2014 in Review

Hey y'all! With first semester over and college applications behind me, I'm finally a second semester senior. All I have to do now is wait for the decisions, keep my grades up, and enjoy my last 8 months at home! I thought that I'd go ahead and do a recap of the year for y'all to know what I've been up to since August, as well as reflect a little bit on the lessons of 2014. (warning: I didn't align my pictures but yolo).

January/February: 
These two months were a blur of enjoying school and getting super involved with my blog. I was on a cooking high, and churned out recipes like no one's business. My personal favorite is still my Healthy Cookie Dough Dip, which I plan to make tomorrow :)

March/April:
I ran for student government at school and won! I have to say this has been an incredibly fulfilling experience thus far, although trying at times, and I wouldn't give it up for the world. Thank you to all of you for being so supportive, even if you couldn't directly vote for me.

May/June:

I finished the #100HappyDays Challenge! Even though the thoughts behind it are nice, I realized that I didn't like being forced to push all my happiness into a picture, every single day. I wrote more about it here!

I also finished my junior year and dove into a summer full of art class (I took it at the community college to fulfill a requirement), working at my lab in San Francisco, and early morning gym trips. OH, and college apps. Lots of those. 

July/August:
I continued to enjoy my summer and actually met Cassey Ho, the creator of Blogilates! (As I type this I'm sore from her new Extreme Abs video- oh the irony). I also did some traveling, with a family vacation to Crater Lake and some college visits. I started off my senior year, which meant lots of schoolwork, in addition to writing my life story for college apps.

September/October: 

A big couple of months- I got my license, turned 17, went to my first concert (Neon Trees, American Authors, Lindsey Sterling, and Matt Nathanson) and participated in our school's annual Homecoming celebrations, a week so big that I broke my blog hiatus to recap it. More info here!

November/December: 

I fell in love with Taylor Swift's 1989 (Is it bad that this is in my highlights of the year?), got into the Christmas spirit (I made my Christmas playlist November 1st!), and Lynbrook won 1st place at our district-wide Olympics, IDC Fantastics. I finished college apps, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I started watching Grey's Anatomy, which is literally the world's most addicting show (On Season 6 and will hurt anyone who tries to spoil it for me). Christmas was amazing, and I got a really cool trio of iPhone lenses (fisheye, macro, and wide angle), and some books. Last weekend, we went to Tahoe, so I got to ski for the first time in 4 years, and play with my new lenses!

And with that, we're out. Cheers, 2014! Happy New Year to all y'all, and let's make 2015 our year :) See you soon- my blog break is officially over!

xo, Hima

RECIPE: Healthy Deep Dish Cookie Pie

Hey y'all! So after the success of my Healthy Cookie Dough Dip, I decided to keep working on healthifying some of the most guilt-inducing foods. And so I bring you, Healthy Deep Dish Cookie Pie. 

The secret ingredient is- you guessed it- beans!

Ingredients: 

• 2 cans of white or garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained. (I used white in the dip, so I decided to try garbanzo this time, and it came out really well)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking power
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup cane sugar
• 2 tsp canilla extract
• HELLA chocolate chips (Hello, NorCal, where hella is adjective)
• (hella is anywhere from 1-1.5 cups. I did 1 and it was plenty.

1. Use a food processor to blend everything except the chocolate chips. Be sure to keep it going for a long time- no one likes bean or oat chunks in their pie!

2. Pour into a bowl and stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a 9 or 10 inch springform pan and bake for 35-37 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. 

Don't forget to get in some spatula licking action- no eggs so this is absolutely safe!

Y'all, this was my first time using the springform pan, and I think I now know what love it. Look at those clean edges!

The best part about all of this? 1/8 of this is less than 200 calories. Because this is made of garbanzo beans, it's ridiculously filling, and even my brother, who is an almost 10 year-old food monster couldn't eat more than that. My mom and I stuck to 1/16ths, which were still amazingly filling. 

Peace out, girl scout. 

xo, Hima

Linking up with Meatless Monday

Recipe adapted from @whatlindsey ate on Insta! (seriously my fave account, go follow!)

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

This week was trying, to say the least. A plethora of tests (WOW look at that vocab), combined with mounting extracurricular stress and life drama made life difficult this week. Hence, the lack of blogging. BUT I’m back, and today is the beginning of a week-long break, so I can finally talk to all y’all again.

I haven't responded to comments from LAST week yet, and my eyes are closing on me as I type this. The title of this post is reflective of this week. It may have been one of those weeks all through, but it ended on the sweetest note possible. And that's not just because of all the sugar that was ingested today.

 So in case you haven't been notified by my Instagram already, my Valentine this year was my bio textbook. Look, we even #twinned! ;)

Just kidding, my Valentines were my lovely friends.  

