Montagne Noire Easter Hunt starts April 1!

It's my birthday month and the one year anniversary of my mastectomy surgery, so I'm celebrating my recovery with this special event at the main store in Caledon Oxbridge Village.

Photos of the gift items will be forthcoming soon!

Getting back in the groove

March 2011 marks a year since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in RL. It's been a long haul, but my prognosis is excellent.

As you can see from the date of my last post on this blog, I had to stop posting last summer when I started chemotherapy. Treatment was a real struggle; I ended up going into the hospital twice, and eventually we decided to stop chemo treatment early, because it was making me so ill.

After some recuperation, I jumped head first into radiation treatment and that took a lot out of me too.

Throughout the last few months I've kept a low profile on SL, mostly focusing on maintaining the creative and business side of Montagne Noire. When I've felt well enough to sit in the computer chair for long periods of time, I've released some new outfits; when sitting was too tiring, I had to limit myself to addressing customer service issues.

So one of the things that fell by the wayside during the last few months was this blog. I simply couldn't justify the effort and time for it... but now I'm intending to make a re-commitment to it. While this blog has but a small following, I think it's an important exercise for me as a RL writer.

One of the lingering effects of treatment has been trouble with words... Word Amnesia would be a good term for it. There's a neurological condition the oncologists call "chemo brain" which affects different patients in different ways; it just so happens that it's affecting my ability to spell correctly and conjure the correct words for people, places and objects. What it hasn't affected fortunately is my ability to create clothing. That must go on in a different part of my brain.

My posts will likely be brief in nature, mostly announcing new releases, sales etc., as I did before. So please stay tuned!

Montagne Noire Merchantile in Deadwood

The newly reset Deadwood western RP sim has a great little merchants section within Fort Laramie, the starting point of your journey to Deadwood (in real life about 400 miles, I think).

When the sim owners rebuilt the sim recently, one of the things that was important to them was to get as authentic a look as they could get from their merchant "outfitters," those businesses that in the real life Old West set up adjacent to such places at Fort Laramie to provide prospectors and travelers with the supplies they needed to survive their long journey. So you won't find any flashy or modern looking vendors here.

I finally updated my little outfitter display with vendors that resemble dry goods crates (an idea encouraged by the sim owners). I narrowed the clothing selection to what I thought would be the best fit, so to speak, for role play in Deadwood.

Stop by and see what you think -- and check out the amazing reset of the Deadwood sim at SURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Pass/116/170/767. Its focus on authenticity and providing visitors with actual historical background about the real town without a doubt make it the best western RP sim in SL. The role play is a blast too!

New Independence Day/Bastille Day gown & more!

Bonjour!

It happens to me every year, I look at the calendar and July is right at my doorstep -- and I haven't even started on my annual "Patriot" item!

Luckily this year I am a little ahead of schedule -- I present to you "Juillet," a ball gown to celebrate American Independence Day on July 4, and French Bastille Day (also known as La Fête Nationale) on July 14. It's specially priced at just 100L!

Juillet (July) is the month my Role Play character celebrates two monumental events in the history of her adopted nation and her birth nation: American Independence Day on July 4, and French Bastille Day (also known as La Fête Nationale) on July 14.

The flags of both nations share the colors red, white and blue, and so Juillet was created to honor the shared triumph of the American and French people in reaching toward the historical ideals of democracy.

I hope you enjoy this gown and have fun at the many Independence Day and Bastile Day balls and events that are planned around Second Life this year!

Also, back in the "bargain alcove" are three DOLLARBIE patriotic straw boater hats for women, girls, and for men & boys.

AND, there are a few bits of patriotic decor around the shop that are available for sale -- fan banners and posters.


NEW BOYS & GIRLS RP OUTFITS

"L'Orphelin" and "L'Orpheline" are the the first children's costumes to be introduced to the Montagne Noire Role Play Collection. As new items they are 50% off for the first week, so just 100L!

The costume is designed for the RPer who wishes to play an orphan, with the added option of playing a blind child -- or perhaps a sighted child playing a blind orphan for financial gain. How the story develops is completely up to you!

STILL MORE SALES

The "Pink & Red" sale is still going strong (all pink & red clothing is 50L), as is the Victorian bathing suit sale -- men's and women's suits are 50% off -- plus there's a brand new black & white suit for the ladies!

OTHER NEWS

The Caledon shop has expanded -- the "bargain alcove" is now at the back entrance of the shop, where the free group gift vendor now resides, along with the dollarbies, and our soon to debut Sixty Linden Weekends kiosk!

Every weekend for Sixty Linden Weekends we'll be featuring a fabulous gown -- might be from our regular inventory, might be a limited edition -- for just 60L! I'll be sending out notices as next weekend gets closer. :)

That's it for now! I am still fighting cancer with both fists -- SL and designing clothing are a great distraction and therapy. So thanks for making that possible for me! :)

Montagne Noire Furnishings? What's this?

I recently realized I don't do a proper job of promoting my furniture shop, so I have set about to rectify that, beginning with a special group gift for furniture lovers -- a fancy Victorian blanket chest with scripted open and close lid!

You'll find the group gift board in the foyer entrance.

While you're there, please check out the items that are included in the "Pink & Red" Sale -- items with the color pink or red are now just 50L through the summer!

A few samples of some of our most recent furnishing additions include a folk art baby cradle, rocking chair, bookcase desk and writing chair, bathroom towel cabinet, and more. We also offer furnishings for your parlor, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bath, Chinese imports and business furnishings.

Most furnishings retail for between 50L-200L. My goal in making these items was to offer low cost, low prim furnishings for roleplay -- most aren't extremely complicated items, just nicely textured to give the appearance of a well furnished home on a small prim budget.

Montagne Noire Furnishings is located in Antiquity Township, SURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Antiquity%20Township/117/26/23

I hope you enjoy the chest, and browsing the other furnishings!

MNC Caledon Oxbridge Village main store expands!

Bonjour!

MNC is pleased to announce the expansion of its Caledon Oxbridge Village location! Please update your old LM with this one, as occasionally you may end up getting stuck in the front stairs:

SURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Oxbridge%20Village/180/222/22

The new building now has a back entrance, where the dollarbie items and group gift are located.

As you can see it's a bit bare right now, but we hope to be participating in more hunts and shopping events in the near future (stay tuned for our first foray into Sixty Linden Weekends, coming up July 4 weekend!), and this is area you'll find the information!

The rest of the building looks about the same, it's just been elongated to make room for future inventory. Enjoy!

A new parasol collection and a Victorian tattoo?

Bonjour!

Finally MNC has released a parasol collection! Le Parasol is a Victorian ladies scripted walking umbrella with fringe and roses that comes in bluebell, calla, nightshade, rose and snowdrop.

As new releases they are currently 50% off for the next week, just 50L for individual parasols and 175L for the fat pack of five.

And what's this? A Victorian tattoo? How scandalous!

F-holes, also known as sound holes, are the carved opening in stringed musical instruments such as violins and cellos, which help project the sound of the instrument through vibration as it is played.

For the Victorian lady of Second Life, I like to think of this elegant f-hole tattoo as a bohemian expression of the muse within each of us, whether we are inspiring a romantic partner, or our own creative spirit.

Look for the black gift box in the foyer of the MNC shop in Caledon to purchase this unique tattoo for just 1L! It's only available until the end of June, so don't delay! ;)

Astolat