I feel like a brat writing this post because I’m an only child and I always feel like the world revolves around me.

I’ve been a WoW subscriber for about 7 years now. I’ve maybe missed a month or two over the years due to shit that was going on in my life. But I’ve faithfully played/paid for this game for a long time. I used to participate on my server forums, doing a weekly ‘work chat’ but not really hanging out on the class specific forums because it was so full of people who were just mean. Same thing with pretty much any forum on the official blizz server. But I did participate when I could.

I run on a Mac, which I’ve been doing for about 5 of my 7 years. I had to retire my MBP when Cata came out because Blizzard no longer supported PowerPC, but I went along with it. I eventually bought a $1300 dollar iMac, not only to play WoW, but you know, to do other stuff….. yea….When I write tickets, Im not an asshole, I try and bring some RP for whatever issue I’m having. I think that Im a good patron of the Blizzard.

While I spent the bulk of my past 7 years on one server, I’ve transferred my druid the instant blizzard opened paid server transfers, only to have them announce that the three month cool down was now 1 month, I went back to my old server. I finally moved 3 chars alliance side and I’ve been very happy here for about a year now. I’ve spent a LOT of money with Blizzard.

I signed up for the AP long after they announced it. It was maybe 2 weeks ago (after much bullshit AND having to put in a ticket about my account not being eligible to) but I signed up. I wasn’t the first but regardless. I still signed up.

From what I’ve read, and what I personally heard at Blizzcon, (another thing I paid for) I thought I would get in Beta a bit sooner. The whole ‘when it goes live’ thing is…..up to interpretation. However, after what I heard at Blizzcon and then read that it was Time Played + Sign Up =Beta Invite. I just feel a bit jipped. I’ve seen people who haven’t played in a year get into beta. People who haven’t played less time than me but have some blog get into beta and all they’ve done so far is basically beg for website hits with their screen shots of new content. It just makes me mad.

I’m not the kind person that would log in and be like OMG I GOT IN AND LOOK AT ALL THESE PRETTY SCREEN SHOTS AND LOOK AT ME STREAMING SHIT. I want to be in Beta to help the game that I adore, the game that has made me laugh and has helped me make so many amazing friends over the years. I met my best friend here. I met the man I’m probably going to marry here.

I am someone you want in Beta. I will spin around casting the FUCK out of shit and tell you what graphics clips. I will tell you that when my water ele is running around, his water graphic clips at a certain point. I want to do bug reports. Not just post about all the beautiful, wonderful amazing things that the designers have created. I don’t give a fucking shit about blog hits. I just want to make this game better not only for me, but for everyone who has a blog dedicated to the game but is blinded by their site hits and twitter followers to actually do something for the game.

I make no apologies to those of you who I follow on twitter who do this. Do your thang. I get why you get all hype about being in the beta. I really get it. Don’t’ take it personally. I won’t if you call me out for being ‘bitter.’

Im just saying…I’ve been a dedicated patron over the last 7 years, and I’m feeling left out.

I hope that I will get in eventually. A month before the game actually comes out, alright…that’s ok, it helps me decide what class I’m going to play in the expansion. But if that is the case, you’re going to disappoint someone who’s’ been faithful to Blizzard/WoW for the last 7 years.

I can’t help that I love you. I just wish you would keep your promises.

Remember the other day when I made the Cheesy Quinoa Bites? Well, I had some left over and thought they would make a delicious addition to my breakfast cups that everyone in my house has been loving lately. Again with 5 ingredients, I’ve transformed breakfast into something quick, portable and of course fucking delicious.

I love instagram, it makes me look like a real food blogger

jumbo muffin tins lined with turkey bacon and the the quinoa bite

ready for the oven

ready for travel or just sitting at the table

6 Cheesy Quinoa Bites
6 slices of turkey bacon
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
4 green onions, diced
6 eggs

Grease your large muffin tin then line the sides with the turkey bacon. Drop one cheesy quinoa bite in the bottom of the tin. Add the mushrooms to each tin and a bit of the green onion. Crack one egg into each tin, then top with the remainder of the green onion. Bake at 350 for 15-30 minutes depending on how you like your eggs. Serve with Sriracha or your favorite hot sauce. (If your favorite hot sauce isn’t Sriracha, you’re a communist.)

