red tape field trip

My first day off of work was not a hooky day, unfortunately. The City of Houston & I had a date. With a judge called to chaperone. It was not fun but, in between my dash from the courthouse to city hall and back to the courthouse again, many detours were taken that made my day out of school a bit more fab than normal. 


First stop (after my first meet & greet with the judge & city attorney): a rare mid-week lunch date with the hubs at our current favorite burger joint, Stanton City Bites. Five minutes from Mildred, this place is your quintessential mom & pop store (there's even a teeny grocery store inside) with the best hamburger you could ask for! 

After dropping Fran off at work, I found myself driving down the street behind the shop & fell in love with the Teal House with the mailbox of my dreams. Where can I find one for me?!

Please note the TX-sized fly on the "envelope". Good grief! Also, teal is now on my must-have for our future home. I love the pop & zeal it has.

From there it was back to the Judge who then directed me to my old stomping grounds, City Hall.

Walking around the annex & city hall had me reminiscing on the old lunch picnics I would take back when I had the luxury of a full hour lunch break with no children to supervise.

I stole about 30 minutes from my court errands to amble around the Houston Public Library's Julia Ideson Building. If you have not had a chance to go in the past few years, make the time! It had been about five years since I had gone in & it's breathtakingly gorgeous. My favorite room was the children's wing (which is the peek-a-boo pic you see first). There were editions of Little Women as far back as 1880! Book fiend heaven is what that place is.

Finally, I made my way back to the court (third time, mind you) after $6 worth of metered parking. 

I don't know how lawyers/repeat offenders do it but all kinds of rules take place within the courtroom. Including: no reading, no eating, no drinking, no talking AND no phones. I managed to sneak a picture in while the officer wasn't looking. Every time I walked into the room, I wanted to ask for chalk and play on the board. Otherwise, people watching is your only means of entertainment. Which, admittedly, was rather entertaining. But, after the fourth credit card offender, you can only start to empathize. 

Eight hours later (a full day's work!) I walked out a happy, if tired, gal. Thanks for the day, COH.