new year

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

Goodbye 2021 ✨

| Hreem

Hellooo

Happy new year!!!

Maybe 18 days too late but I have a valid reason and that is that I had my mock exams immediately after winter break so I had to just study for a while. I mean I could have written about price elasticity or the process of aerobic respiration or something but I doubt you guys would be interested so … I didn’t.

Anyways, the point is, it’s 2022 now! 2021 was definitely a very interesting year which means it kind of sucked but also had some great moments here and there; a huge combination of things. So this post a very short one where I talk about some highlights and maybe some things I learnt in 2021?

  • Improved a ton in my singing and guitar playing because I was pretty much always at home for the first 8 months
  • Journaled a lot more which I always forget to do (finished 1 and a half notebooks for the first time wow)
  • Came first place in my school’s talent show! The show actually happened in 2020 but I only found out I won in 2021 so it counts.
  • Grew my blog a lot more (hit 200 followerssss) and finally got around to and figured out how to change the way my blog looks. I love the redesign a million times more than the old theme.
  • Hung out with my cousin a ton before she left for uni 🥲
  • After finally returning to school in person I realised that doing school online for a full year was terrible and I was not enjoying it as much as I thought I was (seriously why did I think I was vibing at home)
  • Started learning to play the electric guitar which is SO COOL! Also got my own electric which looks and sounds amazing I’m still obsessing over it
  • It rained a ton on new year’s eve and I had been waiting all year for that
  • Started becoming more confident
  • And lastly, one of the best parts of 2021 was making a new friend group :))))) Only one of them is actually a new friend (hi Misha if you’re reading this, which you should be) and the others I’ve known for quite a while actually but yes the combination of people is new and they’re very fun. so yep, definitely a highlight.

aand that’s everything

I mean there’s probably more but nothing else is coming to mind at the moment so I think I can leave it here.

how was your 2021? what were some of the highlights for you? as always, talk to me about those questions or literally anything else in the comments, I love to chat.

Song rec. of the post: Babe by Taylor Swift. THIS SONG has been on repeat since it came out, it is so catchy. Even my mom loves it which is slightly irrelevant but I think it’s necessary to mention. Oh and don’t even get me started on the bridge of the song 😫. Point is, listen to it and let me know what you think.

Love, Hreem xx

Why you should journal

| Hreem

4/5 of my journals 🙂

hey everyboddyyyyy

this is my first proper blog post of the new year and it is about something that I think you should start doing.

JOURNALING.

(this post is gonna be kinda long but KEEP READING, it’s worth it, honestly)

No, not like a bullet journal. a book where you write all your life secrets, to put it plainly.

Ok so I’m 99% every single person has started a journal / diary (lol I really hate calling it a diary and I don’t know why but it physically hurts me) as a kid and then either quit in a few weeks or continued writing forever. I think I’m the only person I know who continued writing 😔BUT it was so worth it.

My story with journaling is that when I was like 9-10 I used to read Dork Diaries a lot and decided that I wanted to write one too so I wrote random entries about absolutely nothing in this pink notebook. I cringe reading it now because at the start I used to write and sign off just like the girl in the book did and that’s so grosss because that isn’t how I write and thinkkkkkk. Anyways, at first my main motivation to write was Dork Diaries but eventually I genuinely started enjoying writing so yeah I’ve been doing it for 5 years ✌🏽

You’re probably thinking why should you start a journal when it’s so boring and you’re just writing about your life. I have a few good reasons for that which I can tell you from personal experience. First of all, you can write anything in the world in there; literally the most random thing that makes no sense and is so pointless or something that is the most important thing to you because nobody else is gonna read it. There’s some things you think about that you just wouldn’t tell people cause you have no reason to and instead of forgetting that thought you can write it down. Dude I’ve literally rambled on for pages talking about me and my friends hanging out and about songs I like. Yeah I actually wrote 3 pages about an album. It was a great experience though. There’s no rules for how to write or what you should/shouldn’t write about, you just do things how you want to.

Secondly, you can get stuff out that is bothering you. This is like the first point but also not. You can write down what your feeling to understand it better and it doesn’t even matter if it makes any sense because you just want to get it out of your system. Then when you’re done and feeling fine you can just rip out those pages and throw them away and pretend it never happened.

And finally (probably the best part?? maybe?? not really but kinda) it’s so fun to read back on those entries in a couple of years. Like for me I find it so funny to see what things were the most important to me when I was 11 and how I used to think at the time. Plus I’ve written down so many small things that meant a lot to me that I would have otherwise forgotten. Reading your old journals is the weirdest but most interesting experience ever.

Maybe those three main points inspired you? Hopefully they did. If not here are some more ideas that make journaling more fun:

  • you can make it a whole special thing. like just set aside a special time where you can write about little things that made you happy in the day and light some candles and drink some tea…
  • listen to your favourite music while writing! or listen to anything you want honestly. sometimes I like to listen to this fireplace crackling thingy because it sounds so cozy and gets me more relaxed.
  • incorporate your favourite things into the journal. if you’re into art, make some random collages and doodles. if you like music, every entry you can talk about a song you’ve been loving lately and what’s so special about it. if you like photography, stick in pictures everywhere. I could go on listing things but I think you got the idea 😂

Ifff you made it this far, you first deserve a round of applause *cue the applause*, and you most likely might be into the idea..? a bit? YES. YOU ARE. That’s good, I’m really proud of you.

