[DDRay]

Alright, so.
I am new to the dd/lg lifestyle, my girlfriend introduced me to it and it has been amazing. It just fits perfectly for us.
However we have been having some issues lately and i don't know how to confront them. Firstly, we are both college students, and i work full time. I see her tuesday-wednesday at school which is great, but during Friday-Monday I work. What makes it more complicated is that she lives 45 minutes away from me and still lives at home. The problem we're currently facing is ta we don't get a lot of alone time wit each other, and that's when she likes to get into ls. It's hard for me to be able to balance this because no matter what she is always going to be my princess, but when I'm at work and she requires attention i can't giver her at the moment it destroys her. She was crying about it the other day and said since we never get to see each other and she doesn't want to be in ls without me that we're just going to have a vanilla relationship. I know this isn't right because this isn't a game for her, i know that when she's in ls its who she is and i treasure that so much. Along with that, I am now at a point where I need my princess, I love her so much but we're having trouble with the balance. I'll naturally assume my role and i worry about how she'll respond . I know she wants to be in ls but she feels like she can't because it hurts too much.
I'm really at a loss on what to do and it gets to me because i care about her so much. If anyone else has had a situation like this and could help, or just has some generally good advice I would really appreciate it.
Thank you guys, so much

[Miss]

This sounds like a really tough situation. Tough situations don't mean it's impossible to find happiness though.
I get the impression that you are a "fixer" type of person though--luckily, so am I. So, let's give this some thought together...

Can you make better arrangements for time "together" even when you are apart? Perhaps Skype calls (voice/video chats)? Perhaps you two can do something leisurely together like plan online games so you both feel like you're doing something and relaxing while being yourself (many MMOs could potentially allow her to design a character that is little-like or she could be cutesy in-game with you).

So, instead of saying, "Our time together is only when we're physically together," it may alleviate it by saying, "Our time together is when we both have free time, even if we're not physically together!"

Also, if you haven't already done this, definitely schedule date nights often. Once a week or once every two weeks you two can do something different--again, even if you two are not physically together because of the distance. Even this site uses a screen sharing site (rabb.it) where you can steam movies together! I think it might also let you video/voice/text chat during the movie too so if you're not able to drive to her one week you can still set up something really nice together. Give her a "little" task and have her make you a list of all of her favorite little movies so you know what to surprise her with each week you do movie dates.

Another idea to throw your way is contacting her during your breaks. Giving her a quick video call to say, "I miss you! How are you doing? I only have X more time at work."
If she isn't available then maybe leave her a little, "I miss you, sweetheart," voicemail.
If you have hands-free calling in your car then call her every now and again. "I'm just headed home from work and missed you."

Stimulate her "little side" when you're not available. Consider giving her chores or assignments to have completed by a certain time. Ask her for X amount of coloring pages by the end of X day or a special drawing of you and her by the end of the day. Ask her to write a one-page paper about something silly--like why Beauty and the Beast were meant to be together. Have her make a littlespeak dictionary for you two if she does much of that. Have her write you a paragraph about how much she loves her stuffed animal or make a list of types of cool stuffed animals she might want in the future (also doubles as a gift-idea list). Ask her to dress up as little as she can be and take an adorable photo for you to keep on your phone. Give her an "assignment" to watch a specific animated film, telling her that you expect her to fill you in on ALL of the details over the phone about it after you get home from work. Request that she record herself trying to tie her shoes while "trying to teach" you to do it so she can be silly and goofy for just a couple of minutes.

Ultimately, she also needs to realize that adults have adult responsibility and obligations. As amazing as it would be to be able to do, you can't just drop everything at a whim because your partner wants attention. You both are going to college and that means you both have committed to higher education--which demands A LOT of attention. You work a job so that you can pay for necessities and you can't really neglect that just because your girlfriend wants to be little and have your undivided attention. Now, I don't think you should say that to her face directly but I do think that, perhaps, as her Daddy Dom you should have a calm, relaxed, and tender chat with her about you having to be an adult so that you can be a very, very good Daddy to her.

I would suggest letting her know things like, "Daddy has to work and focus on that over the weekends so we can get to spend special time together. It's also so Daddy can buy extra special presents for you for holidays--and you know Christmas is coming up!" Try to appeal to her little site by approaching this as a gentle dominant rather than an equally-as-upset boyfriend and maybe she will realize she needs to re-evaluate her expectations.

Your not very long-distance but a cute, cheap suggestion to do for her is to surprise snail-mail her something. A cute postcard. A brief letter reminding her how special she is to you. I assume you already know her address but you can be sneaky about getting it--"Can I have your address to write down in case anything ever happens to either of us?" In addition, you could mail her something very discreet but cute--like a little bottle of bubbles for her to blow out her window.

Encourage her too, of course:

"This isn't forever."
"We will get through this together and come out even better, little one."
"Daddy loves and cares about you very much. All of the time."

Every relationships have bumps, twists, turns, and unhappy spots. Don't give up on a special part of the relationship out of convenience because then neither of you are going to be happy and really fulfilled. Do some brainstorming, have a little chat, and make some changes with how you're spending your free time. I believe you can lead her through these rough patches. This will all be okay.

(So sorry for the length!)