My Inner Shakti

finding strength in everyday things

Christmas Present Categories – Want, Need, Wear, Read, and Do

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As I’ve been sharing on all my social channels and this blog, Vishnu and I are SUPER excited about Christmas this year. More than anything, we really want to make it a special time for Kaiden. He’ll be just about 4.5 on Christmas this year and hasn’t had an amped up at home celebration yet.

Personally, this holiday is all about family, reflection and gratitude. Sure, when I was younger, presents were the main focus, and they’re great and all, but I want to instill these three things in Kaiden much sooner. It’s so easy to get carried away at his age with gifts and giving him all the things, but Vishnu and I are hyper focused on making sure that doesn’t happen.

To help us stay focused on what matters, we’re following a category approach for this year’s presents. Kaiden will get something he WANTS, something he NEEDS, something to WEAR, something to READ, and something to DO. That means, he’ll get five presents from us, which I think is plenty. I already have or have ordered the need, read, and do presents. Now I just need to find out what he really wants and get him something to wear (I think this will be easy because he LOVES superheroes right now).

We’ll also ensure our family understands our parameters and doesn’t get things he doesn’t really need. Kaiden is the kind of kid who would rather play with the box a toy came in versus the toy itself. I absolutely love that about him, but it does make presents a bit harder!

Anyways, I thought I’d share our approach in case it helps someone else who’s struggling with keeping their kid grounded this holiday season while getting them some fun things.

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

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If you’re still finalizing your Thanksgiving menu, feel free to steal some ideas from what we’re making.

Something to know about me is that I LOVE Thanksgiving food. Like LOVE! We didn’t celebrate it in the traditional way growing up, but since getting married, Vishnu and I started our own tradition. One that includes Thanksgiving food every year!

With that being said, we’re keeping things super low key this year in terms of having people. We’re not keeping the menu low key though! My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Like I said, if you’re still planning, feel free to make some of these dishes. Most of them are tried and true (ain’t no one messing around on Thanksgiving!).

I hope y’all have a delicious day!

Apps
– Pilsbury crescent rolls stuffed with Brie cheese with a side of strawberry jalapeno jam
– Strawberry, feta cheese, and pecan spinach salad

Sides
– Cranberry sauce (I’ve been making this for YEARS. It’s soo good.)
– Roasted broccoli (preheat oven to 425 degrees, chop the broccoli up into smallish pieces, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and garlic powder, and roast for 23 minutes).
– Mashed potatoes

Main
– Instant Pot Mac n’ Cheese (SO easy, SO creamy!)
– Air Fryer Tandoori wings

Dessert
– Dark chocolate silk pie (vegan!)
– Broiler smores!

ENJOY!

4th of July Weekend 2020

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If I recall correctly, we haven’t been ‘in town’ (wherever that is at the time) for the 4th of July holiday in a long time. This year, we stayed put and had visitors…my BIL and his fiance, Niel and Neelam. And it was one of the best long weekends to date.

Thursday

Niel and Neelam got here on Thursday afternoon, and I had most of the day off so it worked out perfectly. I got in a workout before they arrived, and then once they got to our place, we left immediately to grab some lunch from a Taco Truck near our place. Delicious!

And then we hung out at home until it was time to pick Kaiden up from school. You guys should’ve seen his face when he saw Niel and Neelam. So so excited but definitely trying to be low-key about it. Ha!

The rest of the evening was spent playing and running and singing. Oh and I made The Chutney Life’s Jalapeno Almond Pesto Spaghetti. So good! After dinner + bath time + books, K eventually went to sleep, while the rest of the stayed up and played with the Oculus and talked.

Friday

Everyone was home Friday, including Vishnu, so that was nice. We had Kaiden’s 3 year appointment in the morning, Niel and Neelam had lunch plans with her coworkers, and then we had a haircut appointment for K in the afternoon (he wore a mask the entire time!). In between all of this, there was Magnatiles, Frozen, a short nap, etc.

In the evening, we ordered in for dinner, which was nice because I didn’t have to cook and there was virtually no clean up.

We stayed up fairly late again talking about everything from sports, to politics (lots of politics) to Covid-19 to random family stuff.

Saturday

Saturday was fun, but for some reason I was super tired. Guys, I took like a 3 hour nap while Kaiden napped which extended to after he woke up. It was like that deep sleep you can’t shake, and man, did some rest feel good!

Saturday also included park time, a delicious burrito + corn on the cob lunch, Taco Bell for dinner, fireworks on our balcony with the whole fam (my sister and BIL came over). SO FUN!

I can’t remember what else we did on Saturday but it was a good time!

Sunday

Sunday was Niel and Neelam’s last day with us so we spent some of it at the park, and the rest hanging out at home, more specifically playing Monopoly Deal (a fan favorite game in our family right now).

When it came time for them to leave for the airport, you could tell K was sad. He asked when they would be coming back (and has been for the past couple of days).

Love that we made some awesome memories though and can’t wait until we move back home!

Home for the 2019 Holidays

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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?

Christmas 2017 baby boy

Baby’s First Christmas

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Baby’s first Christmas was super fun…and a little scary!

This was a special trip for many reasons – Kaiden’s first visit to Atlanta, his first Christmas, etc.  The only missing piece was Vishnu. 🙁  But we made sure to FaceTime as much as possible so Kaiden didn’t ‘forget his daddy.’