Every year (starting last year), our school ASB does a hearts project. Over the past couple of weeks, we've been cutting out individual hearts for every student and staff member and making posters to stick on the walls. Today (Vday obviamente), we stuck them up around the school and people could write nice things on each other's hearts. Overall it was just a really fun/positive experience, and I'm really proud of our class for pulling it off.

It also happened to be my wonderful friend Neha's birthday, so we obviously ate some sugar. Tell me, does this not look beautiful? It tasted amazing, fyi. Happy Birthday Nehbb ;)

I also received a cupcake surprise, from one of my best friends, Somya, but my ability to take acceptable pictures was nonexistent by the time the day ended, so I'll get those to you soon. 

I missed you! :) How was your Valentine's Day? Who did you spend it with? Oh yeah, and will you be my Valentine, you wonderful blog reader?

xo, Hima

February Goals

Hey y'all. After 30-something days of slogging through 2014, it's time to figure out what the heck I'm trying to do with myself for the next month. I also wanted to check back in on my 2014 blogging goals and update all y'all on my progress. 

January Goals: 

1. Write more- I said I wanted to write 3 days a week and I owned that. I've developed this blogging schedule where I write on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, and they count as posts for the next day. I read/comment on blogs almost every day though! 

2. Make more blog friends- totes did this. And I'll definitely continue to!

3. Participate in at least two exchanges. LOL NOPE! Working on this.

4. Figure out how to use Pinterest and Twitter. I tweet a ton, but 0 traffic from Twitter. Pinterest, on the other hand, isn't too bad! Thanks to Ashley for her tips!

5.  At least 1 recipe post per month and a monthly goals post at the beginning of the month- I had 2 recipe posts this month, and I have another in the works. Overnight Oats and Raspberry French Toast Bake (both under 5 minutes prep time!)

Definitely going to try to continue to keep up with all of these- I'd like to try for TWO recipe posts.

Please enjoy this incredibly relevant picture of one of my outfits last week.

February Goals: These aren't really blog focused, just somethings to try for in general
1. Read at least 4 books, and write reviews for at least 2. I've wanted to incorporate book reviews into my blog for a really long time, like Marla and Tiffany, and hopefully this goal will force me to. Recommendations would be much appreciated.

2. Get to the gym 5 days a week. This is going to be really hard, but I know that if I make a goal and make it public, I WILL do this. I've been averaging 4 for all of January.

3. Take my DSLR camera out at least twice and use it. I really love photography, but I tend to take most pictures with my phone, just because it's infinity times more convenient.

4. Start my favorite bloggers series. This has been marinating in my mind (ew that's such a gross idea I take that back) for such a long time now, and I finally want to sit down and get it all put together!

5. Compliment someone every day. Why not spread some more love and happiness? :)

6. I'm currently working with Shutterfly to put together a 20th anniversary gift for my parents. (Long time, I know!) I hope this goes well, and I'm so excited to write about the process.

What are you going to get done this month? Let me know in the comments below. Don't forget to tell me about your favorite book!

xo, Hima

What's in a Name?

A lot, apparently. I’ve seen some posts before about how all y’all were named, and what significance your name holds for you and your family, and I’ve always loved them. I think it’s really interesting to see how some people “live up” to their name, if it means something like “giving” or are polar opposites!

My favorite name stories are Katie’s and Noor’s, mostly because they’re the only ones I’ve heard so far. How would you feel if your name was changed after birth like Noor's? Such a cool story! Tell me your name story in the comments below!

My name, if you haven't already figured it out (HINT: blog name!), is Hima. 

In Sanskrit, Hima means snow. It also has some vaguely religious connotation that I'm not entirely sure of, but it basically means snow. 

I was born on September 24th, 1997 in Minnesota. 

September is very early for snow. It snowed on September 24th, 1997. My name is Hima. 

Logical, right? 

When I was little, I didn’t like my name very much. I could never get those personalized key chains or door hangers or snow globes or pretty much anything pre-personalized. That annoyed me. Not until I was 15 years old did I have a personalized sign for my room- courtesy of best friend Sneha.

A+ on looking at the camera mommy!

Now, I’ve grown to love it. Let’s be real- my whole name is 10 letters long. That’s precious time you’re saving when each of your teachers make you write out your whole name on each paper? It’s easy. 4 simple letters, and easy to remember. And, it’s unique. Who have you ever met named Hima? I guarantee you you’ve met a Jennifer, or a Jessica, or a Christine. (not that those aren’t gorgeous names), but never another Hima. 

With a name only 4 letters long, you don’t get a lot of nicknames. Or so I thought. People call me anything from Himster to Heemz to Himaglobin, and I love it!

