Author Archives: caoimhelionheart

The World According to Cao

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World According to Cao

I know most of you don’t really believe me when I say I am undateable. Only those closest to me really know what a mishap waiting to happen I truly am. But by my usual standards of measure, this week has been epic. I met his family, he met my family, both could be recipes for disaster for any relationship. But I have to be honest, I loved his family, maybe even a little more than I like him! The first time I met his grandmother, she walked into the room in her coordinated polyster “jogging” suit, giant glasses and sparkly, colorful earrings and waved her cigarette at me while exclaiming in a voice raspy enough it acknowledges her years of smoking, “What a pretty girl!” How could I not fall in love? In fact I am thinking about trading my mom in for his grandmom. The day after my birthday we had lunch with my mom. I figured since it was a work day and we only had 45 minutes tops, how much trouble could my mum get into, right? Everything was going along nicely, I saw my mom looking at me but thought nothing of it. Just about the time I put a rather large piece of lettuce and tomato in my mouth, she turns to my new beau, smiles at him and asks him if he will be in our yearly Olan Mills family photo next week! I actually couldn’t speak the rest of the lunch. I still can’t figure out whats worse, the fact that she asked him to be a part or the fact that our family does something so bizarre in this day and age.

World According to Cao

He is amazing though. He met Katy the Jack Russell Terriorist the other day and she hates everyone. She was flopping all over him, couldn’t get enough attention from him. When I remarked how amazed I was he said he wasn’t surprised really because kids, dogs and gay guys all love him. I’m just hoping that’s not an omen. But today was the worst. I’m supposed to have a date tonight to meet with some of his friends. My cell phone has T-9 on it. You know, the thing where your phone tries to figure out what you are texting to finish it for you? It’s possessed. I’ve watched it kill relationships before. I once texted “I’m taking anap” (forgot to hit the spacebar between the two words) and it came out anal. Thank God I was chatting with a girlfriend who knows me well and knows these conversations are normal for me. Well, today Jay texted me to ask when I wanted him to pick me up. I texted back “after work I have to get a vaccine and groceries.” Well he’s pretty quick on the take, I am sure he knows what happened. I hope. He texted back, “Lol a Vaccine huh? You have something you need to tell me?” Embarrassed for the umpteenth time this week, I just texted back “I meant a sucking machine for the floor.” Mess that one up T-9!

Take from? Of course! And yes, much of this is written in gest. I love to laugh at myself! Heck some of my friends make a hobby out of laughing at me. But the point is, never take yourself too seriously. Let a person see the bad just as much as the good. When you do, you will know for sure whether they are a fair weather friend or an all weather friend. Time will tell on this one, but with the way the week shaped up, it’s looking pretty sunny in Florida. Now, I just have to find him and Katy matching outfits for the picture.

Outfit:
Hair: Tuty’s Adorable
Jacket: Purple Moon, Hana *Couturier’s Dock*
Knicker shorts: Leezu!, Glitter pants
Shoos: {{BDS}} Toiles de Joury, disco cyan **L’Accessoires**
Handbag: {Cherry}, Sage snake skin **L’Accessoires**
Necklace: NYU, Outrage! **L’Accessoires**
Pose: **Manifeste**

Postage Due

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Postage Due

My friend the “Nocturnal Poet” that he is sent me a poem last night and it gave me a little chuckle. (See Below) But as a watcher and a thinker, it also made me think. So often in life we have activities or experience moments where we are left with the feeling that postage is due. I’m sure you know how it is, the experience you are promised is never quite as good as the hype that led up to it? For example, you work real hard for a promotion and it is given to someone else. Boy that stinks, doesn’t it? The trick though, is how you deal with it. I think once the sting of the rejection wears off a little, it’s a great time to sit back and take stock. Figure out why this goal/event was so important to you. In this example you might just find the raise in money was the motivation and not the promotion itself. Once you’ve figured out why something is so important to you, it’s a lot easier to keep going. I once read the quote,”The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground” and somehow it fits me, so I keep it near on tough days.

