We all have people that we care about, but we don't always feel that we're good at showing them. Sometimes you might worry that the
people you love don't know how much you care about them. Or you might just feel like it's been a
while since you last did something nice for them. If you want to show someone that you care, there
are plenty of ways that you could do it. You don't have to make huge gestures to express your love
and appreciation for someone. Just small actions can show them that you're thinking of them and want
to support them.

Do Them a Favor (Without Being Asked)

Helping people out can take many forms. You might do some shopping for them when they're not very
well, or fix something for them if they don't have the time or skill to do it. What's even better than doing
someone a favor when they ask you is helping them out without them having to ask. Show that you
can be perceptive and see when the people that you love might need some assistance. Of course, there
are some things that you should ask for permission for before you do them.

Get Them a Gift

Everyone likes a gift sometimes. It doesn't have to be a special occasion to get someone something
that will delight them. There are all kinds of gifts that you can buy for people that will make them happy
or help to improve their lives. If you're not sure where to start, take a look at some of the gift ideas
from Cuckooland. You don't need to spend a lot or make a big gesture. It's more about the meaning
of the gift. Another option is to make a gift, which can allow you to put even more of a personal touch
on it.

Be Interested in Their Interests

Everyone has their own interests, and we don't always have to share the same ones. But it can be
nice occasionally to take in interest in what someone else enjoys, even if it's not really your sort of
thing. You could get more involved simply by listening to someone talk about one of the things they like.
Or you might be kind enough to join in when they want some company. However, sometimes it can be
just as nice to let someone have their own thing and not try to get involved.

Be a Listening Ear

One of the best things you can do to show someone you care about them is listen to their problems.
They might just want to rant about their day or they might want to talk about some deeper issues in their
life. Whatever they need to get off their chest, being there to listen to them shows that you really care.
You don't necessarily need to be good at giving advice. Sometimes, all someone needs is someone to
listen.

There are lots of ways to show someone that you care. No matter who they are to you, you can always
do something kind for them.

Lots of love

Milano. At the end of March, my boyfriend and I did a mini travel trip to a few cities in Italy. Milan was our first stop - a gorgeous modern city with beautiful architecture, the iconic Duomo and many other wonders. I thought I'd write this post to share what we managed to accomplish after spending 48 hours in Milan. From food to photo locations, I'm going to give you all the low down on my favourite places to eat and visit when staying in Milan...especially if you're only here for a short period of time, like us, and want to get to the best places! 

The most renowned Milan monument is the astounding Duomo. The Duomo square is unfortunately surrounded by salesmen who try and force flowers, bracelets and other random items onto you. My top tip when visiting Milan is saying NO to these men because they try and trick you into giving you items for free but will follow you around afterwards in hope for cash. It's very difficult to avoid and you will inevitably get approached but you just have to politely say no and get on with your day! Anyway, back to the Duomo...I'd highly recommend buying a ticket to go inside. The ticket office is in a separate building to the right of the Duomo (looking towards it) and you can buy tickets to different sections of the building. The cathedral is even bigger on the inside - we explored the main area first, taking photos of the gorgeous stained glass windows and lighting a candle. Following this, we had a look at the Bapistery of San Giovanni alle fonti - this was the first baptistery in Christianity that had an octagonal structure with an immersion font! The incredible fact about this place, despite the dilapidated aesthetic, is that it started being built in the 4th century. There is so many incredible historical and cultural links to the Duomo so if that aspect of a trip interests you, you HAVE to visit the Duomo. We also queued for an hour to climb to the roof and it was definitely worth it. The salmon pink, grey and white marble was beautiful, especially for photos, not to mention the view from the very top. If you are scared of heights, maybe this isn't one for you but I thoroughly enjoyed admiring Milano (not so much the climb up a thin, long staircase)! 

Our main sources of food when we ate out in Milan was pizza! The pizza in Italy is ridiculously cheap - I was expecting traditional Italian cuisine to be rather expensive but pizza is the most affordable. Usually costing the equivalent to £6-7, we opted for this both evenings that we stayed...gimme all the carbs! My favourite place to eat in Milano was this adorable pizzeria located on the right side of canal Naviglio - Premiata Pizzeria. The restaurant was quite hidden; we took a risk as we'd never heard of it before but the place looked homely, busy and quaint. The pizzas there were absolutely amazing! Only issue we had was my boyfriend's fault...he ordered San Pellegrino thinking that they'd get us the delicious lemon drinks, which are both of our favourites. It turned out that their original San Pellegrino was sparkling water, our worst nightmare, and we just drank it! If you're looking for gelato, I'd highly recommend La Volglia Gelateria on the road Via Dante. We came across this on the way to the Sforza castle and really enjoyed the lemon gelato - it tastes like sorbet and was heavenly!

