She landed a little after 4pm on Friday and I met her at Midway to escort her through the train/bus system to get back to my apartment. This was Joy's first trip ever to Chicago so we transferred from train to bus downtown and walked a few blocks so she could get her first taste of the city.
Once we got back to my place we freshened up and changed into our evening attire. Then we went to the Art Institute which is free on Fridays between 5 and 9pm. I knew Joy would want to see the Impressionists, but probably not much more, so this seemed like a great way to save some money and make the most of her short time here. Probably the most famous Impressionist painting at the Art Institute is the Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grand Jatte. This painting is featured in the movie Ferris Bueller where you see the three main characters staring at the art and seeing closer and closer. So, we took Joy's photo that way also.
After the quickest tour ever through the Impressionist Wing (we saw some Van Gogh, the Monets, a Degas or two and a Lautrec for good measure who wasn't an impressionist, but still fun) we hopped in a cab and headed to the Signature Room which is a bar on the 96th floor of the Hancock building. The sun had set so we were going to have a great view of the city at night while we enoyed a cocktail. We sat there and caught up before heading to a dinner at Roy's at 9pm. It was a really fun night that we topped off with a nightcap at a bar on my corner. Joy ordered a scotch and orange juice, which the bartender said was maybe the grossest drink he'd ever poured. No joke, that's not tasty together. 
The next morning we started with the boat architecture tour through downtown. I had never done one of these either and everyone seems to enjoy them. We got there right before the boat was leaving and were originally kind of bummed that we wouldn't be on the top of the two level boat, but we ended up having a great spot on the lower deck, and were out of the sun and heat and still had great views. Yea! The boat tour was lovely and we saw so much in that hour.
After that we walked around to a few more Chicago landmarks - the Bean and Millenium Park before heading to lunch at Atwood Cafe. After lunch we walked the Magnificent Mile and the boutiques in the Gold Coast before heading back up to my neighborhood to show her what my days are like. We went to dinner at a thai restaurant (that had the most amazing crab rangoon I've ever had) and then back to my place to play some Scene It and drink a large quantity of cosmopolitans. Good times. We had to get up early to take Joy back to the airport the next morning, and I promptly came home and went back to bed.
It was nice to have her here and I'm always happy to show someone around Chicago.
HOUSING UPDATE: On Friday I talked to the woman who runs the credit checks who also works with the neighborhood association and she said she had most of my references and background stuff run, that my credit score was awesome, that she was waiting on one person to call her back (that's my Chicago landlord and I wished her luck. Thank goodness I never had a problem up here because I've never been able to get a hold of my landlord either) but otherwise the recommendation to the St. Louis landlord was going to be favorable. I'll know for sure by Wednesday I hope.
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