Postage Due 2

We all fall flat at some point, it’s a fact of life. There is no magic number of times to try and get something right but you should keep trying until it either works, or to the point where you can look at yourself and think, “I may not have gotten what I wanted, but no one can say I didn’t give it my all.” The point is, don’t dwell on the “disasters” in your life. Heck, if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. Draw strength and focus on the positive in your life and allow yourself to enjoy that instead. Typically what we do have is usually enough, though we never quite want to believe it. Hear that mom? I’m happy with my friends and accept my lack of love life, so there! I said it! (sooo glad she doesn’t have a computer) I think most of all though, remember to find a way to laugh. So many times I think back to little “tragedies” in my life and I wonder how in the world I thought that event held any significant meaning is beyond me. The thing is, we live in the moment, not in the big picture. It’s not rocket science, it’s normal. If we were able to live in the big picture we’d probably find a way to fast forward past the bad parts and pause at the triumphs and this would not make a well rounded Cao a’tall.

I think once your facing forward again, you will find that things typically do happen for the best. I know this is very generalized, I am speaking of little setbacks in life, not major health/life issues, so please don’t think I’d ever trivialize something like that. Just remember, only in struggling to emerge from the cocoon does a butterfly form wings strong enough to fly.

Here’s a Kiss For You My Lady
Please Hold It Close To Heart
Its wrapped within a Teardrop
Freshly Shed from when we are apart
I’ve also added a Hug for you for when
you feel alone.

Here’s another Kiss For Luck
for when we are talking on the phone
I would have sent all of me so you know my Heart is True
But I Thought You Would be Angry
When I came Postage Due!

Outfit
Jewelry: Zibska, Gwen **L’Accessoires** Taxi:
Hairs: Boon, YNO421
Glasses: Redgrave, Holly
Pants: LaGyo, Sparro
Belt: =DeLa*=, Elba
Rings: Mandala, Annutra and Motsumame
Makeups, Mons <3
Pose: Diesel Works

Sunsets and Seashells

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Sunsets and Seashells

I can’t wait for real life work to be done. Tonight is another “girls night out.” I can have them any time I want, but my friends, being married, some even with a rugrat or two, the orchestrating becomes a bit more complex. We basically sit there hunched over our Iphones, crackberry’s or androids pecking away at our calendars until we find one night that is empty for us all. I love girls night out, it always reminds me of our carefree college days but more importantly, it reminds me I need to stop every once in a while and treasure the many gifts I’ve been given. The wonderful friends and their growing families, the state I live in, my job, all the beauty that surrounds me, and my education. I do think college is a gift, not all are lucky enough to be able to go but I believe education is the greatest gift of all. I know, how does that make sense, right? We all have the ability to expand our knowledge, to study, to learn from others, opportunity is all around us, everywhere we look. All we have to do is listen, ask, share. I plan to be a life long learner. I think Mark Twain said it just right when he was quoted,”Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.” Real learning comes from what we learn when our nose isn’t mashed in some book.

Sunsets and Seashells

Why this topic, why today? Some of my best education has come from this group of friends. They never cease to amaze me. Surround yourself with intelligence, sincerity and kindness and how can you not learn? But. I think it behooves us to have a broad spectrum of friends to learn from, to minimize the occurence of groupthink. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for conformity leads to decisions based to minimize conflict. Think about it, I’m sure most of us have “that” group of friends. That is how my virtual group broadens my education widely. (You guys rock!) As for the sunsets and sunshells? I always think fondly of both when I am meeting these girlfriends. Between the four of us, we’ve spent countless hours over the years searching for both. Some were gorgeous, others forgettable but for the most part the goods outweigh the bads. I kinda figure thats a life well spent, don’t you? I hope you have the chance to spend time with cherished friends too this week! Don’t forget! L’Accessoires started today! I’m such a happy Cao, I even included the links here: Link:

Outfit:
Hair: Tram, A418
Necklace/Ring: MiWardrobe, Little Prince **L’Accessoires**
Watch: Eclipse, Carpe Diem **L’Accessoires**
Purse: Pure Poison, Persia blk&slvr **L’Accessoires**
Top: Baiastice, Maua Bikini top
Shorts: .Shi, Beehive highwaist short **NEW**

Emotional Bondage

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Emotional Bondage

I can’t say I like golf all that much, especially watching it. But I do listen to news, well, nope that’s not true. I hate the news. But I watch sports news, doesn’t seem like there would be too much angst there, right? And if you listen close enough, every once in a while, tucked within the story is a life lesson. Having no particular alliance with any golfer, I found it a bit funny that there is an ongoing “tif” between Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods. I always thought, for the most part, professionals of any sport, even online modeling, at least pretended to act, um, professional. Well apparently in golf, all decorum of propriety need not apply. Over the years these two have done more hissy-fitting than any manly man should do. But in the end, the only two people who suffer are the two participants. The rest of us spectators sit back and enjoy the show with a laugh and chalk up their losses to their own bad karma, there is no superior prowess betwixt one or the other. Perhaps they should sit down and look at this feud, resolve to be indifferent and move on.

