Shadow Lane 2013!

I meant to start with this last night, but as timing would have it, my free (and not very efficient) photo editing software decided to stop working. As I had a mess of pictures to crop/resize/etc., this was not pleasing. It was suggested that I uninstall/reinstall the software, which was a good idea, but then I decided, oh, screw it. I'll pay a bit to have something better. So I signed up for PicMonkey, which is only $33 a year, and their editing capabilities are fabulous! I think I will learn some new tricks there.

Anyway... enough stalling. My head is exploding with memories and I need to start getting them down before they fade.

It was a great weekend. A blur of a weekend. About 230 people, a mix of familiar, dear faces and some wonderful new ones. We arrived on Friday afternoon, got checked in and lugged about a week's worth of stuff to our room. There was a suite party going on at 4:00, but it was a themed party with costumes, and I didn't think we'd be a good fit straggling in with our rumpled drive-to-Vegas clothes. Plus, I needed to decompress from the drive. So we decided to start the party with the vendor fair. Late start, considering so many had already been there at least a day (some more than that), but oh well. We would make up for lost time.

This party had a great feel -- I sensed it from the minute we walked in. The energy was palpable. Waiting in line to check in, we were greeted by JerseyJohn, Joe and Ten, and Sean and AmyAmyAmy. And as I got to the head of the line, an adorable little critter came bounding out of the ballroom and launched herself at me into a big hug -- it was Prux, whom I hadn't met in person yet, but we were friends on FetLife and I thought she was the cutest thing. She's even cuter in person. :-)

The next couple of hours are a blur of greetings and hugs and shrieks of delight. As always, I felt like I was being rude, because I'd no sooner start to talk with someone than another would be at my side, and I was constantly turning and diverting attention and flitting and trying to be about three people at once. So I do hope everyone understood! If I start to list names of everyone I greeted, I'll surely leave some people out, and that would suck as well. But I do have to mention a couple.

I was delighted to see Beth, because I had a little gift for her. That girl is crazy about unicorns, and a month or so ago, I had been shopping at Target and espied a small, very cute, turquoise stuffed unicorn in the toy department when I was looking for jigsaw puzzles. Thinking of Beth, I couldn't resist snatching it up and buying it for her. So it was such fun to see her face when she opened the gift bag. :-D

On FetLife, there is a gentleman who calls himself KinkyCoach. He and I had never met and hadn't friended each other, but I was aware of him, because he posts a lot of what I call "food porn." He is apparently quite the cook, and he loves to post magazine-quality pictures of his culinary creations so everyone can drool and moan about them. I had looked at his photos, but there were none of him, and when I saw all the food, I thought, "I bet this guy weighs about 300 pounds." So I was delightfully surprised when a tall, handsome and fit man with spiky silver-gray hair approached me and introduced himself as KinkyCoach! Not quite what I'd imagined! :-D 

A couple of pictures were taken: Princess Kelley took one of us, but hasn't sent it to me yet (hint hint, Kelley!), and Alex Reynolds took a cute one and texted it to my cell, but for whatever reason, I can't transfer it off my phone and onto the computer so I can upload it. @#$%! Waiting for her to email it to me.

EDIT: Got the picture of Kelley and me! Yay! Happy girls!

It wasn't long before I was thrown under the bus for the first time. Dear, sweet Famous Kat came up to me, holding one of those utterly wretched "Lickin' Sticks" that the good folks at SSNY make and sell. It looks sort of like a wooden ruler, but it's thicker and all the edges are rounded, and it BITES. She was looking to sell it, and asked me if I wanted it. "Hell, no!" I blurted. She then grinned at me and said, "I'm selling it to John." "You are not," I snapped. "Yeah, I think I will," she insisted. "Don't you dare!" I warned her. But damned if she didn't march herself over to where he was sitting, and sweet-talk him into buying that damn thing off her. "You're DEAD!" I hollered across the room, but all she did was flash me that @#$%-eating grin of hers, as she did for the rest of the weekend, every time she saw me. Harrumphh!!

The night sped by. There was a buffet of snack food and John finally convinced me to sit down for a few minutes and eat something, but I was too excited to stay in one place for long. Besides, about the only thing I could eat was the fruit. They did have chicken skewers, but I tried them and they were basically little salt pillars that just looked like chicken. Gaaaaack! So off I went again, running around and continuing the greetings, until it was time to head for Room 801, when Joe and Ten, along with James and Korey Mae Johnson, were hosting all weekend. Tom and Morgan also had suite parties most of the weekend, but John and I somehow never ended up there, or in any of the other room/suite gatherings. Room 801 was home base.

My first scene of the weekend was with the much-beloved Michael, aka InspectHerHide on FetLife. I don't think John and I were in 801 for more than 17 seconds before Michael was grabbing my hand and saying, "I'm ready!" I certainly was too, so off we went to one of the bedrooms.

What a great first scene. We started out as we usually do, clowning and laughing and being silly. He grabbed me by the hand and yanked me around the room, announcing to everyone we passed that he was going to spank me. But once we settled into the scene, we got into a more serious mode. Another couple came in and started to play on the bed, but he didn't want me to interact with them at all. "Your only focus is on me," he commanded. He can do that. I am totally OK with his taking over; I just melt along with it, and with him.

Joe had given him a leather strap, but he ended up using just his hand, which is plenty formidable, and I was well warmed when the scene came to an end. I sighed sadly into the pillow, "I guess I have to get up now, huh?"

"Not yet, you don't," he said, grabbing my legs and maneuvering me so I was lying flat on the bed. Then he took off my shoes, unzipped my dress and proceeded to give me a fabulous massage. At one point, my friend Mir came in. I turned my head and said, "Hey, Mir!" and Michael gently but firmly swiveled my head back in the other direction. "No," he said. "You are under my care and responsibility right now, until the moment I hand you back over to John. And until then, your only focus is on the sensations I'm giving you. Do you understand?" "Yes," I murmured. 

When we were done, he pulled me up and then into his lap for a long hug. Then he put my shoes back on and set my clothes back properly. The one thing I was allowed to do myself was put my glasses back on. Then he led me by the hand back to John. So. Freaking. Hot.

I was shooting with Amateur Spankings in the morning, so I didn't want to play much on Friday night. I was too busy with all the greeting, anyway. So I did one more scene, a quick one with Glenn, and that was it for the night, play-wise. Still, we stayed in 801 until 2:00 a.m. and had a great time. At midnight, there was a Domestic Discipline showcase, with several couples demonstrating DD-style spanking. We were supposed to rate the best one with applause at the end, but everyone was so good, we really couldn't choose just one, so they gave up on the prize idea.

I think I'll end Part 1 here, as I have to go return the rental car. More to come, and with pictures, I promise!