My domestic goals are short and sweet.
I’ve seen this floating around and thought I’d add my own thoughts:
1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Went to a porn shop. I’ve not been afraid to, just never had the desire. Now I think Master and I go just as frequently as any other specialty store.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No, I didn’t keep last year’s resolutions and there are more set for this year. Hopefully these will be easier to keep.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
None, we didn’t even leave the state for more than 10 minutes when I took a wrong turn in Dubuque and ended up in Illinois.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A new apartment.
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 27th — Master gave me the honor of his collar
March 1st — I achieved full time status at work
May 28 — Our first public play party where Master played
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmmm. I don’t know.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Never failure, there is always a way out.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had a 3 day migraine in June, had a root canal this summer, but otherwise I’ve been well.
11. What was the best thing someone bought you?
Material things were not important this year.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I watched Inconvenient Truth and it scared me to death!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
George Bush is getting on my nerves big time.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Eating out sadly. We need to change that this next year and enjoy good food at home.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Our anniversary trip to Iowa City when we stayed in a whirlpool suite 
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
I don’t think a song will encapsulate the entire year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Crafting. I miss the calm I get by creating items.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Whining about my weight, and lack of weight loss. It’s my own fault and this year I take ownership of that fact.
20. How did spend Christmas?
At home watching Lord of the Rings and eating turkey… lots of turkey.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Over and over again. Master continues to amaze me.
22. How many one night stands?
None.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Mythbusters!
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.
25. What was the best book you read?
The Marketplace by Laura Antoniou
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Acoustic versions of awesome rock tracks. Thank goodness or MTV unplugged.
27. What did you want and get?
I wanted a new computer, I got a laptop.
28. What did you want and not get?
I wanted to move this year, but alas that fell through.
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets! We went to see it on Friday and I’d recommend it if you loved the first one.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 30 this year and I don’t think I did anything special. Master made my birthday cake though. That was so sweet.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Losing more weight.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Uniforms or nakedness, take your pick.
33. What kept you sane?
Master and St. John’s Wart
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny Depp. He is such a chameleon actor. I love that he can play any role so very well!
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Anti-immigration crap. We are all immigrants for crying out loud.
36. Who do you miss?
My best friend, L.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
Selena, her husband and her Master! Love you hon.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007?
Patience can only win out if you let it.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I don’t have one.
From My Bottom Smarts
What do you believe constitutes “topping from the bottom?” Have you or your partner ever done this? If so, how was the situation handled? Are there occasions where “topping from the bottom” is acceptable or even desirable?
My definition of topping from the bottom is when the submissive begins to instruct the dominant during an exchange. It could be as simple as overriding instructions to take the next exit to declining to do something sexual.
Sadly I do this a lot and it gets very frustrating for Master. Usually this involves a very stern look, but it could lead to more punishment for bad behavior. I do have to do my proper apology also. It’s very humiliating to have to do this in public places.
There could be occasions where topping from the bottom is acceptable and those are times where the submissive is more experienced than the dominant and he has asked for instructions on how to do something. Also in rare occasions where the dominant is the masochist, it is almost always needed to top from the bottom so that the dominant gets what they need from the submissive who would be causing the desired pain.
–luna
My submission resolutions are going to be where my hardest work is I think. Master has noted that he wants to be more strict and to get the rules I have adhered to better. I’ve been slacking and so has he. So my first goal is to improve my obedience to the rules he has set.
My next goal is to seek learning and training that will benefit my Master. This could be learning a bit of massage, table service, practicing oral sex techniques and maybe learning about historical service like geisha, English maid service or courtesan lifestyles. It could provide and enhance the ritual and routine that Master is seeking.
Lastly I have a goal of making sure the purpose of this blog does not go too far off course. Master wants this journal to be personal, about my submission and struggles with training and less about the meme’s and general chit chat that seems to take over on occasion. It’s going to be hard, but I know that I can be more introspective than I have of late.
–luna
Every week there will be a BDSM question posed to readers here at luna’s Journey. Feel free to answer it as candidly as you’d like. If you’d like to participate in the discussion please leave a comment on this post, send me an email or post the response on your own blog!
How polite are you? Where did you learn your social etiquette? What rules do you have in your relationship regarding p’s and q’s?
Master suggested that I think about some resolutions for next year, some goals I’d like to set for myself. I’ve been giving it some serious thought. I am hoping to have more desire to reach these goals than I did with last years. They kinda just fell away and I forgot them. Definitely not what I want to do this year.
I’ve divided my resolutions into 3 different groups; personal, submission and domestic. Today I’d like to talk about the personal goals I’d like to set.