The swell thing about these breakfast cups is that I can put them together at night and just pop them in the oven on school days. I put them in coffee cups, with forks, hand them to the kids as we’re walking out the door when we’re running late. We’re almost always running late. But arrive precisely when we are supposed to. The breakfast cups are totally versatile with so many options of fillings.

What would you put in your breakfast cup?

Enjoy!
Noel♥

What has 5 ingredients and is the one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my pie hole? Its my adapted version of Paula Dean’s Grilled Pork Loin, that’s what. I omitted the mustard, tamarind, and scallions, but used her technique of making a delicious sauce with the left over marinade.

Look at that bad boy. Kinda phallic I know.

simple saute of mushrooms and sugar snap peas

lovely plate of goodness

Citrus Grilled Pork Loin

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Orange Marmalade
Juice from 1 large orange, plus pulp and a bit of zest
3 garlic cloves crushed
1 lbs pork loin

Whisk the first four ingredients together. Place your pork loin in a shallow dish, or zip lock bag, pour marinade over and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Remove the loin and place on a well oiled grill pan, reserve the marinade. Grill the pork loin on medium heat for 30 to 40 minutes until done. While the loin is grilling, pour the leftover marinade into a small sauce pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and stir occasionally until thickened. You may need to run it through a strainer if you don’t want little bits of orange zest and garlic. Remove loin from the grill, let rest for 5-10 minutes covered and then slice. Drizzle the sauce over the slices of pork loin.

I like mine a tiny bit pink, I know I know, I’m going to hell for that, but I don’t care its really tasty. I served mine with a quick saute of portabella mushrooms and sugar snap peas. Of course the kids went to TOWN on this dinner. The 1lbs pork loin was only $5 bucks at trader Joes. The snap peas were $2.50 and the mushrooms were $2 bucks. So I fed 4 people for about $2.37 a person. Not bad for something so delicious!

Enjoy!
Noel♥

I fucking love Tastespotting.com like I fucking love arugula. Its a site that I can spend hours on, getting ideas and drooling over food. When I was there the other day, I came across some delicious looking Cheesy Quinoa Bites from Becky over at So Very Blessed. Her site is sweet and fun and I’m sure she doesn’t have a mouth like a sailor like I do, but MAN, can this woman whip up a good cheesy quinoa bite! Just a few simple ingredients make these snackable baked yummies delicious.

I omitted the cilantro, garlic and flour, but I think they still came out great. I plan on popping the leftovers in my jumbo muffin tin, lined with turkey bacon, then topping with a cracked egg and some cheese, then baking again for a yummy breakfast.

From this

To this!

I might bake them a bit longer next time just so they get a little more crispy around the edges. There are so many different things you can put in them. The kids of course loved them. What don’t they love though. I’m sure the mother’s of picky eaters out there go god I fucking hate this woman and her perfect kids who eat everything fucking thing she puts on their plates. Bitch.

I’m kidding.

Sorta.

Hop on over to Becky’s blog at SoVeryBlessed.com and jot down her recipe. And if you leave a comment over there, please don’t curse. She seems like a nice lady and I don’t want to scare her off from posting any more delicious recipes.

Enjoy!
Noel♥

I remember an episode of Who’s the Boss where Tony cooks sausage and peppers for his daughter, whats her face. This isn’t that type of sausage and peppers. But its where I had first heard the term, and then again from The Sopranos. Which reminds me I need to watch that show again.

This recipe is fairly simple, light but filling. We eat it just as is, but if you are a carb loving household you can obviously serve it with quinoa, or brown rice. I’m listing some Trader Joe’s stuff here, but you can substitute with any other sausage you’d like. The lime juice and pulp mixed with the juices from the sausage make a very light ‘sauce’. (I said sauce ahaha) I don’t use green bell peppers because they are bitter. My friend and I discussed the psychology of it once.

him: yeah, i eat a ton of watermelon at work, but not red peppers
me:  ohh red ones?
him: yeah, i dont touch em
me: no really?
him: i only like the greens, the true bell pepper
me: I was completely unaware that you didn’t like red ones or orange or yellow,  somewhere along the way I heard that the green ones were the only ones that tickled your fancy
him: they’re bitter and unpleasant, they get me
me: so its like eating yourself so its like eating yourself? I wonder if that’s why I like the red, yellow, orange ones then, because they are sweet?
him: haha, pepper psychology
me: I have a masters in it

I have weird friends.

