Feelin' Hala Good

Welcome to the blog!

I'm Haley, and I'm soooo excited you're here!

You may be wondering what in the world is Hala Happy?... why is Haley starting a blog?... what happened to Hala Sweets... and who is Haley? Well, these are all great questions! Let me elaborate. I created Hala Happy to combine all the things I love in one place. It's a space filled with community, imperfection, and all the feels (aka - many exclamation points and I'm not ashamed about it)!!! In this blog I'll share monthly creative prompts for everyone to join in on, fun drawing exercises, Hala Sweets baking tips and tricks, and community projects. There are no limitations here, this is a space to connect and have fun. Read on to find out more about my story what I have in store for Hala Sweets this year.

I'm Haley!

I'm the owner and cake decorator at Hala Sweets! This may be how you know me, or you may know me as the gal who made a controversial turkey cake that everyone loves to hate!

I am a cake decorator and I am the turkey gal... but I'm also a lot more AND I want to share that with you all. I'm also a teacher, artist, communications coordinator, and social media consultant. I love drawing, the arts, collaborations, and my cat Maggie (aka Mags or Maggie Girl) she's my rock. Me in a pink dress... this is what I look like maybe 20% of the time.

This is also me!

More accurately, this is what I looked like decorating cakes 80% of the time - yikes! My dad's jaw surgery ice packs we're the only migraine cure.

Hala Sweets was flourishing right around the time I started having weekly and sometimes daily migraines. COVID began, I moved back in with my parents (ekk!), and I felt like I lost control of my body and who I was. Throughout the past two years I hopped from specialist to specialist and from one drug to the next. I was told "it'll go away, this happens a lot of women". I felt defeated, tired, and in constant pain.

My mom started baking all of the cakes, making frosting, buying supplies, and tackling the cleaning. My dad and partner filled all of the cake jar orders and helped with cleaning and any other thing needed. Cut to 2023, I'm on a migraine botox treatment (it's working!) and I'm ready to refocus and reprioritize.

If you ever need a migraine pal to vent to, message me anytime!

What does this mean for Hala Sweets?

Hala Sweets isn't going anywhere anytime soon! We're simply changing with the times, prioritizing our online community, and shifting our focus. These changes do bring bittersweet news... we won't be taking on any custom cake or treat orders in 2023. I'm entirely grateful for all of the support Hala Sweets has received since we started out and I'm in awe of our amazing clients. The fact that we were able to create cakes for you and yours every year made my heart soar!!! NOW, this is not a final change... but as of right now we pausing all orders.

In exciting news, we will continue to host 2-4 in-person cake classes this year with a fun goal of producing our first ever virtual class! In even more news... The Hala Happy blog will dedicate posts to tips and tricks for home bakers, favorite recipes, tips for starting a business, and decorating tutorials, and more!

Oh, and we have something new I'm very eager to start... monthly Hala Happy prompts!

Monthly Prompts!

One of my absolute favorite things about starting Hala Sweets was meeting all of you! I found community and purpose in all the connections and online friendships that began. In an effort to build community in a new way, Hala Happy will release monthly prompts for you to join in on! Here's the fun part - ANYONE is welcome to participate! You do NOT need to be a baker! You can draw, sew, cook, paint, and create however you want to with us. The Hala Happy blog will send out fun examples and ideas in each newsletter and on social media for anyone to try out. We will be embracing imperfection this year as we try new things together and bring play and happiness into our lives.

Stay tuned... Hala Happy will send out a new prompt each month along with fun ideas and hashtags to use!

Feelin' Hala Good!

Haley