Merry Christmas Thurston County!

Hi all! Sorry it has taken me some time to post. I have been so busy these past few weeks, working and preparing for Christmas. And the snow! Oh my! Has it been crazy! I live in Yelm and I have been driving 45 minutes in the snow to work at the Olympia Grocery Outlet. I really love working there and the owners, Russ and Cyndi are so gracious letting me come back and work while I am on break. You should go there and snatch up some bargains! :) Thank you Russ and Cyndi for being so supportive of my endeavors in school, work and as Miss Thurston County!
A couple weeks ago I was delighted to be given the opportunity to be a part of the Tumwater Tree Lighting. It was an honor to meet the mayor of Tumwater, Ralph Osgood, who later in the day let me flip the switch to light the tree. I spent the day being co-emcee and announcing the musical performances and drawing raffle ticket winners. I even got to sign autographs with my new signature cards!





Last Monday I went to Yelm High School, the school I graduated from, and talked to the health classes about my platform, Diabetes Awareness. Thank you very much Mr. Clinton and Miss. King-Taylor for allowing me to speak to every period that day. It was really refreshing to be able to talk to high school students about my platform that I care about a lot. My little sister, Alicia was in two of the classes I spoke with. They asked a lot of fun questions, it was almost like I was in my pageant interview all over again! I learned from this appearance that I really like to do public speaking. I learned about relating my platform to different age groups. It was a really invigorating experience and I am grateful I had this opportunity to raise awareness of Diabetes in my community.
Due to the snow I hadn’t had any other events, but I did get teeth whitening from a sponsor of the program! Thanks Dr. Bailey!
It’s nice to have some time off on this Christmas Day. The snow is sadly melting, but at least people are able to revert back to normal and travel wherever life may take them. Merry Christmas! Check out this beautiful necklace my sister gave me!! It love love love it!!! Best Christmas present!

Home for the holidays

Part of what excites me the most about being Miss Thurston County is appearances around the Christmas season. It is a season of giving, friendship and community. I love being around community members when there is so much love in the air. The decorated trees and bright lights are enough to bring smiles to these events that I have attended.
On Thanksgiving I attended the Christmas Forest at the Red Lion Hotel. The people at the St. Providence hospital did a wonderful job at putting together this event. At Christmas Forest there was a display of beautiful and inventively decorated trees. There was a masquerade tree, a princess tree, a sports tree, even an upside down tree. I also came to this event on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and painted children’s faces and did crafts with them. I had a great time with my little sister, Alicia who was my travel companion for this event. She is 16 and just got her license. It was cool riding in the passenger seat after all those years of driving her around.
In the passenger seat!
That Sunday I participated in the Olympia holiday parade. Although the weather was on the verge of rain and in the height of cold, it was a lot of fun. I got to ride in a new Mustang convertible GT with my pageant little sister, Mikael. It was so new it only had 20 miles on it when we got it. Thanks All-star Ford for lending it to us. We rode with the top down through downtown Olympia during the parade. I even recognized some of the kids in the audience whose faces I painted at the Christmas Forest kid’s day.


Mikael and I at the parade
The following Thursday I was honored to be a special guest at the Lacey Tree lighting ceremony. As a co-emcee I announced the arrival of Santa after the trees in Huntamer Park were lit. I was amused as I sat next to Santa as eager children came and sat on his lap.
Friday was the Panowics Jeweler’s “Men’s Night Out” which featured raffle prizes for men to get their significant others a wonderful Christmas present and enjoy some good food. I was able to be there to chat with the guests. I also picked the lucky winner of the raffle every hour. I greeted at the door with a few of the girls on the Tumwater dance team. They were a lot of fun and I enjoyed laughing with them. I wish them all luck as they compete in the state and national dance competitions.
Finally on that Saturday I got to be in the Yelm Christmas in the park parade. This event was particularly special because it is my hometown. Going through the parade and having my school friends, teachers, coaches and various community members waving and yelling my name made me realize what I love about the small city of Yelm. At the awards ceremony after the parade there was an intense surprise that I was so not expecting! As the mayor of Yelm, Ron Harding called me to the front of the audience, I was taken aback that he was presenting me with “Sharise Williams day” haha! Thank you city of Yelm for this extreme honor!
More pictures soon!!!!

