Audience participation

I'm loving how you all have been active participants and leaving blog comments lately.

I want to reward you with more new posts, but there is one problem.

I have blogger's block.

I don't know what to write about next.

Give me your suggestions and there's a 93% chance I'll write about it.

GO!

Under construction

Big doings in Casa de Erin.

I used to have a wall that looked like this.

Now I don't.

Stay tuned to see the big reveal.

(promise I'll do a real reveal and not leaving you hanging like that one road trip teaser that never happen)

Music Monday

HAPPY BETTY WHITE DAY!!!

While tomorrow is technically Betty White's 90th birthday, NBC will be airing a tribute to one of my favorite Golden Girls, followed by the premier of her new show "Off Their Rockers" tonight.

Don't plan on needing me between the hours of 7-10 pm, I'm busy.

Olive you: Round 1

Back in August I did a post on goals. Now, while I fully intended for that post to be born and die on the same night, some people got excited about my goals and requested follow up.

Luckily for y'alls. I'm in an accommodating mood.

Goal: Make one of the delicious dishes I have tagged from the Olive cookbook Becca bought me.

Target: Pasta with mushrooms and olives

Preliminary hypothesis: This could either go really good or really bad based on the fact that I picked a recipe that didn't have a reference photo of the finished product and there is a discrepancy on the page. In the description it says, "In this heavenly dish, the fresh mushrooms provide a sweet, earthy taste which contrasts strikingly with the tartness of the green olives." but, the recipe calls for black olives instead of green.

I chose to power through based on the ingredient list. I mean, what's not to like?

Olive oil: great cartoon character
Coarse salt: good
Noodles (fusilli): good
Fresh mushrooms: good
Garlic: good in moderation
White wine: hella good
Black olives: good (but maybe they should be green)
Salt & Pepper: good seasoning combo and pretty good '90s rap duo
Butter: good
Grated Parmesan cheese: good

Abbreviated Steps:

Boil water, make pasta, test a few pieces without burning yourself, drain and sit aside.

Open wine and pour yourself a glass.

"Coarsely chop" mushrooms (whatever that means.)

In a skillet heat mushrooms, oil and garlic for 5 minutes.

Add wine, cook for 5 minutes.

Add olives, salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the butter and cook while stirring until the butter melts.

Fall into a trans as you watch a giant stick of butter melt.

Pour the sauce over the noodles, mix and top with cheese.

Eat.

Final verdict? Good, but better on the second day. I think I'm going to have to try it with green olives and maybe a little chicken too next time. The recipe was super easy to follow so I really love that too.

Stay tuned as I'll attempt another recipe from this cookbook in the next umm....3ish months!

I refuse to half-ass this one - Day 23

Day 23: A picture of someone you want to switch lives with for a day and why

I'll do you one better than a photo, I'll do you a full length commercial.



To be perfectly clear, the reasons I want to switch places with the girl in this commercial are tri-fold.
   1a. Henry Cavill is hot
   2b. Henry Cavill is super hot
   3c. Real life or acting, that's gotta be at least a full day/night of up close goodness with Henry Cavill.

Plus, he has to smell good, because this is a cologne ad...unless the cologne smells gross...I guess I didn't consider that....oh well, I don't care, I've had years of character building experiences, this just looks like good fun.

P.S. The sunflower iron-on bedazzlement is still up for grabs and I just gave you fools three very good clues as to the identity of one of the gents.

Did I just vlog?

We interrupt the 30-day blog challenge to show you what I figured out how to do in the last 30 minutes.

Get excited.




Next time I'll stop laying on my couch before filming.

Cause that's how science works

File this under: Brilliant ideas I wish I would have had, because it's a cause I fully support, but lack the tools, motivation, attention span or follow-through to actually accomplish.

I could be upset that I wasn't the brilliant mastermind behind this video, but instead I choose to be happy someone is finally bringing this issue to light.

Brilliant.

Trash chutes and ladders - Day 16

Day 16: Dream house

First and foremost, if we're talking dream home, it has to be a self-cleaning home. I HATE anything remotely related to housekeeping/household chores.

