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Today is the first of June and this month also happens to be my rez month.  Cougar Sangria rezzed in on June 23, 2010 which also happened to be Second Life’s 7th birthday and seven just so happens to be my lucky number.
All this month leading up to my rez day I will try to do a different post every other day..maybe more often than that.  We will see how it goes.  Though usually not one to dwell on the past, it can be a good thing and bittersweet to boot.  I will share my thoughts about being a noob, what I have learned, what I still want to accomplish,  people that have touched my life, the good, the bad, basically my second life these past 3 years.  Oh yeah , I intend to show never seen before photos too.  Never seen before cause they are pretty bad lol.  But it shows how far I have come in 3 years and reminds me I still have a long ways to go.  Always learning, always moving forward. 
So here we go… Click this
When choosing my initial avatar your choices were limited.  They have added a few more avatars but I don’t think any of them are any better lol.  Just sayin :P. I chose the ‘rocker chick’ mainly because vamp or goth did not appeal to me and she was the only one left with fairly dark hair at the time. 
I went to HELP Island today just to take this photo cause I didn’t have sense enough to take one on my first day.  Kicks meself in the butt.  Below is how Cougar looked when she rezzed into SL.  Ain’t she hot 😛 lol. Well at the time I thought she was.
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I think it took me all of one day to realize I needed a new shape and something they called a skin.  At the time MarketPlace was called Xstreet and so there began my search.  It took me a while to learn how to get around that site but I soon got the hang of it and in no time I was even able to grab a TP to the store inworld and have a look.  I found the shape I was wanting and grabbed it.  It even came with a style card for the hair, skin and eyes with landmarks included.  Jackpot! 
So back to Help Island I went and looked around for a place to change. Ummmm?  Say what?  You want me to change out here in the open?  In this thing you call a sandbox?  I was absolutely mortified.  No way Jose, newp, not in a gazillion years am I gonna show meself in my knickers.  Say again?  I can get a house here?  My own Place?  How?  Where? Oh the Lindens you say.  Go to where?  My dashboard?  WTH is that?  Ohhhhhhhhh I see.  Well no, I didn’t see but I knew I could eventually figure it out.
I know that most think the Linden homes aren’t that great but being a premium member has its perks.  You get a house and you have decent ones to pick from.  You get customer service (although I haven’t had to use…yet) and you get a weekly stipend in lindens.  It almost works out to where your house is almost free. Granted the prim amount is almost nill but I just wanted a place I could go in private and dress myself.  A home base.
After picking out my house, naming it and trying to find the dern thing, I started my transformation.  The note card that came with my shape said it was copy/modify.  Whats that mean I wonder…hummmmmm?   Wendz!!!!!!! Oh I can change it lol?  WENDZ!!!!!!!!! How do I do that?  Appearance tab?   WENDZ!!!!! Where is that?  Ahhhhhh, gotcha. 
So to work I went on my Avie.  Ohhhhh this button makes me boobs huge, kinda liking that.   What does this one do I wonder?  Oh no no no , don’t want a butt as big as a mack truck.  Slide that thing back down.  Quick! There, much better.
After working on Cougar for a week off and on I felt I was ready.  I had worked on the face for the most part, changing every slider that was available to me.  Tweaking it a click or two on the sliders this way and that till I was satisfied.  Now for the big reveal…………
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Cougar at 1 week old
Smexy even back then 😛 (dying here in a fit of laughter).
Well it wasn’t bad for my first effort, but lots of room for improvement lol.  Every time I look at this picture I think…man I had a serious case of bed head. 
I was always spending at least one day a week on my refining efforts to Cougar and the following pictures are kind of a timeline for the first 4 months of my Second Life.
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 Cougar less than 2 weeks old ( lol I could barely dress myself in those days,much less take a picture)  I also figured out you could adjust the hair size but this ain’t much better lol.  This is also when I had a major growth spurt and grew a little long in the legs.
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I discovered Updos – 2 1/2 weeks old
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Then I discovered long hair ( this one isn’t much better than the short one lol) – 1 month old 
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Okay, this is not so bad..I am diggin this – 2 months old
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Shakes my head, I can’t believe I even wore this hair.  You could spends days hiding in there  – 3 months old
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4 months old – I discovered EMO-tions and still wear this hair to this day.  BTW, though this pic is not perfect in anyway it is one of my favorites.  For me it speaks the essence of Cougar.
I didn’t do any major changes to Cougar until I was 11 1/2 months old.  I worked mainly on the face and nothing was left untouched.  Cougar also lost a bit of body weight, toned up a bit and grew even taller 🙂
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It’s amazing what a good skin and decent eyes can do for a girl 🙂  Yep this is my Claire skin by Tuli and the only one I wear to this day. 
Present day and I haven’t changed Cougar except for making a mesh shape (I didn’t want to do it, but I got over that right quickly).
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I have discovered mesh hair and although I love my flexi hair , mesh does have its advantages, especially when taking photos. I have improved in that area too.  But still a ways to go.  Always learning, always moving forward.  TWMA:)