Here’s to you, 2007.

You were a great, great year. Its New Years Eve, my best friends birthday, and i’m brushing my teeth while i type this. Or, rather, i’m sucking on my toothbrush since i need both hands to type. I tend to do too many things at once. So i havent been home for over a week (except for the occasional stop-by to restock panties and other such things). This week has been amazing, and i just feel so happy doing my thing i can’t even tell you. I’ve spent the night at Rashell’s new place in the city, at Rayna’s place in the city, at Raynas home in SR, at Eva’s place in SR, and at my mom’s studio. I can’t really explain why at certain periods and times in my life i really cling to my friends more than anything. The great part is, they embrace me also and we find each other as close to family as anything can get.  I feel a bit strange because my sister is here in Sonoma, home from Boston and i havent been hanging out with her very much. I guess its mostly my fault and i’m sorry for that Ash. But its hard for me to be home sometimes! And its not my sister that i don’t want to be around, its the home enviornment.How strange is this: as humans and family members, we can go off on our own, establish our own lives, find ourselves outside of the limits our familys give us, create a routine that we find works for us as an individual, and ultimately discover the person within us uninfluenced by our family and we thrive, yet as soon as we step into the family enviornment, it can feel as if we are 12 years old again. 12 years old and right back to the old family dynamics (the scapegoat, the black sheep, the “good girl”, the troublemaker, the “failure”, the fragile one… etc etc) Thats what can be so difficult for people and the Holiday season. Its nostalgic, and some of us don’t like to reminisce on the past. For some of us, it doesnt feel good.It used to really bother me that my little sister would yell, “…you love your friends more than your family!” But its become much easier for me to allow them to repeat the same old phrases over and over, and so I pity the trouble of it all and simply watch from another perch, in some sense. I guess what i’m trying to say is that its easier for me to stay out of it now, but it also really pushes me away when they go right back to those family dynamics. I don’t get into it, but i also cant be there and deal with it. I have to stay away from it, and i find myself in situations such as this where I havent been home in over 7 days! But what an amazing week its been, and oh how much i love my friends (not more than my family, let me remind you. But in a different way that feels satisfying and is also a lot for fun to be around.) Tonight is New Years… I’m wearing a black little number with curly hair… its like a sexy little cupcake type of vibe, should be fun. The girls all have adorable dresses and the party is at wes and adrians. We’re drinking vodka tonics and champagne, and i’m pretty sure this is the 5th or 6th year running… I think its my favorite tradition 😉  Soooo HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! My next post will be my new years resolutions. I hope everyone has a great night and I hope this year is going to kick as much ass as I expect it to. Love, Erika

I Love Wine

Its been a bizarre past few days here in Sonoma, let me tell you. Great fun, but wierd… mostly because the Holidays bring everyone together in a strange, “small-world” type of way. So if you decide to sneak to the store for some eggs at 9am, you can’t get through the situation any sooner than a half hour because you run into pretty much everyone and their mom. The town is crowded with familiar people, which makes for fun times and a generous amout of drama and gossip. Holidays in Sonoma are SO cute.

This past week i helped my best friend move into her new pad in San Francisco and its just really exciting! It makes me really want to get moving with my own, independent life… I cant wait to get a new routine and meet new people and live on my own. I love my best friend, too. Just thought i’d add that… she’s the best.

Last night my dad threw a dinner party with his Japanese students in celebration of Christmas and I invited a few of my friends over to join us. Five of us finished 5 bottles of amazing wine and wound up substantially shloshed. The rest of the course of the night is hazy, but i remember running barefoot down the street, having tyler pick us up, drinking hot chocolate and laughing a lot. GOOD TIMES!

Santa comes tonight, and i still need to finish wraping my presents. It takes me a long time because its like an art project to me; i adorn gems and bows and stickers etc. Its great fun, it really is.

I feel very pleased with my gifts for christmas and I feel like this is going to be a good one. I work tomorrow also, which is (in my opinion) great. I get to get out of the house, see all the people that i love and have a blast. Thats what work is like for me… i’m wearing a santa hat i think.

HAppy Holidays. I hope everyone is in good company and feeling loved because in the end thats all we really need…… but awesome gifts are cool too.

XOXO,Erika

Banana Smoothies

You know, its quite funnt that in Japan i took days off from my blog simply because there was TOO MUCH to write about; it made me feel overwhelmed. And now, i wish i had more to report! I have been so, sadly bored for the past few weeks… but i’m not giving enough credit to the happenings that have made life in Sonoma intresting.

Firstly, banana smoothies have become a favorite of mine.
Secondly, there is a boy that wasn’t quite my first kiss, or quite my first love (though i care about him very much), or even quite my first boyfriend that deserves to remain as my “first” something simply because he has always been special to me. Anyway, I just read about him in the newspaper because he went to jail for being an “accessory” to a murder and I’m pretty upset about it. In my heart of hearts i just can’t imagine it and i hope some day the boy that i care about so much becomes that person again.
Here’s the link
Thirdly, MY SISTER COMES HOME TOMORROW!!! No words can describe my happiness. The tragedy of seperated twin sisters will, for a short time, no longer be.
Lastly, i registered for my classes in San Louis Obispo. I’m taking Endurance Training, Sociology, Journalism, and English 1-A. YES.Thats all for now. Be safe out there; accidents within the Holiday season are doubly painful and harder to forget.

DIE, TUCKER MAX, DIE!!

