Bon Odori at Kiyomizu

 Hiya everyone! Tonight you're all cordially invited to the Kiyomizu Mall for their annual Bon Odori festival. We can click a blue dance pad to join the fun, and after 120 seconds (two minutes, countdown is shown in hovertext at your feet) you will gain access to the lucky boards surrounding the circle of dancers. The boards change fairly rapidly, and there are lots of great prizes for men and women, Lucie avatars, and even dinkies. I'm a little late on this one because with everything happening lately in RL, I forgot to check for a start date and missed the first two weeks entirely, ugh. But I've been spending as much time as possible there to ensure I'd have treats to show you :) Xan joined me one evening and won some goodies too, so that was fun and I do suggest bringing friends to share the merriment. I believe it's open until the 24th of August.

I started with our *R&R* Summer Mini Dress starfish prize, which is a charming strapless dress in vivid colors that do make me think of the ocean and its residents :) The single size fits my Maitreya (5.3) body just right, and as you can tell from the right it is a good idea to find your favorite panties to layer beneath. I'm thinking simple jewelry and strappy sandals to pair with it, how about you?

Next I changed into the =CS= Bikini Swimsuit 101 YATSUHASHI MACCHA prize from Shiorin's Mart which is one of my favorite stops on the Kiyomizu seasonal hunts as well. The design is apparently a famous sweet treat from Kyoto, and I would love to try it someday :) Our bikini comes in sizes for Legacy, Maitreya, and Reborn mesh bodies, in one easy to wear piece.

GARDENIAn's * Racy Cape mini-Dress*"Hibiscus-orenge" lucky board prize is a chic tube dress with lovely tropical pattern. It even has a sheer wrap draped around to keep your arms from getting too chilly if the weather turns breezy :) The single size is designed to fit the original Maitreya mesh body.

I was fortunate enough to win these two beautiful prizes from the same lucky board, so I'm sharing them together :) Our **milky-way YUKATA F-5 is on the left above, with **milky-way YUKATA F-6 seen on the right side. They each come in a single size with an alpha layer, to make it even easier to get a proper fit on many different bodies. I love the intricate obi (belt) on each, and the swirling patterns that really catch the eye. From my understanding a yukata is a summer garment that is more casual than a traditional kimono, so this is the right time of year for these beauties. Bonus tidbit - there are men's versions on the lucky board as well!

My final look of the night gave me a good chuckle :) The playful [E*ha] G Curry* 2025* prize from SHOP MOKOMOKO is a sheath dress with wide straps, all imprinted with a label of golden curry. You can see ingredients and cooking instructions, with a genuinely delicious photo on the upper back. We receive classic M and fitmesh M sizes for classic avatars, along with sizing for Freya, Isis, Venus, Legacy, Lara X, Ocacin, Reborn, Hourglass, Physique, Tonic Curvy, Tonic Fine, and Voluptuous mesh bodies. Since they did Lara X instead of original Maitreya, I did a lil body swapping here. The first person to offer to eat or bite me while I'm wearing this is going to get blocked fast enough to make their head spin, LOL, with the obvious exception of Xan. He genuinely loves curry so this might be extra tempting for him ;)

Today was certainly interesting, thanks to my first ever support group meeting from the anxiety and agoraphobia clinic. I was starting to freak out a little bit in the few minutes before it started, lol, because that's what my brain does...but it wasn't too bad and I did speak up a few times. I will give it another go in 2 weeks, as they are biweekly, and wow that'll be September! Time flies, doesn't it? The main thing I mentioned was anxiety about going back to the dentist Wednesday, and two of the members were extremely supportive saying "you got this!" which I do think helped :) It means a lot from folks in the same situation. Anyway I hope you're all having a good day/evening, many magical magpie hugs to everyone!!