Community Commuter

What an amazing, eventful, couple weeks it has been! As a student at Western Washington University student I am constantly on the 3 hour commute from Bellingham to Thurston County. It is so worth it to drive 150 miles to see my family and to serve the community that I love. I estimate about 6,000 miles on my car before the end of my year-of-service.

Last Friday 11/7 I had an appearance at the Boys and Girls club “Born to Be Wild” auction. The special guests were from our local Harley Davidson. I enjoyed a night of fun and excitement while the Boys and Girls Club of Thurston County was able to raise $350,000 at the auction. Thanks Kristen for being my travel companion.

Last Saturday morning 11/8 I met Wendi at the Bridal Boutique in Tumwater. Omayra’s shop is beautiful and it had a plethora of beautiful dresses one of which she was gracious enough to give to me as the new Miss Thurston County. Thank you so much for the beautiful red dress!

That Saturday evening was the Miss Seattle pageant. This was the first pageant I visited as Miss Thurston County. I got to visit with some of the other local title holders and the lovely Miss Washington, Janet Harding. The show was fun to watch. Congratulations Devanni Partridge, the new Miss Seattle! I had a lot of fun with my chaperones, Trish and Alice, and Trish’s beautiful daughter Kylie. Thanks for keeping me laughing and for the Mexican food!


After a week of school and hard work I made it back on Friday 11/14 afternoon to meet with the Monica and Jesse at the Boys and Girls Club. I am so excited to start my 4 week program for promoting healthy habits, in January.

Saturday was a busy day volunteering for Operation Homefront. I spent all day stuffing stockings with goodies for our wounded soldiers. And when we ran out of stuff, A couple nice volunteers Valerie, Jenn, my chaperone Teressa and I went shopping to get some more! It was so nice to see all the people that showed up to help and support our troops.

Sunday morning I met Wendi, my director, for coffee. It was really nice to get to see her and tell her about my experiences. She gave me some good advice and we were able to talk about ideas. We then rode together to Jodie's house. Jodie is a Mary Kay representave that opened her home to Wendi and I so i could receive a gift of $500 in Mary Kay beauty products. Thank you so much Jodie!


I’ll be back to Bellingham shortly, counting down the days till I get to come home for winter break. I am awaiting all the fun times I will have during this holiday season.

Were all from Bellingham! Miss Thurston County, Miss Washington, Miss Whatcom County

Until next time,

-Sharise Williams
Miss Thurston County 2008

From that Crowning Moment

It has been a week since i was crowned Miss Thurston County and I am still in shock that i was given such a great opportunity to serve this community. Today was my first official "appearance" as MTC. Other than my wobbly crown and getting stuck in the rain, today was a wonderful day for an appearance.

At 8am I had a radio interview with Dick Pust at the KGY studio in Olympia. I enjoyed my 15 minutes on-air chatting about my scholastic ambitions and my platform. Thanks to everyone at KGY for being so nice and allowing me to share my experience with their wonderful listeners.

After my radio interview I made a stop over to Dr. Harris's office. Dr. Harris was nice enough to sponsor free teeth whitening to all the contestants while we were running. As MTC i will still be receiving teeth whitening from Dr. Harris, so of course i had to thank him personally. We shared a complicated photo-op and a nice talk. Thanks for your company and my bright, white smile!

My Executive Director, Wendi and my chaperone, Bonnie (who is actually Wendi's wonderful mother) were of great help to me today! I don't know what a would have done without those two supporting me today. Thanks Wendi and Bonnie. I learned so much from you today. I know i will be learning more throughout my year-of-service.

I miss the good times I had at rehearsal with the other contestants, Amberly, Brooklynne, Katie, Jessica, Amber and Lindsey. Good luck throughout the year and I hope you come back for the next cycle. go for your dreams and never give up.


Until next time,
Sharise Nicole Williams
-Miss Thurston County 2008