Washington State Ms Leather 2012 - A Year's review, a new contest, step down and such

What could I possibly say that I haven't said a thousand times before about our title year?

In this post, I will also reference my sash-husband, partner and Daddy Sir - Colby Adam, Washington State Mr Leather 2012. We are going to discuss our year and review the important/highlights of the year.

March was a short month, seeing as we were sashed on the 3rd weekend of the month but we started strong, stepping up and assisting Seattle Leather Daddy & Daddy's Boy with the Bunny Brigade fundraiser to benefit the Life Long AIDs Alliance Chicken Soup Brigade. Oh what fun it is to hop...

April was our ramp up month; We attended the SML leather socials, the sheep shearing & bonfire hosted by Daddy Wendell & Hobbit, the API Council fundraiser at Jai Thai, I attended the Organizing meeting for the SLW - sadly, this group did not manage to found and last, we stopped into the 50th Anniversary of Duct Tape and stayed for the Cuff's Gear Night.
It wasn't all fun and leather though; shortly after our step up, a friend and community member passed away and we felt it was important to show our respects and represent the community at large by attending his memorial & wake. I feel that one of the hardest things we chose to do as title holders was to be part of not just the joyful and fun parts of the community but to also be involved in the hard parts. Loss and mourning are part of life and part of our community, and we need title holders who will not just acknowledge but be involved when there is a loss so that we can help support our community with empathy and compassion.

We started May by attending the Super Happy Fun Hour hosted by Mr & Miss Gay Seattle (Donna Tella & Alex) and were thrilled to assist in raising funds for supporting R74. We followed up the very next night by hitting the Imperial Court of Seattle's Prince/Princess step down & ball (Gays Gone Wild) which was quite fun indeed! (let's face it, glitter rocks) There were the SML leather socials as well of course.
We attended the first meeting for SEA-PAH, and later that night went to the Knights of Mantra Annual Awards ball; we also hit the Seattle Imperial Court's Closet Ball (wherein I was suicided but had a lot of fun anyway). We were invited to the Kitsap ACES for their first open house and (thanks to a heads up from my sister, I brought my boot black kit and was able to talk to them about boot blacking as they didn't have a single boot black in ACES - now, they do though I'd love to get a boot blacking workshop lined up for them this summer).

June was our Pride Trip and travel month; we started in Seattle and drove to Spokane where we partied hard with the Spokane Court and marched with Inland BDSM Group during pride - we were even invited to  a private play party that night and I got my first taste of wax play. From Spokane, we drove (taking the scenic route) to Boise, ID and spent a week working there with the Imperial Court of Idaho and the Leather Community out there to raise awareness and support for our brothers and sisters. Leaving Boise was heart breaking, we had so many new friends and I didn't want to leave knowing that I didn't know when I'd be able to make it out again.
Upon our return, there was a puppy mosh with SEA-PAH and then there was Seattle's Pride parade - wherein I got my first scooter ride! We managed to get to some of the SML events but it was a very busy month.

July started with Bellingham's Pride, then Tacoma, and we wrapped up the Pride tour with Kitsap - all in all, it was 6 prides in 7 weeks! We attended the SML invasion of Diesel and then we surprised our Northwest Leather Sir/Leather boy and Community Bootblack when we flew to San Francisco for the ILSb/ICBB to support our NW title holders who were competing. What a wonderful choice, we were thrilled to see Ruin take ICBB and she's been a fantastic representative of not just the Bootblack community but the NW community as well! And after that, we went to our first Dore Alley festival.

August started with a trip to Portland for the Oregon State Leather competition for the new Mr, Ms and Bootblack for 2012. We joined SML to invade Linda's Tavern and SEA-PAH invading the SML Leather Social & Cuff Gear Night. I attended my first Diva Stomp and while it looks like a good event, definitely not my cup of tea - too loud and crowded. (said by the girl who hangs out at drag shows on the weekend)

To roll in September, we were asked to be a part of the Northwest Leather Weekend wherein Sir & I reinacted my Goldilocks fantasy along with our friends Orry & Texas Johnny to round out the 3 Bears.
Then it was time for the 2nd annual Seattle Slut Walk, a puppy mosh, and back to San Fransisco for Folsom - which was amazing, and crazy busy. Back in Seattle, we managed to make it to the Empress' Express show (and talk about a SHOW!)

In October, we rolled out our OutWest Leather Night and were thrilled when SML invaded to support. There were the SML events and socials as well as a few Bear events that this little Goldilocks may or may not have snuck off to. Sir meanwhile found himself heading to some of the men's only events like Tribal and Cock Circus at the CSPC.

