When my friend Damon Dollinger put out the word looking for folks who'd be willing to review parts of his collection that he's recently updated, I immediately volunteered Eirik.

Because, you know, I'm like that. All pushin him around and offering him up to do work.

*hides*

But when I saw Eirik today trying on pieces from Damon's collection, I couldn't help myself and immediately asked him to hop on a pose stand for me so I could blog some myself. What gal doesn't appreciate it when a guy's looking great?

First of all, the store is called Fear & Clothing, and there are more than one location. I am familiar with the location in Londoom and the satellite shop at Subtle Submission, right across the hall from my Sable Rose shop there. SLURLS to follow. First, yummy picturey goodness.

Eirik put this look together featuring the Fear & Clothing Black Sharkskin Jacket (with little skull embellishments, I love it) and the Low-Rise Striped Pants, in Blood.

The thing that stood out to me immediately with the jacket and pants is that even though they are in a striped-pattern fabric, the seams were really excellent. I know seams are some of the hardest things about designing SL clothes, and there were obviously great depths of care taken to make sure everything matches up here.

Another feature of these pants is the very well done prim belt buckle, and the fact that there are two versions of the belt buckle for easy adjusting depending on the size of your waistline. I am a HUGE fan of the prim belt buckle concept, especially for men's pants. Guys are supposed to have big metal buckles on their belts. It's just the way it should be. And here, it looks fabulous.

There will be more reviews of Damon's items to come, I'm sure, but -- and I say this for the ladies as well as the guys -- if you want to look great, or you want your MAN to look great, make a trip over to Fear & Clothing for some fabulous, edgy casual clothes to suit all kinds of styles.

Fear & Clothing, Londoom: SLURL

And now the credits: on Eirik --

Skin: Belleza
Eyes: Zen
Sheer top: FORM
Jacket: Fear & Clothing (Sharkskin Black Jacket, No Straps)
Pants: Fear & Clothing (Low Rise Striped Pants, Blood)
Hair: Black Maria
Boots: Cattiva & Cattivo
Piercings: Originals by Eirik Haefnir

Thanks to everybody that made my 29th (*cough*) birthday a very very lovely day. I kept getting surprised with gifts and wellwishes every time I turned around, probably thanks to Marxi "letting the cat out of the bag."

Jeli snuck up on me and was SUPER MISS DEVIOUS and sent me RL flowers, too, which was a super-amazing treat. They're still here next to my desk making my whole office smell absolutely lovely.

It was an absolutely awesome day of shopping, making lists of where to go shopping, daydreaming of shopping, and um, SHOPPING! Thank you to everybody who so kindly thought of me. You guys know "you didn't have to do that," but you did and I can't thank you enough. Whether there were gifts involved or not, you all are the best set of friends anyone could ever ask for in any life.

The house got covered with balloons and gifts and signs and streamers by the Four Corners crew, and I also got to spend a little time with Eirik which was a joy as always.

Then, later that night when I relogged after some RL celebrating with friends, I was shuffled off to the club where everyone took turns spanking me. I think a few of you liked spanking me a little too much. Or is it me that liked getting spanked a little bit too much?

After my birthday died down, I spent yesterday working most of the day in RL and made an appearance in SL late last night to try to finish up Eirik's valentine present. I'm quite happy with it and will post some pictures after I give it to him this weekend. Shhhhh!

Today, we spent some time exploring Chakryn Forest, as neither of us had ever been there. We had quite a lovely time and I'm sure we'll end up going back because I doubt we even scratched the surface of this amazing openspace build. It was truly mystical and beautiful, peaceful and inviting, whimsical and quite obviously a labor of love.

Back in November or December, before the holidays hit and life got turned completely topsy-turvey, my dear friend Chestnut Rau, who is a resident in the amazing array of Shengri La sims, suggested I contact Shenli Flasheart and Michele Hyacinth about participating in the Fashion Institute Emerging Avatar Apparel Designer Program. Before I could contact them myself, I was honored to be approached by Michele Hyacinth about applying.

We started the process back then, but then things just got crazier and crazier. Today, I am proud to announce that Sable Rose Jewelry and I, Rosie, have been accepted to the program and I have officially opened my shop space on Shengri La.

Here (SLURL) you can find my little shop (a good landmark is there's a peacock right in front of it) where I'm showcasing some of my jewelry pieces and will be placing new items as the collection rotates in and out with new creations.

I had been reading about the fires, as I'm sure we all have, on news outlets and was very happy when my friend Winter Jefferson dropped a notecard on me (and the rest of his friendslist) about a fund raiser being organized to contribute to relief efforts in Australia.

Autumn Hykova and Dakota Buck are putting together a fundraising campaign that has already raised tens of thousands of Linden dollars for the Red Cross relief efforts to help the victims of the bushfires in Victoria.

Many folks are helping out inworld and I would encourage you to give if you can at all -- every Linden counts.

I have put together a prim necklace with the design of a Phoenix rising, which is now available at the Sable Rose mainstore (SLURL) at Subtle Submission. Thanks to Winter Jefferson for the inspiration.

Speaking of Subtle Submission -- Thanks to Noirran Marx, there are two Aussie Red Cross donation kiosks at the Lounge of Dreams (SLURL).

She has also created a set of Aussie Garter Socks which are the TOTAL CUTENESS, and can be found right next to ANOTHER donation kiosk in the main entry of Subtle Submission (SLURL). LOOK HOW CUTE. And they're Xfer.

Peek around, lots of folks are having sales and creating beautiful and original items for sale to benefit our Aussie friends. It's a great way to help out for a very deserving cause. I'm always amazed and proud of the way SL pulls together to try to help those who need it. Thanks for reading. <3

Good grief, I've been gone for what seems like forever.  My SL is getting more and more full as the days go on and while that's a good thing, my blogging has definitely suffered.

Let's see if I can cover the bases.

There's a new blog for the Sable Rose store so I don't have to clutter up this one with posts about the store. I'm hoping it gets accepted to one of the feeds, since I've never felt it would be right to put this one on a fashion feed or anything similar. The address for the blog is, at least temporarily, http://skatoolaki.com/sablerose and I've started posting pictures of some of my stuff.

Today, I had the honor of meeting with Shenlei Flasheart of Shengri La and the Fashion Institute, and I've been accepted as a vendor in what is currently known as the Vintage Marketplace. I'll be working with Shenlei to try to progress my little shop along and raise awareness of my jewelry, with the goal of becoming better known without sacrificing all of my free time or my SL enjoyment by things feeling more like "work."

I also signed Sable Rose up for the Twisted Hunt that's going to be starting in April, so watch for more news about that.

Life on Four Corners is never dull, and we're getting the island fleshed out and absolutely beautiful. From Bonibaru's mermaid hangout under the sea to Raeyn's ground level fog and clouds, to Izzy's willow forest to our garden, we're all settling in and loving it.

That being said, I help Marx Dudek out with her residential sim Wellstone, and she has some parcels up for purchase. She's letting them go for a very good deal depending on the size, so if you or someone you know is looking for an affordable chunk of LOVELY oceanfront estate land to call their own, have them contact Marx Dudek inworld.

Hm, what else is going on? Fleur! Fleur, fleur, fleur! As you may or may not know, I am a CSA for Fleur and I am down at the store a few times a week to meet and greet and help people find what they're looking for. If you haven't seen the absolutely gorgeous new Shoujo valentine's skins and the Vain - Kissed Hunt free skin yet, do yourself a favor and head to Fleur and CHECK THEM OUT. Don't forget to enter the photo contest for your chance at Fleur gift cards!

My partner Daman has reincarnated himself as Eirik, and as such Eirik has started a new blog. He has subtitled it "beating up Second Life with the chair leg of truth," which I reckon means he's going to be telling us a lot of what's on his mind. As the one who gets to talk to him more than most I reckon, I can tell you he has a lot of things on his mind so I'm sure it'll be interesting. Make sure you check it out.

On a more solemn note, I have been cherishing my inworld friends and I am so deeply grateful for the support and fun and friendship you all have been sharing with me. I have been finding the time recently to become closer with my core group of friends who are definitely converting/converted into my SL family. But I am SO blessed to have a varied and amazing group of people around me in SL so in case I have neglected to tell any of you how amazing you truly are, HERE, YOU CAN READ IT IN MY BLOG BECAUSE THAT IS THE BEST WAY EVA TO GET THE POINT ACROSS.

Okay, well, hopefully you know what I mean. And I intend to get back to making with the regular drive-by IM lovins. SL is nothing without the people in it.

What else can I torture you with? I've lost 10 pounds IRL, RL Mr. B. is settled in overseas and we're patiently counting the days until he gets to come home on a mid-tour trip in July. We're thinking about heading to Vegas for a few days.

I would do almost anything for some french fries or buffalo chicken wings, I'm Plurking as much as I can to hold my karma steady at 65 which frustrates me, I'm trying to stay caught up with all of y'all on your blogs, and, um.

THERE'S LOTS AND LOTS GOING ON.

Is everybody feeling as crazy as me? C'mon, talk to me, frenz. Tell me what's on your collective minds.