37 for 37

Yesterday would have been Eriika's 37th birthday. Last year, I did THIS awesome post to roast her for her 36th birthday. I had no way of knowing it would be my last chance to do so, and I'm so glad I spent the time remembering the stories, digging up pictures, etc to make that post so damn funny. I printed it out, and they had it on display at her funeral. Apparently, my parents were less than impressed with a few tidbits they learned about our slightly sordid past.

I've been thinking about a few things I wanted to add to the list since she passed away. Some funny stories people shared when she passed away, some memories triggered by songs or photos. Here are 37 more fun facts about Eriika:


She was a giftwrap FREAK! Everything from the Container Store--labels, tags, giftwrap--the works. Every bag came with 3 different tissue papers sticking out the top, every box had 4 different colors of curled ribbon--it was very intimidating. I wrap like crap, and she was always mad at my poor quality wrapping jobs. She signed on to work at their store during the holidays, and ended up totally running the Giftwrap Wonderland. Surprise, surprise.

We fell in love with the song Tarzan Boy her freshman year at The U. We listened to it over and over when I was there on Spring Break. From then on, we always heard this song when we were together. I would go years and years without hearing it, and then it would come on the radio when we were together. Very, very strange.

According to her, these are her 10 favorite albums:

Crowded House / Crowded House
U2 / Rattle and Hum
U2 / Achtung Baby
Violent Femmes / Violent Femmes
Billy Joel / An Innocent Man
Prince / Around The World in a Day
Prince / Purple Rain
Shaking Family / Dreaming in Detail
Madonna / Ray of Light
New Kids on the Block / Hangin' Tough

She "neglected" to mention her love of Britney Spears and Rick Astley. For shame. She loved Britney so much, she once donned her red latex catsuit on Halloween.


On the first day of high school in Kentucky, she mumbled her name and everyone thought her name was Bertha. The name stuck. Our church friends also called her Floofy, due to the large size of her hair. And, a table of her best guy friends still refer to her by another name I won't print. Let's just say she regretted shoving that entire Twinkie into her mouth on a dare.


I always called her Eureka Vacuum cleaner, a not-so-clever play on her name.


Even though we only spent 4 years in Kentucky, she always claimed that was where she "was from" because she graduated from HS there. This logic always seemed a bit faulty to me.

In Junior High, I was hopelessly in love with this boy who, per the usual, found me annoying and immature. I cut out a photo of him out, and put it in an antique locket. One day, the locket was missing from my dresser, and I found out that she had stolen it to show her boyfriend. She spun a tale about how seeing the locket made him "really see how much I liked him", and that he thought it "was really cool." I didn't realize until years later that this was all a lie, and that they thought I was a crazy loser.

She was ALWAYS forcing me to engage in fake and/or staged photos. I'm surprised she didn't die earlier by posing for a photo "falling off the edge of the grand canyon."

I ignore signs like Eriika!

She learned her lesson the hard way once when she crawled down on some rocks that clearly stated "Fast moving waves--DO NOT CROSS FENCE. DO NOT STAND ON ROCKS." Of course, she hopped over for the photo op. There are 4 photos in the series. Eriika smiling, Eriika smiling with a wave behind her, Eriika totally under a huge wave, plain old rocks with no Eriika to be found.


I gave her a diary for her 16th birthday. What a fool! What kind of dummy accepts a diary from her pesky and nosy 14 year old sister?? Of course, I copied down the lock combination, waited until she filled it with juicy tidbits, and then took it to school to show off the goods.


On her first date with her HS boyfriend, I stalked them with a camera, and took dozen of pictures while they walked from the house to the car. She was less than thrilled.

On the first day of Junior High, she read her schedule wrong. She thought she was supposed to be in gym class, but she was really due in Orchestra. She was already suited up in the unitard, and the gym teacher MADE her go to Orchestra in the unitard. She begged to change first, but he wasn't having it. She had to play the violin for an hour in her ugly unitard. Did I mention she had braces, short hair, and big glasses? She may have come close to dying of embarrassment that day.



She dated the Quarterback of the Broncos. No, I'm not telling you which one. But he was HOT!


She collected nutcrackers and Byers Carolers. Lancer told her that she should "land a man" before "collecting creepy screaming dolls." Undaunted, she continued to grow her collections.

Despite this, she loved Lancer, and thought he was hilarious. She used to refer to my old boyfriend as SITM, short for stick in the mud. She couldn't wait for me to dump that guy. The second she heard about Lancer, she knew we were going to get married.

One of her favorite Lancer stories comes from a visit to our old apartment in Foster City. We were up late, laughing, talking, and watching a marathon of Airline. It was 4 in the morning when Lancer burst out of the bedroom, scolding us for keeping him up until 4. Since we hadn't heard a peep out of him all night, so we thought he was sleeping. On subsequent visits, he would announce his departure to the bedroom, and tell us to "turn it down."

She was planning on having a citrus-themed kitchen one day--oranges, lemons, and limes.


She started the famous cookie exchange in Denver, and I later stole the idea. One year, a friend of a friend asked if she could join in the fun--she would be bringing bread to trade. Eriika thought she meant a fruitcake or banana bread. NO! The woman showed up with a BAG OF WONDER BREAD, and proceeded to spread the bread on a platter. Eriika wanted to kill her.

We always joked that Eriika's kids would end up rebellious punks, and my kids would be preppy little squares. We planned on exchanging kids each summer--my kids could indulge in golf and tennis with her, and her kids could go to concerts, skateparks, and amusement parks with me.

Speaking of children, her children have been named since HS: Connor, Carson, Bailey and Blair.

She was convinced I was naming B "Finley," and even had a bucket of things that she referred to as the "Finley bucket."

A few months before she passed away, she had a dream that she was dying, and requested that I name the baby Finley Eriika. When she told me about the dream, I told her that we had settled on Blakely, but would certainly consider using her middle name, Jeanne.


When Blakely jumps, we call her Jumping Jeanne, and it always reminds me of Eriika.



Given the chance, she would have eaten a ham sandwich every single day of the week. She called it her "ham sammich." I once had a Honeybaked Ham sandwich delivered to her hospital during an extended stay, and it renewed her will to live.


She was totally addicted to crap TV. Dancing with the Stars, The Hills, Laguna Beach, The Bachelor--no TV was too crappy for her to turn down.

She also loved celebrity gossip like me. She was seriously disturbed when Nick and Jessica got divorced. We would always race to see who could break celebrity gossip first.


Her favorite movies were Top Gun and Jurassic Park.

Her favorite book was Little Women.


Her favorite TV show was Friends--We always used the quote from Phoebe "you don't get a lot of doi these days!"

Despite loving the Food Network, and owning every cookbook known to man, she wasn't really that great of a cook. Her signature dish was a rip-off of our mom's chicken pillows, which I have to say sound rather tasty right about now.

She threw more holiday parties, birthday parties, baby showers and bridal showers than anyone I know. And she always went all out, sparing no expense or detail. She would have made an amazing Bridal Consultant.


Every year when the Lemax catalogs could come out, she would rush over to Michaels and grab copies. We would go through each catalog on the phone, discussing the pros and cons of each piece. She bought a piece for my Christmas and Halloween villages every single year for the last 10 years. It will be a little sad not to carry on this tradition this year.

One of her old boyfriends was a little shorter than her. I once joked that he probably put wedges in his shoes to give himself a "little lift." After that, we always referred to him as Wedgefoot, which I'm sure he loved. She even found a golf club on ebay that was a little foot. A wedge-foot..get it??

She made highly detailed gift lists--including links, URL's and websites--for holidays and birthdays. Sizes, quantities and colors were all addressed. She wasn't a big fan of surprises in the gift department. If she said she wanted a green purse, and you got her the yellow one...watch out!


She never met a costume she didn't like.

She once wrote an award winning poem in elementary school:

Measles, mumps, and chicken pox
One of those is what I gots
Can you guess?
Probly not
Sat on a cot
Running a fever from my head to my toes
Don't care what it is
Just hope it goes

I once won an "ugliest costume" award at church by dressing up as Eriika. Amazingly, I found this huge blond wig that looked *exactly* like her hair. Then I dressed up in the outfit her boyfriend had given her--it was her signature look. She was so annoyed by the award that she grabbed the microphone from the announcer and screamed "no she didn't win ugliest costume!!"

She really would have been the greatest Auntie to Blakely--completely devoted and doting.

I love and miss you a ton, Eriika. I'm so glad we have years and years of crazy stories!

Missing My Sister

My brain has an annoying habit. It tries to solve problems while I'm sleeping. Normally, this is great, and it's led to some really valuable insight in my life.

