Talking Turkey

I had a turkeyless Thanksgiving, our host was vegan and made a delicious array of dishes, and was proud we saved a turkey :)  I have always wondered why the big bird we eat on Thanksgiving is called a Turkey, and the country Turkey, and then phrases like "talk turkey," and "cold turkey."

Let's explore.

I just ran across a very interesting article about how it became to be known in America as turkey,
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/why-americans-call-turkey-turkey/383225/?single_page=true.

Turkey the country, when I googled it, these were my choices,

Turkey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey

Wikipedia

Turkey officially the Republic of Turkey is a contiguous transcontinental parliamentary republic, with its smaller part in Southeastern Europe and its larger part in ...

Turkey (bird) Domesticated turkey - Wild turkey - Guineafowl - Phasianidae - ...	Ankara Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city ...
Turkish people Alp Arslan - Sertab Erener - Elif Şafak - Turkish diaspora - ...	Islam in Turkey Islam is the main religion of the Turkish people in Turkey, where ...
Turkish language Turkish alphabet - Ottoman Turkish alphabet - Ottoman Turkish - ...	History of Turkey The history of Turkey encompasses the history of the ...

My baby just stopped wearing diapers, and many people ask me if he still wears diapers at night. There are two things that don't make sense to me:

1. teaching boys to pee sitting down
2. wearing diapers at night

I am all about "COLD TURKEY," abruptly stopping something.  Here is a definition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_turkey, but more specifically a phrase from this link,

• Some believe the derivation is from the comparison of a cold turkey carcass and the state of a withdrawing addict — most notably, the cold sweats, goose bumps.^[10]

"TALKING TURKEY?" This phrase goes way back to the beginnings of Thanksgiving,
http://www.theindychannel.com/decodedc/where-did-the-phrase-talking-turkey-come-from.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving,

I had a fantastic time and so did my kids,

Now the partying commences,
with my husband's birthday weekend,

Plenty of surprises in store,

Shabbat Shalom,

Coach Yulia

Thankful

Today is a day when many people in America stop and focus on what they are grateful for.  I try my best to do this on a daily basis, and I am happy that the there is a positive energy all over today.  The amazing picture above is so powerful, and it is a big part of my gratitude.  I am so happy to know my roots, to live in a community where I can be a proud Jew, and also live in a country where I feel that I can meet people from all walks of life.  I love to learn about cultures, traditions, and backgrounds.  I love living in a big city so I am surrounded by diversity.

I ran across an article that digs deep into part of my background, and it made me smile.  Jewish people are from all over the world, and a part of my ancestors ran from the Middle East into what was the Soviet Union.  Because of this my father was travelling to Moscow to meet a nice Jewish girl, and that is how I came to be.  I love connections, I love how things turn out, my brain is always in awe of how one thing leads to another.

I am 1/4 Mizrahi, you can read more about it here, http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2014/11/25/tragedy-of-mizrahi-jewish-refugees-emerges-from-the-shadows#.VHbe94eprQQ=.

So as I keep on learning about me, I love to celebrate modern traditions.  Thanksgiving is family and friend time, home cooked meal time, and many people don't have to work and just relax and enjoy,

Thankful to have friends that are throwing a feast together,
We are bringing the salad,
Not sure if it will be turkey,
None of us are born in America,
I love to celebrate everything,
Happy Thanksgiving,
Coach Yulia

We are not cooking

My family is from Russia, when we moved to this country even the Thanksgiving dishes were something new.  Luckily my mother was a socialite and brought fun anywhere she went.  So my family tradition was to get invited.  I am so blessed to live in a community where it is part of the tradition and law to invite guests, so we have been guests, and we love to have guests.  My husband is an amazing cook, but Turkey is not his thing, so we are joining friends who are also from Israel to throw something delicious together and just enjoy each other.

I personally love food period, so I am happy to eat anything that is served, especially if it is home made.  I am actually working all day tomorrow, and I am OK with that.  Have a Pilates class in the morning, hopefully many people that do not get to the gym will treat themselves to health and fitness and then to delicious meal with family and friends.  I love to say excess once in a while is moderation.  It is important to indulge, but on a regular basis variety, portions, and a healthy, active lifestyle is key.

There is so much going on in the world, and I am choosing to step off of the world and just enjoy the long weekend.

Coach Yulia

Do you really get it?

Everything is personal, everything is opinion, everything is our own unique experience, and we attempt to understand everything from that lens.  I am a Yoga teacher for 15 years, before I met my Yoga teacher, I had never done Yoga, I don't think I ever really heard of it, I was just doing completely different things in my life.  As soon as I met my teacher I knew that was going to be my life path.  Many people tell me that they are not flexible enough, or they tried it once and did not have a good experience, so they wrote it off.  All I tell people is to try it once, if it clicks great, if not, I hope they find what fits their lifestyle, energy, and goals.

