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Home for the 2019 Holidays

It’s not too late to talk about our time in Atlanta, right? I hope not because I’m doing it!

So, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, we spent the days leading up to Christmas and a few days after in Atlanta. And if I’m being honest, this was one of my favorite trips home since Kaiden was born. HE was just the best – fun, playful, and just so damn cute! Even my mom agreed that this trip was fun because he was in a good mood 99% of the time.

So K and I flew down to Atlanta the Friday before Christmas. The flight was ok, as in Kaiden didn’t nap but he was fine (just a little seat kicking, but I’ll take that over a meltdown/tantrum). My parents picked us up from the airport. It took us almost 2 hours to get home! Atlanta traffic is no joke!

Our days at my parents’ house were filled with no real schedule but lots of good food, lots of playtime, and lots of fun! I was also able to squeeze in a couple of friend dates – dinner with some of my close college girlfriends and coffee with one of my besties!

We also squeezed in a visit with Santa at the mall. Get this, it was the same Santa as last year! Also, when asked what he wanted for Christmas this year, Kaiden said ‘yogurt.’ HAHA! Where do they come up with this stuff?!

We left my parents’ house on Christmas Eve and made our way over to Vishnu’s parents’ house. He actually arrived late in the evening that day, so Kaiden and I got a few hours with his parents until then.

We celebrated Christmas at Vishnu’s brother’s and fiance’s place, Niel and Neelam, with my parents, my in laws, and the majority of Neelam’s family. We ate some delicious home cooked food and sang karaoke. It was a blast!

The rest of our days were spent hanging out around the house and eating more yummy food!

I attended a cookie exchange party at my best friend Roshni’s house one night. So much fun! I made The Table of Spice’s eggless chocolate chip cookies. This is what dreams are made out of, people!

The next morning, we headed back out with K in tow to visit with Alina, Roshni’s baby girl! She was born back in September, but I hadn’t had the chance to hang with her yet! She’s just THE cutest!

And that pretty much wraps up our trip home at a high level! I’m so glad I had another week before work started back up because I definitely needed a vacation from our vacation!

And now we’re days into 2020! How did that happen? Let’s make it a great one!

How did you spend your holidays?

Organizational Tools for the Home

written by Parita 2 Comments

You wouldn’t always know it from the look of my home, but I love organizing, purging, cleaning, etc. I find true joy in thinking about things like organizational hacks and tools. You should’ve seen the look on my face while brainstorming for this post!

Since having Kaiden, my desire to keep things as organized as possible has only increased. But guess what hasn’t? The size of our apartment! And now that Kaiden’s crawling all over the place, we really can’t keep our crap lying around. This kid will grab anything and everything within arms reach!

I thought I’d share some of my top organizational tools in the hopes of helping others who may be in similar situations or anyone looking for a new/different way of keeping things organized.

Please note the following pictures are not staged in any way! I told you my love for everything organization doesn’t truly shine through in all parts of our home. Ha!

Functional furniture
By this I mean furniture that serves more than one purpose, namely storage. For smaller living spaces, this is a must.

Bench – We bought this bench at a furniture store called Far Below Retail. I loved it from the get go because of the three decently sized built in drawers/bins. If you’re going to buy a bench, might as well get one that provides extra storage space. Here are a few similar options – Ameriwood storage bench, Better Homes and Gardens organization bench, and Simpli Home ottoman bench.

Toy Lockers – Vishnu had his heart set on getting the Ikea storage lockers for all of Kaiden’s books and toys. This particular set up happened to fit perfectly in one of our little nooks and really is a space saver when it comes to Kaiden’s ‘fun’ stuff. The best part is you can purchase however many lockers you want and arrange them according to the space your looking to fill. One of the best baby investments we made if you ask me!

Crib – Boy did we go back and forth when researching cribs! Ultimately, we decided on the Davinci Fairway crib, and one of the reasons why we loved it so much is because of the built in drawer at the bottom. This is where I keep all of Kaiden’s bedding and blankets. While it’s not a large amount of storage space, it really does make a difference for us.

