Why do I love Final Fantasy XIV?

Hey everyone! Here's me fulfilling my pre-New Years resolution by posting within a week of the last post!

This post, I would like to talk about my current obsession: Final Fantasy XIV. It's a wonderful MMO game available on the PC, PS3, and PS4. I play on PC, my boyfriend plays on PS3, and we're able to play together! Shared servers are absolutely wonderful. So without further ado, here are some (a lot) of pictures to show how amazing and pretty this game is.

 

 My character is the au'ra race, which means she has very adorable, funky horns instead of ears, scales all over her face and body, and a really cute tail. I named her Sa'rielle Chevalier.

This is my boyfriend, Zach's character. Same race, just with black scales instead of gold. He named him Naire Draaken. If you play this game, feel free to add either of us. We're on the Lamia server!

And now for Halloween event pictures! It was so cool seeing everything change for a couple weeks around Halloween. Very spooky atmosphere, and very pretty clothing options for completing the Halloween quests!

 And with Halloween over, came leveling my character's classes. I worked hard and am amost max level in one of my classes now. My favorite part of leveling is getting access to much cuter clothing than was previously available to me. Like the pictures below:

A strange outfit to fight monsters in? Why yes. Which is why these are my crafting clothes. FFXIV is great, because it's lets you be all classes, combat/gathering/crafting all on one character. So many options, it's impossible to decide what to do next!

And of course, it just wouldn't be an MMO without the bikini armor option. I just love the look though. (Bikini with an attached hood? Practical, no. But fantastically ridiculous.) I felt sort of foolish running around killing monsters in a fancy bikini, so I figured the jester hat fit particularly well.

And lastly, was my accomplishment at getting the same hat as my adorable minion. Twinsies!

So yeah, that's sort of a brief overview of my adventures so far in Eorzea. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a wonderful, beautiful game, and I highly recommend it. If you decide to pick it up, or you're already on, and you're on the Lamia server, don't forget to send a friend request to my character! And also check out my Free Company (basically what this game calls player run guilds) DeathMeister Academy!

Thank you for reading! Love you lots!

What's your favorite MMORPG?

Hey It's okay Tuesday!

Original post from Airing My Dirty Laundry. Go check out her blog if you haven't. She's one of my favorite bloggers ever!

                                                             

Hey, it's okay..

...To have not written a blog entry for a few months now. I think it's the picture taking. I haven't taken nearly as many pictures as I used to. Also, I don't want to be in many pictures because my hair is currently two different colors since I haven't redyed it, and I need to go back on my diet hard. I know I should do it anyway though, because low confidence sucks and I need to push past it and post by wonderful self up in pictures again. Soon.

...To not be as excited for the Star Wars movie as everyone else is right now. I do want to see it, but I haven't watched Episodes 4-6 of the original. Only the first three, and I admit that I slept through half of that marathon! It's just hard to take the special effects seriously for me. I know if I had grown up on Star Wars, I would probably love it. But trying to watch it now? it's hard. I'm trying though. I swear.

...To have procrastinated yet again on Christmas shopping. Panicking about whether last minute online purchases would arrive in time for Christmas morning was just so much fun last year that apparently I decided to do it again this year. One of these years I'll get it right.

...To speak up to customer service if a purchase arrives in a bad state. I hate bothering customer service people, because I'm sure they have to deal with lots of crap, especially this time of year. I try to tell myself "Sure, it's a little busted up, but oh well." but then it keeps bothering me and bothering me, and I realize that I probably should speak up. I paid for the item, I deserve quality. Luckily, Thinkgeek is an awesome website with wonderful customer service representatives. Sometimes their merchandise isn't super high quality, but usually I don't have a problem with their items, and their customer service is definitely some of the best.

...To let a video game take up most of my time. I'll admit, I haven't been doing much other than working and playing Final Fantasy XIV every chance I get. if any of you play MMOs, you know how addictive they can be. This is the first one I've enjoyed this much, and I'm loving every minute of it. If you haven't played it yet, I highly recommend it. Just be sure to let me know, so we can adventure together!

