoxo

All the things, Durex: 

Body: [SIGNATURE] Gianni - Mesh Body

Skin : Not Found - Robert Skin 

Head :  CATWA HEAD Skell

Beard & Scar : IDTTY Faces - Sharp Beard [CUT]

Hair : Vango. Alex

All of the things :

Body : Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

Head & Eyeliner : GENUS Project (babyface)

Skin : Essences - Luisa (Genus) @ Kustom9

Eyes : Go&See * Babe * Genus Eyes

Lipstick : The Face ~ Genus - Original ~ Lipsticks palette

Hair : tram H1116 hair @ Uber

Tattoo : DAPPA - Mehndi Tattoo. @ Ultra

Lingerie : #EMPIRE - Xmas - Wrapped - Panties & #EMPIRE - Xmas - Wrapped - Bra @ The Arcade

You can't forget.

Pose : FOXCITY. Portrait-6m

Taken on my platform with a random-faffed-with windlight, so no other info!

I may have had a slight rant on facebook yesterday because my brain just wouldn't compute as I was constructing the blog. 

If you missed it.. here it is!

"I was gonna post this on my blog, but I just couldn't find the words earlier, but I'm struggling pretty hard today, and not in the regular "Omg my anxiety is ridiculous and I want to sleep 5ever" kinda way (although that too). 

Today I'm struggling to keep my fucking mouth shut. It's never been a thing I've been good at honestly, and I'm more likely to shout from the rooftops about how shitty a situation is than shut my trap and let people see it for themselves, but that has never done me any good, and although I'd love to keep keeping shtum I am TIRED. I am tired of watching these people who constantly take and take and take, and then take credit being shown as people worthy of some kind of SL fame, or infamy. I'm tired of being one of those people who have given more than my due, and have been left by the wayside or being painted as the villain in removing these vile people from my SL and my life in general. I know more than people know I know, and although I may say a lot to a select few, it's never the entire story. For fucks sake, be good to each other. I can't keep making excuses for my silence if you're continually being a fucktard."

See, I think it might have gotten a bit of a reaction, not because anyone actually knows what I was talking about (it wasn't one person, nor was it a collective of peoples. There were multiple reasons for me feeling like I needed to rant and most of them are selfish), but because so many of us humans feel so completely taken advantage of by others. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that everyone has toxic traits, myself included. I'm not perfect, I don't claim to be, but I do try extremely hard every day to remain a pleasant person to be around, but situations like the ones I have been forced into recently make that extremely difficult to maintain, as that stubborn angry bitch in me just wants to rear it's ugly head and snap at the stupid.

Continually I have to remind myself that my idea of a terrible person isn't my next door neighbours idea of a terrible person, and everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, when I see the same people pulling the same stunts over and over again, the angry in me bubbles over, and you get a Pickle Rant.

Today's mission is to calm the fuck down. I'm going to attempt (again) to accept the fact I cannot change people to suit MY agenda. Control isn't love, and more than anything I really DO want to shower kindness over people, no matter how successful I am in this. If I fail today, I'll get up and try and be a better version of myself tomorrow... yet, in being what I consider to be a decent person, I will also be taking care of myself and that means putting me first. I'm a very loud, very opinionated introvert, and sometimes people miss the introversion because of the noise I am capable of making, but I need to take care of myself and ensure my energy is good so I'll be collecting my spoons and distributing them far more wisely. 

xoxo

Essences - Luisa for Genus in tones Pale 01 & Pale 02

Essences - Luisa for Genus in tones Medium 01 and Medium 02

Essences - Luisa for Genus in tones Dark 01 and Dark 02

As usual, the Essences skin comes with 6 eyebrow options (actually i think the "no brow" option might be new, but yay! New!), black, brown, ginger, blonde, red and no brows, not shown here today because I derped out!