Bathroom
My bathroom cabinet could still use some work…but baby steps, people, baby steps!

Rotating makeup/skincare product organizer – I’m obsessed with my new Eloki 360 degree rotating organizer…OBSESSED! Now all of my daily use products are in one place, including makeup, skincare, brushes, etc. While this is a pretty large organizer, it serves the purpose. I love how I get to choose the spacing in the different sections. So as/if my products change, I can rearrange the organizer to fit everything accordingly.

Closets/cabinets
I’m sure there are so many ways to organize closets/cabinets and make them more functional. For now, as you’ll see, I’m resorting to bins to help keep things as neat as possible.

Medicine cabinet bins – As my mother-in-law likes to say, Vishnu and I pretty much have our own pharmacy at this point. So many different medicines, thermometers, band-aids, etc. Before I bought these small plastic bins, our ‘medicine cabinet’ was a HOT MESS. Every time I reached for something, something else would fall out. So annoying and hence the bins. Now our cabinet is much more organized, and it’s so much easier to find what we need.

Baskets – Our closets serve their purpose for now, and while they’re not super organized, we’re still ok. Things like these larger bins help with storing our winter gear and random knick knacks we don’t have the heart to get rid of.

On a slightly different note, this basket holds all of our blankets, sits in our living room, and blends well with our decor.

Your turn – What are your favorite organizational tools?

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Greetings from Atlanta!

written by Parita 4 Comments

Honey, we’re hoooooooommmmmmmmmmeeeeee! 🙂Kaiden, my dad, and I flew to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully, Kaiden did great on the flight – he slept for the first hour (give or take) and played/creeped on our seat neighbors iPad for the last 50 minutes or so. Also thankful we flew in Saturday and not Sunday. The Atlanta airport experienced a major power outage from about 1 pm onward on Sunday leaving passengers trapped and in the dark…literally. My poor BIL was stuck on the tarmac for over seven hours (he flew home from Mexico). Can you even imagine? I can’t help but think about what that would’ve been like with a baby. Not fun…that’s what! Anyways, Niel is home now, and that’s what matters!

In true weekend recap style, let me share a bit more about what we’ve been up to the past few days…

FRIDAY

First and foremost, Friday included a visit from my friend Vijal. She was in town for work and decided to stop by to see me and meet K.

The day also included MAJOR meal prep for Vishnu. While I know he’s a big boy and can fend for himself, I wanted to ensure our fridge was fully stocked with dinner options for him. His rotation is so unpredictable right now, and the last thing he wants to do when he gets home is prepare a meal (for one at that!). So in true Parita style, I went to town and made three meals – butter chicken, turkey chili, and masala pasta with veggies. Phew!

And finally, I did three loads of laundry and packed my little heart out. Packing for me + K for two whole weeks was quite the feat. Between me and my dad, we ended up with two large suitcases maxed out at 50 pounds each and three carryons. Oy vey!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning included last minute packing and repacking, pumping, giving K a bath, etc. Boy, how things have changed since our pre-baby days!

Vishnu dropped us off at the airport around 1:30, and we were somehow through security and at our gate a little before 2. K and I went through security on our own since I have pre-check and my dad doesn’t. And guess what…we survived! It probably helped that I formed a game plan in my head ahead of time for how to get everything on the belt, including a car seat, caddy, two bags, and breast milk. Kaiden’s cuteness also probably helped distract fellow passengers and make them less annoyed at us!

By the time we got home, it was almost 8 pm. My mom prepared a feast, so as soon as K ate and I pumped, we sat down to eat. So much yum on one plate…what I look forward to (almost) the most when coming home!

Because of the craziness from the day, Kaiden stayed up waaaay past his bedtime, which made for a very eventful night for his mama and grandma. I lost count after a while, but I’m pretty sure he woke up no less than eight times in a seven hour period. I don’t blame him though. It’s hard adjusting to a whole new environment after a long travel day!

