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Monday, April 28, 2014

100 Happy Days | Days 31 - 36 + news!

Hey y'all! Sorry I've been posting so infrequently lately, and that everything has been 100 Happy Days posts. I'll explain why at the end of this post. Until then, enjoy what's been making me happy for that last 6 days. 
 Day 31 (4/22): Monday was a really long day, and I didn't get home until around 7:30. Naturally, I went for a bike ride with my brother to clear my head before I jumped into a pile of homework, and while we were riding next to the railroad tracks, the sun was setting, and I was able to shoot this.


Day 31 (4/22): Okay, so this was definitely a double post, but how could this not be my happiness for the day? Shruthi is honestly one of the best friends I could ask for. She's honest, loyal, and uncannily wise, so receiving this text from her was really special.

Day 32 (4/23): Bella my baby! She's so cute- but honestly, how do y'all prevent yourself from getting distracted by your pets?

Day 33 (4/24): Okay, so ever since my BBFFL (try figuring that one out), Marla, talked about how much she loves seeing people's baby pictures, I've been on the hunt for the perfect one. Y'all, I think I've found it. I was Macklemore before Macklemore was even Macklemore!
Day 34 (4/25): No, we didn't actually dress cute. Those days are long gone. They did make me happy though!
Day 35 (4/26): Fresh strawberries from the farmer's market + cake = strawberry shortcake!
Day 36 (4/27): My hair is getting long again huehuehaha. Plus I got bored of math :)

Alright y'all, so I mentioned how I haven't been posting much other than 100 Happy Days stuff for he last 3 weeks, right? Well, that's probably all it'll be for the next three weeks too, since I've got finals an AP tests starting this week, and as much as I love blogging, I'm going to have to focus on school. Don't forget to wish me luck hehe :)

xo, Hima

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

100 Happy Days | Days 20 - 30

Hey y'all! It feels like it's been ages since I've written a proper blog post, so I thought I'd get right back into the swing of things with a #100happydays recaps of the last 10 days. Last week was my spring break, and I went down to SoCal with my mom to tour some colleges, all of which I loved! I'm back at school now, but we're in the home stretch before it's summer, and I'm happy to see all my friends and teachers again, so it's not too bad. 
4/11 (Day 20): This is Guneet, one of my best friends. Clearly, we both dressed up on the last day before break, and I wanted to take the opportunity to write a little bit about her. She honestly makes my day every time I see her, and our conversations, albeit sometimes short, are always meaningful, and I love that. 

4/12 (Day 21): This is what the sky looked like in the morning. No joke, and no filter. I love pictures like this, where you just happen to look up out of the car, and you're just taken aback by how beautiful the sky is. 

4/13 (Day 22) I spent some quality time with my little brother, and we decided to paint. This is what i came up with!


4/14 (Day 23): Yes, this is one of those super cliché Instagram pictures, but I love it all the same. California is so beautiful :') 
4/15 (Day 24): So my mom and I found this amazing area in Costa Mesa, in Orange County, with the cutest little stores and amazing vegan food (more on that tomorrow or Thursday!), and I saw this sign and fell in love. Wouldn't it be amazing to have these in every store? 

4/16 (Day 25): We toured the USC Campus on the most beautiful day, and it was just perfect. I loooved the school spirit there- fight on!

 4/17 (Day 26): I got to meet up with my former Link Crew leader, Rebecca, at UCLA, and it was so nice to talk to her after so long! I loved seeing how passionate she was about the school, and it really added to my experience there. 

 4/18 (Day 27): No, we don't still have our tree up. I don't know if this was cheating, but I decided to thow it back to the day that #iworeitbetter. So, next stop, People Magazine? 

4/19 (Day 28): I made a cookie in a mug. It was dry, so I'm working on tweaking the recipe, but I'll have it to you soon!

4/20 (Day 29): I made my healthy deep dish cookie pie again! This time, it was for Bee's birthday, hence the chocolate chip bee. (Don't worry, my mom couldn't tell either).

4/21 (Day 30): Bee! So, this is going to take a little bit of explaining, but did any of you ever have one teacher/person at school that made a huge impact on you? Bee (well, back then, she was Dr. Stevens to me), was my science fair project advisor last year, and through that, she became my everything advisor. I started bringing my friends to talk to her, and as we were putting together things for her birthday, we all talked about how we can't imagine how high school would be without her. I can trust her to make me laugh at any time, and to give me solid advice, and I love that :)

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @himahearts to keep up with my #100HappyDays! :)

xo, Hima




Monday, April 14, 2014

Blogger Tag + New Design!

Hey y'all! Happy Monday- I'm actually happy because I'm on Spring Break this week, and I'm going college touring in SoCal, so I'm all around really excited.
So this is one of those posts where I don't have any set pictures, and so I'm just pulling up random pictures. Also because Shruthi (on the right) demanded to be in a picture. 
Before I get started with today's topic, I'd just like to take a moment and appreciate my new design. I did my original design way back in July or last year, when I started this blog, and while I loved it, I was a little bored of it. Enter Ash (her real name is Ashley, but we all know about my love for nicknames) of the Grits Blog.Y'all. If any of you are thinking about a redesign, Ash is the place to go. She's SO quick with her responses, and willing to accommodate any requests. I'm super picky, but she didn't get frustrated at all, and I'm so in love with the end product. Thank you x a billion, Ash!

Anyway, Marla tagged me in this fun post a while ago, and I thought I'd go ahead and write it up today.


01. Pens or pencils? Pens. All the way. But only the cheap-o blue and black 20 for $1 ones from Target, because I lose pens like a dog sheds fur. (you're welcome for the great image)


02. What's the last dream you remember having? It was more of a nightmare, haha. It was the night before my first driving lesson, and basically, it ended in me crashing the car. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded, and I'm actually a pretty good driver, according to the instructor and my parents!


03. If you had a Patronus, what would it be? Well, according to this quiz by Buzzfeed, it would be horse, like Ginny's! I feel like it would be dog though :)

Source
04. Are there any foods you hated as a kid that you like now? Yeah. Brussel sprouts, guacamole, dark chocolate, brown rice, english muffins, the list is endless. Fun Fact: Your tastebuds change every 7 years, so if you ddn't like something 7 years ago, try it again and you might be surprised!

05. What's your favorite part about where you live? I live in Northern California, and I have a lot of favorite parts- the weather, the proximity to EVERYTHING (i.e. 45 minutes to the beach, 45 minutes to San Francisco, 2 hours to a ski resort), and of course the people. 


06. Do you have siblings? If so, are you the oldest, youngest, or middle? I have a little brother. He's 10, and I guess he's cute. 

07. If you could have a talent that you don't currently possess, what would it be? Drawing. I admire people who can communicate their ideas through drawing them out, whereas I have to spend a lot longer verbally describing mine. 

08. What's your favorite Disney princess movie? Marla, please. Frozen all the way, followed closely by Cinderella. 


09. Do you prefer hot or iced tea? Iced. I actually just put tea bags in normal temperature water because I'm weird like that. 

10. What's your favorite thing about your blog? As of now, my new design! But I love being able to write about whatever I want- no restrictions with regards to following a prompt. 


11. What is your favorite form of social media? Instagram! (I'm @himahearts!) If I had to choose between deactivating my Facebook, and deleting my Instagram or Snapchat, I'd keep Instagram and Snapchat. 


Here are my questions for y'all:
1. What's your favorite season?
2. What's your favorite thing about said season?
3. Hair: Up or down?
4. Would you rather be outside or inside on any given day?
5. The beach or the mountains?
6. West Coast Best Coast? (I mean, it's obviously yes, but I'll leave that up to you)
7. Cats or dogs?
8. iPhone or Android?
9. What makes you happy?
10. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
11. What's the first thing you do every morning?