My diet is an obvious one. I’m still continuing on trying to lose the excess weight that affects almost everything I do and how I feel about myself. My main purpose is to eat healthier and to become more active. I know that I will lose weight if I can achieve these two.
I’d like to learn to take more time for personal grooming. If I care more about myself then I think I’ll have a better outlook on life, be encouraged by changes in my body and enjoy caring for Master’s property.
Finally, I’d like to pick up crafting again. I’m more at peace when I’m creating things; whether it be poetry or stitching or kinky crafts. I’d like to ultimately set aside time every week to create.
So, these are the beginning of what I’d like to have successfully achieved by next year. Master has said that he is going to be doing some changing as well, so I have to be prepared to shift with him. He wants a more strict house and I will have to learn to be more obedient or face the consequences. It’s not going to be easy but I know we can continue to develop and grow together to our ultimate dream.
–luna
Awesome Christmas Lights Displays
Christmas has once again come to us with reminders to give, and love and share the joy of the season with others. Here at home, I have been a rather grinch this year. There are no Christmas decorations up, I have no tree to put my dad’s presents under. My gift to Master was something he knew about months in advance and while he is absolutely thrilled they are done; it isn’t the gifting spirit I wanted to have this year. Things have waffled emotionally on this blog all month long; from joyously happy to down right dumpy.
I’d like to change that. And it starts with the meaning of Christmas. You hear that it’s a season of giving. Well I think that it is more like a season of sharing. Yes you tend to give presents to people, but you are also sharing of yourself. It could be time spent with them, or feelings expressed or even a bit of yourself. Best of all you share love. It’s the most powerful gift to have.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone out there who has stopped by my blog in the past year and read about my life. I’m grateful for every single comment and email I’ve received from persons that felt touched somehow, or connected to what I’ve said. You make blogging easier and more exciting than my life appears to be. I can touch on the mundane moments and someone will find a common thread to let me know how they feel. I can share with you my trials and struggles and have a compassionate ear there for me. We have given each other so much over the last year. We have shared our souls, piece by piece.
This Christmas I’d like to offer everyone friendship. I know that if you stop by here you may already feel like my friend, but I’d like to extend that to my chat window, email box, my post office box, the phone if you’d like it. I’d really like to get to know you, perhaps even find something in common to laugh or cry about. If you’d like to comfort of someone who will understand, someone you can be yourself with; my door is always open. Please feel free to contact me in any way you wish. You can do so via this page or by sending email to luna@the-iron-gate.com. I look forward to offering up my gift of friendship to anyone who would like to receive it.
Tracking Santa
Come track Santa during his global trip across the world tonight! Norad has hooked up a tracking GPS on his sleigh and will be following Santa as he delivers presents to boys and girls all over! There are lots of fun things to see
Dear Master,
It’s almost Christmas and I think I may have found my happy thoughts again. I’m sorry you had to endure a long bout of depression and crankiness. I’ve felt pretty good the past few days. The stirring of my sexual desire is definitely a good sign. I’ll be ravaging you soon enough I am getting better at my feeling surrounding blow jobs. Your responses and attentiveness has helped drive me to enjoy them. That’s exactly what I need from you.
I can’t wait for you to try out your present from me. I know you’ve been waiting for them for quite some time, and I’m sorry it took so long for me to do them. They really are special for me too. It’s like a sign that I’m ready for more, ya know?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about your aggressive scenes, the type that I tend to freak out on. I’m wondering if we could try them again soon, perhaps I’m getting better at acceptance. I do think that I’m more in tune with you and with what may be happening. I’m even willing to suffer the nipple clamps you like so much just to make you happy and see how I can please you.
I want to continue pleasing you into the new year. I hope that I can continue to improve on my rules and maybe work more on my personal self, caring for me is really caring for what is yours. I have to remind myself of that. It is important that I am happy so that you are happy too.
I love you. Merry Christmas Master.
–me
Master’s Christmas Present
I gave Master his Christmas gift yesterday. He’s been waiting for months for me to finish them. They are a balanced set of suede floggers. I don’t think I’ve seen a happier Master. He’s been wanting to perfect Florentine flogging for quite some time, but without a balanced matching set he was having difficulty. Now he can practice to his heart’s content and I’ll gladly be the subby, err target. Click the image to get a larger more detailed view.
