Love from, Florence Grace

Christmas is often nicknamed " the season of giving ". A lot of us are incredibly spoilt at Christmas time, receiving lavish gifts from our friends and family. We gorge on all of the festive food, spend time making happy memories with the our nearest and dearest and have an all round lovely time. Most people would argue that Christmas is the best time of the year. Sadly, not everyone is so fortunate. Many children wake up with nothing on Christmas Day. Many people wake up on the street, with no roof over their head and no food in their bellies. Many people, particularly the elderly, spend the day alone. So what can you do about this?  You can give back! At one of the most charitable times of year, now is a better time than ever to have a look at how you can give back to those that truly need it most. Here are some ideas of things you can do... Donate Toys to Disadvantaged Children My towns local radio station runs a 'Toy Appeal' every year, where the...

Relationships can be hard, can't they? Finding the ideal partner is hard enough for a start! Finding someone you want to invest your time into, spend your forseeable future with, build a life with- you've got to make sure you find the right guy or girl! But then there's other problems to overcome- small fights, big fights, making compromises, insecurities to get over, anxieties, disagreements and everything in between. Do you know what makes all of this 10 times harder? Coming from a bad relationship into a good one.  It's no secret that almost two years ago, I was coming out of a toxic and abusive six year relationship that absolutely destroyed me. It affected me so badly in fact, that I vowed never to have a relationship again. I wouldn't let anyone in again, I wouldn't bother to invest time or effort, or any part of myself into another person ever again. I didn't want to go through the heartbreak, the pain, the hurt. I was struggling so much t...

*Trigger warning. The following content discusses domestic abuse (physical, emotional, mental, sexual), self harm and eating disorders. If that content will trigger you, please do not read on* I've never had a partner hit me . I've never had a partner kick me . I never had a partner leave me with a black eye , or a bruised face that I needed to cover up with makeup in a desperate attempt to look 'normal'. What I have had has been far more subtle. Pushed in the stomach so hard I was sick, pinned to the bathroom wall by my throat, arms twisted up behind my back, 'restrained' on the floor, bruises on parts of my body that no one would see. Not once but twice, there ended up being a hole in the wall where my partner tried to scare me as though he was going to punch me, before veering off at the last second. I've had items of mine broken, a door slammed into my face, doors literally burst through because I'd locked myself away on the other side, resulting...

Therapy is not something I have considered for myself, ever. I like to think that I'm a pretty strong individual. I don't suffer from depression or anxiety, or any other mental health issues as far as I'm aware. I've not always had a happy time in life but  for the last two years I have been happier than I have ever been! I am surrounded by lovely people, have a good career, and am relatively successful. There's no way I could need therapy of any kind, for any reason. Or...maybe there was. It was first brought to my attention by two of my best friends that perhaps I needed to "speak to someone" about some issues I had been through when one day I had a completely random melt down during a BBQ, when I had previously been having the best  day with them! It came out of the blue and I couldn't understand it, and of course when they suggested a therapist I said no straight away. Me? Need help? Need to talk to someone about my feelings ? I don't t...

I've been blogging for almost two and a half years now (honestly, where the hell has time gone?!) and in that time I have learnt a lot of things, about blogging, about bloggers and about myself! Not all of them have been good things but all of them have been beneficial to the work that I do, so I thought I would share some of the most important things I've learnt with you guys!  Be wary of your stats When I hit 100,000 blog views- according to Blogger- I was absolutely thrilled! When I saw my blog posts getting 200, 500, 1000 page views, I was over the moon! And then I found out that Blogger stats are basically a lie. If you want to check your stats and page views etc. accurately, use Google Analytics. I was shocked at the drastic difference between the figures and it really made me feel a bit crap about my writing at first, but then it just made me work harder to push for more views and engagement! Bloggers are so supportive Honestly, I've rarely come ac...

An education option that is often forgotten about is studying online. Currently, I'm studying an NCTJ Diploma in Magazine Journalism online so that I could continue to pursue my media career whilst still gaining an additional qualification. There are lots of benefits to studying online: It's cheaper than university. My course cost just £345- however my lovely Dad was kind enough to pay for it for me! However, there is no denying that this is a lot cheaper than university.  It's flexible. If you need to work, or perhaps you're a parent, studying online is a great way to balance your busy lifestyle with your studies as you can literally do it in your own time, whenever works for you.  You get a lot of one on one time with your tutor via things such as Skype. Your tutor gives you 100% attention and there is also usually a student help line open 24/7, so even if you're studying at some random time, such as 3am, you can still get help.  With that bein...

