Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. Charles M. Schulz

Before I get into my Christmas post. I want to talk about a few events. Kustom9 is fantastic this round and I spent a ton of money there. I can’t recommend this round enough. Collabor88 only has a few more weeks before a new round begins, so you will have to hurry to get their awesome items by various designers. Eliavah created this really great dress and bomber jacket for Kustom9. I really love the bomber jacket and I can see myself using it time and time again. My hair is by Sintiklia and available at Collabor88 and I love it. I keep buying their hair and adoring it. The backdrop from foxcity brings back some great memories of traveling home for the holidays, which is also from Kustom9. I have a deep love of this company and I am never disappointed. Her poses are truly wonderful. There are so many great items from Collabor88 and my picture features a few of them above. If you like any of the items featured in this photo, please check out my credits.

I’ve always liked Charlie Brown. So when I came across this quote, I knew that it had a place in my blog. I’ve been meaning to post this for a little while, but the holidays sort of had a way of sneaking up on me. Before I knew it, I had to buy gifts and wrap things. I had to find cookies and cards.. and well life took over for a couple of days. The wrapping paper has settled. The bows are now on the presents, displayed on the gifts. The family has been called. Friends have contacted me. Things in my home are a bit more calm. So I finally am writing this post…finally.

I’ve gone through some madness this month in all worlds, so I returned to the one person who has known me the longest who gave me some perspective, love, and even insight. She reminded me what the holidays truly mean. She grounded me firmly to the ground and she showed me the light, despite the darkness. I have a friend in real life who has literally known me half of my life. Sometimes we all need those people who have known us the longest to say.. this isn’t you.. and it’s okay to need people. She has made her way over to my house many times in the last two months and I have been very grateful for it. But it’s not just her. It was strangers who I also knew in another life, coming back to me and supporting me, when everything fell apart. I had people take away the stress with a phone call and a text. I have been so grateful for those people. For it is them that help me to be the friend that I want to be.

But it’s also the people in second life. The people who have spent time with me and listened to me. The people who stuck by me, when I couldn’t even be there for myself. They too served me a reminder of the person that I want to be and want to continue to be. It is people in life who make us who we are–for better or worse. Some with teach us. Some will support us. And some will surprise us.

When the beginning of December started, I wanted to write this blog with the theme of peace. Yet, my life had been anything but peaceful. It stopped me from promoting the kindness, love, and appreciation in the world, because I was crumbling. I had dealt with fights and misunderstandings, personal disappointments, anger, frustration, and even heartache. It wasn’t the breeding ground for peace because I couldn’t find it in my own life.

I didn’t find peace until a long lost friend stepped forward in real life. She opened up and so did I. It was that time spent sharing tears, joys, and just life in general. She was my gift this holiday season. She reminded me that I was very loved and very missed, in the mess that is life–children, family, and work. It was her light that guided me back to the person that I have always been. I woke up and I had found my peace. She gave that to me through the friendship that I have always known. On my birthday, she had given me a gift–a necklace of an anchor. She told me that I had kept her grounded and her feet firmly planted on the ground to reason. Months later, she became my anchor of reason, when I needed it most. She told me to keep calm and talk through my problems with people and not to run away. She told me that peace was found in dealing with things and seeing past issues and the good in people around me. Then, I would find peace. She was right.

I wanted to be more and do more, but I’m not able to do more or be more. She stepped behind the sink and started doing dishes… no questions asked. She just did them. She cleared away the mess. And she said to me, sometimes it’s okay to let someone help clean things up and it’s okay that things aren’t perfect. those who see you, and your struggle who love you….will understand.

In that moment, it had clicked. I had found my peace. In my messy home and imperfect life, I had found my peace. I was able to slowly come back to the computer and slowly make appointments–decisions and be okay. Second life is very much like that. Those who come to love you will understand. They will understand when you have to pull long hours and not be online. They understand that maybe you need complete silence or a few days to sink into an inventory. They understand what you need in your second life. It’s when we find understanding people that we are truly at peace. And sometimes people will show us how to get it, when we don’t know how to find that inner sanctuary.