–luna
“The 12 Days of Kinky Christmas” by Unknown
On the 1st day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
A Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 2nd day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 3rd day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 4th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 5th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 6th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS,.4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 7th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
7 Crops a Swinging, 6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 8th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
8 Floggers Flogging, 7 Crops a Swinging, 6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 9th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
9 Candles Dripping, 8 Floggers Flogging, 7 Crops a Swinging, 6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 10th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
10 Lords a Whipping, 9 Candles Dripping, 8 Floggers Flogging, 7 Crops a Swinging, 6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 11th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
11 Pairs of Stockings, 10 Lords a Whipping, 9 Candles Dripping, 8 Floggers Flogging, 7 Crops a Swinging, 6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
On the 12th day of Christmas, my master gave to me…
12 Orgasms Screaming, 11 Pairs of Stockings, 10 Lords a Whipping, 9 Candles Dripping, 8 Floggers Flogging, 7 Crops a Swinging, 6 Tubes of KY, FIVE ANAL BEADS, 4 Ball Gags, 3 Blindfolds, 2 Nipple Clamps…..and a Small Feather Pillow for my knees.
This week we talked about Fear Play and how it enhances your play. Come see what people had to say.
Do you participate in Fear Play with your partner? What is a reoccurring fear that is enhanced in your play?
Sarah says:
Sensory deprivation was my first bottoming experience, and I love it to this day. Hell, I do it to myself! Tye me up, and my eyes close. I won’t open them unless you order me to, and then you’d better watch me, or I’ll close them again. I’ve been told that when I’m blinded, I twitch delightfully in anticipation of … whatever. Breath Play is my lover’s newest obsession, and really what spurred me into getting outside education, because it IS so edgy. I think he likes it mre than I do, but I’ve got no argument with it.
My biggest, baddest, most pervasive fear is the fear of losing control. In my day to day life I’m almost to OCD levels of detail oriented freaky micromanagement. That is the fear the my partners play off of most of the time. Take away my control and take away my abilty to plan for every contingency. Make me dependent. So miserable. SO sexy.
Mara Tudor says:
I love giving control over to Master, and I can very much get myself into the appropriate state of fear (it helps that I’m blindfolded).
For example, a hard limit is that Master is having my nipples abused. Yet, Master threatens to abuse them all the time, and it terrifies me, even though I know he will not follow through. It’s all about headspace.
So, yes, I love fear play… it’s an important part of most of our scenes. Strange, isn’t it? Even though I’m not at all afraid of Master, He can bring me practically to the point of hyperventilating, I get so scared during a scene.
But that’s what headspace is all about.
luna says:
I love blindfolds, ear plugs and sometimes gags in play. The sense of the unknown is very thrilling. Couple that with bondage and I go weak in the knees.
Breath play scares me to death. I can’t even breath the recycled air under the sheets or through a mask. I feel like I’m suffocating and I don’t like it at all.
There is a play that Master has tried several times that makes me so very scared that he has to stop. He is aggressive and forceful more than any other time. He pushes my limits to their peak and I get so scared. I start crying, I tremble and get so paranoid.
I have asked him to keep trying, that the fear I experience is part of the play, but he gets worried that he’s doing some mental damage and always stops. One day we will be able to venture into that play and I will make him proud. Until then I will continue to work towards his happiness.
Master and I are off balance. Lately we’ve been doing our own thing, freely snapping at each other and not very welcoming to D/s or even vanilla sexual advances. It could be all related to holiday stress, or financial strain. Master and I have stayed at our own computers and not really interacting more than, “would you make some coffee, please?” It could be that we need a pick me up, a rejoining of our roles. I’m hoping that we can do that after the holiday is behind us. Perhaps for a renewed new year.
I snapped at Master in the car on our way home from the store tonight. He did his usual stance of being upset and reminding me that I don’t need to be so snappy. I basically said, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” Was that testing him? Why did I say that to begin with? I don’t really know. It could be related to the feeling I have of needing his dominance even when sexual or SM activities aren’t going on. I’ve not felt a lot of that lately. I need my submissive centering time and I’ve not taken it lately.
Master wants me to work on a set of resolutions for next year. I’ve been thinking of what I’d like in that list, but I don’t know what Master’s intentions are with this list. Does he want to enforce them? Will he want to see me really give it a go myself? I’d really like to know that so that I can make resolutions that are either worth the effort or with his enforcement. Doesn’t make sense? Well, who asked you! 
Yeah, well resolutions have never been very successful for me. If you take a look at my Goals page, you will see last years resolutions… none of which I have achieved. It worries me to know what to select this year. Do I just reuse last year’s? Do I make new ones? I have no clue.
