Antiquing!

This past Saturday, me and my bff Jess went antiquing! She found this amazing place called "Oak Street Market" in downtown Cornelius. It was HUGE and had lots of amazing things, and a lot of them at affordable prices. We found a bunch of great stuff--here are some pictures of my finds :


K, so first off...I have this random interest in china. And I love the idea of different and unique pieces in our dishes collection, so I set out to find some cool dishes. Mission accomplished.

This is a BEAUTIFUL bread/dessert plate. I was SO hoping they had more of this pattern, but sadly, one lonely little bread plate was all I could get my hands on. And it was only like $4.

 The most amazing tea cups & saucers I've ever seen. Gorgeous print--this picture doesn't do it any justice. I got a set of 2 for like $8.

 What good are tea cups without a tea pot? I found this beauty on our last look-around and had to have it. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the white part is all pearly and shiny--and I love the contrast with the stark black handle & spout. I love it! Also only like $8! 

 A beautiful hand mirror! In amazing condition and THE prettiest color :) 

So feminine!  

 Dinner plate find #1: I know it looks a bit strange, but I just loved how unique this plate was. A bee plate? Really? But it's hand-painted and rimmed with gold. I like it. A lot.

 Dinner plate #2: a pretty pattern with a little japanese feel to it. I love the ruffly edges of this plate.

 Dinner plate #3: my favorite! gorgeous color. gorgeous pattern and so vintage! 

 Dinner plate #4: I thought that this was a little different, but very nice. It's rimmed in gold with these lovely rippled edges. The pattern is a little holiday-ish but I really love it's simplicity.

So, as you can see...I love dishes??? I don't know. There was just something about all these unique pieces of kitchenware that I just really loved. Maybe its all of the cooking I do lately? I don't know, but I think I will continue collecting  vintage pieces to add to our dishes cabinet. It was really fun and I love that all of the things I bought have an unknown history. I think I am in love with antiquing :)

Pat's Place

This past week I had a wonderful opportunity. I was able to visit a child advocacy center for abused children called Pat's Place, in Charlotte. This is an AMAZING organization that you should go read about here. I was informed about Pat's Place through the lady that I nanny for, who also works with this organization. She knew that I had a Public Relations background and knew that I have been looking for both volunteer work and for somewhere that I can get my hands on some resume building! I have been struggling with the idea that I have a degree in Communication but am nannying...not exactly what I would like to do for my career. In this transition period that Stu and I are in right now, in between graduating and dental school, I want to keep up with the skills I learned in school and want to be able to practice and show that I have been doing more than nannying when I go to apply for a job when we figure out where we are living for the next 4+ years. She is wonderful to think of me and present me with such a great experience. I have the best bosses :) 

So, this past Wednesday I went on a tour of Pat's Place and was able to learn all about the organization, how they serve those in need, how the facility functions and ask all the questions I wanted to. I met with the director of development, who was SUPER nice, and she showed me around. She is in charge of all the media-related stuff as well as their public relations, so she was happy to hear I wanted to volunteer! I am positive she is just swamped daily! 

Pat's Place is essentially a center for children who have been sexually abused. And that is ENTIRELY understated. They are truly an innovative & rare (but much needed) sort of organization. It is super sad that there is such a need for this kind of organization but I was blown away with all they do for those that come for help. It is a non-profit organization that basically helps families cope with the trauma, children can give a testimony that can be legally used in court, cases can be investigated, families and victims can receive therapy and they even provide a thorough physical exam for the victims. It is very professional and everyone on staff seems to be either clinically licensed or possesses a masters-level degree. It is truly amazing. 

As of right now, they are getting their public relations projects prepped, so there is not a whole lot for me to help with at the moment, PR wise...but of course there are ways to volunteer right now. For example, they are in constant need of juice boxes & healthy snacks for those that come for help and always need help with admin work and mailings. I am eager to help in any way possible and am in the process of organizing a way for our ward to become involved with donations (snacks). 

I am PUMPED to be involved with such an astounding organization and feel that this sort of work is what I want to do with my career in the future. I would love to work for a non-profit organization and make a difference in others' lives. I am excited!

My First Powwow.

This past weekend a few of my girlfriends and I went to an actual Native American Powwow! Seriously. It was great! 

One of the girls I went with, Sarah, has a birthday coming up and wanted to do something fun to celebrate. She also has Lumbee Indian heritage and happened to know about a Lumbee powwow going on this past weekend in Lumberton, NC. She asked if we'd like to go and off we went! 

After several wrong turns and after about 2.5 hours--we made it to the powwow. We were so pumped! It was a beautiful day and we were looking forward to being culturally inspired and finding some pretty jewelry...duh.

The powwow was full of dancing, tributes to loved ones that had passed away, competitions, crafts and other amazing handmade goods. We browsed through LOTS of jewelry and other fun things and all went home with quite a few amazing souvenirs. I found these gorgeous feather earrings (what else would I buy? hello???) with yellow leather embellishment.  And I bought them from the friendliest little man! We actually as a whole probably gave him 80% of his business that day....haha.

We also watched lots of dancing and it was fun to see all of the beautiful costumes and all the ridiculous beadwork/quilting/feather work/etc. I mean I think the most talented people in the world make these costumes. We couldn't get enough of them. I want a full-out Native American get-up!!! The dances were cool and it was interesting to see the similarities in their culture and in hawaiian culture. I felt strangely comfortable there and I think it was the whole tribal thing...

   

The music that accompanied the dancing was...genuine. It was pretty chanty/screamy, but so cool at the same time. And the drums!! Ah. What a fun time. We sure made it fun. And we got some good sun! 

We also made some native friends. We really wanted to pose with some of the coolest costumed individuals, and mission accomplished! This guy's headdress was nothing short of the most amazing feather ensemble I have ever seen. Like Lady Gaga worthy. We asked him and his half-dressed friend (part of the warrior dancers) if we could take a picture with them and the feather-headed man agreed but only if we would all kiss his nephew on the cheek for his 21st birthday. So, I kissed another man...sorry Stu ;)

We all left feeling culturally enlightened and happy with our finds :) We also had a great time as girlfriends out on a random outing. You know you have great friends when we can go to any kind of outing and make it a blast! Here's to next year's Lumbee powwow!

Here's a video of some of a war dance: