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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?

The 6 Words I Whisper to My Baby Every Day

written by Parita 2 Comments

Before I divulge the 6 words I whisper to my baby every day (a little cliffhanger…!), I have to share a little bit about my friend Sweeti’s baby shower I attended in Fort Lauderdale this past weekend.

I flew down to Florida on Saturday morning and flew back to Chicago on Sunday morning, so it was a super short trip. But I’m so glad I was able to be there to celebrate Sweeti and her husband Sunay’s baby girl. Everything about the shower exuded love and fun. My favorite parts involved sitting back and relaxing with friends and the game night Sunay planned. If you follow me on Instagram Stories, you probably saw a few clips of the shenanigans. So. Much. Fun.

Also of great significance (to me at least) was the fact that this was my very first night away from Kaiden. My strategy for how to deal? Lots of FaceTiming and reminding myself that my being away is good bonding time for Vishnu and Kaiden. And guess what…I was right. They had a blast! In fact, when I got back, K was constantly looking out for Vishnu, and every time he would appear so would a huge smile on K’s face.

The 6 words I whisper to my baby every day

After reading Brene Brown’s parenting manifesto, my views on motherhood/parenthood shifted in a big way. Above all else, my ultimate goal is to raise a kind, compassionate, well-adjusted, courageous child. A pretty tall order, I know!

For one, something Vishnu and I talk about all the time is how we need to lead by example now that we’re parents. Even now, Kaiden watches our every move. If we want him to be kind, we have to be kind. If we want him to be courageous, we have to be courageous. I think a lot of people attribute their success as parents to their kids achievements, when in fact, it’s all about our own behaviors. Are we leading the way? Do our words align with our actions?

Leading by example becomes more and more critical as kids get older. So what about the baby era? Well, I truly believe babies are intuitive beings. They know more than they let on! Even in the early days/months/years, our words carry significant weight. And that is why I whisper the following 6 words to Kaiden every day…

See, I believe in order to embody everything I mentioned earlier, one of your core beliefs has to be that you are loved, lovably and worthy. This should be your foundation. I want Kaiden to feel love and worthiness in his bones. And more than anything else, I want him to love himself deeply. I’m confident he’ll be ok if this rings true.

This is precisely why I’m working on my own feelings of love and worthiness. I need to lead by example when it comes to this notion. Like I said before, words will only go so far. This topic is probably worthy (see what I did there!) of its own post.

But until Kaiden is a tad bit older, my words will have to do…

Kaiden, my beautiful boy, you are loved, lovable and oh so worthy!

St. Patty’s Day/Weekend in Chicago

written by Parita 3 Comments

This past weekend was an absolute blast – our besties, Roshni and Samir, were here, we celebrated our first St. Patty’s Day in Chicago, and this preggo partied with the best of them!

I’m honestly not sure why Chicago celebrates this holiday a week early (if you know, please leave a comment!), but either way, this city sure knows what it’s doing. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it out to watch the river turn green (maybe next year), but everyone (but me) enjoyed lots of green beers!

But let’s back up for a second…

We started the weekend with some DELICIOUS pizza at Coalfire with Aek/Adarsh and Roshni/Samir. You guys, alongside Piece, this stuff is among my favorite when it comes to Chicago pizza. I love the thin, crispy crust and fresh toppings. At Coalfire, the whipped ricotta takes an already delicious pie and puts it over the top. So much yum and so much fun conversation. Who knew that Samir, Vishnu, and Adarsh were such fans of the Bachelor?! Ha!

The next day started bright and early with the hopes that we would make it to the river, but instead, we drank breakfast shakes and talked. Oops!

After breakfast shakes came the breakfast beers…green beers at 10 am at that. Again, I obviously didn’t partake, but it was still fun to watch everyone else enjoy themselves!

A couple of hours later, we took our party of six to a local bar. And that’s where this preggo thrived. The music was so good even I had to get up and shake my bump! We then met up with my sister and her friends and headed to another bar where we danced and ate some more before calling it a night…at 6:30 pm. #soold Of course, there was more good food involved at this point. We stopped at Magnolia Bakery for some banana pudding before heading home and eating Opart Thai and Bombay Wraps (the things that appear when Rosh is in charge of dinner!) for dinner.

Sunday came a little quicker than I would’ve liked. We had until about 4:00 with Rosh and Samir, so we got up, chatted over more breakfast shakes (sans alcohol), got ready, and eventually headed to brunch at Hutch. By the time we got home, it was almost time for them to leave for the airport. Luckily, our next reunion is only two short months away!

And that, my friends, was our first St. Patty’s day/weekend in Chicago!

*I clearly failed at taking fun pics this weekend. Oops!

Your turn – do you celebrate St. Patty’s Day? Green beers galore?!

The Halloweekend That Wasn’t

written by Parita 5 Comments

Halloweekend 2016 wasn’t very Halloweeny, but it sure was fun!

