Lux Life’s August 2016.

 

This month has been pretty incredible. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been the best in a long time. It has been filled with family, friends, travels, food, love, laughter, happiness, and everything in between. I have been the most relaxed that I have felt in a very long time, and it’s safe to say that I’m enjoying my little ‘Funemployment’ stint greatly. So what exactly have I been doing this month? Well, read on to find out…
My August started with my very last Monday at my old agency, and burgers at Dickie Fitz with C to celebrate my last Monday and upcoming move to Australia!
On the Wednesday I went for a Burger and Prosecco Afternoon Tea after work with one of my oldest besties, Emma, and we ate three and a half burgers. Yep. To be fair three of them were sliders!
The next day was my very last day at work, and for my leaving lunch we all went to Meatliquor…where, you guessed it, I had another burger. My leaving week will forever be known as the week I had five and a half burgers in four days. My last day was a weird one because it was a sad/happy day. I was so sad to be leaving such an incredible agency and all of my incredible and inspiring colleagues, some of which I’d worked with there every day for two and a half years, but at the same time I was ecstatic to be getting closer to moving back to Aus and starting my ‘summer holidays’.

Just before the end of the day was my ‘leaving speech’ where the one and only Sam Caveen put together an epic powerpoint presentation documenting my time at the company using some of my blog posts, instagram photos, old Facebook photos, and anecdotes from past and present colleagues. It was hilarious. I literally cried with laughter And I’m still cringing at some of the super old photos he used that I really need to delete off Facebook ASAP.We had my leaving drinks at one of my fave pubs in London, just round the corner from my office, The Marylebone. We drank champagne and laughed and reminisced, and then I left around 9ish to head to my friend James’s birthday drinks at Wolfe’s in Soho. After getting even more drunk at Wolfe’s, we then all traipsed round to The Hoxton, and I eventually got to bed at 2am….and had to be up at 4am for my flight to Geneva.

After two hours sleep I managed to get to Heathrow airport and catch my flight to Geneva. I had the most amazing time with Peter and Adam celebrating the start of the Fete de Geneve at Les Terrasses and Baroque, and exploring the city with Adam (you can read all about my 24 hours in Geneva here). I was also lucky enough to be upgraded to the Ambassador Suite at The Dorchester Collection’s Le Richemond hotel, which was incredible!

I landed in London from Geneva at 10:30pm on Saturday night, and drove straight into Soho for my friend Amy’s 30th birthday. It was a really fun night, and then on Sunday afternoon I had a group of friends come down to Surrey for a BBQ at mine. The weather was perfect, and a few of them stayed until the last trains back to London!

I spent Sunday night reflecting on how awesome all of my friends are and how lucky I am to have them all in my life. I’m gonna miss everyone so much when I go back to Australia, but I’m so grateful to them all for helping me make this summer a truly epic one!

The following week was a little quieter as I needed a chill-out week before the busy weeks ahead of me. I went for drinks with my friend Laura at the Ivy Chelsea Garden (and took NO photos at all, which felt so liberating!), and I also spent the day in Portsmouth with my mum and brother. My parents have a property down there and mum needed to meet with some builders there, so my brother and I went shopping at Gunwharf (and spent far too much money – HOW am I going to get it all to Australia later this month?!) then met up with mum for lunch.

My brother was back from Uni for the summer holidays in August, and it was so great to have him back at home for a while and spend some time with him! I also met up with Edd for a catch up, and we had a delish dinner at Polpo (I had ALL the octopus), and then drinks at the Ham Yard Hotel. We walked back to the tube via the mirrored walkway, where was always have to stop for a photo haha!

My lifelong best friend Anna, her hubby Allan, and their daughter (my god-daughter) came down to stay with me for the weekend. It was the last time I’d see them before I head to Australia as they live in Wales, and we had the best weekend planned full of fun activities! We all went up to London on the Friday, had dinner at Bubba Gump (my god-daughter Rosie’s choice), and then Anna and I went to see Les Miserables while Allan and Rosie went back to mine.

The next day we all went to Legoland Windsor for the day, and despite the insane cost of the entry tickets, it was SO good! We had so much fun and Rosie loved it! She makes me laugh so much and I love her to pieces, we went on heaps of the rides and despite her only being five years old, she adored the big rollercoaster and was giggling the entire way. Too cute!

Saying goodbye the next day was so hard, but I’m so glad I have the wonderful memories of the weekend to treasure; hanging out with Anna and Allan, the laughs and funny moments, Rosie’s smiling face on the rides, the way she would grip onto my hand walking around or waiting in the queues, the weird questions she asks that force you to use your imagination, and my favourite which was when she went up to a random child in a queue in Legoland and goes ‘my mummy and anty cafrin went to see les mis last night’ hahaha!

