The five of us live in 4 different states and 2 time zones, so getting together has been a challenge and I'm so glad we made this trip happen! Breaking away from work and catching up with my girls over drinks + tacos with the best guac ever was definitely what I needed to refuel my tank.
We debated on locations for our trip but ultimately the food and atmosphere of Austin won us over! And with Waco being about an hour and 45 minute trip from there, we figured why not make a day trip of it?!
I highly recommend if you're looking for a rental home in Austin to check this one out! It was the perfect location with an amazing back patio and decor, and was in walking distance to a brewery so we were close to all of the action.
Austin is so eclectic with old school shops on South Congress Street and tons food trucks! Seriously, Austin's food truck game is on point.
One of the places we were bummed to miss was the "trailer park" on South 1st Street. It's a collection of food trucks with tons of seating and string lights that we planned to go to before a crazy storm rolled in on our last full day of the trip.
Before getting on the road on Saturday, we stopped by Jo's Coffee for road trip essentials and snapped a group shot by their famous I Love You So Much mural. Coffee + giant cinnamon rolls? Don't mind if I do... although I guess I missed the memo about not blending into the green wall...
Then we hit the road for the easy trip out to Waco and the mothership... Magnolia Market.
I've been watching Fixer Upper since it started and it's just amazing to me what Chip and Joanna have done with this place. It's right off the highway in a busy part of town, but you feel like you're stepping into a different world. The inside of the store feels like a normal shop at first and then you go into a warehouse-like section.
So much white and black, gorgeous landscaping, more food trucks, and so many family-friendly things to do while mama shops. There were cute wooden swings, footballs for kids to play with in the big open field, and black and white striped bean bags to lounge on.
There were lines to get into both the bakery AND the store itself, which seemed crazy to me but I get it... they have over 8,000 people visit each weekend! Fun fact: we learned that after talking with Joanna's mom while waiting in the bakery line! She was so sweet and just kept saying how blessed they feel for the success of the show and what they could bring to Waco.
If you head to Magnolia Market, don't get deterred by the bakery line. It was wrapped around the building and down the street but they keep things moving and it only took us about 30 minutes. Which obviously was made so much better by chatting with Jo's mama and debating which cupcake flavors we were each going to get.
We all started planning to get just two and by the time we got inside, we were ordering 3 giant cupcakes each. Not sorry! I went with the Red Velvet, Lemon Lavender, and Silobration (vanilla with chocolate frosting). All were SO good but the Lemon Lavender was one of those one and done kind of things because it had such a distinct taste.
Once back in Austin, we headed downtown for dinner at Grizzelda's (cool atmosphere with a couple celebrity sightings but food was just okay IMO) and drinks on Rainey Street, which is basically a bunch of old craftsman-style houses turned into bars where I felt SUPER old. Ha!
We came armed with so many restaurant recommendations but so little time to try them all. Our favorites were definitely Terry Black's Barbecue and Torchy's Tacos. I'm not a huge fan of guac but dang Torchy's was so good!
I came home planning to add tons of string lights to our outdoor space, painting everything white and black, and bringing my husband back to Austin just for the food. Can you tell where my priorities are?! Such a fun time, love my girls for making this trip happen!!
If anyone is traveling to Austin or Magnolia Market soon and has any questions, ask away!
