Texas: Part One (A cancelled flight, Magnolia Market, and a Longhorn Park)

My flight was scheduled at 8:30pm but since I didn't want Dustin to get stuck in traffic because that in itself will put you in a bad mood but also because the Penguins had a very important game that night and I didn't want him to miss a second of it, we left for the airport even earlier than necessary. We stopped by the Chick-fil-a next to the airport where I quickly shoved chicken nuggets in my mouth in the parking lot. it was quite a sight. Dustin dropped me off and all was well. 

Or so we all thought. 

Now I had received an alert the flight was delayed that afternoon before leaving work. I was kind of all "UGH" about it but shit happens and I need to just deal with it. I let Erin know and Dustin. I still wanted to get to the airport early because sometimes"delayed" flights will still leave on time. It's happened to people I know where they have missed flights because they were told it was delayed when, "SURPRISE", it wasn't at all. I didn't want that to happen to me so I convinced Dustin I'd be fine waiting for hours and hours at the airport. I downloaded Podcasts and TV shows from Netflix. I had just uploaded a whole 90s mix on my iPhone. I was totally set. Don't worry about me!

I stood in the long line that was security. The Orlando line is always the worst. ALWAYS filled with so many people and many of them not paying attention which is probably why they have one of the TSA agents yelling "THERE ARE TWO LINES. MAKE A DECISION. DON'T JUST STAND THERE. KEEP IT MOVING!" He kept repeating this over and over again so I made sure to stay extra vigilant so I wouldn't be called out for messing up the flow. Then in between his speech he said behind me "I see someone has some cat tattoos." and I whipped around and was like "me?". Is it now illegal for someone to have cat tattoos?! Ha! He's like "are those your cats?" And I responded "Yep! Cheeto and Olive!". He proceeded to tell me he used to have SIX cats but now he's down to four. One of them looks similar to Cheeto. This dude was over 6' tall and had one of those long goatees that are braided. So once again us "cat people" come in all shapes and sizes...and occupations. It was hilarious to see this man going from screaming TSA guy to doting cat father. 

I made it through security with no issues. I jumped on the shuttle and headed to my gate. I had just received another alert on my phone that it was even further delayed. UGH x2. I looked at the screens behind the calendar but none of them gave me any information. I sat at my gate for about 10 minutes before researching my flight more via their website. That's when I found it said it was cancelled. So my email alerts said delayed but the website says cancelled. My heart immediately dropped. I gathered my things and walked to the counter and politely asked which it was. They didn't even look at me when saying "Oh yeah that's cancelled". Just so matter of factly like everyone should know this information. Tears started to fill my eyes when I asked them "What are my options? Is there any thing going out later tonight?". They told me they had no idea and I would have to talk to someone at the front counter. So I had to ride the shuttle back and walk to the front of the damn airport just for them to tell me all other flights to Dallas were already booked and all they could offer was a full refund. I accepted the full refund and just started bawling. I took the confirmation from his hand and went to United. I didn't even bother trying to pull myself together. I didn't give any fucks who saw me crying at this point. I just wanted to see my boo. Between sobs I finally was able to ask the guy at United if they had anything. He was much friendlier and empathetic than the Spirit guy but he said they didn't have anything. They only had a flight to Houston which is not Dallas in case you were wondering. Ha! I was really starting to believe this trip was not going to be happening. The tears continued to flow as I waited to speak to someone at American Airlines. Finally a lovely woman helped me. She said there were still seats left for a flight that evening at 11pm and that it would be cheaper if I ordered the tickets via their website. So I thanked her for her help, found a secluded bench, and called Dustin. I told him my only option was an American flight later that evening that cost $300 more than what I had originally spent on my Spirit flight. That's a lot of extra money to throw down on anything but he thought it was worth it. He even offered to pay some extra bills (we split bills 50/50 as we have seperate bank accounts) in June to help relieve some of the expense. More than anything did I want to go visit my boo and finally I just said "fuck it" in my head and purchased the ticket. This way plans don't have to be ruined for anyone; Erin and I can still spend time together and Dustin can still watch his Penguin game without having to drive all the way back to the airport. When I called Erin and told her I could just hear the excitement in her voice that I was still coming. Sure, I wasn't going to be in until like 1am but I would be there. I'm sure she thought it wasn't going to happen which is why she was texting me "Want to try Labor Day weekend?". When I went to get my ticket at the kiosk the AA guy was incredibly nice and helpful unlike Spirit who just has a not-our-problem- attitude. I had to go back through security which thankfully this time around was much shorter of a line. I took the shuttle again to my new gate. I found an outlet, plugged my phone in, and tried to relax while I waited with the others. There was a large family that sat around me. They had a toddler with them who thought it would be fun to start ripping out everyone's chords from the outlets. I gave them such a look before they got to mine that they grabbed him and took him to watch the airplanes out the window. I'm sure I looked a mess with my emotionally drained face but dammit I was not in the mood. Also, that kind of behavior is rude not cute. As we were boarding a lady walked by me clearly noticing my Penguins shirt and said "Go Pens! They're up!" and I replied "Yeah they just scored again!". I love fellow Pittsburgh fans. Dustin and I have been so many different places and cities and they are always the friendliest. 

