Life in Christophe Harbour

I should have commented on this earlier, but totally forgot. The wedding pictures are gorgeous! I love it. Seeing your reposts on livejournal makes me notice what a great job you do on making sims age gradually. You can kind of tell Carolyn is an older bride (older than she was at her first wedding) by her style and she still looks as stunning as ever.

Oh thank you dear Elle and Em! I love how you notice the little things. I am so flattered.

I've been busily updating the Live Journal with Carolyn's story (which actually started out as Kyle's story).

It's been so interesting even for me to re-read the tale. The early installments actually provide answers/clues to their behaviour and choices later in life. If you've ever got spare time on your hands, you should take a peek. The link is in my signature. I've called the story "If..."

Of course, I know Em' has already visited!

As I'm continuing to play Carolyn and her family....once I'm all done posting the story to this point, I will add occasional stuff updates, and let you know here, so you can check it out if you're curious.

I took pix (I staged an argument) and have already written out her conversation with Kyle when he learned of her relationship with Marco.

And I've been snapping photos of her new life like crazy.

Here's a teaser...Maya and Charlie have decided they're in love with each other and don't care that they're first cousins! It's turned everyone's life upside down!

Well, that's enough torture for now!

Love you guys!

Toni... OMG! I just read through the entire history of Life in Christoph Harbor (I didn't have to wait on tenterhooks for the next installment). Without the sims and pictures, it is a magnificent piece of writing. You write circles around those who write for the American "soaps". The plot line (but not the explicit details) is worthy of Jane Austen! But then you add all of the finely crafted sims and locations. I know how hard it is to line up perfect pictures. You must have had infinite patience, and saves, and retries, etc. etc.

Your characters - there isn't a single one who is all good or all bad - even Kyle comes out reasonably OK in the end. The scenes where they are telling the children about Maya's parentage is so moving, and the suddenly grown-up Maya (especially her remark about "protection" ) is a delight! What a wonderful love story!

My dearest, dearest Mac...I am beyond flattered! Jane Austen! Oh kind sir, surely you jest!
I am here bursting at the seams with pride!

Thank you first for taking the time to read this whole saga, and a million thank yous for your generous feedback. I guess all those years I spent as a kid writing out my Barbies' autobiographies came to the fore in this little endeavour.

The only people I ever shared my Barbie stories with were my two girlfriends who lived on my block back when I was 15 or 16.

Since then, I've just stored my tales in my head.

It's been an absolute delight to share them with you all, and get feedback no less! The Simmie thing actually lent a whole new perspective, though I confess I did have to adjust some of my descriptions when I just couldn't quite set up a shot. With that said, sometimes the shot I got ended up enhancing my description so it all balanced out in the end.

I'm also a shameless user of pose boxes, without which I can't imagine storytelling.

As the for story itself...while I knew in advance how I wanted it to work out, I did (still am actually) playing it out:

Carolyn really does have three bolts for both Kyle and Marco...but her conversations with Marco are always much more animated.

She and Marco really did think about each other when they were apart, but that's because they were in love with each other. I knew that from their relationship panels, I just never told you guys 'til the end.

In my original idea, I hadn't thought of her getting pregnant after their night together...that was all thanks to Syberspunk's Risky WooHoo mod. But an awesome turn of events. That then took the story in a whoooooole other direction, that I totally loved! It was again, Maxis luck that Maya is the spitting image of Marco. Though I do use a make-up contact lens to give them that unusual eye colour, so I'm sure that helped too!

And now that Carolyn and Marco are together they're inseparable! They constantly have wants to talk, kiss, make-out, 'etc' with each other. They think about each other all the time...and if I dare enable autonomous casual romance, well....you can just imagine! lol!

I'm busily posting the whole story (just the story without all the side tracking) into a blog so in the future, folks can zip through it from beginning to end.

Based on your response, I'm hopeful that a few other people might enjoy reading it too.

Thank you again Mac. You've made my whole week!

ilikefishfood wrote:

Here's a teaser...Maya and Charlie have decided they're in love with each other and don't care that they're first cousins! It's turned everyone's life upside down!

GASP!!

All hail Toni the Drama Queen!!

