The Eagle Has Landed

Del Hotaling: the eagle has landed and its 100 degrees. but air con is great. take care see you soon xxx

He made it safe from England to America, next on to Mexico!  He wanted the heat we had been having in the States, sounds like he found that too.

A Change

I have decided not to post anything about the Costa Rica sims for awhile because this isn’t a Costa Rica sims blog but an SL blog and I think too much has been posted about them lately (I’m guilty). I’m no longer available for Costa Rica sim tours either. So on to some other places to cover and other issues to talk about and I think most of our readers will enjoy a change of pace. Thanks for sticking with me the past few days.  *winks*  I know it couldn’t have been easy on you.  *smiles*  I believe Veronique is going to continue to post about the Miss Costa Rica Pageant (her standings at least) so you can check her blog out or the Costa Rica website from my links section for more on that.

Monday, I will fufill a promise I made to wait for that day before doing what I have planned.   It’s nothing huge or earthshaking I promise.  (Rainbow, it isn’t a SL divorce so no worries there).  I’ll be back later with something new for you to read.

Laurel’s Shopping Pick – DiBoutique

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Victoriana%20Square/99/93/33/

I stare in awe at the bouquet rezzed before me!  WOW!  Giancarlo who referred me to this wonderous shop said I would be amazed and he’s was so right! There is a new merchant coming soon to the Costa Rica Shopping District and I’m offering you a sneak peek of what is to come.  DiBoutique is a delightful floral shop with creations that are really something you will want to see.  Amelie Dibou who makes the arrangments creates miracles with flowers! 

The Bridal Bouquets and Boutonnieres for the guys are the best I have ever seen.  If you know someone having a wedding soon in Second Life, you will want to pass on this landmark without a doubt. The flowers in the bouquets are so real looking and artfully arranged!  You can see the bouquets rezzed in the window of the shop and you can touch the arrows to cycles through all of them.  That’s not all that is sold here, you can find rose covered columns for your home, house plants, a christmas tree, garlands, wreaths and you can see a huge display of pointsettas behind me. The christmas items are offered seasonal and are now out to celebrate the Summer Yule fest in this sim taking place July 21 through the 31st with a ball, skating and other winter time events. So if you want the Christmas items you will have to snap them up now!  Other inventory will then be put out after this holiday is over.

The landmark above takes you to the Victorian Square location. You will arrive in a quaint Victorian Train Station.  Look for the poster on the wall for DiBoutique to teleport directly to the shop.  Once inside the shop you can browse around and be amazed!  Amelie told me that the Costa Rica shop will have some entirely new inventory so we can wait in anticipation for that. Some items are already in the Costa Rica shop but not the full inventory just yet I will update this post with the landmark there once it is completed.

An Interesting Tie and What Not to Do in a Pageant

There is now a new three-way tie for first in the Miss Costa Rica contest between Emerald, Veronique and Sabien!  Will be interesting to see how that shakes up.  I got a chance to talk to Emerald a bit more yesterday during the day and she’s quite nice and seems to be a pro with these things as she also has qualified for the SL Universe pageant.  I wish her the best in both contests! 

As this has been my first pageant and my last I think, I can’t offer any advice as to how to win but I can tell you what hasn’t worked for me.  I’m not comfortable with asking for votes.  I was expecting a pageant with judges so this has been different.  I was told last night by Felicity that the next phase of the pageant will be that way.  Alas, I don’t see myself as making it to that phase.

I first sent out IMs to the few people I know in Costa Rica asking if they would consider voting for me.  I think a few might have.  Since it is only my second month in the Costa Rica sims, I’ve spent some time hanging out at the clubhouse smiling and greeting people as they come in to vote.  Engaging in some friendly chit-chat to get to know them a bit better but not asking or begging for their votes.  I have met many more of the residents that way at least. To me, I think I would find the begging as annoying so I haven’t done it myself.  I have been with Marielle when she has been more aggressive at rounding up votes and that did seemed to work out for her. She has a unique personality that I think lets her get away with going after votes without seeming overly pushy about it.  I was counting on the interviews playing more of a role in the contest but I haven’t seen much of a change after those were published.  Mine was the only one that added humor to it.  That could have been a mistake to try but it is how I am and to do a completely serious interview without any humor in it at all would have not really been me.  Seems a long boring interview recapping much of what is already on the Costa Rica website works better.  So serious is the way to go in the interview process rather than trying to make a few people laugh. 

I attended one of the Friday parties last night at Iron and Stormy’s.  If you haven’t yet attended one of these parties, I would encourage you to do so. I had an incredible time and hope to attend the next one even tho it doesn’t fall within my normal SL time.  Costa Rican parties are always so well attended because they are so much fun!  Veronique and Marielle were also there and I think they managed to grab a few votes out of it.  When I left, I asked people if they hadn’t already voted in the contest to take a moment to go to the clubhouse to do so but never said, “Vote for me”.  I think I will volunteer to help with the pageant next year, as I think that would be much more fun and I can take what I learned this year with me to try to improve the experience for others. 

What has been very clear to me that I learned from this experience is that I am not a highly competitive person.  I’m not willing to win at any cost by begging, bribing or as one contestant said, “being mean”.  I was naive, not might have been naive but was as to how these pageants work with the vote boards and such.  Del and I talked about my dropping out of it entirely before the interviews were published, as it wasn’t the fun I thought it would be for me because of the vote getting process. I know I’m not the only contestant that hasn’t liked that part either. He asked me to stay in as the next phase would be what I wanted to be involved in and would excel at and see how it goes.  Not to drop out of the contest but be eliminated if that is what is meant to happen.  I love to socialize and meet people so that is just my plan till Monday when I leave it behind and not worry about it at all. I’ll continue to hang out with the other contestants as that has been lots of fun!  Socializing and having fun is more my personal style. I’ll find out when I get back which way the wind blew in the last round of voting which will wrap up while I am away.  I think that plan beats agonizing about it, which I know I am doing. Now to dress and work on a review for the blog today! Now what to wear…  No more posts on that Pageant.  I promise.  I had enough of it too.

He’s Gone

Del should be on his plane by now headed to America and then onto Mexico to start his vacation.  He left me this picture to show of “his beach” he will be at.  *smiles*  We haven’t been apart for more than a day since we first partnered back in February so this will be a new experience for both of us.  Just 2 more days and I can shave a week of that seperation off by being back home up north.  It will be different when I get back and have yet another week without him that it will be much harder.  I admit I miss him already.  I logged in and it seemed different at our villa somehow. No emailed jokes either today.

I’ll most likely fill the time I would normally spend in Second Life with him blogging and working on things for my shops.  So there will be lots for you to read before I leave.