I tag all y'all, whether you're a blogger or not. Enjoy!

xo, Hima

Thursday, April 10, 2014

100 Happy Days | Days 12-19

Hey y'all!
Another week, another 7 happy days. I've been having so much fun with this 100 Happy Days Challenge, and I'm so happy that some of you have joined in on it.
For those of you who are a little confused, the #100HappyDays challenge is this campaign to find something little to be happy about every day, and to document it via your preferred social media outlet- mine is Instagram :)
Day 12 (4/8): I went to see the school play with some of my friends, and it was a lot of fun! Also, please enjoy Neha's face-getting her to smile is like getting no errors on the driving test. (impossible)

(don't mind the fact that I'm pretty sure the background is more in focus than I am)
Day 13: (4/5): Technically this isn't the photo I posted, but the photo quality on that was absolutely terrible, so y'all won't be seeing that.  Last Saturday was junior prom, and I went with some of my best friends. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of high school dances (I'm not about that grinding life), but I had TONS of fun! I think my favorite part was when the DJ played Let it Go, and the entire junior class belted it out like no one was watching. 


Day 14 (4/6): I finally checked out the Noodles and Co. branch that opened up near my house, and I was pretty impressed! The picture is so bad because I was so excited to devour my Japanese Udon noodles.          
Day 15 (4/6): More prom spam! We clean up nice, even if I do say so myself ;)

Day 16 (4/8): It was my best friend Sneha's 17th birthday! To give you an idea of how close we are, I wrote her a letter 19 pages long (19 is her favorite number). We've been inseparable since 2nd grade, and I can't imagine what life would be like without her! 
P.S. First time wearin' a maxi skirt, how'd I do? 

Day 17 (4/9): Who doesn't love cookie baking? Let's be honest here!

Day 20 (4/10): We had early release today, and I've started driving (no one killed yet!), and Momma and I celebrated with Thai (always the best choice). 

What made YOU happy this week? Let me know in the comments below!

xo, Hima

Thursday, April 3, 2014

April Goals

Hey y'all! 
Wow, it's been a while since I've had three posts in one week. Hopefully that means I'm getting better at time management ;) So, remember when I posted my February goals? And then I did really well on all of them the whole month? And then I never posted any March goals? And then I sucked at my goals the whole month? 
Even if you're running on two hours of sleep, you've probably figured out what this post is going to be about. I don't really have any goals to evaluate from last month, so I'll just get right to it. 

  1. Read at least 4 books. I've literally had a pile of 8 books sitting by my bed for the last three weeks waiting to be read. I'm still on number one. To be fair, we did TONS of reading for my lit class this month. Look out for my March books post next week!
  2. Prewrite at least one blog post per week. I hate not blogging, but I also hate when blogging feels like a chore, and I'm sacrificing sleep to write a blog post. If I have 'em stored up, I can just hit publish and get to the fun part- interacting with y'all. 
  3. Drink a half gallon of water/day. I've definitely been slacking on this lately. (Okay, let's be real- there isn't a high school teacher in the world who will let you go pee twice in a period because you're drinking a lot of water.)
  4. Mix up my clothes. Like I said in my post about things I'm guilty of, I tend to wear the same clothing combinations a lot. I'm working on changing this and making better use of my closet. 
  5. Don't stay up past midnight more than once a week. To be honest this will be hardest to follow through with. 
  6. Take time to enjoy the little things, like this adorable note my mom slipped into my lunch on the way to school.
Don't you dare tell me less is more with photo editing. 

What are your April goals? Let me know in the comments below so we can keep each other accountable!

xo, Hima

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

I Challenge You!

