Steaming!

I spent the ENTIRE day steaming wedding gowns.

The good news is, the end is near!

My steamer's swtich broke yesterday, which sent me into crisis mode. I went out and bought a new one, but I don't like it as much as my old one. Steve has a part ordered for the old one, so hopefully when it gets here he can fix it -- and that's the only thing wrong with it!

I'm sure of two things:

1. The show is going to be beautiful.

2. Tomorrow morning when I wake up my arm is going to be KILLING ME.

Holding pattern

I have so many projects I want to complete for the Bridal Show, but something is hanging me up on each one!

• I ran out of paper last week so I can't finish printing the back drop for the stage. The paper was shipped, but is not here yet. So I'm waiting.
• All of the raffle prizes aren't in yet, so I can't finish the program.
• I'm still waiting on a few people to call me back to clarify dress information, so I can't finish the script.

So I'm in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment...

Spring Break!

If your kids are on spring break this week or next week, bring them down to the museum!

We will be having daily planetarium shows for these two weeks at 1:00. Plus all the other great things we have at the museum!!

Come see us!

"New" 50s dress

I just went upstairs and changed the mannequin's dress in the 50s kitchen in The Stark County Story exhibit!



This dress was recently donated, and is such a fabulous 50s dress! I just had to put it on a mannequin right away.

Come in and see it in person!

We love museums...do museums love us back?

A grad school friend posted this on his Facebook page -- hysterical!

WATCH IT!

Bridal Show script

I am finally able to sit down and work on the bridal show script!

What a wonderful show we have in store for you! Beautiful gowns, romantic/funny/touching stories, great food. What could be better?

We will be taking reservations through Friday April 2. Please call if you'd like to come! 330-455-7043

I have given the model order to Cindy, who will begin coordinating the changes with her team of dressers. We have to make sure the models assigned to the same dresser have all their dresses hanging together. It is a complicated system, but we are a well-oiled machine. :-)

A week before the show we will steam all of the dresses with distilled water to smooth out any wrinkles that have taken place over time. Each dress will look as pressed as the day the bride originally wore it!

All of the trains will be unfurled, where they will remain until the show.

In addition to writing the script, I still have to design the program (paper is purchased!) and print out a large garden photograph for the backdrop of the stage.

Stephanie and her committee are busy gathering gift certificates and prizes for our raffle (let us know if you or your business would like to contribute!). Cindy has been making favors.

The event will be fabulous!

Museums at BellaOnline on Facebook

Since 2004 I have been the Editor of the Museums site at BellaOnline.com. I write a weekly article on something museum-related. My articles are aimed at museum professionals and museum visitors.

This is a volunteer position for me! I love being a part of the BellaOnline community because I am able to connect with museum enthusiasts around the world.

My involvement at BellaOnline has also allowed me to become a member of the Artwork editorial team for Mused, a literary journal published by BellaOnline.

It's a great community of writers!

I have just created a Facebook fan page for my site. If you are on Facebook, consider joining! I will post links to my weekly articles, so you can keep up to date on what's new at the Museums site.

Click here to view the Museums fan page!

History Day in progress!

I just finished my judging assignments for History Day! Another great group of kids with some amazing projects!

Because Chris has more judges than ever before, it drastically reduced the number of projects each team had to review. Which means I don't feel nearly as fried as I have in years past!

The awards ceremony will be held at 2:30.

There are no winners or losers today -- all the kids worked really hard, and that came through in all of the projects.

Congratulations to everyone who came to the Region 5 competition!

Crazy week!

What an EXTREMELY busy week I've had!! And yet, there is still a 6th day to this week -- History Day is tomorrow!

Monday seems like a month ago. We had Tea with the Curator: "Hearth & Home" and a tour of the new quilt exhibit A Stitch in Time.

Tuesday I spent the entire day with the Travel Channel.

On Wednesday we went to a marketing seminar hosted by the CVB on partnering and packaging, followed by a meeting at Glenmoor about our special event in September. Then I had to rush to the Malone retirees to give my "Canton: A Journey Through Time -- General History" program. Chris and I stayed late for History Day judges training.

