The times they are a changin'

Confession: I think my life has turned into a classic hits radio station. I've got all the symptoms.

To begin with - I'm empathising with the Skyhooks. And by that I mean All My Friends Are Getting Married (not Women In Uniform or Ego thank you very much). It seems we've turned the maturity corner and people I know, people who knew me when I still couldn't tie my shoe laces (sure I may have been 12, but what's it to you?) are finding life partners and very happily settling down. It's exciting stuff! But at each wedding I attend, I can't shake the feeling that I'm "playing dress ups". That I'm actually just a kid who sweet talked my way on to the elusive Adults Table. At what point do your physical and mental age decide to get hitched?

Then my other friends are channeling Peter, Paul and Mary. While some of my nearest and dearest are Going To The Chapel, others are Leaving On A Jet Plane. And the worst bit? Don't know when they'll be back again (badum chhh, yes I did just do that). They're packing their bags and heading for another hemisphere, another life, another group of friends to have in-jokes with (mermaid Eloise anyone?). I'm so excited for them! But a little part of me (okay bigger than I'd like to admit) wishes they had to stay with me, because realistically things won't ever be the same again. Wow Em, big revelation there. But when they come home there is no telling where or who we will be then. Will we still want to badger every DJ in Sydney into playing Wham!? Or have secret chats in a smokey kitchen corner? And will we still go to trivia and have ridiculous team names referencing Fergie? (Wham! and Fergie... We are an exciting bunch). Either way, when you're all gone you can bet that I'm going to Wish You Were Here.

It's also time that I listen to the Mac when they tell me that you can Go Your Own Way. I guess what it all comes down to is that I can be incredibly insecure about everything and anything (seriously try me). I spend a whole lot of nervous energy (I have it in spades) convincing myself that I don't want to be married yet and I'm okay with the fact that I haven't travelled a whole heap. And this is only made worse by people asking why we bought an apartment rather than go overseas or when are we going to get engaged? Ughh stop! My life is so good and I chose it! I have a gorgeous boyfriend, a fab family and friends so really no complaints here. Time to stop comparing what I'm doing to what everyone else is doing. Your way is great, it might just be a little different to mine and we're all happy! Right?!

Oh okay, fine - Go Your Own Way was actually a tormented break up song from Lindsey Buckingham to Stevie Nicks and not such an uplifting "Yay you and your life choices!" song but the sentiment of the title works so bear with me.

Bob Dylan was right... the Times They Are A-Changing and it's okay! I'm really happy with where I am. And I can be happy with me and also be genuinely glad people have found A Whole Lotta Love and want to make it official. And sure I'm incredibly sad to say goodbye to friends who are heading Over The Hills & Far Away, but we've had so much fun already (plus we all have so many incriminating stories of one another that we have no choice but to stay friends forever and ever). All I ask is that you Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

Pour 1 cup of hot water over blog, steep for 10 minutes and strain

Hiiii! Long time no see to all my invisible readers. How's tricks?

I've been in a funk! No denying it and I think practically every blogger saying - DON'T APOLOGISE FOR NOT BLOGGING. But let's be honest, I think if I'm apologising for anything it should be the fact I'm subjecting you all to my blogging again. Suckers...

I have a nickname - Hoople Bear... or on occasion Hoople The Gloopsing Bear. Don't ask me what a Hoople is because I don't think I can answer, but I love it as a nickname. It's one of many unusual nicknames I've picked up from my family over the years. But we don't stop at nicknames, we have weird words and phrases that seem to have been passed down. Kind of like hilarious and strange family heirlooms, except you can't take them on Antiques Roadshow (trust me, I've tried). I'm curious - does your family have any idiosyncrasies or quirks that simply don't make sense to people outside the family unit? Or maybe they don't even make sense within the family unit? I've got a few...

Take for example the fact we refer to our nose as a "schnozzleberrybug". Um excuse, but what?!?

As far back as I can remember my family has thrown around the phrase "if you do it on your birthday you'll have to do it all year round". So according to this theory, if you unpack the dishwasher on your birthday, then you'd have to unpack the dishwasher every day for the following 364 days (way to make me resent leap years...). For 25 years, give or take, I naively assumed that everyone subscribed to this birthday folklore. Apparently not so much. I kind of wish I'd thought the theory through - I mean if there is one day of the year that you are likely to splash out and do something out of the ordinary, it's probably your birthday. You eat cake, you see loved ones, you get presents! It's a nice theory and safe to say I'm not against people presenting me with gifts on a daily basis. I fully intend to continue this Ralston birthday folklore because it's ours and it's fun to bring up every birthday, even if it's not steeped in reality.

Speaking of steeping things... new teapots! (get it? you steep tea.... yeah possibly the worse segue ever). I've started to design some smaller, ready to ship pots. Customs take the wind out of my sails, even though my customers are the best - the pressure of deadlines and my incredible ability to procrastinate do not a happy Emma make. So I love these! They're little and they're fun - at least I hope someone thinks so! Without further ado...

You can have a further look see in my store (hmmm subtle).