Before I close this blog post, I want to talk about who inspired my closing, “be kind to one another.” It was Ellen DeGeneres. I have always loved her show and her. I always viewed her as having a lot of strength. She spoke her truth, despite consequences. She lives as the person that she is and not the person people want her to be. There’s a lot of power in that. But also, she has a very bright light. She was never completely lost by her struggles. She instead gave light, and laughter to others–promoting kindness. I recently watched her latest standup. Someone asked how she never gave up. She tapped into her own light to keep going. I think on this holiday season, when you see the flicker of light on the tree, remember your own light that you give to the world and don’t give up hope. And remember the holidays are about family and friends that also stand by your side, when the lights have gone dim. For those people, they will remind you of your own light. For me, this is the meaning of Christmas–people, love, and hope.

Hug those you love, tell them–virtually and in real life. I hope you all have wonderful laughter with good people around you and the yummiest of food.

Happy Holidays Everyone….and remember

Be Good To One Another

Cheers,

Violet xoxo

Credits

hair–SINTIKLIA–Dana–by Sintiklia (sintikliasims)–Collabor88 December 2018
Dress–Eliavah –Ficceh shirt by e l i a v a h ღ (eliavahazaleia)–Kustom9 December 2018
Jacket–Eliavah –Ficceh bomber by e l i a v a h ღ (eliavahazaleia)–Kustom9 December 2018
Boots–Reign–Lara boots by KENADEE REIGN (kenadeecole)–mainstore

Decor

Backdrop–foxcity –Old Station by Satomi Masukami–Kustom9 December 2018
Piles of Snow–Nomad–Snow landscape pack by Pira (piraiyah.novikov)–Collabor88 December 2018
Milk can with foliage–Trompe Loeil–Yasmine Noel Milk Can by C. Edo (cory.edo)–Collabor88 December 2018
Christmas tree–Half Deer –Bottlebrush Christmas Tree by Halo (halogen.magic)–Collabor88 December 2018
Deer–Mutresse–Chilling Fury Reindeer by Eeky Cioc–The Arcade December 2018
Dog with ball–Fawny–My little Puppy by Stephen (akirakiyoi)–Old gacha item
Rocking chair–Hive–worn windsor rocking chair by hive (thehivestore)–mainstore

Pose–Foxcity –Cold Outside Bento Pose by Satomi Masukami–Kustom9 December 2018

Foot Note–I want to make a brief mention about adult photos, since I know some blog adult content. I did a lot of research the other day and found that Flickr had updated their rules about how to share those photos. You are now supposed to only post the picture ..as a copy of the photo, but not with a direct link of the photo. But you are also supposed to provide a link back to flickr. You can read more about how to link adult rated photos to your blog here.

https://help.flickr.com/en_us/share-restricted-content-rktA3QjJQ

The wording is a bit confusing, but you are allowed to share restricted photos that are public, but you can no longer embed the photo into a post. I suspect that this is due to the sex trafficking laws and how they impact companies. Embedding the photo would cause a great deal of confusion for who would be accountable for the content.

But again, you can link restricted photos. You just can’t embed them into your post.

Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. Jamais Cascio

This blog is much later than I ever intended. But it’s not due to a lack of effort. This one photo has a ton of things from events. I’m so excited about this one little photo. My feet really did hit the pavement.

Before I get into all the glorious shopping details, I want to talk a little bit about this quote and the name of the picture. I found this quote which touched a chord with me–especially right now. My whole world relies on me bouncing back and being resilient. Pain will ebb and flow. Sometimes you just have to do what you can on the good days. I thought about resilience, after having a truly difficult week with pain. I’ve always been one to say that I was in pain, but never really how that pain made me feel.