Emotional Bondage

Take from? Yes, of course! When you find a person in life you just can’t possibly get along with, and sometimes YOU just might be the one who is toxic, remaining engaged in a feud with them creates nothing but emotional bondage. For one thing, people around you may take sides, but it’s as silly as a playground argument honestly. Because when you think people are taking your side, more than likely they are just hollow words. They may offer support but in reality they are just watching the show. Free yourself from this bondage by accepting you and this person won’t see eye to eye and move on. You may lose a battle, but in the end the person who practices to leave only an air of good karma, should reap the rewards of taking the higher road. It may not be instantaneous, but somewhere, sometime I whole-heartedly believe it is repaid in spades. But really, if I am wrong, whats the harm in growing up and acting like the mature one every once in a while?

This *SoliDea FoliEs* headpiece is one of the incredible offerings of the newest L’Accessoire’s event which starts May 15,2013. I checked out the inventory today, it’s a dont miss event, so make sure you stop by! SLURL’s are here, “Last Known SLURL’s” page Link:. See? Just a Lil Cao passing around some good karma.

Outfit One:
Headpiece: *SoliDea FoliEs*, Pris **L’Accessoire’s**
Hair: Miamai, Roe
Top of outfit: *SoliDea FoliEs*, Noir Waves
Bottom of outfit: Eshi, Aria Pompadour
Boots: Belgravia, Electra
Makeup: Mons <3
Pose: Del May

Remember Me

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Remember Me

I know. I know. I’ve been a terrible blog friend since Friday. I’ve been taking a “breather.” No excuse really, but today, well, it’s my birthday. Where do these things come from so suddenly? And the older I get, the faster they fly. Heck, wasn’t it just Christmas for crying out loud? This is the new “Blue” outfit from Mila Tatham of *SoliDea FoliEs* It was created for Second Life model, Blue Porchers. But I think I’ll just borrow it for today. Somehow black and me acting all Emo or gothic seem to fit on this birthday.
Remember Me

Anyway, take from? Please know I miss you all so much, I love catching up with the glimpses of your days that you always give me. I will get up to speed tomorrow though, God willing and the creek don’t rise, that is. See Draakje Daily? I don’t always have to be all Word and Peace. SLURL’s on the “Last Known SLURL’s” page Link:.

Outfit:
Pantsuit: *SoliDea FoliEs* Blue *NEW**
Makeup: Mons, Amazon and Dominant
Hairs: Boudoir, Baroque Powder
Necklace: Finesmith, Feather Story
Poses: Diesel Works

Un-kiosked

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Baroque Vogue

I told my blog friend Arjun Bagga, that I was going to steal some of his titles. Almost every time I see one of his blog titles, just the title sends my brain to creating. Short blog today, it is mothers day in the US and I happen to have a mother, well, as many of you know since I blog about her. A lot. So I need to take her to lunch, or something. You know, that hour long period in which food is consumed and lack of grandchildren is bemoaned. I’m sure some of you know what I mean.

Baroque Vogue

Arjun blogged with a title of “Kiosked” once. I thought what genius this fellow is. It made me think of Disney World with it’s endless kiosking lines. I don’t go to Disney just for this reason, the cattle call feel of this practice is enough to make me, erm, moo. In Second Life modeling, when you style to a theme, don’t take it at face value, that’s just boring. So break free from being kiosked. Let your building blocks be something in the chosen theme, we’ll use Baroque, like the Finesmith necklace or the ChicZafari dress, but let your wow factor pieces be the parts that highlight the theme like the wild hair from Boudoir, or the definitely not baroque, put perfectly shaded Boots from Pure Poison. This style took a little longer than usual, a few hours, but overall, I’m kind of happy with it. I hope you like it too! SLURL’s on the “Last Known SLURL’s” page Link:.

Outfit:

Hairs: Boudoir, Baroque Hair
Headpiece: Finesmith, Dola Tiara
Necklace: Finesmith, Edina Baroque
Gloves: Mimikri, Cuffed Gloves
Shoos: Pure Poison, Red Ashaki Boots
Dress: Chic Zafari, Embellished silk dress
Leggings: [Plastik] Militia Skinny Pants, gold leaf
Pose: DelMay

Unfettered

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Unfettered

One style that always seems to “hang around” is Boho chic. Not complaining, I love it. In a real life and a second life. Boho is truly a style made for Florida. It’s airy and cool on the hottest of days, when the others are melting like a popsicle, you’ll look cool as a cucumber. This gorgeous Maxi-dress is from my very good heart friend Poulet Koenkamp of Purple Moon.

