Author: Hreem

The Magic of Everyday Life ✨

| Hreem
(This is one of the sunrises that I mention later in the post)

Helllooo guys

Please excuse my extremely long absence (I am quite ashamed don’t worry), I’ve just had tons of tests and assignments and events and the SAT so… yeah. It’s a lot.

Other than all the work though, this year has been pretty fun so far. I mean I’ve hung out with my friends significantly more than I did last year and I would consider that a big win.

ALSO Taylor Swift kicked off her Eras Tour a week ago and I have never been more jealous of anyone than I am of the people who get to go to the tour. From the videos I’ve seen so far, the outfits are gorgeous, the production is actually incredible (the visuals ohmy and the transition from Don’t Blame Me to Look What You Made Me Do is so … wow), the setlist is perfect (she missed a few icons but I’ll live) and yeah it’s just so amazing. I wanna go.

Anyways, let’s get to the topic of this blog post. I recently saw a post on Pinterest or something where the person was listing some small moments in their life that made them happy and called it “the magic of everyday life” and I thought that was super cute so here is me listing small things in my life at the moment that make me very happy:

  • Going to get ice cream on a random Tuesday (it feels more special when it’s not on the weekend)
  • Seeing a really pretty sunrise when I go for a morning run (on the rare occasion that I decide to go)
  • Listening to music while walking to school in the morning and feeling like the main character
  • Seeing this one specific stray cat who walks with me as I make my way back from school
  • When it’s a special day or something (like Valentine’s day) so me and my friends bring chocolate to school for each other
  • Wearing fancy perfume on a normal day (there’s just something about it)
  • Doing good on a test I thought I failed (spent a whole lesson holding back tears for what)
  • Studying for a bio test at Starbucks with my friend Yana
  • Having some hot chocolate (my favourite thing ever)
  • Finding a new song that I love so much I want to listen to it on repeat for days
  • Going out with my friends (or just hanging out with my friends in general)
  • Drinking peppermint tea with my mom every night before sleeping (doing that as we speak)
  • Eating peanut M&Ms
  • Wearing an outfit + doing my hair and maybe makeup and feeling very pretty

I actually thoroughly enjoyed writing that list, it made me romanticise my life a bit more instead of focusing on all the negatives (like the assignments I’m blissfully avoiding right now so I can write this blog post). So I recommend you do the same once in a while and do the things on your list more often (if they’re in your control of course, you can’t really force a pretty sunrise).

So, as always, talk to me in the comments!! Tell me some small things in your everyday life that make you happy. I think the concept is so cute and sweet so I’d love to read what you have to say too 🫶🏼

Song rec. of the post: Mess It Up by Gracie Abrams. I randomly remembered that this song exists like a few weeks ago and have been listening to it constantly since. I really love this song because the chorus feels so dramatic to listen to and sing along to. I also really love the bridge and how the two parts layer over each other at the end. All in all, it makes me feel like I’m in a movie so GO listen to it and let me know what you think 😚

Love,

Hreemy xxx

New Years *not* Resolutions

| Hreem

Helloooo

How have we been doing?? and how has January been?

I’ve enjoyed it so far. Nothing extraordinary happened but sometimes that is the best thing because I don’t want things to happen every five seconds, that would be stressful. The weather has been so nice and me and my friends decided to go on a picnic to make the best of it and celebrate finishing our mock exams (it never ends). The picnic was so much fun and the pictures will definitely appear on a photo dump somewhere someday.

Anyways, onto the main point of the post.

I generally don’t make new years resolutions because…I don’t know they just feel so hard to stick to. I think the name is jinxed because as soon as you make something your new years resolution it suddenly becomes impossible to achieve. It could just be me but also have you actually ever seen anyone say they stuck to their resolutions?? Exactly, point proven.

But like midway through January I was like hmm even if I don’t have resolutions I should probably make some goals for this year so I actually have some sort of aims in life and now here they are. (I know these are resolutions but remember I don’t wanna jinx them)

Firstly, I need to start journaling more. Journaling is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made because it’s so therapeutic and so nice to look back on later (or embarrassing, depends on the topic). However, I’m extremely inconsistent because I get lazy and busy so I want to commit to at least two days a week this year.

The second thing is to do some lovely gratitude journaling, which is basically where you list some stuff you’re grateful for and just appreciate the moment. I did it in January last year but then completely forgot about it and I’m not letting that happen again thank you very much.

Finally, I want to read more. Last year I read probably 4-5 books which is so painful. Especially considering the fact that, once upon a time, reading was my number one personality trait; I can’t betray myself like I did last year.