We were honored to attend a very small and very kinky wedding at the start of November followed by the Tacoma step down and show for the Tacoma Imperial Court. The next week was Election Day and not only did we see President Obama re-instated for his second term, but Washington saw R74 pass to recognize the right to marry for same-sex couples. Our second OutWest Leather Night was invaded by the SEA-PAH group - and I can't say too many times how much I love puppy invasions.
We also attended and participated at Seattle's Emperor's Turnabout wherein Sir and I both performed. In mid-November, I had the opportunity to meet up and pick the brain of Toni Solenne (Mid Atlantic Leather Woman 2012) before she hosted a Leather Women's Round-table discussion group; we attended the King County Youth Development Fundraiser and were invited to attend the next board meeting in December.
My brother got married and we managed to get from that to Seattle Leather Daddy & Daddy's boy contest without mishap and closed out the month by attending the SML holiday party.

December started bright and early with a Leather Swap wherein I scored a new-to-me leather jacket; our first King County Youth Development Fund board meeting went smoothly. That weekend, Sir and I assisted with Pictures with Santa wherein we were helpful elves (and one of us wore rather less than the weather called for). Our LeatherNight was very laid back and mellow, which is what just happens right around the holidays but that was sort of nice in and of itself - as was the SML brunch and socials for the month.
Just in time for the holidays, I had a little fall and the resulting injury kept me pretty inactive for the remainder of the year.

We started the year quietly, attending SML socials and events throughout the month of January and I had the chance to get some photos taken for a new "look" to submit for IMsL. More on that later though.
We had the next Youth Development Fund board meeting, a lively OutWest LeatherNight, and of course the Pageant of the 2013 Mr&Miss Gay Seattle. There was also a SEA-PAH mosh, the introduction of the candidates for Seattle Emperor&Empress, and the Knights of Mantra Beggar's Feast.

February was a month of work; we had made the decision to hold fundraisers at the end of our year so that we had made plenty of connections and networked to try and host successful and interesting events - on top of that, we also felt that it was best to use each fundraiser to benefit a group or organization in the area we hosted the fundraiser.
We started with the Youth Development Fund board meeting, our OutWest Leather night, and the SML Gear Night; my first fundraiser was at Changes in Wallingford and was a fundraiser for the King County Youth Development Fund. After that, it was a photo shoot for our Taste of Kink tour; Seattle Coronation, the SML brunch, then a photo shoot for NW Iron Dom/Titanium Sub/Steel-Toed Boot Black and then the end of the month was upon us and we were driving across the state to visit Spokane.
The first Taste of Kink event in Spokane went fabulously and the funds we raised went to SAN - Spokane AIDs Network, and we were also graced with the opportunity to participate in a Court of Spokane event where they even asked me to step in and boot black as there are no public boot blacks out there. Before we left, we were honored with the title of Leather Ambassador for the Court of Spokane. We finished with an SML social just for good measure.

March was by far the busiest month for us : We hosted the Everett Taste Kink event which went amazingly and the funds we raised went to Cocoon House, Sir attended the Youth Development Fund board meeting while I took a much-needed night off, this it was time for our OutWest LeatherNight, the Tacoma Taste of Kink fundraiser which, as I've said as lately as yesterday went amazingly - and the funds raised went to Oasis Youth Center. With nary a breath (ok, we took a day to recover), it was on to NW Iron Dom/Titanium Sub/Steel-Toed Bootblack! The post(er)s were up, we had contestants for all categories and more interest daily; and the event itself was absolutely wonderful to be a part of. I actually can't wait for next year!
The next day was the SML Dinner & Annual Meeting, Sir was voted as a member of the board. We attended Arnie's St Patty's Day show at the Cuff and I won a giftcard to EQC, a coupon for a haircut with Lancer Lott at Emerson Salon and a duffel bag from the Cuff Complex. Our last week, we took a little easier by hitting the leather tag sale (DaddySir scored me a pair of awesome chaps), the WSMLO meet & greet before heading to my birthday dinner, and then Saturday was the day.

Our step down was packed with so many familiar faces; the Courts of Seattle and Tacoma, Everett (and I think I even saw some of our girls from Bellingham, if I remember correctly); there were Sisters of both Houses; leather men, women, boys, bois and girls; puppies, bears, and some of our friends who don't call themselves leather but supported us without hesitation all year. The contest itself was good, despite only having one contestant for Mr and Ms each, they really did bring it on stage.

True to our ways, we had decided to give our step down speech - just as we had given our crowning speech a year before - together. We talked about many of the things I touched on in this post, and more; and we were thrilled to present our Emerald Awards to Panther Berg (my award) and "Texas Johnny" Offut (his award) for all their support and guidance, plus being sounding boards for us each. After which it was time to introduce the new title holders.

Washington State Mr Leather 2013 Ryan Smith
Washington State Ms Leather 2013 Danelle King