When the company Shannon Goodrich worked for lost its office, she had a hard time finding the right place to work remotely. The library was too quiet for phone calls. Coffee shop work resulted in high spending and high calorie consumption. At home, her children got back from school just a bit too early to call it a day.

When Nick Janecki landed on Alcatraz Island during a family vacation in San Francisco, he couldn’t help but imagine himself there in the past. Two and a half years later, those daydreams have been self-published in his first novel, “Pier 33.”

A smattering of small Christmas trees, aligned uniformly and draped in modest lights, line the 400 block of Elmhurst’s Fairfield Avenue each holiday season – a tradition the block has maintained for 65 continuous years.

Zen Burgos hates running. In fact, she dislikes it so much that in 2015 she opened The HIT Locker, a gym in which elliptical cardio and strength training guide workouts. Now the gym is rebranding as ELLIPTIHIT to make it even clearer that at Burgos’ gym, running isn’t the only way to get fit.

There’s nothing quite like a home-cooked meal, and on Thanksgiving Day, St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Downers Grove plans to serve one up hot to anyone in their community.

For those hoping to let off some steam this winter, the Elmhurst History Museum’s new exhibit may be just the ticket.

When one of Erin Doty’s close friends lost her brother, Tom Gilbert, in Iraq, something good came out of it: she met her husband, a marine who was the Gilberts’ casualty assistant officer. Now, years later, she has brought her appreciation of the military to Belle Aire School, where she put on their first Veterans Day assembly Nov. 11.

Two pilots — Karen Koenig, class of 1975, and David Forgan, class of 1951 — will be inducted into the Lyons Township High School Hall of Fame at a ceremony Sept. 28. Both Koenig and Forgan earned the nomination for success in their respective careers and for service to their communities.