The Fashionista's Book List

Take your love for fashion to the next level with a few of these books on your coffee table:             The Cocktail Dress by Laird Borrelli-Persson($21.99). A fun and informative book about the history of the cocktail dress.     The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and […]

Exploring Bucktown & Wicker Park

This dynamic area on Chicago’s northwest side is the home of some of the best food and shopping in the city. Here are some suggestions if you’re heading to Bucktown and Wicker Park.   For breakfast, try… The Bongo Room The creative courses dished up at this pancake house are worth the wait for a […]

Activist Honored for Her Fight Against “Appearance-ism

As a young Jewish girl, Anya Cordell read The Diary of Anne Frank, and wondered whether she would have had the same kind of courage as the people who helped the Frank family hide during the Holocaust. Many years later, Cordell proved to herself that she could follow, in her small way, in the footsteps […]

The Cheese Stands Alone: Dane County, Wisconsin

The legends are true.   Less than three hours north, starting in Madison and meandering in every direction along back-country roads dotted with family farms, cornfields and quaint old dairies, you’ll find the best place in the nation to spend a weekend overindulging on cheese. Old World Emmentalers made in copper-lined Swiss kettles. Impossibly creamy […]

Daytripper: Barrington

The town of Barrington is seeing a renaissance, with new shops and restaurants opening their doors in the charming downtown area.   This is only heightening the sense of community. “There’s a homey feel, and it’s nice being able to walk through town and know the store vendors,” says chef Mary Rose Hoover. “There’s a […]

Multi-Generational Travel: The Ultimate in Family Bonding

Gather up the grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and second cousins twice removed: Multi-generational trips are the hottest trend in the travel business.   “The fastest growing segment of our business is multi-generational travel,” says Geoffrey Kent, chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent, the Oak Brook-based luxury travel company. “Our clients don’t just want to […]

Women Who Rock

Who says men cornered the market on beng musical influences?   Here are a handful of female singer/songwriters you must know—now! Joni Mitchell: May stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century. Val’s take: “The inspiration of many female singer songwriters today.” Natalie Merchant: Socially conscious poet with […]

Paul Corona: Opera Singer, Elk Grove Village

Paul Corona leads what he calls “the pampered life” of a successful opera singer.   Since graduating from Northwestern in 2006, he has performed in numerous operas with the Lyric, jet-setted to New York and Santa Fe to perform, and won several awards. This fall, the happy-go-lucky bass-baritone makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera […]

Susie McMonagle: Actor, Evanston

“Theater is a living, moving art,” says Susie McMonagle, the Evanston actress who is starring in the Chicago production of “Billy Elliot.”   “It’s a collaborative work of art; that’s what I love about it,” she says. And the theater loves McMonagle right back. She is “Mum” in “Billy Elliot,” which is a great tear-jerker […]

Getting Guys Out into the Wild: Macho Male Trips

There are as many reasons for guys to travel together as there are places to go:  thrill seeking, personal challenge or just good, old-fashioned bonding time.   Come travel with these North Shore fellas on their journeys of Manly Mayhem. Peter Heck, of Glencoe, made his first foray into buddy travel with a windsurfing safari/bachelor […]