Lately, though, it's been trying to resolve the sadness I have about Eriika. When I dream at night, I dream she's alive. Last night I dreamt that she had died, but I had a full day with her before she truly passed on. It was a great dream, and I woke up so happy. But then reality set in, and I realized it was just a dream, and that she really is gone.

It's like the opposite of a bad dream--when you're all freaked out, but then you wake up relieved. In my dreams, all is right and I'm so happy--but then I wake up with palpable feeling of sadness and loss. It puts me in a weird mood, and I feel a sense of melancholy throughout the day.

I suppose the only thing I can do is wait for the sadness to lighten, for time to pass, for my brain to settle on the fact that she's really gone. For now I suppose I'm just going to have to enjoy the time I spend with her in my dreams.

I miss you, Sis.

Blakely's Guardian Angel

With my overwhelming joy this week comes overwhelming loss. My sister Eriika, my only sibling, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday morning. She was 36, and had been afflicted with lupus since she was 23. It's a horrible disease, and I wouldn't wish the effects on anyone. I watched her health slowly deteriorate over the years, but never her spirit. She was a fighter, and was positive and upbeat up until the very end.

I'm struggling with mixed emotions. Great sadness and loss for me, but great happiness and relief that she is no longer suffering in a body that had turned on her long ago. Grief for the sister I lost, but peace knowing she is in a better place, happy and healthy again. She always said that when she died and was resurrected she wanted to be her 21 year old self. This is now how I picture her in my head now--happy, smiling, tan, tall, thin, and blond.

When I went back to Wisconsin for my family baby shower, she was in really bad health. But, like always, she managed it well. We stayed up late talking and even found the long lost videotapes from high school we had been searching for for years. We watched them until early in the morning, and I brought them home with me to transfer on to DVD's for us. These are great memories.

Eriika was so overjoyed about Blakely, and the happiness that she brought us in the short 2 weeks before she passed away. She loved that we named her after her, and loved the story about the duck pants. I have another duckie pair of pj's I bought in honor of her, and I know they will bring both smiles and tears to my face when B wears them.

I know she hung on longer than she should have to make sure that both Blakely and I were okay. Once she knew we were fine, she moved on. She's Blakely's own guardian angel--her namesake and beloved Aunt who loved her more than she will ever know. Eriika knew that the only way I would be able to cope with her loss was by having Blakely here with me, and she was right. I've held Blake a little closer since hearing the news, and it brings such joy to my heart.

Now she will on through all of the stories I will tell her down the line of Eriika, and all of our childhood (and adulthood) shenanigans. And shenanigans, there were. You can read some of our favorites here.

One interesting final note is that Eriika insisted I go overdue a week from my original due date, October 3rd so B would be born on 10/10/10 because it would be so cool. Given my state, I told her that was the meanest thing anyone had ever said to me, and broke the news to her that I was going a week early, not a week late.

Well, Eriika really did think that date was cool and significant because she passed away on 10/10/10.


Eriika--we love you and miss you. See you on the flip side.

Back From the Land of Cheese Curds

Yes!! I managed to make my 2nd flight. I will leave out the part where I tried to leave without my rolling suitcase, and then threw my boarding pass in the trash. Seriously--what is wrong with me??

The Heartland was good times, as usual. I love seeing cheese curds on **every** menu, especially deep-fried ones. I'm not knocking it--I would love to partake, I just can't. I should also note I ordered fries at a diner, and they came battered. Battered fries!! I had no idea fries could get more unhealthy than they already were. Turns out they can.

I did, however, squeeze in a few rootbeer floats from the local A & W stand. Heavenly.

My other big coup was this highly convenient walker/chair combo. My booty/bum leg graced this seat more than I care to admit. My sister dared me to fly down the driveway in it backwards, which I did *not* do. Unless you saw me do it, but I highly doubt you were there. So, it didn't happen.

Hi, Mom! Didn't happen!

On to the shower. Since everyone knows how much I love babies with headbands, especially with large flowers, my family thought it would be hilarious to force me to wear one. When I looked around the room, I was horrified--they all had them on. Worst. Nightmare. Ever. Good one, fan-damily!

The obligatory belly shots--10 weeks from due date!

They started the shower with cute little guessing games--my birthweight, my middle name, how big my belly measured. I like my Aunt Heidi's note of caution.

