Highlights

* Two really spectacular greetings that included multiple rounds of hugs, squealing and that feeling you get when you're so happy you kind of melt inside a little bit
* Two days in a row: deep-dish pizza. I preferred Giordanos to Ginos East but either one is killer (and puts that Pizza hut™ to shame)
* A pretty sweet hotel room that in fact, did overlook the lake and Michigan Ave and had the most comfortable beds ever
* Finishing my James Patterson book
* A 5-mile run along Lake Michigan
* The insider tour to the SAIC including the kiln room, all the studios and Justin's work from his MFA show. I'll say this: the kid's got talent!
* Being in three different states all in the same night: Michigan, Indiana and Illinois and having not been to two of those three states, setting a pretty impressive record for myself.
* A graduation party in Indiana complete with S'mores and Sangria and cozies for our diet-Pepsi
* The nighttime view of the skyline from I90. We still cannot figure out why the buildings were lit up purple, but in truth, it is just as beautiful as the NYC skyline.
* Seeing the Sears Tower and having the same reaction that all the tourists here have when they see the Empire St Building. Gasp!...then a sharp, long stretch of the neck upwards. Turns out this building is pretty freaking tall (110 stories) and weighs more than every person combined in the entire city of Chicago. The feeling of innocence and seeing something magnificent for the very. First. Time.
* Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Rudolf Stingel and a little girl asking me "Is this art?"
* A 75 minute boat ride down the river and on to the lake. Chris, our guide making subtle but funny jokes that the old people surely didn't get, tons of architecture pictures and the most perfect weather you could ever ask for. Turns out also, Lake Michigan is gigantic and according to my roomie, does not taste like salt but is a whopping 44˚
* Seeing J's apartment and neighborhood, one that I could totally see myself living in.
* Wrigley Stadium, old but pretty
* Wrigleyville...like a quaint suburbian neighborhood but still within Chicago-city limits and minutes from a beach
* Trader Joes and a home-cooked delicious dinner
* Bucktown and Wicker park, the "east village" of Chicago, an old used bookstore, and a cute vegetarian café lunch date with J
* Friendly people everywhere; that's a one-up on this city for sure.
* Cheap food and drinks everywhere; that's 2-up
* Finding the first place in the country that could actually cause me to leave NYC

UNhighlights:
* Saying goodbye when you're just not sure when hello will be again