What next? Big enough to have friends and family over for parties and fun.

But not so big that I get lost in it.

A wrap-around porch would be totally sweet.

Definitely needs a nice view...

A badass backyard complete with outdoor kitchen, fire pit and outdoor seating.

Oh, the backyard also needs enough room for a big puppy to have fun.

Inside? I like a nice sized open kitchen with island/breakfast bar and appliance garage. 

A jacuzzi bathtub...

OH with a giant flat screen tv in front of it.

And probably a home theater for good measure too.

Oh, and I really liked it in college when my house had a trash chute, so that would be pretty essential too...so long as it wasn't just an open window I'm throwing trash bags down like it was back then.

DIBS! "Celebrity Edition" - Day 14

Day 14: Celebrity crush

Talk about a topic I can get on board with.

So many choices....

A sunflower iron-on bedazzlement will be awarded to the first reader who can correctly identify all ten celebrities or be the first to introduce me to one of the celebrity crushes.

I know I should have fixed my hair, removed the folded towels from behind me or at the very least done a less crappy photoshop job on this picture, but I'm too busy laughing at this to care.

Walrus Mustache - Day 9

Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend

First off, let's get something straight. I do not ascribe to the idea that a person can only have "a = one" best friend. Most likely because when I was in grade school none of my friends ever gave me the second half to the best friend heart necklace.

(insert sounds of pity here)

There were 5 girls in my 4th grade class....4 of them had half of a necklace.

That's right.

(go ahead and make more pity sounds here, I don't mind.)

Labeling a best friend can be hurtful. Especially when the two best friends get in a fight and the other one returns the half necklace in an envelop, via a really cute brown hair-brown eyed, 3rd party under the tractor tires during recess. I'm no dummy, as soon as I delivered that envelop to Rachel I didn't want to be near one of those things.

Ergo, I believe all my friends are the best, so I couldn't possibly spotlight just one friend. But I absolutely have a favorite photo series with a friend.

Enter, the Garrett/Gleason Walrus Mustache collection.

It all started at a New Years Eve celebration. We had reached the point in the evening where every second was a photo op. I grabbed two stick pretzels to become a walrus and Amanda Gleason promptly eclipsed me by giving herself a pretzel mustache.

The year was 2008.

Then in 2009 at the Schicks' wedding we had...

The warm up...

And then probably the two greatest versions ever captured, where we more than quadrupled the prop size from 2008.

In 2010, Gleason dragged me to a Gov't Mule concert and their repetitive garbage music caused me to forget about taking our special photo. So, like any good friend, I've enhanced a photo for our 2010 moment in time.

Sometimes the good ideas are just right in front of you, aren't they?

Just add procrastination - Day 2

Wow, three posts in three days. I know I should pace myself, but this re-ignition of blogging has proven useful to my normal procrastination routine. Normally, when procrastinating household chores I waste time on facebook, checking on my fantasy baseball team or catching up on my dvr recordings, but with topics out here just waiting for me to talk about, I'm rejuvenated!

Let's see here...Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name.

I had toyed with the idea of starting a blog prior to the birth of Unfiltered Nonsense for at least three years. I had different friends that were blogging and I thought it'd be fun, but I couldn't land on a name. I refused to write under a name I didn't love.

I wasn't getting married or embarking on a new chapter of my life like so many other friends at the time, so there was no life event to play off of.

This wasn't going to be professional for me like my portfolio blog that I haven't updated for 2 years, so no need to be tied to my name.

Plus, I didn't want it to be uncool. After all, I'm nothing if not super cool.

It had to be fun.

Punchy.

Maybe a little oxymorony.

I love a good oxymoron. I absolutely adore Jessi's blog name, Organized Chaos. It fits her perfectly.

When I thought about what kind of things I would blog about I figured it would just be for fun. Sure, there'd be life updates, but I'd write just for fun...comment on life and pop culture and things that make me laugh or seethe with anger in some cases. There'd be a lot of "nonsense" and if I was going for the laugh factor, I'd have to turn my filter off because well, let's face it...that's when I really shine.