Other places worth visiting have to be the Sforza castle for a lovely walk around the grounds, the 

Bath and Body works & visiting the Kiko Milano store. Another important thing to note is that we opted

for underground travel as our Air BnB was a little out of the centre. You buy tickets from the 

underground stations at machines - the cost isn't too much for a single journey (roughly £2-3). 

Link to our Air BnB  (CLICK HERE to receive £25 off your first Air BnB)

Link to Milan Vlog

Have you ever visited Milan before? Would you like to in the future?

Lots of love

Weddings take a lot of careful preparation and minor blunders are common. Here are a few of the
most popular mistakes that could ruin your special day and how you can safeguard yourself against
them.

Ordering a dress size too small with the hope of slimming down

Unless you really think you’ve got the willpower to drop a dress size in the next few months, avoid
buying a dress that’s deliberately too small. If it gets close to your wedding day and you realise that
you can’t fit in your dress, you’ll either have to buy a new dress last minute or try and squeeze into the
one you’ve got as best as you can. You’re better off slimming down first before planning your wedding
date and buying your dress.

Hiring friends instead of professionals

Hiring friends is cheaper than hiring professionals, however friends aren’t always as reliable.
You don’t want to end up with drunken wedding photos or a DJ setlist of your uncle’s favourite drum n
bass anthems. On top of this, if it’s a close friend, they won’t be able to join in on the celebrations. Only
hire friends if they’ve got the expertise and are trustworthy.

Sending out invitations at the wrong time

You don’t want to send out invites to your guests too early or too late. Friendships can change over the
course of a year and sending out invites too early could result in inviting people who you’d actually
prefer not to be there. Inviting people too late meanwhile may result in people already having plans and
could prevent all your guests from being able to attend. Aside from important guests who you should
notify a year in advance, the bulk of your guests should be sent invites six to three months in advance.
You can order personally designed wedding invitations from Pure Invitations. Physical invites are much
more personal than emails or Facebook group invites, plus you can ensure that people will read them
and they won’t get lost in someone’s spam folder.

Taking on too many jobs yourself

Taking on too much responsibility will make you stressed, and stress can lower your immune system
making you more prone to being ill on your wedding day. Not only that, but you could find that you’re
trying to organise details on your wedding day and not taking the time to enjoy the day. You should
avoid taking on jobs like catering and decorations that could result in your spending the morning of
your wedding day rushing around. To prevent you micromanaging professionals, it could also be worth
taking on a wedding planner from a company like Cherish Wedding Planning – you can still decide every
detail, but the wedding planner can be charge of running it all so that you can relax on your wedding
day.  

Leaving make-up too late

Many brides are late to their wedding day as a result of underestimate the time it take to apply makeup.
You should leave a few hours for your stylist to apply your makeup so that they’re not having to rush it
with minutes to spare before the ceremony. Free up the morning of your wedding day so that the only
task you have is getting ready.

Drinking too much too early

Pacing your drinks throughout the day is also important. Drink too many glasses of bubbly too early
and you could end up blacking out half the evening of what is meant to be one of the most memorable
days of your life. If you’re not a big drinker, avoid serving drinks before the reception – try to get the
meals and speeches out the way, after which you can go crazy!

Failing to budget correctly

One of the most common mistakes is failing to budget correctly.
This could result in you taking out loans last minute to pay for important details resulting in a mountain
of debt to deal with afterwards. You could also end up skimping on details because you didn’t budget
correctly. Do your research so that you know how much each major detail costs and create a clear
budget rather than a rough estimate. Leave enough room to go over your budget slightly, but don’t let
yourself go overboard.


