A Fresh RE-start

Once again I’m back…this time for real (I think) lol. While I had fully intended to be blogging regularly by mid-November last year, RL and SL stress caught up with me, so I took an unintended break from blogging and from SL. Looking back, I think I got too caught up and overwhelmed with all the events and other things I was invited to blog and didn’t know how to balance my blogging and my life. Between that and dealing with issues at my work and plain being sick, it was more than enough to drive me crazy. I am back now and making a few changes and try and simplify this a little. First off, I’m going to try and “schedule” blogging. Well, schedule probably isn’t the right word but the general idea I’m going for is that I’m making myself post at least once a week instead of doing 3 or 4 a day or even a week. Second, I’m not going to apply to any events or do a whole lot of blogger pack things right now, at least until I get my sea legs back under me, so-to-speak. Third, I’m giving Kaiden more blogging time. I want to diversify a little bit and with the way she dresses – a little bit edgier and funkier than I do – I think it’ll add some nice added interest. I love her style and I wish I had the balls to wear some of the stuff she does.

Enough rambling though and onto the clothes! Since I haven’t logged in pretty much since last fall, I had to catch up on all the new releases. Let’s just say I spent a pretty penny updating my wardrobe lol. (Therathe is so going to kill me when he finds out how much I spent! Eeps!) Here’s to a fresh re-start with a new hair, skin, clothes – even a tattoo! (I feel like such a wild woman!) At some point I’ll have to bust out my new feet and hands too lol.

The darling freckled skin – perfect for gingers, I might add – is currently a GG at Al Vulo! (It’s free to join if you’re not a member.) I went wild and added a tattoo from CoLLisions. I’m not normally big on tats in SL but I have a not-so-secret love for all things Asian and Oriental. Since that’s my heritage I just had to wear it.

Btw, it’s good to be back 🙂

♥ Ayako 

Hair: Truth by Truth Hawkes – Junia – Ginger pack
Eyes: IKON by Ikon Innovia  – Sunrise Eyes – Aspen
Skin: Al Vulo! by Hlin Bluebird – Ewa – Kinder Fairy (Group Gift)
Tattoo: CoLLisions by Guenevere DeCuir  – Clarity of Mind* ( Available at Thrift Shop)
Sweater: Maitreya by Onyx LeShelle – Athena Sweater – Cream
Jeans: Fri.day by Darling Monday  – Designer Jeans – Regular Wash
Boots: Maitreya by Onyx LeShelle  – Stagioni Boots – Coal
Poses: SEmotion by Marie Sims 

*Notes review items

52 Weeks of Color – #38 Papaya Whip

I honestly have no idea what color the swatch was.  I’ve been back and forth with what color it actually is whether a pinkish or a peach-ish, but I went with what Wikipedia called it – a light orangey-peach color. I think I used this Grixdale dress last year for a color but it works for Papaya Whip too.

I do find things a bit more difficult this round. Most of these are colors completely foreign to me, but isn’t that part of the challenge? I wonder what next week will bring.

❤ Aya

Hair: Elikatira – Abbey
Skin: Filthy – September Group Gift
Earrings: CoLLisions –  Saturday Night Special II* (FabFree hunt gift)
Dress: Grixdale – My Vintage Frock – Peacj
Shorts: {Zaara} – Denim Shorts – Indigo
Shoes: Pixel Mode – Fae Wedges – Khaki
Pose: [LAP]

*Notes review copies

52 Weeks of Color – #33 Tyrian Purple

Yay for a color I know! This week was a girl’s night out in Tyrian Purple! It’s been such a long time since I hung out with Kaiden or done pics with her so we combined our hang time with the color challenge and voila! Two sexy ladies in purple. I picked the wardrobe and she took the pictures (since my poor pc will not do fabulous shadows). Sexy, outfits, mood lighting, and great music = so much fun! Note that I left out the pics from the club. Nuff said :p

❤ ayako

Hair: TRUTH – Chalice – Auburn
Skin: LAQ – Susan – Fair 02
Necklace: CoLLisions – Vanessa’s Blossom II* available at Vintage Fair 2012
Dress: ~Sassy! – Sugar Dress – Violet
Shoes: Pixel Mode – Baby T’s – Plain – Purple
Poses: skin&bones, Essential Soul

It Looks Like Rain

It’s a rather grey and dismal day here and it seemed to require or request that I blog something weather related. (Don’t ask. It’s one of those weird mood days.) I can hear the thunder rumbling off in the distance as I write this. One of those days that the apartment feels big and lonely.

I found this darling umbrella pose set from {what next} with both single and couples poses. I’m missing Therathe today, so I grabbed his avi to pose with me this afternoon.  And thanks to Cajsa, I found both this sim to take pics from her notecard, at and the fantastic rainy windlight for the cloudy skies to set the mood. I hope the rest of your day is lovely, no matter what the weather is in your part of the world.

❤ Ayako

On Therathe:
Hair: TRUTH – Eric – Espresso
Skin: The Abyss – Scorpio – Eclipse
Necklace: Lapointe&Bastchild – Men’s Dog Tags – Black Iron/Black Edge Silver
Shirt: GothiCatz – Equinox shirt
Pants: AOHARU – Vintage Crashed Jeans – Dark
Shoes: McChuck’s – Urban Chrome

On Ayako:
Hair: [e] – Flattery – Red 04 
Skin: LAQ – Maria – Peach
Necklace: CoLLisions – Sweet Dreams Necklace
Dress: coldLogic – Hathaway Dress – Ecru
Shoes: ALEIDA – Iganga Ballerina – Indian Summer

Pose: {what next} – Rainy Day
Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse%20Algiers/175/137/30

TOSL’s 2nd Birthday Hunt – CoLLisions

Normally I don’t wear tats in SL nor do I blog them but this one in particular caught my eye. It’s a line/quote from one of my fave movies Fight Club. This tattoo is the gift from CoLLisions for the Taste of SL’s 2nd birthday hunt.

