sneak peek: the terrarium

I know this is far too lame to be considered an update, but some people wanted to see my start on the terrarium, so here it is! ;)

quickie little bit of picspam, a linen store

For my next update, I needed like two pictures at a linen store. So I added a little linen store to my mall. And I seriously only needed two pictures for the update, but I think I'll end up using three just to amuse myself. Since it took me a good couple hours to put together and I'll probably never need to use it again, I thought I'd show off a couple more here. It's supposed to be a Pottery Barn kind of thing ;)

picspam, bella's new house

So one day, I went and destroyed Bella's house, lol! Oh how she loathes me! Because the only other place I could fit her ever-expanding family is in the suburbs. She is SO not a suburban kind of lady. But I put them in Stoneview Court, which is a "gated community" - so that status should make her happy. And Cameron is happy because he's right across the street from Max. And the girls will have a nice sized yard to play in.

Of course, I had to start with her kitchen! :)

party prep picspam...

It's basically party season around here in Lakeside Heights, December through the New Year. Or at least this year it is. The elections are coming up fast, there's a war going on, and people are stressed out and need to blow off some steam. So the next few updates will feature parties, family gatherings, holiday events, or get-togethers for no specific reason at all.

now, the building spam ends

And to wrap things up, I have some build month outtakes ;)

In real life, people don't teleport, so I always forget that Amelia learned how to do it. Here she is teleporting up to the third floor of Collins Hall for a graduate level drafting class.

picspam: randomness with Hayden and Piper

This all started because Hayden and Piper wanted to buy a house. They won't be married for another six months still, but I didn't want to do the moving hassle at the same time I'm having to deal with wedding plans, so we did this now.

This is in Hazel Park (and hey, look, train station in the background!). He's still just about a mile away from his mommy, because I figured he'd want to move too far away, lol!

I didn't build this, but remodeled it quite a bit, both inside and out. I changed out all the windows and doors and stairs, and the color scheme. Complete overhaul inside. The second floor was left unfinished, so I finished it.

LH stuff: lots for download

Lots for download, from the poll. All lots are scanned with the Clean Installer and all accompanying CC is already compressed. Minimally necessary CC is included - use the clean installer if you don't want it.

trains coming out of my ears!

Welcome to the great train station and bus stop extravaganza! (Now with parking lots too!)

Okay, is that dramatic enough? Because I kind of went a little overboard here. Seriously, if I see another train in the next six months, I might go insane!

I'll go ahead and share these links at the start - Criquette's neighborhood deco building sets, and Sunni's deco cars - both of which were used extensively in this project.

And it all started with this, the LCMTA Rail Map.

build week #3.5: what not to do with the lot adjuster

Experiments and failures on placing lots "off-grid"

So I had this grand idea that I'd take some houses, and place them along a fake street, to use up some of that pesky middle space in one of my city blocks. So that street in the middle of the picture is completely decorative, and the homes there are placed "off-grid", meaning they're not attached to any actual road.

These houses I used are by Maisie by the way.

And for the most part, it worked. But I did run into a few deal-breaking (in my book, anyway) problems.

build week #3: fun with the lot adjuster

Did anyone ever try this before?

This is my campus pub, a 3x1 lot, overlapping my new campus parking lot, which is a 5x4 lot. Both lots are fully functional where they stand, and don't conflict with the other.

build week #2: it's almost a medical center!

Just a little, tiny, sneak peak ;)

I'm super-excited about my medical center! In fact, even though I downloaded a big hornking hospital for my city, I might not even use it much in the end. Most of the scenes I tend to use for this story are more outpatient kind of situations - like a therapy session, or pregnancy checkup. Those wouldn't likely happen at a hospital at all, but would probably happen in a smaller suburban medical plaza like this! :)

build week #1: moving mountains

First, welcome to build week! Or weeks, I guess, since it ends up taking about a month, lol!

You can expect fluffy building posts, some storytelling discussion, and lots of picspam! If you're not interested in the building and remodeling stuff, and would like to skip ahead to the start of the next story season, go here: winter 2083/84: still hear you.

I have a list of the projects I intend to work on in the "coming soon..." box, though I don't expect I'll have enough time to finish all of them. I hope to at least make some progress on each of them. And I'll share pics as I go along.

