Things Change - Six Months in SL

As I was pondering the pending 6 month resident milestone, I ran into someone I'd not seen in a while who commented on how much my avatar had changed. I was kind of surprised as all the elements are still there - I'm still a brunette, I still don't have max hooter sliders and my basic taste in clothes and colors are the same. But it started me thinking about how much difference little incremental changes could make to the "everyday look" - Second Life Evolution as it were.
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I dug through my old pictures and, while I'm soooo not going to post my rez look (mainly because I can't find the pics anywhere), I do have my first "newbie outfit" after my initial visit to The Shelter. I'd almost forgotten I had red hair and was apparently built like a 12 year old boy. All in all, I've seen worse, but still oozing of clueless noobit - the shoes just make me want to cry. I'm sorry to say that I have no idea what the skin or clothes are in the first shot, but I can say they came from either The Shelter or The Free Dove - both fabulous places for new residents.
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The second shot, I'd moved to brunette (I'm thinking this was still the first few weeks), hair was still long, but I remember shopping forever to get a skin I loved - Vivant Bronze Feline 3 by Tete a Pied (now Fleur). I'd also discovered Glanz eyes (which are still the only thing other than my shape that hasn't changed at all) and I'm pretty sure I'm wearing my 30 day free hair from Gurl 6. Not a bad look, actually, and I still have everything in the picture in my wardrobe.
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I'd say the biggest change occurred when I started finding short hairstyles that I liked. They seem to be everywhere these days, but I swear I don't remember there being nearly as many 6 months ago as now. My first short style was the Aveda Short Crop 2 which I still wear when an outfit needs a clean edgy look. About the time I started blogging, I discovered The Poynter by Armidi, which seemed to work a bit better with my facial features and which isn't featured here because it's the style you can see in my blog profile pic. Skin remained TaP Feline which I still wear for the fabulous dramatic eyes and the picture was taken at Toby's Juke Joint - one of the best places for casual blues in SL.
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So, where am I today? Well, I have a lot of skins, but Tuli (Tanned) dominates the inventory with Fleur close behind. I've fallen so utterly in love with the Writer hair from Detour that I've actually bought multiple colors (and regret not investing in the Fat Pack, but that's the story of my Linden Life, much to my financial chagrin). I'm pretty much still in jeans when I'm not shopping, photographing or blogging, but my collection of boots is utterly fabulous, my t-shirts have actual texture and I'm completely enamoured of SL's incredibly talented tattoo artists.
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If you ask me I'd probably tell you that this is close to the final evolution - I feel utterly "at home" in my current skin and hair, though I expect those may evolve with new generations and techniques. My shape and eyes have not changed since my first "store bought" set, so I expect they are there for the duration. All in all, my friend was correct - I certainly don't look the same. But, hey - never doubt, never look back (much), right?