Credits:

All Lucky Board Prizes from Bon Odori at Kiyomizu Mall:

Photo 1:

Dress: *R&R* Summer Mini Dress starfish $0L Lucky Board

Photo 2:

Bikini: Shiorin's Mart =CS= Bikini Swimsuit 101 YATSUHASHI MACCHA $0L Lucky Board

Photo 3:

Dress: GARDENIAn's * Racy Cape mini-Dress*"Hibiscus-orenge" $0L Lucky Board

Photo 4:

Dress Left: **milky-way YUKATA F-5 $0L Lucky Board

Dress Right: **milky-way YUKATA F-6 $0L Lucky Board

Photo 5:

Dress: SHOP MOKOMOKO [E*ha] G Curry* 2025* $0L Lucky Board

Head: LeLUTKA Fleur Head 4.0

Hair: Wasabi // Macaron K9 Ed. Hair - Absolute Pack

Skin: .::WoW Skins::. .WS. Almond TOSCA

Ring: {Carter} Wedding Zoe (Marketplace)

Body/Hands/Feet: Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara 5.3 & Lara X

Poses: Various Sets from [piXit] or Verocity

Kiyomizu Bon Odori

 Hiya everyone! Tonight I've got some lucky board prizes to share from the Kiyomizu Mall, who are holding their annual Bon Odori festival. We don't need any particular group tag to participate, just click to sit on a yellow dance pad and you will be animated to dance around a circle, with tents surrounding us that have the lucky boards in front. After dancing for 120 seconds (two minutes, countdown in hovertext at your feet) you will be able to click any board that has your initial on it :) Many of the boards have multiple prizes inside, and the timing is randomized but generally under 10 minutes. Over the years I've gotten used to watching for the initials in local chat, in English among the Japanese text from the boards. I hope you have your camera controls showing, because you may need to cam around the ring and find your initial when it shows up. The dancing is lovely by the way, and the people are a mix of human and non-human avatars that are sometimes in traditional Japanese fashions. Always a pleasure! There are prizes for men, women, hamsters, Lucie doll avatars...it is a generous mixture.

My first look of the evening is a pairing of two **milky-way prizes, starting with the YUKATA Himawari. This sunflower-adorned yukata comes in a single size which fits the Maitreya body fairly well with use of the included alpha layer, and is just so beautiful with the wide belt and intricate bow in the back. The best footwear option was also available on these lucky boards, our **milky-way Yukata Geta 3 for Maitreya. These sandals are beautifully designed to add height, rather like platform shoes, with the initial intention of keeping our clothing up and away from the ground which keeps it clean. I'm not particularly tall in RL, 5'4" or so, which means that adding height while still being comfortable sounds like a great idea to me!

Another of several yukatas in the **milky-way boards is this stunning YUKATA F-2 Pink. It also comes in a single size that fit my Maitreya body nicely, with the alpha coming in handy once again :) There are men's yukatas on the board too, so be sure to tell a male-avatared friend if you wish. It's nice to have extra company there too, as when Xan and I are dancing there together we are constantly voice chatting (Discord, not the SL client) and helping each other pointing out where to find our initials.

Shiorin's Mart is a favorite stop of mine on the seasonal Kiyomizu hunts, so winning prizes from their lucky board is also a delight :) On the left above I am wearing the =CS= KIYOMIZU HUNT PRIZE 2024BONODORI-1 prize in pretty teal, with =CS= KIYOMIZU HUNT PRIZE 2024BONODORI-2 in soft pink on the right. Each bikini has the top and bottom linked to wear at once, with sizes for Legacy, Maitreya, and Reborn mesh bodies. The patterns are so fun, with lovely hand fans which say the name of the mall on a few. Another brand has fans we can hold too, with dancing AOs built in, so keep an eye out for those too!

