Magnolia Market at the Silos

Last week, I was in Texas with my sister, Rhonda, so that we could take my ten-year-old nephew, Matthew to football camp at the University of Texas in Austin. The three of us, along with my thirteen-year-old niece, Amelia, left their house in Georgia at 6 a.m. on Sunday and got to Fort Worth, where Rhonda's in-laws live, about thirteen hours later. We enjoyed dinner at a local Tex-Mex restaurant before three of us left for Waco the next morning. (Amelia stayed with her Texas grandparents for the duration of the three days of football camp.) I got in on this trip simply because my brother-in-law had been unable to get off work for this particular week, so when Rhonda asked a few months ago if I'd be up for a road trip in June, I said sure. And if I haven't mentioned it already, we both decided a few months ago to stop coloring our hair, so we are happily referring to ourselves as "Silver Sisters" now. It has been a game-changer for us!

And on Monday, we left Fort Worth, headed south, and stopped by Magnolia Market at the Silos in Waco, the shopping area made famous by Chip and Joanna Gaines on their show Fixer Upper. My sister is a huge fan of the show (Joanna's latest book was what she requested as her Christmas gift from me last year), and she has visited Magnolia Market several times now but was happy to introduce me.

The silos are quite impressive, and the area is just so beautifully designed. If it's raining, you can borrow an umbrella for free. Got a dog with you? There are water bowls for Fido. Kids need a break? There's a large play area (shown here) that many families were enjoying the day we visited.

I also enjoyed seeing Magnolia Seed + Supply and the beautiful display gardens there. They had all the plants labeled, and I came home with a hankering to find several of the pretty roses they were growing. I also bought a new garden journal at one of the gift shops, and I was able to list some of the gorgeous plants I saw.

Like this "Belinda's Dream" rose!

The lines for their restaurants were long, but they also have a lot of food trucks, which was great since I learned that Matthew pretty much lives off of cheeseburgers, and he quickly found one here.

He wanted some tea, though, and I was more than happy to stand in line for that at the Alabama Sweet Tea Co.'s food truck.

Matthew wanted the Southern (sweet tea), and I got the Mason-Dixon (which was half and half). 

For my lunch, I got a tasty quesadilla and some delicious minted watermelon at the Cheddar Box food truck, and I loved that our tea from the Alabama Sweet Tea Co. came in these huge glass Mason jars with the company name on them. It was the perfect souvenir for me! 

You can read it a little better here. By the way, after I decided on the Cheddar Box, up walked my sister with a *chicken salad croissant* from the Magnolia Table's food truck, and she reported that it was very good. Had I seen that, it is most certainly what I would have ordered, but I enjoyed my quesadilla and watermelon just the same.

Rhonda and I also got two cupcakes to take to the hotel in Austin with us, one Lemon Lavender and one Strawberries 'N Cream, and we split both of them over the course of two days because they were so rich. (Matthew, strangely, didn't want one. Again, he eats pretty much cheeseburgers all the time. Some days, he mixes it up. After one particularly exhausting day of football practice, he wanted two cheeseburgers.)

And boy, were these cupcakes delicious! I've never been one to watch the home improvement shows on TV, but I do believe my sister has turned me into a Fixer Upper fan as well. Seemed like a lot of my friends had already visited Magnolia Market in Waco, and I'm happy that now I can say, "Me too!"