When in Waco

In March, my oldest daughter and I took a trip out to Waco, Texas which will soon be her new home following her upcoming wedding! Her fiancé is in graduate school there for the next several years and since she had never been to Waco (we’ve been to other parts of Texas), a trip out to visit her new town was in order.

We saw many interesting places while in Texas, but the Magnolia Silos are what I get asked about the most, so that’s where I’ll begin. I don’t watch Chip and Joanna Gaines’s show (I don’t have cable tv), so I wasn’t exactly going as a fan of the show, but I enjoyed the visit there so much because it was beautiful, pleasant, and loaded with many creative ideas for yard and home. I took a LOT of photos and I don’t have time to arrange them into collages, so I’m just going to insert and caption. This will be long and fast, friends! Here we go!

The garden area was full of spring pansies, tulips, and greens!

The original Magnolia shop building is now the seed store. How neat that they salvaged it and moved it to their silo property!

I love this little greenhouse and all its details inside and out.

The chapel was probably my favorite feature of the whole property. It is quaint and attractive from every angle.

Such a historic feel inside!

Along the chapel were shopping areas. Magnolia Home was beautiful but quite pricey.

I’m always interested in table settings, and I like the simplicity of this one below, with its bare wood, tall brass candlesticks, and linen napkins. And look at that cream rug!

The kitchen store had my full attention! Before leaving for our trip, my mom gave me some birthday money with instructions to spend it at Magnolia. Don’t mind if I do! I purchased the casserole dish and bowl below, plus an olive oil bottle. The dishes have such a great feel to them, and they’ve all been put to use already!

Those copper (bronze?) strainers were calling my name. Maybe on the next trip out there I’ll grab them.

Another shot of the home store, looking out on the cottage-y shops.

These were the prettiest little shops, lined up neatly in two rows. This area definitely had a Williamsburg vibe to it, which is one of my favorite places to visit. I was fascinated with these window boxes and took a lot of photos of them with ideas of recreating one back at home. We’ll see.

Moving on to an area that was very family-friendly: the baseball park! This was so cute and a great place for kids to stretch their legs and burn some energy.

Between the ballpark and the silos was the food court area and more grassy areas for playing and relaxing.

The picnic tables with canopies were just so adorable.

Themed food trucks lined the area for guests to find just the meal they were craving.

My daughter and I had a pizza our first day and it was so unbelievably good! The perfect crust, sauce, and cheese! When we went back a couple of days later, we got the same pizza but on cauliflower crust. Still very good, but you know, not the same as the real gluteny crust.

I enjoyed a taste of Alabama while in Texas! So refreshing!

The Alabama Sweet Tea Company is from our area back at home, so I had to get some of their tea along with that awesome jar to take home.

Another treat was the Magnolia Press!

My daughter and I stopped one afternoon for a coffee and shared a chocolate cake. It’s usually crowded and difficult to get a seat in the coffee shop, but we managed to find an empty couch come available at just the right time and enjoyed sitting in this trendy atmosphere for our snack.

Just some more details while walking around.

I brought this fireplace inspo back home, although my dog would never leave that many potted plants alone. I’m working on a Barney-proof version.

One last coffee on my last day!

Even the restrooms (below) are beautiful!

Goodbye, silos!

Now moving on to Baylor University! My future son-in-law gave us the tour of Baylor’s beautiful campus and introduced us to some of his professors and fellow students. Such friendly people. (and yes, smart!)

So many gorgeous oak trees to shade the walkways and sitting areas.

The Bible building caught my eye with its historic architecture.

He also took us to Fabled Bookshop and Cafe–another must stop in Waco. This was a such a fun bookstore!

My daughter and I later found the grocery store where she’ll be shopping each week. If you’re a woman, you know why this is important! We have to learn the feel of the store to be able to bond with the town, haha. I’ve got to say, we weren’t disappointed with the H-E-B. It’s somewhere between a Walmart and a Target.

In the evenings, I encouraged the happy couple to go out together since they live so far from each other and don’t get much time for dates. I hung back in the room in the evenings with a salad or snack plate and enjoyed reading with the evening view. I took Aggressively Happy by Joy Clarkson because I knew I could read the whole thing on the trip. Great book!

And speaking of our hotel room, take a look at how close we were to Magnolia Silos!

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Alabama, much too soon for the engaged couple. My daughter and I left before dawn and watched the sun rise as we drove out of Texas. We had a fun drive back together.

Later that afternoon, we entered our Sweet Home Alabama!

Hope you enjoyed this trip by photos!