throw a WHAT’S YOUR SIGN WINE GLASS PARTY, complete with tarot card reader, astrologer and numerologist.

UVA SPA & WINE did just that… and it was a hit. why? because astrology is HOT. astrology is what the BEAUTIFUL people are into. it’s what the celebrities like. but you know what i say? celebs, schmelebs. astrology is what REAL people are into! OCCUPY
YOUR
GLASS : )

WHAT’S YOUR SIGN GLASSES are beautiful on the outside, and the inside too. they are brimming over with integrity:

***MADE WITH LOVE IN THE USA!
***PORTION DONATED TO ANIMAL CHARITY!
***LEAD & CADMIUM FREE INK!
***GWEN’S ORIGINAL ASTROLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS!
***CUTE HANDMADE BOTTLE CAP WINE CHARM!
***COLOR UNIQUE TO EACH SIGN’S ENERGY!
***SIGN-SPECIFIC BAROSCOPE READING ON IT!
***ANCIENT QUOTE: “We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born.Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.~Carl Jung”

BOYS like astrology too.

SERIOUS stuff going on here (with an anything but serious sign, aries), pouring the nectar of the gods. something they are excel at, i might ad ; )

leos always LOVE anything INTOXICATED ZODIAC. look at all those orange leo glasses below!

awww, love those sweet little cancers.

gemini, i guess you’re ok too.

“Under the Stars with Susan Miller & Friends”

***Spend the whole evening with astrologer, susan miller, and as part of the event, Listen to her one-hour talk on “All That We Can Look Forward to in 2012!”

***Renowned restauranteur, author and tv star, todd english will take you on a culinary zodiac inspired tasting.

***Indulge in an open bar featuring twelve cocktails inspired by the zodiac from mixologist and founder of Intoxicated Zodiac, Gwen Sutherland Kaiser.

***Shop in our astrology holiday shop, dance to live music, and mingle – we will all celebrate together, and share stories as we do!

Date: December 15, 2011
Time: 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM
Place: CrossBar at LimeLight, 47 west 20th street at 6th ave
Cost: $225 per ticket all inclusive of food, drinks, lecture, entertainment
(Event produced by Noise 784)
Email: Jaspre@noise784.com for more information

detained at beijing airport last month, no word has been heard from Ai Weiwei since. he might be dead for all anyone knows… for simply daring to speak his mind and create art. in hong kong, there is graffiti featuring ai weiwei’s face with a question mark, plastered all over town. this incident is attracting international attention as his shocking absence from his nyc show opening has been reported around the world.

if this is not a wake up call to think twice before purchasing products made in china, i don’t know what is. the chinese government is playing for the other team, not for the one of its people. buy made in usa! stop supporting communism. simple, right?

ai weiwei’s exhibit depicts the 12 chinese zodiac signs cast in huge bronze statues. a documentary is also in the works on this renowned artist, which has taken on a new urgency. let’s all say a prayer for Ai Weiwei, and the Chinese government, so this situation can be resolved quickly and peacefully.

aries is posing for the camera above, made entirely from paper!

just one of many zodiac windows! central park is captured in the reflection…

ride ‘em celestial cowboy…

bergdorf’s chic manequins were posed with astrolabes, sky maps and other ancient astrological devices…

here’s taurus, obviously in manhattan with the adjacent cityscape…

ah, capricorn and scorpio… best of friends in the bergdorf window!

another full-bodied window shot, for effect…

best buddies, cancer and leo, shopping with the stars at bergdorfs…

the water bearer—but as this is the intoxicated zodiac—the liquor bearer!

a beautiful star gazer… she’s too sexy for her telescope!

pisces and gemini are window buddies, along with cupid…

sagittarius and libra, amongst others.

virgo’s angelic wings, with pisces and aquarius too…

so it’s official: astrology is hot! so says bergdorf goodman…

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