by Billimarie

Sorry CAKE, but I love long skirts and long jackets–

I know the one on the right isn’t a skirt, but, it’s raining hard (at least from a SoCal person’s perspective) here in Los Angeles and I’m in the market for a new coat.

Both of these items are from Loehmann’s, one of the best places to shop (in my opinion) IN THE WORLD. You get designer fashion brands for discounted prices, as they like to say. The skirt, Emanuel 3/4 Length Bubble Skirt, is about $125.00 regularly; at the Loehmann’s price, it’s only $39.99! The coat, Harve Benard by Benard Holtzman Wool Blend Coat, sells for about $270.00 regularly; now it’s on sale for $59.99! That is awesome. That is pure awesomeness. (When I get excited, I not only babble, I become severely repetitive.)

I picked Final Fantasy Tactics as my video game. In our household, we had two copies…somehow my crazy little brother lost it. I bought a new one for Christmas…unfortnately (or not) FFT is now a collectible’s item. When did this happen !? That’s what I’d like to know. Two years ago, I could have bought that old game for $8.00 used. Now it costs $80 - $100 new and $40 - 60 used. Ridiculous. And most mainstream game stores won’t even carry it on stock as a used game. I had to search online for the cheapest thing available ($41).

Final Fantasy Tactics came out in 1998. Unlike other FF games, it focuses less on graphics and more on…well…tactics. It’s a pure strategy game, kind of like chess for the war-hungry. I don’t want to go into too much detail about it, but check out the wiki article if you get a chance. Most people don’t understand why my brother and I find it so enjoyable. You can’t run around, you can only move a certain number of squares (once again, no freehand movement), and there are no constant attacks, just players on the field taking turns at moving and attacking. No joke, but I think I hear my brother playing it downstairs right now. It takes a long time to beat, mostly because you have to worry about things like leveling up, creating strong soldiers (not just knights and squires, but wizards, ninjas, geomancers, archers, and more), buying equipment, defeating opposing armies, learning certain abilities.

I definitely recommend trying it out. But don’t wait too long; who knows how much this game will cost in the future.

-b

By girl.

It used to annoy me to no end to flip through a magazine like VOGUE or BAZZAR and see ever so pretty clothes with less than pretty price tags. I always thought, “Really? You want me to spend how MUCH on something that I might not even like next year??” I guess this is why I tend to drop the G’s on electronics vs clothes. However, that doesn’t mean the higher priced items can’t give you some great ideas of what to look for elsewhere OR even make (if you’re super DIY fantastic like that). And upon writing that statement, I decided I should test out my own theory for this last minute holiday skirt that caught my eye from JCrew:

Apparently taffeta isn’t a cheap item to wrap on your bod. I did find a holiday skirt made from this said fabric for under $100, but only because it was on sale for $89 off the original price.

* Why you should consider: That being said, I still enjoy a skirt with a bit of shine for a holiday/new year’s party. Everyone always goes for the fancy crazy tops, so your fancy bottom helps offset you from the bunch in a subtle, holiday way.
* Wear with: DEF go with a more mute/matte top, but with a great shape/line to it. Like a V-neck or scoop neck sweater that grabs your curves in the right places.
* When to wear: Totally for a holiday party. Add some heels and kick butt with both your looks and your knock out Wii style.

In a back track sort of way, I have to say that this weekend I am saying that you should rekindle that fondness for Wii sports with friends and family who have yet to experience it. My dad somehow managed to pickup a Wii (with no clue how hard they are to get) a mere four days before Christmas…
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By girl.

My room has been going through this constant state of molting. Part of that process has been cleaning out both my bottomless drawer of computer cords as well as purging my closet. I finally decided to part ways with a much loved blue cardigan I’ve had since 7th grade (it’s stretched out beyond and 7th grade was… shit, over 10 years ago). It came from dELiAs and I realized it had been a while. So, a few minutes later I was browsing and found this skirt:

• Why you should consider: Okay, so it looks a bit like last week’s skirt, this one is a “metallic skirt with welt pockets” HELLO. Pockets AND Shiny! ie A bit functional, a bit tech like, and girl! Win, win, win.
• Wear with: If I could even do a mock turtle neck, I’d say mock off white turtle neck, dark stockings, flats, and a headband. JUST KIDDING. Warm winter sweater and some bright tights. Make that winter gloom go away.
• When to wear: A dinner party. Would be nice for Sunday.

You know, I really have to give mention to Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Most of what really needs to be said about it I’m sure already has been elsewhere (you know, gaming sites and what not).

I’ll put it this way: I bought the game and I don’t even own the Wii in my house.

What really sold me for good on the game… well, seeing a fat plumber dressed as a bee, FLYING like he needed to take a big honey dump. Oh man, SO CUTE. I love it forever.

I also love shooting star bits in those other fatty stars.

By girl.

So, what would this site ultimately be without a weekly skirt and video game of the week? Probably fairly hypocritical. This is why I’ve decided to instate a Friday Feature of “Skirt & Video Game of the Weekend.” I (or my other contributors) shall provide you with a fun game to sink your thumbs into on lazy Sunday mornings as well as skirt to get your fancy on at some point during the weekend. Ultimate combo (no pun on Killer Instinct — N64 version was fantastic BTW), right? Right. Good. Go!

If you haven’t heard yet, there is a fad going among the discount retail stores to bring in top fashion designers at low low prices. I am in full accord with this general movement. Thus I bring you one of the latest fashionista to grace the racks of nondescript strip mall middle America. Vera Wang at Kohl’s.

Perusing their site I found this skirt:

• Why you should consider: One word: Pockets. All skirts with pockets receive a +18 Awesomeness rating. Pockets are great for hands and hand held devices.
• Wear with: I’d personally go for the t-shirt and converse type shoes with this one. You could also do a v-neck sweater that falls at the waist and some knee-high boots.
• When to wear: I would probably wear this around the house or during weekend errand running. Knowing me, I’d be too lazy to change out of said outfit if I ended up hanging in that night with friends and having a beer. If you do it up with the boots, I might go for a nice Saturday lunch.

At one point in my life, I was a Resident Advisor during college. I commanded a floor of aprox 44 guys and 6 females (I went to RIT, what can I say). Not that I had an unruly floor, but it was amazing the respect level I received after none of my guy residents could beat me in LAN parties of Worm’s World Party. To this date, it’s one of my favorite PC games to play. However, days of Windows are long gone for me, let alone finding enough people who have the game AND the patch required to play. Yet, a solution was presented by Team17 & co:
Worm’s Open Warefare 2 for DSlite or PSP.
If you’ve never played worms, GO GET THIS GAME. It is a great party game that is full of “stra-te-gery” like chess, but you get to blow the crap out of little pink worms with crazy accents (I like the “brummie” accent the best). You can play both against random hand-held foes or friends with codes. Name your team, make your flag, unlock some of the special weapons via the single player puzzle mode, and get crackin. My only complaint is they got rid of the baseball bat weapon (my inner forever-a-softball-girl cries), but the holy hand grenade and donkey still exist.