Astral Faery wrote:

ilikefishfood wrote:

Here's a teaser...Maya and Charlie have decided they're in love with each other and don't care that they're first cousins! It's turned everyone's life upside down!

GASP!!

All hail Toni the Drama Queen!!

:muahaha: Oh honey you have no idea! It will all be revealed soon enough.

I'm making great headway with re-posted the tale on my Live Journal...and once I reach the same place we left off here I'll start posting updates there, and then just post notices here so that you can go check out the latest happenings. Kinda like what Em does with Arrendale Heights.

I'm at work now, but maybe later if time permits, I'll post a teaser piccie...just to torture you! 'Cause...well...that's just what I do!!!

Love ya!

Folks! Way back in the early days of this thread some of you had expressed an interest in a tutorial on how to use SimPe to change simmies' memories. I'd kinda half-said I'd give it a whirl...but was overwhelmed at where to begin, and frankly afraid I'd mess up people's hoods with my amateur tinkering. But look what I just stumbled across! A tute to do just that...written by a programmer no less. How'd ya like that?! You can find Mootilda's SimPe Memory Tutorial HERE.

By the way, she's/he's also just created the tool of all tools...the Neighborhood Corruption Detector! Just brilliant!

Helllloooo....I'm not even sure who is reading this thread, but I can tell from the page views that someone is peeking in here from time to time. I'm still playing my C. Harbour families, and am almost done re-uploading the entire tale on my blog. If you're interested in reading it from the beginning, just click on the link in my signature.

Pretty soon, I'll start updating on the blog, and post update notices here for those who're curious about what happened next: Like how did Kyle take the news? Do Maya and her first cousin Charlie really fall in love? Which of Carolyn's kids has the hardest time with her new found happiness? Does Carolyn have more babies? All that good stuff is still to come.

In the meantime though, I found an old pic that I just love, and never used 'cause it wasn't part of the immediate story line.

Vinnie was married (for a while)...anyway...Marco happened to be over when his wife Alianne (she's French) gave birth to their son Emile. And I snapped a pic of something I'd not noticed before. Immediately after she had the baby Marco turns to Vinnie clearly excited that his twin had become a daddy! How cute is that?!

Aw...that's cute.

Marco was so good with baby Emile! I love these shots, where he plays with him...and right afterward the kid looks so happy
And by the way, why didn't I notice how hot Vinnie is?! Is it me, or is he *gasp* the cuter twin?!

Miss Toni wrote:

And by the way, why didn't I notice how hot Vinnie is?! Is it me, or is he *gasp* the cuter twin?!

Honey I've been drooling over Vinnie for a long time. You may remember me saying a thing or two (or three!) in the past.

Astral Faery wrote:

Miss Toni wrote:

And by the way, why didn't I notice how hot Vinnie is?! Is it me, or is he *gasp* the cuter twin?!

Honey I've been drooling over Vinnie for a long time. You may remember me saying a thing or two (or three!) in the past.

Yes ma'am I do recall having to mop up quite a bit of drool after posting Vinnie updates. Perhaps I should pass out bibs before I post his piccies!

Hey! I'm nearly finished posting the whole story in LiveJournal! I should be able to get it all posted during my week's vacation next week....which means....I'll be able to start posting new stuff!!!!!

Well, I'm hoping the phrase "better late than never" is applicable here, Lady T.
Once again, I apologize for not being able to get caught up far sooner.

I have spent a good part of this evening (going back to your page 39 - YIKES!) finishing Life in Christophe Harbour.
Hang in there with me. This may take awhile...

First of all, your beautifully decorated & landscaped homes and phenomenal attention to detail still blows me away.
You have such talent for putting a room together splendidly.
I was particularly enamoured with teen Maya's lime bedroom, Kyle & Carolyn's lovely white & soft blue-green master bedroom, the gorgeous landscaping @ Marco's place & around Kyle & Carolyn's pool (just to name a few). All absolutely fabulous, dahling!

Secondly, you have woven a tale that inspires the reader to feel so many emotions.
We feel anger, pain, joy, frustration & delight as we watch your characters stumble through life.

I must say, Maya is an absolute doll and so very mature for a 13 year old...beyond her years.
The way she reacted & felt when she was told that Marco was her biological father, was so very grown up.
I was happy to see the warm, comfy rapport between the two.
And I was NOT surprised when Marco's parents, grandmother and Vinnie all fell in love with precious Maya.
(PS Yes, Vinnie is snackolicious to the max. )

The screenshots in which Kyle and Carolyn are speaking to a therapist are way cool, btw, as was the sunbathing shot in Borneo.

Oh, and incidently, I was also NOT surprised when Carolyn came home and found Kyle in bed with another woman.
I wanted to believe he could change, esp. since he'd been given one last chance to be a good, loyal, faithful husband, but evidently he was not up to being THAT MAN.

Quote :

"It's over Kyle. I have nothing left to give you."
He didn't blame her. He was a horrible person.

Finally. They BOTH get it.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, as they say.
I DID feel sorry for Joel in such pain & little Caitlin crying in her daddy's arms on the couch when told of their folks' split.
The kids always suffer the most.

A few random comments:

I loved the snapshot of all three of Carolyn's children in the bed with her.
I thought the scene with Marco flirting with the housekeeper, Myrtle, was beyond precious.
Very cool and authentic looking Britannia Bay movie poster.
I am in love with most of Carolyn's wardrobe. I have no idea where you found her clothing, but it rocks!
Charlie looks quite adorable since he discovered hair gel.
His dad, Patrick is a dream.

The flashback snapshots of Carolyn and Marco's history together were absolutely wonderful.
We can not help but be moved by the two of them coming full circle.

And as for the last chapter ... the ending when you bring it all together after 17 years from the time Marco & Carolyn first fell in love ...
Breathtaking! Heartwrenching!
Such beautiful, intricate & engaging storytelling, Toni!
I am sad for all the time those two lost together through the years, but rejoice at their long waited for union.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing Life in Christophe Harbour with us.
I can not tell you how much I enjoyed this story, my dear.

SIMply superb!



PS I will respond to your last couple of pages asap. But I DID want to share my thoughts on LCH before much more time got away from me.

Very cute, pics of the brothers and the new baby! I noticed you're getting close to the end of the livejournal updates. I'm looking forward to the new adventures once you get started on them!

Sugah wrote:

Well, I'm hoping the phrase "better late than never" is applicable here, Lady T.
Once again, I apologize for not being able to get caught up far sooner.

"You were worth the wait."

Wait! I totally stole that line from Carolyn!

Sugah wrote:

First of all, your beautifully decorated & landscaped homes and phenomenal attention to detail still blows me away.
You have such talent for putting a room together splendidly.

Decorating and landscaping is my faaaaaaaa-vourite thing to do! I particularly love adding the little details, that I hope speak to a simmie's personality or interests or life style.

I love that you notice those details, because I try to use them to help tell the story...if that makes any sense.

Sugah wrote:

Secondly, you have woven a tale that inspires the reader to feel so many emotions. We feel anger, pain, joy, frustration & delight as we watch your characters stumble through life.

I'm totally blushing!

Sugah wrote:

I must say, Maya is an absolute doll and so very mature for a 13 year old...beyond her years.

Well, she's being a bit of a brat right now...but I think that's just the way it goes sometimes with teenagers.

I was mucking about with a relationship mod, and accidentally she and Charlie (her cousin) fell in love. Given that they were BFFs and teenagers...this wasn't completely impossible to believe.

I was shocked (or maybe not, it's Maxis!) that if you find a way to make cousins fall in love, all of the romatic Maxis interactions become available! Well...not one to run away from drama, I decided to run with it. Can you imagine the nightmare for the parents, and the relatives, and the blame and finger-pointing?!

You can imagine Carolyn gets seriously dumped on for her bad decisions. But I have already said too much!

More to come in 'Christophe Harbour: The Next Generation.'

Sugah wrote:

(PS Yes, Vinnie is snackolicious to the max. )

Rein it in there girlfriend! Rein it in!

Sugah wrote:

The screenshots in which Kyle and Carolyn are speaking to a therapist are way cool, btw, as was the sunbathing shot in Borneo.

