It’s a rare place that can feed your curiosity, nurture your creativity and put you at ease. Happily, Elizabeth Rose’s Wear Art Studio achieves it all. Warm colors, natural lighting, antique embellishments and vintage oddities—like the retro salon hair-dryer in the corner—fill the space. The studio has even hosted 26 kid participants in a Graffiti […]
Ryerson Woods in Deerfield may be one of the North Shore’s best-kept secrets. Despite its sprawling size of 552 acres (279 of which are officially dedicated as an Illinois Nature Preserve), Ryerson’s Assistant Director Deb Donnelley says many visitors to the woods are “shocked to find it exists.” Surprise soon turns to wonder, as they […]
When you walk into the Tully Academy of Irish Dance in Glenview, you immediately find yourself in the middle of a Gaelic fairytale. The walls are painted lime green and fire engine red, with murals of Irish dance costumes, Irish dancing shoes and Gaelic words, and the halls are lined with elaborately embroidered dresses in […]
“Just tell me one more time, which is the port side?” I shamelessly ask of Jenn Gibbons, our ROW coach. She laughs and points to the side of the boat I will be rowing. One would think I could get that straight, but the middle-aged brain is mysteriously sievelike at any given moment. My fellow ROW […]
Root2Fruit, the brainchild of Ann Balusek and her sister Nancy Mammel, is a grant program that nurtures grassroots not-for-profit organizations in Evanston. Just like the organizations that it helps, Root2Fruit started with a simple idea grounded in giving back to the community. Utilizing the resources of a family foundation set up by their father, Balusek […]
For many of our children, the beginning of school means a trip to Staples, Office Max or Target with a long list of school supplies. It’s a yearly rite of passage, and many hours are spent selecting just the right colorful binder or sparkly gel pen. But for more than a third of the elementary […]
As a designer with Space Defined, I delight in working on so many beautiful homes on Chicago’s North Shore. At the same time, however, I am constantly reminded that many have so much—while others have so little. I am often asked by clients for recommendations on where they can donate furniture that is no longer […]
You’re in St. Moritz, Switzerland, barreling headfirst down the fastest bobsledding track in the world at speeds upwards of 90 mph, moving so fast you can feel the wind encasing you. It’s strange to hear someone describe this experience with words like “calm” and “peaceful.” But this is exactly how Winnetka resident and Olympic bobsledder […]
My friend grimaced throughout our lunch. “That birthday party was too much,” she complained as her fork poked at her salad. “The hosts aimed for ‘magical,’ but overshot it by tens of thousands of gaudy dollars.”
A warm fuzzy mood is sweeping the blessed-by-fortune set. “Ostentation is out; charity is in.”
