Second Life Spotlight: New Horizon Winter Land

Sometimes, when real life has me feeling bone-weary, I venture into Second Life to find peace. So tonight, in my guise as the Snow Queen, I went in search of some winter scenery to soothe my soul. (I find it interesting that in many of the newer social VR platforms, it is difficult to find winter worlds, unlike SL which has dozens, especially as we get nearer to Christmas.)

And I found what I was looking for in spades in the New Horizon Winter Land, with gently falling snow in a hushed forest, and the aurora borealis dancing overhead:

Beautifully landscaped, and set to a soundtrack of soothing new age music, I immediately felt as if I were in a real winter wonderland. I guess I am looking forward to winter after all!

The description of this place under its Search profile reads as follows:

New Horizon Winter land is a great place for photos or just walk around and get the feeling of the area, the calm cozy environment will give your soul some peace.

If you want to explore this wintry world, and experience a little peace as well, here is the SLURL. I highly recommend it.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The EarthStones Halloween Trick or Treat Mystery Hunt

Every year for Halloween, the EarthStones jewelry store (SLURL) hosts an annual Trick or Treat Mystery Hunt, where you can pick up some great deals on jewelry for both men and women. I must warn you that this is a challenging but rewarding hunt, with some beautifully-made jewelry as prizes. You are looking for Trick or Treat bags: orange bags contain prizes for the ladies, and purple ones contain both male and female items. Prizes are not transferable, so be careful!

There are 24 hunt prizes in all, hidden in various places anywhere on the EarthBound sim where the EarthStones store is located, both inside the store and outside in the surrounding landscape! (Please note that this is not a free hunt; only four of the hunt prizes are free, and the rest cost L$50, L$75, or L$99, which is still a significant savings over EarthStones’ regular prices.)

I am going to tell you the bag numbers for each of the items I am showing you, so that if you are only interested in that particular set, you can focus your hunt for just those items. I am not going to tell you where they are; I am just giving you the bag numbers to make it a little easier for you!. I rationalize this decision by thinking that this blogpost might drive more traffic—and profit—to the EarthStones store owner Abraxxa Anatine, who richly deserves it for her beautiful work.

I know that this takes a bit of the mystery out of a Mystery Hunt, but I absolutely hate spending Linden dollars on items without knowing what I am getting! I’m sure you do too, which is also why I am doing this. But I do make an exception for the annual Halloween hunt at EarthStones, because I know from previous years’ hunts that all the prizes are very high quality items. And all the other bags will still remain a mystery! A few of the items (ones not shown here) are Halloween-themed.

First up is the simplest—a pair of black diamond stud earrings and a matching black diamond solitaire necklace (two separate prizes, bags 20 and 21):

Next is the beautiful Lakshmi jewelry set in lapis (the earrings, necklace, and bracelets for both left and right arms, are all separate hunt prizes, bags 2, 8, and 14; there is a HUD to change the metals to bronze or silver):

Here are the Kanza earrings and necklace in red jasper (two separate hunt prizes, bags 9 and 16):

These are the Simply Put earrings and necklace in moldavite (two prizes, bags 10 and 22):

And finally, we have the gorgeous Glass Drop necklace and matching earrings in sapphire (again, two separate prizes, bags 4 and 11):

Vanity Fair is also wearing:

Happy Halloween hunting!