A while back my mom suggested that she and I be the ones to take a vacation this year. My dad and brother travel often to some pretty great destinations, but my brother is going to Ireland this year without my dad and on his own dime. So Mom pitched the idea of Waco and Magnolia Market with the understanding that Dad might come too and Paul was invited. Well, Paul declined pretty quickly, and my dad got a new job which meant that he couldn’t take the time off. Thus began the mother-daughter road trip to Waco, Texas

Waco

See that black bridge to the right almost cut out of the picture? That’s the bridge we crossed to take us into the city. It’s the sweetest little town. We stayed just past that bridge in the downtown area. Waco feels very small town and inviting, and it’s quite charming.

This is one of the restaurants where we had dinner. It’s called Jake’s, and its 1950’s diner decor was super cute. The food was like home cooking, and we enjoyed a slice of homemade pie for dessert. (Spring Break calories don’t count!) 

The downtown area is really fun and easy to walk around. There were a lot of one-way streets, so it was a little harder to navigate when driving.

Waco is also a college town to Baylor University, and we passed the stadium on our way in. I desperately wanted to avoid Houston traffic if I could, and thankfully, the Waze app took us out of the way (on a quicker route) through small towns and lots of pasture-flanked back roads. It was a beautiful drive.Texas is a beautiful state. Look at that big ol’ sky. This is the kind of back road I’m talking about. Not many cars on the road and nothing but sky, land, and cows to look at. 🙂

Magnolia Table

The first thing we did Saturday morning was head over to Magnolia Table. It is about an 8 minute drive just up the interstate and about another 8 minutes to find parking. LOL! It wasn’t THAT bad, but it took a few minutes. 

There was also a pretty significant line, so we decided that we would just do the Take Away option that they have. It’s not a full menu, but there are pre-made chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches, the pastry of the day, and coffee drinks. We opted for the pastry of the day which was a delicious blueberry muffin and a coffee. I hope the recipe for these muffins are in her cookbook, because, man, were they good? Probably the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever had. And I totally ate it before I thought to take a picture. But the packaging is pretty, right? I tried to get a picture of the inside of the Take Away room, but this is all I got. 🙂 That guy! Haha! There are big windows that let you look into the restaurant, but it was a bit awkward getting this photo. It was also pretty crowded, so that made it hard too. Just watch the episode about the restaurant on Fixer Upper to see what it looks like inside.

The Findery

The weekend before we left for Waco I was watching Instastories and came across Erin from Cotton Stem talking about all things Waco and Magnolia Market. She and a group of bloggers were there for Spring at the Silos which is an event hosted by Magnolia where all sorts of vendors come, set up tents, and sell their goods. Imagine a giant flea market with slightly higher price tags. She, of course, told us all about Magnolia, but she also said that because the crowds are heavy when the market opens (especially on a Saturday) that we should visit other stores in the area. So that’s exactly what we did. We decided to head to Magnolia Market a little later in the day and chose to go to The Findery first to get our shopping started. On the back side of this building is this gorgeous mural that I posted on Instagram last Saturday. We parked on the side of this building and were able to leave our car there all day with no penalties or meters to feed. It was a great spot to park and within walking distance of the Silos.

Inside The Findery was so much inspiration! I loved this buffalo check settee. You should seriously follow them on Instagram for the home decor eye candy.

They also have a warehouse store a block away that has more one-of-a-kind pieces that the owners find at Roundtop and other flea markets and estate sales. They had these signs that I loved. I should have bought the Super Market one as a joke. Because Paul will tell you I never have food in the house. We’re constantly going to the grocery store. But look at those cute signs. I sent this picture to Paul because I keep pestering him about letting me get chickens. I need that to hang on my coop!

Magnolia Market

Like I mentioned earlier, we didn’t get to Magnolia Market until later that morning. And listen, it’s crowded. We knew it was going to be and we prepared ourselves for that fact.. But it wasn’t terrible. There were definitely a lot of people there, but most people were very kind and had the same mindset we had- It’s crowded; we’ll deal with it and keep a positive attitude. There was one young couple that walked past me and the guy turned around and looked at his significant other and simply but firmly said, “There’s too many people in here.” Then he turned back around and kept going. Haha! He didn’t mentally prepare himself for such a crowd.

This picture is horrible, but it’s an accurate depiction of how crowded it was. There’s two levels to the store. The level where you enter (the picture above) is where all the pretty stuff is. Then you get to go down to this level and this is where you’ll find the t-shirts, hats, wall signs, and all sorts of other great items. See, I told ya it was crowded.

I didn’t take too many pictures inside because of the amount of people, but I had to snap a picture of the sconce below. I’m mildly obsessed with sconces in general, but these bent-arm ones are my favorites. I loved the brass finish on this one and the black shiplap. There were several vignettes set up with the decor items they were selling, and this mantle situation is really cute and you can purchase these things.

I have to say I was most impressed with her florals. The faux ones. (We’ll get to the real ones later.) You can see a little bit of the tulips below and the greenery along the mantel. They are so well done. They feel wonderful to the touch and they are going to last forever as long as you store them properly. I wish I had bought some, but in the moment I couldn’t think of a place to use them right away. (Duh…the bathroom refresh I’m still working on would have been a great place.) Oh well. I know how nice they are now, and can order them online anytime with absolute certainty that they’ll be stunning when they arrive.  Of course I had to visit the restroom while I was there. Getting to see that marvelous floor was worth the wait in line. I think it’s just the prettiest thing. I caught a glimpse into the other restroom (there were only 2), and it had a small chandelier. So precious! Didn’t feel like waiting in line to go in that one, though. Just take my word for it (or google it).

The Silos

The Silos are enormous. I didn’t quite understand just how big they are from pictures and television. But they are a magnificent sight.