Hey y'all!
I hope you enjoyed reading yesterday's post. It got quite the reaction, so please do go read it if you have the chance! 
Today, I'm talking about the 100 Happy Days Challenge, which I'm sure many of you have heard of. Basically, the idea is that you find something to be happy about for 100 days on end, and post it on your preferred social media site to keep accountable. At the end, if you complete the the 100 days, they print all your pictures in an adorable little book and send it to you.
Here's a little quote from their adorable site.
"People successfully completing the challenge claimed to:
 - Start noticing what makes them happy every day;
 - Be in a better mood every day;
 - Start receiving more compliments from other people;
 - Realize how lucky they are to have the life they have;
 - Become more optimistic
I'm 11 days in and I've already noticed that I'm happier. Yes, sometimes it stresses me out because it's 11:30 PM and I'm about to miss a day, but I'm a huge Type A personality, so I stress over little things.
Day 1 (3/22) The little brother's birthday! This kid makes me infinitely happy even when I'm tearing my hair out at how annoying he is. Clearly, he didn't want to be in pictures. 

Day 2 (3/23) Bella. She's so cute I want to cry. (of happiness don't worry) 


Day 3 (3/24) I know I already posted this, but last Monday was my good friend Meera's birthday and her sunny personality always makes my day!
Day 4 (3/25) Stanford cathedral. What's not to love!?

Day 5 (3/26) This is pure joy and it made my day. 

Day 6 (3/27) It's spring and dandelions are beautiful. In the words of my friend Anagha "You either see a thousand weeds or a thousand wishes." 


Day 6 (3/28) I tried Synergy Kombucha tea! A lot of people don't really like this (it's definitely an acquired taste), but I love it. More to come. 


Day 7 (3/29) On Saturday, my brother had his birthday party at an adventure center in Santa Cruz. It was SO rainy and by the end of the day, we were all soaked. It was also one of the funnest days of my life. This is one of my best friends, Prachi, who might just be better friends with my brother than she is with me. Regardless, I've known her FOREVER, and she can always make me laugh. 



Day 8 (3/30) My statement necklace collection. Love it so much!


Day 9 (3/31) Rain! Actually Monday was a not-so-great day, and the rain really encapsulated how I was feeling. 


BONUS: Bella learned how to take selfies on Monday. So that was fun. 

Day 10-can't show you this yet! Go check out yesterday's blog post for more info!

Day 11 (4/2): Ever have one of those days where you walk out of the house and think, What the heck am I wearing? Today was one of those days. It was approximately 50 degrees which was teeth chattering weather for me. Naturally, I hunted around for some tights. I couldn't find the sheer black ones, so I made the great decision to wear these floral ones. And then I added another pattern with polka dot shoes. And a not-ironed, wrinkly shirt. 
IDK OKAY BLACK AND WHITE IS BLACK AND WHITE DON'T JUDGE ME. 
Yeah so my inner 5 year-old fashionista came out today. Oops. Whatever. Skirts are fun. I had fun. 

So. Now, I challenge you! Can you be happy for 100 days? Let's do this!

xo, Hima

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Goodbye, Blogging

Hey y'all. 
This is probably the hardest post I have ever written, and will be my last for an unknown period of time. I don't know if you've noticed, but there aren't a lot of 16 year-old bloggers out there who aren't just reblogging stuff on Tumblr, and until recently, I thought I was just defying convention.
Nope, there's a reason 16 year-olds don't have blogs. They don't have time. Between high school coursework, college stress, SATs, AP classes, extracurriculars, and oh yeah, social lives, it becomes a little hard to maintain a cyberspace. 
I put a lot of myself into this blog, and I've been completely overwhelmed by the positive responses. Blog friends, real life friends who read religiously, real life acquaintances who have gotten to know me well through the blog- it's a lot, and I'm so glad to have been a part of this. 
I've completely lost the motivation to really generate quality content, and I do need to focus on life outside of the blogosphere. 
Thank you so much for all the love and support I've received through this blog, but this is the end. I've got a few posts lined up that'll publish automatically, but that's it. For the last time, 

xo, Hima

























APRIL FOOL'S. See you tomorrow :)