Confession time: I quickly redid the guest room in their house for the shot of the Therapist's office, and selected some unsuspecting passerby to pose as said therapist. But thank you! lol!

Sugah wrote:

Oh, and incidently, I was also NOT surprised when Carolyn came home and found Kyle in bed with another woman. I wanted to believe he could change, esp. since he'd been given one last chance to be a good, loyal, faithful husband, but evidently he was not up to being THAT MAN.

I had to make sure that there was really absolutely nothing left when she walked away. Yeah, yeah, it took a long time, but at least she walked away with her head high.

Sugah wrote:

I DID feel sorry for Joel in such pain & little Caitlin crying in her daddy's arms on the couch when told of their folks' split.
The kids always suffer the most.

There's still more adjusting for them to do ...but more on that later.

Sugah wrote:

I loved the snapshot of all three of Carolyn's children in the bed with her.

It took some doing, lemme tell ya! But totally worth it!

Sugah wrote:

I thought the scene with Marco flirting with the housekeeper, Myrtle, was beyond precious.

Sugah wrote:

Very cool and authentic looking Britannia Bay movie poster.

Online fill-in the blank deal. I had to make up the text and all that...but the layout was there for me.

Expect more of those, and the newspapers and magazines. They're a total blast to do! I especially like working on the headlines...and even enjoyed writing the little mini 'tell-all' articles. Oh yeah...definitely more of those to come.

As you can well imagine...the nuptials of Carolyn Garcia and Marco D'Angelo and the speculation about her first daughter's paternity has Simmiewood on its ear!

Sugah wrote:

I am in love with most of Carolyn's wardrobe. I have no idea where you found her clothing, but it rocks!

Honey, when you've for 7.5GB of cc, you've got some deeeeep wardrobes!

Sugah wrote:

Charlie looks quite adorable since he discovered hair gel.

I recently aged him up (without saving of course) to see what he looks like, and hubba hubba!

If you'd like a peek, my recent contribution Jack is an aged up Charlie with lighter skin and different eyes and hair.

Sugah wrote:

His dad, Patrick is a dream.

Also available here at Sugah's!

Sugah wrote:

And as for the last chapter ... the ending when you bring it all together after 17 years from the time Marco & Carolyn first fell in love ...Breathtaking! Heartwrenching! Such beautiful, intricate & engaging storytelling, Toni!

Sugah wrote:

I am sad for all the time those two lost together through the years, but rejoice at their long waited for union.

Yeah, they shed a lot of tears (albeit after they 'celebrated their love' ) over lost time and 'what ifs,' and....well....that's another wait and see in the 'Next Gen.'

Tortured much?!

Anyway, so that's why the LiveJournal posting of the story is called, "If..."

Sugah wrote:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing Life in Christophe Harbour with us.
I can not tell you how much I enjoyed this story, my dear.

Sugah's is home, and the place that finally let me tell a story that I've been playing around with in my head for years. I've reincarnated by hood several times, but never got further than Carolyn's marriage to Kyle before my horribly manipulated, bad-cc-filled game would explode. This has been my longest run, and the farthest I've gotten, I'm in uncharted waters now for what happens next.

The original Carolyn was destined to be with Kyle as per my TS1 simmies, but in TS2 she and Marco just hit it off even before the chemistry/bolt feature....which lead me on a convoluted trip of deciding who she should end up with.

The Maya thing was a total accident - literally and 'literarily' speaking - thanks to a Risky WooHoo mod. The rest is Christophe Harbour history!

A thousand thank yous for taking the time to respond in such detail Sugah. It totally made the challenge of bringing the story to life worth it!

And Em, I'm just have one last installment to post on Live Journal, and I'll be ready to start the Next Gen. Will post deets here.

Thanks again guys!

Quote :

Well, she's being a bit of a brat right now...but I think that's just the way it goes sometimes with teenagers.

I hate to hear it about Maya, but you are right.
It's pretty much the way it goes at some point with most teens.

Quote :

I was shocked (or maybe not, it's Maxis!) that if you find a way to make cousins fall in love, all of the romatic Maxis interactions become available!