After we shopped inside the market, Mom and I headed outside to the lawn where the play area, pavilion, picnic tables, and food trucks are located. It was a rather hot day in Texas, and we knew we were going to have a good dinner, so we opted for the hot dog food truck and ice cold water. I wish I had taken a picture of the hand-dipped corn dog I ordered. It was pretty special and definitely not of the frozen variety. There were some amazing looking foods coming from the food trucks, though. If you aren’t planning to eat at Magnolia Table for lunch then you should totally eat from the food trucks.

Magnolia Seed and Supply

The Magnolia Seed and Supply is a tiny little shop full of seeds and gardening supplies (obviously). They also had some of the cutest planters and tools for gardening that you can imagine. And believe me, I wanted everything. But I once killed a cactus, so I stuck to admiring all the tulips that were growing EVERYWHERE! They were gorgeous, and this was definitely my favorite area of the outdoor space at Magnolia.
We were sitting on a bench just enjoying the flowers and people watching a bit when this mom and daughter who was maybe 2 walked along the row of tulips and the little girl reached over and ripped off one of the blooms before the mom could see her. When the mom realized what the child had done, and she was mortified. All three of us had a little laugh and Mom assured her that her daughter was surely not the first one to have done that. It was a funny yet sweet moment.  

Silos Baking Company

Y’all…it’s so worth the wait in  line. These cupcakes were worth every calorie. Yum!

After finishing up your shopping at Magnolia Market, you walk right outside of the gate and to your left is the Silos Baking Company. We noticed that there was a line, but it didn’t look too long. Well, when we rounded the corner, we noticed the line wrapped around the building and down the sidewalk. But we decided we were going to just do it. It couldn’t be that long to wait in line for a cupcake or two. And surprisingly, we were right! It took about 10 minutes in line and hardly any time once we were inside. Here’s what you get to look at while you’re around the corner. Beautiful, right? It’s a sweet little shop and all the details, though hard to see with that many people inside, really were beautiful. Here’s a pretty poor shot of what it looks like inside. Here’s what it looks like without people in it. Amazing, huh?Photo: hgtv.com

I’m super disappointed in myself for not sneaking away to the restroom to catch a peek. On the bakery episode (which we watched in our room that night…while we ate our cupcakes) Joanna said to be sure and use the bathroom when you go.

Well, I forgot, so I missed out on this little treasure, but how cute are her pictures? Photo: Magnolia

Sigh…next time. 🙂

Magnolia Warehouse Shop

This little store was their original shop when Joanna first opened up. It’s on a street called Bosque Boulevard and is often referred to as the “Little Shop on Bosque”. It is just that, little, but there were so many great items in there. This is where you’ll find the scratch and dent items and maybe things they had in excess. I got a wonderfully chippy concrete bowl for $15 that was originally $32 and a little roll of black and cream striped paper that is going in a frame to back a picture I’m hanging in my bathroom.

The one thing I truly regret about this particular spot is that I didn’t buy this clock. (Or one very similar-this one looks more silver and the one in the store was black.)

So, I noticed this clock. I knew I wanted it. I’ve been thinking about one for a while, and I saw this one leaning against the wall. Well, I figured that something had to be wrong with it, but it had all of its parts still attached, so I thought maybe I just couldn’t see the imperfection. I asked an employee, and he told me that if it was there it was probably because it didn’t work. It wouldn’t tell the time. Well, that didn’t REALLY matter to me, but it was still $109.00, which was a little more than I wanted to pay. And my mom is asking me, “Do you really want to buy a clock that doesn’t work?” And of course I’m thinking, “Well, yeah!” Had it been $50.00, I probably would have done it. And maybe I should have bargained with them, but I didn’t. I’ve only found them for $200 and higher online. Darn it.

Moroso’s Wood Fired Pizzaria

I’m the worst food photographer. I read on the Cotton Stem blog that she and her group of friends ate at this wonderful pizza place that had wood fire cooked pizzas. Well, when your home town doesn’t have a pizza joint like this, you beg your mama to eat this pizza. She was happy to oblige and we enjoyed some very scrumptious dinner. She got the Supremo (the piece with all the stuff on it), and I got a classic Margherita pizza. Man, was it good. I highly recommend this place. It’s just down the road from the warehouse shop, and because the warehouse shop closed at 5:00, we found a Target on the way to peruse before having dinner.

The Cupcakes!

I forgot to tell you about the cupcakes. We decided to save our cupcakes for dessert that night and had dropped them off at the hotel before heading to the Warehouse Shop so that they wouldn’t spoil in the hot car. It was the perfect end to a busy and fun day. We each got one cupcake. I ordered the Lemon Lavender and mom got the Toasted Coconut. Both had heavenly buttercream frosting, and the cake was the perfect consistency. I wish I could have brought one back for all of my friends. Fingers crossed that some of these recipes will be in her cookbook coming out this month. 

Next Time

I believe I’m going to be one of those women who makes this trek more than once. I enjoyed the driving for the most part, but I’m not opposed to flying out. I wanted to include this part because I feel like there was a lot I missed.

First, I’d like to stay at their bed and breakfast, Magnolia House. I’ve never stayed in one before, and why shouldn’t my first time at a bed and breakfast be at such a place?

Second, I’d eat at the restaurant. I think I’d really have been okay waiting in line, and I’d really like to try that strawberry butter on a biscuit.

Third, I’d like to do more around Waco. Did you know Waco is the birth place of Dr. Pepper? Neither did I, but there’s a whole museum about it. I’d like to have seen that. There’s also a Mammoth Museum and some beautiful parks. There’s plenty to do and lots of it outside of Magnolia. I’d happily spend several nights at Magnolia House and explore this great city.

700 #milestomagnolia. Was it worth it, Mama? I think so.