Summertime and its hot weather can tempt us to indulge in cool treats, like I've done here with the .:H/D:. Waffle Icecream - Strawberry prize from Honey Dragon. The yummy ice cream is in a waffle cone wrapped in pink paper to keep things neat, and it comes in biggie and dinkie sizes each with single or double scoops. I'm wearing the double scoop biggie size :) Of course my gorgeous dress is a lucky board prize too, the *R&R* Summer Mini Dress which is rigged for the Maitreya mesh body. I adore the iridescent swirling stars, which really pop against the aqua background and go well with the lighter colored hem ruffle.

My final look of the night is a double as well, two terrific prizes that is :) The dress is our stunning .:*:.Love Letter.:*:.White dress prize, which fits Maitreya Lara 5.3 like a dream. The pale color will show off your summer tan, and the sundress style is just perfect for this time of year. My Hapi*Rabi Nails C Summer-nnp are one of the three prizes in their lucky board, a fantastic set of mesh nails in soft purple floral ombre that fades to nude at the cuticles. The square tips really show off the manicure nicely :) They are designed for Belleza, Legacy, Maitreya, and Reborn hands, just use the body's HUD to hide the built in nails and add the corresponding size from the prize's folder. Easy peasy :) 

It was a pretty good day here, and I think my outing went fairly well. We drove for about 20 minutes, and it was back roads so we saw horses, alpacas, and lots of deer. One family of deer was crossing the road in front of us though, a bit scary until they were situated all on the same side of the road so we could pass by safely. I think that was 2 adults and 2 young, still had their baby fawn spots ♥. We have white-tailed deer in my area so they do grow out of their spots as adults, and if you see antlers it is definitely a male. The horses are fairly common farm animals around here, with the alpacas being the only ones I've seen in the neighborhood so not commonplace. The weather was decent which was a relief :) I hope you're all having a nice day/evening, many magical magpie hugs to everyone!!

Credits:

All Lucky Board Prizes from Bon Odori at Kiyomizu Mall:

Photo 1:

Dress: **milky-way YUKATA Himawari $0L Lucky Board Prize

Shoes: **milky-way Yukata Geta 3 for Maitreya $0L Lucky Board Prize

Photo 2:

Dress: **milky-way YUKATA F-2 Pink $0L Lucky Board Prize

Photo 3:

Bikini Left: =CS= KIYOMIZU HUNT PRIZE 2024BONODORI-1 $0L Lucky Board Prize

Bikini Right: =CS= KIYOMIZU HUNT PRIZE 2024BONODORI-2 $0L Lucky Board Prize

Photo 4:

Dress: *R&R* Summer Mini Dress $0L Lucky Board Prize

Ice Cream: Honey Dragon .:H/D:. Waffle Icecream - Strawberry $0L Lucky Board Prize

Photo 5:

Dress: .:*:.Love Letter.:*:.White $0L Lucky Board Prize

Nails: Hapi*Rabi Nails C Summer-nnp $0L Lucky Board Prize

Head: LeLUTKA Fleur Head 4.0

Hair: TRUTH Envy - Essential

Skin: .::WoW Skins::. .WS. ALMOND LILLY EVOX SKIN

Ring: {Carter} Wedding Zoe (Marketplace)

Body/Hands/Feet: Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara 5.3

All Poses: Verocity  (Various Sets)

Summer at Kiyomizu

 Hiya everyone! Tonight we are exploring the Kiyomizu Summer 2023 Hunt, which starts at the Kiyomizu Mall and continues at the main stores of several of the designers who have a satellite location at the mall. Because of the wonderful scripting of this hunt, we can tell at any time by clicking a floating ghost above the walkways at the mall which free prizes we have clicked and where there are still ones to be found. The hunt object is a cute ninja cat, and the hunt signs at each stop tell you how many are hidden there. I enjoy this hunt every time a new season rolls around, despite it being a little tricky with the lack of hints and the interesting ways these kitties can hide! The summer round is open until the 9th of July and there are about 20 cats to locate.

