No... I'm Ali

A few years ago, if anyone ever told me I would go to two church services in one day, I would have thought they were crazy. Well, today it happened. I was looking forward to attending City Church since I hadn't been there for a few weeks due to my work and personal travels. I was running a little late this morning so I rushed into the Russian Center, where City Church holds it's services, put my things down next to my friend Vicki and dashed off to see if there were any doughnuts left. "Yes!" I thought to myself, as I grabbed the last old fashioned glazed doughnut. Yum... so happy about that. I got some coffee, said hello to my physical therapy friend, Bryan, and the service started. I was all set up to take in the teaching of the day. It was nice to be back into my Sunday routine. After the service I chatted with a few friends from my community group, went to a class and was done around 2:30 PM. OK... that was church #1.

I hurried home before I set off to the 4:00 PM service at church #2 because I realized I should have some pictures with me of Meg, Morgan, and David. I had been invited to what was called a "Rally Sunday" at Golden Gate Community Church (GGCC). GGCC was my sister Meg's church during the many years she lived in San Francisco. She loved GGCC and even though she is very happy in Spokane, I'm sure she misses her friends from her old church a lot. Over a year ago, when I started looking into churches in SF, it was important to me to go somewhere other than GGCC. It was nothing against her church, it was that Meg was incredibly involved. She was a big part of the worship music and often sang in front of the congregation. Myself, on the other hand, had not attended church regularly since I was a teenager. I didn't even really know what it meant to be a Christian so I decided it was best for me to go somewhere where I wasn't known. I needed to find my own path and not be expected to fill Meg's shoes. I knew I couldn't do that, not by a long shot!

I enjoyed the service this afternoon at Golden Gate. It was different than City Church, but good at the same time. They had a group called "Thankful" playing praise music and seriously rocked out! I had gone to a few GGCC services with Meg over the years and they always played upbeat music, but this with a notch up from that. When the service was over, I braced myself for the inevitable. Yup... here it comes... a man walked up to me and said, "Meg Bottomley!" Gulp, flash a smile. "No... I'm Ali."

I'm more used to this situation than you may think. The advertising agency I worked at when I first moved to SF, was three blocks away from a design firm where Meg used to work. Every month at least one person approached me on the street with, "Meg! It's so great to see you!" They would look embarrassed and confused when I said, "No," but were relieved when I explained we are twins. Today one woman walked by me and said, "Wow, you look great after just having a baby!" Hee. Meg does look great, but of course I had to let her know I wasn't Meg. There were a few people that walked over and said, "You're Meg's twin, right?" Everyone I met was very nice and I even had a chance to catch up a little with my high school friend Kathy. Of course everyone was super excited to see the photos I brought of Meg, David, and Morgan in her Easter bunny ears.

When I left the church this evening I laughed to myself. I thought, someday... I don't know where, I don't know when, but someone is going to walk up to Meg and say, "Hi Ali!" She will have to say, "No... I'm Meg."

Happy Easter Everyone!

I'm finally back in San Francisco from a 10-day trip. It feels a little strange to be home. First, it was off to St. Petersburg, Florida for a special window display installation in our new concept store at Tyrone Square Mall, March 13-14. One of my colleagues was very generous to invite me to stay in St. Pete for the weekend. Her brother and sister-in-law rent a place there February through mid-April. We had a nice time. I even managed to get a Florida sunburn!

Then I was off to the Windy City where it was cold... around freezing with some sleet. Even enduring the cold, I have to say Chicago is a great town! I had only been to Chicago briefly once before, but this trip I saw it in a whole new light. I loved it. The conference I attended was good, the hotel was lovely (W Hotel - Lakeshore), but by the time it was over, I was ready to fly to Spokane, WA for the long weekend to see Meg, David, and Morgan for Easter weekend. Meg had a terrible cold, but we all ended up having a good time. I got to spend lots of time with Morgan and let her Mommy get some rest. Here are some photos from my visit:

Is Morgan ready for Guitar Hero yet? I hear she listens to U2 lullabyes.

Super Bunny Morgan and Aunt Ali. Whee!

I love my Mommy. : )

Family photo, The Allendorfs after Easter services.

The girls - Ali, Morgan, and Meg.

"Do you like my new outfit? Aunt Ali bought it for me at Old Navy. They have the cutest stuff. Grandma is gonna be mad though, she thinks I have enough clothes." ; ) Love, Morgan

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello from Chicago! I'm here for a conference called GlobalShop. It's an annual show focusing on retailers. I'll be looking into the latest and greatest in digital signage, visual merchandising, and in-store decor. Today I walked around downtown doing some competitive research, and yes, a little shopping. I hear the Chicago River is usually a shade of green, but right after this weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities, it looked like this:


I heard it was a much brighter shade on Saturday, March 15, after the city parade. They actually pour an orange dye into the river to get it a brighter shade of green. Crazy stuff!

Highway 1 - Point Reyes/Marshall

I had a nice weekend. Saturday, I joined some friends for a drive to Point Reyes, CA. It's about 40 minutes North of San Francisco. We tried to get to the lighthouse, but the road was closed to autos once we were almost there. Bummer. I heard there is a limit to the number of cars they allow at the lighthouse so we must not have made the cut-off. We turned and continued to the Hog Island Oyster Co. in Marshall for a picnic/BBQ and short hike. I'm not a big oyster fan, but there were plenty other things to eat. So much that the short hike (maybe more of a walk) was much needed! Good times.

BTW, this is not a photo of our picnic table that day. This image is on the Hog Island website. Looks good, doesn't it?

Dreams

The good news is that I've been continuing to walk. Over the past month I have been walking during my lunch break about 3x per week and sometimes fitting in a weekend walk. I have noticed my knee is sensitive when I throw in too many lunges or side steps, but it seems to be taking simple walking just fine. Yay! Running may not be right around the corner, but at least I'm making some progress.

I had a memorable dream last night and I woke up with a promising feeling. I have had many running dreams over the last two injured years. Before last night, I tended to have a recurring dream. It was always a race morning. I don't know why, but the dream tended to be a 12K race, which is about 7.5 miles. I was excited, for sure, but there was guilt. I was walking up to the starting line knowing in the back of my mind that I should not be there, I was not ready. In each dream I woke up before the race actually started or soon after I began to run. Last night was different. This time it was a 10K race and the scenery seemed to be vineyards. Maybe this was because I have a coworker that ran the Napa Marathon this past weekend? She and I had a long discussion about the race and what a gorgeous area Napa is to run or cycle.

In this dream my sister was with me and running the race too. That didn't seem to be of much significance though. I think Meg ran ahead of me and I didn't see her after that. The best part of the dream was that I ran the race with little to no guilt. It felt like I was floating above ground a bit as I was running. I was trying to be very careful and cautious about my knee so I ran softly and slowly. In the dream I didn't care about my time, I just was happy to be out there with everyone else. I think at some point Kevin Costner was running behind me... the significance of that, hmm, well that's beyond my comprehension! I think he passed me and then I was following him. The 10K race was a two-loop 5K course. I remember beginning the second loop and runners were actually close to finishing the whole race. That is a clue as to how slow I was running. I also remember thinking it didn't really matter, I had to start somewhere. Maybe in time I would be able to run faster. What I don't remember for sure is whether I crossed the finish line or not. Hey, at least I was running and was feeling pretty good. It's progress beyond that past recurring dream! Maybe this dream is some intuition that my knee is finally getting better and I am ready to progress to another level of recovery. I hope so. Maybe next time I won't let Kevin Costner pass me. ; )