And so, Unfiltered Nonsense was born. The blogspot url was already taken by some greedy woman who hasn't posted since 2004 so I had to add the word "my" to the url, but that's just a little thing.

30-day blog challenge

It seems that my becoming an absentee blogger has not gone unnoticed. Let's just act like my blatant disregard for updating never happen, ok?

Excellent.

Now, hold on loosely readers, because in an attempt to remind you all why you love this blog, and subsequently, me, I'm embarking on the 30-day blog challenge. If I don't lose interest in the next 5-6 weeks** here's what you have to look forward to.

Day 0: The 30 Day Challenge Explanation and Description
Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts
Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3: Your first love
Day 4: Your parents
Day 5: A song to match your mood
Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7: Favorite movies
Day 8: A place you've traveled to
Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend
Day 10: Something you're afraid of
Day 11: Favorite tv shows
Day 12: Something you don't leave the house without
Day 13: Goals
Day 14: Celebrity crush
Day 15: Bible verse
Day 16: Dream house
Day 17: Something you're looking forward to
Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat
Day 19: Something you miss
Day 20: Nicknames
Day 21: Favorite Picture of yourself ALL TIME Why?
Day 22: What's in your purse?
Day 23: A picture of someone you want to switch lives with for a day and why
Day 24: Something you've learned
Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26: Your Dream Wedding
Day 27: Original Photo of the city you live in
Day 28: Something that stresses you out
Day 29: 3 Wishes
Day 30: a picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge

I wish whoever invented this list had given me credit for Day 0. Oh well, let's do this. I'm excited!

**let's be realistic, I'm not going to go from blogging 4 times in 60 days to blogging every day for 30 days.

I feel violated

This commercial just came on TV, it's as if the creators of the first 14 seconds of the commercial have been watching my failed attempts at outdoor gardening.



How did they know?!?!

Because sometimes I can't help but be a good friend

"My friend" Ashley loves Britney Spears. So when I saw the new Brit Brit video on perezhilton I posted the youtube video on her wall.

This is the response I got.



I aim to please folks. So here you go, Ashley, another post dedication delivered just for you.



If you want to show your gratitude for such a grand gesture of friendship feel free to donate to my American Heart Walk page. :)

**Blogger note: I didn't use the words my friend in quotes because Ashley isn't a real friend or because I was too embarrassed to say I wanted to post this video in the blog. I did it because whenever she talks about any other friends outside of our circle she always says, "my friend" (insert name)... even after meeting and playing boardgames with Her Friend Charlotte she still continued to refer to her as "My Friend" Charlotte. It's a lovable quirk and I miss hearing it on a regular basis now that her and Matt live in Florida. (What are the odds of me still guilting a donation out of her after being a smartass?)

A girl and her handsome men

Last year I introduced the world, or approximately 15 people, to the Handsome Men's Club fantasy baseball team and everywhere I went sport enthusiasts asked me, "How do you draft such a good looking team?"

Well, hold on tight readers, because I'm about to drop some drafting knowledge on you that will change your life.

When drafting a team solely based on looks, the internet is your best friend. Especially when you're an AL elitist and haven't been able to scout the NL players in person. Now, as you'll see as we go down the roster, you can't trust only one source. And by saying you can't trust one source, I mean, you can't trust the one image ESPN gives you in the draft room. It's a start, but it's not always accurate. You have to take advantage of Google Images and a little thing called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

(Nerd Alert On) SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page in search engines via the "natural" or "organic" search results. (Nerd Alert Off)

If so, facto, if people are searching to see if a player has a girlfriend or wife, he is probably handsome, or makes a shitload of money. So, if I type in the player's name into the search field and a pre-populated suggestion of "Player Name girlfriend" or "Player Name wife" shows up, I have a contender.

Don't believe me? Try it out right now. First, do a google search for Joe Mauer. Now, do the same for Bartolo Colon.

See? Told you.

It's a science and an art. And I'm in the process of submitting it for a patent, so don't get any ideas of claiming the theory as your own.

Let's move on to the picture portion of this post, shall we?

Since this is year two of being in the league we got to select two players from last years roster as "keepers" for round 1 and 2. Two players clearly wanted it more than anyone else...




Round 1: Joe Mauer (C)
Definitely not just a face a mother could love. Le sigh.



Round 2: Brett Gardner (CF)
Steals my heart every time he steals a base.



Round 3: Chase Utley (2B) - currently sitting on the 15 day DL
Even with being on the DL and possibly not coming back until the All-star break, Chase Utley has a higher own percentage than last years 3rd round draft pick, Mark Teahen.



Round 4: Jacoby Ellsbury (CF)
That eye black really brings out the gold flecks in his brown eyes, don't you think?



Round 5: Grady Sizemore (CF) - currently on the 15 day DL
Grady's Ladies, rejoice! Grady has made it to it the upper echelon of fantasy baseball teams. It's just icing on the cake that Betty White's character on "Hot In Cleveland" is a fellow fan. As long as he steers clear of taking more Vanessa Hudgens-eqs photos we'll be just fine.



Round 6: Chase Headley (3B)
I love the excitement on his face after finding out he made the team!



Round 7: Joe Nathan (RP)
Enthusiasm and carisma, carisma, carisma.



Round 8: Billy Butler (1B)
I couldn't possibly have the HMC be sans Royal. Let's do this Big Donkey!



Round 9: Chad Billingsley (SP)
Kind of reminds me of Brian Bannister, let's hope he works out a little better than Banny did last season.



Round 10: Ian Desmond (SS)
The first of three smooth operators I drafted, he just looks like one doesn't he? Lucky for him, I hardly ever hear anything about the Washington Nationals so I'll have no idea if he's up to shenanigans behind my back or not.



Round 11: John Danks (SP)
I think I'm most excited about the return of this pitcher from last season's team.



Round 12: Garrett Jones (1B)
Great name. Great face.



Round 13: John Axford (RP)
It was around this time that the conversation in the draft room got started on crows (by me) and new team owner DJ distracted me with this awesome youtube video. Since I was preoccupied with the video I didn't consult google images for a second opinion on this guy. ESPN lead me to believe he looked like this.



When in actuality, he looks like a carnival worker. It is not a good sign when you start typing a players name in to google images and the most popular suggestion is "his name + mustache."



Round 14: John Jaso (C)
He more than makes up for the John Axford debacle of 2011.



Round 15: Ricky Romero (SP)
Smooth operator number two. Ay yi YI!



Round 16: A.J. Burnett (SP)
Nice skin tags.



Round 17: Bronson Arroyo (SP)
Last year I gave Mr. Arroyo a hard time for clearly losing a bet during the 2K10 photo day, but this year I think we can all agree, he got his "Redemption Photo."


Blogger's side note: Does anyone else think Mr. Red on Bronson's uniform looks like Mr. Met dressed up as one of the Mario Brothers?

Round 18: Ryan Raburn (LF)
Definitely considered an upgrade from the Detroit Tiger I had last season.



Round 19: Yunel Escobar (SS)
Jump on it!



Round 20: Edwin Jackson (SP)
Smooth operator number three. Warning: do not stare directly into his eyes, you'll fall in love.



Round 21: Rick Porcello
Adorable and half responsible for the great bench clearing of 2009. It would be a dream come true if one of my players was responsible for a bench clearing this season.



Round 22: Brandon League (RP)
This was a borderline Axford fiasco repeat, but luckily I stumbled upon this awesome photo of him and his hair.



Round 23: Skip Schumaker (2B)
This great find is couresty of some scouting done last season by my dear friend Darcie Brownback. Mother may I, right?



Round 24: Kevin Kouzmanoff (3B)
Look at that smile.



I seem to be incapable of drafting a completely healthy team, so much like last year, I had to bring in some extra help.

Coco Crisp (OF) - I love his name and even though he was kind of a big bust the one year he was a Royal, I still think he's got the handsome man swagger.



Ty Wiggington (1B, 2B, 3B) - He's so versatile how can he not be considered handsome?



And that, ladies and gents, is the starting roster for Handsome Men's Club 2K11. We look forward to entertaining you throughout the baseball season and hope to not come in last place.