1 Trader Joe’s Smoked Turkey Kielbasa cut into 1/2 pieces
3 bell peppers (red, orange, yellow) cut into strips, or chunks
1 lime cut in half, juice and pulp are used
touch of oil
Pepper for taste

Heat up a sauté pan on high, add a touch of olive oil and sauté your peppers. Add the sausage. Squeeze one half of the lime over everything. Put a tight fitting lid on the pan and let cook for 2-3 minutes until the sausage releases some of its juices. Add second half of the lime juice and pulp, give it a good stir and serve.

If you make this, I’d love to see! Come back to this post and comment with a link  to your own version of the dish.

Enjoy!
Noel ♥

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a happy, safe New Years Eve. Tonight I’ll be headed out to a intimate party with new friends. Totally different than the 40k plus parties of my youth where I consumed illegal substances and occasionally danced on tables. And by occasionally I mean every year.

Tonight is my first New Years in about 9 years where I will actually be going out. Having children, and being an attached parent has made it difficult in the past to attend events. But tonight I’m slapping on my cute leopard print flats and a sexy black dress and I’m ready to party! Well, party. Not PARTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYY like I used to. God I’m old.

Looking forward to the coming year with hope for my future. Wish you and yours the best!

Love,
Noel

I’ve been inspired by a LOT of music in my day. So much that I can’t really put it into words properly.

While listening to a podcast from some recent friends of mine, the host, who is normally a joker, but professional about his podcast, played this song at the end of his show, and I was INSTANTLY moved. It was as if he found this sound, not just the lyrics but what the music as a whole captured about how he felt for his and his co-hosts 100th show.

This isn’t about the podcast I listened to, but about the music, that within the first 15 seconds, made me feel what I think my new found friend was feeling by playing it.

May I introduce to you. Blind Walrus and The Places they’ve been.

I listen to songs that I think you would like
and I
don’t feel anything for you
but I feel for me.

I read words that you wrote to me
and I
don’t feel what you meant
but I feel what I did

I think about you hard
really hard and try
to feel
what it was that made me love you
and I do
but I don’t

I feel whole again
although I am way more fucked
than when you found me

I am….completely me
and you would have loved me like this too

and I can stand tall in my crazy
and say

thank you.
because you were the first to
love me and my flaws
I’ve found that I can love me too.

Gosh, I could gush about this a whole bunch about this story. I could tell you all that Laruel Phillips was the only doula at the time when I was wanting an unassisted birth with Stella who didn’t scoff at me, or say ‘I can be with you WHEN you transfer to the hospital.’

I can reflect about how she was the only one who encouraged me to pursue the birth I wanted, that she stood in solidarity with me about my decision. And when I met her by chance at a park, hugged me so hard that it almost hurt, and said she was proud of me, and kissed my newborn like it was her own.I could go on and on about the pride I saw in her eyes when she looked at me with my fat unassisted born baby in my arms. I could.

I could gloat about how many of my friends births she attended and was a rock when they were at that place where mothers doubt themselves but she supported them through and they had the births they wanted.

I could muse about how she is married to Glenn Phillips, who is the lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, one of my absolutely most favorite bands ever. I could make it about my high school days and my friends who sang their songs at the top of our lungs in a little green Honda. I could tie that into the fact that Glenn dated my best guy friend’s sister in high school.

I could….but I won’t. I’m going to let the article speak for itself, and say that the opening of the birth center in Santa Barbara makes me want to have a baby there, even though I don’t NEED to. I want to birth there to support them, to honor them, to encourage other women to seek alternatives to hospital birth. To know that its not all about what ‘doctor’ says. That women have a fucking say in how, where, when they birth.

I am so excited for the future of ALL babies and mothers who are born and birth at the birth center.

Be excited with me.

