Ibanez RG5** series.
Probably the sweetest playing guitar that you can find and once you have one, you WON'T want to let go of it.
Oh, and try out LOTS of different amps. You HAVE to find one that has a GREAT 'clean' setting and a decent variable 'dirty' (distortion) setting.
Picks. You'll want a good selection of the thin ones (.35mm) all the way up to the thick ones (.2mm)
Cords, be sure to get a quality cord that you know isn't going to break easily and cut out on you when you're plugging your guitar in for the 100th time.
Tuners... Can't really go wrong with those. I recommend the Korg CA-30 chromatic one. It's cheap, but LOTS of people (even me) use the hell out of it.
Time. Umm.... Get lots of this. You'll want plenty of it to have to yourself so that you can try stuff out and not have to worry about having to leave right when you're starting to learn something exciting.
Ditch your girlfriend. You'll have time for another one once you're great at guitar (take this how you want... I'm pretty much feeling goofy, so just disregard this one)
Strings. Are. Important! Thin gauges will be easier to play by far, but go out of tune rather quick compared to most of the thicker ones. I moved up in thickness quite a bit at one point and realized that it was putting WAY too much stress on my guitar neck and bridge (floating bridges sound cool, but unless you understand physics... They are going to be your WORST enemy when stringing up and tuning a guitar)
Hmmm..... What else to think of....