Slice of Life

    • Overwhelmed

      Overwhelmed

      We live about seven miles from the Eaton Fire, far enough away to be out of danger, but close enough to know many affected. As a UCLA alumni, I also spent a lot of time in the Pacific Palisades area, visiting the Pacific Palisades post office regularly as part of…

    • Small wins

      A little while back, okay, months ago, I told a colleague I was going to set a goal to write every day. (Side note: I recently saw a tip that said to determine whether you want everyday, as one word, or every day, as two words, insert the word f***ing…

    • Vacation thoughts

      I’m writing this on my phone. It’s 10:25 am here in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Last night we overheard a gentleman talk about how this was the second time this year he had been at this resort. “That’s gonna be us in retirement, Vivian. We can come any time!” That’s…

    • Escape room, part 2

      Last week I did a quick list of lessons from an escape room, but I wasn’t always a fan. First of all, when escape rooms became popular years ago, I never wanted to do it because I thought that there was a possibility of a zombie or other creature in…

    • Lessons from an escape room

      It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve had a moment to write a slice. I didn’t want another week to go by because fellow slicers, you know what happens. Last week we went on our annual pre-Thanksgiving trip to Vegas. This is the 8th year maybe. While we’ve tried…

    • Staying quiet

      “We gotta keep ourselves in check,” my husband warned me, as we made our way to a family member’s home who has different political views than us. Most of the people at this gathering did. “Why do we always have to monitor ourselves when others don’t seem to mind one…

    • A moment in time

      I recently had breakfast with one of my former principals and we spent our time reminiscing about our school community. We both agreed that it was a truly special experience we had. A moment in time that is seems impossible to recreate. One thing we did as a staff is…

    • Why I didn’t write

      When I was in third grade, I wrote a series of mystery stories. At home. On my own. It wasn’t an assignment. I just loved reading Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, and The Hardy Boys so it made sense that I would want to write my own version. My stories centered…

    • A Gentleman in Moscow

      Earlier this year as my husband and I were watching one of our shows, a preview for the TV adaptation of A Gentleman in Moscow popped up. “Oh, that’s one of my favorite books!” Hoff shared. I’ll have to read it before we watch the show, I thought to myself.…

    • Forever young-ish

      Last month at our regular get-together, my aerobics-teaching college friends started reminiscing about Knott’s Berry Farm. Three of us grew up in Southern California and had lots of fun memories going to the amusement park and the teen dance clubs inside the park, Studio K and Cloud 9. But one…