SUNDAY

Because of the aforementioned long night, my parents told me to go back to sleep after my morning pump session. And sleep I did…until 11 am!!! MUCH NEEDED!

A couple of hours later, Vishnu’s parents arrived at our house to see their grand baby! The day included lots of playing, pizza, and catching up. At one point, I looked over at Kaiden playing with all four of his grandparents and thought, “How blessed are we?” It really is the most magical time of the year!

Thankfully, we experienced far fewer wake up calls (~4) and a more restful night of sleep.

And that brings us to Monday and the beginning of a fun week – visitors, lots of nani/nana time, my sister and Adarsh arriving on Thursday, Christmas Eve fun, yummy food, etc.

Happy Monday!

P.S. One of my goals is to be better about taking pictures for the blog! And I’m not waiting until the new year to start. 🙂

End of 2016 + Hello 2017

written by Parita 3 Comments

Happy New Year! I hope you celebrated the end of one year and the beginning of the next with loved ones, good food, and lots of laughter. We sure did! More on that in a minute.

I was hoping to start the week with a new post, but luck would have it that the blog went down right after Christmas and didn’t go back up until yesterday. I decided to switch hosts at the end of the year but didn’t take all the right steps to ensure a smooth transition (oops!). All in all, it was a kind of expensive error that resulted in some downtime. Lesson learned!

Anyways, before I delve head first into 2017, I want to reflect on the very end of 2016, specifically our trip to Hawaii and our time in Atlanta. I’m going to start with Atlanta first because the Hawaii posts are going to take some time to write. So much to share!

As I mentioned in my last post, I flew to Atlanta last Tuesday (Vishnu joined me on Thursday night) to spend some time with my parents. Overall, we had so much fun cooking and eating delicious food (let’s be real – my mom did most of the cooking and I did most of the eating!), shopping, etc. Vishnu and I also got to spend some time with his brother and his parents which is always nice. We spent NYE with Roshni/Samir, Naveen/Shaylee, and a few other new friends. Honestly, it was the perfect way to ring in the new year – new to us restaurant with delicious food, great friends, LOTS of laughter…what more could one ask for!

I didn’t take too many pics for the blog, but here are a few to showcase all the fun…

I started my trip with a stop at the nail salon where I got a MUCH needed pedicure and manicure. No clue what the color on my hands is (I only know it by #44A), but the color on my toes is OPI ‘Liv” in the Gray.

I helped my mom make a number of different Indian sweets for a pooja (religious ceremony) her and my dad hosted at the house on Friday. The pooja was fantastic and very inspiring. A great way to end the year!

The 2016 NYE gang!

We also got to spend time with this cutie, my brother-in-law’s girlfriend’s dog! I LOVE HER!

My mom made a couple of trays of her famous green enchiladas while I was at home. She also sent me home with tortillas, the sauces, and a recipe for the filling, all so I could recreate her masterpiece for my sister, BIL, and Vishnu. And recreate I did! SO DELICIOUS!

Vishnu and I arrived back in Chicago on the 1st. And thankfully, we had a ‘free’ day since we didn’t start work until the 3rd. We organized the apartment a bit, did laundry, went grocery shopping, etc. before the work week officially started. I’m now convinced that we need to schedule in a buffer day after every vacation. It helps SO much!

I’ve been reading so many posts and messages about people’s ambitious plans/goals for 2017. It’s super inspiring on the one hand, however, for the first time in a long time, I’m taking the opposite approach. I definitely have things I want to focus on this year, but instead of jumping into the deep end, I’m taking it ‘one day at a time.’ Anything, not everything is my 2017 mantra! We do have an entire year after all! More on this in upcoming posts.

Well, with that, I hope your year is off to an awesome start!

Sister Time + Back in Atlanta

written by Parita 4 Comments

Hello? It’s me…

…I’ve been gone for a while but not intentionalllllllllllly!

