Shadow Lane 2011, Finale

Another quickie party moment I forgot from Friday. When John and I got off the elevator on our floor, we saw Naughty Freckles sitting in one of the lounge chairs, knitting. Knitting?? At a spanking party? We greeted her and I asked what she was doing. She explained that her roommate was doing a session, so she was having a bit of decompression time, catching up with her knitting.

As we started to walk away, John looked back at her and asked, "So, what are you knitting for us?" That's my man... everything is about him! Before I could think about it, I pulled him toward our room and said, "Come on, honey. Maybe if you're nice to her, she'll knit you a cockwarmer. But she'll need a ton more yarn."

I could hear NF cracking up as we rounded the corner. John pretended to be mortified, but I know better. I don't know what gets into me sometimes. Chalk it up to party feistiness.

Later in the ballroom, NF sidled up to me and quipped, "So, what color does he want?" ROFL!

On Sunday after showering and dressing, John and I wandered down to Cafe Siena once again, figuring we'd run into someone or another while there. We got into the line outside the restaurant; in front of us was an older couple (70s-ish, very all-American grandma/grandpa type), and ahead of them were Dr. L and Ten. We greeted them and chatted a bit back and forth, around the older couple, very carefully avoiding the "s" word. However, the conversation was still a bit suspect, as DL mentioned how late they'd partied and how he still had a ton of beer left, so we had to drink up tonight! Then he grinned and held out his palm, showing me a dark spot in the center. "Did I do that?" I asked, knowing full well I did. Finally, the man in the couple asked John and me if we wanted to go ahead of them, and DL generously said, "No, how about you guys go ahead of us?" They demurred at first, then smiled and moved forward. As they passed, the man turned back to us and said, "I want that room number!" :-D

We had a fun lunch, yakking away with DL and Ten, getting to know them a bit better. Two hours slipped by easily with many laughs. John insisted on picking up the check, which I'd had a feeling he'd do. DL tried to offer up some tip money, but John waved it aside. "Are you kidding, man? After all you've done for us this weekend? Put it away."

The afternoon was low-key; we slept through a lot of it, since we didn't have any 411 on where the afternoon suite parties might be and none of our pals seemed to be around. After we woke up and started thinking about what we might do for dinner, I realized we hadn't seen Craig since Friday night. So I texted him, asking what he was up to. He texted back that they were going to dinner at PF Chang's at 7:00; I asked if we could join them and he said yes, but be forewarned, we're walking there and it's very hot out.

Back on the subject of John pestering me when I'm trying to get ready, he insisted on taking this picture of me when I was putting on makeup. I have no idea why.

After meeting Craig, Lizzie and Beth by the elevators, we headed off to PF Chang's. Craig had said it was about a 1/4 mile... uh, would you believe it was more like a mile? In the desert heat? On a slight incline? Oyyyy. Funny... men usually overestimate length, not underestimate it. ;-)  Anyway... I was grateful for the bottle of water I was carrying. By the time we got there, the last of it was warm.

That was so much fun! I got a chance to catch up a bit with Craig, we all had fun doing party dish, and Brad joined us shortly after we got there -- always great to see dear Brad! The food was delicious; I had steamed salmon with miso-ginger sauce on a bed of vegetables.

Thank goodness, Brad had his car! Craig and Lizzie opted to walk back, so John, Beth and I followed Brad out to the lot. As he walked ahead of us, he passed by a parked car and its lights flickered. Assuming that was Brad's car that he had just remotely unlocked, I walked to the rear door and put my hand on the handle... then I caught Brad's eye. "Uh, Erica," he called out, pointing ahead. "My car is over there." I dropped my hand and looked around, just in time to see the owners of this car approaching, giving me very quizzical looks.

Oh my GOD. I was so embarrassed! "Oh, I'm so sorry!" I babbled to them. "I'm not trying to break into your car, honest! I thought it was his!" The woman laughed. The man looked at me like he thought I was an ass. My face flaming, I dashed away from their car and headed to Brad's.

Did my three car-mates get a good laugh at me on the way back to the hotel? You betcha. I am such a dork sometimes!