One of the biggest questions we have to answer as a teenager is "Should I go to university?". It's a touch question because only you can come up with the answer- and there is no right or wrong answer either.  The truth of the matter is, university isn't for everyone, and that is totally okay! Some people love education and all that comes with it, others don't, and that's fine. You shouldn't let anyone pressure you into going or not going- it has to be 100% your decision. This post is going to attempt to help you find out whether university is right for you by weighing up some of the general pros and cons Pros- Yes, you should go to university because... You can gain a degree. So many jobs require you to be a graduate with a degree and even if they don't, having a degree can give you an advantage when applying for a job once you've finished with university.  You can make lifelong friends. You'll bond with people at un...

No one likes a holiday to end, knowing they have to go back to their routine of school or work and bad weather (well, if you're from the UK that is!). Having just come back from my holiday and being straight back at work at 9am the following morning, I definitely had a case of the holiday blues, and boy did they hit me hard! Here's some tips on helping to beat them... Make a photo album. Print off all of the photo's from your holiday and collate them into an album. Then, whenever you're feeling down about not being on holiday, you can have a flick through the album and reminisce on the memories! Make a scrap book. Similarly to a photo album, make a scrap book that not only has photo's, but also tickets, maps, wrist bands and the likes. This will bring back all of the memories every time you feel a bit blue.  Start planning the next one. Look at where you want to go, prices and then start saving up. All of the future planning not only keeps y...

In case you have missed all of this last week's worth of posts, I have just come back from holiday in Devon. However, despite being on holiday, I still wrote a blog post every single day, in order to keep up my 365 days of blogging. Now, some people might not like to blog on holiday or might want to be struggle with it...so here's how I handled blogging on holiday. Lost for content? Post about your holiday. They can either be diary posts like I did, recapping on the events of the day, or simply filled with all of your photos of the day. Photo's are of course, easier and require less effort, but its totally up to you! Post a day later.  I wrote about my day at the end of the day, and then posted it the following day if that makes sense? So I arrived on Tuesday, at the end of Tuesday I wrote about the day, and then that post went up on Wednesday. This helped my content to flow all week long.  Timings. So, how to fit it in? As I said, I posted a day ...

Hey, it happens to the best of us. You're on a blogging roll and then out of nowhere, poof. All inspiration and post ideas, gone! It's more than a little frustrating and can really hold you back from writing. Here's some tips to help you get that motivation and inspiration back! Read. As a lifestyle writer, I like to read articles on current issues, and often this provokes a reaction from me, which I choose to then blog about. You can read all genre's of magazines to provide you with the right kind of inspiration for you blog. You could even go beyond magazines, seeking out articles online, in the papers, or maybe even just reading a book!  Take a break. If you tend to sit down and write numerous blog posts in one day, then you can use up all of your inspiration very quickly. Take a break from blogging, step away from the computer and do something different. Tidy your work space, go for a walk, bake a cake...any of this could lead to further inspira...

I literally juggle 1,000 tasks at once. My to do list very day seems to be endless, and yet somehow  I nearly always manage to get everything done- if not on that day, then by the end of the week. Today I thought I'd share with you some top tips for helping to keep on top of work loads and to stay organised. 1) Know your limits. It's okay to take on huge amounts of work- if  you can handle it. Start out with a small load of jobs, and if you feel you can take on more, add one task at a time until you feel you're approaching your limit. Always make sure you don't feel too much pressure/strain and are comfortable with the tasks you have to do.  2) Keep more than one diary. That's right, more than one- one for work and one for your personal life. Alternatively, keep two diaries but write your personal and work in both . Then if you lose one, you have a back up and won't struggle. Either way, keep more than one diary! I have four .  3) Writ...

I am just 19, and am currently in a wonderful relationship with my boyfriend- and have been for nearly 5 years now. When we first started "going out" aged just 14, I'm pretty sure that neither one of us had imagined that we would spend the rest of our teenage years together, not only growing up as an individual person, but growing and changing as a partnership too. When we first started dating, it was pretty unusual for couples to last as long as we did- of course it was, we were 14/15! However, whenever I'm browsing (aka stalking) through social media pages of people a few years younger than me, I can't help but notice that it's becoming more and more common for couples of a very young age to "go out" for a matter of years. This surprised me, and then it inspired me to write a post, listing all the things that I learnt throughout my teenage years whilst in a long term relationship and how it effected both me and my boyfriend. Whether you're in...

Back in July, if someone had said to me "Flo, in six months time, you'll have your own radio show", I never would have believed them. Nor would I have believed that I would be a blogger, a columnist or have started my own mini gift line- I definitely wouldn't have believed I would be more well known as 'Florence' than 'Flo'! Everything I have achieved in just six months is really quite unbelievable, and I wouldn't have believed it coming from anyone. So often I have people asking me how I managed to do this, how I managed to make time for that, how did I get all of the lucky opportunities that I have had? I'm always telling people the same few facts about how to get to where you want to be, so I thought I would share them on a wider platform to help out and maybe even inspire more people who feel as though they're not quite sure about what they're doing with their life. Don't worry, you aren't the only one- six months ago I ...