I don’t know if anyone still checks this blog, but for those who do, I hope you had a lovely holiday! Mine was good — I bought myself a new computer and am working on getting all my Sims stuff moved over. Woot!

The new website I was working on is still in the works and has mutated quite a bit, but I’m still plugging away at it. Slowly but surely. I’ve been out of the Sims loop for awhile now, so I’m trying to get myself back up-to-date with everything. The upcoming Free Time EP looks awesomely cool!

Also, I wanted to let you know that Jade’s Isle of Thyme is back on the web! Yay, Jade! Thyme is looking more wonderful than ever.

When the new site is finally up, I will post a link here and send an announcement via FeedBlitz.

Take care, all, and have a very Happy New Year!

Hey, guys. Something has been bugging me the last couple of days. I don’t regret my decision to stop blogging, but my goodbye to you and Mt. Geneva was just too darned abrupt. So I’ve decided to do One Last Story.

I personally need a bit more closure, and I thought you guys might enjoy it, too. It’s going to be a humongous update — it will wrap up Fran, Maude, the Ravelos, and some other folks from Mt. Geneva’s past. Think of it as the Grand Finale. :-)

Thank you SO much for all of the comments and well wishes. I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll say it again: you guys ROCK.

Stay tuned!

Hey, folks. I’ve been doing some serious thinking about my blog lately, and I’ve decided that it’s time to move on. This was a tough decision to make. I hate to leave so many stories dangling and so many projects half-finished. But I’ve grown disenchanted with Simming and blogging and all that stuff over the last few months, and I need to take a big step back.

I won’t be leaving the community for good; SimScribes will stay open, but I’ll be posting there even less than I do now. If anyone would like to become a moderator there, let me know! That site deserves a leader who will pay more attention to things.

And I’m not quitting the Sims entirely. I’m sure I will play from time to time. For one, Kay and I are working on a shared hood, and I don’t want to give that up. And who knows, maybe we’ll post some pictures of it somewhere when it gets off the ground.

Perhaps down the road when The Sims 3 comes out, I’ll return to the blogging world. But I won’t be posting on Mt. Geneva anymore. It’s done for good. I’m going to leave the site up, but it will be in archival mode, for the most part.

It’s been a fun ride, and I’m sincerely thankful for all of the inspiration and feedback you guys have given me over the past three years. You guys are the best! I hope you all continue to have fun with the Sims or whatever else you enjoy, be it grilled cheese, pet womrats, or playing pirate in your bathtub. ;-)

Happy Simming!

Playing with a new Sims 2 expansion is always a treat. I haven’t done too much with Bon Voyage yet, but I did create a family, build them a little house, and take them on a vacation to Twikkii Island. I played through almost one day of their trip before some weird graphics problems forced me to quit the game. Bummer, dude.

I snapped some pics anyway and thought I’d share them with you. They’re kind of spoilery, so if you’d rather wait until you can explore the EP on your own, you might not want to read any further…

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Hey everyone! I have a few topics to discuss with you today.

Bon Voyage
I’m getting excited about the next EP; how about you? I’ve seen so many things already that will be PERFECT for Ahanu Bay. Pirate ships, ancient ruins, hammocks, sandcastles, and best of all – SWIMMABLE BEACH LOTS! Yeah, I’m plunking money down for this puppy today.

Other things I’m excited about:

• Massage tables, hot springs, and saunas
• Four dances your Sims can learn
• The ability to walk to community lots (instead of calling and subsquently waiting for the taxi)
• Wearable jewelry
• More turn-ons and turn-offs
• Portable camera
• Campfires

Things I’m not so excited about, but am hoping cheats will rectify:

• We won’t be able to run hotels, even if we have OFB
• Sims may have to go on vacation to eat the new foods, learn greetings, and buy souvenirs…but as my hood is already a vacation destination (in my mind, at least) I’d love it if Sims didn’t have to travel to do that stuff!

We have a nice Bon Voyage discussion going at SimScribes, if anyone is interested.

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TheSimSonian
My fellow blogger and hood-builder mildlydisguised is a contributor to a new monthly Sims web-magazine called The SimSonian. I just read the first issue this morning and was wildly entertained! Very funny stuff, as well as some useful information. Be sure to check it out!

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Answers to Your Questions
I apologize for the delay on addressing your questions from the comments on “Down by the Bay”. Here are some answers for you:

Jo – You asked about the palm trees. They’re all by alex_stanton1983 at MTS2. He has a ton of them, and they’re all lovely!

Marie – I have the free site(s) for July posted now!

Jacqueline – Yes, I am working on a credits section for Ahanu Bay. It’ll be similar to my Annabel Island credits. I’ll let you guys know when I have it up and running.

simlover – I hadn’t thought about putting any of my cottages up for download, but if you are interested, I can certainly do that!

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Proposal on the Beach

And since I hate seeing huge chunks of nothing but text on my blog, here’s a snapshot to break it up!

That’s Brice Castillon and Kelsey Pollitt, two of my Ahanu Bay founders, getting engaged on my community beach lot. They’ve already moved out of their cottages and into a small house, and gave birth to a kid! But I’m redesigning the hood slightly and writing up a real history for it, so Brice and Kelsey (and the others) are no longer “founders” — they’re just residents of AB.

I’m working on Fran this weekend (I’m determined, by golly), so stay tuned!

Also in the works (just posting it here to remind myself!):
-Barn tutorial
-House-building tutorial
-Ahanu Bay hood terrain for download (just gotta take the pics)

So much to do, so little time…

Hey, guys! I’m back from my vacation in beautiful Alaska and ready to get back to simming. I have some new ideas for Ahanu Bay and a Fran update still in the works! But first, a few words…

I’ve changed my stance on the whole paysite vs. freesite debate. Here’s what it boils down to:

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Hey, peeps. Since so many of you are asking about custom neighborhoods, here and at SimScribes, I feel compelled to say a few things which I hope you’ll find helpful.

First off, as many of you know, Jade’s site Isle of Thyme started the hood-building trend with her wonderful creation of Thyme and her generous sharing of tips and tutorials. Unfortunately, her site has closed, and, as far as I know, her tutorials were never posted anywhere else. I do remember some things here and there which I am willing to share (with credit to Jade for finding them/coming up with them in the first place), but my thoughts and info aren’t nearly as organized as her site was. I’m also working about about 12 different projects right now, so stuff might be sparse for a bit.

Also: I am no expert in building a custom hood. Not at all. I am figuring it out as I go with help from the community and my recollection of Jade’s site. What you might want to do is join SimScribes, since I’ve started a sub-forum there for hood building. That way we can all share information as we come across it or learn from our experimentation. If a forum is just not your cup of tea, no problem. I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can.

Another thing about hood-building — I’ve posted this on SimScribes, and I’ll reiterate it here: give your hood some serious thought before you begin. As Jade mentioned on her site, everyone has a different playing style, and you don’t want to build a huge, intricate hood only to find you don’t enjoy the mechanics of playing it. Figure out what YOU enjoy most about the game, and build that into the design of your hood. An integrated economy might be really cool to play with in theory, but you have to build it first, and that takes a lot of patience, thought, and experimentation. And truth be told, the pondering and testing is half the fun, in my opinion. So mull that over before you embark on a huge project of this kind. That’s the best advice I can give you right now.

Elsewhere in the news…

I’ll be posting my revised Bluewater terrain soon — I just have to take pics so it won’t look like a sad grid in your neighborhood chooser. Also, I’ll be posting a story soon (non-Fran). As for Fran herself, I have most of the pics taken for her update, but it may be awhile before I get the rest taken. Too much going on!

Happy Simming!