one day, an earthly goddess is born...

October 2083 - Fiona McCullough is 16.

One day, Fiona McCullough, our (not-so) friendly neighborhood Wiccan, finally feels ready to try her hand at some of these things she's been studying. She's been waiting for the moment to feel right. She's a very careful and calculating girl, and she wanted all the pieces in their right places. After all, when one is plotting world domination, laying a perfect groundwork is essential!

bad karma

October 2083 - Chad and Riley Hathe are 34, Liza is 14, Shaun is 6. (Fiona McCullough is 16, Robbie is 13.)

Chad found this one morning, a ratty old vest he used to wear in high school. Yes, high school was fifteen years ago, but it still fits, and it helps him to relive all those long-forgotten days, before children, before marriage. He can hardly remember those days as it is. But his wife is not nearly as amused.

"Oh hell," Riley says, twisting up a scowl at him.

"What," he says. "It still fits. You remember this? I wore it all through high school. It was rad."

"It was not rad, even in high school. You look like a fool."

Behind them, Liza is laughing.

a poem about a freckle

October 2083 - Amelia Bradshaw is 28, Drew Bruty is 27.

* Warnings: NSFW/kids - and unabashed poetics! Soundtrack: "Colorblind," by the Counting Crows. *

She smells like organic lemongrass and ginseng, which leaves her skin soft and milky smooth. Did he know that natural soap is gentler on the skin than even the most moisturizing body washes? No, he didn't know that. But he does now.

She eats zucchini. He ate french fries before he met her, and now he knows that red bell peppers contain more antioxidants than green ones, green tea more flavanoids than bottled beer. She buys fresh fish for its omega-3. Now he knows what omega-3 is - he never knew he needed it, but she insists that he does. He doesn't need to know why, but she'll tell him anyway.

It's not about ideals or glamour. It's science, she tells him. "Because it'll make you live forever," she says. "Or at least a really long time. I want you to live a really long time."

prequel stories #8: reconstructing the founders, part 2

In April of 2006, a group of young college graduates decided to start their brand new lives by settling in a once-quiet little town called Lakeside Heights. Until now, there has been little record of who these people were, apart from a few aged photos and the basic public record of their family tree. This effort is to reconstruct their lives as best we can, through their family who might remember them.

family trees and photoshoots

*the family photoshoots are a work in progress*

The Brant/Harris Family:
(gen 0, 1, 2, 3, 4: includes Fortney, Bradshaw)

The Bradshaw/Riley Family:
(gen 1, 2, 3, 4: includes Gibson, Buchanan, and Kim)

The Nova/Phoenix Family:
(gen 1, 2, 3, 4: includes Collins, Hathe, and Day)

The Ramirez/Shaw Family:
(gen 1, 2, 3, 4:)

idle chatter: a hole in the head

Guess who? Couples edition!

Wouldn't that be a fun game? I'd show you couples, in different clothes and with their faces obscured and you'd have to guess who they were, just from their surroundings and mannerisms.

You all shout, "Yes!"

Well, maybe I'll put one together some day ;) LOL!

No, I'm not that mean. But I do need to finish out this chapter of stories first, so maybe we'll do that in the next chapter break.

You can try to guess who this couple is though. They've both had recent makeovers, so it might be a little tricky. I'll reveal them at the end of this post.

I'm kind of itching to finish this round by the end of September (I know, longest round ever, right?), which I'm aiming to coincide with the completion of my novel, because I'm itching to play FFXIII in my intermission. And you all should know that when I play FF games, I disappear from the conscious world for a solid two months! FFXIII is going to be my prize to myself for finishing the first solid draft of my novel - what more incentive does a girl need than that?

Of course, when I actually sell the damn thing, my prize will be a supercool new gaming computer! :)

prequel stories #8: reconstructing the founders, part 1

In April of 2006, a group of young college graduates decided to start their brand new lives by settling in a once-quiet little town called Lakeside Heights. Until now, there has been little record of who these people were, apart from a few aged photos and the basic public record of their family tree. This effort is to reconstruct their lives as best we can, through their family who might remember them.

guess who???

This game was inspired by Carla's "guess who" game over at Sullivan. I personally found hers much more surprising than mine, though maybe I would be biased. The only changes to these Sims are the removal of custom eyes, skintone, makeup, and clothing, and I've left them in whatever outfit and hairstyle the game defaulted them to. For those who were already wearing Maxis clothing, I photoshopped their clothing so it wouldn't be a give-away ;)

I'm very eager to see how many of these you guys are able to guess! Feel free to use the resident database if you think it might help.

As Carla mentioned in her game, any Sim wearing an in-between skintone would default to a lighter or darker tone. Same with custom eye color. There are 18 to try, and you can guess as many or as few as you like.

who are you people anyway???

*** note: I originally did this survey as part of this blog's two-year anniversary festivities, but newcomers to this blog are welcome to join "the peanut gallery" at any time ;) ***

Now I get to ask you some questions! We've known each other a couple of years now, and I'm curious about all these people behind these screen names.

You can answer as many or as few of these as you like.

welcome to LH blogiversary week!

Lakeside Heights turns two years old this week! (Or precisely, it did last Wednesday, on the 24th, but whatever, lol!) It's been a fun ride, and I have some special things planned for you all!

silly red sheet, part 3

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau and Tyler Jackson and Evie Bachman are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

There have been plenty of girls in and out of this house, and in any family, it's an easy enough mistake to make, the question of what to call your boyfriend's mother?

She prefers Aurora, for the record, as Summer always called her. Or even "mom," as April has boldly called her for the past seven years, is just fine. But anything else gets tricky, as Evie quickly discovers.

"Thanks for having me over for dinner, Mrs. Jackson," Evie says.

It's certainly not the first time she's been mistaken for the actual wife of her longtime live-in lover. But tonight, maybe the word hits Aurora harder than it should.

"Oh, no, it's just Ms. Miguel," Aurora says. "And you can thank Adrian for dinner, he does all the cooking around here."

silly red sheet, part 2

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau Jackson and April Hutchins are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

Summer is visiting over at Beau and April's apartment, one afternoon in September. She sits in the corner armchair, slumped deep and sulking. Like the rest of them, she also just heard that Tyler is shipping out. Unlike the rest of them, she learned this information second-hand through Beau.

"You could have been there," Beau says.

"No, I don't think your mom wanted me there," Summer says.

"She's not really mad at you."

Summer shrugs her shoulders. "How long did he say he was going for?"

"About four months."

"That's a long time."

"He'll probably call you," Beau says. "He said he'd try."

"He'd better," she says.

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.

silly red sheet, part 1

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau and Tyler Jackson are 20, Carly Cook is 28.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

After a lovely weekend with Adrian, Aurora was quickly dropped hard back into her real life. She's afraid of this man, the same man who called her employees customer service lazy and entitled just a couple years ago. So when she sees him in her boutique again, she feels herself inclined to run and hide. But this time he says, "No, don't worry! Everything looks great!"

2083, we don't need no education

September 2083 - schools update, fall.

* note: trying something a little different this time. Since I know you guys usually enjoy the school posts, I'm expanding the usual age-up back-to-school update into a mash-up of age transitions and a regular school update, like I usually do in the spring. This fall one will focus more on the kids in these transitional ages, where the spring update will still focus on everyone or whatever stories are prominent at the time ;) *
Bluewater Township: where they shall practice telepathy....

starting high school, 9th grade (15 years): Liza Hathe

"You're supposed to do the reading before class," Liza says, seeing Robbie flip through his school book in her peripheral vision.

"It was just so hard," he says. "I wish I could come with you." What he means is, he wishes she could still help him with his classwork.