Happy Valentine's Day

I know everyone is probably sick of the hearts and the Hallmarky sweetness of it all, but I still wanted to send something to my update group as a token of appreciation for them. I think what grates on people the most about Valentine's Day is the forced romanticism, but if you consider it as a time to appreciate your loved ones it's hard to dislike it.

I really do appreciate my fans and customers, and I want to thank you sincerely for your support. For the IM's you send me saying that you love my work and for sticking in my group when I don't update for months, thank you. It's because of you guys that I get to do something that I love, and create beautiful things for so many people to enjoy. Even if we've never spoken, I still feel a deep appreciation for your contribution to my life.


I brainstormed about possible gifts and I realized if I gave you something with hearts or a strict love theme you'd only ever wear it once or twice. Plus I have to think of the poor neglected men!
So here is a Valentine's gift you can wear any day of the year.

You can fish them out of the Masqueraderie group notices. Enjoy them, and know that you guys are loved.

Mardi Gras Masquerade 2011

It's official! Everyone is excited with the feeling of a holiday in the air. Folks are picking up goodies for their loved ones and decorating everything with the traditional colors. Baking cakes, eating candies, getting... beads thrown at them?

You thought I was talking about Valentine's Day didn't you? Well, it seems you forgot about Mardi Gras! Obviously the most important day of the year.
I hope you'll join me at Illusions' fifth(!) annual Mardi Gras masquerade, held as always on a Saturday because I know all too well the woes of staying up too late on a weekday. However, that just makes for earlier revelry!

As always, formal dress is strongly encouraged, befitting of a grand and elegant venue. But, I do encourage you to be creative and to seek out colorful and fabulous ways to celebrate. The theme is purple, green and gold but if you have something in mind, go for it!

When you're assembling your costume, please keep in mind a few guidelines which will dramatically help everyone's ability to rez and dance smoothly. There's no point looking fabulous if you're a gray blob to everyone else!

Please keep your prim attachments in total to less than 250

This limit helps to keep everyone rezzing quickly. Check how many prims you have by going into Edit and holding down shift to click each item you're wearing. The window will display the collected total of those prims.

Streamline your AO, or leave it at home

Nobody likes looking like a noob while being a wallflower. However, if you don't plan to dance, fill a veritably lag free, low prim ZHAOII with your two or three favorite stands. Otherwise, just go without.

Check your script totals
Viewer 2 now has an "Avatar Scripts" total you can view, by going to About Land->Script Info->My Avatar. Try to make new, clean copies of items that have resize scripts and aim for less than 600kb

If we all follow these guidelines, I know we can contribute to a more fun and smoother experience.

As always, there will be a costume contest, determined by vote, to vie for the titles of Mardi Gras King and Queen. Two previously unreleased, themed masks will be awarded as the prizes, along with 1500L Angel Cards to each! I will also be passing out gift cards to honorable mentions and other people whom I find simply fabulous. So make sure to dress your best!

Make sure you join the group, spots will go surprisingly fast. After 50 join, I will have a waiting list just in case anyone leaves the group, which has happened before. There will still be hope to get in even if you hear about it too late.

Masks are required, but a freebie mask will be included, which is the mask shown in the invite. I know the costume rules are tough to follow, especially when it's so tempting to go for the excess, but I have the utmost faith in your creativity to be able to work around the limitations, and flourish. I can't wait to see you there.

Illusions Mardi Gras Masquerade
Saturday, March 5th, 4PM SLT
Illusions Event Hall, Carnivale
(Join the "Illusions Mardi Gras Masque 2011" Group)
Formal Dress and Mask Required

I've been lying low for a while, I always seem to crash around the end of the year in a fiery ball of unproductive sluggishness. But I was trying to get myself to spend more time logged in and was taking care of customer IM's and other sundries when I found myself suddenly struck with fidgetiness. Building fidgetiness. I had left something dreadfully unfinished when I redid my store build, a blank space covered in trees and generally filler while I had this beautifully detailed area around it. It wasn't done, and it was starting to bug me.

So to ease back into working and being productive, I started making the plan I had for that space a reality.



The Arab Market is a place I've been wanting to make for ages, contrasting the perfect, clean, and refined architecture of my store building with a dirtier, grungier and more cluttered feel. While my store is a lofty temple, the market has close quarters, things around corners, and little alleys to get lost down.
I hate closing down the sim for any reason, if you'll recall I didn't even have the sim closed more than a day when I installed the new store build. So if you visit and take a look around, after a day there might be new buildings or some creative shuffling of elements to take a peek at. Of course, there might also just be a mess.

I'll let you guys know when it's officially done though :)