How to Wake up and go to Sleep Happy

Every day is a challenge in life. Every day there is something that needs to be overcome. Every day there are problems. But every day there is a way to push through. There is a way to be a happier you. I know that personally I have struggled over the past year with my ability to think positively and look on the bright side of life. However recently I have been trying really hard to be optimistic in all aspects of my life, I have been trying to look at the glass half full instead of half empty. 

So I have put together a list of things that you can do to make yourself happier, more cheerful and more positive. 

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1. Write yourself a list, a list of things that make you happy. It might be reading a good book, lying in the sun, or going on a picnic. Be selfish for once, think about what you want. 

2. Do one of those things on your list at least once a day! Maybe if it is a sunny day, you might look at your list and choose going on a roadtrip to a beach somewhere out of town or if it is a rainy day you might choose to watch your favourite movie of all time. This way you are doing something that you know will make you happy at least once. 

3. Write a list of affirmations. It could be a list of 2 ... 5 ... 10 ... or even 50! It doesn't matter, again it is your choice.  This is your life and you need to be willing to change it for the better. 

4. Every morning when you wake up, choose one of your affirmations and say it to yourself, say it even if you don't believe it at first. Then throughout the day keep saying it to yourself. Once you are in bed, say it again and you just might believe it. Do this everyday with a different affirmation. I promise it will help you.

5. Whenever a negative thought pops into your head, tell it to go away. You may think this is weird but the more you do this, the more it works. Distract yourself from this negative thought. Think about your goals and what you are trying to achieve; happiness.

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So I really hope you try my 5 steps to happiness and change your life for the better. Let me know if you have tried out my 5 steps or just tell me what you think of them @ theflower-shop.tumblr.com/ask.

Lots of Love
Charlotte
xxx

Merry Christmas

Well, Christmas is finally here. I can't believe it. Christmas honestly makes me so happy, it is a time of year where everyone is celebrating the same thing and having lots of fun.

So far, I have had an amazing day, it is always nice when your two younger sisters, bounce into your room early in the morning because they are so excited for Christmas. It really makes me remember what it was like when I was little and how is actually still is now, just to a lesser extent. 

I love seeing my little sister's faces when they open their presents and seeing whether they like the presents I happened to pick out for them. Of course I also love the little detail of getting presents myself ... hehe. 

I hope you all have an amazing Christmas, send me a tumblr message @theflower-shop.tumblr.com/ask telling me all about it if you want? I would love to hear about all the fun you have been having. 

Lots of Love

Charlotte

That Festive Party ...

Recently my parents held a fabulous dinner party to celebrate the up and coming Christmas and New Year. They were so involved and we had over 50 people, here, at our house, drinking wine, talking and celebrating of course! I got to have a fabulous time with one of my closest friends and also got to help out with the serving of the little nibbles we had planned and made. We had a day full of work and fun leading up to the night, as we were hanging christmas lights everywhere, preparing all the food, getting the music ready/making playlists and cleaning up the house. 

In the end the dinner party was a success, everyone was bubbling with energy and the food was delicious. It was such a great way to celebrate the ending of the year and the coming of a new one and Christmas! I hope that one day I will be able to hold a lovely dinner party of my own. 

We ended up with an endless supply of wine, as what else to guests bring to parties other than wine? Nothing! But who can complain? Wine is a necessity when it comes to successful dinner parties.

We went around the house decorating it with some gorgeous, colour co-ordinated, bouquets of flowers.

It was such a gorgeous summers day, we were just so lucky the weather stayed the way it was, as it was meant to rain! The pool was decorated too, with colourful christmas lights hanging over the vines. 

Lots of Love

Charlotte 

xxx

Happy for Holidays

Wow, it has been an amazing year. So many interesting and different things have happened, some good but some bad as well. I have learnt so many new things this year at school, made new friends, lost old friends and discovered things about myself. But I must admit, the summer holidays, honestly couldn't have come any slower. By the time school finally finished, I was exhausted and in much need of a long break away from any school work. 

My plans for the holidays vary from family holidays, family parties/get togethers, hanging out with friends, reading books in the sun, lying on the beach, pampering myself, breakfast in bed and of course shopping. My family and I are travelling to a small little beach in New Zealand for a while and then escaping to the hot weather of the Gold Coast in Australia. 