Then came the tasty food, complete with a tasty spread, bright green and pink cookies, and delicious handmade gluten-free eclairs handcrafted by Heidi. It was all so cute and delicious!

Time for presents!

Mini got the cutest swag around. Cute coats, jumpers, robes, towels--you name it. I am a very lucky and blessed Mom-to-be!


My mom and sister did this very cute clothesline deal where I pulled one end out a hamper, and then the line was passed around the room. As it passed me, I got to see all of the goodies hanging on it--shoes, hats, jackets. It was all so adorable.

One of the highlights is the "Lil Finn" shirt to honor my Finish heritage. I had planned on doing so by doubling all of my vowels (Kaari and Eriika, anyone??), mumbling a lot, and eating brats-- but this is probably better. I also got this from Eriika to honor the GREATEST MOVIE EVER.


While home, we went through a box of old videotapes I need to have transferred onto DVD. I promise to post them. I know you're dying to see our choreographed routine to Kris-Kross. It will make you want to jump-jump!!


I also found the tape with my foray into child modeling in a runway show. Cindy Crawford I was not. Stiff, unnatural, and not particularly attractive I was. It's good stuff.

Thanks to everyone who helped organize my shower, and a special thanks to everyone who traveled to be there for my big day. I can hardly wait for you to meet Mini! Now gimme some cheese curds.

She's Not Heavy--She's my Sister

My older (and formerly rotten) sister Eriika just turned 36. Here are 36 reasons why I'm glad we're related.

1. When we were little, we fancied ourselves as pioneers, and frequently played Little House on the Prairie. We were so excited when we got these matching red nightgowns with matching bonnets. Knowing her, she was probably Laura, and I was probably blind Mary.


2. She was extremely bossy. Because she's 2 years and 8 days older, SHE always reigned supreme. If I wanted to play school, she always got to play the teacher, and I had to be the lowly student.


3. One time, at the local pool, we were playing an underwater counting game where we would hold our breath until the count of 10, and then we would spring out of the water in unison (we lived in Iowa...we were bored, okay??) I counted to 10 and shot up like a rocket. Apparently, I counted too fast, and I came up under her chin, causing her to bite through her lip. It required stitches. Oops.

4. We each had Cabbage Patch Kids that were treated like our own flesh and blood. We took them everywhere we went, and spent our paltry allowances on garage sales baby clothes for them. We took a bajillion pictures of them over the years--most were crappy Polaroids that looked like this little gem.


5. As kids, we weren't allowed to eat any sugar or white flour. When our mom napped, we tore azz on our bikes down to the local McD's for burgers. Then we hopped back on our bikes, eating the burgers as we furiously pedaled uphill, discarding the wrappers on the road so there would be no evidence. We also stuffed our pants, jackets, purses, and socks with candy from 7-11 and smuggled them into the house.

6. She's also a NKOTB fan. Their Lexington concert was our first concert together. Eriika had been friends with this dumb girl named Angela, and invited her to the concert. They had a fallout at Strolling Strings Camp (violin camp...not kidding) and didn't talk for months. The night before the concert, Angela called to find out the plan, and Eriika told he she was un-invited. Coldhearted. The following picture is awesome because it captures both her large hair *and* the original NKOTB poster on my wall above her head. Long live the block!


7. We went through an unfortunate Laura Ashley phase.

8. We come from a long line of big, blond hair.



9. Her first car was a super sweet white Mustang. When she was freeway flirting, she wasn't paying attention and crashed into the back of a parked moving van. To cover up her negligence, she changed the story to one where she was being pursued by "ugly boys who wouldn't leave her alone." In her attempts to flee their unwanted advances, she crashed into the van. Our parents bought this drivel hook, line and sinker.


10. Once the car was repaired, we crashed it together, but this one left no evidence. We somehow convinced our parents to let us drive separately to church. We left early so we could squeeze in a Mcd's stop along the way, but we spun out on the way home and landed in a ditch. She only had real wheel drive, and the wheels just spun. We somehow managed to get some traction, and got ourselves out of the ditch.

11. Dirty Dancing was the first PG-13 movie we ever saw. Eriika showed it at her slumber party, and I watched it from the stairs because I was 11. We still know every word to Dirty Dancing and Grease.

12. When our favorite cousin Bruce was visiting, my sister got sassy. Our mom told her to go do something, and she told our mom to "stick it." That didn't end well for her.

