Domina Dea Speaks » Domina Dea

Hey, why aren’t there any new posts? or, “Where the hell is Dea?”

Dea — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:49:19 +0000

I have an announcement, except I’m not quite ready to spill the beans.

I’ve been busy, like really, fucking, bat, shit, crazy, BUSY. I’m about to launch a new venture/website and when I’m not in sessions, I’m working on this new thing. It’s going to be an AWESOME new thing. I promise. I will be making a formal announcement in about two weeks. In the mean time, I’m going to return to the salt mine that currently consumes my every waking hour.

Working out or, “This is How to Do It”

Dea — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:45:29 +0000

I’ve decided, that as much as I love my trainer, Nick, I’d love him more if our workouts were more like this! I want to be “on my way” too!

Having my ass kicked or, “Why is Dea walking like an old lady?”

Dea — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:44:27 +0000

It’s not very often (actually NEVER) someone can claim they are kicking my ass, but Nick can. He’s my personal trainer, and for the past few weeks he’s been meeting me at the studio twice a week and really putting me through my paces. And I’m REALLY feeling the burn, and I bitch and moan and complain, and am generally difficult and he just kind of smirks and smiles and gives me lots of “atta girl, you are doing GREAT” type of encouragement. Yes, I want a Brazilian bubble butt, and yes, I’d also like to look AMAZING in latex, but goddamn, this is HARD work. For the record, I don’t like it, not one little bit. But I also know there is no easy way to get there without some effort on my part.

You know, it really helps that Nick is shiny and pretty to look at, and to help push myself through his brutal workouts I imagine him stripped naked, tied to the cross and getting a lash from my whip for every time he dares utter an “atta girl”.

I need to Relax or, “Rubbing Me the Right Way”

Dea — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 06:26:23 +0000

It’s been an exhausting couple of weeks. The good kind of exhausting, I’ve worked hard, played hard and spent quality time with friends. I feel like I’ve been moving non-stop and when that happens I need some serious battery recharging. Nothing quite does it for me like a night spent at the spa, not just any spa, but the Korean spa.

I’m in love with JeJu Sauna, Home of Well Being. For just $25 for a 24 hour admission, you have access to six saunas, 3 whirlpools, a salt water lap pool, an exercise facility, dry & steam saunas, infrared lounging area, showers, and more than I can remember . There are separate men & women areas that feature whirlpool tubs, traditional Korean seated showers, steam & dry saunas and for a reasonable fee they offer a number of spa services. I’m absolutely addicted to this place. My typical visit goes something like this;

8:00 pm ~ Arrive, check in, pay the $25 admission fee, receive locker assignment and lounging clothes (an over-sized pair of shorts & t-shirt) and a toothbrush,
8:15 pm ~ Remove my street clothes, grab a towel, weigh myself then hit the shower
8:30 pm ~ Dress in the provided lounge wear, head out to the co-ed lounge area order a bowl of Korean soup from the on site cafe, and enjoy a light dinner
9:00 pm ~ Choose one of the 6 saunas, my favorite is the “Jewel Room”, a round, domed room meant to rejuvenate the body & soul where I stretch, do yoga poses and sweat out the stress of the past couple of weeks.
10:30 pm ~ Back in the segregated women’s locker, strip off my lounge clothes and soak in the whirlpool jacuzzi or the steam sauna to further open my pores
11:00 pm ~ Off to for my body scrub and massage
12:30 am ~ Into a fresh set of lounge clothes and back to the cafe for a fresh squeezed juice
1:00 am ~ Grab a floor mat & pillow, find a quiet corner and fall to sleep
6:00 am ~ Grab a cup of tea and a fresh pastry from the cafe
6:30 am ~ Get dressed and head home, trying to keep ahead of the traffic

JeJu offers a full menu of services, but by far, my favorite has got to be the body scrub & massage. There is a small army of Korean grandmothers standing by to scrub and exfoliate your body. For a full 45 minutes I have every inch of me scrubbed with special mitts and soap. The scrub is followed by a full lathering and rinse then an oil massage, mini facial, hair is shampooed and conditioned and the whole thing is finished with a final rinse of warm milk. It’s an hour and a half service for a mere $70. Between the entrance fee, food, service and tip, the whole thing cost me only about $125 or, $12.50 per hour that I’m there. A complete bargain and totally worth every dime.

Resolutions

Dea — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 02:18:28 +0000

It’s fairly typical for folks to make resolutions at the start of a new year. We resolve to give up bad habits, lose weight, save money, exercise, and that sort of thing. We’ve all done it, and sometimes we’re actually successful in keeping some or all of those resolutions.

I used make New Year resolutions, but I seldom managed to keep them, so several years ago I resolved not to make resolutions… I was seriously successful at keeping that one, I knocked it out of the park.

A few weeks ago, after a rather uncomfortable conversation with my mother, I had one of those light bulb “ah-ha!” moments. I realized that I have been hanging onto some old resentment. I’ve been in that place for so fucking long I’m actually comfortable with it. I can, for the most part, ignore it and go on my merry way giving little thought to that festering pot of resentment I have carried with me most of my life. Honestly, I am a genuinely happy, content, successful woman. That is, until I have one of those uncomfortable conversations with my mother, and it all comes bubbling up to the surface.

Carrie Fischer said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”

I’ve made a resolution for this year; it’s time to swing by the dump.

Merry Christmas Y’all!

Dea — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:54:18 +0000

Have you been Naughty or Nice?

The Russians are Coming~

Dea — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:47:18 +0000

I’ve managed to wrestle control of my blog from the Russians. I have been getting 3-5 new registrations a day, most of them foreign and most of those Russian, for several months. When ever I’d try to log in I was blocked.

