I never would have guessed that I’d find something cool in a catalog that my grandma reads, but it has happened. I’m more than a little smitten with these Silver Metal Wall Tiles

They come in singles and sets of 2, and you can buy squares or triangles. They have several colors, but I mostly just like the chrome and black. What do you think?

Given the fact that many of my friends are totally unreasonable when it comes to wedding registries - they don’t register, they only add really expensive stuff, or they don’t add enough stuff - I’ve gotten kind of creative when it comes to picking out wedding gifts. I just hate giving cash/gift cards, as they seem to say, “I didn’t care enough to put any thought into this.” Sometimes I pick the perfect gift and my friend is thrilled. I’ve also struck out a couple of times.

I’m happy to say, thought, that I’ve found the perfect gift. This Personalized Baking Pan shows planning, foresight, and best of all, it gives you a chance to remind her of her brand new married name! What can be better than looking down at a great, functional gift, and getting a reminded of the fact that you now have a partner for life? The lid makes it perfect for baking stuff to take to grown-up, married people kind of events, too.

Board games get kind of a bad rap sometimes, but the truth is that they can be pretty fun if you pick the right games and pair them with the right beverages. No home should be without at least a few games that translate well into a bit of drunken fun. My criteria? Simple rules, not too many pieces, and some amount of skill should be required. Games of pure luck are no fun.

My suggestions are below, but as always, feel free to offer suggestions.

1. Pictionary - A standard. Charades is great, but if you have shy guests, they’ll probably be happier playing Pictionary than acting out movie titles.

2. Ring Toss Game Set - Yes, ring toss is a kid game and yes, it’s incredibly cheap - but it’s also a lot of fun, especially when half your team is seeing double.

3. The Paragon Radio Control Soccer Game - Another more physical game, but again, any kind of radio control game is going to be a hit. I played a very similar game at a friend’s party once and it turned into a loud, drunken tournament. The only way it could have been better is with 2-3 sets to go around and plenty of extra batteries.

4. Cranium Board Game - In the last few years, Cranium has become kind of a standard in party gaming. The game places four categories of demands on its players - Creative Cat, which involves artistic ability, Star Performer, which is guaranteed to make your quiet guests cringe (which is where the drinks come in handy), Word Worm for verbal skills, and Data Head for those people who can’t let anyone forget that they actually know the atomic weight of Plutonium and the name of our 19th president.

5. Trivial Pursuit DVD Game: Pop Culture 2nd Edition - The Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture DVD Game is a great way to make a know-it-all, smartypants kind of friend feel like the dummy for a night. It won’t change the fact that he/she is probably earning double your salary, but darn it, it’ll feel awfully good to be the one with all the answers for once.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a high school dropout or a PhD - most women get a bit of a thrill out of reading trashy celebrity gossip. Below, I’ve compiled a list of some good ones to start with if you’d like to pick up the habit. If you don’t see what you’re looking for and you’d like a more comprehensive list, contact us and we’ll get one of our personal shoppers to help you out.

What I love about Magazines.com is the fact that you can put a magazine in the cart and they’ll often present you with an offer for another related subscription at a heavy discount.

1. People Magazine - The standard. People Magazine comes once a week, and the link above lets you subscribe for 6 months or 12.

2. Entertainment Weekly Magazine - Entertainment Weekly is a little more industry-focused than some of the other entertainment magazines. It’s also considerably cheaper than People Magazine.

3. In Touch Weekly Magazine - Another Hollywood-oriented weekly with plenty of original pictures.

4. Life and Style Weekly Magazine - Life & Styles covers most of the standard celebrity gossip, but they also cover a number of lifestyle and shopping topics, too. If your man loves to give you crap about your gossip magazines, at least you can defend yourself by saying you get it for the other stuff :)

5. OK! Magazine - OK has been well-known elsewhere for years, but it’s new here in the U.S. OK makes no pretensions at being anything beyond a gossip rag.

6. Mira! Magazine - If you want to brush up on your Spanish, try Mira! It’s geared heavily towards Latin stars.

My biggest complaint with Joe’s Jeans has always been that the flare was never quite right. The Joe’s Jeans Bootcut 5 Pocket High Rise style has completely eliminated that complaint. Instead of the virtually straight-leg cut of the Socialite’s sitting in my closet, these flare out a bit more, starting at the knee.