Bouncing back and not focusing on the bad days is so important. I’ve learned that yesterday may have been awful, but today can be better. You can’t focus on yesterday’s pain, when there’s a life to live today. My train of thought really brought me to the concept of resilience. Many of us have had to be resilient to stay strong in a virtual world. Many people bounce back from heart ache, failure, and criticism. There’s a resilience in bouncing back from those things. It’s definitely a skill.

I haven’t been the most resilient person sometimes. I’ve had trouble bouncing back from life’s bumps in the road–which goes for second life too. But in the end, I had the ability to overcome. Life doesn’t really give you a choice. Life is also mean and it will give you that lesson over and over again of resilience–with the rocky path that is life.

Speaking of rocky paths, I picked the picture to represent the world because of so many things. I’m a little touchy when it comes to prosthetics portrayed in second life. Any time I’ve portrayed myself with a piece of me that’s artificial like an arm or leg, I go through something emotionally. It’s more truth in that one picture. It’s one window. One peak to a mask lifted. I don’t normally run around inworld with a prosthetic anything for this reason. BUT.. if there was ever a reason to do it… it was the signs in the universe and this really hard week.

I’m scheduled to have a knee surgery in the very near future. My mother is disabled from a knee surgery that refused to heal correctly. It’s not something that I have told others about. I’m nervous and scared for so many reasons. However, seeing that prosthetic painted beautifully was a hopeful sign. Despite increased difficulty, it gives me hope that something hard can be beautiful in the end. Since this picture represents a big part of my world, there was no other arcana card in the tarot deck suited for this pic—other than the world. This is my world. These are my fears. This is the cause for such emotional upheaval. But you know what… it’s still beautiful–scars and all.

Now to create that beautiful reflection, I went to several events. My skirt came from the Dubai Event. It’s by Legal Insanity and called the Anna skirt. My head piece came from LODE and it’s from shiny shabby. My shirt is from Kustom9 by E.Marie. My legs are from N21 and by DRD. There’s also a gold flower pot in the background by Eliavah and available at Whimsical. As you can see, there are so many great events on the grid. If you need further info on any of the items featured in this picture, please check out my credits below. Thank you

One quick note, I was really hoping to see pashminas, rugs, and jewelry…gold at the Dubai event. I’m hoping to see these items. I have a few pashminas in real life from the middle east and I love them. I hope to buy a couple inworld soon. 😛

Much love,

Violet xoxo

P.S.–thank you to everyone who checked in with me this week and made me laugh–spent time with me. I’m really thankful for that.

Credits

Nails–N21–Sakura mesh nails by Nylon Pinkney–N21 May 2018
Rings–Yummy–Sweet like candy by Polyester Partridge N21 May 2018
Hair Piece–LODE–Valley Wreath (cotton) Rare by Chirzaka RV (chirzaka.vlodovic)–Shiny Shabby May 2018
Legs–DRD–Frida Prosthetic by Jaimy Hancroft–N21 may 2018
Shirt–E.Marie –Bustier Top by . E м i . (emilianamarie)–Kustom9 May 2018
Skirt–Legal Insanity –Anna skirt by EGO THE SIZE OF RUSSIA (datrip.blackbart)–Dubai May 2018
Hair–Stealthic –Somber by Hunter (stealthic)–Kustom9 May 2018

Furniture

Suitcases–Nutmeg–Old Suitcases Pink by Neva Xenga (nevacrystall) Shiny Shabby may 2018
white bag–Nutmeg—Straw bag pink–Neva Xenga (nevacrystall)–Shiny Shabby May 2018
flower vase–Eliavah –Stillglasses Roses 1 by e l i a v a h ღ (eliavahazaleia)–whimsical May 2018
Rugs–Trompe Loeil –Teigan Glamping Rug–by C. Edo (cory.edo)–mainstore
backdrop/chandelier/ottomon—-foxcity — My Wardrobe Photobooth by Satomi Masukami–Kustom9 May 2018
Potted plant–HIVE–Cordyline Tree by hive (thehivestore)–mainstore
Pose–Foxcity–Selfie by Satomi Masukami–Kustom9 May 2018