Love from, Florence Grace

I thought I'd use today's blog post as a bit of shameless self promotion- I hope you don't mind, it may be a little dull in comparison to some of my previous posts! So, some of you may or may not know that I run my own magazine, Love from... magazine. I don't exactly make money from this, it's not a huge magazine but I am immensely proud of it! I have a team of writers, it is distributed across the UK and the USA, we stepped things up and made it available in digital format as well as in print format and now, we have a website/blog/YouTube launching! When? Tomorrow! That's right! On March 1st, not only are we launching Issue 4 of the mag, Love from...Dorkface (aka the lovely Jemma who runs Dorkface Blog and founded the Girl Gang) but we are also launching our website, blog and YouTube! I'd really love it if you all headed over to the Twitter account @lovefrommag tomorrow and checked for updates and joined in with the launch! Raising the pro

Since becoming single in 2016, I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the dating app Tinder. Initially, my friend Charlie from work suggested that I join for a bit of a laugh and yes, initially it did cheer me up, reading crazily weird bios and looking at very unfortunately angled pictures that people seem to feel best represented them. I did still take it semi-seriously though, being asked on a few dates that all fell through after I made it clear that I wasn't going to sleep with them on this first "date". Lol. One guy even unmatched with me after I declined his  invitation to come to my  house- that's right, he invited himself over! After politely declining, he unmatched and I have heard nothing since. Anyway. There have been so many hilarious moment's with this dating app that I thought I'd make (another) list using (more) gifs for your guys pleasure, all about what stops me from swiping right on Tinder! Topless photos. If your main pic

Mums. You gotta love them, right? Yet sometimes they can be so  annoying! They do and say such frustrating things that all you can do is sit there staring at them like... what?!  So I thought I'd compile a beautiful, gif filled list (you know I love them!) about the most common things all  mums seem to say and do that grind our gears!  They shout from five rooms away to get your attention and when you shout back she claims she can't hear you...or if you don't respond because you can't hear her, she gets narked, even though she wouldn't be able to hear you if you screamed back. Um, so how did you expect me to hear you? Huh? HUH?  They call you all of your siblings names and sometimes even the pets names before reaching your name. Seriously, mum, you have one job. Remember the name of your favourite child. Not that hard is it? They suggest you eat foods they know you don't like when you tell them you're hungry. Mum, why? I'm

On the 16th December, "Being Woman" on Facebook shared a video that has resurfaced today and is seemingly about to go viral and break the internet in a big  way. The video is the message of an unborn female child to her father, telling the story of what will happen to her at the hands of males throughout her lifetime, pleading her father to protect her as she grows up.  The main gist of the video is to respect women. Don't call them whore's or slut's or other derogatory names that will damage how people view women but also how women are treated. It also encourages men to stop their brothers, friends and son's from doing this too. It's quite a heartbreaking video, and one that I think resonates with a lot of women, if not all women.  It definitely resonated with me. I have suffered at the hands of a partner with a bad temper, bad enough to break doors with a single punch and break my spirit with unkind words, and have been called every name u

"Flo, you should come to the gym with us" Chloe from work said.  It's not the first time someone has invited me to the gym, and it's not the first time I have declined either. I know I need to lose some weight- just a stone- to be what my doctor will consider "healthy", but I just feel too embarrassed to go to the gym, even with friends.  Initially, this is why I had joined Katie Hopkins' "Fat Club" on Facebook. The motto of the group is "Eat less, move more", and that's exactly what they all do. I've seen some amazing transformations, people who are shedding weight like nobodies business simply by walking 10,000 steps a day and eating a little less junk food than they did before. It seems so easy, so why am I still unable to do this? I've tried diets, work out DVD's, more recently I've taken to running...yet nothing seems to work. And I think it's because of this; I have an unhealthy relatio

Before, I have aired my views on the Death Penalty . I have always been firm on the fact that I believe the Death Penalty is necessary but only  for extreme cases e.g. murder. I know it might be shocking to admit to that, but I just felt it was the only punishment suitable for someone who had done something as horrific as murder. And yes, I know that it can be tricky to determine if the person is actually in the wrong sometimes and there are all sorts of other complications, but that's just what I agreed with. Then I invested some time into watching Life and Death Row on BBC iPlayer. I hadn't realised there was episodes from as far back as 2014 so I started with the very first episode and began to learn more about the ins and outs of the Death Penalty and how cases are dealt with in court and so on. Needless to say, I changed my opinion at once. I do not agree with the Dealth Penalty.   I know my views on the subject would probably differ had I been in a situat

We're all guilty of it. You know what I'm talking about. Stalking.  Yup. Be it your ex partner, someone you despise but still care desperately about what they're doing or someone you fancy the pants off but don't have the balls to confess to, there's probably someone in your life you have a Internet creepin' relationship with. But the real question here isn't who the person is but rather why  do we have a person/people like this in our lives at all? Why do we feel the need to follow people's lives without actually pressing that follow button? It's damn weird! Imagine if this was real life...if you followed said victim in real life as much as you click on their name in the online world, you'd probably have a restraining order. Half the world would. Its bizarre that we care so much about what people are doing, yet not enough to click that follow button. It could be for a number of reasons; you don't like them but for some reason c

