12 Things I Love: Slice of Life #sol18 12/31

A slice idea borrowed from Margaret Simon’s lovely list of Things I Love.

I love…the opening of a tulip to reveal a differently colored center

I love…falling asleep under a pile of cat

I love…a writer’s notebook, broken in, filling with writing, but nowhere near full

I love…a new podcast miraculously downloaded on my phone just in time for my commute

I love…my son’s voices for our cats, especially Smudge’s British accent (“I cahn’t believe it!”) and Chipotle’s pirate growl (“Motherrrrr! Brotherrrrrr!”)

I love…when the table by the electrical outlet is empty and waiting for me at my favorite coffee shop

I love…a heavy box from Amazon waiting by the back door

I love…a rainy day

I love…a semi-colon used well

I love…the quiet in the classroom as everyone begins to read or write together

I love…the wild animals I see on my drive to work

I love…going to my bookshelf and finding exactly the title I wanted exactly where I thought it would be

slice-of-life_individual

Posted

March 12, 2018

slice of life

Elisabeth Ellington

Tags:

#sol18, slice of life

Comments

33 responses to “12 Things I Love: Slice of Life #sol18 12/31”

edifiedlistener

March 12, 2018

There’s so much to love here. Quite literally. It’s a welcoming format that offers a wonderful window onto who you are. There’s a lot I can connect with and can imagine laughing or nodding over. Funny you mention the semi colon. Just today I was thinking that if I were to ever get a tattoo, it might have to be a semi-colon. Go figure. Thanks for sharing this idea and imbuing it with so much soul.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  As soon as I read Margaret’s piece, I knew I wanted to write one of these lists. It really is a welcoming format. And on a cranky day, it was good to focus on some things that make me happy. I love the idea of a semi-colon tattoo!
  
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Ramona

March 12, 2018

This is a totally delightful post! When I read the one about your son’s voices for the cats, I found myself trying out Smudge’s British accent and Chipotle’s pirate growl. I’ve missed seeing cat pics or is it that I’ve just missed stopping by your blog lately? I think falling asleep under a pile of cat is my favorite!

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  I’ve been working on a piece about one of my cats that I finally finished and posted–complete with photos! I haven’t been including cat photos lately but really should get back to that, because who doesn’t like a cat photo? And if you don’t like a cat photo, I disinvite you from my blog! 🙂 My son always makes me laugh with his cat voices, especially for Chipotle. He hates Chipotle but does a very funny schtick where Chipotle has a rap album and raps about being from the hood.
  
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mrsday75

March 12, 2018

I love…your post. Especially the line about the writer’s notebook. But since I am at the end of a notebook and will be starting a new one soon, I’d have to include the possibilities that exist when beginning a new one

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  There is joy in every stage of a writer’s notebook! I just started a new one March 1, and it’s filling quickly since I’m writing so much this month.
  
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Lisa Keeler

March 12, 2018

And I love your structure and that you took inspiration from another writer. So fun to read slices that reveal bits and pieces of another slicer’s life. Many things on your list made me smile. Thanks for writing something that gave this reader such a happy feeling inside.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  Thank you, Lisa! I felt happy writing this! (And reading Margaret’s wonderful list.)
  
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persistenceandpedagogy

March 12, 2018

And I love the idea of a things I love list. It’s already prompting ideas of my own. I notice that many of your loves are the beginnings of things – so true.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  That happened to me too–as soon as I read Margaret’s piece, I started thinking of my own list. A good format just invites writing.
  
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  1. persistenceandpedagogy
    
    March 13, 2018
    
    ❤
arjeha

March 12, 2018

I love this post. So many positives. It is always nice to reflect on things we love rather than those that bring us down.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  I was having a cranky day and determined to think some nice thoughts. These were probably the only nice thoughts I had all day, but at least I could return to them later in the day and remember that yes, there are things I love in the world!
  
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Art Teachers Do It For The Monet

March 12, 2018

I love this slice, I might have to borrow it next! I love how happy it was and eloquently written

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  It’s a really fun format. I hope you’ll write from it, because I’d love to read your list!
  
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Cristi Julsrud, NBCT (@Mrs_J_of_EAMS)

March 12, 2018

This is a beautiful, simple post, that leaves so much room for the reader to make inferences about who you are in the blank spaces left. I will definitely have to steal this idea! I got stuck today and ended up Googling poetry prompts… should have read this first! Saving it for later.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  I hope this will inspire you too. I love writing in this format–and I especially love reading these kinds of lists and connecting and remembering.
  
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Scott Day

March 12, 2018

12 things I love: 1. Bird songs in the morning. 2. Walking the Santa Rosa Plateau. 3. Watching a hawk soar and hearing its cry. 4. Forests in the rain. 5. Mary Oliver’s poetry. 6. Photography. 7. Trees. Any kind. But especially fond of oak, willows, and birch. 8. Chocolate. (But not white chocolate. That is an abomination).9. Art. There are many paintings in my house. I especially love Stephanie Law’s work and her imagination. 10. Books. Fantasy in particular. But I’m all over the place in my reading. 11. My cats: Annie and Popper. 12. Reflections in water.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  Yes, trees! We have relatively few in South Dakota, and when I travel, it’s one of the main things I photograph. I wish I knew more about bird identification, because I see numerous different kinds of hawks and eagles on my commute each day but have no idea what I’m looking at. Thank you for sharing your own list. I loved reading these words. (And I agree with you about chocolate!)
  
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Akilah

March 12, 2018

That podcast line is so real. For me, it’s an audiobook, so I totally get the sentiment.

I can tell you teach writing because I also love a semicolon used well–not something I see a lot of out here in first-year composition.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  I nearly fell over last semester when I was reading a paper by a student in developmental writing and it had the most perfect semi-colon in it. I made HIM teach the lesson on it.
  
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  1. Akilah
    
    March 14, 2018
    
    Brilliant!
margaretsmn

March 13, 2018

So much to love about your list: falling asleep under a pile of cat and the opening of a tulip…Ah yes. Thanks for the shout out.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  Thank YOU for writing such an inspirational piece.
  
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Trina Haase

March 13, 2018

It’s another lovely post! I don’t think that we celebrate the things that we love enough. I love a semicolon used well too!

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  I agree with you: we need to celebrate and notice the things that we love.
  
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Amanda Regan

March 13, 2018

I love this! Such a simple structure that reveals so much. I am certain that everyone who reads this will feel they know you better and find something in common. I may have to try a list of my own. 🙂

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  I hope you will make your own list! I love reading these things for some reason.
  
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Leigh Anne Eck

March 13, 2018

I love this format! I had to chuckle when I read the use of semicolons because I am teaching that punctuation lesson this week!

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  Isn’t it a great format? Not sure I’ve made one of these lists before, but now I think I’ll have to do one every March.
  
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Melanie Meehan

March 13, 2018

Ahhh…that outlet at an open table! And ahhhhh…those tulips! Such a fun format! Thanks for keeping it going.

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1. Elisabeth Ellington
  
  March 13, 2018
  
  And yesterday when I got to the coffee shop, that exact table was free!
  
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Learning to love again – Persistence and Pedagogy

March 13, 2018

[…] memory returned to me when I saw Elisabeth Ellington’s 12 things I love slice. I was inspired. (She, in turn, was inspired by Margaret Simon who was inspired by two others.) […]

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