our trunk show was so successful last weekend that we’re doing it again~come visit gwen at henri bendel this april 15-18 (thursday, friday, saturday, sunday) and check out our celestial cocktail candles in person… cheers! (bendels is located on the corner of 56th street and 5th avenue next to harry winston. hours: thursday/friday/saturday 10am-8pm, sunday noon-7pm. IZ will be located on the ground floor)

meet IZ’s newest guest blogger: the lovely dr. christina grant!

Just when I think there isn’t anything new going on, I get to awaken to a fresh perspective. I recently spent a weekend with a group of 80-somethings. Well, not the entire weekend, but a good portion of it. My mother-in-law, Sue, a gentle-but-mysterious Scorpio (who has never had to color her long dark hair) is now 80. We surprised her one moon-lit Friday night with a party attended by a group of about 50 people. “Amazing an 80-year-old has so many friends!” I heard someone quip. Most of the attendees were indeed her friends, the others were family and her sons’ friends who she knew since they were in grade school.
photo credit
I got to meet many of Sue’s friends, a couple of whom had difficulty navigating the few stairs leading up to the party venue, but all of whom were as mentally spry and fun-loving as teenagers. Dollie, a direct and sassy Aries, is one of Sue’s Stanford friends that lives, not surprisingly, on her own in San Francisco. Just like a ram, she still hikes Bay Area trails. Hip, fashionable, and smart, she wasted no time starting up conversation. “You know what I did last April when I turned 80 to avoid a surprise event like this?” she asked me. “I ran off to Egypt.” Egypt? At 80? Later, I told a friend, “I wasn’t aware of the prejudice I’ve had. I bought into the assumption that we all get decrepit and senile, presumably around age 75.”

But Sue, Dollie, and the others taught me otherwise. Wise and loving, sparkling eyes standing out in wrinkled, knowing skin, I learned some things from my elders this weekend. I learned that life can be fun and interesting and engaging well beyond middle age. Maybe more fun than it is right now. That friendships can last forever. I learned that it isn’t unusual for an 80-year-old woman to be beautiful, stylish, engaging, smart, interesting, funny, and in-the-know. And I had been concerned about entering my mid-40s.

The following night we hosted a smaller dinner party at our house in Sue’s honor. Guests included her 84-year-old sister Claire, here from Geneva nimbly traveling the States visiting friends and family, and 80-year-old Trudy, another one of Sue’s best friends. Nothing about these women was any different than the rest of us except they are calm, patient, and wise. Nothing got past them, either. There is something reassuring about being with these capable, aged women. If they haven’t seen it all, they’ve at least heard about it. As the evening wound down, I was sad to see them go, Claire promising we’d meet again soon.

Many times I’ve considered writing about honoring our elders, because it is something our society doesn’t do. Instead, we ignore them, toss them aside; they are the invisible ones in our worship-the-youth culture. Is this practice we have of valuing youth over wisdom enlightened? We need our elders to teach us, to fill the great void of depth and meaning our culture faces, to be our stability just as they are in indigenous cultures. When will we let them?

I had the great good fortune that weekend of spending time with folks who grew up during the Great Depression, lived through World War II, educated themselves, then experienced decades of interesting events and change while keeping hopeful and engaged in life. If only I could see them on a regular basis, perhaps I’d never think that there isn’t anything different going on in life. No, Dollie would have Egyptian adventures to tell while knowing the best plays and museum exhibits in the city, Sue would know why Stanford beat Cal and why Obama had to send a few more troops to Afghanistan, Claire would demonstrate how at 84 one can keep her mind as spry as a college student, and Trudy would exemplify how to remain calm through anything while preparing crab (“do you have a hammer?”) for a friend’s birthday dinner.

in honor of the gin in this cocktail… how sick is this necklace? buy it! in celebration of women’s golden years, let’s toast with the MERRY WIDOW…cheers to ageless living!

MERRY WIDOW NO.1
0.5 tsp Benedictine
1.0 dash Orange Bitters
1.25 oz. Gin
1.0 each Peel Twist Lemon
0.5 tsp Sambuca
1.25 oz. Dry Vermouth

Stir all ingredients (except lemon peel) with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add the twist of lemon peel and serve.