Lots of love

Only two more exams left and I'm free...I literally cannot wait to celebrate with my friends; we are getting a tattoo and going clubbing in honour of an amazing first year at university! This past year has gone by ridiculously fast and I cannot believe I've already completed a third of my degree. CRAZY. My time living in halls is coming to an end after this week; therefore, I've begun planning an incredible summer with my family, friends and boyfriend. Today I thought I'd share my summer plans and hopefully inspire all those who have a really long time off school/university/work to live your life, make memories and spend quality time with your favourite people. Most importantly, do NOT think you have to spend heaps of money to have a good time. Do what you want to and remember that now is better than later...



JUNE PLANS 

At the end of May, I will be returning to my hometown in Northamptonshire. I will miss Lincoln A LOT but it will be nice to be surrounded by my family and boyfriend. One of my top priorities throughout the month of June is to go back to my part-time job that I've had since I was 16 and work. I'm determined to earn money so that I can spend my summer experiencing new things, doing things I've always wanted to and living my best life. Right now, I am so driven to work intensely in June so that the rest of my summer is the best one yet. In between all of this work, I have already have a few things scheduled in my calendar. Number one has to be a few blogging events that I will be attending - I won't specify the brand(s) just yet but you'll hear more about them in due course on my Youtube Channel (Charlotte Emily Vlogs). My biggest event happening in June is going to see Beyonce & Jay-Z live in London. It is going to be the perfect mid-month treat and I'm beyond excited; I went to see Beyonce on her own in 2016...she was sensational and we grasped the opportunity as soon as possible to get tickets for this tour. In the midst of my busy working life, I'm also planning to schedule some summer outfit shoots (potentially with my best friend who is a photographer) or my boyfriend if he doesn't mind. I mean, he took the pictures for this post and I'm extremely impressed! I definitely want to put content creating to the top of my priority list too because I've missed my regular uploads and constantly making content. New Instagram pictures, new outfits, new blog posts and new videos ---- PENDING!





JULY PLANS

For Valentine's day, my boyfriend surprised me with a trip to see one of Derren Brown's shows at the beginning of July. I cannot wait to see him perform live and it's been on my bucket list for a while now. Fingers crossed he asks for volunteers because my hand will be up straight away! Shortly after seeing Mr Brown, Aidan and I are jetting off to Greece. This was an EXTREMELY spontaneous holiday for us because we usually have trips booked months in advance to prepare. However, we decided yesterday evening to book a week's stay in Kefalonia, Greece. Greece has been one of those travel destinations that I've longed to visit and I cannot wait to explore one of the less spoken about islands. I'm already outfit prepping...oops! For the rest of the month, I will be meeting up with my friends - hopefully plenty of shopping trips, dinner dates and chilled nights in. Myself and Hattie were also considering visiting Harry Potter Studios in London because I've want to go for a long time.

...today you will shine! One of my favourite quotes at the minute reflects optimism and self-love. The majority of the population have fell into a trap of self hate and loathing - believing everything we see on social media is perfection and that there is only a single representation of the word. As cringey as it may sound, perfection doesn't exist and that is what is so incredible about it. Everyone has scars, pain and insecurities (even if those aren't visible) and, from experience, it takes a long time to build up this wall of self confidence and love without it crumbling down to start all over again. This awful cycle has been a part of my life since the age of 14 - a ridiculously young age to be bothered about weight, appearance and how others perceive us based on 'egotistical' characteristics. It is even come to the point where younger members in my family have complained or enquired about their weight...BEFORE their teenage years have begun. How have the media created this stereotypical image of perfection and willingly shove it down everyone's throats, even impressionable adolescents who have fallen into this trap as such a young age? Don't get me wrong, there are some positive movements, particularly within clothing companies that have expanded ranges and use models of all sizes, yet there is still an online presence that makes us question our looks/weight/size on a daily basis. 

For those curious as to what products are shown in this post, I've teamed up with Pretty Polly to promote body confidence and self loving! The bras and briefs shared in this post are all from the Pretty Polly site - you can buy everything on their website! My favourite definitely has to be the black sport-style bra with no wires - perfectly comfortable and extra supportive. I'd highly recommend to other gals out there like me who loves comfort. The laced bra and briefs make me feel confident and sexy - enhancing my figure and allowing me to embrace my curves/imperfections in the best way! They also sell a variety of other products like tights and shape-wear too.

Shop the post:

Pink Laced Bra

Black Striped Sport Bra

Briefs

What do you do to make yourself feel body confident? What is your opinion on the lack of diversity within the media?

