Wow I haven't posted in forever lol

This won't be long.  Yes I'm still alive.  Nope I haven't been in SL much lately.  There's been some relationship stuff, my mother is going crazy--or trying to drive me crazy not sure which, and I've been settling into a new job while looking for a newer job and teaching classes in my field in real life.  Things have been hectic and I've been worried needlessly about some things and not as much about others.  There will be a great big surprise coming up soon but for now just know that I miss you all, would love to know how folks are doing and I will try to do better.

Happy Fourth of July

I was all prepared to log into SL today and take some lovely photos to celebrate the holiday.  Then I started cooking which of course led to eating and that led to lazy.  It's a shameful cycle I must admit but it's true lol.  And then as I was watching yet another marathon of things on tv I got a message from Julie telling me my photos were ready.  Yeah me I like new photos and I liked these a WHOLE lot.  So without further adieu cause really I got squat right now lol, here are the next series of photos in the Sing Me Pretty series.  I need to get on that next song.

I feel Pretty oh so Pretty

Hey everyone,

I am chilling a bit right now.  Trying to get my mind wrapped around something that is happening in RL but it's not going to ruin my life.  Just pissing me off right now.  I'm waiting for the 2nd set of photos to come back from the song styling photo sets I'm doing right now.  The first set was done by Leah McCullough who is a gorgeous redhead wunderkind that made me look smexy and got the photos back to me really quickly.  I highly recommend her if you are in need of shots.  They are already on my flickr page but I'm going to share them here too.  I took set two with Julie Hastings who was one of the nicest humans I've ever met and I must say I adore her.  Whenever I get my French back up to par I'm so gonna girl crush on her and chat her up.  I need to edit the outfit I put together for the Avant Garde master styling course for Maniera and then share that photo as well.  It was a fun challenge and  I did better than I thought I would but still needs a tiny bit of tweaking.  Have a good holiday weekend for those that are celebrating.  I'm going to relax if I can start putting stupid people out of my brain.

Falling in Love Again

Nope not in a new relationship but after feeling kinda indifferent to most things in SL besides teaching I think I'm finding my passion and fun in SL again.  Still not Ms. Social Butterfly but I finally stopped daydreaming about an idea and started working on an outfit to take new photos.  I realized as I was prepping something for Maniera that I hadn't taken ANY professional shots for me all of last year.  I took some for Miss Ebony International and I took some when I was featured in different issues of Maniera's lovely magazine but any shots I had of me from last year were by me.  I don't look hideous don't get me wrong lol but I'm not a professional and I can't give my photos the same luster they can.  I have been thinking about taking a photo inspired by several different songs for at least the last year.  I was home sick on Tuesday and finally said let me pull the outfit together and then go on the great photographer hunt.  It took most of the day but at least I wasn't laying in bed bored and I actually like the outfit for any number of other uses.  It also made me work through my inventory, try on new hair and shoes and check out the last sim on the pose fair.  That probably doesn't seem like a whole lot but for me let's just say it was huge.  And then I totally lucked out.  One of the few photographers that I think is stellar and that I hadn't worked with had time to take my photo in a few weeks so yours truly will be able to share a Julie Hastings photo with you once it's completed.  Parts of RL blew up immediately after that and I have no idea what is in store for me as a result BUT it could be that it's one of a number of changes that just has to happen so I can keep loving this thing called life, both the first and second one.

Updates and Stuff

Hey everyone,

not sure how long this will be but there are things to update.  Thankfully it feels like I'm finally come out of the I'm kinda disinterested in things funk that I had been experiencing.  I need to get some photos together of outfits I've purchased recently and/or styled for castings that have made me go I can still do this.  Asymetrique is rebooting as well as Maniera both things are making me reengage a bit as well as actually reading Fashion Feed lately cause after 50L Friday stopped I'll admit the feeds weren't as interesting to me.  Oh and for those of you that love a good sale head over to Kalnins before they permanently close their doors at the end of the month.  I hate when I forget about stores and then boom they are closing.  Run, I got a ton of cute shades and shoes.  Ok now I have to run.  Weather is finally moving into the area and it's gotten upgraded to tornado watch soooo I'm gonna go hide.  Oh yeah Maniera is hiding new instructors--click HERE if you are interested.

Love ya,
Rouge

what to say what to say

I'm totally slacking and I should do better lol.  Maniera had another great graduation show and I'm proud of my babies.  I have my photo ideas in mind but haven't found the motivation to pull the outfits together or schedule the shoots.  I'm hoping to get on that soon.  Just wanted you to know that I'm still breathing.  Will get back on it soon.

