It's a gray day around here, so I'm blogging something perky: style.

First off, au revoir to Steven, the Museum of Science and Industry textile designer who was auf'd on Project Runway last night. What do you think? Was it his time to go? I'll refrain from comment, since I haven't been keeping up with the show. But there he was, sipping a drink a few weeks ago at a gay sports bar in Uptown. A bunch of his friends had gathered to watch the premiere; poor Steven cried out halfway through the evening that...

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It's a gray day around here, so I'm blogging something perky: style.

First off, au revoir to Steven, the Museum of Science and Industry textile designer who was auf'd on Project Runway last night. What do you think? Was it his time to go? I'll refrain from comment, since I haven't been keeping up with the show. But there he was, sipping a drink a few weeks ago at a gay sports bar in Uptown. A bunch of his friends had gathered to watch the premiere; poor Steven cried out halfway through the evening that...

" />

It's a gray day around here, so I'm blogging something perky: style.

First off, au revoir to Steven, the Museum of Science and Industry textile designer who was auf'd on Project Runway last night. What do you think? Was it his time to go? I'll refrain from comment, since I haven't been keeping up with the show. But there he was, sipping a drink a few weeks ago at a gay sports bar in Uptown. A bunch of his friends had gathered to watch the premiere; poor Steven cried out halfway through the evening that...

" />

It's a gray day around here, so I'm blogging something perky: style.

First off, au revoir to Steven, the Museum of Science and Industry textile designer who was auf'd on Project Runway last night. What do you think? Was it his time to go? I'll refrain from comment, since I haven't been keeping up with the show. But there he was, sipping a drink a few weeks ago at a gay sports bar in Uptown. A bunch of his friends had gathered to watch the premiere; poor Steven cried out halfway through the evening that...

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List Price: $4.3 million
The Property: This two-story penthouse with views of the lake and the city to the north, east, and south is a complete period piece from the late 1980s. The glittery aesthetic of the era shows through in everything from the sleek round-edged cabinetry painted with gleaming auto-body paint to the spiral staircase surrounded with mirrored glass panels and steel supports painted mauve.

The penthouse has an indoor pond, numerous built-in banquettes and tables, shelves of multicolored granite, a tanning bed, and an underlit glass catwalk to the master bedroom...

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Greece Is the Word
Have a taste for revani? Loukoumades? Psaronefri? “You’ve never had Greek food like this, very individualized items,” says Toni Di Meola about the food at her two-week-old Mythos (2030-32 W. Montrose Ave.; 773-334-2000). She and Vicky Zervas—her sister and partner—were born and raised in Athens and they hand-squeeze every lemon and use herbs carried back from Greece by their mother. But the sisters are most proud of the deep fryer that they have never used. “It came with the property, but we pan fry or sauté everything in extra virgin olive oil,” says Di Meola. “We don’t want the smell of the grease.”

BTW: Revani is a semolina flour cake made with 16 eggs; loukoumades are puff balls sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey; and psaronefri is charcoal-broiled pork tenderloin served with...

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Several months ago, a pianist named Lisa Kaplan invited me to a house party at a gorgeous mini manse in Gold Coast. Lisa was going to be performing with a few members of her classical sextet, Eighth Blackbird; they were touring a lot at the time, and this was one of the few opportunities I had to check them out.

I dragged my friend Maria with the promise of wine and pretty music, but I really didn't know what we were getting into. A contemporary classical sextet from Chicago? Rocking a house party on the Gold Coast? It was, admittedly, a little awkward...

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Do you know someone who has recently lost or is about to lose his house in a foreclosure? If you don’t, you may very soon—and that’s true whether you’re rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle. The latest and most precise figures show that foreclosures are on the rise everywhere in the Chicago area, including such affluent places as Glencoe, Lake Forest, Hinsdale, and Lincoln Park.

Last week, the National Training and Information Center released figures compiled by Record Information Services (RIS), a data-gathering company based in far western Kane County. The figures compare the number of new foreclosures in the first half of 2006 with the same period in 2007. They are broken out for 77 individual...

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From his home in suburban Chicago, former army paratrooper Matthew Currier Burden took his fight to a new battlefield: the blogosphere. In the process, he has reshaped war coverage by giving soldiers a forum for their frontline dispatches Read more

The cramps are gone, but now Sarah's entire body has begun molting. Everywhere she goes, layers of skin fall off, leaving little anthills of white stuff behind. Our couch looks like the Canadian Rockies. And she's always itchy, scratching until her skin is red and splotchy. She's got me scratching those impossible-to-reach spots on her back ("HARDER! HARDER!"), and she isn't satisfied unless I practically break the skin. I'm thinking of keeping a pair of spaghetti tongs on the bedside table...

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What happens when politicos plan a rock concert?

It gets freaky, in a the-last-time-whoever- planned-this-last-turned-on-the-radio-in- the-1990s sort of way.

Of course, the music was not the point of the Chicago Rocks for Change concert this weekend at the Riviera. The point was raising money for Barack Obama, who came out at the end of the Wilco set, gave frontman Jeff Tweedy a big bear hug, and got the crowd hollering with a rousing speech...

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Our Last Girl Standing is taking a seat for a couple of days while she gets over a cold. She anticipates a full recovery by Thursday; check back then for the latest from the nightlife front. Read more

Art, Smart
The new Andersonville Galleria (5247 N. Clark St.; 773-878-8570) lets you shop local with less legwork by combining the wares of more than 40 artists in one three-floor, loft-like space. Here you’ll find stall after stall of everything from fine art to T-shirts to toffee. The nice selection of artists and designers also includes many that are usually only available online, such as world-shoppe.com. Hand-printed tees from Novem Studios include a black one with a graphic silver el ($25). You’ll find vases and sconces from the Streeterville florist City Scents; antiques, such as the fun and kitschy assortment from Vintage Swank; Chicago-themed coasters from Denise Riesen ($35 for four); and fine art from boldly graphic oils to photography. This one-stop shopping galleria is so inspired, we hope it catches on in other neighborhoods. The top floor is scheduled to open, with 45 more stalls, in...

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