So there's my Hey, it's Okay! Tuesday list. Not very long, but it's a hectic time right now what with last minute shopping and wrapping and planning. Thank you to everyone who is understanding about my long absences from my blog. I'm going to try to get better at posting again. It's my early new years resolution! At least one blog post per week. Preferably two or three though! See you all again soon!

Stay beautiful!

My 12 Hour Journey for a Book (To Indianapolis!)

Hey everyone!

So, what did you guys do last weekend? I bet whatever it was, it was smarter than taking a 12 hour car trip in one day.

Because, yep, that's what I did this last Saturday. Armed with a blanket (because goodness that car was freezing) and a pair of sunglasses, I journeyed across 6 hours of road to get to Indianapolis. Why? Because GenCon was there, and at GenCon was a very specific book that I needed. Sure, I would be getting this book in two days when my friend arrived back home, but that wasn't nearly soon enough for my very impatient needs. And so, with a few willing friends, I made my way through Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana until we arrived at Indianapolis. (Stopping briefly at Cracker Barrel, because we were all starving, and two of our members hadn't eaten there in their entire lives, and the rest of us couldn't accept that.)

It was really neat going to Indianapolis. It was such a huge city, with such tall buildings! I mean, I've been to Chicago, but it's been quite a few years, and I can hardly remember what it was like there. So this was a very cool experience.

Upon waking from my car nap, I saw the first hint that we were nearing our destination.

I mean, I'm not a big fan of racing cars, but I've lived with fans for long enough that I knew I was very close to reaching my book. They had really cool designs like this throughout a large portion of the city that we drove through. It was really neat.

There were so many interesting things to see. There was a really large monument in the middle of the city that I wanted to take a picture of, but I wasn't able to. I plan to visit again next year though, so I'll be sure to take many more pictures, with a better quality camera next time. All I had on me this year was my ipod, so I apologize for slightly craptastic picture quality!

Over all, it was a really cool experience to be in such a big city with so many interesting buildings and monuments and decorations. I can't wait until next year when I can hopefully explore the city even more.

My boyfriend, who does so hate to have his picture taken, haha! I loved the Marriott building though. It was so pretty. Nothing like that around here!

But I got my book, I got to walk around a pretty city, and I had some delicious Cracker Barrel and Steak and Shake. Over all, it was a great time, and I really enjoyed the trip, even if I was in a car for half of the day! And my friend that I went to see ended up bringing back a present from GenCon!

Goggles! My friends basically decided I should cosplay Chandra from Magic the Gathering next year. We'll see!

Thanks for the memories Indianapolis!

Have you been to Indianapolis? If so, any suggestions for places for me to go next year??

Love you all! ♥

Hey, it's Okay Tuesday!

Hey everyone!

I really don't do enough of these, so here's my 'Hey, it's Okay Tuesday!" blog post. If you don't know what this is, or want to link up as well, you can find the original blog post here, at Airing My Laundry.

-To have traveled a 12 hour trip to Indianapolis, there and back, in one day, just to get a book two days early. (Totally worth.. check out my next blog post for details!)

-To be going on another trip only one week after my Indianapolis one! Adventureland, here I come!

-To finally be thinking about investing in some motion sickness pills for the theme park. I was always so proud of myself for being one of the only ones in my family that never got sick on any ride, no matter how ridiculously fast it spun me. But now that I'm in my twenties, I'm not nearly as impervious to motion sickness as I used to be. I think it's finally time to accept I'll need a little help to not throw up on the poor person sitting in front of me.

-To already be planning next years conventions. AnimeIowa, and GenCon! Which means lots of shopping and lots of dressing up.

-To be spending way too much money on Kickstarter lately! I mean, hey, it's for a good cause right? People want to create things that they love, and I'm helping them do it, while getting something nifty for myself too. If you're interested too, here's a few projects I'm really excited about:

• FEBO - Allowing you to create, using Sunlight!

• Rogue Queen Playing Cards!

• HypnoLights - Full color Animated String Lights!

• Once Upon a Time Playing Cards

-To have gone outside with my family to see the Space Station pass by. It looked like a star traveling across the sky. It was actually really neat to witness. 

