Dia de los Muertos

Halloween is almost upon us and in America that means it's time for scary movies and trick or treating! Sometimes though we forget that other cultures celebrate this time of year in entirely different ways. Take the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It is a celebration of life, a festival during which families decorate the graves of lost loved ones in remembrance and create colorful "altars" with photos and favorite foods of the deceased. At night, the line between the worlds of the living and of the dead blur and allow the ancestor's souls a short visit to their families. The ultimate symbol of blending these two worlds is in the festive costumes depicting skeletons engaging in everyday activities. I found a perfect FREEBIE outfit for my Dia de los Muertos celebration at BOTANICA by completing their maze hunt. Explore the maze, collect all the luminaries, and trade them in for your choice of prize, including the male or female Day of the Dead costumes, complete with skull facial tattoos. They're colorful, perfect for the season, completely FREE, and fun to pick up! No group space needed! Just grab a friend and head to BOTANICA!-----WHC Riler

My friends are wearing - Botanica - The Dia de los Muertos Costumes (FREE GIFT FOR COMPLETING THE MAZE HUNT)

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It's Halloween! Soon, that is. It will be Halloween. Coming up. Soon.

Lately, Celise has been pestering me relentlessly. So, I promised I would kick off my Halloween posts with her favorite Halloween costume of 2014. This is the current FREE GROUP GIFT from JAZZITUDE, a lovingly produced tribute to the British television show and international cult phenomenon "Doctor Who". The science fiction show features a time machine/spacecraft called the TARDIS (which is disguised as a police call box). The costume is adorable! One really great advantage is that this costume is appropriate for any sim. Yet, it still looks a little bit sexy to me. Depicted on the dress is the TARDIS and Jazzy, the creator, has included several subtle nods to different seasons of the show as a tribute to the Doctor. This is an incredibly unique costume. If you have any interest in the show at all, I know you will be delighted to have it. Special thanks to The Nag's Head Pub on the Creamy's Spot sim, a beautiful place to have a pint.-----WHC Riler


(On a more personal note to Celise: You are not English, have never been there, and do not have a clue about anything remotely British! You don't need to be English to wear the costume, of course, but stop it with the damned fake accent, it's very annoying!)

Celise is wearing - Jazzitude - TARDIS Cosplay Outfit (FREE GROUP GIFT/ FREE GROUP)

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It's Worth The Wait .(UPDATE! SEVEN DEADLY SKINS GROUP NOW FREE OCT 31ST ONLY)

I am so excited! It's shaping up to be a fantastic month to be a resident of Second Life. There are free haunted houses and other scary builds, Halloween themed dances and it is an extremely active month for freebie/bargain hunters. Yesterday, I received word that the FREE GROUP GIFTS from HOORENBEEK have changed, so I rushed over to check them out. They have an unusual policy regarding their gifts, but Hoorenbeek is an excellent store and the gifts are fantastic. In order to be eligible for them you must first join their subscribo and wait two weeks before you can pick up them up. It sounds like it's a hassle but since it's a subscribo it won't tie up one of your group slots, and the gifts from them are of high enough quality that it is worth the extra effort. The gifts do not change every month but since they require a waiting period to pick them up, it's understandable that they are kept out longer to give people more time to pick them up. This month's gift is the MESH Montgomery Jacket in gray. It is a perfect jacket for the weather as it turns colder, one that looks as if it will keep you warm during the coldest of days. The details are superb from the realistic lining of the hood to the buttons that could hold the jacket closed. The Montgomery Jacket looks rugged but still maintains a nice civilized look. I should warn you to please read the card included in the gift, it contains a short description of all the included parts and options. That is needed because the options included go beyond merely wearing the jacket open or closed. In the picture I am wearing it open along with the shirt insert and to give it a more complete look I grabbed the Gray Classic Tie from Nerd Monkey. The tie was a hunt gift from a previous hunt blogged in my entry "Basic Black? Not A Chance, This Is Exceptional Black!" and has been extremely useful to me. I also wanted to point out the skin I am wearing. It is the Halloween Hunt gift - Vincent at SEVEN DEADLY SKINS, but it's a group only hunt. The group is 200 lindens to join which sadly makes it outside the scope of this blog, but the owner of Seven Deadly Skins does offer reduced prices to join every so often and I will try to keep track of when that happens to give everyone a heads up. If you already belong to the group, do the hunt, the skin is very nice. If you don't already belong and don't have the money to join, no worries. I will keep my eyes open for future chances for you to join. Izara is very generous with her group gifts and Seven Deadly Skins is a good group to belong to. The Vincent gift comes with and without the hair base and is one of my favorite skins, so I imagine you will see me wearing it often. The hunt is on until Halloween, have fun and see you on the grid. Oh and my apologies to the fine people at Hoorenbeek for mucking up their LM on the original post.
-----WHC Riler

WHC Riler is wearing - Hoorenbeek - the Montgomery Jacket In Gray (FREE GIFT/ SUBSCRIBO)

WHC Riler is wearing - Seven Deadly Skins - the Halloween Hunt gift - Vincent (FREE HUNT GIFT/ PAY GROUP 200L BUT FREE TODAY 10/31/14)

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Slipping Into Fall.

The weather is changing now in my area of the world. The days become shorter and cooler. It is quite a sight to see, the leaves changing. Soon, it will be time to go up into the mountains and look out over the breathtaking sight of the trees draped in their autumn colors. Of course when you do, here is a little tip from someone who is in awe of such grandeur. STAY IN THE CAR! It's cold out there and utterly miserable. There is no reason at all to leave the comfort of your fossil fuel burning bubble. That's why man invented the window. What I really look forward to more than the turning of the leaves is the change of the monthly LAVAROCK group gift. Once again, it does not disappoint. This time around, they are offering the lito male jacket-2, a beautiful, dark brown, MESH leather jacket. As usual with a LAVAROCK FREE GROUP GIFT, the textures look so soft that they tempt you to touch them. The styling, like all my favorite Second Life clothing, looks like a piece I would own in real life. They have come up with a another gift that became my new favorite jacket the instant I put it on, and the most amazing part is that it's FREE! There is also a monthly gift for women at the store and it is this same jacket in black leather, with a few subtle differences. One difference is the tiny pentagrams on the two lapel buttons, just another small detail on a wonderfully detailed jacket.  Also worth noting is the hair I am wearing. It is the FREE Welcome Gift "MINATO" [male/unisex] from ARGRACE. It comes in a fatpack of 40 colors and is resizeable. This hair was also shown in black on an uncredited Riot Bayn in a previous post entitled "A Low Rumbling Whisper In The Darkness". Given the difficulty in finding freebie/cheapie male hair, it is a definite pick up if you haven't been there already. Also as a bonus for female avies picking up the welcome pack, there is another female hair in it as well. Time to get in the car and do some sightseeing: the leaves are beginning to turn and it really is something to see. Stay warm.-----WHC Riler

WHC Riler is wearing - Lavarock - the Lito Male Jacket_2 (FREE GIFT/ FREE GROUP)

Argrace - FREE Welcome Gift "MINATO" [male/unisex]

Celise is wearing - Lavarock - Lita Jacket Black Leather & Suede (FREE GIFT/ FREE GROUP)

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