Lux Life’s February 2017.

February was another busy month here in Sydney – full of visitors! The start of the month began with an incredible meal at the Bondi Icebergs Dining Room with Sid, as he was back in Sydney for just a night before his flight back to London. Over the next few weeks Nicole and my Mum were both here, so there were plenty of fun times! And then there was the epic Google Summer Party I went to with work. It’s safe to say after such a busy February, March will hopefully be a little quieter…


I was really impressed with Icebergs, and I’ll have a full review of the Dining Room soon. Unfortunately it was a very stormy day, but the food was really exceptionally good and the view was just stunning – even with the clouds!

I had a chilled out weekend at home the first weekend of Feb, after my insanely busy January. It was so, so lovely just chilling out, catching up on blogging, and finally watching the newest season Gilmore Girls! Omg I cried so much during the last episode (Fall), so emotional!
The following week, I went for dinner with Nicole, Nikki, and Jamie at Mr Wongs. We had a pretty amazing meal there and zomg the dumplings were SO good. I still drool just thinking about them. After Mr Wongs we went to The Barber Shop, one of my fave Sydney bars. Sadly it was a Thursday so everywhere closed early…so our night ended at 11pm. Boo.

The next night was a work night out to say farewell to two colleagues; one is moving internally and the other is going travelling! We started out at The Clock, and then went to Standard Bowl. It was a pretty epic night and we danced the night away to old school RnB!

And then it was the day…my Mum arrived!!!! I hadn’t seen her for five months, which was the longest I’d ever gone without seeing her. I think the longest time I haven’t seen my parents is a month maximum? Sadly Dad couldn’t get the time off work so I won’t see him until July, but Mum works in a nursery so she came over for just over a week over the half term holidays. I spent Saturday blitzing the house in my hungover state, and then got a taxi to the airport to pick her up.
I had to wait a while because her luggage took ages to come out, and while I was waiting I was reminded of that scene in Love Actually where everyone is at the airport hugging their loved ones. It made me a bit emotional seeing all of these families reunited, and I was desperate for my mum to walk out of those doors! Finally she arrived and I don’t think I’ve ever hugged her so long! We got a taxi back to mine, dropped off her stuff and then walked round the corner to 10 William Street, an amazing and adorable Italian restaurant.
We feasted on incredible dishes, and then went home and got some sleep before our exciting week! The following day we did the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. I’ve been wanting to do it for ages, and it was so beautiful! Unfortunately the day we chose to do it on was 37 Degrees C…so a little warm…but we managed to do it in decent time, and after a quick beach session at Coogee we had a delicious lunch at Coogee Pavilion.

I had to work the week mum was here, but I met her for lunches and she walked to work with me on the Monday so she could get her bearings. We had dinner at home that evening, mum made an amazing veggie lasagne as I had a load of veggies that needed using up. I’d forgotten how good her cooking is. Zomg. The next evening it was Valentine’s Day, so mum and I went to Paddington Inn for a fancy steak and chips haha. It was nice, but super overpriced.

On the Wednesday we went to see Aladdin the musical after I finished work. I took mum to my fave pizza place in Sydney beforehand, and then we walked over to the theatre. Omg it was SO good! We absolutely loved it, the genie was amazing and made me laugh so much! I’m desperate to see it again before it goes to Melbourne in a few weeks time.

Thursday I met mum for lunch, and then in the evening I had the Google Summer Party with work. Omg you guys, it was so amazing!!! I was only going to stay for an hour because I didn’t really know what it was or what it would be like, but when I got there I couldn’t leave, everything about it was amazing. It was at Breakfast Point Country Club,  and it was basically a Palm Springs themed festival!

Think country club on a hill overlooking the river, with a huge swimming pool, and a massive stage in the gardens with a live band playing the epic tunes. My colleagues and I had the best time, danced until we were told the party was over, and then stumbled back to the ferry to head back to the city. 

The next day I met mum after work and we went on a walking tour of The Rocks. It was super interesting, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting (or living) in Sydney – I learnt loads! After an hour and a half of wandering around The Rocks in the rain, mum and I walked over to Opera Bar underneath the Opera House for dinner. Mum had steak and I had an amazing tuna steak!