I’m doing okay with a daily diary for my diet. If you’d like to follow I have the RSS feed linked in the right sidebar. My blog is called 100 to Lose. Come on over if you’d like. Sunday is as always, my weigh in day. I have 25 minutes of exercise yet to do tomorrow to meet my goal for this week. I can do this!
–luna
Every week there will be a BDSM question posed to readers here at luna’s Journey. Feel free to answer it as candidly as you’d like. If you’d like to participate in the discussion please leave a comment on this post, send me an email or post the response on your own blog!
Do you participate in Fear Play with your partner? What is a reoccurring fear that is enhanced in your play?
Annoyances about Christmas
The most annoying thing about Christmas is that the retailers and media have pushed the preparations, lights, signs, ads and sales to before Thanksgiving. I’d rather prefer to have one holiday at a time and starting the day after Thanksgiving is plenty early enough for my preference.
Another thing that really irks me is the homeowners that continue to turn the outside Christmas lights on well into February. It’s not only nearing tacky, it’s a waste of energy. I can understand not taking them down till the weather is nicer, but for goodness sake extinguish them shortly after the New Year.
My last soap box moment today is the politically correct greeting for the holidays, “Happy Holidays.” It is no longer ‘correct’ to say “Merry Christmas.” Oh gee you might offend someone that doesn’t celebrate the Christian holiday. Oiy. It’s a greeting, why in the world would it offend someone that is perhaps celebrating hanukkah instead? Are people that touchy anymore? Would someone get offended if I said, “Howdy” to a non-Texan? I just don’t get it.
I’m running out of things to say for my Christmas posts. I’ve come up with a lot of stories and thoughts. Is there anything you are curious about when it comes to my Christmas’?
Master and I go buy our turkey for Christmas dinner tomorrow. This way it will be thawed in time. I don’t know exactly what side dishes I want to make. I’m all for healthy options, but I want the yummy holiday satisfaction too.
Oh, and we are watching Lord of the Rings all day. I got the extended edition coming from Netflix. Woo hoo. What sorts of snacks should we have on hand all day?
I’m totally clueless.
–luna
Naughty on Christmas Eve
When I was 6 I asked Santa for a dolly for Christmas. I wanted a really neat doll. One that seemed realistic. I prayed very hard that I could have one of those for Christmas.
Well, turns out I couldn’t sleep the night through on Christmas Eve. I think all children have that affliction. I crept out to the tree to see if Santa had come.
And he had! I was so excited because under the tree were presents for my younger sister and I. At my house, Santa never wrapped his presents, so that they were distinguished as coming from Santa. Each present had a name tag and that was it.
I walked up to the tree and there lay 2 dolls. One was in a beautiful yellow lacy dress and cried when you tipped her over and had eyes that opened and closed. The other was in a cute girlie outfit too and it had a bottle and came with diapers. (turns out you could feed it water and it would pee the diapers.) I thought that the second one was really really neat but when I looked at the tag it had my sister’s name on it.
I was caught with a dilemma. I really liked my sister’s doll. So, what’s a 6 yr old to do? I got a marker and scribbled out the names and switched them. I figured Mom and Dad wouldn’t know which dolls Santa brought for who and would think that the elves just had a hard time writing our names on them. So there, I fixed that.
Once it was early enough to start waking everyone up, little did I know I was in trouble. My parents brought me aside after my eyes lighted once again on the dollies and asked me if I had changed the names. I denied it of course.
Mom said matter of factly that Santa talks with them directly and had told them which doll we were to get and there had been a mix up.
I fessed up. I cried and thought that Mom was going to take away my present from Santa. Instead she just made sure that we go the dolls Santa intended.
After 4 months, my sister’s dolly got moldy and mom had to throw her out. It appears my sister feed it way too much. My doll would cry when put on her stomach, was soft everywhere but her head of blond curls and had the most adorable yellow dress. I had her until I was 14 and decided that dolls were for younger girls and gave her to my then 11 year old sister.
Lesson learned: Don’t mess with Santa.
–luna
Santa’s Elves
Another quirky little game that Mom would play with us as a kid was Santa’s Elves. I’m not sure if it started because Mom just couldn’t wait to give us gifts for Christmas or if it was something that she experienced when she was a child.
Ten days before Christmas we would start watching our stockings every morning. Some days we’d find little gifts in it. Mom always explained it as Santa’s elves coming early to give us little trinkets like coloring books, gimmick pencils, small games and candy. She did this as long as I can remember and even when we were adults and came to visit for Christmas she’d say that since Santa doesn’t visit anymore the elves still come by.
I don’t think any of us questioned why the elves would have time to come around to our house when there were just days till the biggest night of Santa’s year. Oh well.
–luna