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Gel manicure - Atlanta

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…

Gel manicure - Atlanta

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.

Indian sweets for pooja

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!

New Years Eve at Cooks & Soliders

The 2016 NYE gang!

Yorkie

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

Green Enchiladas

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!

Written on January 4, 2017 Related:Family, home

Dos Urban Cantina - Chicago, IL

Weekend Recap + Adjusting

written by Parita 8 Comments

We are half way through 2016.  Wow.  When did that happen?!

Not sure what it is, but I feel like time is zooming by right now.  Maybe it’s the hustle of a new city or maybe it’s the fact that our days are so different now.  It’s probably a bit of both.  It’s so crazy to me that we’ve been in Chicago for just over two weeks now.

We’re still finding our way in terms of establishing a routine.  I was just telling Vishnu that we need to get our spending under control because it’s been a little over the top as of late.  We both blame it on the fact that we’re so excited to be here.  If we keep that attitude up for any longer, our bank account is going to be in a sad state of affairs.  So need to get on that right away!

Anyways, I thought I’d try to get back into a [somewhat] regular blogging routine with this post and share some tidbits from our weekend.

On Friday, Vishnu and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by way of a nice dinner out.  We settled on Dos Urban Cantina after reading several articles about how it’s one of Chicago’s up and coming restaurants.  It did not disappoint!  The innovative take on traditional Mexican cuisine was so interesting and fun.  The chestnut cornbread was absolutely divine on it’s own but tasted even better when dipped in the accompanying mole sauce.  Vishnu’s favorite dish was the Tres Leches cake we got for dessert.  As you guys know, I’m a chocolate girl through and through, but because Vishnu loves this particular cake so much, I took a backseat with dessert and let him pick what he wanted.  That’s true love, folks!

Dos Urban Cantina - Chicago, IL

We spent the majority of Saturday morning preparing for my parents arrival (aka – we cleaned and did laundry).  Later in the evening, we headed over to my sister’s place to hang out and eat dinner.  This was the first time the six of us (my parents, me and V, and A and A) all hung out together just us. It was so nice, especially because all of the wedding stress is behind us now!

Deep dish pizza with the family

Sunday was a completely free day.  My parents left in the morning to attend a wedding/reception in the burbs.  Vishnu and I hung out at home until the early afternoon and then headed back to my sister’s place to hang out with her, Adarsh, and their friend (now our friend) Mike.  And by hanging out, I mean we went to the park and had our very own sports day since the weather was absolutely perfect.  We played some variation of football, frisbee, and catch (baseball).  SO MUCH FUN!

Monday (aka – mine and Vishnu’s 11 year dating anniversary) morning was a little lazy, but the day ended on a great note with a visit to Millennium Park and The Chicago Diner (a must try restaurant!).  I want to write a proper review of this place…it was that good!  When Vishnu asked why I liked it so much, I said because it’s so rare for me to be able to order whatever I want from the menu.  Will share more soon!

Tourists in Chicago

We didn’t do the whole fireworks thing this year.  It was just too much to coordinate.  But you better believe we heard fireworks all weekend long.  I’m not going to lie – the sound really freaks me out.  I hate it actually.  Too similar to gun shots.

That was our weekend in a nutshell.  It passed by super quickly, but we had an absolute blast with my parents in our new city.  They promised to visit a few more times before winter rears it’s ugly head!

I plan to blog about this in more detail soon, but I thought I’d share my initial thoughts about adjusting to my new routine.  So far, I’m loving Chicago living a bit more than St. Pete living.  I feel like we’re more active and that alone is wonderful.  However, it’s a bit like going from 0 to 60, which brings some challenges, mainly in terms of time.  I wish I had more of it!  Other things I’m adjusting to include driving in Chicago traffic, going to an office most days the week, having more potential plans than we have time for (a great problem to have), spending more money than I expected to, etc. But that’s life I suppose, one adjustment after another!  As overwhelming as it still is right now, I’m sure the next few years are going to be some of the best yet!

With that, wish me luck on this regular blogging thing.  I miss not posting as much but really hope/want to get back to it!  I have so many things I want to share.

How was your weekend?  Are you a fan of fireworks?

Written on July 6, 2016 Related:Chicago, Family, Uncategorized, Weekend

Life Lately {in Pictures}

written by Parita 8 Comments

I know it’s the most cliché question there is but really…where does the time go?

Well, let me fill you in on how I’ve been spending my time lately.

After our 5 night vacation in Turks and Caicos (recap posts coming soon I promise!), Vishnu and I flew to Atlanta to spend time with our parents before he starts rotations.  The past 1.5 weeks have been a really fun whirlwind!

IMG_3296

T&C sunset cruise view 1

IMG_3280

T&C sunset cruise view 2

T&C 117

T&C dinner on the beach

I promise there’s more T&C fun coming in the next few posts.  The trip was absolutely amazing, and I can’t wait to share our experience.

Our time in Atlanta was full of family and food (as usual).  Here’s a little glimpse…

IMG_3376
So happy I got to spend time with the lovebirds!

T&C 157

Lots of time with the second half of my family as well.

T&C 155

The parental units

And just like that, we’re back to reality.  I have a feeling it’s going to take me a little time to adjust to the daily grind.  Maybe we need to start planning our next vacation…

Up next – Turks and Caicos galore!

Written on June 23, 2013 Related:Family, Life, Travel, Uncategorized

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