You know you have an addiction when you start dreaming about antique stores.
While the DC area is booming with thrift shops galore, I often miss the back-road PA antique malls that I grew up being dragged along to with my parents and eventually learned to love. I'll never forget the day I became turned on to the world of antiques --it was on my 14th or 15th birthday after brunch at the Country Cupboard. My parents decided that we were going to make a stop at the flea market across the road. Probably rolling my eyes like the teenage brat I was (Antiques? On my birthday? Why can't we just go to the mall?), I sulked around until I laid my eyes on a wall of the most fabulous jewelry I had ever seen. Bright bangles, oversized pearls, sparkly earrings--and everything was less than a dollar. Um, what? I didn't know that these boring dusty shops had things I actually cared about.
And it was all downhill from there...or maybe not. Depending on how you look at it. It means that I will always have a home furnished with quirky and unique items from my adventures. It also means that when I go for too long without setting foot in an antique shop, I start dreaming about it. So this weekend when Ian and I headed up to Pennsylvania for Easter, I knew that an antiqueing trip with my sister would be in order.
The Plaza Centre in Bellefonte, PA has always been a favorite stop for us. Not only is the place HUGE, but is in a building which used to be a theatre. Imagine an old school theatre that you've taken the chairs and screens out of and replaced with antiques as far as the eye can see. Then, you go down stairs and up stairs and back through some hallways and before you know it you have no idea where you are. Getting lost in an antique shop is probably a nightmare for most, but is a perfect afternoon for me.
When we walked in the door and this was the first thing we saw, I knew it was going to be a good trip. Obviously I bought it.
Emily was on the hunt for some pretty things for her future college apartment, and there was no shortage of pretty glasses and kitchen wares perfect for two funky girls. She walked away with a snazzy pitcher with matching juice glasses, all for under five bucks.
In addition to the sunburst clock, I found a cool statement piece for our house that will probably make an appearance on the blog soon...once I take some Windex to it. Oh, and figure out what to do with it...