I’ll be one of many of thousands of posts about Blizard Entertainment’s annual convention held in Anahiem, CA, but instead on raging about pandas (they’re growing on me), nerfs (LOL ret pallies), talent tree changes (RAAAAAGE), I’m going to focus on the real reason I went.

The people.

My favorite part by far at Blizzcon was sitting in the Hilton lobby on Saturday and watching these two grown men, greet each other. Bro-handshakes, and instead of the lean-in-one-arm-hug, they released hands, and wrapped their arms around each other for a big beautiful man hug. I sat there with my companions and got a little teary. In my head, I put the story together in my head was that they were good in game buddies, perhaps 2′s partners back in early BC. They spent long nights on vent fighting Internet dragons together and laughed. A lot. They had inside jokes and looked forward to logging in game and playing together.

And right before my eyes I witnessed these two souls coming together, solidifying the friendship that they created in Azeroth. It was beautiful and I was so thankful that I saw them this way.

I had a friend I met through WoW, and our first hug was one of the most epic events of my life. In a airport in Boston, the whole world stopped and all I could hear was his heart beating, when I laid my head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. I wouldn’t have had that moment if I didn’t play this game.

Its amazing to me that this game brought so many people together. There is a look that fellow WoW players get in their eyes when you meet them for the first time and tell them that you play. Its a genuine connection that isn’t easily lost. I met several druids, regardless of faction, who got extra hugs because we rep some Moonglade. I met mages, and priests as well, but the connection wasn’t as strong as it was when I met a fellow druid-main. I felt no hatred from Horde players when I told them I faction changed, and lots of love from Allaince players when I said I played Horde for 6 years. No faction hatred, just love all around.

Over the weekend, I saw people coming together and hugging, buying each other drinks, laughing and generally having a fantastic time. I met people from twitter who I had only spoken with a few times on twitter, but when I met them for the first time, the hugs were as if we had been friends who hadn’t seen each other in years. I was blessed to meet Ceraphus, itsxia, girlbearcat, mukluk_rocks, Harmy_wow, thenickus, kagatoamv, all from twitter. There were a couple people like lightandleafy, and Restokin who I couldn’t seem to meet up with, but there is always next year. Of course I got drunken hugs from my girl Narci, also known as druidis4fite. And of course another great moment was during opening ceremonies I sat between Jeffp2662 and my bestest thfonz98, arms around the both of them, just feeling the excitement in the air when Blizzard rolled out all their goodies on stage.

And perhaps, (I’m going to get a little RP here), perhaps that is what it is about this game. That we are all bound together by our characters in Azeroth, that we all know what its like to be a low level running around the world and see a skull on a name plate and that sense of fear that you’re about to die! Or killing Rag, or doing rated battlegrounds, or RPing an amazing storyline. So when you meet someone especially at a place like Blizzcon, 9 times out of 10 they’ve done those same things and you can instantly have something to talk about. I could walk up to any of the people in the below picture and have some sort of connection with them.

That is amazing to me. While we play this game in a virtual world, and it spills into the Twitter world, and then into our real world, and to be able to psychically touch this person who’s made you laugh, or think or helped you with a quest, its….tangible. Your feelings for that person, those laughs and good times are more real.

Me and Ceraphus

thfonz98 (Loyd), myself and Jeffp2662 from RPG Weekly

I made a lot of friends wearing this shirt

Horribly blurry picture but this is Jessica and she works for Blizzard. I think I fell in love with her.

Probably my most favorite picture from the weekend

I know the photos are a bit hazy, but that’s how the weekend was. It was the alcohol, but the buzz of Blizzcon, the excitement in the air. I haven’t felt like this since my raver days. Just being surrounded by people who were truly excited and happy to be there. Kindred spirits the lot of us.

I’m hoping next year that my current guild Violent Apathy will have a guild meetup. I’m hoping that the game will still be entertaining for all of us, and there isn’t too much down time between the Deathwing patch and the new expansion. And even if some people drop off of Azeroth for a bit, they keep in touch, in contact with friends they have met in this wonderful world. To be able to hug some of the people in my guild will make Blizzcon2012 even more amazing for me.

I’m excited to see where this game takes me, what wonderful people I may meet int he next year, and especially for the rolling pandas!