Unfettered

As you can see, I am wandering away for a bit, I’ve some real life to enjoy. But I hope you will wait for me, I’ll be back soon. Heck, I’m already dreaming up blogs for next week. Enjoy your weekend! You will love the Spring line at Purple Moon so much, I even included the taxi for you! I’m kinda nice like that. Taxi:

Outfit One:
Dress: Purple Moon, Meadow Maxi *NEW**
Hat: Baiastice, Estella
Hair: Boon, KBO906
Handbag: Baiastice, Claudia

Rolling Over

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Rolling Over

Ah well, I don’t know how it got here, but here it got…. Again. Date night for the basically undate-able. I don’t know why I act this way. I mean, we already got the dinner part over with, so I know I can leave the spork, and the spanks, at home because I won’t be needing them. He’s even kind of a conversationalist, which works great because as a thinker and watcher, I’m kind of a quietasationalist. I was given a reprieve last week. Though to be honest it took an awful lot of cajoling and bribing to get my parents to move out of the house they’ve lived in since the 80′s just to avoid going on a date. (think about it, it’ll come to you). And of course, the days flew by to Friday. Have you ever noticed the more you are anxious about an event the faster it looms until finally the day is here and you are basically hiding under the bed wishing it was still Monday? Uh, well maybe not Monday, but Tuesday’s good. I can’t help it, as a datee, at times I am a disaster. Heck, I reckon as a woman sometimes I am too, its one of those pesky symptoms of being habitually undate-able.

rolling over

Somewhere along the travels that are my life when they had the line to pick up your “womanly gracefulness and charm”, I was lost knee deep in the “gawky and likely to land on her arse at some point of the night” line. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really mind and it certainly leads to interesting conversation when I meet with my friends and we do the thirty minutes of reminiscing that always begins with “remember the time Cao..” Which is totally okay because I’d rather be laughed at than cried over. My mum does enough of that all on her own, typically right about the time one of her friends perfect children spits out another kid. Personally, I don’t know why she doesn’t just adopt one. Can that be done? I’ll have to travel on and see if I can find that line for my mum to stand in. I’ll even take a few days off to drive her there.

Take from? Sometimes you just have to roll over with the changes and let them consume you like the tidal wave they are. Kicking and screaming isn’t going to make the changes any easier, and who knows? Sometimes you can get so busy complaining about the situation that you miss the fact that the change turned out to be a very positive influence that you actually enjoyed. Did you hear that? Naw, me either. I’m too busy being miserable about a date to pay any attention to myself. SLURL’s on the “Last Known SLURL’s” page Link:. I can be nice like that. When my mama makes me.

Outfit One:

Eyelids: SLink *New**
Hair: Miamai, Luna
Sticks: Mandala, Rushana Chopsticks
Eyelids: SLink, Mesh closed eyes (for photos) *New**
Jewelry: Kunglers, Maasai
Bathingsuit: Baiastice, Metal Mesh bikini-Violet
Feet: [Gos], barefeet
SIM: Tiki Tattoo

Color Your Mood

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Color Your Mood

First of all, to all those wonderful designers who have recently given me prezzy’s to consider blogging, I’m sorry I haven’t gotten around to them. I’m a retired Cao, so my attention span is rather short. Expecially when the weather is so nice outside. Besides, don’t blame me, you’ll have to blame this one on Nevery Lorakeet of *Les Petits Details* and a few others. I will explain. Mila Tatham of *SoliDea FoliEs* gave me an outfit. Which isn’t a surprise, I’m her manager. This outfit though, is the Celeste outfit. I love the Celeste outfit. It’s Blue! But as a model, I can’t wear the same thing every day right? So I could just wear it around the house or sleep in it. Um, no. Because then I’m not showing it to anyone but KT (the Jack Russell Terriorist), because, as all of you know, I’m undate-able. After being gone last Wednesday to Monday, when I returned I found a folder with a sweet note in it, the folder simply said “For Cao.” Nevery is learning to use blender to create her own mesh items and a bit ago she asked me if I wanted her to make anything specific and I told her if she was serious, she could check my Pinterest account for all of my dream items. Inside the folder was the most adorable purse. In blue! Which naturally made me think of Celeste!