Roshni and Samir’s flight was delayed by about an hour on Friday night, so Vishnu and I watched the Cubs game until it was time to head to the airport. After picking them up and dropping their bags off at home, the four of us headed to Duck Duck Goat for a very late dinner that was worth every delicious bite. We shared six different things between the four of us, including green beans topped with crispy shallot and cashews, gyozas, veggie fried rice, spicy tofu, a pineapple dessert, and a few other things. In my opinion, the fried rice and pineapple cake stole the show!

Our friend Rohit, who also stayed with us this weekend (his brother rented out their place on Airbnb for the Cubs games this weekend), met us at the restaurant. The five of us sat around and chatted for a while before heading home to talk some more and finally fall asleep around 2 am.

Needless to say, the next morning started much later than any of us anticipated. By the time we left the house, it was 3:00 pm! Our first stop was Oven Grinder for a late lunch. A late lunch that turned into dinner because of a 3.5 hour wait.

We didn’t wait around the restaurant for 3.5 hours though. We grabbed a bit at Del Seoul and then walked around Lincoln Park for a bit. Our main objective was to find Halloween costumes for me, Rosh, and Samir. Vishnu figured his out late last week. We finally settled on a Dr. Seuss theme for the three of us (Dr. Seuss himself + two cats). Not too shabby for a very last minute costume search.

So after all that, we headed back to Oven Grinder for dinner. *A word of caution to those who haven’t eaten here yet – try to go at an odd time (apparently the best time is 9 pm on a Sunday). The wait is ridiculous. Not always over 3 hours, but you’ll almost never walk in and be seated immediately. Be ready for that!

Dinner was awesome. I’m not a huge deep dish pizza fan, but I love the saucy Oven Grinder pie. With the exception of Vishnu who went for the meat sauce, the rest of us got 1/2 pounders with light cheese, veggie sauce, and a white crust. YUM!

So this is where our plans veer off track. We were supposed to go home, get ready, and meet Rohit and a few of our other friends for a fun Halloween night out. Instead, we got home, sat down [for a supposed minute], turned on the Cubs game, and passed out! OOPS!!! In a roundabout way, it all worked out because Roshni had a cold that took a turn for the worse, and it probably wasn’t a great idea for her to be out until the wee hours of the morning. In all honesty, it worked out for me too. Due to some lingering stomach cramps, I wasn’t feeling too hot either. Such is life!

The next morning started fairly early since we all got 13200948730 hours of sleep! We ate breakfast and watched football until everyone was hungry again for some Seoul Taco (not to be confused with Del Seoul!). So good!

Then, before we knew it, it was time to drop Samir and Roshni off at the airport. 🙁 But not before we took a picture (the only non-food pic of the weekend)…

Even though this Halloweekend turned out a bit differently than planned, I think we would all agree that it was pretty delicious and lots of fun!

Can’t wait until R+S come back to visit (hopefully sooner rather than later!).

Your turn – did you dress up for Halloween?

Weekend Recap – The One Where We Stayed Up Way Past Our Bedtime

written by Parita 8 Comments

You guys! This weekend was a ton of fun, but I’m exhausted. Like I probably need 12 hours of sleep exhausted.

Let me explain…

On Friday, I finished up work and cleaned our apartment because one of my best friends from college was coming down for the night AND because my sister and four of her med school friends were staying at our place over the weekend.

Once Sweeti got to our place, we chatted for a bit and then headed out to dinner at De Cero, a Mexican inspired restaurant in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago. The three of us (me, Vishnu, and Sweeti) agreed that while the food was far from authentic, it was delicious and very filling.

After dinner, we went to a bar (I can’t remember the name for the life of me) for a few beers. We sat and talked for another 1.5 hours before heading home.

Aekta and her friends were at our place when we got back. We chatted for a couple of hours before heading to bed. It was 2:00 am by the time we went to sleep!

The next morning started much later than anticipated for obvious reasons! Vishnu and I had a lunch date on the books for 12:30, so we headed out a little after 12. I won’t share too much about this meal because I want to do a more comprehensive review on the blog. But I really loved Summer House Santa Monica – the ambiance was beautiful and really reminded us of a beach house. And the food was pretty good too!

Summer House Santa Monica – Chicago, IL

Vishnu and I stopped for some after lunch coffee and ended up hanging out for another hour or so. I love it when this happens!

The rest of the day was spent lounging around doing some loose research for our trip to Hawaii.*

Later in the evening, when everyone was back from their Saturday adventures, we ordered pizza, played games, including flip cup and Cards Against Humanity, and got ready for a night out on the town! You guys, we went to not one, not two, but three different places over the course of the night. We started at a restaurant bar, made our way to another bar, and then finally ended up at a club. We got home at 3:30 am!!! Who am I? Exhausted and tired that’s who!

Anyways, because of our wild and crazy (says the girl who didn’t drink) Saturday night, our Sunday was super low-key. Aside from basic to dos (cleaning, laundry, etc.), we napped and watched TV.

And just like that, it’s Monday again! Make it a good one. 🙂

*Any and all recommendations are more than welcome for both Maui and Kauai!