That’s the end because this post was meant to be short and sweet but I guess we’ll see in December if I actually do all this stuff.

Do you have any goals or habits you’ve created for the new year?? Talk to me in the commentssss. As always, I’d love to know 😚

Song rec. of the post: About You by The 1975. I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this song here before because I love it so so much. It’s another song that makes me feel like I’m in a movie, especially when I listen to it while walking to school in the morning. The lyrics and melody and vibe are all just so beautiful and nostalgic for some reason and just like for most people, the bridge is my absolute favourite part. Go listen to the song now and let me know what you think if you’ve never heard it before.

Love,

Hreemy xx

2022: Long Story Short, I Survived

| Hreem

Happy new yearrrrr!!!

Welcome to my first post of 2023!

I can’t believe the year is finally over and for once I’m saying this in a good way. There were so many good moments that I’m extremely grateful for but also 2022 was super tiring and there were things that really..sucked. So in summary this year was the literal definition of a roller coaster and thankfully I survived.

As a rite of passage, this is my end-of-year reflection post that will be much better than my previous one. I’m splitting the year up into four parts because every 3 months felt like a different chapter and also I’m too lazy to document each month individually. Plus I mean who’d want to read such a detailed review.

January to March

  • a TERRIBLE THREE MONTHS. I can’t even explain it but the vibes were so off in the first three months and my mental health was lowkey deteriorating. I genuinely cannot believe I am the same girl who experienced those three months because that was a whole trip. Anyways, personally I wouldn’t consider it the best way to start the year but maybe that’s just me (the events that took place were pretty good but as I said the vibes weren’t).
  • We had our mock exams in Jan and I got a very painful 2 in one of my math criterions (out of 8, very humbling) but a 6 in my econ test (out of 7. the moment I realised I may actually be capable of slaying in econ).
  • Made a music video for the 10 minute version of All Too Well with Simmy and Netra and I just wanna say that is a cinematic masterpiece and I’d post it here if I could. We also did around the kitchen in the refrigerator light in case you were wondering.
  • Did 90% of my final music project in the last two weeks before the deadline (wrote and recorded the entire song an hour before) and yes I brought that upon myself but as you can see I still complain about it to this day.
  • International day was cute and we wore our cute Indian clothes to school. Me and Simmy also got married that day (???). Loved it.
  • Played Holi with my friends and it was way too much fun.

April to June

  • Actually the best three months of the year and I can’t name one single unenjoyable thing that happened because it was just great.
  • We had our last round of mocks and then the last normal month of year 11 and then our final exams which I was weirdly confident for and did not have mental breakdowns over (only one and it was for french for some reason).
  • My stomach had a bad reaction to some quesadillas I ate with my friends literally 2 days before myp graduation so that was not at all fun but I made it to grad and looked good so who cares.
  • PROM with my best friends and getting ready was even more fun than the event itself, as usual.
  • My cousin came back from uni for the summer (if she’s reading this then ew her return was like the last thing I wanted) and it made life more entertaining.
  • We got a kitten for like 2 weeks and now she belongs to my aunt but she’s a cutie and I was her first favourite person (or my mom idk).

July to September

  • This was such a random in-between chapter where life just flowed and yes it was overall a pretty chill three months.
  • Went to a Louis Tomlinson concerttt!! Still one of the best things to come out of this year ugh it was perfect.
  • Went on a staycation with my cousins and stuff and it was WAY too hot but the beach was nice.
  • We got our MYP scores/ exam results and I got a 51/56 which I was really proud of (very much hoped I’d do better but this works for now) and my friend got 56/56 which is insane (the only person in the UAE to get that this year) so YAY VARSHITAA
  • Then went to India for like 10 days and had fun at a random person’s wedding and got food poisoning.

October to December

  • I have a lot of good memories from these three months and they would have been the best months of the year if it wasn’t for one thing that was just the lowest part of my year (to put it in nice and simple words).
  • Turned 17 and celebrated that with my friends and family. It was really nice and I was super happy 😋
  • Went on the school trip to Ras Al Khaimah (already talked about that enough in the last post) and got really tanned.
  • Two week trip to India with most of my cousins and family and it was extremely chaotic but it was nice to see new places and spend time with my family. We went to Odisha, Assam, and Bengal and fun fact I almost got attacked by a goat (technically no but like kinda)
  • A picture me and my friends took at a mini Diwali party is becoming kinda Pinterest famous (if you count 200 saves and 18k impressions as kinda Pinterest famous) and we keep buying chocolate for ourselves whenever the post reaches a milestone. It’s such an honour honestly we are truly humbled.