Dr. Christina Grant is a holistic healer and spiritual counselor who uses astrology in her work to help people better understand their purpose and life circumstances. She works in person and by phone. She has helped hundreds of people attain physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being through personal transformation. Her writing is published nationwide. To learn more, see WWW.CHRISTINAGRANT.COM

check out FUSION LOVER ZODIAC high fashion collection by new york designer, jade chiu. some of jade’s designs are pretty avante garde, but they’re all sexy as hell. i’m a dog in chinese zodiac (according to the new astrology by suzanne white. until i contacted suzanne i was under the impression i was a boar—she straightened me out right fast). so what exotic outfit is your sign, baby? visit JADECHIUWANLIN.COM to find out.

it’s not that my biological clock is ticking or anything, because i’m pretty sure i’m not in possession of one, but these glasses are too cute for words. get a set of eight plastic crystal cut wine goblets and tumblers for $4 at ikea. perfect for the little girl, or little boy, with a birthday coming up!

i just thought these glasses were so original. (which means ten stores will copy them for next season and sell them for 1/4 the price. but, these adorable specimens might just be odd enough that they won’t appeal to mass market and hence won’t be worth knocking off…)

but do you see the bellies on these babies? perfect for the to-be-mom, or spare-tired mate, or me.

$85 available at BERGDORF GOODMAN on 5th and 59th.

i don’t know about you, but valentine’s day is my least favorite holiday. relationship pressure, obligatory materialism, societal stigmas… the list of reasons why it sucks is endless. like taxes, it exists and must be dealt with.

enter PINKY VODKA—valentine’s day solved. it’s a bouquet in a bottle! boy or girl, any lovely human will lust for this exquisitely designed vessel. sexy and slender, it’s shape emulates the style of luxury perfume. inside, the hand-blended swedish vodka is a rose quartz shade of blushing pink derived from rose petals, violets and wild strawberries, which all come together in a subtle floral nose and flavor.

despite the flowers, your man won’t think this is too girly. he’ll like it even more if you play bad bad bartender and shake your booty while shaking up a rose water gimlet. don’t forget to rim… the glass. he just might propose on the spot.

visit PINKY, the world’s most beautiful vodka.
750 ml $50; WALLYWINE.com

DRINK FOR THOUGHT:
apparently we don’t know the zodiac sign of st. valentine. it is however, ironic, that this holiday was created in the month of aquaruius, which is the sign of universal love. we as a society have chosen to take aquarius’ one love concept and make it intimate. valentine’s day is now a romantic love holiday, rather than the holiday of love for humanity it was perhaps intended to be?

The fact that Intoxicated Zodiac’s Candles are made with a 100% natural vegetal wax is often overlooked. But our Cocktail Candles are actually greener than kermit! Thanks to VEG NEWS for noticing, and mentioning us in an extremely informative article below.

I’d like to also mention that Intoxicated Zodiac donates an annual portion of its sales to animal-related charities. Last year we contributed to THE NATIONAL ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY (navs.org). This year we’ll support NY CLASS (ny-class.org). This group supports carriage horses.

the best holiday windows are consecutively BERGDORF GOODMAN’S. this year, one of the windows concerned a chapter on alcohol—and of course—this window was designed by pisces, ALEXANDER MCQUEEN! pisces is the zodiac sign of the alcoholic. (i even list mr. mcqueen on the back of my pisces COCKTAIL CANDLE box as a FAMOUS FELLOW DRUNK). the charts of alcoholics were studied and it was found that those with a prominent placement of PISCES in their chart were more prone to the disease. PISCES rules the planet of NEPTUNE and is an escapist, dreamy, disconnected, other-worldly personality. PISCES men are sexy as hell-and they design the most fantastic clothes ; ) but so how cool is this window though?!

PSHENYCHNAYA VODKA is known for its keepsake bottles, each of which houses russian vodka. i was lucky enough to snag one of these collector’s edition bottles this christmas! check him out—the look on his face indicates he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders (much heavier than a sleigh full of toys).

bendel’s store theme this season is the cocktail, and a promenade through this landmark shopping destination makes that clear. there are cocktail displays EVERYWHERE. if you can’t get there in person, take a stroll through the pics below.

the front windows invite the shopper into a retail wonderland with a product-filled martini glass pyramid and candy-filled glasses…

wow, bendels recycled wine corks… they look terrific painted white, resembling a lovely layer of fresh champagne snow afoot a mountain of perfectly frosted martini glasses.

how awesome are these pin-up martini girls sitting in their glasses?

and last but in no way least, the walls are adorned with my very own ZODIAC COCKTAIL graphics! on the 3rd floor, there are all sorts of astrology and alcohol-themed goodies… including our COCKTAIL CANDLES and SHOT CANDLES.

cheers to a divine 2010!