After Anna, Allan and Rosie went home, I drove up to London for Lotte’s birthday BBQ. Lotte and I have been friends for five years now, and it’s been so weird seeing her grow up so dramatically. When we first because friends she lived in a notorious party house in Chelsea, she held regular wild parties there and oh my day they were AMAZING (see her Alice in Wonderland/Peter Pan themed party here, and her James Bond themed party here).

But now she’s all grown up with a beautiful flat near Richmond Park with her lovely boyfriend Johnathan. In true Lotte style the BBQ was so much fun, and it was filled with friends new and old. The girls and I ended up staying til the bitter end, which was a much more respectable 9pm rather than the 9am the next day of previous years haha.

On the Monday the family and I went to London to play tourists in our own city. We ticked off one of the things on my list, and went to St Pauls Cathedral to go up the dome. The views were incredible! After a coupla hours exploring St Pauls, Dad and I headed to the Conrad in St James’ for our Candy Themed Afternoon Tea. It was so delish and so adorable!

Tuesday was super busy as it was my last day before flying out to the US for a week. I had a manicure in the morning, did some last minute shopping, and then drove up to London to meet Kiran and James for afternoon drinks and Knickerbocker Glory’s in the ROSL Garden. We had a great catch up, those guys make me laugh so much! Then in the evening C and I went to the cinema to finally see The Legend of Tarzan. One of my closest friends from school, Mimi, is in it and it was SO awesome seeing her casually sitting there chatting away with Margot Robbie in a scene. I felt very proud!

 

And then it was time…NYC! I’ll be telling you all about our trip over the next couple of weeks, but Jasiminne and I jetted off to NYC for 4 nights, then Orlando for 3 nights to do Disney and Universal Studios (hello Harry Potter World!). We had SUCH an epic time, and I’m so excited to tell you more!

We returned to London the following Thursday, and from then onwards it was go-go-go again! I went out on the Friday night with Jemima and the guys at Cuckoo, which is without a doubt one of my favourite clubs in London. They just always play amazing music! On the way up though my car decided to break down…right opposite Jemima’s house just as I arrived to pick her up. So we had to ditch it there in Chelsea, get a taxi to Cuckoo, and sort it out later. Luckily it was just the battery and two lovely guys kindly jump started it for me so I got home at 4am (the RAC wouldn’t turn up until 5:40am…).

The following day the jetlag struggle was real and I didn’t wake up until midday, so had a lazy one and then headed up to Peter’s place around 4ish for his annual pool party. Once again it was awesome and so much fun, but it peaked pretty early and then I left at 11pm to go and meet Adam in central. We went to Cirque for our standard Saturday night out. I’ve been a few times now since it re-opened, and I think this was my favourite night there – the music was just insane. So, so good. And I was on top form because the trans-atlantic jetlag was working in my favour, haha! Once again I got home around 5am, and slept in until midday on the Sunday.

This week has been a fairly quiet one, the bank holiday Monday was spent at home recovering from a crazy few weeks, and Tuesday was spent in London having a lovely lunch at 34 Restaurant with Mina, and then dinner at Gymkhana with the guys (review coming soon).

Yesterday and today have been quiet ones – ‘work’ days to catch up on blogging and freelance work etc. I’ve been so busy the past few weeks that blogging has been a bit quiet, but I’ll be catching up on it all over the next few weeks.

This month has been so much fun, and so full of love and laughter. Fingers crossed September is the same or even better! I can’t believe it’s only 27 days until my big move to Australia (via Dubai, Doha, and Muscat – tips please!), I keep getting a bit panicky that I won’t see people before I go, and have had a couple of nights with little sleep worrying about it, so I need to try and de-stress and just enjoy my time in London.

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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

Find me on: Web | Instagram

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5 Comments

  1. Posh, Broke, & Bored
    September 2, 2016 / 12:10 pm

    Of COURSE August was your best month yet, hello it's my birth month and you got to spend 10 days jowl-and-cheek with me! 😏 Jokes aside ahhhh I'm going to miss you and your extroverted energy so much (someone has to be the life of the party, and I'm getting too old)…don't leave me in London! 😂

    New York City: STK Rooftop, Meatpacking District – Posh, Broke, & Bored

  2. MummyTravels
    September 2, 2016 / 10:02 pm

    Wow an amazing month- I cannot wait to see what you get up to in Australia.

  3. Angie SilverSpoon
    September 3, 2016 / 5:03 pm

    Wow! Best month ever!!

  4. Catherine Lux
    September 9, 2016 / 1:50 pm

    It was a great month 🙂 x

  5. Catherine Lux
    September 9, 2016 / 1:52 pm

    DUUUHHHH haha! I'm going to miss you so much!!! But I'll see you in MALAYSIA. And Borneo. When you get your passport back.

    C x

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