Lots of love

We are throwing it right back today - reliving my childhood and chatting all things Harry Potter. I cannot explain to you enough how much J.K Rowling's incredible stories impacted my youth. My neighbour and I would genuinely sit in her little Wendy house at the back of her garden making potions in cauldrons, envisaging ourselves sat in a Hogwarts herbology class and even set ourselves BLOODY HOMEWORK for imaginary lessons we had during the day. Honestly, it was NEXT level obsessed and I've spent the years re-reading the books and feeling super nostalgic.

Anyway, I thought I would share this incredible company that sell Harry Potter merchandise - Magic Alley have created the perfect gifts for Harry Potter geeks, like myself. I was extremely excited to pick out my favourite pieces and share them with you. I'm sure you all know someone who has been obsessed with Harry Potter (or still is)...Magic Alley is where you need to be heading to pick unique, magic-driven gifts for your fellow HP lovers!

CHOCOLATE FROG (RRP £3.95) - If you want to seriously live the Harry Potter lifestyle, you can also purchase a variety of popular sweet treats mentioned throughout the stories. When I was ten years old, I remember trying a chocolate frog when I visited the Islands of Adventure HP land in Florida. It was delicious and I needed to try one again so I thought I'd choose one from Magic Alley. I love how they've stayed true to the films/books by popping in a 3D style character card. In my previous chocolate frog, I remember receiving Rowena Ravenclaw (which was definitely not luck, I am well and truly a Ravenclaw). However, this time I got Quirinus Quirrel! This will be going straight in my scrapbook! The taste of the chocolate was also delicious - I ate the whole thing in a couple of bites. IT WAS SO GOOOOD! There are also Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans and more over on the Magic Alley site.

Are you are massive Harry Potter fan like myself? What is your fave item from the Magic Alley shop?

Lots of love

Following my recent trip to Rome at the beginning of April, I thought it would be ideal to review this wonderful book written by Samantha Tonge - One Summer in Rome. I received this as an e-copy and have been enjoying my evenings reading away, getting lost in the beautiful streets of Rome as my ideal revision break. It's been my perfect escape during this stressful time of year with university exams underway; the scenic detail and engrossing storyline has allowed me to venture alongside the characters to the recently visited city I loved exploring.

BLURB 

To Rome…with love?

Mary Smith is turning her very ordinary life upside-down! She’s bought herself a one-way ticket to Rome and is ready for a summer she’ll never forget. Men might be off the cards for waitress Mary, but within hours of arriving at the utterly charming family-run La Dolce Vita pizzeria, she’s already fallen in love with the bustling capital! Only Dante Rossi, the mysterious (and drop-dead gorgeous) chef seems displeased with her arrival. And in the heat of the kitchen, it doesn’t take long for long-buried secrets to surface and sparks to fly… A deliciously heartwarming romance to have you dreaming of summer. 

Perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson and Caroline Roberts.

THE AUTHOR

Samantha Tonge lives in Cheshire with her lovely family and a cat who thinks it’s a dog. When not writing she spends her days cycling, willing cakes to rise and avoiding housework. She has sold over 80 short stories to women’s magazines. Her bestselling debut novel, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award in 2014. Game of Scones hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Best Romantic Ebook category at the 2015 Love Stories Awards.

Find more of Samantha Tonge here: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaTongeAuthor

Website: http://samanthatonge.co.uk/

REVIEW

Following the life of Mary Smith, we can only sympathise for the troublesome upbringing she had to endure. Moving from one foster family to another, Mary's early years were tough and it seemed that nothing could get much worse after her boyfriend decides to end their relationship to start a new working life in Dubai. After rationalising her situation, Mary leaps at the opportunity to work at a renowned pizzeria in Rome and purchases a one-way ticket in hope that her future lies in this new city. Will this fresh start be the right decision for Mary's destiny?

I honestly don't want to reveal too much about the plot because I know that I will get carried away and share too much. All I can say is that this is the perfect summer read, ideal for those who love a light-hearted romance or chick-flick. I'm obsessed with Samantha Tonge's writing style - the meticulous description of senses made me feel like I could smell the pizza and taste gelato. Oh, I wish I was back in Rome indulging in food and absorbing the summer heat. I'd highly recommend this book as the perfect holiday read. 

Purchase from Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2rrwXfT

What is your favourite romantic novel? Do you reckon you will be giving this a read soon?

Lots of love