Yes, I’m back. There’s a longer post over at my Ponderings blog, if you want to read more.

So… back to it! Where to begin? OK, how about with the current TDR Blue collection, because it’s still summer (at least here in the northern hemisphere) and as soon as Mar spotted this gorgeous skirt from Tee*fy she had to have it! Also from the TDR Blue collection this month is the LeoLuxe belt from Mimikri (and I love the resizing options on this; they let you resize in different directions instead of just making the whole belt bigger, so if you’ve got a plush bottom you can accommodate that without having the belt be six inches too wide sideways!)

The top is from the current Summer Hunt at R.icielli (more on that in the post to follow), the skin is a group gift from Exodi (hop behind the cut for info on that!) and the flipflops are lovely little cheapies from Magi Take.

Hop behind the cut!

OK, now the blog’s remit stops at L$75 normally, but when it comes to group join fees I waiver that limit, especially for skin store groups. Why? Well, when skin stores give out gifts to their group members they’re usually very generous ones – full packs of skins that would normally cost thousands of L$. So a group join fee of 250, 500 or even 750 is something of an investment if you love that store’s skins. And, now that SL gives us a 42-group maximum we can stay in these pricier groups without worrying about having to drop them if we find another group we want to be in (although I suspect that number of groups equates to size of handbag in real life: the bigger it is, the more you try to cram into it!)

To that end, I’m going to let you know that Exodi’s group join fee is L$750. Deep breath over there ;) But it’s worth it when you receive a group gift of this quality. (Shadows on the skin are because I had a nice sunset Windlight preset going on.) With your group tag active, head to the store and click the bags under the image on the wall to your left. You’ll receive the beautiful Sophie skin in five skintones, with light and dark brows and cleavage option (on both underwear and tattoo layers) for each skintone. You also get an eyebrow shaper to wear (Mar didn’t wear this or the cleavage layer in her pics).

Paste this link into chat and click on it to bring up the Exodi VIP Group info panel if you want to join (L$750 join fee). Remember: if you leave the group and want to re-join, you’ll have to pay the fee again. The ‘notes’ section of your own profile is a good place to jot down the groups that you paid to join, so you don’t accidentally leave one of them, or you can make a new notecard for that info.

Mar’s bangles are lovely little cheapies from the Chuculet store (which is a fabby place for bargain jewellery and other accessories). Her flipflops are from another bargainous store: Magi Take. You’ll get a HUGE pack of them, in many colours and sizes, with both plain and studded options, so make sure you find the size that fits your avatar and then either archive or discard the sizes you don’t need, to save your poor, groaning inventory!