Saturday we had an adventure out to the Blue Mountains! I had a mini-meltdown first though. I changed my outfit three times before I just gave up and threw on my baggy black dress. The thing is, the past couple of months I’ve gained 15kgs. Yep. Fifteeen.
My confidence is currently in a pile on the floor along with my entire wardrobe that no longer fits me. Only my baggy clothes are still wearable, and my jeans (although they leave deep marks on my skin). I’m now the heaviest I have ever been, even heavier than the dreaded year of 2010 (my very own annus horribilis), and it’s making me absolutely miserable. 
The issue is I don’t know why I’ve gained so much weight, from when I arrived in Perth in October until I arrived in Sydney in December, I was eating super healthily…and then I moved to Sydney and I had an influx of visitors and I was eating out and drinking loads. And now here I am 15kgs heavier than I was in London. I mean…how can I gain 15kgs in just two months!? 
Since mum left I’ve been on a massive health kick – I’m cutting down on how much I eat out, how much alcohol I drink, and I’m also cutting out red meat. I’m upping my green veggies and doing all the ‘right’ things. I’m also going back to my old healthy ways at work – peppermint tea as a snack to curb my mid-morning hunger, and a small bowl of porridge with hot water in the afternoon for that afternoon hunger-pang. I walk to and from work (6km, and uphill all the way back), and I’m going to try and start running this week. 
Anyway, I might write more about all this in a separate post in a few weeks. 

So, after mine and mums’s adventure to the Blue Mountains (a full post is coming later this week ;)), we had an incredible dinner at Saint Peter, just round the corner from my house. It’s one of the best seafood restaurants in Sydney, and we had a really exceptional meal that ended with this amazing chocolate dessert!

We spent Sunday up North. We got the ferry up to Manly, and went for lunch at The Boatshed. I wasn’t too impressed and don’t really understand the hype, the food wasn’t great, but the view was obviously amazing as it’s right on Shelly Beach. After lunch we headed back on the ferry and went back to mine for a couple of hours watching The Crown while we waited for the rain to pass (I’ve got mum hooked on The Crown haha).

Then we headed to St Georges Outdoor Cinema for the Premiere of Australian film, Jasper Jones, which I’d bought tickets for a few weeks ago. Just as we arrived it started pouring with rain again, but we were given super attractive ponchos to keep us dry. Thankfully the heavy rain was short-lived, and it stopped just as the film started! Jasper Jones was a stunning film, it was honestly incredible and I highly recommend seeing it when it comes out in the cinema! 

And then it was mum’s last day 🙁 I had to work, but her flight wasn’t until late evening, so I finished work an hour early and we had dinner together before we got a taxi to the airport. It was weird getting the taxi home by myself after I’d said goodbye to her…my housemate was away with work so I went home to an empty house and was all emotional and feeling lonely so ate a bar of chocolate. 
I had a chilled couple of evenings to catch up on life (ya know, the fun things like cleaning the house and doing laundry), and then on Friday I had a bit of a wild night out with Nikki and Nicole before Nicole left to go back to London. She was over with work, but it was so nice to see her a few times while she was in town! We started the night at Untied in Barangaroo, it’s a rooftop bar with a bit of an older crowd, so after a couple of drinks there we left to go to The Beresford, which is much more our kinda place.
We went upstairs to the club part, and the first DJ was awesome. We were having so much fun, but then they changed the DJ and the new one was terrible…everyone stopped dancing and were literally just standing around. So we left and went to Darlo Country Club. It. Was. Epic. We had so much fun! We hadn’t had any dinner though so we started getting hungry around 1ish, so left and went to Mr Crackles for the best pork belly bun I’ve ever had in my life. I’m still dreaming about it days later.

I had a quiet weekend to catch up on blogging, chores, the weekly food shop, and meal-prepping, and now all of a sudden it’s March tomorrow! HOW?! I can’t believe how quickly the time is flying by.
What have you been up to in February? Are you giving anything up for lent?

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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.

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2 Comments

  1. Unknown
    March 2, 2017 / 4:43 pm

    Now this is how February should be!

  2. Suze @LuxuryColumnist
    March 4, 2017 / 10:44 pm

    How lovely to catch up with your Mum and the Google party sounds amazing. I haven't been out much for the last 2 weeks as I've been visiting my Mum but when I'm in London and going out a lot then the weight can easily pile on

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