{ Seven Things }

I try not to put too many 'personal' posts on my blog as they generally involve photos or information about my loved ones. But the lovely Tina from Rubies Place has tagged me to take part in a fun little blogging exercise - so here are 7 things you may or may not know about me. (You also may or may not find them interesting!) 

{ My friend Michelle and I - rare time at a party I have glasses on }

1. I'm as blind as a bat. I wear glasses or contacts at all times (except sleeping!) I've had glasses since I was about 10, and probably needed to wear them full time since I was 14 but only started to when I was 17 due to the 'dork stigma' of high school. A few years ago my mum needed to wear glasses full time and called me from the optometrist in a flap. I calmly explained to her that she always told me and my sister (who is even more blind than me) that we were beautiful even if we did get teased at school. She scoffed and said "Oh god Emma, you believed me?! You and Louise were clearly the dorkiest looking kids." Hmph.

{ My big sister Louise and I with our Dad's first plane - Tango India November (TIN) I am holding my best friend - my doll Katie }

2. My dad is a pilot. We were very fortunate as children that our family holidays consisted of Mum and Dad packing us into my Dad's Cessna 185 and later a 206 and flying us to Queensland to our cousins for Whitsunday sailing trips. We did trips to Tasmania and up through central Australia to Broome also. A lot of people find this quite exotic and exciting, but these were our family holidays - quite ordinary! Mr M's family introduced me to camping and holidaying locally only a few hours from home! My Dad still has his Cessna 206 that he loves to tinker with and fly. 

 

{ Mr M and I taken a few years ago now I think...when we were at university in Melbourne together }

3. I went to school with Mr M for almost five years without ever seeing/speaking to him. In year 11 when I was 16 and he was 17 we went on a school trip for two weeks to Uluru - the rest is history. I'm a big believer in fate - the year I started going out with Mr M was the year I had returned home to school in Warragul after a disastrous attempt at boarding school in Melbourne. If my parents had made me stay at boarding school I wouldn't have even known Mr M existed. We have figured out we MAY have had year 8 German class together, other than that our paths never crossed, and didn't really in the two years we were together as a couple at school. I did art, photography, history and literature while Mr M studied physics, biology and maths. Yuck!

4. I have strong views about what being a gen-Y woman means and post-feminism. I may get slaughtered for this, but feminists grate on me. Yes, I realise the battles my mothers and grandmothers generations had to fight and no I am not ungrateful. I am extremely grateful that we have a CHOICE - but you should not be judged on what the choice is. I am perfectly at home baking and sewing, it is not a bad choice - it is my choice. Other women my age choose something different, and I do not judge them for that, nor should I be judged.

5. I have romantic notions of being a jillaroo on an outback station. Therein lies the problem: I do think it is quite a romantic notions and that is all! In reality I think I would last two weeks, although I would really like to get my riding and farm skills up to a level I think I would be confidant in those two weeks! Mr M would love to go jackarooing, and I don't want us to be sitting there in 30 years saying 'what if'. 

{ Left to right: Tegan, Michelle, Stephanie, Elisha and me. This was taken the night Steph left for her first jaunt to Europe, and was also the night Elisha met her now fiance, Michelle's cousin! }

6. My group of girlfriends from school is quite close. There are five of us including myself - Tegan, Michelle, Stephanie, Elisha and me. I lived with Tegan and Michelle during university, Elisha and I have been best friends since (literally) before we were born, and we are all fairly close and protective of fiesty Steph after she lost both her mum and her brother when we were still at school. We are all SO different which makes things interesting, we're not best friends a lot of the time, we can not talk for months but then pick it up where we left off. I don't see enough of any of them.

{ The working dogs on the motorbike at the top of Ythanbrae. Lily has just been for a swim in the dam, you can see the cottage and sheds in the valley below. This was taken awhile ago, Pip is fully grown now! }

7. Tessa is not our only dog. Mr M has three working dogs - Buddy, Lily and Pippa. When we first moved to Yea Matt wanted a cattle dog. A girl I worked with had a 'useless' kelpie her husband was going to shoot, I took him home and Buddy has been with us ever since! He is big and dopey and spends most of the time chasing butterflies rather than paying attention to the cattle. Lily is a beautiful, gentle Border Collie who belonged to Matt's old boss (who used to own Ythanbrae, so Lily has 'come home' so to speak!) We 'babysat' her while Matt's boss was away and she never left us! Pippa is the next generation of cattle dogs, we got her not long after Tessa. She is the daughter of one of our friends dogs, Roxy. We are looking after Roxy at the moment so have got 5 dogs right now! 

Hopefully you find that mildly stimulating on a lazy Saturday afternoon...it was hard to think of things! Pop over to see Tina's 7 things - hers entertained me at least!