...with frustration because you are winding her right up. That's right, boys. In case you didn't know it already, you can be pretty frustrating to the female species and do some pretty damn annoying things. If you find yourself guilty of doing some of the things on this list, you should probably stop ASAP...that, or the end of your life may be closer than you think. Saying you'll do something and then never doing it at all.  Rearranging your balls- or even just giving them a scratch- whilst we're trying to help you engage in a mature conversation with either ourself or some friends. Leaving dirty underwear anywhere but the wash basket. Going out in clothes that totally don't match. Leaving rubbish anywhere in the house bar the bin. Say "I don't know, whatever you want" when we ask you to help us decide between outfits. Complain about how long we take to get ready but when we are ready, you s

We all like to have a few too many on the odd occasion, right? And there's no harm in that! A night out with good friends and some drinks is a lot of fun! However, sometimes we can find ourselves crossing the line from wasted to... white girl wasted. And then some dangerous things happen. Such as... 1) You think you can dance. After one too many Vodka and cokes the inner Beyonce rears her head and you begin to bust some shapes on the floor. Who knew you were so talented?  2) Every girl is your best friend. From lending out combs in toilets (Talia, I'm looking at you), to pulling loo roll off of every girls high heel (except mine, thank you Alex!), girls seem to be each others soul mates. Until... 3) You're always ready for a fight.  She looked at me how? He just pulled my hair by accident! They're staring at me! Only one way to sort this out... fight!  Because, you know, you're secretly as good at wrestling as you are dan

If you don't have social media, you won't have been exposed to the outrage that erupted across all platforms regarding yesterday's court case result in regards to the situation between Kesha, Sony and her producer, Dr Luke.  To cut a long story short for you all, the scenario is this. Kesha had inexplicably gone from producing hit after hit to making absolutely no music for two years. Fans questioned why, and when she came out with an answer it was down to the fact that her producer, Dr Luke, had drugged her and raped her. Of course, Sony and Dr Luke denied this allegation and it has been taken to court. Yesterday, the judge gave the verdict that Kesha could not leave her contract with Sony and must continue to make a further six  albums with Dr Luke, her rapist. If she uses another producer, Sony will refuse to promote her- effectively, ending her career.  It's horrific, right? Now, some people have said "What about him? What if he's innoc

Today on Twitter the latest trend throwing out some pretty humorous tweets was "#TypeOfPeopleIAvoid". This inspired me for today's post, and I thought I'd make use of being able to use more than 140 characters and share with you the type of people I avoid!  1) Negative people. Whilst I do like a good whine now and again, I am a pretty positive person. I believe in myself, in all the things I do and things I am capable of doing in future and so on. So I can't stand  being around people who are constantly negative about everything, be it about themselves, about other people or about something else entirely. Life is too short to be so miserable all the time!  2) Anti-feminists. If you don't believe in feminism, if you slag it off or act misogynistic or in a similar manner, I will not be spending my time with you. Feminism is a very real thing that is still desperately needed every single day. If you think otherwise, remove yourself from m

When I was younger, I wanted to be married with children by the time I was 20, and had decided I would not have children later than 25, because I wanted to be a young, pretty, cool mum like my mum was. I think that was what influenced this naive idea- the fact that my parents were married with children by the time they were 22. This, and the fact that a lot  of Jacqueline Wilson books I was reading (she was my favourite author) featured young, single mums who were pretty and cool and all had babies when they were 16.  It wasn't until I reached 16 myself that I realised how far off 20 was- the answer? Not very far. I had started to consider university and further education. I couldn't possibly have a baby whilst at uni! I made calculations in my head. Finish uni by 21, baby by 22, 23 and still be a young, cool mum with a degree.  Then I reached 18. 20 was creeping ever closer. I had given up on the idea of uni, much to my school and my parents disappointment. That

Pretty in Pink is one of my favourite films, a total classic that everyone  must see. For me, it's up there with St Elmo's Fire and, of course, The Breakfast Club. The clothes, the music, the actors, the storyline...they are incomparable with the bland films we see rolled out every week in today's cinematic world.  However, there is one 'deeper' thing from the movie that I love, and that's the lesson's we can take from the film. Because there are several and they are important . So today, that's what I have decided to share with you; the lessons we can learn from John Hughes' Pretty in Pink.  1) Money doesn't matter. Even when it does. It doesn't. One of the main issues the film focuses on is money- and effectively, social classes- and how it affects friendships and relationships and people's time at school and at home. The moral of the story of course turns out to be that money doesn't matter, people can love who t

"There are people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments...but if you just focus on the work and don't let those people side track you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you that put you there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world".  These were some of the inspiring words Taylor Swift spoke during her acceptance speech at the 2016 Grammy's last night. Now, I don't particularly like Taylor Swift and find several flaws in how she deals with things such as feminist issues, but these words really resonated with me.  There are a handful of people who constantly try to turn my successes in life on themselves. Some say it as a joke, such as "well don't forget you wouldn't have done that if it weren't for me *wink face*", whilst others say it being genuinely serious. It grinds my