Shopping spree

Is there any other kind of spree?

I've been sooo good with my money lately, and I was getting sick of everything in my closet. Well, not everything, but you know how it is when you look for something to wear, and nothing is really catching your fancy, and you're just dying to see a new choice in there. So last night, Patrice and I finally went on our long-planned shopping trip.

I actually got a bit of a head start before Patrice came online. It was Neko night at the Velvet. Now, I have never had any kind of kitty attachments, and I was feeling a bit left out. I never did go to the Velvet, but I found myself a cute animated tail and ears at a store called 42nd Life. I skipped on the skin and whiskers because I'm just not that into the look. But I do love the tail especially. Tails are sexeh. Weird, eh? We wouldn't think so in First Life! Then I did a search for "catsuit" and beamed over to Nicky Ree's. My catsuit is red and shiny, and I wanted a black one, which I found. I love the dragon pattern! I coloured the kitty ears and tail black to go along with it.

At that point, Patrice arrived. Turns out she got an even earlier head start, landing herself yet another tattoo and a top. I took her to the Neko store, where she decided she didn't want anything. Or so I thought. We went to check out some tops from Second Wave Apparel that had recently been featured in Linden Lifestyles. Nice deal! I went for the Asian brocade box. Patrice went totally Vegas with the animal prints.

(Sabrina and Salome at Linden Lifestyles are to blame for a fair amount of my spending on clothes and accessories. I don't always share their taste, but when they feature something I like, I know it's going to be good. Before this shopping trip, I had already improved my hoody collection with two of the ones from Radical that I saw on their site. They were right about what they do for your, er, upper body. And that the hood prims are more realistic than other hoodies that I have.)

Next, Shiny Things. Patrice recently got herself a sari, and I know where the best sandals are. But of course, once you're at Shiny Things, it's hard to stop at one item, especially when there's that wall of totally cool boots on display. I held back on the white version of my favourite black wrapped boots, but Patrice went for a very cute pair of high-heeled lace-up boots. At that point, in her leopard top, low-rise jeans, and boots, she was totally ready for the strip!

Finally, I took her to L.A.M.E. Designs, with tattoos by my Activ8 colleague Ana Boogiewoogie and clothes by Eloria LeShelle, among other items. I think this is L.A.M.E.'s third or fourth relocation this year (and Ana seems to have changed the name as well, to Sh*t Happens), but the new store is nice and big, and hopefully I won't have to toss out yet another landmark. At this point I noticed that Patrice was now sporting ears and a tail as well. She gave me the slip! As we were looking at the merchandise, our friend Merik showed up with a newbie friend. Merik was kindly showing the new girl some basics of Second Life, including, of course, shopping. Merik had been at the Velvet and so was looking like a sexy kitty (it's hard for Merik not to look sexy). I saw the familiar Multitool blue box pop up without looking too closely at it. When I clicked to allow it to animate me, I expected the usual hug. Instead, I got pounced on! I'm definitely not complaining, but it was a surprise. Now we all want one.

Merik's friend left, and we wandered over to the clothing part of the store, where designer Eloria joined us. She makes really cute stuff, like this Rope Dress that I fell in love with right away. Patrice and I kept buying things, at a good price mind you, and Eloria kept giving refunds. Hey, girl, I'm trying to make you some money! But it was really sweet of her. Next time there's a pyjama party at the Velvet, I have a feeling we won't be the only ones sporting red droopy drawer longjohns. OMG, at this point, my "shopping bag" was bulging. Time to stop spending.

Before we beamed away, we got some news. Merik and Anwen are engaged! They are two of our favourite people in SL and are really good together. So that makes two weddings coming up soon. Our friend ComradeX Munson is also getting married soon to his girlfriend September—in May, not in September (that would be too weird). An actual male-female wedding—who would have thought?