You guys! I unintentionally checked out most of last week and this weekend. I was looking at my Instagram profile this morning and realized that I haven’t posted any new pictures since London. The only social medial channel I’ve been active on is Snapchat (@myinnershakti). Life lately has been lots of fun but not picture perfect. And honestly I’m trying to be more present and in the moment which doesn’t lend itself to snapping lots of pictures and posting updates [hence the lack of pictures in this post!].

I shared in a previous post that my sister was flying down to visit us in St. Pete last week. She got in on Monday evening, and it was fun and giggles the whole time! We ate a LOT of good food, watched movies, explored our neighborhood, worked out, etc.

This visit was extra special for me because it’s likely the last time she’ll be staying with us before the wedding. And she wasn’t consumed with school/work stuff making this visit stress free and really relaxing.

On Friday afternoon, the three of us packed up the car and drove to Atlanta. We told my in laws that we were driving up on Saturday morning because we wanted to surprise them. They were so confused (and happy) when we showed up on their doorstep on Friday night!

Our weekend highlights included more good food (via my MIL), a nice long run with my sister, Bajirao Mastani, and a dinner party.

I’m OBSESSED with this little dog. I want one!

This is the first time I’ve spent an entire week at just my in laws house. My parents are still in India, and while I miss them a lot, it’s nice to stay put and not think about splitting our time.

We’ll be in Atlanta through next Sunday morning. We plan to squeeze in as much family time as possible as well as a few visits with friends. NYE will likely be spent playing games at home with my in laws, BIL, and his girlfriend. I also have my friend Monica’s baby shower on Saturday in Augusta – can’t wait to celebrate her and her little princess!

Well, that’s all for now! I hope your holidays have been amazing so far! I’ll be back later this week with some fun posts. 🙂

Recap: My Week at Home

written by Parita 17 Comments

Trips to Atlanta are always filled with activity. However, this past week at home was ultra productive. We did so much in just six short days.

In semi-chronological order, here’s a recap of my week at home!

1. Lotta Frutta – After picking me up from the airport last Sunday, my parents, sister, and I had lunch at Lotta Frutta in downtown Atlanta. This is one of my favorite little café type restaurants in the city. The food is so consistently good. I try to go every time I’m home. YUM!

2. Meeting my sister’s wedding hairstylist – All of my sister’s wedding vendors are incredibly nice people, and Kimberly is no different. We met with her for 45 minutes to talk through Aekta’s hair ideas. And in those 45 minutes, my mom and I went from not wanting to get our hair done to signing ourselves up for all three events. Can’t wait! Now to find some pretty styles…

3. Family quesadilla night – My mom never lets me cook when I’m home. She always says that I can cook for them when they visit us. I don’t usually complain because I love my mom’s food.

Well, our dinner plans fell through on Monday night, and we had no back up plan, so I ran to Kroger and picked up the necessary ingredients to make quesadillas and guacamole (Aekta made this). Not sure why but this meal was a huge hit! My mom said it was the best Mexican food she’s ever had! I wouldn’t go that far, but it was really tasty. I think it had something to do with the queso cheese I used. Or perhaps it was Aek’s delicious guac.

4. Masti – We met with a potential wedding caterer at one of his restaurants – Masti. Since our meeting was around dinnertime, we decided to eat there as well.

Atlanta peeps, this is a must try restaurant! The food is inventive and unique. The menu is a mix of traditional Indian food, Indo-Chinese, Indo-Mexican, and Indo-Italian. We tried momo (dumplings), Korma alfredo pasta with paneer, Uttapam (Indian pancake) tacos, and pav bhagi (toasted bread and mashed potatoes/peas with spices). The pasta was by far the best dish…so creamy…just thinking about it makes my mouth water! Hoping to go back to Masti when we’re back in Atlanta next month.

5. Apple TV – Vishnu found a great deal on an Apple TV a while back and ended up buying one for my parents since they’re looking to upgrade their TV. Once my sister set it all up, we tested it out with a YouTube Bollywood video night. So. Much. Fun.