The worst thing is you might like journaling but have no clue what to write about so here are a couple little prompts to ✨spark the inspiration✨(they aren’t very good I’m sorry, I don’t ever really use prompts)

  • small things that make you happy
  • things you love about yourself
  • your favourite songs and why
  • your biggest dreams and goals
  • something that hurt you that you want to forget about
  • letter to your future/ past
  • letter to somebody that you won’t actually send them

aaand that’s all I have but I really hope you try keeping a journal!

If you read this to the end I appreciate you very much. Talk to me if you have a journal or your considering starting one, I love reading your comments ❤️

Love, Hreem xx

Goodbye 2020 😌✨

| Hreem

(I know this pic is completely irrelevant lol but it’s the only nice one I can find. Think of the road as symbolism for the year ahead )

hello everybodyyyyy

it is the end of 2020??? whattt???

this year has obviously been absolutely crazy for everyone and I highly doubt anybody will forget it lol.

so this post is basically me looking back on the good things that have happened instead of the *very obvious* bad stuff … yeah that’s really it. I barely took any pictures because firstly, there wasn’t a ton of exciting moments and secondly, I forgot 😋.

SO let’s begin listing the good things:

  •  I got to spend lots of time doing things I love because we had to stay home.
  • I hung out with my friends back in Feb and it was so much funnn.
  • I think I grew a bit as a person?? Like I feel like I’ve changed to become more like how I want to be.
  • A bunch of singers I love released new music and I also found new artists I like heheh.
  • International day: the last big gathering lol and I had so much fun with my friends.
  • I started a bunch of things that I’d always been too nervous to do!
  • Created my YouTube channel ☺️

Aaaand that’s all haha sorry. My mind literally went blank when I was thinking of these.

To anybody who feels weird like they haven’t accomplished anything today and has seen other people’s posts on all the great things that have happened: it’s okay!! 2020 was honestly a hard year and the fact that you were strong enough to go through it is great.

If you made it to the end of my post thank you so so much for reading and have a happy new year!! I hope the next one is much better for you.

Let me know some good things that happened to you this year💛 let’s start off the new year wellll 😊

Love, Hreem xx

My Year in 13 Pictures

| Hreem

HAPPY NEW YEAAARRR!!!

I know it’s already been 2020 for like 10 days but the last time you read a post from me was last year so yeah.

I enjoyed 2019 although there were a lot of ups and downs. I got to do a lot of traveling, try new things, meet new people and continue doing and improving things I aready love to do.

For this post I am going to share one picture from each month of 2019 (two for August) and a little caption if I have something to explain so I hope you enjoy it!

JANUARY💛 – a lot of people were giving us weird looks so I’m proud of us for getting as many pictures as we did.

FEBRUARY💛- Camila Cabelloooooo! I’ve already fangirled over her for like two posts before but she’s great so *deal with it* 🙂

MARCH💛- It was spirit week and we had to dress alike. The bathroom wasn’t the best place to take the picture but oh well

APRIL💛- sorry but I don’t even have any kind of explanation for this, it’s completely random.

MAY💛- A very pretty sunset in England 😊

JUNE💛- Let’s not talk about my weird facial expressions. That was a fun day though!

JULY💛- This says “I am your biggest fan” and it makes no sense but I have barely any pictures from July so let’s pretend this is really cool.

AUGUST💛
This was in Positano which is so so beautiful ♥️

SEPTEMBER💛- This is a picture from art class which may not be extrememly interesting but the only other option was a picture of old mushrooms (also from art) so I think this was a clear winner.

OCTOBER💛- The ‘after’ of Halloween feat. Maia. We probably had a sugar rush right about then.

NOVEMBER💛- A picture from the Dua Lipa concert that I forgot to include in the post.

DECEMBER💛- This looks like a summery picture and is totally unrelated to December but I like this picture a lot.

ALSO, I don’t have any good pictures of this to include but I got my braces offff!!! I’ll point it out in a future post and good luck to anyone who has braces on right now, it’s very worth it.

Thank you so much for reading (probably just skimming through the pics but that still counts) and comment some of the best things that happened to you this year!

Love, Hreem xx

P.S. Who else is excited about Selena’s new album? I’ve heard a few songs already and I really like them.

Hello 2019!

| Hreem

IMG_0301

happy new year!

I know I know I know I haven’t posted since LAST YEAR.

Sorry wait.

I haven’t posted sunce November because I needed to take a break as I wasn’t getting any inspiration at all and I didn’t want to write some boring old post that noone would enjoy reading. But lemme just say I’m baaaaack 🙂

Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while will remember (or not) that last year I wrote a post about my new year’s resolutions and how I was gonna stick to them. Needless to say, they were pretty much a fail. I wanted to: write a blog post every week (pretty much stuck to that one…kinda), do homework the same day or the day after I get it (only did that for the first two months), and take my dog for a walk twice a week. Now, that one was kinda just impossible because I underestimated the amount of homework I was gonna get.

For 2019 I decided that I didn’t want to make resolutions, I just wanted goals. Like things I could achieve by the end of the year. Things like:

  • learning the splits (I used to be able to do them but now I can’t)
  • stick with my bullet journal
  • do more exercise
  • eat less sugar

Looking back, a few of them are kinda like resolutions but WHATEVER.

I read the post and I thought 2018 would be better than 2017, ha, that didn’t happen. Honestly, 2018 really wasn’t the best year as a whole but there were some great parts. I got to do so much more traveling which was exciting, and had some great times with friends.

Did you stick to your resolutions from 2018? What are your goals for 2019?