Weekend Recap – When Your BFF Visits

written by Parita 2 Comments

When Vishnu tried to wake me up this morning, all he got was some mumbling. I didn’t even attempt to say bye as he kissed my forehead before heading to work.

That, my friends, is a sign of a super fun (and tiring) weekend! A weekend that included delicious food, lots and lots of walking, and quality time with my best friend Roshni.

Rosh was here from Friday PM to Monday AM, and we pretty much filled every second with one activity or another.

We ate at Sienna Tavern, Farmhouse, South Coast, Bombay Wraps, Seoul Taco, Molly’s Cupcakes, and Magnolia Bakery.

Fried cheese curds – SO GOOD!

We shopped up and down Michigan Avenue and State Street (both popular for their gazillion shopping options).

We walked anywhere from 15,000 to 23,000 steps a day as we made our way across the city and back!

We watched the Chicago Air and Water Show from afar (we basically stood along Lakeshore Drive for 1.5 hours).

And we laughed…a lot!

We’re back to real life now, and I miss my BFF! Looking forward to more shenanigans the next time we see each other, which is hopefully sooner rather than later!

Do you have go to restaurants for when friends/family visit from out of town?

Par’s Picks – April 2016

written by Parita 7 Comments

You guys, guess what time it is!

That’s right. It’s Par’s Picks time!

I’m not going to bore you with random happenings from this month. Except to say that we’re in Chicago this weekend for our apartment hunting trip. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us!

With that, let’s get to it…

One – Next Vacay

Our friends Naveen and Shaylee recently launched a new site/service called Next Vacay. If you’re a travel junkie who’s always on the lookout for a great deal, you should definitely sign up for this. For one low yearly fee, Naveen and Shaylee will send you (via email) all kinds of travel deals departing from your home airport. Vishnu and I signed up for deals out of Chicago and have been tempted by quite a few that have come our way in the past couple of weeks – Australia, Spain, Ireland…just to name a few!

If you love to travel, you need Next Vacay.

Two – Linya Design

I haven’t been the best with keeping up with my grad school friends. However, there are a few people I connect with on a regular(ish) basis, and one of them is Mariam. We relate on so many levels, especially when it comes to being married to a doctor. Her and her husband are quite a few years ahead of us, so she always has something wise to share with me.

Mariam and I were catching up the other day when she told me about her new business. Linya Design is a luxury boutique design company specializing in wedding gifts and favors. If you’re from the Dallas area and are getting married/know someone who is getting married, check out my friend’s site. Knowing Mariam and her attention to detail and eye for design, I’m positive she’ll make your big day as special as possible!

Three – Mindy Kaling in conversation with Alicia Menendez

You don’t have to be a fan of The Mindy Project to enjoy this video. In fact, anyone with ambitions to do good work while being themselves will find this conversation inspiring. WATCH THIS!

Four, Five, and Six – Beauty products

Four – Fresh Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment

My coworker and friend Thea gifted me this product for my birthday, and I LOVE it! It’s an all-in-one moisturizing lip balm/gloss/treatment. The sheer pink/berry tint is perfect on its own or over your favorite lipstick. Something else to love is that it’s made without parabens, sulfates, GMOs, petroleum oil, and other bad things. If you have a thing for lip products but have yet to try this one, get on it!

Five – Marc Jacob Le Marc Lipstick (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

I’m officially obsessed with Marc Jacobs’ makeup products. The Velvet Noir mascara is life changing. Seriously, my lashes have never looked better! And now I’m equally in love with this new-to-me lipstick that came as a sample in my latest Sephora haul. The formula itself is creamy and matte, but unlike other matte lipsticks I’ve tried, it’s not drying at all. I love how it hugs my lips and stays put! Also, can we take a second and talk about the color. It’s bright and vibrant with beautiful pink and magenta undertones. Even Vishnu’s a fan, and he doesn’t normally like shades like this!

Six – Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer (Ginger)

After hearing a bunch of beauty bloggers and Thea rave about this particular concealer, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. The verdict? I love it! This stuff is magical. I apply it over my foundation – under my eyes and on the highpoints of my face. Not only this this blend right in without looking cakey, but it also brightens my face unlike any other product I’ve tried. Undereye circles and dark spots be gone!

Pro tip – regardless of the brand, when picking a concealer, always go two shades lighter than your skin tone.

Annnnd…that’s all for my April picks, y’all! Thanks for reading!

Tell me about your favorite April products, videos, articles, etc.

No portion of this post is sponsored. However, there are a few affiliate links included. There is no extra cost to you, but I do receive a small commission on anything you buy through my links. Thank you for reading and supporting My Inner Shakti!

Home for the 2019 Holidays

The 6 Words I Whisper to My Baby Every Day

St. Patty’s Day/Weekend in Chicago

The Halloweekend That Wasn’t

Weekend Recap – The One Where We Stayed Up Way Past Our Bedtime

Weekend Recap – When Your BFF Visits

Par’s Picks – April 2016

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