I'm rather appalled that first cousins can become romantic and fall in love.
Distant cousins, maybe, but CLOSE COUSINS? Come on, Maxis! Not good.

Quote :

I decided to run with it. Can you imagine the nightmare for the parents, and the relatives, and the blame and finger-pointing?!

Oy vey! This is going to get verrry interesting and most uncomfortable, no doubt.

Sugah wrote:

I loved the snapshot of all three of Carolyn's children in the bed with her.

Toni wrote:

It took some doing, lemme tell ya! But totally worth it!

Quote :

Online fill-in the blank deal. I had to make up the text and all that...but the layout was there for me.

Have you a link for that, m'lady?

I did NOT put it together that your Jack is Charlie aged and lighter. Woah!

Quote :

Sugah's is home, and the place that finally let me tell a story that I've been playing around with in my head for years ... This has been my longest run, and the farthest I've gotten ...

I remain honored and ever so pleased that you chose Sugah's Place to share your wonderfully moving, engrossing, delightful story, dear Toni.
I feel it was a huge success here and am grateful to have hosted Life in Christophe Harbour in it's entirety.
Wishing you MUCH SUCCESS and TONS of readers with CH - The Next Generation.

Quote :

Which of Carolyn's kids has the hardest time with her new found happiness? Does Carolyn have more babies?

Stay tuned...

BTW, the images of Marco excited about and playing with his twin's new son Emile are darling.
Gotta love that man. Sigh.

Sugah wrote:

I'm rather appalled that first cousins can become romantic and fall in love.
Distant cousins, maybe, but CLOSE COUSINS? Come on, Maxis! Not good.

The royal family has been doing it for years, but I'd hazard a guess that like me, most people are wildly uncomfortable with the idea!

Sugah wrote:

Quote :

Online fill-in the blank deal. I had to make up the text and all that...but the layout was there for me.

Have you a link for that, m'lady?

I sure do! HERE ya go

Sugah wrote:

BTW, the images of Marco excited about and playing with his twin's new son Emile are darling. Gotta love that man. Sigh.

The best part is the baby's smile. He had just been born, and it was the first time he'd been 'played' with, and he really hadn't (at least I hadn't noticed) him smile much. After Uncle Maro played toss with him, he just looked so amused! I totally thought it was the cutest thing!

Sugah wrote:

Wishing you MUCH SUCCESS and TONS of readers with CH - The Next Generation.

Speaking of which Em...I've posted the last installment. The next generation...ie. "The Harbour" should kick off over the next week or so.

I've added a few lines to the last installment in light of passionate feedback the first time 'round , and had Carolyn give a more detailed explanation for her decision to marry Kyle.

Right now I'm working on my contributions to this weekend's update.

Working on a holiday themed lot. Of course, as we don't have snow in the tropics...I'm doing a 'Caribbean Christmas' lot!

Here's a sneak peak...finally an excuse to use the Maxis decorated outdoor tree!

Toni wrote:

Helllloooo....I'm not even sure who is reading this thread, but I can tell from the page views that someone is peeking in here from time to time.

Why do you have to call a sister out like that?

Toni wrote:

And I snapped a pic of something I'd not noticed before. Immediately after she had the baby Marco turns to Vinnie clearly excited that his twin had become a daddy! How cute is that?!

Ari wrote:

Miss Toni wrote:

And by the way, why didn't I notice how hot Vinnie is?! Is it me, or is he *gasp* the cuter twin?!

Honey I've been drooling over Vinnie for a long time. You may remember me saying a thing or two (or three!) in the past.

I was going to comment that I thought Ari had a "sim-crush" on him, then I saw she had beat me to the punch.

Toni wrote:

I was shocked (or maybe not, it's Maxis!) that if you find a way to make cousins fall in love, all of the romatic Maxis interactions become available!

I really thought EAxis should have gone further down the familial line when they were creating the barrier against romance with family members. It is only safeguarded through the game with the immediate, and I do mean immediate members. So cousins and such are not included; I am not sure what their thought process was with that decision.

Toni wrote:

The royal family has been doing it for years, but I'd hazard a guess that like me, most people are wildly uncomfortable with the idea!