Does my breath smell?

Before  I begin let me say that some people might see this as kinda snarky lol so I'm sorry but it's really just something that came up again this weekend as I was watching another competition.  You all know about my contest experiences and normally it's not something I invest heavily in because well much like in real life I don't like losing.  That isn't to say I MUST win but not winning isn't as much fun lol.  After MEI wrapped I was exhausted and this summer/fall was kinda dead as far as booking shows or that kind of thing for me.  Partially I was out of the loop and partially I think the show count was down for my available time zones.  No harm no foul because I was still teaching and it's still fun for me to do so.

Fast forward to Saturday when the Miss Essence of Ebony competition started.  You should remember, if you were reading then, I tried out twice didn't make it either time and after some reflection decided I needed a break from being evaluated for a while.  As a contestant you never know what the observer is looking for and that became apparent in several conversations I had offline about what is considered attractive, talent, inspirational or entertaining over the last several weeks.  From knock down drag outs about why I think Jay Z looks like Joe Camel to why Jennifer Hudson doesn't appeal to me to how someone else can sing a song I don't like by the original artist and I'm in love with it.  I was all over the place and subjectivity was all that kept running through the conversations in total.  The same kind of thing is present in the messiness of Agency Report when model A isn't selected but someone that is disliked by another group is.  Of course we want to support our friends and sometimes it does look like there is some favoritism going on from our vantage point but there's that whole subjectiveness thing again.  Their friends, and yes they have them no matter how much you don't like them, are  thrilled for them.  As I was on Saturday for my student. 

So I'm in the audience to support a student, see several models I know well that were fierce--as was my student~big congrats to Lieffie Ruby for doing a stellar job--and then the other thing that always happens when I'm at events like these happened.  Questionable styling, crazy poses, and just utter foolishness in some cases.  I'll admit that some of it could be caused by lag and it was definitely laggy--show had to be moved and started nearly 2 hours later because of the lag.  However, other stuff could not be attributed to lag and it made me wonder well dang what exactly did I do during casting that I didn't make the cut.  Don't get me wrong I'm not the styling diva extraordinaire that expects to be picked at all times but I thought I did a good job at the time.  And that reminded me about the subjective thing again as well as my dislike of losing lol.  If I enter something I'm doing it with the desire to do my best.  If you don't make it past step one then it's hard to do that.  Last year I was intent on putting myself out there more and I did but I realized why I can't just do the contest thing for the sake of doing it.  It's a lot of work and time commitment to apply, compete and really work as hard as you can to perform well.  From perpetual pose checks, prim checks, finding the just right shoes/skin/hair/nails/lashes, making a look work from disparate pieces, etc.  And even though I talk a lot with my job, I'm actually pretty shy and reserved unless we are pretty good friends.  All that to say that some of the other things that people find enjoyable about contests just tire me out for some reason lol.  It's good experience, it does test you and your adaptability, but all in all I am not sure where my curvy booty fits into the typical contest :-)

Ahh well this is not a gripe just some realizations I'm sharing.  Please go the to Essence of Ebony site and check out Ms. Ruby and the other standouts from Saturday's show.

See ya on the grid,
Rouge

Rez Day and All that Jazz

Yesterday was my fourth rez day and I seriously don't think I logged on at all lol.  I wasn't feeling great but the passion for SL has kinda been sucked right out of me as of late.  No big reason as to why because I think I'm just in a funk overall.  Short of a few interesting shopping outings with the mom type person and a renewed sense of I must take care of myself there isn't a whole lot that is sparking a long term interest in me.  I'm sure it will past, it always does, as new avenues open up and I look at new experiences for myself.  Doing more vintage shopping with my actual dollars and not just my lindens lol.  I'm still enjoying teaching a lot but I gotta get back to firing on all cylinders.  I've had a photo project in my head for months and haven't pulled the trigger on that either.  I should stopping coming up with ideas and get back to it.  Anyhoo, I'm four whole years old now lol at least in SL and I look GOOD for my age ROFLMAO.  See ya later

Rouge

Quick Post Before Bed

This is mostly just going to be pics.  These are the dresses that Kimmera Madison-Fall designed for me to compete in for Miss Ebony International.  Diana is on sale as of a few weeks ago so please go snatch it up if you just love it.  Thanks again to her and for one of my students for reminding me that I needed to post these lol.  Good night all.

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.