The Perfect Commute

I live six blocks west and five blocks south of where I work, and after months of zig-zagging through all the possible combinations of streets and sidestreets, I believe I have finally found the perfect commute.

I live on Mural Mile, so I get to see a lot of cool murals no matter how I choose to walk. But I like to start by walking past one that is still in progress:

I am really enjoying watching it grow a little bit every day; I think I'm going to be kind of depressed when it is finally finished.

Next I cut through what is the quaintest and most adorable alley in the history of alleys:

Those are cobblestones!

Look at that ivy!

That conveniently puts me by a fancy wedding dress store, where I ogle the merchandise for awhile:

After that I cut through the campus of Jefferson University Medical School + Hospital, which is fun because I really love hospitals (my dad is a doctor, so going to the hospital as a kid always meant getting to eat frozen yogurt from the cafeteria and look at the new babies). In the morning it's usually bustling with people in scrubs and lab coats, although that isn't really reflected in this kind of sad picture:

The last fun thing I pass before arriving at work is a Ross in what used to be a fancy department store, whose founders thought its free hat-trimming policy was important enough to carve it into the building:

"HATS TRIMMED FREE OF CHARGE"

After a productive day at work, I head home. First I walk past Dog School, which as far as I can tell is just day care for dogs. There are always a bunch of cute ones in the window, and they wag their tails and bark at you as you walk by.

In this picture the dogs are lying down in the window, which is why you can't really see them.

Then I walk past a day care for humans, which has even more adorable occupants. But I thought I would look suspicious taking pictures of the windows when kids were actually in there, so I waited until a day when I came home late to take a picture of the empty classrooms:

When I usually come home this room is filled with adorable toddlers playing.

This one is full of sleeping babies, and it's hard not to try and break in.

Next I go by my favorite restaurant, and since I was smart enough to stock up on their Halloween frosty coupon books last month, I can stop in for a free junior frosty whenever the mood strikes me (which is often):

Last but not least, I walk through the furniture at Uhuru Furniture and Collectibles, because as a boring old person with a house and a mortgage I am always optimistic that I will find a nice end table or something there.

So far no luck, but I have seen lots of interesting floral couches.

In conclusion, my new walk to work is much nicer than all the trash I walked through on the way to school in the Bronx, and no one wolf-whistles at me or calls me "mami." I love my new job!