Taylor and Jordan's Day Off

I would like to share the adventures that I had when Taylor and Jordan came to Chicago for spring break.

It was such an incredible week, you know how sometimes being around certain people just feels like home, thats how it is with Taylor and Jordan. The moment they arrived it felt like no time had passed since we last hung out and even though it will be another year till I see them again I know that the time passed doesn't matter, especially since the next time I see them they will be living in Chicago!

Ok quit the sappy, cheesy stuff Emily!

Having Taylor and Jordan here was great. We jam packed our week full of touristy things and improv! I also started my new job (but that's a post for another day) so they had to find their way around Chicago and the CTA by themselves a lot.

Let's just dissect this day-by-day shall we?

DAY 1: ARRIVAL

After a 6 am arrival time they rested most of the morning and early afternoon (rightfully so).  After nap time we picked up Megan from Second City after her classes.

We headed down to the loop to do the obligatory Bean/Millennium Park visit.

We got to the river just in time to see the remnants of the St. Patrick's day river dyeing. 

Clearly we are all soul mates! 

And since we were in the neighborhood (and invited several weeks in advance) we headed to Alli's ritzy high rise apartment (owned by her mom) for some fun times and serious ogling at the view. 

What? No picture?!?

DAY 2: LAZY SUNDAY

We spent the day sleeping in and grocery shopping to stock up on lunch and snack food for the week. Then Taylor and Jordan headed down to Second City for a drop in class that sounded like a lot of fun! Megan and I met up with them afterwards for the free set on the Mainstage. 

DAY 3: FIELD MUSEUM

A slow start to our day still gave us more than enough time at the Field Museum to see The Chicago World's Fair Exhibit which I have been itching to see since it opened in October, only 3 days after my last visit. 

Oh and we saw dinosaurs... lots of dinosaurs 

Parasaurolophus! 

And T-Rex! 

And Brachiosaurus! Oh my! 

Then we had to high tail it out of their to go to an On Hiatus (check us out!) improv show!

"High tail"... Get it? 

DAY 4: MY FIRST DAY AT WORK 

I had my first day at my new job (but that's a post for another day) so Taylor and Jordan went to the Art Institute... 

Looking at art... 

And then met Megan and I at Second City to see The 102nd Mainstage Revue (which has since been titled

 Depraved New World and is getting great reviews). 

DAY 5: I DON'T KNOW 

Taylor and Jordan headed to The Shedd Aquarium... I think... 

Huh?

Then of course we dragged them to another one of On Hiatus' shows. 

DAY 6: THE WHOLE CITY 

I can't know for sure because I wasn't there, but I hear that Taylor and Jordan met Megan during her lunch break at the Lincoln Park Zoo. 

Followed by taking a tour of the city by going straight up! 

View from the top of the Sears Tower! 

This is a picture of the John Hancock building, which I work in...
(but that's a post for another day)

Then like the super classy kids that we are, we had a homemade meal by firelight. 

Look how cute we are! 

DAY 7: THE LAST DAY 

Taylor and Jordan braved the South Side to check out The Museum of Science and Industry and this happened: 

I mostly have no idea what happened on some of these days. I only have pictures to piece together my own stories of what I think happened. Like this:

This is clearly... Yeah... I've got nothing! You guys are one of a kind... or two of a kind...! 

DAY 8: DEPARTURE 

Yeah... I feel you guys, saying goodbye was super tough. But in no time at all you will be living the dream here in Chicago with me!

BONUS PICTURE: 

Look at these cool cats hanging out in the Cozy Corner! 

#100HappyDays

I recently saw a post on my Facebook that made me stop, it was a link to the 100 Happy Days Challenge webpage (which can be found here). I had already found myself smiling that morning because the snow on the city was so picturesque and beautiful, it reminded me of why I love the snow so much. This winter has been wrought with poor winter weather conditions that made me dread the threat of precipitation because it just meant more nasty, dirty, icy snow piles on the sides of the street. But Wednesday morning was different, the rain froze and turned into the snow and stuck to everything and left the city looking like a picture out of story book.

Day 1 Wednesday

Signing on to do the 100 Happy Days Challenge I though to myself that I could absolutely find at least one thing every day that made me happy. So here we are 5 days into the challenge and I actually look forward to what is going to make me smile in the coming days. On the website you sign up and tell them where you will be posting your pictures to and what day you started. So I started an instagram, you can find me at cozycornerwithem on instagram. The challenge has been a great way for me to document my days, find something to smile about (although it hasn't been that difficult so far). I only had one day when I forgot to take a picture during the day... not that I forgot to be happy but the weather was beautiful and I just forgot to take a picture so late in the day I took a screen shot of the weather.

I absolutely love this idea and I would encourage everyone to try the challenge. It takes almost no time forces you to find the silver lining in your life. Plus it encourages you to take pictures of your life everyday. I often feel like I don't take enough photos of my life... but now I have an excuse to take them.

What Adulthood Means to Me

Just because I am 22 years old, 90%financially independent of my parents, living in a new city on my own, and pursuing my dreams does not automatically make me an adult. An age, the ability to vote, drink, buy porn, or even financial independence are the least of the things that make a person an adult. It is true that as an adult I can walk to McDonalds in my PJs at 4 in the afternoon, eat raw cookie dough for breakfast, or stay up till 3 in the morning on a weeknight watching reruns of Friends. But does this make me an adult or just an independent child? Now don't get me wrong I will continue to be an independent child for as long as possible.

However I have decided that I want to attempt to be more of a true adult. This is not going to change everything but I am hoping it will manifest itself in some small changes that will help me look and feel more grown up and more professional. 

Buy more groceries 

While I find it totally acceptable to eat raw cookie dough for breakfast I should probably stop resorting to ordering in $30 of Chinese food just for the egg roll and soup. Even though I am a long way from making all my meals from scratch I am getting closer. The past week I only ordered in or ate out once. Progress!! 

Look more professional

During college I more or less perfected the tired theatre student grunge look. I sported the ponytail, jeans, sweatshirt outfit 7 days a week. Dont expect a full What Not to Wear transformation but I have made it my goal to reserve my baggy sweatshirts for the weekend and at the very least put on a nice pair of jeans and a nice sweater during the week. I am pretty low maintenance so makeup is a struggle for me in the morning, but a little mascara goes a long way and only takes a minute or so to put on. Baby steps! 

Open a savings account 

Nothing says being an adult like financial security not just financial independence but security. I will be moving apartments soon and some extra money for moving costs would be nice. Not to mention I would like to start a little mest egg in the event that I ever tour and need a little extra cash. I might even want to invest some money (Gasp!) in the near future. Ahhh, adulthood is closing in on me... I am thinking rationally and saying things like "financial security" and "nest egg."

Ok, so maybe I am still be far from proactively planning homemade meals, owning a whole weeks worth of presentable outfits, or even something crazy like purchasing my first home. But becoming an adult doesn't happen overnight with your 21st birthday power hour hangover and I like to think of myself as an adult so I guess I should start acting like one.