the 'ship

It's been a while since I laced up the boots and took to the soccer field. I stopped playing for BYU in 2005 and since then I've spent a semester in London, had two (count 'em) ankle reconstruction surgeries, and spent a 19-month hiatus in a skirt in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Needless to say, I was a little bit excited about the idea of playing on an intramural soccer team with some other has beens and some friends...


Team name: Number One's. With a name like that you better back it up and believe me, we did! We took the 'ship, we earned the t-shirt. My only and best intramural experience!

twin birds take flight

Hey all! My best friend Heather and her twin sister Heidi have been working on their own accessory line and officially launched their Web site this week. Here's some great deals for you all. Take a look and have fun with their 20's inspired pieces.

Here's what she had to say:

We've kept our side biz pretty hush hush as we needed to place our accessory products in the hands of the right buyers/showrooms, magazines and influentials before we exposed our idea to the web world.

Our accessory company is called True Birds. We've been calling each other 'bird' for many years and thought the name fitting! We had a big vision of a business idea and limited time with newlywedness, work endeavors, moves and the sort but after lots of passion, designing, fabric districting, midnight sewing, marketing, graphicking, photoshooting,web-site-ing (I just made up a slew of 'ing' words!)and the like we have come out just in time for the last of the Christmas shopping! Yahoo!

We've struck some luck with a great buzz about the product. We're in numerous boutiques from Beverly Hills to the N.Y.C., have had some celebrity requests for True Birds from the likes of Mamma Mia's star, Amanda Siegfried as well as the writer of JUNO, Diablo Cody. We also just recently had a request for a meeting with the hair accessory buyer from Henri Bendel which will be held next month. We've been so blessed and we love how it is all naturally taking flight!

(A quick glance of what the True Birds, www.truebirds.com web store features)

So, we want to spread a little Christmas Cheer! We're offering a 40% off coupon for all orders until December 31, 2008. This coupon is for our family and friends and their family and friends so feel free to share it!

The coupon code for 40% off is: HOLIDAY

If you want to get an additional 10% off to get a total of 50% off your entire order its easy! All you have to do is post something about True Birds on your blog and/or facebook, send us a link of your post to truebirds@gmail.com and we'll immediately send you your 50% off coupon for your entire order as well as our much appreciation and email smile :).

fyi: All of our accessories are almost up! For the next couple of days the only items you can purchase through the website are the adult 'soft bands' and 'baby bands' because the others aren't linked for sale yet. If you would like to order others that don't have the link to buy online you can email us your order and phone number and we can do a paypal order via phone. Thanks!

*other fyi: you enter the coupon code on the page after you enter your credit card information

For Christmas Delivery order by

Wednesday, December 17th (11:59 PM PST)

miracles DO happen!

The first miracle: I am writing a new blog post!

The second miracle: I was accepted to the NY program through the Comms department at BYU.


My soul needs New York and I am so grateful that I will be able to take in the sights and smells of this great city. I love big cities, I love traffic, I love public transportation. These things bring me great joy. What's better? I get to experience all this while testing my skills in the PR field. This semester has been quite the load. I don't have time for nearly anything outside school and work. I have learned much- most importantly how much I love PR. Here's a list why:

1- PR is about communication. I love communicating and communicating for a cause.
2- This industry is growing and using the growing Web of social media to continue to foster conversation
3- I get to use my words! Words are my passion and they are conveniently essential in my chosen field.
4- There is more to PR than just writing, contrary to popular belief. There is strategic planning that includes defining and reaching publics, or broken-down demographics. Then you design messages to reach each public, appeal to their self-interests, then invite them to action!

So come see me April-June in New York City. Hopefully it will be a temporary stop in the city I hope to return to permanently after graduation. Here's to dreams coming true.

a true friend

on feb. 1 2007 i read 2 nephi 1:30 "and now, zoram, i speak unto you : behold thou art the servant of laban; nevertheless, thou hast been brought out of the land of jerusalem, and i know that thou art a TRUE FRIEND unto my son, nephi, forever."

transfers happened one week earlier. i met her january 23 when i picked her up from the bus station in sao jose dos campos. she was my second companion. thus it began...