-To have orange hair! I didn't get the chance to mention it to you guys yet, so here's the news! My brown hair is gone, and I'm officially a red head. I had to bleach my hair and everything. I really love how it turned out though, even if my roots are already starting to show up after only a couple weeks! You can see the pictures below.. It was really light orange at first, then I got more red put in it!

-To cosplay Amy Pond to AnimeIowa, even if it was a super casual, lazy outfit. Dressing up in super detailed costumes is tons of fun, don't get me wrong. But I was looking for something simple and comfy this year. And this one, along with my Sims outfit (blog post about this coming soon!) was absolutely perfect! 

-To think I look horrible as a blonde! I've loved blonde hair for a long time, but seeing myself with bleached hair definitely scared me away from ever doing it to myself. I think I'll stick with either brown or red hair (although I have to admit that pastel is super tempting!)

Well, that's all I can think of for now! If you make a "Hey, it's Okay!" blog post, be sure to link it down below in the comments so I can check it out! 

Thanks for reading! Love you all! ♥

A Question about my Blog

Hey everyone!

Short blog post here to ask a question. I was wondering how you all see the top of my blog? Is everything lined up correctly? On my last computer, everything was fine and lined up perfectly (since that's how I made it to look, of course). But on this computer, things are slightly askew.

This is how I see my blog on this computer, and was just wondering if I was the only one, or if you guys see this. The problems being that the latest tweet text is too far to the left, and that my gif in my little info center on the right is too far to the left as well, blocking out some of my words.

I would super appreciate you all letting me know what it all looks like on your computer. Thank you so much in advance.

Michelle

Zelda. So much Zelda.

Hey everyone!

So, let's talk Zelda.

I have played almost every game, minus some of the handheld ones. It's a fantastic series, and one of my favorites. Link, the silent protagonist (minus the occasion "Hya!"), has always been really important to me, even though he has absolutely no lines and no real personality. He is the savior of Hyrule. Your 'link' between your real life, and the one inside your gaming device. Whether I was saving princesses or swinging my sword at chickens (sorry, Cuccos), I always loved loading up the most recent Zelda game for my next big adventure.

So when Majora's Mask 3D was announced for the 3DS, I was incredibly excited. And even better, the New 3DS was coming out with a design absolutely perfect for my inner fangirl!

It's beautiful. I, of course, had to get it. It certainly isn't as girly or pink as my last 3DS, but I can accept that trade off for Majora's Mask. It was my favorite Zelda game growing up and still is. All of those side quests, the dark tones to the game, and the ability to change Link's species with a few very awesome masks made Majora's Mask the Zelda game dearest to my heart, even to this day.

I really love the New 3DS, and the Zelda: Majora's Mask game, and I definitely recommend you checking it out. I'll be uploading another post sometime soon with more picture of the system, since the one above doesn't really do it justice (and I recently bought a new camera, so it's time to get that baby busy).

Also, one of my very awesome friends got me a wonderful gift recently:

Rings based on the three Spiritual Stones from Zelda: Ocarina of Time! They're absolutely beautiful in person, and because they're adjustable, they fit very comfortably on any size of finger. Although, because they are so adjustable, they tend to slide off sometimes a little too easy because they loosen up over time. Just be sure to adjust them every once in a while though, and you're good.

If you want to grab your own set of rings, you can buy them from GuiltyGeeks on Etsy.

And lastly, in my personal Zelda news of the day, I recently purchased Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.Which, by itself, isn't exactly very related to Zelda. But the pre-order bonus...

A Majora's Mask pin. Silver, and absolutely beautiful. I was almost expecting it to feel cheaply made, since it's just a pre-order bonus, but no! It feels great, and sturdy. I absolutely love it, even though I had very little interest in the actual game it came with.

So, yes, so far this year, Nintendo has been very good to Zelda fans. And if you look on Club Nintendo, (which is closing soon, so check it out if you haven't lately!) you'll see that there are a couple very fantastic Zelda items up for sale. I purchased both with my Nintendo coins, and I can't wait to show them to you once I receive the items.

So, do you like Zelda?