Signs of Spring

It is an absolutely glorious day in Sydney today, with a high of 23 degrees and not a cloud to be seen. While this Winter has been quite mild, I'm still incredibly excited that Spring is only a few days away.

I'm also in Spring cleaning mode and did a quick wardrobe cull this morning. I managed to fill three plastic bags of clothes I no longer wear and my shelves are looking much more orderly! I decided to walk up to the charity clothing bin to drop off my bags and couldn't get over how warm it was out. Every day I pass this glorious tree which has been blossoming for a few weeks now. I was really surprised the first day I saw it blooming as I'm 100 per cent sure it didn't flower last year. I walk to the train every day and I'm not one to let beautiful flowers go unnoticed! I love that the little stump next to it is also blossoming - go you good thing!

It's been a really nice relaxing weekend. We had some friends over for dinner and a movie last night which was a lot of fun. They also slept over as our place is much quieter than theirs and they wanted a good sleep! We all ended up sleeping in until 10am today then having coffee together. 

Tonight Ben and I are going to see Kick Ass 2 in Gold Class with some of his work mates. I've never seen a movie in Gold Class before so I'm quite excited! Life is bliss.

An Ode To Friends

A few months ago I decided to embark on a life changing journey. A journey of love, laughter and many tears. Like with most things I do, I threw myself into it, even going so far as to not seeing the outside world for days at a time.

Yes, I decided to watch the whole 10 seasons of Friends.

Now, I'm not one to exaggerate (cough..much), but this might rank as one of the best decisions of my life. Growing up I'd catch the occasional episode on TV and the scary thing is, I somehow convinced myself that Friends wasn't really my kind of show. In fact, I went so far as to call it "cheesy". Oh younger self, you were so foolish.

With age comes wisdom and understanding and by about episode five of season one I had decided that Friends was the greatest show ever made.

In all seriousness, I'm actually glad I waited until I was a bit older to watch it. When I was younger, some of the jokes flew straight over my head and I wasn't able to empathise with the characters.

Here are a few things Friends taught me:

• I'm possibly dating a real life Chandler Bing.
• New York is the greatest city on Earth (well hey, I already knew that).
• Never date anyone named Janice.
• You can fall in love with your best friend.
• They wore a lot of turtle necks and overalls in the 90s.
• Jennifer Aniston has an amazing body.
• Bras weren't quite so supportive 15 years ago. Lots of high beaming.
• Never date anyone named Ross.
• Never assume you were 'on a break'.
• You can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. That includes watching 10 series of a TV show in less than two months.
• Matt Perry's weight was extremely unpredictable.
• It's okay if you haven't quite figured everything out in your 20s, let alone your 30s.

Now that it's over, I will admit that yes, a part of me is missing. But it's nice to know that if I ever need a laugh, I can rely on my trusty mates in apartment 20.

Image one. Image two.

Ben Turns 26

It was Ben's 26th birthday on Thursday and we've had an awesome three-day-long weekend of celebrations! We started by dragging our sleepy butts out of bed early on Thursday morning to have a hot breakfast together before work. I gave Ben a few presents and we have just acquired a BBQ which counts as a super awesome extra present (and I benefit from it too...best kind of present). After work that night we met in the city to have dinner at Chur Burger, a new and popular joint in Surry Hills. It was packed but we didn't have to wait long for a table and the service was great. I loved my veggie burger with beetroot slaw and honey labne. So good!

We both took Friday off and after a big sleep in we met a friend of mine for lunch at Element 6, a cute cafe in West Ryde which I wrote about here. My friend is an Aussie living in New York and she was home to see her family. It was great to catch up and for Ben to finally meet her! We had a lazy afternoon, watched Epic (it was), then headed out to Parramatta for a farewell for one of Ben's work mates. Saturday was mostly spent doing chores, but we also took a walk to the shops and soaked up some of the seriously amazing sunshine Sydney has been blessed with lately. 

On Saturday night we met a few friends at The Soda Factory for some birthday drinks and hot dogs! My sister and her boyfriend also drove down from Newcastle for the occasion and we had such a good night out with our closest Sydney friends. The Soda Factory is a very cool bar and the hot dogs were amazing. It was too dark to take a photo but I had a veggie dog with onion rings, slaw and mustard. We drank and danced for a few hours before heading up to Flinder's Bar near Taylor Square. Another friend of ours works there so we ended up scoring a bunch of free drinks (probably a few too many actually...today has been...a struggle). I had so much fun and whattya know, managed to stay out until 2am! This granny can party after all. This morning called for a big BBQ breakfast followed by several hours of Friends.

Happy birthday Benny boy, love from your biggest fan. x

A Quick Trip to Newcastle

Ben and I made a last minute decision to head up to Newcastle for the night on Saturday. One of my good friends was visiting Newcastle from Brisbane and I hate to pass up the rare opportunities to catch up with her. Plus, Ben and I both used to live there and now that we are big city slickers we always love going back, seeing our friends and family and enjoying the more relaxed lifestyle.

We got there Saturday lunch time and met my friends at a new cafe in the Hunter Street Mall called Ground Floor. It was a really cute little spot which actually used to be a Gloria Jeans franchise. Nice to see it turned into something a bit more charming. After a good catch up we parted ways before meeting up again for dinner. In between, Ben and I took a short stroll to Newcastle Beach. It was such a warm Winter day. Hard to believe I was wearing sandals in August (and that's coming from someone with perpetually cold feet!). While waiting for my sister to get home from work, Ben and I bought a bottle of sparkling red and some plastic cups and sat in my car enjoying the afternoon sun streaming in. It was bliss.

For dinner we went to a new-ish mexican restaurant called Casa De Loco (or House of Crazy!). I'd heard good things about this place and it didn't disappoint. We feasted on soft tacos, quesadillas, tostadas, stuffed jalapeños and more. The drinks were also flowing and it was hard to choose from the extensive cocktail list. We eventually settled on some white sangria and then my sister, one of my friends and I got a little daring and ordered a cocktail which had some kind of jalapeño soda in it. Let's just say our throats and stomachs were well and truly warm after that!

After dinner we took a short walk to The Grain Store which is also a relatively new bar (although the building itself has been there quite some time and it used to house a bar by a different name). It's a really cool space but it was so busy and loud that it was hard for us to talk. We had a few drinks but decided to move on to another pub nearby. A few more drinks and most of us were ready for bed. Old age is certainly getting to us! 

This morning Ben and I visited my sister who was working for a few hours. She recently scored a second job at Miskonduct - a retro clothing store with a cute cafe out the back. We grabbed a couple of coffees before meeting my friends again, this time for breakfast at Talulah. We had another delicious meal with great company to finish off a short but sweet weekend away. Before heading home my sister kindly gave both Ben and I a hair cut so we are feeling fresh and ready to tackle the week ahead! Hope you all had a smashing weekend. xo