Next stop, DL's suite once again, around 11:00 -- this time for karaoke! People started pouring in and once everything got hooked up, the singing started, with Kyle acting as DJ (he did a great job, too!).

No, I didn't sing. I know better. But we had some lovely surprises. I knew Sarah could sing well, and she did a couple of numbers beautifully. However, I had no idea DL had the most incredible voice! He opened the show singing "My Way," and we were all mesmerized. Kyle sang a few numbers too, also displaying an impressive voice.

All weekend, I kept bumping into Fineous (our Flogger Extraordinaire) and he said we absolutely had to play, that it wouldn't be a complete weekend without our scening (I felt the same way). So here it was late Sunday night and I kept hoping he'd show up, but I didn't see him. I was starting to resign myself that it wouldn't happen this time. Then, Jersey John came over to me. "Fineous is looking for you!" he said. "Where IS he?" I blurted. "He's in 560!" "Ohhhh... please tell him to come here!" And he did. Thank you, JJ.

Within minutes, there was Fineous coming in the door, and we went off to one of the bedrooms, where I stripped down to just panties and lay on my stomach on the bed, waiting for him to work his magic with his two floggers. Yummmmmmm.

Afterward, when I was flogged into oblivion, he finished with a nice massage. Sadly, I had to get up and dress... I could have drifted off to sleep right there. But it wasn't my bed, after all.

Back in the main room, the karaoke wound down and the playing kicked back in. I did a fun scene with Alex (aka IMLX). For reasons completely unknown to me, people surrounding us kept throwing me under the bus, telling Alex I'd said bad things about him, and -- even worse -- had cast aspersions upon his mother. I was totally innocent of all these accusations, but of course, no one listened to me. (sigh) Alex is a sweetie and he made me laugh, a lot.

Shortly after Alex, I found myself right back in the same position, same spot on the bed, this time with Tubaman Paul. Poor guy didn't get to play full bore with Sarah or Kat, since they were both shooting with SL the next day and had to be unmarked... so he had a lot of excess energy. Lucky me! So it was much to my chagrin that when I was just getting into it, he started to pull my skirt back down.

"That's IT??" I blurted, and an "oooooooooohhhh!" rippled through the people watching. Paul yanked me up and plunked me onto the bed, then dashed out the room, returning post-haste with a leather paddle in his hand. Back I went. As I often say, me and my big mouth!

Damn, that was fun. :-)

My final scene of the weekend was with Jersey John. In his effort to prove how ambidextrous he is, he kept picking me up, flipping me around in midair and then plunking me back down facing the opposite way. He did this three times and I felt like I was on a carnival ride. I swear, that man is strong as a bull! We have seen him at parties for years and years, and it's always a joy to see his beaming face. He says I never change. I wish that were true, but it's nice to hear!

It was 3:30 when we finally said our goodbyes, hugs all around and went back to our room. Because we were both still keyed up, we decided to do most of our packing then, so we got to bed a little after 4:00. I was so dead to the world at 7:30, John said he'd had to call my name, shake me, then kiss my ear to get me to wake up. He was ready to check to see if I was still breathing. Ugh! Just barely!

We finished packing and John took everything down to the car (he wouldn't let me help), checked out and then went to the bagel place to get a quick breakfast before hitting the road. The last person we saw was Richard Windsor -- perfect sendoff! :-)

The ride was smooth, no major tie-ups. We'd started at 9:00, so I guess we beat all the traffic coming home from the holiday weekend. I shuddered when we drove past the fire area -- everything was blackened. So, so scary, and how close we came to being stuck in that.

So... another SL weekend. I played 12 times, but had no marks and aside from a slightly squirmy ride home, no residual soreness. I marked one hand. I sold all the books I'd brought. I made new friends and enjoyed seeing old ones. I shot a fun little video. Overall, despite the emotional peaks and valleys, I'd say it was a damn good weekend.

Thank you, Tony, Eve and Butch. Thank you, Dr. L and Ten; Tom; Jules, Mike and Miranda; and anyone else I'm forgetting, for opening your suites to us. Thank you, Spanking Scene, for bringing me joy like I've never known, again and again. :-)