Yoga was going to be my topic.  I ran across this amazing video of a 92 year old woman, blew me away.  My teacher is 82, healthy and always on the go, it inspires me to follow in my path of preventive maintenance and finding healthy, active and delicious options that fit me.

Post by Barcroft TV.

The I ran across this article about a 13 year old girl teaching Yoga to her peers, so beautiful, we all attract different ages, backgrounds, levels, goals, styles, go girl! Just follow this link,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/style/yoga-jaysea-devoe-13-years-old-among-the-youngest-yoga-teachers.html?_r=0da

You never know where life will lead you and maybe something horrible can lead to something wonderful.  One of my students today told me she missed class last week because she got out of work late, and traffic was horrible due to road construction.  On the positive side she had found an alternate route that she took to class today that was much faster and that she will use from now on.

Everything I am writing about today is about getting it.  My family left Russia because of discrimination, they wanted my brother and I to live openly and proudly Jewish.  Just recently it seems the open hate has erupted all over the world against Jews and Israel, and it is shocking to me.

That is the only lens that I have to understand what is happening in Ferguson.  A few bloggers have written amazing perspectives, and all I can do is keep reading and keep learning.  This one is from an African American Jew, http://jnmagazine.com/2014/11/25/what-side-should-jewish-americans-take-on-ferguson/.  Amazing historical perspective in this blog,
http://rabbicreditor.blogspot.com/2014/10/rabbi-michael-rothbaum-fergusonfargesn.html

On my Facebook page I put a video of an African American friend who was in the Marines, is an amazing father, and working hard to support his family.  I will keep open, I will keep listening, I am not interested in watching the violence on TV, I am listening to the dialogue and the monologues.

An amazing African American voice speaks out,
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/11/pharrell_williams_why_aren_t_we_talking_about_michael_brown_s_bully_behavior.html

We all have opinions,
I do not know if I will ever get it,
but I want to keep listening and learning,
Coach Yulia

Snowball Effect

I had to google the synonym of snowball effect and found some amazing answers.

domino effect
escalation
upsurge
enlargement
development
increase

A situation which continues to grow in an uncontrollable way.

• One could substitute domino effect. or chain reaction, if using it in a more negative sense, one could say, "a vicious circle" or a "spiral of decline" but if is used to describe something beneficial, I would go with "a virtuous circle" I would stay away from cliche's like "A slippery slope" because while that term, usually used argumentatively, states that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant effect, much like an object (snowball) given a small push over the edge of a slope sliding all the way- to the bottom. However, the the fallacious sense of "slippery slope" is often used synonymously with continuum fallacy, in that it ignores the possibility of middle ground and assumes a discrete transition from category A to category B. Modern usage avoids the fallacy by acknowledging the possibility of this middle ground. 

• It's officially known as the Butterfly Effect
  which in itself states that under the PERFECT conditions- in our own world the small gust of wind produced by a flap of the wings of a butterfly can continue to grow in power and become a force that would be called a level five hurricane as it escalates further 

I found this fascinating, especially seeing butterfly effect being the positive side, but most of the other descriptions focus on something negative.  The video below shows what could happen when one thing can set other things motion in either direction.

Enjoy,
Coach Yulia

Post by Yeni Şafak.

Everything Has Energy

Electricity to be precise.  Ran across the video below just now, and it fascinates me how science is proving more and more how everything is connected, that everything pulsates, everything that has been thought of as non existent, actually exists.

Relaxing and tidying up before we head out for the day.  On the agenda, new bike helmets for kids, and some fun time, not sure where yet, it is going to be one of those go with the flow days.  Nowhere to be, no time constraints, see where the day takes us.

We are going to follow the currents,
Coach Yulia

Post by Malik Tajamul Hayat Khan.

Let's see where the day goes

This morning the kids woke up early as usual, my husband was making them breakfast, so I decided to pick up a book.  The book I chose were inspirational stories and lessons, and it was perfect for my day of rest.  My husband got everyone ready and they went off to synagogue, and I was so happy to have a quiet house, me time, and I promptly took a nap.  I was excited to realize that this could be my reading day, it is a day when nothing else can be turned on, nowhere I have to be, I can actually get lost in a book, exciting!

Once everyone came back, it was my husband's turn to rest, so I got everyone' bicycles and we went to play outside.  It was absolutely perfect Los Angeles weather, and I am proud to report, not only is my baby out of diapers, but he has officially learned to ride a bicycle, Woo Hoo!

Then my neighbor came home, my kids love to go visit her upstairs, she gives them some juice and Shabbat was over, so they got to watch some cartoons, and it was nice to get to know more about her. She has lived in our building for 19 years, and we just passed 7 years, and she finally came to dinner a few weeks ago.  We are busy, she is busy, and I was busy having babies, now its a nice place of just hanging out.  There was a picture of her in her 20's, she was stunning, seriously like a movie star from the 20's, short blond hair, and just gorgeous.

Now everyone is quietly playing in their room, I am recounting my day of nothingness and everythingness.

BH,
All Good,
Happy Weekend,
Coach Yulia