13. Her face in this picture pretty much sums up our relationship for many years.


14. But we also had a lot of fun and happy times as little rascals



15. When she was a senior in HS, she entered a pageant. Her violin solo was okay, but she blew the Q & A portion. She got a case of the nerves and flubbed her line. At one point, I thought she was going to barf or faint. This was my crowning achievement of the year.


16. When we were little, we were very studious--voracious readers. We always won the library summer reading challenge. One year, we decided to organize our books by creating our own library in the basement, complete with a dewey decimal system created along the book bridge with masking tape. Our parents were not impressed.


17. Eriika was not only bossy, she was mean and always on the attack. I fell prey to her physical prowess until I created a patented, signature move: the windmill. As Eriika approached, I began swinging my arms wildly in a windmill motion. By the time I reached her, I would pummel her from the left, then the right, then the left...until she retreated. It was awesome.

18. I still call her Coily Head--an homage to her short, curly hairdo. She still calls me Shrump Crump, and homage to my horrible 80's claw bangs.

19. Speaking of said short, curly hairdo--here's a picture. Our mom talked her into hacking off her hair into a short style. The selling point was that, in the morning, she could just "wash, pick, and go." We still use this phrase in our house to bug our mom.

That's "wash, pick and go" on the right. It's a solid look, especially with those glasses.

20. Because our mom dashed our dewey decimal dreams, we spent a lot of time at the library. On the way home, Eriika leaned over the front handlebars, and her bookbag got caught in the spokes of her bike. She flipped over the front and hit her head on a curb. She got a concussion, and was picked up by kind strangers and dropped off at our home. We never knew who the kind folks were.

21. In elementary school, it was in vogue to have a retainer or braces. I had perfectly straight teeth, and I wanted a retainer so badly. Eriika had a jacked up grill, so I borrowed her retainer one day to show off @ school. When I went to put it back at the end of the day, it was missing. 3 weeks went by, and as I was walking home from school, I spied it on the grass of a neighbor's house. I ran home and suck it in the end of a toy trumpet, and let her find it a day or two later. Did I mention I didn't wash it?? She never suspected a thing.


22. At our Ward Talent Show, she played Ice Castles on the piano. Our friend Valerie played a Boy George song on her Casio, and our mom told us she thought that was inappropriate.

23. Before flat-irons, Eriika relied on me to blow out and straighten her hair. Before a big dance, I asked to borrow a dress she wasn't wearing, and she refused. So I refused to do her hair. She wouldn't budge on the dress, and I wouldn't budge on the blowout. I went to the dance with an ugly dress, and she went with a fro. It was lose-lose.


24. She was loud and mouthy according to our parents. She slammed her bedroom door so many times, my dad took her door off the hinges for a month.

25. Before people had video cameras, our parents would do audio recordings every Sunday. As Eriika was taping her portion, I ran up and bit her. She screamed "Aghh! She bit me! Beat her up, daddy..beat her up!" Then you hear my cackle as I happily ran off. Heh-heh.


26. We were serious Nintendo freaks back in the day.



27. One night, we had a weird competition. We put on 20 layers of clothes, including a robe, and then loaded up on socks. We then tied our shoes on, and saw who could last the longest. We started losing circulation in our toes, and called it a tie.

28. We spent a large portion of our childhood acting out the "Material Girl" and "Uptown Girl" videos. We were MTV freaks.


29. I spent many a night on a crappy futon in her room so we could stay up late and talk.



30. After all, she had an awesome black, red and white 80's room. Note Patrick Swayze and Kirk Cameron on her wall.


31. When she was on one of the many breaks from her HS boyfriend, she started dating a hot guy IN MY GRADE. Lame to the max.

32. I got even with her when I made out with her childhood love, Eddie. If you mention his name, she still gets mad. Bonus: he was still hot!

33. I was happy to ship her off to college. This is her senior picture--she was quite serious.


34. I didn't really like her until I went and visited her in college. Magically, we got along great and had a good time. Instantly, we became close, and have been close ever since.


35. Every Christmas and birthday, we write salty notes and names on cards. Our standard is always "KKBWLAH" which stands for "knock-kneed-bimbo-walkin-like-a-ho" from Baby Got Back. Classy.

36. I couldn't ask for a better sister, and I know she will be an excellent Aunt to Zyggi.

Happy birthday, sis. I love you, you crazy Coily Head!