Magnolia Market

The Silos

For the past few weeks I’ve planned on taking a small road trip to Waco, TX! Why? I’ll tell you why  -> Fixer Upper -> The Gaines Family  -> Magnolia Market ->  The Silos -> enough said! If you haven’t followed along with the show on HGTV then you’ve missed out, the couple is in season 3 of their show Fixer Upper and they have captured the heart of many (no really like thousands).

If you’re from around here some of the magic might be because they are so close you can practically touch them! For some it’s the goofy husband Chip, the wonderful ability Joanna has to stage and decorate a house, how family and faith focused they are or the combination of all of it together transforming old forgotten houses into amazing modern fresh homes.

Anyway I am a fan, I love it all. I am a geek and my husband encourages it so all is good. We made the drive to Waco to see what all the hype is about and trust me there is a lot of hype, you can tell by the traffic leading you to The Silos.  We got there around 12:30 and followed the crowd, we stood in line and anxiously waited for the chance to go into Magnolia Market! By the time we zigged and zagged our way closer to the entrance we realized maybe there was another way to go about doing this… by the time it was all said and done we had a much clearer idea about what we will do the next time we come visit.

So here is a list of tips and tricks that I picked up on.

Long line!! 

First here is the lay of the land, Magnolia Market at The Silos, consist of the market (of course), a huge artificial lawn for you to lay out and relax on. They have it stocked with footballs, Frisbees, hula-hoops, dodgeballs and even two sets of bean bag toss games for you to enjoy. The lawn sits across and is framed by The Silos, I am not sure what the long term plan is for The Silos hopefully something just as beautiful as everything else they have restored.  For now there is a stage being built in front of The Silos where the couple plans to have live music and entertainment for their visitors. Around the perimeter there are food trucks for you find something to snack on and about a dozen or so farm style tables for you to be able to sit down and enjoy your meal. Joanna loves to garden on her farm, here at The Silos she has a colorful garden of raised beds for you to stroll through, there will be a Garden Store opening soon. Last, but not least, soon to be opened will be a bakery at The Silos too! Needless to say you can easily make a whole day of visiting :)

The store gets crowded making it very tight to be able to move around. So get there early!! No, not really you can get there at noon and still have a very nice visit despite the long line.

Tip 1. Parking! Watch for signs, some parking is NOT for The Silos! We found it easiest to go behind The Silos where there is plenty of parking designed for The Silos. 

Tip 2. You don’t have to go into Magnolia Market right away, you can bypass the line for the Market and go to the lawn, food trucks and garden.  Wait for the line to die down and then make your way to the store.

Beautiful Garden 

Lots to Explore

Tip 3. Magnolia Market isn’t a place where you will find things you can’t find anywhere else.

People seemed surprised by this one so let me explain. The store is gorgeous, here you will find items handpicked by Joanna that fit her style (with lots more to come). She has some local vendors with their unique handcrafted items for sale and displayed but you will not find the unique treasures you see Joanna hunting for when she goes to the flea market. You will find those items, at the flea market (sorry!)

Tip 4. The second half of the store or the back of the store isn’t quite as tight and has that magical word everyone likes to hear… sales items.

Tip 5. Take the family, Hailey, Jose and I had a blast playing on the lawn. Hailey loved the toys and she tired herself out playing ball with us. She learned to throw a Frisbee and she showed off her hoopla-hooping skills.

                      

Tip 6. Waco, TX is getting what seems to be a face-lift and downtown is coming back to life. If you can stay the weekend I am sure you will find plenty to do there. Lots of local shopping and flea markets. Google what’s going on during the weekend you are planning on visiting, I am sure you will find plenty to do.

Garden Store Coming Soon

Lots of things in the works for The Gaines family and The Silos.

·        The MagnoliaStory – book to be released October 2016

·        Joanna’s very own line of Paint Colors – Spring 2016

·        Joanna’s very own rugs and pillows – Summer 2016

·        Magnolia Home – furniture line Spring/Summer 2016

·        Magnolia Flour – Bakery May 2016

·        Entertainment Stage @ The Silos - Spring 2016

·        Fixer Upper Season 4

Can you say WOW? Lots coming from this family, I could write a whole other post about how I feel when it comes to their success and their future. The one thing I’ll leave you with for now is this video and remember it’s not your timing its God’s timing. 

