We can’t believe it has already been ONE year since the day we launched. And quite a year it has been! We’ve gone from acquaintances to friends to becoming mothers to sisters. Some of us have become first time, second time and even third time mommas. We have felt blessed with all your support on this exciting and successful journey. We truly owe it to all the moms who have reached out to us for advice or just to tell us how we have had an impact on their family. You all have been our inspiration, as well as of course, our beloved little ones. Check out a year in the making of The Chai Mommas:
our first meeting
We met in October of 2011 at a local Mexican spot for the very first time. Neesha had brought us together with her connection to each of us. Neesha met Reena when she moved to San Diego through her husband. Neesha and Shraddha had been childhood friends since the 5th grade. And Neesha met Puja through a sari seamstress they had both been going to when they moved to San Diego. Over mocktails, cocktails and chips and salsa, we brainstormed on ideas and shared our experiences. Laughter, friendship and fun is what started this baby: The Chai Mommas.
first photo shoot
In one of our backyards...sipping on some chai, of course :) It was totally informal- with Puja's photography camera and Reena's husband who stood on the pool edge and behind bushes to capture some pics! We missed Shraddha, who was taking a step back to concentrate on her pregnancy at the time. It's amazing to look back at this picture when we didn't even have our site up!
shraddha joined....
Shraddha joined us shortly after that and we were thrilled! We are sure you all are too with her awesome posts :)
mommas of four paths
While we mainly work virtually and individually on each post, the fun part of our blog is the four different opinions, perspectives and creativity we all add to it. It makes getting together to work and collaborate quadruple to fun. We have Neesha: the organized full time work from home momma, Shraddha: the creative working in the office momma, Reena: the educational stay at home momma, and Puja: the holistic part time working momma.
strike a pose!
No matter where and when we meet, we love snapping the camera to capture a pic of us since we are always in different stages of motherhood! We took this pic at Neesha's baby sprinkle.
love what we do...
We share family tips and help other mommas all while creating a community. And while we totally love what we do...
for the love of our lives
We do what we love truly for the love of our lives...our kids. By creating a community of strong families, we bring this into our home. it gives our little ones a loving home and safer, better world at large.
these mommas like to celebrate
We love celebrating holidays- as you may have noticed with our holiday themed posts! Valentine's day, Memorial Day, Diwali, Christmas, New Year's, you name it, we try to enjoy them all :)
our kids love to join in the fun too!
And of course, like most moms out there, we have our kids join in on the Chai Mommas fun also! We keep it real with our posts and you may have noticed our kids in many of our pics trying out certain products, making crafts and eating the recipes we whip up. It's what we would want to read, so we don't do any less than that.
giving back...
Our kids also join us in one of our favorite things that we do together: giving back to the community. We support a different cause every month.
mommy moments
We all need a "mommy moment" to step away from the kids every once in awhile. We think its important to spend time with friends and enjoy a night out with out the kids here and there. It's why we have our "just for moms" posts with fashion, beauty, relationship and more tips that are catered for mommas only.
professional careers
Some of us are also career moms, and we try to tie that into our posts, into giving back and into our tips on family life and balance.
personal life
We also tie in our personal life into what we share with you all, whether it was losing a loved one or overcoming an obstacle, we want to offer our true-est selves in our writing.
learn from YOU
We also notice how much we learn from you. Yes, you. When we think of certain posts or ideas to write with you in mind, or when you approach us with topics you would love to hear about, it allows us to grow as mothers and as women.
pledge
In reflection of this year, we pledge to continue to support different causes each month and to always be in tune to what our community needs us to write about on a daily basis.
love to share
We truly do love to share our paths of mommy-hood with you all on daily basis. It feels good knowing there are women out there who stand by us, hear us, and care about parenting the way we do!
enjoying every minute
So far, we are enjoying every minute of The Chai Mommas journey. Be sure to stay tuned with ways we branch out in the future!
take time to smile!
Sometimes things can get pretty stressful- with giveaway deadlines, post formatting and working with other companies...but in the end, we always take time to breath, to smile and to remember what this blog means to us and to all of you.
work hard...
And looking at this past year, we have definitely spent many hours, days and nights working...
play hard!
But we have equally spent the same amount of time laughing together!
thank you!
And so on our first anniversary, we want to thank you, our families, (especially our hubbies who have had The Chai Mommas infiltrate daily life this past year), and our friends for all your support!
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