Color Your Mood

It sat in the nice folder for a few days, but then today. As I was checking out my Facebook friends, I saw a post by Tabata Jewell of “Vanity Hair” for a new hair called “Diavolo.” Jaw dropped. Gorgeous. Well at this point, I knew what I had to do. When I logged in at lunch I gathered my three pieces. To make the blog “current” I swung by Collabor88 and picked up a few items from Glam Affair and LaGyo, threw in the Collabor88 “Rain or Shine” patio set from Lisp Bazaar, I can’t help it, I have a soft spot for anyone named Pandora Popstar, and zipped home for my 60 minute styling. Heck, I was pretty much done at this point. I had the style, I recolored and retextured the skirt (make sure to make a copy of the original before retexturing or you can never get it back) from Eshi Otawara’s of Eshi’s “Heather” dress and I was done. Sixty minutes, a few pics, a crop and upload later, I am done.

The take from? Of course, need I say so? There always is.. If you are feeling down, uninspired, or lacking creativity. Find one thing in a color you can’t live without. Just one thing that makes you smile, and put it on. From there move outward until you build something happier, more creative and inspiring from the one thing. It could change your entire day. I know this challenge sure brought me a smile. I hope it did for you too. SLURL’s on the “Last Known SLURL’s” page on the left of the screen. I can be nice like that. Sometimes. If I have to. I guess.

Outfit One:

Hairs: Vanity Hair, Diavolo, babyboy shade *NEW**
Hairbase: VCD, Style 2
Earrings: Glam Affair, *Collabor88**
Necklace: LaGyo, Mia *Collabor88**
Handbag: *LpD*, *Cao* *New**
Shirt: *SoliDea FoliEs*, Celeste *New**
“Belt”: *SoliDea FoliEs*, Gia neckpiece (edited) *New**
Skirt: Eshi, Heather (edited and recolored)
Chair: L.I.S.P. Bazaar, Rain or Shine *Collabor88*
Poses: DelMay

Forensic’s of Life’s Journey

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Forensic's of Life's Journey

Life is funny, especially one with an entire world at the fingertips of your keyboard. Between Second Life, my blog list addiction, Facebook, Flickr, Plurk etc, I touch or am touched by hundreds of people throughout this universe, each and every day. Mind boggling honestly. Look at it this way, if you have an average of two-hundred readers clicking your blog each day, can you imagine having this many friends stop by your house each day just to see what you are up to? Sure, some of these people land at your door accidentally and never return. Still others are just short-time passers-by in the journey of your life, they poke around for a few days or months then wander off bored. But some, well they are different.

Forensic's of Life's Journey

Even though virtuality shrouds you in a certain amount of anonymity, as humans we crave to touch and be touched. So sometimes we are open to the concept of meeting one another, even if only in the space and time provided by the Internet. A few of the real life blogs I read I feel this way about the writers. I believe strongly in a humans instinctual ability to “feel” the soul of another person and if you can trust this instinct in yourself, you just may make a friend of a life time. The point being, I’ve found such a friend. Well actually two or three, but this is about one, just one. I am so blessed having met him, he is perplexed having met me (yeah, I have that effect sometimes). We are kindred in many ways and polar opposite in others, but most male- female relationships have this sort of yin-yang tug to them, remember my two blogs about what he or she are really saying? Most of it was in gest, but was it all?

Take from? As we travel our road from birth to death, buried deep in our soul, hidden in the musty dusty corners and crannies, are the memories of all who have moved us, traveled a spell with us, saved us, or redirected our paths. Each have left their fingerprints or emotional DNA written on our hearts, each have added a new color or dimension to our emotional technicolor dream coat. No one ever really knows why it was this particular person at this particular time who moved us, perhaps if we had met earlier our paths would have crossed with no meaning. But at THIS time they have some key elemental gift that they are destined to bestow upon us, if we would just allow and accept it. Good or bad, this gift is ours to learn from and only with working through what “it” is can we pass through this chapter of our lives to move on to the next with renewed potential and greater hope. Well, thats just a random observation from a Cao, not sure its worth the time it took to write it, but you can take from it what you will.

Outfit:
Hairs: Blackliquid, Geisha **Couturier’s Dock**
Jacket: Tomoto, Mille Fleurs dark
Pants: Maitreya, Mesh Leggins
Makeup: Miamai
Pose: DelMay