It's all over now, whew

Okay so I've been MIA a lot between classes, RL and Miss Ebony International.  As of yesterday, two of those things have been taken care of a bit lol and this weekend will see another great crop of graduates leave MIOS before we take a break for a few weeks.  Yesterday, the Miss Ebony International finals were held and four hours or so after it all started it was over.  Congratulations are due to all the girls because it was a long grueling experience from start to finish in that the challenges were more time intensive than I could have ever thought and waiting patiently through 3 hours of questioning was slightly traumatic.  However, I made it all the way through my first contest that was at least partially based on my own skill set and appearance.  I mean I did Miss Fashion last year but that was mostly based on the ability of my designer and my styling of those designs.  I came in third then, I did not do as well with MEI.  Crashing as I'm answering a question probably didn't help and I'm not sure that I totally answered my next question from Frolic Mills but I did make the top ten and was happy and slightly stunned by that.  My designer in this contest, the always great Kimmera Madison, was happy with how I presented her work so I can't really ask for more than that.  I'll take photos and plaster the blog with them in a few days and then both dresses will be up for sale at her shop.  Thanks to all that came to support me yesterday--I seriously appreciate you all waiting it out with me.  I get the grind of what a major contest is like now and while I am SOOOO not ready for another right now I might sign up again for one in the future.  I'm glad I had this experience and will continue to try to push myself every chance I get but for now, I'm enjoying the nap I have had for the last 24 hours. 

Damn it's Hot

The weather here is making me stay inside more but it's also making me sleepy.  So when I'm not busy with scheduled activities in SL I've really not been on as much as I could have been.  The Miss Ebony International pageant is winding down and I have to say that regardless of what happens it has been an interesting experience that has pushed me to develop new traits and handle lag is new and exciting ways.  Next Sunday is the final competition (which will be held at the same stage as Mister Virtual World was) and I have to say being backstage at Patch was an interesting experience.  The backstage area is gorgeous by the way but it is mildly intimidating to know the caliber of models that have competed there but at the same time it felt totally natural to be there and the girls were great as normal.  I hope that I do Senegal proud in great outfits that Kimmera Madison designed for me and let me preview a few weeks ago.  Both make me look like a regal African princess and it will be an honor to rock our final challenge in them.

Normally I'm not super tardy with pictures but my brain was having styling block with the photos for the Argentine tango challenge that is due later today.  Thankfully my partner was willing to dance with me and take my photo so as soon as he can finish editing it I'll post it to flickr.  I have a few others to add from the other runway challenges and I'll upload one of each of those to this as well.  I'm afraid my sexy edgy military costume started to look like a campy futuristic airline stewardess but ehhh I liked playing with so it wasn't so uniform like.  And I went all burlesque for the music challenge since my original thought probably wouldn't have made much sense.  But for those of that remember the early 90s and George Michael he had a video that he wasn't in at all--which at the time was groundbreaking apparently--but it was populated with runway models ( Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and male models John Pearson, Mario Sorrenti, and Peter Formby).  It wasn't the first time music and fashion mixed but it always stayed in my mind.  Both my partner and good friend said it would be too random especially since the video wouldn't play along with it.  Regardless, love the song and I'm gonna include the video along with the photos.  Have a great weekend and for those that I'll see next Sunday good luck, thanks for your support and woot.

Oh and there is another surprise coming but until it's set just let me leave you with man it's so amazing.

Updates and all that

So I just got through eating dinner and trying to recover from a week of being on emergency call which always makes me more tired than I imagine even when I don't get calls.  I just went through week two of our challenges for Miss Ebony International as well.  Week one was a runway challenge taking our lovely Hucci asymmetric swimsuits but with a Lion King theme as the unifying thread.  So we had to choose a character from the story to portray.  For some reason my brain leaped to Scar and I did everything I could to pull it off.  I have pictures below so you can tell me how I did.  They haven't been touched up at all because I wanted to get these up before I came up with a reason not to do so.  Week two's challenge was a photo one in which we display our style and what we are comfortable wearing. I did a vintage look circa Amelia Earhart because I didn't to recycle anything in my vintage folders and also didn't want to stray too far away from who I really am as a model or SL resident.  You can see it on my flickr page if you want to check it out but I didn't snap any new ones specifically for the blog.  And great big shout out to Kimmera Madison and her totally kick ass store for 1) providing me the lovely furry type collar from a dress at her store and 2) agreeing to help me with the outfits for Miss Ebony International.  She's such a treat and friendly and for some reason we're on the same page with the design thoughts so yeah Kimmera and Tres Beau.

Let's see, what else do I need to tell you?  Maniera's academy is still great and I love being able to teach with them as it does keep pushing me to reach beyond my normal boundaries and be creative in how information is relayed.  And they are just a great group so it's easy to go to work.  I submitted again for Miss Essence of Ebony, I think I may have mentioned that last post, and was notified yesterday that I made the cut for the next casting and will be searching the grid for a look that screams this month's country.  Thankfully I get a few weeks to pull it together since the holiday will make me more likely to just forget about everything.  That weekend is the third challenge for MEI too so it will be busy busy.

Without further adieu, here are the photos and you guys have a great day. 

