The retail battle royal that is the holiday season is upon us. All kinds of products are vying for our attention this year — so many that we needed reinforcements to sort through them. So we turned to our indispensable and valued office manager and all-around Italian-pixie dynamo of morale here at PGN, Carol Giunta. Our Christmas Carol, if you will …
She is the glue that keeps PGN running like the well-oiled machine filled with screaming, petulant Veruca Salts and Augustus Gloops that it is, and the staff would be lost without her … until an appropriate and equally high-strung replacement could be found. But we are dreading that day.
Anyway, between her normal mountain of office duties, planning our annual Christmas picnic (“What flavor of Capri Sun would you like?”) and forcefully deflecting our desperate pleas for raises and candy, she helped us sift through some of the products that could end up underneath some trees this holiday season and chimed in when appropriate.
Remember when you were a kid and all you wanted to see under the Christmas tree was a shiny new bike? This year the dream and excitement can live again with the brand-spanking new Vespa 946, the company’s first new model in six years. These stylish handmade machines are not the Vespas your parents backpacked around Europe on. These models are bigger, beefier and more powerful, splitting the difference between their European counterparts and American motorcycles, yet still classified as scooters. With a starting price hovering just under $10,000, there is a bit of sticker shock, but you can tell where all the money goes with the new Vespa’s modern, but still cool, retro looks and an estimated 155 miles-to-the-gallon fuel economy. Plus, you will look like a million dollars tooling around the city on one of these.
We’d like to thank Manny at Vespa of Philadelphia, 1001 N. Second St., for letting us drool all over his fleet of attractive two-wheelers. For more information or to try one out, visit www.vespaphilly.com or call 215-625-0101.
CC: The Vespas make me wish I had a driver’s license. I feel like “Sons of Anarchy” on one of these things! PGN: You’d have to wear a helmet. CC: No thanks, it would ruin my hairdo.
Nothing says “Feliz Navidad” like tequila. And what better tequila to toast the holidays than Pura Vida Tequila, a favorite at House of Blues locations all over the country and hyped by rock stars like Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Sully Erna of Godsmack. We had a chance to sample the brand’s Anejo Tequila, an ultra-premium version, aged for a minimum of one year in high-quality, American oak bourbon barrels. The aging process allows the tequila to darken and mature, resulting in a flavor that’s smoother, richer and more complex. For more information, visit www.puravidatequila.com.
PGN: Christmas Carol, do you like tequila? CC: I used to be able to drink tequila. Now I just stick to wine. PGN: We can take a hint. More for us! Pass the salt.
Any company that wants to remove unwanted hair and intolerance has got our attention. If you like your personal grooming and social consciousness to intermingle, then turn to Axiom For Men’s line of products, like pH-balanced Hair Removal Cream, which can be used in all of your most sensitive areas and won’t fade your tattoos, and the cleansing gels and shave creams. The company envisions a free-spirited world where all LGBTQ and their allies can live and thrive together. To that end, Axiom For Men directs money from the sale of their products to a number of LGBTQ charities. For more information, visit www.axiomformen.com.
Lifestyles offers some new products for the ladies this season with a museTM Personal Pleasure Massager. Created for women by women, this discreet massager enhances stimulation through quiet vibration, massaging all external areas of the body with five different rhythms and three different intensities in each rhythm.
CC: What am I supposed to do with that? PGN: Well, we’re sure as hell not going to tell you.
The holidays are usually when we catch up on the TV shows and movies we didn’t have the time to catch all year. And to that end, we recommend season four of the acclaimed sitcom “Modern Family,” the second season of the tense spy drama “Homeland,” the 16th season of “The Simpsons” and the outrageous girl-buddy cop film “The Heat.”
Good luck with your shopping and happy holidays!