Hunt on TOSL lovers!

❤ Aya

Hair: Truth
Skin: :TULI:
Tattoo: .:CoLLisions:. – Tyler’s Warning
Underwear: LoveLace<3
Poses: SEmotion & Glitterati

Summer of Love

❤ Ayako

On Ayako:
Hair: TRUTH – Odette – Quince
Skin: PXL – Kate *Special release for the Skin Showcase 
Eye shadow: PXL – Kate – Summer eyeshadow
Lip gloss: PXL – Kate – Strawberry Lip Gloss
Tattoo: CoLLisions – Key to Immortality  *special for TOSL
Glasses: Etoile Levane – H4W Glasses – Adria
Bathing Suit: fri.day – Retro Pinup – Cherry Bomb
Feet: SLink – Jolie Pied Prim Barefeet 

On Therathe:
Hair: TRUTH – Eric – Espresso
Skin: The Abyss – Scorpio – Eclipse
Necklace: Lapointe&Bastchild – Men’s Dog Tags – Black Iron/Black Edge Silver
Swim Trunks: The Mesh Shop – Mesh Boardshorts – Nipon
Feet: SLink – Men’s Mesh Feet

Poses: Diesel Works & !bang

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kitsch/113/167/27

52 Weeks of Color Challenge – Royal Purple & Seashell Peach

I’m back from a very relaxing week off. I spent a wonderful spring break with Therathe and as such haven’t had much time for blogging. But now I’m back to blogging and playing catch up with my color challenge.

I fell in love with this dress from De La and even though it’s not the color of the swatch provided, it’s still a beautiful deep purple color that seemed close enough. And just in time for me to play catch up, I logged on to find this lovely necklace set from CoLLisions that’s an exclusive release for The Black Market. It’s perfect for a royal purple post!

Seashell Peach I kept simple since I have very little clothing in this color. I’m wearing mesh hair from Wasabi Pills for the first time. So far I really like what I’ve seen and I’m looking forward to trying more. Admittedly I’ve been a bit skeptical about mesh hair so far. Elikatira is the only one I’ve bought up til now. Very few of the other ones I’ve demoed will rez properly for me so I’m pretty excited about this one. Yay meshiness! Next week’s color is bright turquoise and should bring interesting results.

❤ Ayako

Royal Purple
Hair: Exile – Josie – Rust (from past TDR Blue)
Skin: LAQ – Ebba – Peach (Christmas group gift)
Dress: =DeLa*= – Jocelyn – Purple
Jewelry: CoLLisions @ The Black Market – Vanessa’s Blossom*
Shoes: Maitreya – Shanti – Black
Pose: Glitterati

Seashell Peach
Hair: Wasabi Pills – Monique 2 – Gingerbread (MESH)
Skin: Laqroki – Maria – Peach
Outfit: Nyte’N’Day – Amity Tank & Boy Shorts – Peach
Pose: !bang

*Denotes promotional copies

52 Weeks of Color Challenge – #11 Aquamarine

I love love love this color! Aquamarine is definitely one of my favorites. Even so I had a little bit of trouble with it. I promised myself no matter what, I wouldn’t be a mermaid. It seemed a bit too obvious to me especially after adding a pic of an avocado last week. Of course as soon as I decided not to be a mermaid, stuff popped up everywhere that seemed to taunt me with the fact. I even got in my head that teen movie Aquamarine that was about a mermaid. (Yes I’ve seen it and don’t ask. lol.)

I was ready to give into the taunting mermaid when a shopping spree with one of my best SL friends saved me. I found this adorable summery outfit from  GizzA. Hooray!

Next week’s color looks fun. Never heard of St. Patrick’s blue but you learn something new everyday right?

❤ Ayako

Hair: TRUTH – Faith – Copper
Skin: ::Exodi:: – Sophie – Peche – Goddess (Group gift)
Lipstick: [Mock] Cosmetics – Sweet Coral lipstain
Necklace: .:CoLL:. – Just a Tickle Necklace *
Outfit: GizzA – Summer Outfits – Aqua 
Pose: !bang

52 Weeks of Color Challenge – #2 Coral

Yay for coral! I went for something kind of fun and summery since the color always makes me think of the beach and the tropics. I’m longing for spring and summer right now. It’s been a crap winter here with almost no snow and the recent unusually warm weather is giving me a bit of spring fever already. At least in SL I can dress for the warm weather all year long! 

Last time around I ended up buying almost half of what I used during the challenge. Either I didn’t have anything in that color or I just wanted something different. My goals for this year are to buy less and also to expand my range of outfits more. This week around the only thing I bought was the shirt so yay! My skirt is from Alexohol and yay for blogger packs because it was just what I was looking for.

Electric Indigo is next week. That should be interesting…

❤ Ayako

Hair: [Raspberry Aristocrat] – Halia – Red Canyon
Skin: LAQ – Susan – Fair
Lipstick: [Mock] Cosmetics – Sweet Coral Lipstain
Nails: Pixel Mode – Sculpted Nails V2 – Gloss
Barrette: Indyra Originals – Airedale Floral Barrette (past fair gift)
Necklace: ::CoLLisions:: – Breath of Autumn necklace (past hunt gift)
Shirt: /artilleri/ – Micha top – Coral
Skirt: Alexohol – Flirtini skirt – Black*
Pose: Posies 

*Indicates promotional copies