Love from, Florence Grace

I love the end of a year, because each year I do a roundup of all the good and exciting things that have happened in my life and I really love looking back and having the time to reflect on it all- especially if there's things that I've forgotten about. No questions about it, 2017 has been the best year of my life . It has been the year of self evolution. It has been the year that I finally- finally - grew up and got my shit together. It's been the year that my life has had a total makeover and completely changed. I have loved every second (well...most of the seconds) and had the time of my life. So let's just recap... January The first month of the year, the first chapter of a fresh start...I began the new year in Oxford with my a girlfriend. We were each others New Year's kiss, as it was my first New Year's single and alone for the first time in 6 years and also the one year marker of my *horrific* breakup. It was nice to start the New Year...

The last three or four weeks have been crazy . I mean, a real whirlwind of drama, excitement, nerves, stress, more excitement, a lot of work and some big  surprises. I've been tweeting a little bit about what's been going on, but not giving away too many specifics so I thought I would treat you all to a bit of an update from me! Last month, after turning 21 I wrote a blog post about how being 21 had been the ' ultimate glow up ', and I concluded the post with a final paragraph that read: " I am living for being 22. I'm ready for more of everything; more success and more blessings, more opportunities and more good fortune, more love and more happiness. In fact, I'm ready for an overflow of it all. If 22 is half as good as 21 was, I know it's going to be a great year. " Well, I'm happy to report that the first month of being 22 has been incredible . If the rest of the next year is anywhere near as good as the last month has been I...

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...

On Wednesday (1st November) I turned 22! Eeeeeek . That sounds so  old in my head! 21 seems like an age where it's still seen as acceptable to be a little wild, a little out of control, a bit of a party animal. 22- in my head, at least- sees so much older, so much more mature. I feel like I actually have to start being a responsible adult now, and like I need to start getting my shit together (for lack of better terminology!). As with all birthdays, I did spend some time surrounding my 22nd birthday reflecting on the kind of year I'd had being 21, and the kind of things that being 21 had brought to me and my life. I feel like I say this most years, but I genuinely feel like 21 was my best  year yet. Honestly, this year has shaped me like no other. When I was 20, life turned into a learning curve for me. I was experiencing things I wasn't used to, dealing with emotional turmoil that sent me to breaking point that I felt like I would never bounce back from and so, for the...

There's absolutely no denying that right now, life is pretty sweet for me. I think a lot of people have noticed a change in my tone of voice when I write over the last year or so. In 2016, I was blogging every single day- there were a lot of posts about the heartbreak I was going through, about how miserable I was feeling and about some really low points I was going through, particularly near Christmas time. December 2016 was probably the lowest point I hit that year, and I couldn't even explain why. Whilst overall, 2016 was my year of self discovery, the year where I really began to love and appreciate the person I was, there was a lot of low points for me. A lot. 2017 has definitely seen a new side of me - in fact, I'd even go as far to say that it's seen a brand new version of me! I have had a truly spectacular year and if I thought  I couldn't be happier than I was in 2016, I was wrong- 2017 me has reached new levels of happiness altogether. I made new frien...

Earlier on this year, I wrote “ I wish younger me had known that it was possible to be this happy all of the time ”. Since then, my life has become even happier , if you can believe it! Yet earlier on this week, I shared a post with you that opened up about a time when my life wasn’t quite so happy .  A time when things were far bleaker, where I hit rock bottom and fully believed that that was as good as it was ever going to get for me. I am a firm believer in the fact that your past does not define you , in any way, shape or form. Sure, it can influence who you are and the choices you make in life, but it doesn’t have to define you and your future, not at all. My past certainly influences the person I am today but it absolutely doesn’t define me. Rather, it has taught me a lesson I won’t ever forget. It taught me how to survive . Because even when I was at rock bottom, when I was torturing myself over the behaviour of others, when my parents were going through a divorce that ...

Alright, alright- don't act like you didn't know a post like this was coming! If you follow me on social media, you'll know that recently I got myself a new boyfriend. Yep, for real. The ice queen with her stone cold heart who absolutely vowed to be single for another year at least actually cracked and somehow ended up with a boyfriend. For. Real. I won't lie to you all, I'm pretty happy . In fact, I'm so unused to feeling the way that I feel that I sometimes wonder if I'm actually okay and if the way that I'm feeling is normal. My girlfriends are probably sick of getting my panicky messages at all hours of the day and night saying "but is this normal  to feel like this?!" (always my messages are met with eyeroll emojis and reassurance that I'm absolutely fine. Sorry guys) I just can't help it, you know? I was left so damaged and felt absolutely broken beyond repair after my last relationship that I just really can't get use...

Today I left my job at Topshop, after working in retail on and off for five years, and I can safely say… Wow, I will not be doing that again. At least, as far as I can help it. If money gets short and I need to make ends meet, then okay I may need to take on another part time retail job. But for now, and for the foreseeable future, I can safely say hallelujah, goodbye retail, been there, done that, worn the t-shirt and I will not be back. ( To be honest, I haven’t worn the t-shirt; Topshop tried to make me and I refused ) My TS1135 pals xxxxxxxx However, retail wasn’t all bad. It has it's moments; Christmas in retail is always lovely, the store discount was great and I have also made some incredible friends who I hope stick around in my life for a very long time, all who have helped me make some amazing memories. In my time in retail though, I've learnt some valuable lessons, so I thought I’d share them with you guys! People suck No, honestly, you all...