Swimsuit: hucci
Collar: Milea from Tres Beau
Boots: J's Long Boots
Jewelry: Miel
Hair: Iconic emkay
Face Tattoo: Coca and Wolf
Scarification: >>Adrenaline Rush<< heqet
Lashes: Glow Hollywood lashes Black Dahlia

So far, So pleased

I swear life is never ever quiet around here.  The last thing I think I updated you on was Miss Ebony International and that casting.  Still moving through that process now.  The finalists have all been chosen and I'm competing with 27 other gorgeous and well spoken, funny women.  Last weekend we had a quick photo shoot so the world could see all of us in designs from Sonj!a's.  I think I channeled my inner Beyonce and pinup as best as I could lol, I liked the looks overall. 

We had to pick our country to represent both in this contest and in Miss Virtual World if we win this whole thing.  After doing my standard nerd thing, I narrowed down my choices to Senegal, Mali and Swaziland.  All of the countries that I was really interested in were in West Africa and most had some French colonial tie to them which was unexpected for me.  Maybe my ancestors originated from that region, who knows?  I need to brush back up on my French but it's just part of a mix of languages spoken in the country I was given to represent, Senegal.  Much more interesting place than I think many may know if and it will be a pleasure to do my best to honor its cultures and traditions.  Tomorrow is the first big event for us as finalists and just because the week has been uber hectic I get to go home tonight and try to pull together something FIERCE!  But with all the random shopping I've been doing I'm sure there is something in there that will work. 

I entered and made it to the casting for Miss Essence of Ebony but did not get chosen as Miss Kenya.  And honestly I've been so busy since then I missed the last casting all together.  I resubmitted and will do my best if given another chance to audition but I have to be careful about overscheduling myself.  Second Life has to be fun or gotta turn it off and go have fun. 

We just had a rocking 80s graduation for a nice chunk of the class that I helped teach.  And in a blink of an eye we have started the next term.  I'm doing more classes and had a full class last night which was both challenging and fun at the same time.  I'm glad that I decided to go for this experience and more pleased that I got it.  I'm looking forward to what the next seven weeks has in store and just hope that I don't fall totally flat on my face as an instructor this go round. 

Honestly, I think that's it.  I need to get something up on the Maniera blog this weekend, I wrapped up classes with Asymetrique, and I need to do some work that I've been neglecting but you're all caught up.  See ya soon.

I got bubkiss so no title

There's plenty to say but really got nothing in the way of smart catchy title tonight.  Sorry for the gap in posting.  I was working on some posts for the Maniera blog and got super distracted then RL work kicked my cute little butt and let's just say if the people we interviewed don't take the job I'm gonna hunt them down and kill them for disrupting my life so much and making me have to do it again in the near future.  Anyhoo, SL has been interesting to say the least. 

I've been doing classes with Sabine at Asymetrique which have been very interesting, especially since it's mostly been one on one due to the schedule.  This last week we covered a ton of information and what she mentioned during the class was true.  It helps to teach someone else because you never know what tricks you might pick up from them and it helps you focus on what you do in a different way.  It's a good learning experience all around so that is becoming a very enriching experience. 

Classes at Maniera will be on hiatus for the Easter holiday but have been intriguing for the same reasons my own classes have been.  Remembering what it's like to be at the beginning of the career, trying to sort out your style and your skills as a model, being desperate to learn but not wanting to appear overeager.  The students I've had have been a great delight to work with and it still feels a little weird that I would be a go to person for information but at the same time I enjoy the sharing of knowledge so it's great.  And joy of joys I get paid to do it too.  It's another of those good experiences I hadn't planned on having. 

In my last post I mentioned Miss Ebony International, and the fact that I hadn't made the casting cut in my love Serafina gown from Purple Moon.  I though the next round was on the 24th but it was moved to today which in the middle of styling two outfits for my class seemed like an impossibility.  Due to some unforeseen things, class styling was delayed and that let me pull together not one or two but three different potential looks for this month's theme of Pop Star.  I'll admit that seemed a little nebulous to me so it took a while to pull a solid look together that I was enjoying because skin tight and super short is not something I pull off well--mostly because even in SL I made myself thicker than most prim shorts enjoy lol.  Instead I went to all my favorite edgy stores to look for something new and came up empty.  I hit the feeds and through a random stroke of luck found about 6 things that could work for different looks which started from my Dressing Room exploration (if you don't go there often you should).  Anyway, I created a boho hippie/Erykah Badu kind of look, a club hopping diva kinda of look and a chilled out dance queen pop star look just in case someone was in any of them that I could switch to something else.  Which turned out to be a good idea because there were a few people in the same general outfit which is just awkward because you're all shaped differently with a different sense of style all of which is reflected when you do your strut.  There were a ton of strong looks throughout the assembled women so I wasn't feeling super confident that I had done something that stood out from the rest.  I had a clean walk this time and took my time to show off what I had put together.  After that, it's just a waiting game.  I will say they don't make us wait very long and much to my surprise I made the cut.  All I can say is I think I was much more relaxed today and accepted all I could control was what I did on the runway.  Oh and thanks to Sabine I was able to find a few new walks, one of which I used today because it didn't distort my outfit when I walked.  I have a questionnaire that I need to complete but we have a week to fill it out and I want to take a few days to appreciate what has happened.  But because I normally do this for big castings, here's what I was wearing without editing because I'm on call and want to try to get some sleep before the random I am just having a moment phone call happens.

Top: Baiastice One Shoulder Sweater @ LeLook
Tights: Emery Roxe Slash #2
Shoes: Slink Mia Wedges
Hair: lamb DIY cut
Skin: LAQ Claudia in Ebony
Lashes: glow studio
Gloves: Emery