(Except when teachers call me Heemz- just a tad bit weird).

My favorite is Princess. It's pretty accurate.

What's the story behind your name? Do you have any nicknames? I'd love to hear them, so let me know in the comments below!

Also, if you're so inclined, there's a pretty sweet blogger giveaway going on. Enter to win TONS of ad space right here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

xo, Hima

New Life

 This weekend, we went over to my neighbour's house to meet their wonderful new bundle of joy. I had the opportunity to take some wonderful pictures of her, and I've gotta say, 5 days old and she's already stolen my heart. 

Just look at those eyes!

Also she had this beautiful butterfly mobile in her room. I want one!

xo, Hima

Linking up with Monday Morning Gossip! :)

My laptop is about to die, but I can't reach the charger

Don't shake your head at me your screen. That has totally happened to you. And then you've had to build up the willpower to get up and grab your charger, after which you sit down and claim that you've had enough exercise for the day. And then you continue to browse the Pinterest (follow me!) fitness boards.

Here's the deal: On Saturday, I went to go get my hair trimmed, because 1) I haven't gotten it cut in forever and 2) it was gettin' real straggly at the ends. All I wanted was a trim. Goodbye 5 inches of hair! And then I cried over it. 

And then I cried some more because I thought I was a bad person for crying over a bad haircut and how entitled that made me seem.

And then this blog post of first world problems was born. 

Tell me if you.....

have ever gotten "just a trim" which turns out to be incredibly short

have ever run out of space on a piece of paper with just a couple of lines worth left to write

try to write something after not writing for a long time and your handwriting is absolutely disgusting. In other words, your handwriting goes like this:

Moving on...

"your song" being played on the radio and becoming the world's most popular song. This happened to me with Lorde and Royals. I was so mad.

turning on the radio to catch the very end of your favorite song

when your pen runs out of ink and you're desperately trying to make it work

when you're trying to rip perforated paper out of a notebook and it rips the wrong way (IT'S PERFORATED FOR GOD'S SAKE THAT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN)

when your phone is at 5% battery and you have to leave the house, so you charge it for two minutes and hope it lasts all day

when your friends yell at you because you haven't written a blog post in multiple days

when you take a really good picture and you want to make it your profile picture but you can't because you just changed your profile picture and you'll look narcissistic.

when you take 12093821039 pictures and SOMEONE closes their eyes in every. single. one.

So now be honest with me- do these frustrate all y'all or am I just the most easily annoyed person on the planet? What makes you want to just fall into your bed and scream into your pillow? Or at the very least, share your struggles with your besties over Snapchat?

xo, Hima 

P.S. I just updated the comments to Disqus because I didn't want to deal with no-reply bloggers anymore, so please bear with any technical difficulties and shoot me an email at himahearts@gmail.com to let me know. Also....I added a hovering Pin it button on top of all images if you want to pin any of my posts YAY :)

Hi, 2014

I'm a goal setter. I love to sit and write down my goals at the beginning of every year/month/week/day, and then accomplishing them gives me happiness like no other. 

So in the early hours of 2014, as I sat atop Mission Peak, my legs aching from the strain of pushing myself and my brother up the hill, my eyes watering from the wind, trying to soak in the natural beauty surrounding me, my mind turned to my blog, and what I'd like to do with it this year. 

PS: I finally hiked Mission Peak, which means I crossed off item 1 from my bucket list!

1. Write more. 

With my schedule and where I am in life, I can't commit to writing every day, or even 5 times a week, but I'd like to shoot for 3. I tend to waste a ton of time while I'm writing my posts- going on Facebook or checking out what the rest of the Internet is doing. All I have to do is focus on writing and I'm golden. I'm so excited about this I even made a blog planner to keep myself on track :)

clearly, I had a lot of fun doing this. 

2. Make more blog friends. 

While I love love love the blog friends I already have (hi guys!), I definitely want to get to know more of you, because y'all are amazing. I think Noor said it best when she said you can never have enough blog besties!

3. Participate in at least two exchanges.

I love getting mail. I mean, who doesn't? And how better to accomplish goal #2 than to take time to get to know a couple of bloggers well enough to send them a package full of things they love? Have you ever done an exchange? What was your experience like?

4. Figure out how to use Pinterest and Twitter.

As of now, literally all my blog traffic comes from Facebook and Bloglovin'. I'm so lost on using Pinterest and Twitter to pull traffic to the blog, so any tips would be MUCH appreciated!

5.  At least 1 recipe post per month and a monthly goals post at the beginning of the month

Y'all really love those, and it'll help me be more accountable.

Any other goals I should definitely add? What are you looking to do for 2014? Let me know in the comments below!

xo, Hima