I really hope that you all enjoy your holiday that you have ahead of you, whether it be during the winter and in the snow or during the summer and in the heat. I would love to hear about your plans for these holidays too and how your year of 2012 has been :) 

Lots of Love

Charlotte

xxx

Molly and Polly

I recently discovered this absolutely gorgeous brand called Molly and Polly. It is an Australian brand that specializes in swimwear but also produces other clothing items such as dresses, leggings and crop tops. I fell in love with it straight away and am definitely buying one of their bikinis as soon as I get money! They are so different and have a range of different prints they use on their swimwear. Ranging from ice creams to flowers. Everything is so attractive and majorly cute. 

Lots of Love

Charlotte

xxx

The Christmas Corner: Secret Santa

One of my favourite things about Christmas is the activity 'Secret Santa'. If you don't know what this is,  you seriously have not lived! It is an activity/game that you do with either your friends, family or school class. Everyone in the group gets the name of someone else (other than themselves) that is taking part in Secret Santa. You basically then just give that one person a present/presents There are many ways you can do it; you can give little presents throughout 1 week, that leads up to a larger present at the end of the week or you can just give one big present on a day. They then have to guess who their 'Secret Santa' is.

I really love this Christmas Activity as I really enjoy giving gifts to a person, no matter who they are, without them knowing who I am. I love seeing their faces when they see their little presents and seeing whether they can guess who I am. It is also lovely to receive a gift or two and having to be a detective for a while and track down who is giving you these gifts. I definitely suggest doing this before Christmas as it is so much fun. 

What's your favourite Christmas activity?

Lots of Love

Charlotte

xxx

The Christmas Corner: Something New

While I was away in Dunedin competing in a high jump competition, as a small treat, my mum bought me a new book as I haven't had anything decent to read in a while now. As I love christmas and was feeling in a festive mood, I decided to buy a book called "With Love at Christmas" written by Carol Matthews. Yesterday I was lucky enough to be allowed a relaxing day off school and what was even more shocking is that it was 25 degrees! That is extremely good weather for New Zealand. So I lay outside by the pool and finally started my new book. It was lovely. 

As you all know, I have been wanting to buy myself Karen Walker sunglasses for quite sometime now, but my money has finally come and I was very reluctant to spend it. $350 is quite a lot of money to spend on sunglasses. Then I went with my mum to pick up something she had on hold from Ruby and saw these absolutely gorgeous, tortoise shell sunglasses from a brand called Flint. They suited me just as well as Karen Walker sunglasses, and better yet, they were half the price! They came in this extremely cute, rustic looking case as well. I ended up buying them and saving a lot of money that I can now spend on other things. I am so happy with my decision. 

Lots of Love

Charlotte

A Diamond Wedding

It is was grandparents diamond wedding anniversary recently and they are celebrating it by holding a dinner party with all their closest friends and family. Your diamond wedding anniversary means that you have been married to your partner for 60 years! Wow, I definately hope that one day, I will have my own diamond wedding anniversary. 

Anyway my grandmother used to be a fashion designer and she wanted all her grand-daughters to buy a pretty, new dress to wear on her special night of celebration. Over the past month I have been searching for the perfect dress that both my grandma and I like. Unfortunately I hadn't had much luck until my little, weekend away for a high jump competition in Dunedin with my mum. I went into the shop called Ruby and discovered this gorgeous dress by the brand Keepsake. It is called the "Up in the Clouds Dress". As soon as I saw the pattern on it, I feel in love with it and ... it was in the price range!! Yay! So I bought it, and can't wait to wear it this weekend :)  

Lots of Love

Charlotte

xxx

The Christmas Corner: Curly Girl Design

While shopping for a few birthday presents and christmas presents earlier this afternoon, I came across these absolutely divine pencils in one of my favourite shops, from the brand Curly Girl Design. They had gorgeous little quotations on them and came in different colours with white pokadots on them. I fell in love and had to buy them. 

Since then, I have been looking at the Curly Girl Design brand online and they have the cutest things. Perfect for little christmas presents for friends or family! You can order online and everything, definately a good idea. Have a look at their website here.

Lots of Love

Charlotte

xxx

Polyvore

One of my wonderful friends recently showed me a website called Polyvore. I had heard of it before but never really thought anything of it. I discovered that Polyvore is basically a form of blogging where you choose lots of different photos and combine them in collages. It is so much fun and I am so glad that I was introduced to it. 

Here are my first two collages; 

Pretty please check out my Polyvore. I ended up deciding to call it the flower-shop, as that is my blogspot and tumblr's name. I highly suggest that you make a polyvore too and comment your usernames so I can follow you back :)

Lots of Love

Charlotte

xxx