Part of me would like to get a new blog so that no one that i know reads it. I want to say some things that i feel bad saying, and i might prefer if i felt safe from hurting anyones feelings… but im going to continue with this one and work though it like a challenge.

Tonight i spent the evening with my mom and my “women” friends drinking wine and talking about cute firemen and designer purses while celebrating a birthday. It was one of those times where you step back from the situation for a moment and think, “how did i get here?” or maybe, “WHAT am i doing here??”

In a way I felt honored to be sitting at a dinner table talking with such socialite-type of women, and i rather enjoyed the gossip and the “ohmygod!” and the sharing of diamond rings, and the sometimes horribly caddy behavior, and simply the funny way women talk– we are SO emotional!

“You know, Cindy brings up a really good point and i just feel like, you know, I have REAAALLY nice furniture; like, this isn’t Pottery Barn. And I just want to cleanse my living space. Like, the house i’m looking at right up the street is SUCH a downsize and it would be SO fabulous if i could sell this house with all the furnishings so that i can start anew, you know? Like, minimalist–and i’d put in the tennis court and a swimming pool but, like, my style has changed and i’d really like a more costal, new england type of feel.”

“So my girlfriend and I went to the city and had this phenominal lunch and a few glasses of wine, and the bill was $250, but it was totally worth it because it was raining out and i said, “If i were a lesbian i would be SO into this!” It was so romantic! Oh my god! And we both had permission to buy real Louis [Vuitton] purses and i was like “if we just got a room and took a nap and, like, messed around it would be so sexy if i were a lesbian!” Most romantic day of my life!”

So thats enough of making fun of that– i actually had a really good time and i really like schmoozing. I’m good at it too, just maybe i’d like the more intellectual type of crowd? Who knows.

Anywhoo, last night i spent the night in the city with Mo and Ray and Glady and i just freaking love doing that because my girlfriends totally kick ass. And i’m stoked for our annual winter shopping spree where we shop all day, pay our parking ticket, smoke a couple bowls in our car before we leave the garage, go eat dinner and then party all night in our cute new clothes. Its like the 5th year running… best day ever.

Ashley comes in 5 days…Eva too! and Tyler! its super late… i need to wake up and work out and actually get some stuff done tomorrow.

PS- Tucker Max needs to rot in hell, i’m glad he knows it. I dont think i would care if he were slowly tortured on live TV. But I’d rather him catch an extensively drug-resistant form of tuberculosis AND HIV and spend the rest of his life locked away in a hospital solitary confinement cell wondering why he wasted his life away so carelessly. I have such a long list of problems with him that i don’t even know where to start…. just Google him. Maybe it’s the Grendel Complex, though. Maybe since he knows that no woman could ever love him (even without the repulsive stories), he’ll at least make everyone hate him so that they feel some sort of emotion toward him besides apathy.

Moving on to……..

CUSTOMER OF THE DAY!
Ariyon is a fifty-something lonesome hippie-type who recently had her birthday party in Starbucks (a suprising amout of people showed up). She has a really low, scratchy voice and she always wears tons of jewelry and funky clothing. Her drink is a Venti extra-hot latte with whole milk and no foam, and also a cup of ice water. Shes’ totally in love with a fat, greasy, balding old man named Ontario who claims to be a noted Astrologist and metaphysical-type. They sit in Starbucks for hours on end, usually in the evening. One time they both came in wearing wolf masks and sat working on their laptops for 3 hours WEARING WOLF MASKS. I know that she lives in a tiny house with only a wood stove and that she takes singing lessons… Though she is strange shes a kind soul and she means to be the best person that she can be. Some are in a different spectrum and its a good thing or else i’d be bored with wealthy, alcoholic women.

Everyone should see Zeitgeist.

The End

Boredom is painful, and so is rejection.

Bullets on Thoughts:

1. I’ve become obsessed with a book that a friend gave to me called Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words. A Writer’s Guide To Getting It Right. I reccomend it.
2. I belong in a big city with a Weimarener.
3. People seem to think Sonoma’s climate is responsible for the abundance of good wine but i know the truth. The truth is that the good people of Sonoma who were here before vines were became so totally, completely bored with their lives that they decided to direct their energy toward making excellent wine so that they could bottle it up and save it for the long days when they found themselves so totally, completely bored that all they could think to do was drink lots of wine…. so cheers to that.
4. I eat a balanced diet, i exercise, i’m not pregnant, but i’ve only had my period once since May. Anyone? Anyone?
5. I want what i can’t have, and i struggle with rejection! Rejection… i hate & i need to get over that, or maybe get used to it?
6. At work yesterday, i remembered a mans drink who came in one time 4 months ago but i can’t remember to go to my dentist appointment or drop off movies at Blockbuster.

Tomorrow the city with Mo, i’m stoked.

Now for something new:

The Daily Starbucks Customer!
My first profile is about Dave. Dave is a witty, thirty-something, southern bachelor who drives a nice car and loves his dog. He comes in most evenings for a grande latte with 1 splenda, a new york times, and a sandwich for dinner. Even though i like giving him a hard time, I find him very charming and attractive and i often wonder why in the world he’s single. Dave is tall with grey, smiling eyes and a bashful grin. He likes me because i laugh at his jokes and i like him because he always has a thoughtful compliment for me. His ongoing joke is that he and i are married; he calls me baby and always asks me whats for dinner, what time i’ll be home or if i need anything at the store. Though its a bit strange, i hardly discourage it and secretly find it quite sweet!