Foodventurous: Magnolia Market

After a few days of near perfect weather, crazy amounts of food, a headful of blogging information, and making friends with a bunch of lovely ladies from around the country (Foodventurous: Austin), I was not quite ready to go home. There was one more foodventure to take: MAGNOLIA! A bus trip up to Waco, Texas, was offered by the conference organizers and my husband and I are big followers of Chip & Joanna:

The only disappointment of the day was that this was as close as we would come to getting our picture with them!

The words that would best describe this place are “Chip and Joanna”. If you’ve ever watched their show, or read their book, or had any glimpse of these two together, that is the feeling you get on every square inch of this property. The staff is constantly on the move to make the experience as close to perfect and pleasant as possible. The grounds are immaculate. There’s a wide-open play area for kids (of all ages). It is a light-hearted, honest, clean, joyful place. It’s like everyone there was as happy as Joanna when she says “shiplap”!

The property consists of the market, bakery (highly recommend the lemon-lavender cupcake), garden shed, silos, food trucks, and the open-air play area. This is the perfect place for a picnic!

And that brings me around to the picture of the empty picnic table:

These tables lined the area right outside the silos. There were plenty of other tables too, but I kept thinking: “You are Picnic Life Foodie! Take pictures of picnic tables!”

When I looked at my pictures later, I was so disappointed that I didn’t take a few minutes to stage a full picnic on these tables for the pictures. Why hadn’t I implemented some of the things I had learned at the conference?

But the more I looked at this picture, the more I liked it. It represents everything I try to bring to my blog: simple, relaxed, comfortable, open, inviting, innovative.

I like the idea that when you look at this picture, you can imagine YOUR ideal picnic:

• linen, candles, wine and charcuterie,
• red gingham, daisies, fried chicken and pasta salad,
• paper bags, balloons, sandwiches and chips, or
• live music, a blanket from the car, pizza and beer.

Whatever your preferences, the tables are waiting.

Fill ’em up!

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