My first look this evening is the =CS= KIYOMIZU HUNT PRIZE 2023SUMMER 1 from Shiorin's Mart. It consists of the bikini top, bottom, and pareo (skirt) each to fit Kupra, Legacy, Perky, Maitreya, Petite, and Reborn mesh bodies. They all have a great geometric pattern in green and white, with solid green strings holding our bra and thong snugly in place. The pareo layers over the bikini very nicely, for a versatile summer outfit.

The ninja kitty at M*Motion will give you this terrific C23 KYMZ Summer Gift bikini if you pet him gently :) It is worn as a single mesh piece and fits the Maitreya Lara mesh body, with a funky pattern of blocks of multicolored stripes on a dark background. The bottom has relatively modest coverage for a string bikini, so it'll be a fun choice for your next beach or pool visit.

For a charming formal look, be sure to find the prize at SHOP KERO which is simply called Prom Dress. It has an elegant single shoulder design, with sheer fabric that starts at that shoulder and drapes down the left arm, across the waist, and all the way down past the hemline on the right. So pretty! We receive a fitmesh M size as well as Freya, Isis, Venus, Legacy, Maitreya, Hourglass, Physique, Tonic Curvy, and Tonic Fine mesh body versions. There is also a HUD with 8 colors, all of which change both the dress and the 3D flowers on the bodice.

It is always a pleasure to visit (and tell others about) MeltingDots Freebie Store, as we can find treats for everyone as well as this cute Rompers Gear hunt prize. There are Freya, Isis, Venus, Maitreya, Hourglass, Physique, Tonic Curvy, and Tonic Fine mesh body sizes included and a fitmesh M for classic avatars. The provided HUD offers 12 color options and 3 metals for the snaps and belt buckle, as well as arrows to adjust the proportions of the fabric pattern. I made it a little larger on the right to show you what I mean. The romper's style is a cozy casual look, with solid cuffs on the sleeves and shorts, and a built in belt that rides a little low beneath the natural waist.

Most of the time I don't play favorites among the various looks I share each post, but if you asked me to choose tonight I'd have to go with this *R&R* Cat Dress 2306 prize. It isn't labeled with a specific size but fits my Maitreya body perfectly, so that is my best guess. The halter style is always a hit with me, and the hot pink (Barbie movie anyone?) with lacy pattern is decorated with adorable kitties on the front with their paw prints across the back ♥. The two on the midriff with their tails together to form a heart just made me melt from cuteness overload, and it's a lovely little nod to the ninja cats who held onto all our prizes for us until we found each one.

It was a quiet weekend, which is not a bad thing other than not feeling up to going to the farmers market I usually visit. Anxiety can be brutal, so I am trying to be kind to myself and keeping distracted however I can. I hope you all had a beautiful weekend and are enjoying your day/evening, many magical magpie hugs to everyone!!

Credits:

All Hunt Prizes from Kiyomizu Summer 2023 Hunt:

Photo 1:

Outfit: Shiorin's Mart =CS= KIYOMIZU HUNT PRIZE 2023SUMMER 1 $0L Kiyomizu Hunt

Photo 2:

Bikini: M*Motion C23 KYMZ Summer Gift $0L Kiyomizu Hunt

Photo 3:

Dress: SHOP KERO Prom Dress $0L Kiyomizu Hunt

Photo 4:

Outfit: MeltingDots Freebie Store Rompers Gear $0L Kiyomizu Hunt

Photo 5:

Dress: *R&R* Cat Dress 2306 $0L Kiyomizu Hunt

Mesh Nails: N.Kolour+KOSMETIK: Omega Coffin Nails - Medium // Maitreya

Head: LeLUTKA Fleur Head 3.1

Hair: TRUTH Valiant - Essential

Skin: 7 Deadly s[K]ins - REFLECTION cotton candy (BOM)

Ring: (BENTO)~~Ysoral~~ .:Luxe Ring Lyanna 4:. (Marketplace)

Body/Hands/Feet: Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara

All Poses: Verocity  (Various Sets)