More top stories

• Dress for less than $200

• Julie Deardorff: 57 pounds lost, one day at a time

• Amy Dickinson: Busybody friend needs to cool it

• The ABCs of preschool

• Putting a plug on the drain gang: The electricity slurpers in your techno home

• Ellen Warren: No such thing as too many thank-you notes

• Daughter's first period calls for recognition

• Julie Deardorff: If you're nose is running, should you be running?

• Julie Deardorff: Ease into triathlons with indoor events

• Julie Deardorff: A library of integrative health books

• Some harrumph over Michelle Obama's sleeveless dress

• Steve Dahl: Golf Camp, Day 5: Graduation day

• Dear Abby: Donations from friends put couple under a microscope

• Amy Dickinson: Mom frets over ill-advised romance

• Chicago's crossword whiz heads to tournament

• 'Dating a Banker Anonymous' revealed as satire

• Man selling bottled N.Y. tap water

• 10 tips for giving up Facebook during Lent

• How to peel and cut up winter squash

• Swim for life? Photos

• Mary Schmich: For seller of luxury pens, writing may be on the wall

Live!

• Bryan Gruley, author of 'Starvation Lake'

• If You... want a few more Black history Month choices

• "Starvation Lake" by Bryan Gruley

• "The Day of Knowledge" at Stage Left Theatre

• 'Street Fighter' better than predecessor, but still not so hot

Health & Fitness

• Bed, bugs and beyond disgusting

• How to lower health costs without raising risks

• Julie Deardorff: Maiysha's new, healthy lifestyle has no room for her eating disorder

• New research offers hope for finding pancreatic cancer early

• Many teens blame Rihanna, say dating violence normal

Women & Family

• Boredom busters that won't bust budgets

• Woman gives up wearing pants for a whole year

• Julie Deardorff: Smart Minute

• When is it OK to spy on your kids online?

• Supermarket skincare spawned from the produce department

House & Homes

• Ahhhhhh, house: With a little thinking, hardly any investment at all (and these 19 tips), you can turn yours into a very, very, very fine house

• Mary Umberger: It's the McMansions' style, not size, that counts

• More snoops

• Smitten by S Factor, actress Denise Vasi brings a pole of her own to her Manhattan apartment

• It's time to do dormant pruning on overgrown shrubs

Play

• Cornered: Magnolia and Wilson

• Check It Out, best-bet events for the weekend

• Love-hate

• VIDEO REVIEW ON THE WEB

• Eat: Sticky toffee pudding

Food

• Let the chips fall ...

• Tips brewing at Coffee Fest

• Price check: Sweet potatoes

• Beer of the month: Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

• Letters from our readers

Fashion

• How Ikram Goldman became Michelle Obama's closest fashion adviser

• 4 steps to 'Shopaholic' waves

• Here are other ways to flatter the figure

• Today's shapewear smooths you out, stays comfortable

• Fashionistas reflect

Books & Media

• Hats off to Lincoln

• Best-sellers lists: Fiction and non-fiction

• FROM THE PRECINCTS: What books are selling in Chicagoland?

• Struggles in the Big Easy

• "Live Through This: A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love," by Debra Gwartney