Well gosh, I have been remiss in my blogging duties as a title holder this summer. I apologize and ask understanding in that it's not that I don't want to talk to you all but more typically that I *am* out talking with you all in person and that's just such a rush, I can't even describe.

My last post was July 5 and a lot has happened (and changed!) since then. So I'll jump right into trying to make all my partial posts make sense yes?

Starting off with the week after the 4th, we went to a Run with a local Leather family with some of my very favorite people in the world. I should give the preface that this particular Family was some of the very first Leathermen, -women, -family I'd ever encountered and it was their positive reinforcement and examples that set me on the path I am walking today. It is very easy for me to say that without their influence, I wouldn't hold this title or be doing the work we're doing this year. And so I must expound how much I love them all and respect all their input and advice.
The run was a blast, as it has been every year we've been able to attend. With a pool, BBQ, and lots of fun play apparatus to fiddle with. I even got to pull out my boot black kit & show it off to a few folks and work on a few pairs of boots before the night was over.
We also got eaten alive by the mosquitos out the long house. (I had welts for nearly 2 weeks!)

The following week was pretty hectic as we were starting to seriously move into our new place (yay!!!) and then on Friday, it was straight down from work to Tacoma to see my own Leather Family. We got to see them, hang out and have a great night of geekery and then curl up in bed for a few hours of rest before Tacoma's Pride Festival.
Unlike previous cities we'd been to, Tacoma no longer has a parade/march but instead gets a festival in the middle of the city center. Seeing random pedestrians try and figure the event out was a little amusing, I must admit. We had a lot of fun in Tacoma, saw a lot of people we know and even got to meet a few we didn't. Eventually, with heat and sun starting to take their toll, we headed home to Seattle for the night.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday (well, it was early...) and got ready for driving halfway across the state. I make it sound worse than it is, Bellingham is a lovely city situated near the BC border and set in a valley with a breath-taking view of the Bellingham Bay. It was cool but very muggy on Sunday, and the wind didn't help matters overmuch on that front; but I didn't really mind so much as it was at least a little relief from the heat of the day before.
The parade got started with only a few hitches and one stray dog. It wasn't an overly large parade group but what they lacked in numbers, may I say that Bellingham made up for in energy, exuberance and sheer tooth-and-knuckle Pride in their identity? It was an amazing experience - and an honor - to march amongst them and share our support with the community there.

We wound out the weekend with a stop into Mallard Ice Cream - if you're ever in Bellingham, you have got to try this place. I remember going with a friend who lived up there for a couple years for school and their varied selection (they make all their own ice cream and rotate the flavors) always made me giddy. I had Yerba Mate and was bouncing for the rest of the day from the caffeine.
Whoopsy!

We were scheduled to go to the Coronation of the new Boise, ID Court's Emperor & Empress but our car broke down the night before we were supposed to leave. It was with great sorrow (and not a few bouts of tears and tantrums in the lead up) that I finally called our hosts and advised that we weren't going to be able to make it out. Fortunately, nobody was upset with us - though I'm still disappointed.

As we were unable to make it to Boise, Sir and I started looking at the calendar and realized that the Kitsap Pride Festival was going to be on Sunday 7/22 so, as we couldn't be in Boise, we decided to suck it up and not throw a pity party at all but go to another Pride. I am so glad we did, too. We took the bus from our house to the Seattle ferry terminals, jumped on a ferry and enjoyed a nice hour long ride across the sound. If you're not familiar, the trek is long and rather non-eventful but it's almost always pretty.
Upon arriving, friends in the Kitsap ACES picked us up and trollied our grateful butts to the festival. I cannot say it enough, these small events are amazing - and this year Kitsap crowned their first Mr. & Miss Kitsap Pride; I am sorry we missed the competition but the entire day was sunny and warm and full of happy people. The support from the surrounding community was absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to go back out to Bremerton again soon.

On Tuesday 7/24, Sir surprised me with the news that we'd been gifted tickets to San Francisco for that weekend to be able to attend the International Leather Sir/boy and International Community Boot Black contests. I could not have been more excited to be able to support NW Leather Sir Jim Drew, NW Leather boy Dan and NW Community Bootblack Ruin. There's so much I could talk about on this, the entire trip was just mind blowingly amazing.
We flew out Friday morning and a dear friend who moved down to California a few years ago came up to the airport to collect us. As a side note, if you are wearing makeup with glitter in it, wash your hands before you go through TSA. Glitter reads as explosives on the new scanners, apparently. (me rolling eyes at TSA here) We got a hotel room last minute and took a little time to unwind from the flight and change into more comfortable gear for the first night of the competition. Night #1 the Sir/Boy jocks and speeches, and we got to see a lot of booty and hear quite a few amazing stories of growth and discovery.