If you don’t know why that matters, you must have a perfect butt. The ability of a good pair of bootcut jeans to mask a bit of extra curve is legendary. Every girl should have at least one pair. Don’t take that as me saying it’s not okay to have curves; I just know that in reality, almost no one wakes up feeling good about the junk in her trunk every single day. These are the jeans you want to have staring back from the closet during a moment of weakness.

While browsing the web and waiting for family to arrive this morning, I came across these cute shoes that definitely should have been on my Christmas list. They’re like a cross between traditional Vans shoes and ballet slippers, and they’d be perfect with jeans and a cute top. Even better, they’re on sale right now for $24.99 (marked down from $40).

BONUS: If you use the coupon link below, you can get free shipping over $25. That doesn’t help a lot if all you want is the $24.99 slip-on shoes, but they do have a ton of accessories under $5. Why spend the $5 on shipping if you could be getting accessories instead??

Free Shipping over $25 at Alloy.com. Use code AERAFF. Offer expires 1.8.07.

If you’re between the ages of 22-30, you can probably remember many long afternoons spent watching Saved by the Bell. And of course, one of your favorite moments was probably the “Very special episode” where drugs came to Bayside High. Everyone’s favorite obnoxious feminist / super student, Jesse Spano, succumbed to academic pressures and became addicted to caffeine pills.

If you don’t remember it, here’s a brief clip of the scene:

Anyway, Busted Tees has come up with a shirt to commemorate the scene that will live on in infamy. Check it out here.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “It’s December, half the winter is over, why do I need a coat?” That’s definitely the wrong way to think about things. I like to think, “It’s December, half the winter is left, and there are so many cute coats I could be enjoying over the next 2-3 bitter months!”

I’m sad like that, I guess. All the same, the wool coats below are really, really cute, and several are actually affordable on normal human salaries - less than $100.

1. Hannah Coat - I’m a big fan of dressed-up classics, and the buckle on this coat is a really sweet touch. It definitely brings it out of the realm of “plain winter coat” and into the realm of coats that usually cost $500 or more. Right now, it’s $79.50. What do you think?

2. Chic Applique Coat - I try to hate the folks at Boden, really I do. They have convinced me, time and time again, that I will instantly inherit their carefree but sophisticated lifestyle the moment that I unwrap their delivery. To date, it hasn’t totally happened, but that may be because I don’t own this coat. It’s very Doris Day. $99.

3. Alfani Belted Wool Coat - This is probably not the place for my own little therapy session, but I’d like to let you in on a little nightmare of mine. It begins with me in a winter coat. It’s huge, and shapeless, and makes me look like a total beanbag. My waist has completely disappeared. Then it occurred to me that I could avoid that problem in my waking hours by getting a coat with a cinched waist. This one does the trick. $186.75 on sale.

4. Soft Wool Coat in Cream
- This coat reminds me of kept wives and, well, stains. While a near-white coat is definitely not for me, most people would look pretty fantastic in a coat like this one. $385.

5. Melinda Coat - The Melinda plaid wool peacoat is very clean cut and effortless. Even if you’re wearing nothing more than a plain white shirt and jeans, you’re going to look a hundred times better with the bright plaid pattern completing the look. $98.50

Basic black and white tank tops are great to have around, especially the extra long kind. They’re plain, but they go under pretty much anything, and they’re especially awesome when paired with shirts that are otherwise too short to wear without exposing a bit of midriff/backside. Right now, Delia’s has extra long (27″) black and white tank tops for $14.50 OR $5.99 each when you buy more than 1. And seriously, who would buy just one when two tank tops are actually cheaper than one? I know the picture shows a teal top, but they don’t appear to have any of those left. In my mind, that’s not a huge deal, since black and white Solid Layering Tanks are most useful to me anyway.

If you order $25 or more, you can also get free shipping with the link below. It’s good until January 8th of 2008:

Free Shipping On Orders Over $25 at dELiA*s. Use code DTRAFF. Offer expires 1.8.2008.

I’ve been trying to get my significant other to upgrade to a cooler wallet for 6 years now. Completely immune to my charms, he continues to carry the same old boring black leather wallet. So unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t go for this awesome Stainless Steel Wallet. I’m making this post for those of you who are more fortunate - those of you whose boyfriends are open to stylish changes in their lives, or those of you who want your own stainless steel wallet to carry in your purse.

Uncommon Goods has the one below for $75-85, depending on whether you want the wallet or the credit card holder. Take a look: