In May 2005, the managers and residents of AIDSCare, a Lake View hospice, were startled to learn that they had 90 days to move out of the dilapidated mansion and coach house they had shared with an order of nuns for a dozen years. Read more

The Fiancé (yes, we made it official last Friday; check back Thursday for a full report) forced me to fill out an NCAA tournament bracket over dinner last week. All I knew was to err on the side of loyalty and pick my alma mater, KU, to win the Big Dance—but I know plenty about bars. In preparation for the Sweet 16, I've rounded up a list of top-notch NCAA-watching spots: watering holes associated with schools still in the hunt for this year's national championship. Because no one likes to cheer—or jeer—alone...

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If you love the whole Dale Chihuly-colored-glass thing, you’ll want to check out Prodigy Glassworks, a new studio I recently spotted on the happening Harrison Street strip in Oak Park, (on the way to yoga, natch). Matt Kwilas and Bob Johnson moved the studio from Westmont—both have experience in big-name studios like the Corning Museum of Glass. Let them make something for your home or garden, or take a class.

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At Wright auction house one recent evening, we thought maybe we were in L.A, except for the foot of snow outside. The people-watching was great for the opening of interior designer Kathy Taslitz’s new sculptural furniture collection, called Pieces of Ourselves. The pieces are no longer on display at Wright, but she’s opening a showroom soon. In the meantime, see the collection on her Web site.

Photos from ktaslitz.com

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My new husband and his son recently moved into my house, which meant some rearranging and merging of furnishings. So far, good. We decided that my coffee table, a gorgeous expandable, slatted walnut piece from my parents’ home in the 1960s, would look better as a bench against the wall in our entrance. So now we hunt a coffee table. There’s way too much wood in our home—a 1920s bungalow with quarter-sawn oak molding and oak shutters. So more wood is out of the question. Molded plastic is too modern. Glass-topped on thin legs would be fine. I love this Kagan one from Pegboard Modern, but it still might be too much wood. I had a wild idea that the Link sidetable from CB2 would look good. My husband is not convinced.

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Need an Outlet?
The owners of Madison and Friends (43 E. Oak St., 312-642-6403; 720 Waukegan Rd., Deerfield, 847-236-4131) and The Denim Lounge (2004 W. Roscoe St., 773-935-2820; 43 E. Oak St., 312-642-6403) have replaced the standalone Tween store in Lincoln Park with a new Madison and Friends Outlet (1963 N. Halsted St.; 312-943-0436). Co-owner David Shelist says out-of-town customers, who were less willing to make the trip up north, were disappointed that the tween...

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The thrill of victory! The agony of defeat! The anticipation of a frosty pint! Tune in tomorrow, when LGS picks the best spots to catch NCAA action. Read more
List Price: $1,599,000
Sale Price: $1,300,000
The Property: The architect Frederick Phillips designed this simple but striking house in 2000 for his widowed, 80-something mother, Katherine Bennett, who had lived nearby in a renovated 19th-century barn for four decades. “She only needed a few rooms,” says Phillips, “but she had always cherished her views of the woods around her.” Phillips designed a house that put all his mother’s needs—kitchen, living and dining room, bedroom, bathroom, and a big deck—on the second floor, with windows all around and elevator access from the...

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The hospital floor looked like a crime scene. The sheets and pillows were coated in red, brown, and pretty much every other color. Sarah's sneakers, which she never took off, were soaked all the way through in blood, and so were my socks. Somewhere, someone has a picture of me holding up my bloody socks, grinning as though I'd landed a 40-pound steelhead trout.

"How about getting in the bed now?" Kim asked Sarah.

The group helped get Sarah onto the pristine white bed, which wasn't pristine for long. It turns out that the last push, during the ring of fire, was a doozy, and Sarah ripped from one end to the other...

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