On Thursday we picked up a bequest of a china cabinet filled with glass and china that had to be boxed up for transport.

And today I went to the Akron Woman's City Club to do my program "Canton's Pioneers in Flight." What a lovely group of ladies, and a fabulous lunch!

So, as you can see, I've been swamped.

Next week should be a little quieter, and I hope to be able to finish the Bridal Show script, as well as several other projects on my list that require me to actually sit still for a period of time to complete them!

Travel Channel filmed here today!

Chris took this picture of the Travel Channel crew's monitor!

The Travel Channel came here today to film a segment for a new series called Mysteries in the Museum!

We talked about McKinley's assassination and took a closer look at a few related artifacts. We began filming at 9:30 this morning and we didn't finish until almost 6:00! I am exhausted! But it was also a lot of fun.

They have a lot more to film at museums across the country. They expect to finish filming this summer and edit this fall. The show will air in 2011.

I will let you know when I know more!

Learn more about cool cars at Soup at Six!

This is a photo of a hydrocar MADE RIGHT HERE IN CANTON! We believe they are driving it into Meyers Lake for a trial run.

It was an amphibious vehicle that was way ahead of its time. People here in Stark County were experimenting with this around 1917, a few decades before the military seriously considered using this type of vehicle.

Learn about this and much more early automotive history at the next Soup at Six on Thursday March 18. For just $10 you will get soup, bread, a drink and dessert PLUS this fascinating program!

Call 330-455-7043 to make reservations.

Bridal Show script

I am working on the Bridal Show script this week!

When people bring in their gowns, we sit and talk for a little while about the stories relating to the wedding, engagement, honeymoon, etc. I take notes. Lots of notes.

Next, I look at each dress to describe its style and special features.

Then I put it all together into a script.

We move through the past 100 years in chronological order, for the most part. There are two reasons that the order isn't exactly linear:

• We like to put family groups like mother/daughter or grandmother/mother/daughter out on the stage together. All of the dresses in the group come out in the timeline for the oldest dress in that family. The oldest dress comes down the runway first, while the newer dresses stay on the stage. The oldest dress leaves the runway and we do the next dress in the family. After the family group is finished, we go back to that place in our timeline.
• We can't alter the dresses, so sometimes our models fit into dresses that are too close together in the timeline to make a quick change. So we re-order the dresses a little to make sure we give the models enough time to change.

This year, we have a special set of two 2008 brides. In fact, they were married on the same day in December of that year!

Both have modeled for us in the past. Amanda's grandmother volunteers here. Erin was my intern a few years ago. Amanda's dress is difficult to put on, so she requested that she wear her dress before the other dresses she is modeling, to give her dresser enough time to get her into it.

So we will have "bookend" 2008 brides -- Amanda will be first, and Erin will be last. Both girls have very unique dresses. You won't want to miss them! Amanda's is embroidered in gold, and Erin's has a gorgeous red sash and train.

I am at the "describing the dresses" stage with the script. I am also finalizing the order of things. Next will come the actual writing of the script.

Call 330-455-7043 to make reservations!

New little girl in the Doctor's Office!

The little girl came back from LifeFormations today and she looks FANTASTIC! They did a great job. Come in and see her in the Doctor's Office in the Street of Shops!

BEFORE........



and AFTER!!



Here are some more images of the new little girl!

Tea with the Curator is FULL!

Thank you to all who signed up for Monday's Tea with the Curator: "Hearth & Home." We're thrilled to report that it's FULL!

The morning will include light breakfast sweets, a program and a tour of A Stitch in Time.

There are still spots left in the Soup at Six on March 18. Chris will be doing his program "On the Move" about the automobile industry in Stark County. It's a great program, so sign up!

Quilt exhibit article

Click here for a wonderful article on the new quilt exhibit by Gary Brown of The Repository!

Also click here to see a slide show of photos of the exhibit from Repository photographer Stan Myers.