Houston Auto Show Game Changer

Both just so happen to look good one me ;)

Funny how something so small can make you realize that life is very very different from what you imagined it would be right about now. For the past few years I’ve felt with every inch of my being that I am simply right where God wants me to be. I haven’t questioned it (much) I just go with the flow and time after time I’ve felt the confirmation of the “this” is why I’m here.

This weekend I went to the Houston Auto Show, I’ve been going year after year with the hubs. We happen to like jumping in and out of cars, trucks and SUV’s. We dream of our future vehicles and we actually plan out the idea of what our next vehicle might be. We’ve gone with the kids and we have them get in and out of something we have on our radar to make sure it works with our lifestyle.

This year we headed out again (minus the kids) and about five minutes into the show a crazy reality started to sink in. My direction has changed. All this time sitting here thinking I was headed in one way and God has started to set the stage for something else.

Twin Panel Moonroof - I love it! I need it!

I used to think that my next vehicle was going to be a convertible, my bream convertible BMW M4 realistically BMW 2Series. I was ready to take on a used one if only that meant getting my most coveted convertible.

Now about 5 minutes into the Auto Show, I sat in a shiny new Ford 150 4X4 King Ranch. I knew then what I know to be true now. I am in love and I will be holding on to my current Ford 150 Lariat until the day comes when I can make that trade.

Turns out the more spinning my brain does, the less a fancy convertible fits in my life. Maybe one day it will fit or maybe I’ll forever be a move it, haul it, and pick it up truck kinda girl. It also turns out that I’m okay with that.

I’m not sure what’s coming but apparently I need something to be able to carry it around with. :) 

...and this would not do the trick, so I had to scratch it off my wish list! 

And on and on it goes...

This past week I was reminded of the beginning, I have thought a lot about what I have gone through to get here, where I am at this moment. Have you ever had the moment when you realize that somehow the stars and the moon are perfectly aligned? Sometimes it’s just as simple as actually having a chance to run at the time I planned on in the place I wanted, others times it’s so much more than that. It’s about working where I am now and knowing that if it weren't for this job and the people that surround me, I would not be right here, right where I should be.  I am close to my children and I am able to be where they need me to be in a moments call, I have time to focus on me and my health instead of sitting on a freeway until the sun goes down.

From the start I knew that I could not do this "running” thing on my own, nope I realized that if I had to depend on my strength alone I would not get very far.  I would find myself praying more often than not, at times for myself and then for others and before I knew it, it would be over and my 30 min or my 3 miles would be done. When it was time for me to try and speed up or run longer I never failed to dig deeper into God, but just like SO many times in life we look for God in a troubled time and then we slowly proceed to take it upon ourselves to take the reins and take control. Why bother God with something you can handle yourself?



Sunrise! My favorite part of running on a Saturday morning!

Well the past couple of months I have been so occupied make things happen on my own I realized that I was handling it on my own, running from my own strength and although it has not been impossible it took me a minute to snap back and remember that this whole process could be much easier if I wasn't trying to do this alone.

Sunday I tuned in my worship music and tuned out everything else, I ran easy and steady not thinking about pace but sometimes singing along and sometimes wondering about everything from the sunrise to what we might be doing this upcoming week and then refocusing  my thoughts on what I “should” be praying about. I am far from perfect and my thoughts are all over the map sometimes and others it’s just at peace enjoying the moment taking in the scenery. In the end my run felt great and I ran farther than ever - 8.25 miles (with negative splits!)

It’s going to take a lot of power to get to 13.1 miles and it takes a lot of love – from my family, from my friends, from myself to find the time to run and to realize that I am capable of doing this because “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” – and it’s going to take a lot of self-discipline to train and take care of myself without losing focus of who is in control in the process.

All of this is, okay with me because I'm not alone and because I have already run more than I ever thought I could ~ because I understand that it's not my strength alone that has gotten me here.