I do need to stop here and say that both Sir & I were blown away by the Florida State Leather boy, Rick - at 70 years old, he only recently found the community and his passion wasn't just visible, it was palpable. I found myself on the verge of tears as he spoke about his life and joy in finding his path. One day, I hope somebody finds me half as inspirational as I found his story.

After the first night of the contest, we went back to our hotel and just curled up. Travel is hard, yo.
Saturday morning, we got up and headed over to the Bootblack "testing" - all contestants were lined up and working on boots of participants and attendees of the contest whilst being observed for their interactions with their clients. Coinciding with this was the silent auction (Sir found himself a pair of amazing chaps with a an even more amazing story) which was a lot of fun and there were a lot of really cool items.

We took lunch after the auction / boot black observation ended; Sir had a new pair of chaps and freshly polished boots to show off, after all. I, mean while, located a bookstore that had several different translations of the Illiad and the Odessy - a set I've been meaning to pick up and read for years. I couldn't say no to a 40+ year old set for $20.00 hardbound. In fact, I may have had a minor spaz out in the shop over them; but they happily went home with me.
Back to the competition for the final portion that night : Sir/boy fantasies and Bootblack speeches; we had a lot of fun watching all the fantasies and I'm still not sure what my favorite was. There was the police fantasy, or the Pigs in Space variation... but really I loved the story of how the Southwest (Tuscon, I think?) Sir and his boy first met and the Northwest fantasy (I will not spoil this because I want to see it done this month at the GLPW Leather weekend). Ruin was one of the last speeches and there was no question for anyone in the NW region who heard her speak, she nailed her speech.
Sadly, Northwest didn't get all three titles (yes I know, that would be asking for too much, but one can always hope) BUT - I *must* send my congratulations to Ruin for being recognized as our International Community Bootblack 2013!



During a break in the contest, I had the fortune to meet Glenda Rider (Owner and co-producer of IMSL) in person. We'd had a few online correspondences but it's always such a pleasure to meet the leaders and elders in the community - they have so much information, insight and experience to share. We should all be so lucky to absorb so much in our lifetimes! Sir & I were invited to her after-party, and were very happy to be able to accept.
I had expected that Glenda would like to get to know me a little better, as a state title holder, to get a feel for me in case I was intending to run for IMsL 2013; instead, she told me she'd invited me up to ask me to consider running (in case I wasn't) and now I'm really in a pickle kids, it's admittedly too early to commit to the idea of running for IMsL but at the same time, how could I not want to? This year so far (all 4 months of it) have been such an amazing, mind-blowing, stunningly fantastic experience. I have met more interesting people, experienced a wider array and depth of personalities, events and situations than I could have imagined. There's so much to still think about.

After the party, a friend of Sir's took us to her place for the night as we'd only booked the hotel for one night. She drove us back into town the next morning and we got to go to Up Your Alley. It was hot, sunny, and there was a lot of nearly (and fully) naked men all around. Sadly, only a few women but hey! I'm an equal opportunity admirer, so that's alright too. On the down side, we forgot sunscreen so I was a little pink around the top and Sir - bless Him - had decided to wear chaps & a codpiece out... so His tan lines are really impressive now!

Luckily (ironically?) our flight was delayed so we made it home without too much trouble.

On Wednesday 8/1, we got to attend a monumentous event : "Sistory-25 years of Sisterhood in Seattle" - which was an amazing event held at the Lobby Bar on the hill and was a celebration of the reforming of the Mother House as well as a general history of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. (Did you know the Mother House of Seattle was the 2nd US house founded? And the 4th in the world?! WOW!)

Sadly, I did not get to attend this year's 2nd annual Seattle SlutWalk because we were packing and moving things from storage to the new place.

For those not in the know, Paradise Unbound just opened up last night. Check out their site for more info!
http://www.paradiseunbound.com/

Which leads up to today: today is a mellow day, tomorrow will be as well. I am working long days this week so we can leave early on Friday to make it down Portland for the Mr & Ms Oregon State Leather contest. (http://www.blackoutleather.org/OSL%20&%20OSB%20Page.html)
I will get to meet another of Sir's good friends and also I get to meet a Sister I've had on my facebook for 2 years but never personally met. YAY!