the liquid muse herself asked if moi if i’d care to contribute an original cocktail to her latest book, THE BUBBLY BRIDE. perhaps you’ve heard of PREGGATINIS by natalie bovis-nelson? that was her first book. both are good reads with useful material to boot.

with wedding season right around the corner, you’d be wise to stock up on copies of THE BUBBLY BRIDE. for $16.95, every star struck lover deserves a tipple how-to as cute as this one! cheers to the happy couple…

studies show that inhaling lavender impairs our mental processing ability. in other words, it’s relaxing… good for a wedding? chill out bridezilla! it’s also kind of funny that lavender belongs to virgo, the virgin ; ) white wedding with lavender cocktails–how perfect!

CHILL PILL:
1 oz lavender bud-infused vodka
1 oz lavender bud syrup
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
lavender water spray or rinse
lavender soda

combine lavender bud-infused vodka, lavender bud syrup, lemon juice and shake over ice. prepare champagne flute with rinse of lavender water, or mist inside of glass with lavender water spray. strain into lavender-misted / lavender-rinsed flute and top with fair amount of lavender soda. stir briefly and serve. garnish with sprig of lavender or purple flower if available.

lavender vodka: infuse 750 ml vodka with 3 cups dried lavender buds (available at health food stores or online) allow to sit for several days and strain.

lavender syrup: bring to boil 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1/4 cup dried lavender buds and remove from heat. allow to infuse for 1/2 hour and strain. add splash vodka to act as preservative and store in fridge. note that using white sugar over raw will give a prettier pink color, while the latter will make for a darker hue.

lavender water: available at health food stores or online. for greater control and speed, i prefer misting over rinsing of glass. transfer lavender water into small spray bottle that is dark in color and store in fridge.

this spring i designed a marriage sign shot glass candle for arielle & russell. their nuptuals were performed on may 2nd, making their sacred union a taurus. then this august i helped shelly & brendan realize their leo dream-wedding: “navigating by the stars.” see pics below of both weddings, but first let me explain the concept of marriage sign astrology: everything with a beginning has a sign. hence, the day on which you exchange vows determines your marriage’s sign.

the bride and groom’s sign have don’t have much to do with their marriage sign, all though their marriage sign can impact their “couple personality.” for example, my sister is a reserved, shrewd, sensitive cancer. she got married under the sign of leo and now she’s throwing parties. normally this would have been out of character for her, but not only is there a new husband in her new life, but a new celestial influence… she just gave her hubby a set of MARRIAGE SIGN SHOT GLASSES for their tenth anniversary!

for more on marriage sign astrology check out my nuptual readings, or buy STAR GUIDE TO WEDDINGS by april elliott kent, or, visit IT’S ABOUT TIMING to calculate the most auspicious time for you and your partner to get hitched. whatever you do, think twice about saying i do on saturday. the day of saturday is ruled by saturn, the harsh planet of constriction.

arielle was really into the fact that intoxicated zodiac donates a portion of their proceeds to animal-related charity–AND–that we are also environmentally friendly. soy wax candle, recycled paper, the whole nine…. let’s raise our glasses to arielle and russell… cheers!

TAURUS MARRIAGE SIGN READING PRINTED ON GLASS:
“A Taurus Marriage: Arielle & Russell
When a wedding is held Apr 20-May 20, that marriage belongs to Taurus.
Thus, this union is permanently imbued with these Taurean traits:
SENSUALITY GRATIFICATION LUXURY RELIABILITY STRENGTH
BULLISH DETERMINATION… A toast to the stellar couple… Cheers!”

below we have the leo marriage sign shot glass i designed for shelly & brendan. we actually printed leo’s celestial cocktail recipe, rose geranium gimlet, on the back instead of a reading.

we decorated the cake with constellations… one of which was leo. notice the boat cake topper…

MRS. SHELLY DIY, used compasses instead of traditional place cards. she glued the name and table of each guest inside the compass and instructed guests to take them home.

the seas were explored by starlight and compass…

a nautical globe to set the mood in cocktail hour…

instead of a lame old guest book, we found a colossal manuscript from taschen with ancient maps of the heavens and seas printed inside. every page of this incredible book was either beautiful, informative or outright awesome. guests signed their names to which ever page they saw fit. (the feather pen was from michaels.)

on the deck, we set up a telescope. this was a HUGE hit with the kids, and i highly recommend it for any wedding just to keep ‘em busy. (forgot to snap a pic, so photo credit here)

MRS. SHELLY DIY created the three-sided menu stands. on one side she printed the constellation. on the other side she listed the history of the discovery of the constellation. and on the third side (sorry i forgot to snap a pic again), she listed the menu. all the while pasting glittery, sparkly stars across the whole thing. how leo! did i mention shelly’s a leo?

a toast to this stellar couple’s future indeed! cheers shelly & brendan…

here’s the bar booth that my friend annie designed and built. let me know if you’d like to hire her to help with your booth…

the “celestial is not a plastic body” totes grabbed a lot of attention, as they were hanging up high where they were easy to see.

below is a close up shot of the celestial cocktail candles, the shot glass travel candles, the rocks glasses and the shot glasses. (the rocks glasses are actually the candle votives sold separately. they’re not on the website yet, so if want ‘em just email me)

our new wedding line consists of a totally new concept called marriage sign astrology. it was a hit! look for us to be featured in a bunch of magazines soon…

my loyal assistant, JP, the ultimate sales dude. he hates when i call him dude ; )

launched at this show, astrology wine glasses!

remember that a portion of all intoxicated zodiac sales goes to animal-related charity! so cheers to philanthropy, and cheers to another successful show at the javitz center. but, most of all, cheers to all the new and existing stores that carry our lines and support intoxicated zodiac!

Intoxicated Zodiac’s Print Press:

so we had our first trade show here at IZ. woah… that is a big step! this is where you spend a zillion dollars and hopefully make another few in return. overall, we had a successful first show at the NYIGF… JP and I took orders from both brides and stores, spoke to product reps interested in carrying our line, stores interested in purchasing our products, magazine interested in featuring IZ, and a whole bunch of nice peeps. the best part of any trade show is the last day when you can buy up all the other vendor’s samples at wholesale cost. shopaholic here…! the other vendors were so incredibly nice… how weird is this? the one store in rhineback, new york, that carries the Intoxicated Zodiac line ended up across the aisle from us. what a small world! check out the charming southern belle, chari’s, eclectic and fun store, MERRIEWEATHER’S. this effervescent woman makes some of the best lotion i have ever slathered myself in and you your skin has not lived until it has had chari’s lavender body butter… everyone loved loved loved our booth. visitors would just halt in their tracks, as their mouth dropped in awe, to gaze upon our oh-so-creative booth. ALL thanks to my uber-talented friend, ANNIE KLOER, for building it. she is a set designer/pastel artist/trompe l’oeil painter/farmer/certifiable nut! if you would like to hire her to construct a dream booth for your brand, just shoot me an email and i will slip you her digits. she is worth her weight in gold. last but not least, thanks to margarite for letting us borrow the bar stools from her restaurant, LA PALAPA, in nyc. (some of the most authentic mexican food you will ever taste, this side of the rio grande). and the icing on this huge cake is…. yes, would you believe, we’ve even gotten some press from the show all ready in the GIFTS & ACCESSORIES MAG! check it out here…