here's my nephi:and this weekend she was sealed in the spokane temple to one lucky guy! alexsandra de freitas silva- or as i like to call her, minha tia, minha metade melhor, bixinha, freitinhas, e nefi- knows me. she knows the raw, stripped, real, vulnerable me. she knows my weaknesses, and she still thinks i'm great. she shares my sorrows, and takes part in my joys. she prays for my family more than i do. whenever i REALLY need a prayer answered, i just ask her to offer it. i'll never forget our nights on our knees in caraguatatuba, brasil, when i would open my eyes as she prayed just to see what heavenly messengers were in the room... her conversations were that intimate. she is one of the angels to which Elder Holland referred to in his general conference address. tonight, as i was talking to my friend about her, i said she changed my eternities... "wait, what? how?" well- she changed my mission, which transformed my life, which will determine my eternity- ergo, she changed my eternity!


i vividly remember a day during our magical transfer together... we were walking in a neighborhood called Barranco Alto and she threw her hands up in the air and said, "i don't need much in a husband, i just want you, but a guy version!" well, i don't know daniel garret trawick very well, but i know she loves him. i know he loves her. that is all i need to know.

i am forever grateful for nefi, my true friend, and all the other true friends that that Lord has blessed me with. they really color my world beautiful.

On this day

Today is not a day that you wonder if you remember, but, rather, how.

How did you remember? How do I remember? How should we remember?

new e-mail address

hello one and all

i opened a gmail account so it will now be the main e-mail used for everything... so write me here, not my yahoo account- please.

alison.jo.williams@gmail.com

loves

yay for LA- day 5

the trip had to end at some point... but before that day arrived we couldn't say goodbye until we had one very important pit stop.

we went down to malibu to go to the beach and take advantage of my last afternoon in sunny southern california. it was a beautifully windy day- much more reminiscent of oregon beach weather than socal... needless to say i loved it. the waves were white, the water was blue, the sand was light, the smile was permanent and the conversation the best.

while we were there just hanging out this man came around collecting recycling and he was followed by a HERD of seagulls. it was amazing to see how many birds trailed his every step and hovered in the air- seemingly motionless just waiting. the picture really doesn't do it any justice.

it was hard to leave LA. weird. i am so not a california girl- but i loved the company, the convos, the climate. i felt at home. i'm sure tyson was uber excited for me to go and get his wife back all to himself, he is quite the husband, but as i was leaving i couldn't help but think i felt more like i was leaving home than going home. that's what being around a person that makes you the best you will do i guess. for that i am grateful and forever will be. love you, right?

yay for LA- day 4

so monday was all about work- well as much as it can be when you are an intern for your best friend. here is the amazing product. i became a believer.

so we worked. a lot. got a lot done. really. i promise.

then after all that time of pitching and researching and staring at a computer screen it was time we looked at something a lil bit more attractive, and let's be honest, take a break from all that HARD work so we went to see...

such a fun movie... we laughed and got sentimental- some of the lines were a bit real and applicable to life. but the real winner?

jesse williams. can you say hot (maybe it's in the last name?). do it with me... hot! this man is attractive. way too attractive for his own good. yes- we were glad we went and saw the movie. so glad

yay for LA- day 3

i love sundays- visiting a ward in thousand oaks california- being invited by the bishop to move into the ward- seeing the look on tyson's face when the bishop asked me to move into the ward- hearing the primary leaders butcher heather's last name- hearing the 5-year-olds say her name just right on the first time- going to junior primary- teaching junior primary on...

obedience

playing sequence in heather's uber cute patio- beating heather while playing sequence in her dapper patio- watching the olympics (something new) - sleeping on an air mattress - having fun in southern california

yay for LA- day 2 in fotos

here are all the fotos from the day at universal- pay close attention to the early nineties logo... so great. and there are a bunch of pics from the sets at universal that have been used in pretty much ALL the movies EVER made- okay maybe that is a slight exaggeration but it is great. more details to come.

yay for LA- day 2

on saturday we bought employee "not for resale" tickets to universal studios for $15- not too shabby, even if the guy that sold them to us wasn't really supposed to- oooops. it was great fun

here are the wonderful hosts from the weekend- THE tyson and heather fujikawa... or as the primary president called her, sister lilysawa (i dunno- just say it with an asian accent)
thanks guys

the new simpsons ride was all the rage- and thanks to our unnamed employee friend we had passes to go right to the front of the line. only thing- the pass was only supposed to work for 4 people, and we were 5... the girl wasn't gonna let us in until tys pulled out the spanish-speaking charm and said we were her friends. "if you were my friends you would bring me food" she replied. well, we got in. no line. so worth it. the best part was heath laughing like the toddler on youtube. way better than the ride and the ride was great.

here we are with lindsay and brandon wells- the reason for the cheap tickets and fellow byu pr people... except they actually graduated. one day i will get that part too. the unnamed kid that sold us the tickets was actually an intern for brandon at his pr firm where he works on pr for nintendo. lindsay does pr for toyota and yamaha. but it was awesome to get to know them- such great people and a way cute couple. this stella pic is from the jurassic park ride. the whole time we waited in line... which wasn't long, hence why we didn't use the line-skipping ticket thingies... heather and tyson were guaranteeing that we wouldn't get wet on the ride and that the middle was the safest seat. let's just agree to disagree. i was smack dab in the middle seat- the logical spot for a single girl surrounded by two couples and on a 5-person row- and came out the worst. the black shirt doesn't do the wetness justice. but the pants are classic...
oh, and lindsay was pissed!

snack time! showing off the new white bangles and in front of the mummy ride- this one was over really fast. it was fun- herky jerky- lots of starts and stops and spinning and backwards and dark- let's be honest i was glad it ended when it did. i didn't want to get sick. but after this ride we were all ready for a break! we did the "backdraft" walk through and went and saw...

the water world show starring the stunt people from all your favorite shows. at this point we had dried off and we were quite pleased we didn't sit in the soak zone! but the stunts were pretty impressive and would have finished off our day if we hadn't decided to use our pass-cutting-line-thingies to go to the house of horror. is it october? because it pretty much just felt like haunted house. heather's screams were once again worth the trip.

yay for LA- day 1

so i had an amazing time with my best friend and her husband. it was the perfect mix of work, fun, and chilax with the bestlers HP and Tys. here is a quick recap of what happened.

first stop on our tour of everything fun was the fashion district. we walked in and out of soooooooo many stores and saw some great and not so great things... all sorts of legitimate products- gotta love dolce and gabbana for $25- and i thought that was expensive. it was also great to see heather the business woman hard at work trying to get a direct source for a pink paisley fabric that is a big hit on knot heads. but it was a myriad of lil shops and stands, and people from all over. oddly- i felt at home.

i particularly loved shopping the $1 jewelry stores and i found myself some white bangles i had been wishing i had for a while! yesssss for cheap. yesssss for talking to my sisters while shopping to see if they wanted anything from my white-bin paradise.

next stop? Olvera Street. we split an order of taquitos and beans with cheese, oh so good. apparently this grub is world famous- and the line that wrapped around the corner at times proves it. they were certainly the best taquitos i've ever had. world famous in my book, or blog.

last stop before rushing home to make dinner and the olympics... the getty museum! i loooooooooooooved it. the best part- well of course it is free and that is good but it wasn't the best- there was a bernini exhibit. now when we first saw the posters i knew i had heard of that name- but it had been a while since i took any humanities classes. i felt like he was the sculptor that made me fall in love with baroque art and want to go to rome. if i recalled right he was known to be so talented that he could sculpt so thin that his leaves rustled in the wind. well- the memory served right. the exhibit was focused on his portraits and it was marvelous. he blew away his contemporaries with the ability to catch images in a time when images couldn't be captured, as our tour guide pointed out. our guide was a local artist that had a resume- let's just leave it at that. but he helped uncover the beauty of bernini's work. but equally impressive as the exhibit was the museum in and of itself. as i told my mom- i think this was one of the best museum experiences ever... and the bar is raised pretty high! but the getty has gardens that made me want to sit and bask forever- and we did pretty much that. about 4 hours at the museum and one 1-hour tour. me and hp were just warming up for those garden parties we will be hosting when we are old and gray!

Speaking of blogging

okay- so as i was at work tonight, two different coworkers, unknown to the other, each came up to me and told me that i looked like a certain celebrity... now i'm not saying i am anywhere near a celebrity beauty- but it seems like everyone says i look like a different celebrity- and i really don't see any of them, although heaven knows i would like to! don't get me wrong, i'm flattered, but i just don't see it. so- here are some of the faces- chime in on what you think...

1. Gina Davis

2. Jeanne Tripplehorn

3- Rachel Bilson

4- Jennifer Garner

so it's official, in 11 days i am headed off to my first post-mission vacation. where am i headed?

to visit whom?

she might kill me for this picture...

but what does that call for?

this. lots and lots of this.

okay, minus the killer bod, cute tube-top swimsuit, and cool pool to lay out in, but you get the picture. i need to get rid of these nasssssty tan lines on this nasssssssssty body so i can go to the beach for the first time since this little adventure:

Barcelona, October 2005. it's been a while.

where my favorite old navy shopper frolicked in the waves of the mediterranean

where we ate belgian waffles on the boardwalk

and met hot euro guys. can you say belgish?

and this asian lady basically stripped us naked to give us massages on the beach.

man. i'm excited.

i love sundays

man- today was such a great day.

it was fast sunday, so in the Mormon church that means we don't eat or drink anything for 24 hours, with a purpose and constant prayer in our hearts. i taught this principle so many times on the mission, and today i lived what i taught. i taught people that as we take away the food from our bodies, it becomes weakened, so the spirit becomes the greater power and it leads our soul rather than the body. in this rare state, we can commune more easily with the divine and are more in tune with spiritual things. today i felt just that.

in addition to fasting, in church on the first sunday of every month the members have the chance to bear their testimonies, or state their witness of truth. man- the spirit was strong today. there was the guy that looks every ounce of football player possible who showed the emotion of a child as he talked about the all-encompassing peace that he received through a priesthood blessing, given by a loving Father in Heaven through a willing and worthy servant. there was the girl who shared an experience and taught us that Jesus walks the halls of the Temples. there was the kid who is getting ready to go on a mission so has a fire and excitement about the gospel. he highlights pretty much everything in the Book of Mormon because "it's all golden." there was the girl who thanked her visiting teacher for being so aware and so loving, and didn't know that that same visiting teacher had talked to me about her life and was feeling kind of stuck. i bet she was grateful someone noticed her efforts. she is wonderful. she should be noticed more often. there was the couple who is getting ready to be married in the temple for time and all eternity and went through the temple yesterday together, the first time for both, and felt the peace that brings us all back to that sacred place. there was that other girl who decided to study more about the Atonement and was real, saying how she expected a pop-culture self help on how to access the atonement as she studied the sacred sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. she didn't find what she thought she would. it was better. so much better. she learned that as we humble ourselves and repent we become broken and palpable in the hands of our Master, Savior and Creator Jesus Christ. that is where we find access to the healing power of the Atonement. i liked that she was honest, open, and vulnerable- but that her study changed her.

then we had sunday school. we talked about alma the younger, a great character in the Book of Mormon for sure, but so much more than that. he is real. he lived. he fought against the church. the son of the prophet was attacking the believers, and succeeding. then... would i want to see an angel? do i want a heavenly visitor? i mean, once it happens there is such a Huge responsibility. the teacher, my dear davia king said that he could have been righteous, repented and gone on his merry way with his family building the church one home-teaching visit at a time and would have been saved. i beg to differ. how many people do we know of that have seen angels? can they ever go one with a normal life? look at saul-turned-paul. he was a passionately God-fearing person with the wrong map. going down the path he thought so certain to be right, fighting the early Christians in the name of truth. enter angel. what did he do from then on? oh nothing really- just was imprisoned various times, testified from shackles, was bruised, beaten, and ultimately killed for his new path- the right right path. look at Joseph Smith. did he see an angel. oh no. he saw Several. and what's more- he saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. man. and what did that require of him? his life. his love. his heart. his home, and then another home, and then another, and then... his family, his freedom. but what was expected of him was expected of all around him- his open heavenly communication raised the bar for all those players in his life. his wife buried children, then buried him. his brother was so united with him and his cause of truth, the true kind, that they were united even in death. his closest friends tore his flesh as they pulled the tar and feathers bit by bit off his broken body, and then saw him stand in the front of those that inflicted such hate-bred wounds as he testified of forgiveness. does that require a lot of someone? you tell me. so alma the younger, he spent his life living up to the expectation of the heavenly messenger. he gave his life to the service of the very cause he set about destroying. and it was never easy. so when he told his son to learn wisdom in his youth, yeah to learn in his youth to keep the commandments of God, he understood the price of not obeying. and of obeying with exactness. and yearning the obedience of others so much it hurt. so do i want to see an angel? probably not. i don't know that i am ready for that responsibility. i don't know that i want to call upon those i love most to live up to it either- but what's real is i know they could. and if the Lord saw fit to call on me in that way, i hope from the insides of my heart that i would be willing to live up to his confidence. his love. his hope for me. but it would take a lot. let's be honest, it would take it all.

then- the day just gets better and better. we had Relief Society. now, the ward i attend is probably the most pigeon-holed ward that exists. "oh, you live there, i should just go then." not so much. but today we laid our insecurities on the table and i learned i'm really not that much different than anyone else (contrary to previous thought). the girl with the model body, big boobs, and a face so smooth she should be a part of a botox campaign is shy? she is scared to get to know people? serious? no, are you serious? the girl i wanted to not like so much because she seems to have everything just wanted the girls in the ward to be real and interested in one another. she wanted to bring us together. she wanted us all to just be friends. the real kind. i wanted her to fail. i want her to succeed.

do you see why i love sundays? it's the one day i have the option to put away the world and let the higher take control. it is an option. i would like to chose to more often.

this was all brought on because thursday my friend texted me: do you want to volunteer at the mtc? ummmm, do pigs fly? hello- Yes. so i went. and i felt. you see that feeling part is what i shy away from. i don't like to expose myself, so i have built up walls that seem reinforced with steel insecurities and self doubt. and when i feel, those wall have to come down. vulnerability up. ouch. but see missionaries have to feel. they have to breath, eat- if only once a day- Study the good word, and Feel. feel love. feel compassion. feel love. feel hurt. feel love. feel happy. feel love. and these 19-year-old kiddos who were born almost in the decade 1990 -yikes- reminded me how to feel. they testified of a young boy much like them, who one day went to the woods to pray. who felt confused. who felt like he lacked wisdom and would ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. then he felt attacked. he felt like he was going to abandon himself to a real evil, a force from the unseen world. then. he felt light. he felt truth. he felt intimacy with the Almighty. he felt. they felt. i felt. i remembered what i felt for almost 19 months as i taught people about this same boy. what i felt as i testified, because i knew, and i know. what i felt when i saw people change their lives. what i felt as people came to know an inner and eternal worth they never imagined. what i felt when i loved people i didn't know, because i was representing the Savior, i was authorized to feel as He feels. sometimes it hurts. he feels pain. so does Abba, Father. i felt that to have a fullness of joy does not imply an absence of pain. its a deeper pain than i knew existed. the kind that breaks your heart into a million pieces and you don't know if it will ever be whole again. but the point is i felt. i felt. i want to feel. and this scares me. but that's a step in the right direction right? i feel scared. so when these three kids taught with the spirit, and bore witness of truth something within me awakened. something i let die in the short three months i've been back. as it died, my inner peace died as well. it's back. it's all back. and i want it to stay.

so, this is me. i am a spiritual sucker. i love it. i yearn for it. i need it. i feel it. and as long as i am feeling the spirit i am feeling, and that is a good feeling. so i may listen to a lil more MoTab now. i may bust out my Livro de Mormon on campus and proudly read and highlight- even cry if necessary (Alma 14 always gets me). i may try to bring up Joseph or Jesus in normal conversations, find a way to reference a recent, or not-so-recent, conference talk as we are talking about who knows what. because if i don't that thing will die. that can't happen. it hurts not feeling. so this is me. i won't hide me anymore. i won't try to be what i think other people want me to be. or what i wish i was. i will do me. the Lord's me- which is way better than i thought i ever was or could be. the me i discovered in a beach side community in brasil, that followed me to the big city, sent me to the interior, and led me back to itself, that beach in Caraguatatuba. because that me feels. feels happy. feels complete. feels loved. feels love. feels peace. feels responsibility. feels joy. feels sorrow. i think that is the point. that me feels.

how was your sunday?

the sister reunited

few people are so lucky as i am... to have sisters by blood and sisters by choice! well, i have a sister that is about nothing like me, and still we haven't fought since the sixth grade. at least not that i can remember. when i moved from oregon to utah before my junior year of high school, she bought us a notebook that we sent back and forth writing about our lives and families. then when i moved back to oregon for my senior year i lived with her amazing family. i love this girl with all my heart, and am SO SO SO glad she is a flight attendant so she has lay-overs in salt lake city! yay for spending the evening with my madisn lyn cheek in her red lion hotel room! here are some pics that captured the night.

what can i say, she was reallllllly reallllllly glad to see me- we hadn't seen each other in over four years, but time never makes a difference in sisterly bonds. when i walked in her room she jumped up and down and hugged me and wouldn't let me go. i love it like i love her!

at the end of the night, she said she wasn't kicking me out, just putting my shoes right by my purse and leaving! i didn't want to say goodbye, but it was amazing to spend a night catching up with my sister and feeling like it hdan't been more than 4 days! love you madison lyn!