6. Time with friends – I got to see Samir and Roshni for a couple of hours one night. It was great to just talk and catch up (it’s been 4 months since I saw them last!). Later in the week, I was able to meet up with my college friend Farnaz for dinner. Again, we spent a couple of hours eating and chatting (we were the last ones to leave the restaurant!).

7. Unintentional Black Friday shopping with my mom – My mom wanted me to go to Sephora with her at some point during my visit. Well, the only time we could find was on Friday…Black Friday. And while we did stop by Sephora, we also went to Loft, JC Penny, Belk, and the Limited. In my defense, Loft was the only store that got my $$$.

8. Thanksgiving dinner with Vishnu’s parents – We headed to Vishnu’s parents house around 5 pm on Thanksgiving day and left at 11 pm. In those 6 hours, we ate, talked and laughed (a lot!). Can’t wait to do it again at the end of December!

9. General wedding stuff – The entire week was filled with random wedding related tasks and conversations – outfits, invitations, cake, etc.. Just six more months until the big day…can’t wait!

10. Home workouts – Thanks to Shaun T, Barre3 online, Jillian Michaels, and the park near our house, I was able to fit in 4 different workouts while at home. Look out for an upcoming post filled with all my favorite at home (and mostly free) workout options!

11. Attending an Indian wedding – I ended my trip with an Indian wedding. While the basic formula for every wedding is the same, it’s amazing to witness two people get married and start their lives together!

I obviously miss my family a lot, but it was great coming home to Vishnu. He was working when I got in on Saturday night, but I shot out of bed when I heard him walking into the apartment on Sunday morning!

Well, I hope you have a great Monday. And for those of you who are also getting back to the grind today…I feel you!

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Minted Artwork + A Giveaway

written by Parita 13 Comments

It’s been almost two months since I’ve blogged about Minted. Remember? I asked for your help in choosing a piece?

Well, for once, I didn’t forget to update you. I postponed this post on purpose. Why? Because one, Vishnu and I wanted to wait and see where he matched before we moved forward with our decision. And two, we had to wait for the pieces to be delivered before I could share more.

So here are the two prints we selected…

As I mentioned, we chose the foil art Georgia picture because that’s where we met and fell in love. Regardless of where life takes us, Georgia will always be home!

And the second piece of artwork we selected was the foil art Chicago city picture. This was the wait and see piece. Just like how Georgia/Atlanta holds a special place in our hearts, we’re certain Chicago will also be very near and dear to us.

While we decided to order just the prints, Minted also frames your selected artwork if you so choose. Since we know we have two moves coming up in the next year, we decided to hold off on framing these until we get settled in Chicago. That way there’s no chance of something will breaking and shattering during the actual moves!

I am totally in love with these prints and can’t wait to put them up in our new home! I also love how there’s a foil art print for every state and even some major cities. My next purchase will be a foil art print of Florida – our first home after marriage! Depending on how many moves we have in our future (hopefully not many), we can document our journey using this artwork.

And I have to note another cool aspect of Minted artwork. All of it comes from a talented community of independent artists from big cities and small towns all over the world. For example, the two artists who created our chosen pieces are Alex Elko from San Francisco and Eric Beckett from Los Angeles.

So now I have an awesome giveaway for all of you who may be looking for a fun new art piece to display in your home! Minted has graciously offered to give one reader a $50 gift card to used on Minted.com!

To enter please visit Minted and share which piece of artwork is your favorite.

I will be drawing a winner upon my return from Italy…so you have lots of time!

And speaking of Italy, I won’t be blogging while away, but feel free to follow along on mine and/or Vishnu’s Instagram accounts! I’m sure we’ll be posting lots of pictures from our adventures.

See you all in a couple of weeks!

Disclosure: I received Minted credit in exchange for writing this post. However, (as always) all opinions are my own.

Home for the 2019 Holidays

Organizational Tools for the Home

Greetings from Atlanta!

End of 2016 + Hello 2017

Sister Time + Back in Atlanta

Recap: My Week at Home

Minted Artwork + A Giveaway

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