My first project was learning to use the neighborhood terrain editing cheat. It's kind of an essential cheat to laying down rail track, so I dug into it. And I practiced by moving a mountain, lol!

Before...

And after! :)

this is the sorry excuse for why I've got nothing...

Well, this is how I spent my Simming time this weekend, but unfortunately, it did not amount to much shooting of the next story update.

But... Lakeside Heights now has skies!!!

one day, Carly gets a little spend-happy...

One day, Carly Cook gets a little spend happy. This is her shitting-a-brick face, because she just got the invoice for the reconstruction of the roof on her new boutique. "I didn't know a roof could cost $15,000," she says.

"Sure," I tell her. "That roof can. You want me to send it back?"

"Well, no," she says. "It's cute. Can we charge it?"

And so it begins...

You guys still have a story update coming this weekend, but Carly's boutique will be featured in one of the scenes, and I thought you might like a better look at it than just story shots. Carly's gone a little bit spend-happy in here, but you know, it was cute.

LH stuff: Jolie, Jolie

After almost twenty years of service, Aurora Miguel, of Lakeside Heights, will put her boutique, Jolie, Jolie, up for auction. She cites personal reasons for her decision, though it is known she'll be running for office this fall.

school extras, picspam

This post was scheduled ahead for Sunday, so I guess if you're reading it, that means it worked. I should be back online some time Monday to respond to comments... you know, if everything goes according to plans, which is always questionable in moving...

Scheduling entries ahead always makes me nervous, since you'll be reading it before I get a chance to see it published myself, and it could be loaded up with glaring horrible typos 'n stuff, lol! So good thing it's just a fluff post ;)

The extras are coming before the actual school update this time, but these aren't really the spoilery kind of outtakes. I just wanted to separate all this picspam and administrative stuff, so I could keep the story stuff all flowy and nice.

LH sci-fi dork-fest... or the making of a space base

After viewing this video, a tour inside our current ISS, I've had to revise my plans for my happy little space-goers. A free-floating space station wouldn't have as much space or large windows with beautiful views of space like I'd envisioned. And it would not be very aesthetically pleasing at all. It would be cramped and cluttered and every bit of available space would be used.

But they can generate oxygen from their urine! That's hella cool! LOL!

So anyway, if I want to keep this story as realistic as I usually try to, then that means staying true to the kind of possibilities we might see in the next 70 years. So I've changed my original intentions a bit, and I'll now have their "home base" built on the moon rather than a free-floating station in orbit. So from this point forward, that's where they'll be. And I'll try to go back and edit the story to reflect that.

the love shack

March 2081 - Maxwell Shaw is 34, Valerie is 39, Angelo is 10, Devon is 4. Last update, March 2080.

*** disclaimer: Your author and the residents of Lakeside Heights would like to express that the views and actions of Maxwell Shaw do not represent the views of the town in its entirety, and he shall be held responsible for his own shadiness. This post may not be suitable for the young, impressionable, or easily offended. Thank you, and enjoy! ;) ***

*** disclaimer #2: This is kind of long ***

Maybe this all starts with Bella Bradshaw. Maybe it's the flush in her cheeks and the way she shakes out her hair as she steps from that photo booth smelling of sweat and pure sex. Maxwell loves his wife - he and Valerie have a very special kind of connection, one that could never be replaced. But Bella Bradshaw is different. She is pure attraction and hormones. She is lust and flesh and so perfectly ripe he could just bite right into her.

She gives Maxwell an idea, and you can bet it isn't a wholesome one.

seaside woods retirement village

November 2078 - Tad and Tosha Harris are 69.

First, some old pictures :)

On the left are Tad's parents, Becca (Brant) Harris and Troy Harris. Becca was one of my neighborhood's founding Sims.

On the right is Tad and Tosha in high school. How about those haircuts? LOL! :)

the lofts, apartment life makeover!

I am in the process of updating all of my multi-family lots to real apartments. So while I take a little break from my normal story-playing, I thought I'd share with you my apartment remodeling adventures :)

First up are the Rondal Lofts. Charlotte and Amelia will be roommates, and Cameron will have his own place.

Charlotte finds out that they have to cough up one whole week's worth of rent at a time. She says, "What? That's like a seven-year lease? Are you serious?" It's crazy, but he's serious, Charlotte, just sign the papers already!