All of the things : 

Body Hands & Feet: -Belleza- Freya

Head : GENUS Project

Skin : Essences - Luisa (Genus) @ Kustom9

Eyes : Go&See * Enchanted * Mesh Eyes

Hair : tram H0928 hair 

Earrings : :: SAGA :: Spiked Earrings @ Kustom9

Necklace : #SHOOK - Leo Necklace

Jacket : *COCO*_FurBolero_LightGrey

Bra : From the Vague Candid Bra & Panty Set @ Anybody

Tattoo : DAPPA - Bijou Tattoo. @ Access

Jeans : Blueberry - Melanie 

Boots : REIGN.- ROME LACE UP HEELS

For a while.

Pose : .HG. Comforts

Essences has come out with a beautiful new skin at Kustom 9, called Vanya. 

You can see the Pale 01 tone up there ^^ with Durex, and below is a completely unedited version of all of the gorgeous tones available. 

All of the things, Durex : 

Skin : Not Found - Robert Skin 

Head :  CATWA HEAD Skrell

Eyelids : L'Etre - Natural mesh eyelids

Ears : [MANDALA]STRETCHED_Ears_Season2 HUMAN

Hair : Vango. Erick

All of the things, Pickle : 

Skin : Essences - Vanya @ Kustom9

Head :  CATWA HEAD Catya

Eyelids : L'Etre - Natural mesh eyelids

Hair : [e] Thea

Some love tonight.

Pose : FOXCITY. Legs for Days-7

Background : {moss&mink} Deep Desires - Skybox (White) RARE @ The Epiphany

Today isn't a good day in the world of Pickle.

I'm not entirely sure why, I just feel like I woke up with a case of The Moodies, and they've been impossible to shift.

How do I combat The Moodies? Well, firstly I take pretty pink and girly pictures featuring three of my favourite SL brands, Moss&Mink (The skybox, which you really need to see in world, because I've only shown a teeny tiny portion!), CandyDoll with the dress and boots (can you say adorbs?) and Essences for the lush skin that adorns my bootilicious body.

Secondly, I make changes.

Today this meant cleaning out my SL friends list. I like to keep my list around 100 people - that includes my alts (of which there are plenty, *cough*), my friends alts, and the occasional new person who pops their head in and has potential to become a friend too. 

Just because I remove people from said list, doesn't mean I won't be friendly. I'm picky, and weird, and not for everybody. 

Once again, I'll clear up that I LOVE taking pictures and having this blog. I LOVE the friends I have, and the good people I meet in SL, but it is becoming noticeably obvious to me that the friends I have are scattering (and rightly so) because of RL, and meeting new people without an agenda is either becoming more difficult because of the quality of people in SL, or because my mind has been so skewed by prior interactions, I just automatically place a negative on every new person I meet, and honestly, I'm not sure which is scarier.

Despite my mood, I know that this will pass. I know I'm adjusting.

Tomorrow is another day and I'm hoping that I wake up grinning, and ready to tackle everything with positivity again.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

All of the things : 

Body : -Belleza- Freya

Head : CATWA Magy

Skin : Essences - Blake (Catwa & Omega) @ Kustom9

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eyes appliers : LOTUS. Ozonic Eyes  (Also available in Lelutka Appliers & Regular Mesh eyes)

Eyebrows : Bossie. sarah eyebrows [catwa] 

Moles & Freckles : Bossie.  freckles & beauty marks [catwa]

Hair : +Spellbound+ Daddy Issues 

Collar : NamiiChu ~ Runa Bell Collar. @ RLD

Dress : _CandyDoll_ Amada Heart Pink Dress (Gacha) @ The Epiphany

Boots : _CandyDoll_ Amada Boots RARE (Gacha) @ The Epiphany

In my heart.

Background : BUENO-Studio Skybox-Panda @ The Seasons Story

I'm so lucky sometimes.

I really do believe I have met some of the best people to have come into my life through SL. Strong, vibrant people, who have been terrifically broken, but who turn those breaks into something positive and who are capable of not only showing extreme realness, but who have enough energy to smother me in love and kindness whenever I feel low, too.