Christmas 2017 baby boy

As far as celebrating Christmas goes, we don’t do so in a religious sense, but culturally, we are all in!  I’m sure Kaiden was a little confused by all of his boisterous and giddy family members opening presents and yelling over one another!

Because my sister and Adarsh flew out on Monday, we decided to celebrate the holiday a day early on Christmas Eve.  My MIL and BIL drove over to my parents’ house in the early afternoon and spent the day with my parents, my sister and BIL, Kaiden, and me.  My FIL ended up having bronchitis and was unable to join us.  A TOTAL and COMPLETE bummer.

We started the fun by opening presents.  My BIL was our designated Santa, and at first we went person by person, gift by gift, but then we had to restrategize because K looked sleepy.  We handed out everyone’s presents and opened them all at once to save time.  To ensure we included EVERYONE, we FaceTimed my FIL and Vishnu.  Chaotic and fun all at once!

Christmas 2017 tree with presents

For dinner, I made Green and Panang Curry.  Totally forgot to snap a picture, but they both turned out great (in my humble opinion…ha!).  We ended the meal with my MIL’s banana, pecan, chocolate pie.  Yum!

And this is where things got a little scary…

As part of our plan to transition K to formula, we’re essentially phasing out my breast milk and adding in formula until he’s 100% on formula.  Well, Christmas Eve just so happened to be the day he had his first bottle of formula, and let’s just say it didn’t agree with him.  When Kaiden woke up around midnight, I went in to check on him.  After changing his diaper, I lifted him up, and he immediately threw up a ton of milk.  My sister, who was in the room with me, called out to my mom, and the three of us ran Kaiden to the bathroom.  After giving him a quick bath, we got him ready for bed when he threw up a ton of milk again.  After another bath, we tried to put him back down, but he still looked sick, so I held him while my sister kept an eye on him.  Thank goodness because he threw up one final time (but a much smaller amount this time around).  I called the pediatrician, more so for my own peace of mind, and his recommendation of easing into the formula wasn’t much different from my sister’s (a pediatric resident).

Kaiden finally fell asleep (and stayed asleep) around 2 am.  My sister slept in the room with us just in case something happened.  Thankfully nothing did.

I have never been so scared in my entire life!  I know this is just the start of experiences like this one, but man…I will never forget the sight of all that milk pouring out of his mouth.

Kaiden’s doing great (fingers crossed!) now that we’re gradually phasing in the formula two ounces at a time.

As for me, my plan to wean off the pump is on hold for now…anything for my baby boy.  I’ll ease back into that when we’re in Chicago next week.

Other than that, I’m battling a pretty intense cold right now – sore throat and all.  Also, Kaiden and I are staying at Vishnu’s parents until Sunday (when my MIL, Kaiden, and I fly back to Chicago) and are looking forward to spending quality time with this side of the fam!

Well, from my family to yours, I hope each and every one of you enjoyed a fun and memorable Christmas holiday!

pre-thanksgiving meal

Thanksgiving Thoughts

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We all need a break sometimes, and I took mine the week leading up to Thanksgiving.  Honestly, it was much needed because my creativity, organizational efficiency, and ability to get my s*** together felt like it was at an all time low (hence the lack of posts and pictures in this post).  All good now though!

Our Thanksgiving weekend was pretty awesome.  It actually started on Wednesday for both me and Vishnu because we took the day off.  I talked to my sister that morning, and we decided to get together for dinner.  After going back on forth on what we should eat, we unanimously voted to go all out with a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal.  We kept it simple…kind of.  Vishnu and I ended up making mac n’ cheese, cranberry sauce, gravy, and mashed potatoes.  All from scratch!  My sister, her husband, and a few our friends came over, and despite the last minuteness in the kitchen, it was so fun.

pre-thanksgiving meal

We woke up bright and early the next morning, packed our bags, and headed to St. Louis for the a couple of days.  We stayed at Adarsh’s (my BIL) parents’ house and had a great time hanging out with Aekta, Adarsh, his parents and his sister.  We ate delicious South Indian food, played games, and shopped (Black Friday outlet shopping for the win!).

Vishnu and I drove back to Chicago on Saturday afternoon and were home by 8 pm.  We ate dinner, watched a few episodes of Parenthood, and called it a night.

Sunday was filled with unpacking, errands, and a little bit of baking (I made these delicious muffins).

This wouldn’t be a true Thanksgiving post without me sharing what I’m thankful for, so here are a few things (of many) that come to mind right now:

  • Vishnu – I’m one very lucky lady!
  • Family – both immediate and extended
  • Friends – new and old
  • Health – emotional, mental, spiritual
  • Our home (both our actual apartment and Chicago) – a place we’ll be for the next 3.5 years at least!
  • An abundance of daily laughter – without it, my world would be a sad place

With my pre-Thanksgiving ‘funk’ behind me, I’m looking forward to the next few weeks – holiday parties, cookie baking, Secret Santa with my coworkers, Hawaii, Christmas, New Years, etc.  I’m also looking forward to being more efficient with my time and tackling/starting a few projects. Hooray for end of the year productivity!

I hope your Thanksgiving 2016 was filled with lots of delicious food, laughter, and loved ones.

Here’s to Monday and few more weeks until Christmas!

Your turn – what Thanksgiving food do you look forward to the most?  For me, it’s all about the mac n’ cheese and cranberry sauce.  YUM!

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