Last week I found an article on line about how WordPress accounts were having their passwords hacked and the accounts were being used for all sorts of malicious fun. More recently even blog giant Gawker was hacked. I received an email from them with a cautionary “you probably need to change your password” note. So, after some research, and a few WordPress fixes, I’ve got control of the blog again.

I think I was fortunate, as far as I can tell, “they”, whoever “they” may be, didn’t actually do anything with the blog while they had control. I’ve seen where in other cases thy posted huge ads for ED drugs, and the like.

What this means is I’ll actually be updating on a more regular basis. I’ve got lots of stuff already written that I need to dust off and edit so I can post. Think of it as my Christmas gift to you, my return to the keyboard.

DASVIDANIYA!

Settling In

Dea — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:08:21 +0000

Yes, it truly is!

Moving SUCKS! I’ve spent the better part of this week, in between sessions, getting my new place settled. I have far too much “stuff”. Leading up to the move I took three car loads to the Salvation Army and this week I took another two loads. I thew four HUGE garbage bags away prior and another FOUR this week. Moving makes you really take inventory of your stuff, what you keep and why. It was s good purge. All the boxes are empty, the closets full, everything in its new place. My biggest challenge now is to remember where I put things when I actually need them.

The new & improved Second Circle Studio is in place and I’ve had a few sessions. I’m still working on the layout of everything. I used to know where everything was and could blindly reach and grab, without a second thought, any toy I wished. Not so much these days, but it won’t be long before I have that worked out. Of course it would help if I stopped rearranging things. All in all I think my special pets are going to love the new location and the new Studio.

I love my new place, it’s home, and I don’t plan to leave it for a good, long, while. This place is full of love, the love of good friends that gave their time and talent to make it MY home. Tonight I’m hosting a house warming party to thank the wonderful people that made it possible, I’m looking forward to honoring them for all they have done to honor me.

Life is good. Very, very, good.

xoxox

Dea

Home Sweet Home!

Dea — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:31:22 +0000

Moving Party

Happy New Year!

As you know, it seemed that my year ended on a low note when I lost the lease on my space, but, it turned into a wonderful blessing. 2009 really was an amazing year for me, 2010 will be even better~

On Saturday 25 amazing friends showed up in below freezing weather to move me into my new live/work space. But, before that could happen the new space had to be renovated and made into a livable space. This meant building out a space for my new studio, gutting and rebuilding the bathroom from the top down, converting what was once a darkroom into a laundry room/walk in closet, running what at times seemed like miles of electrical, setting tile and painting. Typically one could expect a job of this caliber to take about 8-12 weeks to accomplish under normal circumstances, but thanks to Jeff, my wonderful friend and contractor, we managed to get it all done in four short weeks. FOUR WEEKS, during the holidays to boot! It was also made possible, to quote Margret, with a “fucktonne of man hours”! Not only did we (Jeff, Elaine & I) work 12-15 hour days, it wasn’t unusual to find a number of members of the lifestyle community here pitching in with their time and talent. They gave up their nights, their weekends, their vacations, to be here creating a beautiful new home and studio for me. Who does that? We do, people who love, respect and support each other do that sort of thing for each other.

I am an incredibly blessed woman. There is no doubt in my mind that I am loved.

I’ve spent the last few days getting settled into my new space. I LOVE the new studio, it’s larger and more user friendly and has some cool new features I didn’t have at the other place. I’m ready to get back to work. I look forward to seeing you soon, come experience the new space. I love it, I think you will too!

Dea

Where have I been?

Dea — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:14:29 +0000

Where have I been? In a word: BUSY!

After DomCon my calendar filled up with sessions, presentations, a heavy travel schedule and some happy, unexpected, surprises.

And, then, one not so happy unexpected surprise. I lost the lease on my current studio space. As it turns out, there is a gaggle of middle aged women in my building who decided that I wasn’t the sort of person they wanted living/working here. As a result of their meddling, I lost my lease to a little known, seldom enforced, bylaw in the association rules. After a heavy two week travel schedule, I returned to Atlanta to begin the search for a new place to call home and relocate Second Circle Studio.

Last week, I’m relived to report, I found it.! Just 2 miles from my current space, this old factory is now an active artist community situated on 12 acres of property in what started out as a cotton gin in 1889 and was later used as a munitions plant during WWII. It’s been recently acquired by pair of young, hip, developers who have a vision of a great artist community in West Midtown Atlanta. The potential for the property is amazing. They offer small, day use, spaces for artists as well as large, vast, live/work spaces such as mine. Some of the old buildings will have to be rebuilt, others will need new roofs and still others are unsafe and will have to be completely dismantled and rebuilt. They also offer large event spaces (I can’t wait until I host my first large play party there!), a community run coffee house that roasts its own coffee, an organic farm where one can purchase seasonal fruits and veggies and organic, fresh, free range eggs and best of all, an amazing backdrop & setting for photo shoots.

Today my project manager is on site and the renovations have begun. We have a three week schedule to make the space work. That includes building walls for the studio space, electrical work, renovating the bathroom, getting a washer/dryer hook-up, kitchen overhaul, painting, cleaning and most important, getting the studio set up!

I am incredibly blessed to be a part of a community of people that love, respect and support each other. There are a number of wonderful men and women who have volunteered their time and talent to make this move as simple and easy as possible. If you’d like to help, let me know. I’d be thrilled to have your capable hands or, if you’d prefer, you can pitch in with a gift card for Home Depot, Lowe’s or a GreenDot MoneyPak refill to offset the cost of renovations.

I will be updating on the progress and posting photos here. Sometime in Late January or early February I will host an open house for the new space.

xoxox

Dea

The view from Second Circle Studio