So there we go, there’s my 2022 in 22 bullet points (the 22 bullet points were actually not intended but I just counted them up and it’s very cool that there are exactly 22; it’s a sign). I hope it was somewhat entertaining to read because it was quite fun for me to write.

How was 2022 for you? What were some of the highlights and some things you want to leave behind? What are you looking forward to this year?? Talk to me in the comments! As usual, I love to chat 😚

Song rec. of the post: Saturdays by Louis Tomlinson. Something about this song feels so personal and vulnerable and like a soft little hug. I listened to it for the first time with Simmy and when I heard it the main lyric that stood out to me was “I’ve been wondering about what you’re up to. Not for the first time, not for the last time” and I don’t know why. It reminds me a lot of Little Freak by Harry Styles in terms of the idea/message so I love the songs even more as a pairing. GO LISTEN, it’s a beautiful song.

Love,

Hreemy xx

DP Retreat! (school trip lol)

| Hreem

Hellooo guys

What are you up to? And how are you feeling about winter and the break from school??

I am extremely happy that it’s winter because that means we can finally spend a lot more time outdoors (UAE weather is just quirky and not like other girls) and who doesn’t love that. At the end of November, my year group went on a two-night trip to a campground in Ras al Khaimah.

The bus drive there would have been around 2 and a half to 3 hours BUT the a.c. in our bus broke so we had to stop at a gas station that was lowkey in the middle of nowhere (not really but) for an hour while they got us a new bus. At least that gave us the opportunity to buy ice cream. When we finally arrived we got to just chill at the beach and the pool (and we also found a petting zoo which was adorable). That night we stayed up until 3:30 am playing truth (like truth or dare but you don’t have the option to say dare. so crazy, I know).

Then the next day we did science experiments in groups and then continued to stay at the beach and pool. I also attempted to play volleyball and me and a few friends performed 3 songs to an audience of like 2 people so truly an eventful day.

As usual, the pictures are the main event and they’re the best at expressing how fun the trip was so here they areeee 😚

So yep it was a lot of fun and felt much more like summer than winter but whatever.

Do you have any winter break plans? Are you travelling anywhere?? Talk to me in the comments it’s been a while (my fault but still)

Song rec. of the post: Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter. I used to listen to Sabrina’s music so much when I was like 9-12 years old and then stopped and now that ’emails I can’t send’ is out I’m back. The songs are just so good and especially Nonsense because it’s so fun and gets stuck in your head very very quickly. I also love the little outros she added at her shows and I randomly sing the New York one like 24/7. Point is, it’s a perfect pop song so go listen to it.

Love,

Hreemy xx

5 Years of Blogging (+300 followers??)

| Hreem
The gorgeous cake me and Simmy made together. Ignore the blob on the top we had some minor technical difficulties.

Hello guysssss

I created this lovely little blog FIVE WHOLE YEARS AGO when I was a tiny 12-year-old which (as I say every year) is so insane to think about. I don’t know if I expected myself to still be writing 5 years later but I definitely hoped that I would be.

I don’t blog consistently enough to say that but whatever, it’s the thought that counts and I’m here right now, aren’t I? yes. Thank you.

It’s so weird to look through my older blog posts and see how much I’ve changed and the way I remember writing these posts and coming up with ideas for them like it was yesterday. It’s so adorable because they feel like little journal entries (that anyone who’s interested can very easily see) or like (one-sided) conversations with friends.

Along with completing 5 years I also recently reached 300 followers on my blog??! I keep putting the question marks because once again it’s quite insane, I mean, 300 is a lot.

Thankkkk youuuu eveerryoneee for reading and liking and commenting and following honestly it means the world to me and makes 12 year old me extremely shocked and excited. I love you!!

Song rec. of the post: Snow On The Beach by Taylor Swift feat. Lana Del Rey. Anyone who ever said this is a bad song is just objectively so wrong and I’m glad I don’t have to share one of my favourite songs with you (might be harsh but I’m just very passionate about my cause). The song overall just feels so ethereal and sweet and floaty and the lyrics are so precious and dreamy. I mean “I searched aurora borealis green, I’ve never seen someone lit from within, blurring out my periphery”???? I love this song with my entire heart so please go listen to it, it’s beautiful. Let me know what you think when you do <3.

Love, Hreemy

xx

Things I’ve Learnt While Being 16

| Hreem

Helloooo

Not sure if you know this but my birthday was at the beginning of this month (the 5th, to be exact) and I am now a dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17.

I’ve already used that lyric at every opportunity so the people that know me are so done with it. But like it would be a waste if I didn’t make every single lyric related to being 17 my entire personality for this year.

Anyways so 16 was definitely the most chaotic and eventful year of my life; the highs were the highest and the lows were the lowest, as Louis Tomlinson once said. Through all of it I learnt a few lessons and came across a few quotes that really stuck with me so I decided to share some of those things on my blog, hope you enjoy.

“Your aim is to do your best, not better than someone else”

This is actually advice I offhandedly gave to one of my friends this year and if you knew me you’d find that incredibly ironic because comparing myself to others is one of my talents. But last year I worked really hard to improve my economics grade from a passing grade at the start of the year to the highest one you can get at the end of the year and realised that it’s so much more satisfying and rewarding to compete with your own achievements than someone else’s.

“If you never bleed you’re never gonna grow”

Some wise words from Taylor Swift that I didn’t understand when I first heard them but I get them now. Although we hate getting hurt and enduring negative situations, we can’t grow or develop as a person without them. Even though it sucks, you need to experience failure, or losing something you love, or just being really hurt or upset in order to grow stronger.

“If nobody said it, don’t assume it”

This one might not make sense but I need it because I tend to overthink conversations and people’s reactions until I somehow come to the conclusion that they don’t like me anymore. So my friend told me to not assume this unless I have solid evidence (the only acceptable solid evidence is the person outright saying that they don’t like me) because until then there’s kind of no proof. I don’t know if that makes any sense but I find it helpful to remember that anytime I’m in that sort of situation.

“Just because things could’ve been different doesn’t mean they would have been better”

This one is pretty self-explanatory 🫶🏼

So yep. I didn’t expect to be old and wise already but here I am writing about LIFE LESSONS. Gosh. I hope you enjoyed reading this post or at least found one of the lessons valuable because I mean they do have potential, you know?

Talk to me in the comments about anything I’ve written here, or about autumn, or about MIDNIGHTS (I love the album, honestly. I’ve heard a lot of people say they were disappointed but I really love most of the songs like Anti-Hero, Question..?, Midnight Rain and the rest are growing on me).

Song rec. of the post: Maroon by Taylor Swift. Taylor seems to really love the colour red but it’s okay because I do too. I feel like this song sounds like those movie scenes where the main character is standing in a dark, crowded party but the only thing they’re focused on is this other person and everything is happening in slow motion. Ugh I just love it so much so go listen to it and tell me what you think.

Love,

Hreemy xx

India Trip Photo Diary 🌻

| Hreem

Helloooo

I was going to name this post ‘august slipped away into a moment in time’ until I realised this is basically a recap of my trip, not the entirety of the month. The prize for the most unique August recap title would not go to me 😋 or even many other August recap posts I’ve seen, to be honest. But it’s okay, we’re just enjoying folklore and we do get points for that. (speaking of Taylor, who else can’t wait for Midnightttsss!!!!). Then there’s also Louis’ new album coming, ugh fall is gonna be so good.

Anyways so summer is somehow over already and I’m now in in YEAR 12 (grade 11, junior year, whatever you call it) and I’m really not excited for all the work we have this year, but I am excited to hopefully hang out with my friends much much more than I did last year.

August was a pretty fun month and this was the best summer I’ve had since 2019 (because I got to actually leave the house and do things this time 😭). I hung out with my cousins a lot, bought a bunch of clothes, attempted to journal more and went to India!! Feels like it’s been forever and I really loved the trip, even though I got food poisoning like halfway through 😋 In India we went for a wedding which I was extremely excited for because, I mean, everyone knows that Indian weddings are just iconic.

I’m gonna stop talking now because, if I’m being completely honest, I have no idea what else to say. The pictures are much more fun to look at so I hope you like them 😌

Not sure if you guys have noticed yet but I very much love random little photo dumps; I have nowhere else for my photos to go soo yep.

I hope you enjoyed this post!! I really do love the photos and I miss summer already.

What did you do this summer? How is school/college going? What is the next thing you’re currently looking forward to?? Let me know in the comments, I love reading them!! 😚

Song recommendation of the post: Villain by Maisie Peters. Guys. If you haven’t heard any of Maisie’s songs before, I really need you to go listen now. I only started listening to her at the beginning of summer but one by one I became obsessed with every song off her album (‘You Signed Up For This’) because her melodies and concepts are so perfect and her lyrics are just so well-written and super witty. Ugh I could go on about this for days and I genuinely mean it. So go listen. and then tell me what you think. Now.

Love,

Hreemy xx

The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo

| Hreem
Can we take a moment to appreciate this photo please, I’m very proud of it 😌

Hellooo

It’s honestly a little embarrassing to come back and casually write a blog post as if I haven’t neglected my blog for a whole month, but I’m going to do exactly that.

For this post I’m talking about a book!! My last book post was probably 3 years ago which is a bit sad but it’s okay because we’re bringing it back. The book in question is ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’. If you like reading you would’ve definitely already heard about it because it’s been quite popular for a while. The book is written from the perspective of a relatively unknown magazine writer named Monique Grant as Evelyn Hugo, a glamorous movie star, gives her the real story of her life for Monique to write. I’m not the best at writing blurbs or summaries but I’d say that’s basically the gist of it.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it got me out of a reading slump that I had been in for a while. I literally had the book for three months before I finally decided to start it and I’m now very embarassed by that fact.
Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and had a strong emotional connection to it for a few days after I was done reading it. I think that goes to show how engaging the story was. Like, you know how somet imes you’ll read a book and the plot was good but there’s just something about maybe the characters or the writing that makes you feel less connected to the book? This is definitely not one of those.

There are so many aspects that made me love this book as much as I do, but especially three main ones.

The first point (and the most obvious one, why am I even saying this) is the storyline itself. I know, who would have guessed. I felt like the story had a good pace so even while there wasn’t much going on, you still didn’t feel bored or uninterested. I was constantly addicted to knowing what would happen next and would rate that a 10/10 experience.

The second point is the characters. I really love how the author created the characters because they aren’t just basic, predictable people. Everyone has multiple dimensions with both good sides and flawed sides to themselves and it was portrayed so well in a way that makes them so human and real. Especially the protagonist, Evelyn Hugo. You can see the way her character starts off as a naive teenager who starts making her own choices and goes on to do some smart and some questionable things. She had some flawed logic in parts of the story but I really love how she accepts and grows from her experiences.

Aaand finally, the writing. I absolutely adored the writing in this book, so much so that I had to buy my own physical copy of it (originally I had borrowed the book from my friend) instead of getting a kindle version as I usually do, just so that I could highlight and write little comments on my favourite quotes. There are so many sweet and sad quotes that stab you and then twist the knife, and so many kind of “wise” words of advice from Evelyn that I actually really loved.

So yep, overall I loved this book so much and honestly will probably re-read it after I’m done with ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’ (which I’m also quite enjoying).

Talk to me in the comments about anything book related! I really need new recommendations so if you have any then I would be very grateful for some lol.

Love, Hreemy

xx

I Went To A Louis Tomlinson Concert!

| Hreem

hellooooo

I know the title already told you but I’m still so happy so I will say it again:

I GOT TO SEE LOUIS TOMLINSON LIVE!!

He was meant to come in 2020 but then obviously that got rescheduled and then cancelled which was a little heartbreaking. The announcement came on the 10th of May and I saw it when I came home from my English exam so it was a nice little reward kind of thing. I literally jumped around my room for a good ten seconds which doesn’t sound like a lot but it is. I’m not a very athletic person.

Anyways, let’s talk about the actual concert. First there was an opening act, his name is Greg Pearson. His set was short but he has an amazing voice so check out his music as well if you like artists like Lewis Capaldi or James Arthur. I feel like the vibes are similar.

Louis finally came on stage at 8:30 and entered with ‘We Made It’ as his opening song. I have to admit, before the concert I was a bit skeptical about whether that was really the best choice to open the show but once he started I was like okay yes this is perfect.

He performed an unreleased song called Change which I already listened to a few times and liked but it’s honestly a million times better live. I can’t wait to hear it on his next album.
He ALSO performed three One Direction songs which was a very fulfilling experience. First was Drag Me Down which everyone screamed the loudest, then Little Black Dress which was just so fun to dance and jump around to, and then finally Through The Dark!! Through The Dark is one of my mom and I’s favourite songs from 1D so we were insanely happy to hear it.

Overall the concert was just everything I wanted and I am SO GRATEFUL.

Here are some pictures because, as usual, they’re the best part 😚

I hope you enjoyed the post!! Talk to me in the commentsss. How is summer going for you so far? If you listen to Louis Tomlinson, what songs of his are your favourites? Have you ever been to a concert??

Song rec. of the post: Defenceless by Louis Tomlinson. I first listened to Defenceless only because of the fan project that made it start trending I think last year? But yes, now it’s probably my favourite song off the album because I just love honest and vulnerable lyrics and this song is full of them. Hearing it live was a dream 😭 100% recommend you to go listen to it and let me know what you think ❤

Love,

Hreemy xx