Toni wrote:

You can imagine Carolyn gets seriously dumped on for her bad decisions.

I think this was a given with the role she played in keeping everyone in the dark. I don't know what she was thinking really, but whatever, it's over with. Or is it?

Toni wrote:

Confession time: I quickly redid the guest room in their house for the shot of the Therapist's office, and selected some unsuspecting passerby to pose as said therapist.

Toni wrote:

Expect more of those, and the newspapers and magazines. They're a total blast to do! I especially like working on the headlines...and even enjoyed writing the little mini 'tell-all' articles. Oh yeah...definitely more of those to come.

This is one of my favorite things from your stories. If I had the patience, I would definitely steal it to use in my storytelling...well, I would if I ever get to play my game again and had the patience.

Toni wrote:

I sure do! HERE ya go

Toni wrote:

Here's a sneak peak...finally an excuse to use the Maxis decorated outdoor tree!

Quote :

I really thought EAxis should have gone further down the familial line when they were creating the barrier against romance with family members. It is only safeguarded through the game with the immediate, and I do mean immediate members. So cousins and such are not included; I am not sure what their thought process was with that decision.

Really? First cousins can have romantic interactions? Is that normal or with a hack? I thought it was bad enough that second cousins could have romantic interactions in the game. I had a couple of teenage second cousins that flirted with each other in my hood. Luckily it didn't go much further than that and they were able to find romantic partners that were not related to them down the link.

Quote :

I was mucking about with a relationship mod, and accidentally she and Charlie (her cousin) fell in love. Given that they were BFFs and teenagers...this wasn't completely impossible to believe.

I was shocked (or maybe not, it's Maxis!) that if you find a way to make cousins fall in love, all of the romatic Maxis interactions become available! Well...not one to run away from drama, I decided to run with it. Can you imagine the nightmare for the parents, and the relatives, and the blame and finger-pointing?!

is what I think too. Oh my, it will be interesting to see how that plays out . . .

Quote :

Speaking of which Em...I've posted the last installment. The next generation...ie. "The Harbour" should kick off over the next week or so.

I've added a few lines to the last installment in light of passionate feedback the first time 'round , and had Carolyn give a more detailed explanation for her decision to marry Kyle.

Cool. I'll definitely have to check it out. I can't wait for the debut of "The Harbor"

Thanks guys! LOVIN' the feedback!

SimEm wrote:

Really? First cousins can have romantic interactions? Is that normal or with a hack? I thought it was bad enough that second cousins could have romantic interactions in the game. I had a couple of teenage second cousins that flirted with each other in my hood. Luckily it didn't go much further than that and they were able to find romantic partners that were not related to them down the link.

In testing cheats mode you can spawn Maxis' sims modder, which is a test object that lets you manipulate skills and relationships and stuff. Sometimes when you use it to make two simmies instant best friends, it'll accidentally make them fall in love (I think I read somewhere that it happens in the Spring or something like that)...anywho...so it accidentally happened. I could've use another mod to simply remove the love flags...but then they would have had the memory, and I'm a stickler for my simmies' memories making sense. I was about to exit without saving, and then I checked to see if all the romantic interactions were there and they were! Soooooo..I thought, it totally could happen! I'm pretty sure if they hadn't found out they were cousins, or they weren't cousins...their friendship would likely have led to some sort of romantic exploration. So I though...hey, why not?!

While it is taboo in on this side of the Atlantic, I actually don't think it's illegal...and it sure happens in the European monarchies. The main argument against it is biological. But contrary to what we were taught, it's not that first cousins' offsprings are move likely to have a physical deformity or anything...it's just that if a family has a trait for a hereditary disease or other medical condition it increases the likelihood of them passing it on to their offspring. That's why over time small communities are encouraged to marry 'out' to strengthen the gene pool...or they'd all end up like those folks in Deliverance!

So rather than catch up on work this evening...or sorting piccies for The Harbour, or attending a Guy Fawkes party on the beach...I stayed in and made a video montage of Book I of the Christophe Harbour Follies...just for fun. You guys might enjoy the trip down memory lane, especially if you're going to follow Book II. Also...there're some photos that never made it into the story that I used in it. I have like 10 times more pictures than I ever used! I'm trying to be more frugal with the next gen! Which reminds me I've really gotta clean up my hard drive!

...and because Picasa is so cool...I was able to tell the entire story in one biiiig picture! But if you'd like to see the video, just click on the picture. Ari...I used Picasa instead of photobucket. It is displaying in Chrome (and firefox). I hope it works in yours.

Yep, I can see it! And what a beautiful piece of work it is. Wow, it's just amazing. And bravo bravo for your fantastic slide show! Very moving remembering all those moments from the story. Some of your pics are just so wonderful - your characters look and act so realistic (I know I've said that at least a million times while reading it, lol but I still mean it). I'll be looking forward to the next story!

Thank you Ari!

See video montage of Book One HERE

The slideshow looks great! Your pictures are so beautiful. I love all the background details and just how great all of your settings always look. I'm totally envious of the world you've created.

Quote :

Also...there're some photos that never made it into the story that I used in it. I have like 10 times more pictures than I ever used! I'm trying to be more frugal with the next gen!

Good luck with that. I totally take 10 times as many pictures as I ever use too.

Quote :

While it is taboo in on this side of the Atlantic, I actually don't think it's illegal...and it sure happens in the European monarchies. The main argument against it is biological. But contrary to what we were taught, it's not that first cousins' offsprings are move likely to have a physical deformity or anything...it's just that if a family has a trait for a hereditary disease or other medical condition it increases the likelihood of them passing it on to their offspring.

I think there are laws, at least in some places that don't allow first cousins to marry, but I don't know that there are laws regarding relationships. You're absolutely right about the biology of it. Close relatives are more likely to carry the same recessive genes with might not show ill effects unless you inherit the mutation from both parents (which is more likely when the parents are related by blood).

Ari wrote:

And what a beautiful piece of work it is. Wow, it's just amazing. And bravo bravo for your fantastic slide show!

Em wrote:

The slideshow looks great! Your pictures are so beautiful.

I just got done watching the slideshow myself, Toni.
Great choice of background music (Mayer's Say What You Need to Say) ... Very appropriate choice!

...Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You'd better know that in the end
Its better to say too much
Then never say what you need to say again

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open

Say what you need to say...

If only Marco & Carolyn had been able to say what they needed to say with hearts wide open early on ...
So many years would not have been lost to them.

I know you said you did the montages with Picasa.
How did you create the video? Windows Movie Maker?

Thanks Em and Sugah! Glad you enjoyed the 'show.'

Em'...all of the whys and wherefores of first cousin partnerships will be explored soon enough. lol! Heads are rollin' in the Harbour!

Well...first we have to deal with the scandal that Carolyn Garcia's first child is Marco D'Angelo's and not Kyle Harrelson's (rumors had been circulating)...and now that she's marrying Marco tongues are awaggin!'

Sugah wrote:

I know you said you did the montages with Picasa.
How did you create the video? Windows Movie Maker?

Make a folder and put just the pictures you want into it.

In Picasa...find the folder and along the title bar of that folder there's an option to create a movie or create a collage.

It'll randomly generate a collage of all the piccies...like the one you see above. You can move them around and bring one to the front and back by right clicking on them. When you're done there's a button in the setting tab on the sign that says 'Create Collage'...Tah dah! You're done.

For the video...you choose the option on the title bar for 'create movie presentation.' You get tabs to change the title slide, and one which determines what sort of transition you want between shots etc, etc.

There's also an option to add an audio track. Just browse for the music file on your computer. Picasa will try to run the pictures at a speed to match the length of the audio. So if you have three pix and a three minute song...we're going to be staring at each picture for a whole minute each!

Tip for the video...arrange the pictures in the order you want in Picasa library viewer, once you go into the move maker it's a lot more time consuming to move them around.

Now go have some fun!

Oh...and I totally couldn't think of a better song to sum up their very long journey to each other. All that lost time...but my goodness they're appreciating each other now! It's amazing how simmies develop these little personalities. They always have wants to talk/flirt/kiss/tell a joke to...each other. Even though they're now married. It's so sweeeet!