* Galaad

A couple of days ago, I asked friends for suggestions on decent neighbourhoods that I could download and install, because I was/am bored with Sunset Valley, Riverview and Twinbrooks. Fashionista125 came up with a couple of decent ideas, one of which was Neverglade by Pyro. I found out as much about it as possible before installing it, then spent a couple of days investigating it with the camera. I never played it, though I did build one little starter home for it - Lavender Cottage (see image above). 

I uninstalled Neverglade this morning. It was massive, too large for me ever to enjoy playing it, and the dark and brooding atmophere was making me suicidal. Though all that being said, it was exceptionally well made and appeared to have all the elements that EA made neighbourhoods have - it just wasn't to my taste. I wanted something a little smaller.

* Azalea Cottage

Azalea Cottage has well established vegetable gardens and a small orchard - ideal for the sim with a green thumb. Set in beautifully landscaped gardens, there's also a pool.... that sounded really good, didn't it. I have to confess that I'm pasting some of these blurbs from S3M, and maaaaaaaaaaaaan they are dull. I was trying to be all professionaly and estate agenty *rolls eyes*.

You'll find the download and more pics, at the bottom of the page :)

* A Personal Challenge

I'm addicted to third party custom content. I spend more time hunting it down and compressing it into single large .packages - than I do playing the game. The bummer with CC, is that it causes choppiness, lag and prolonged loading times. Gameplay can be a real chore when a neighbourhood is bogged down with it... and though I love to build and to decorate, I genuinely love to play too.

So, to enable a smoother game, I've decided that the Riverview neighbourhood that I'm making over, is going to be CC-less. To a point. I'll use the EA Store stuff that I've purchased (mainly because it'd be pretty bloody stupid not to after I've paid for it!), and Huge Lunatics Bed Blankets, Mango's Bed Cushions (Set Garor), and Haru's Default Texture Replacements... and if I really can't cope with the lack of decorative wallage (paintings to you)... maybe some of SimsArtGallery's Double Hung Paintings.

* Plum Tree Park

There's nothing I enjoy more than taking an EA *lot* apart, and making it over to suit my own games needs. Not just residential lots, either - the community lots all could do with a face lift, and bit by bit they tend to get it. It's a bit of a cheat really... doing makeovers - because the basics are already there to inspire you. It's a lot harder to come up with something from scratch than it is to improve on something that's already there. Having said that, it's one of the aspects of the game that I enjoy most!

* Whitsands Bay

I was recently challenged by Robodl95 at Living Sims to create a beach - no details other than that just "I challenge you to create a beach"... I originally attempted to use the large beach at the front of Sunset Valley, I forget it's name - but after coming close to head butting my keyboard and smashing my monitor and developing a nervous twitch in my left eye that could only be cured by eating copious amounts of chocolate - I switched to Recurve Strand, one of the smaller beaches in SV. Even then, I demolished it at least three times - until I built the beach huts, after that it all came along fairly smoothly. 

* Student Digs

Meet Sonia Mayberry. She's my current *floating sim*, which basically means that she is motherloded up to the eyeballs so that I can move her into various houses/homes and take photographs using the TAB button. TAB does not work for me in build/buy mode, not even once (which other players find, does occur). Sonia is a young adult, and is currently posing as a student for a challenge that I've just completed for Living Sims. Gotmilk challenged me to create a studio apartment for a broke student, using only 12,000 simoleons - the apartment had to include a desk and computer... I managed to do it all for around 11, 574 simoleons. I'm thinking Gotmilk was incredibly nice to give me such a large budget to work with - I hope she wasn't expecting grungy... I can't do grungy. Grungy makes me want to get out a scrubbing brush and a bucket full of bleach... so grungy doesn't occur in my game. Ever.

* Mad Mad Meadow

I do occasionally play this game, as well as build stuff for it. A while back I came across a sim in the Riverview Neighbourhood who lives in an amazingly insane house, surrounded by flowers and potted plants of every description. It made my eyes cross. After spending a bit of time with her, I discovered that she herself - is insane. Not just a little bit, either... we're talking *voices* insane. Her name is Meadow Carpenter-Rhodes, and I just had to give her and her home a makeover - but one in keeping with her needs. Her lifetime want is to produce 7 Varieties of Perfect Plants. It's been hard work, but she's nearly there - this is where she lives.

* A Home By The Sea

I'm currently in love with building and decorating challenges, and if you scour the right forums - you can find plenty to choose from. This project was a challenge at Living Sims, to create a Beach Cottage for a Sim with particular traits, likes and dislikes. Took me bloody ages to come up with something that didn't look like I'd recovered everything in deck chair fabric. I chose more nautical colours, and quite like the end result.... though I really over used the wicker texture - won't be using that again in a hurry!

* Vale View House

This large modern home is perfect for an expanding family or one of many generations - there's room for everyone. Set in large open grounds with tropical landscaping, there's enough room for the addition of a greenhouse and vegetable patch, or just leave it looking pristine. There's a large pool to the rear with BBQ and lounging area and much more inside.

* Riverside Swim Club

The Riverside Swim Club sits on the edge of the river in Riverview. A favourite haunt of the locals, it has a cafe, pool (obviously), separate changing rooms and views out over the river.  A great place for sims both young and old, it's ideal for teens to get together and blow off some steam and for parents to gain those all important body skills.

* New Azalea Acres Community garden

This community garden is a revamp of the original, found in Riverview. It's better (if not bigger) than the orginal. There's now a much wider selection of vegetables and fruit trees, along with a BBQ area, toilet facilities, and sheltered seating areas. Set in neat semi-formal gardens, all of the fruit and veg are of ordinary quality, though look a little closer and you'll find some of the varieties themselves are of extra-ordinary origin!

* An Introduction (of sorts)

So, if you're looking for Oz - you missed it about three miles back. You have instead, stumbled into what I hope is going to be the space that I post Sims 3 blurb and images from my game. If you don't play Sims 3 this'll bore you... if you do play Sims 3 - this may still bore you.