I could write their names here, but the chances are, you won't know them - and I'm not sure I want you to either. They're MY friends. MY people. MY circle, and I'm possessive. :P

I was chatting to one lovely lady today, and she tried desperately to tell me she was broken. My response was something along the lines of "Broken? You're the strongest person I know."

And it was then I realized that I feel broken, too. I'm pretty sure most of us feel that way at some point in our lives. I then remembered the story of Japanese Pottery. Bit out there, I know..

"In japan broken objects are often repaired with Gold. The flaw is seen as a unique piece of the object's history, which adds to its beauty."

Wouldn't it be lovely if we looked at people and saw the beauty of them, through their flaws? How strong and golden their very existence is?

I'm all filled with hearts and flowers today, and I hope you can take a moment to notice how lucky you are too, because there really is always something to be thankful for, no matter how small.

xoxo

All of the things : 

Body : -Belleza- Freya

Head : CATWA Magy

Skin : Essences - Blake (Catwa & Omega) @ Kustom9

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eyes appliers : LOTUS. Ozonic Eyes  @ Access (Also available in Lelutka Appliers & Regular Mesh eyes)

Ears : [MANDALA]SIMPLE_EARS_HUTUU

Earrings : :: SAGA :: Scarlet Moon Loops (Mainstore release)

Hair : *barberyumyum*S06

Tattoo : { Speakeasy } Night Shade Tattoo @ TMD

Chain top :  .miss chelsea. Gaia Coin Top RARE @ The Epiphany

No mistaking.

Left pose (Mum&Baby) : .GlamRus Kidz. Unbreakable

Right pose (BBQ) : 4Real Poses - BBQ GRILL Pose

Props : {moss&mink} Summer BBQ & Meals @ Uber

.peaches. Summer Memories @ Uber

dust bunny . giant palm plant

+Half-Deer+ Corgi Puppy - Zoomies (Gacha)

This is going to be a pretty large post! I'm not sure why I do this to myself but it always seems to be when I'm a sleepy Pickle, and not when I'm 100% with it haha. Still, here we go. Hold on to your hats!

xoxo

All the things Lil Pickle : 

*Note : this is an alternate avatar, some appliers, including skin, are lost forever in her inventory because it is not at all organized!

Body : Bad Seed Bebe Body 

Head : *TD* Bento Mesh Head #Alice

Eyes : Muriel. Expressive Eyes

Ears : random.Matter. - Haruhi Ears

Birthmark : [okkbye] bold birthmarks 

Hair : tram G0508 hair

Headpiece : ~Dream. Baby's Breath Head Wreath

Necklace : . Sweet Thing. Sweetheart Pendant Necklace 

Outfit & Shoes : Rou Mau "Nyoko" Red

All of the things, Durex : 

Body, Hands & Feet : [SIGNATURE] Gianni - Mesh Body

Skin (Head): Not Found - Robert Skin 

Skin (Body) : Clef de Peau.Body Tight 

Head :  CATWA HEAD Skrell

Beard & Scar : IDTTY Faces - Sharp Beard [CUT]

Hair : Dura-B&G84- @ TMD

Tattoo : DAPPA - Crown Tattoo. @ Mens Only Month

Undies : Mossu - Frank.Underwear @ TMD

All of the things : 

Body Hands & Feet: -Belleza- Freya

Head : CATWA Magy

Skin : Essences - Aura (Catwa & Omega) @ Kustom9

Eyes : CATWA Mesh Eyes 

Eye Liner : . MILA . Princess of Darkness Makeup

Eye Appliers : Go&See * Space * Catwa Eyes @ SaNaRae

Ears : [MANDALA]SIMPLE_EARS_HUTUU

Earrings & Septum : :: SAGA :: Venus Jewel Set

Hairbase & Hair : Studio Exposure CATWA REFLESH  @ Summerfest

Outfit : .miss chelsea. Sara Set  @ Uber

Shoes : #EMPIRE - Baneberry @ Summerfest