Just Life| Anatomy of Stretching

I am not sure if it's because I haven't been to the gym lately or the fact that I am getting old, but these days when I wake up, my body is as stiff as a board.

So when I came across the " Anatomy of Stretching" by Craig Ramsay, I thought that it might help me. I mean, there are days that even putting on my socks is a challenge for me. 

This book has clear pictures of stretching exercises.  I have been doing a few of these basic exercises in the past week and I feel a bit more flexible. 

So if you are having the same type of problems, checkout this book and do a few of its stretching exercises in the morning and then tell me if it helps you or not.

Here are a few more books on this topic from your local library:

• Stretching in the office

• The way of stretching: flexibility for body and mind

• Stretching for 50+: a customized program for increasing flexibility, avoiding injury and enjoying an active lifestyle 

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| An Einstein Encyclopedia

We just received "An Einstein Encyclopedia" by Alice Calaprice. Here are a few facts that I have learned so far while browsing through the book:   

Contrary to popular belief, Einstein was in fact a very good student.

He started playing violin at the age of 6. He named his violin Lina.

 
He was married twice. First to Mileva Maric and then to his cousin Elsa Lowenthal.  

 
He received the Noble prize in 1921 and use it to support his first wife and their two sons.

 
His favorite hobbies were hiking, music, reading, sailing, and writing poetry.

 
He loved sailing but didn't know how to swim. On his fiftieth birthday, his friends bought him a sailboat.

  

Albert Einstein migrated to United States after the Nazis took over Germany and he became a U.S citizen on October 1, 1940.
 

Einstein was an avid reader.  

"Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose." Albert Einstein

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Elizabeth Started All the Trouble

" Elizabeth Started All the Trouble" is a picture book by Doreen Rappaport about women's suffrage.
 
So here are a few things that I have learned from this book while reading it with my 10 year old daughter:

• In July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott hosted a two day convention in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss women's rights. 

• When Elizabeth brought up the idea that women deserve the right to vote, many women thought that her idea was too daring and law makers didn't want to hear it.

• Since many newspaper reported on the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth's idea spread all over the country. 

• In the Spring of 1851, a 31 year old school teacher, Susan B. Anthony, visited Elizabeth and they became fast friends. Elizabeth and Susan traveled all over the country and made speeches about women's rights.

• In 1869, Wyoming was the first state to award women the right to vote.

• On January 1917, women started picketing in front of the White House and hundreds were arrested.

• After one year of picketing in front of the White House, President Wilson gave in.

• On August 26 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed.

• The Nineteenth Amendment states: " the right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton died on 1902 and Susan B. Antony died in 1906. 

This coming November, let's all vote.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha      

Just Life| Permission To Stop Reading....

I have been trying to read the last 40 pages of "Circling the Sun" by Paula Mclain for the last 5 months. I don't like the main character and the book is boring but, I am too invested to quit. 

When the book came out, a lot of people were raving about it and since I loved reading her other book; " The Paris Wife", I thought that I would enjoy reading her new book as well. I was wrong.

So I am going to preach what I am not practicing for the time being.

"If you are reading a book and you are not enjoying it, give yourself permission to close that book and to pick up another one to read."

Life is too short to spend it on a book that you don't enjoy.  

Here are a few of my favorite books:

• Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

• And the mountain Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

• The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain

• Outliers: The story of success by Malcolm Gladwell

• Don't push the button by Bill Cotter (Perfect for story-time)

• Fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce. ( Children picture book)

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Travel Books

Wouldn't it be cool to to travel a few times a year to a far way land and experience a new culture, a new landscape, and a new cuisine.

One of the best ways of maximizing your experience in a new country or new city, is to do some research before getting there and the best way to do that is to study some travel books before your trip.

Did you know that you can check out travel books from your local library?

Some of these travel books even come with a map that can be very handy.

If you are traveling abroad, make sure that your passport hasn't expired like mine. It takes approximately 6 weeks to get a passport.

So here are a few examples of travel books that you can find in your local library.

Fodor's 2016 Florida

Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast

Paris to the past: traveling through French history by train

Happy traveling everyone.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life | Spring & Persian New Year

Spring is right around the corner and for millions of Iranians, it is the start of a new calendar year.

The Persian New Year or Nowruz, has been celebrated in Iran for thousands of years and it has its origin in the ancient Zoroastrian religion.

Spring is a time of celebration for the Iranians all around the world.

The first day of Spring is the start of a new year in Iran. The first month in the Persian Calendar is the month of "Farvardine".

A heavy dose of Spring cleaning is the rite of passage to the Persian New Year.

As a kid, Spring cleaning was my least favorite thing about the New Year celebration.

Imagine being forced to clean every nook and cranny of your house for two weeks straight. It was exhausting. 

You see, the Spring cleaning is a necessary evil because for twelve days straight after the New Year celebration, a great many people would come to visit and you want your house to be in top notch shape. 

An important part of the New Year celebration is setting up a beautiful table called "Haft Sin".

Can you imagine Christmas without a Christmas tree? We can't have a Persian New Year without the Haft Sin table.

There are some very specific items that are placed on this table year after year.

New Year table at Roya's house

On the Haft sin table, there should be seven items which starts with letter "C" in Persian.

Here are these items:

• Sib (Apple)
• Sir (Garlic)
• Sekeh (Coins)
• Sabzeh (Germinated wheat or lentil. They look like grass)
• Serkeh (Vinegar)
• Samano (A special sweet paste made from wheat)
• Sonbol (Hyacinth)
• Senjed (Fruit from lotus tree)
• Saat (Clock)

Each of these items have special meanings, but this blog isn't long enough to explain them all and to be honest, I am far from being an expert on this topic.

Haft Sin at my house last year

In Iran, schools and universities are closed for two weeks and on the thirteenth day of the New Year, everyone leaves their house to have a picnic with family and friends. It is called "Siz Da Bedar".

Haft sin table setting at my house a few years ago

In Stockton, around 100 Iranians get together at Oak Grove Regional Park to celebrate Siz Da Bedar every year.

This year, the Persian New Year falls on Saturday, March 19th at 9:30 pm.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha