1 1/2 Weeks Till Cruise Date

See this ship going through the Panama Canal, it's the Vision of the Seas. I, well Lady Carolyn will be sailing with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines presenting her Edutainment series aboard this ship for a free cruise! Yep you read right a free cruise,-- welllll. . . I am under contract to provide 7 talks/shows/presentations in exchange for the cruise. So that's 7 hours of doing something I love in order to have a free cruise for my brother and I for 14 days. Oh am I lovin' life, ---out of Reno, 23 degrees, snow and off to Panama! All of this is mine and yours if you have a passion you would like to share with others. I just followed Daniel Hall's recommendations on how to cruise free and so can you! Just click the link to find out more and Happy Cruising, wait-- this is almost Christmas Eve --- Happy Christmas and Happy Cruising, what a wonderful Christmas present to myself and to you.
http://www.speakerscruisefree.com/cmd.php?af=890103

Dickens Fair, Dec 6, 2008

What's like a stage set for the general public? Where can you dress in your finest mid 1800's ensembles and walk the streets of London? Where can you see and chat with all your favorite Dickens characters? Where can you set and have a cuppa when your tired and so badly want to put your feet up? Where can you dance all day long with accomplished dance partners who teach and lead you through all the basics? There's only one place that I know of and that is the Dickens Fair, in the Cow Palace in Daley City, CA. Now some would say that the Cow Palace is in San Francisco, but I have a friend who will correct me every time if I say the wrong city. I love this place!

This year my whole family went, plus a family friend. We took the 34' RV over, stayed in an RV park a couple of miles from the Cow Palace on Friday night. On Saturday morning we drove over to the Cow Palace early went to the back of the parking lot where we could take up space and put the RV slide out for more room. Nine people in an RV and several of them females need hoop room! Plus two of the boys are in wheelchairs and my mom has her scooter. WHEW! Oh did I mention the two dogs and three other people met us at the RV to get dress also? We got the first set of people dressed and threw them out doors and barred the door. Thank goodness San Francisco was fairly warm that morning! As you can see by the pictures below we had a grand time. Getting some of the hoops out of the way by hanging them off the RV mirror!

Josh, one of the first group kicked out of the RV waiting... and waiting... and waiting!
Hurry up Bethany (fiance)!

Lovely Katie

Me in the Green, Katie in Riding Habit, Sara (the littlest one), Maridy in the back
All of were in the costume contest.
Maridy won best overall!!

Ta Da!!!! Lovely Maridy and her Award Winning Ensemble

Joe (son in law) and Sara (granddaughter)

Josh and Bethany dancing!

Victorian Tea and Lady Carolyn

On Saturday, Nov 8, 2208 the Foothills Church of Christ, Reno, NV had a fundraiser for the Village of Hope, in Ghana, Africa. The ladies decorated the tables and room where the tea was held with a Christmas theme. They even had a lovely Victorian store where guests could do some early Christmas shopping.

There were several guests who wore their Victorian or Edwardian ensembles. Everyone was so lovely I decided to include them in a small fashion show before my presentation. One guest told two of my models they looked liked they had "been plucked from a photo of the time period" What a lovely compliment to the ladies and the ensembles themselves.

Beautiful Danae
A few beautiful ladies of our group

Standing in line Renaissance and Victorian Time period

Ummm Tea is hot, but good

Edwardian time period standing line

Somewhere in Time
Victorian, Edwardian and Hollywood's version of Prairie life

Proper ladies and the hussy, my do they look like they are trying to ignore her?

Marilyn Monroe, Melissa Gilbert, Natalie Portman and Sean Connery Visit Integrity Casting

Marilyn bussing Larry Elliot

Marilyn with Melissa Gilbert

Marilyn huggin up the other musician

Toni Suttie with Rick Veldstra

Natalie making music

Integrity Casting, Reno Office, had an open house at their new location in Reno or technically the town of Sparks. What fun to play Marilyn and interact with Katie Mattison who played Natalie Portman, Lindsey Berg as Melissa Gilbert and Jack Davis as Sean Connery.

The open house was a great success and in a beautiful office building. Integrity Casting is a licensed casting agency, in Nevada for film, commercial and print. Toni Suttie, the casting agent, is. . . well there are many adjectives to describe Toni, fun, beautiful, great heart, conscientious and has integrity, which in the film industry can be rare to find at times. Here are some great pictures of this event.

Nevada Day Parade Nov 1, 1008

Nevada is one of the few state in the union that celebrates our becoming a state. We entered the union on Oct 31, 1864 and in this era we celebrate with many festivities. One event is a parade in Carson City, our state capitol. ( we also get the day off of work and out of school).



I've included information taken from the Nevada Day Web site.

The 2008 Nevada Day Theme is
Hollywood in Nevada - Movies and Television

The 2008 theme brings together all the gilt and glamour of Hollywood within our state. 2008 will mark one hundred and eleven years of movie making in Nevada, which all started in 1897 when a film was made documenting the heavyweight prizefight between "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and British challenger Bob Fitzsimmons. Hollywood has been no stranger in Nevada. Over the 50 plus years of the television industry, our state has played host to numerous TV shows filmed in Las Vegas and Reno. CSI Las Vegas and Reno 911 are just two examples of TV shows currently on the television fall and spring lineup.

The history of the movie industry within Nevada dates back as long as there was film in the camera. Many people are not familiar with Nevada's extensive movie resume. Just a few of the movies filmed in Nevada are The Misfits, staring Clark Gable, Marilynn Monroe and Eli Wallach. Academy Award winning film Leaving Las Vegas. To name a few more: Charlie Varrick, Sister Act, Mars Attacks, Pink Cadillac, Honkytonk Man, Vegas, The Godfather, Oceans 11, Misery. The Shootist Staring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall and many, many others!

Over Hundred years of movies in Nevada is quite an accomplishment and is something to celebrate. It was a perfect theme for the Reno Film Festival to enter a float into the parade.

On the float was the director, cameraman, clapper, and the "star" Charlie Chaplin. Walking along side of the float was several "stars" greeting guests along the parade route.



Maridy Carpenter who was the star Debra Kerr from the "King and I" did an awesome picture gallery of the real stars and our stars. Take a look at her site.

http://yesteryearproductions.blogspot.com/2008/11/nevada-day-parade-nov-1-2008.html

In the pictures below, you will see a few people getting the float ready for the parade and "stars" getting ready in the dressing room, also known as a motor home.

City of Reno, Senior Citzens

On Thursday, April 17, 2008, I had 24 senior citizens from the City of Reno come by my house for a little talk from "Louise Mackay" before they headed up to Virginia City to visit for the day. They were a lovely group.

more pics Goldfield

From the next few pictures you can see that Goldfield in nearly a ghost town, once a thriving town of 20,000 people, now about 240. They have a sense of humor in town the lady in the window is a mannequin. BUT the last picture is of a saloon/bar that was redone with a new restaurant in the back. What at find in Goldfield, off Rt 95 a couple of blocks. We also stayed a new hotel, the Santa Fe on 5th Street at the end of town. It had only 5 rooms, but they were wonderfully clean and big rooms. It's style was a lot like the new saloon. LC

The Great Race, Goldfield, NV

On March 22, 2008, I traveled to Tonopah and Goldfield, NV to be with the towns as they celebrated the cars coming through town on their way to Paris. You will find some wonderful pictures of this event with part of the townspeople dressed for the occasion. What fun doing the Genteel Disrobe for them in the 1908 format. ----I may have to load pictures in a couple of blogs to get them all in. LC

SNCAT a local television show did an interview with Louise Mackay today at the Studio. What fun!! I must say that I think that Louise did a good job. I will soon have a copy of the interview for sale, it will be a 30 minute DVD. LC

Louise Mackay

On April 1, 08 I had the opportunity present a Chautauqua of Louise Mackay. For those of you who are wondering Chautauqua?? it is a first person presentation of the individual you are portraying, you become that person for 30-40 minutes, answer questions for 15 min in first person, then answer questions as yourself about the person you portrayed. Now that we have the Chautauqua question cleared up, who was Louise Mackay? Louise was married to John Mackay, one of the Silver Kings from Virginia City. He and his partners hit the big bonanza of silver mining in the 1870's and became one of the richest men in the world. John's job was to master the business world and Louise's job was to master the wealth that would open doors of society for her children. Louise lived in New York as a child, grew up in a mining town in California, gain wealth in Virginia City, lived in San Francisco, then lived abroad for more than 40 years off the wealth of the Comstock mines. She became on of the most important and respected hostesses of Paris and London in the late 1870-the early 1900's. Above are a couple pictures of "Louise" (me) in a gown of 1886 at the height of her popularity. LC

National Automobile Museum

On Feb 12, 2008 the National Automobile asked me to created a version of the Genteel Disrobe in 1908 format. The museum has the Thomas Flyer in their collection. This car won the 1908 New York to Paris race. Feb 12 was the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of the race, the museum had a Bon Voyage party to celebrate. These pictures are of the original car (mud and all) and the ensemble for the show.

High Tea in San Francisco

I and three other ladies went to San Francisco for this on Feb. 9, 2008. Here are a few pictures of the event. Any chance to dress and be a part of History is fun!



One of the ladies--my beautiful daughter























Frankie looks like an old world painting

















All four of us at the B&B

We are still working on the web site! We have changed the format, but more will be work to be done. This is just the beginning. I'm changing the focus from clothing/fashion to a historical approach of the types of edutainment I do.