I took my aisle seat and was pumped to be next to the bathroom. I have bladder of a 90 year old woman so now it'll be just a quick trip across the aisle and I'm good to go. There ended up not being anyone in the middle seat so I snuggled up in my chair and fell asleep for the whole damn flight. I'm never the person who can sleep on planes but goddamn was I exhausted from the nightmare at MCO earlier that day. 

Oh and the Pens totally beat the Senators in double overtime while I was in route to Texas which propelled them into the Stanley Cup final which they are currently ahead in by one game.

I found Erin right away and it was smooth sailing to her house in Frisco. We were both so tired but also so excited to see one another that we stayed up a good hour or two talking in bed with the lights out. Eventually we fell asleep but we just had so many things to tell each other and it couldn't wait until morning. 

We still managed to wake up early as we had a full day at Magnolia Market planned. We got ready, took the boys out, and stopped for coffee. In doing so I had my very first iced caramel macchiato. I drink coffee like once a week maybe and it consists of flavor, creamer, and sugar so basically it's not really coffee at all. It was a little more coffee-er than I usually have but still good. Next we stopped by a donut place. We each got a donut but our main purpose for going was to get a kolache. I had no idea what it even was. Erin swears by them and so I was totally game to try it out. It's a pastry, almost croissant with a mostly meat filling (bacon, sausage, egg, etc). Apparently it originated in Czech and really big in Texas. It was incredibly good!

We spent two hours driving south, past Dallas, to Waco, TX. We got there about mid-morning. Magnolia Market is right off the exit so it was very easy to find, parking on the other hand was not. There were lots offering $10 parking and we were all like nope. So we drove a little bit and found perfect street parking. Boom!

We walked up and it was like we had been transported into an episode of Fixer Upper. I guess I should explain for those of you who aren't Fixer Upper obsessed like Erin and I what it even is. Fixer Upper is an hour long show on HGTV hosted by married couple Joanna and Chip Gaines where they present three homes for a family to buy, the family chooses one, and then Chip and Joanna turn it into the cutest damn thing you'll ever see. Their style is very rustic meets contemporary with a touch of country. They use lots of wood and metal and the combination is insanely cool. Since the show has become incredibly successful they were able to buy the Silo property which has it's own bakery, home decor warehouse, astro turf lawn, and food trucks. 

The line for cupcakes was already winding around the building when we walked up so we decided to start the tour inside. I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of items were reasonably priced. It was a concern that we probably wouldn't be able to afford anything so it would be a walking only tour. But that was not the case. I mean, they had SO many cool things. Just look below in the photos and you'll see. Erin ended up buying a tin wall mounted sconce looking thing and stuck real cotton in it. I feel like I'm not describing it as well as I could but again just look at the photos and you'll see how cool it turned out. I bought this metal envelope that is so perfect. Also I bought a postcard made out of wood and some other little trinkets. We also saw Jo's mom walking around greeting everyone and even stopping for photos. We didn't bother her though. Just looked on like the HGTV nerds that we are. The front of the shop is air-conditioned but there's also a huge warehouse type building you walk down into with even more decor that was a little warm. 

 
 

Once we paid for our goodies we went outside to check out there lawn. We were both in awe. There was a big lawn of astro turf and surrounding it were these little poof chairs. Erin and I didn't have to wait long before two became available and we just plopped down and relaxed. It was pretty overcast so the sun wasn't an issue right away but damn was it hot as hell. This is a good time to give Erin a hard time. She told me "It's going to be so nice when you're here. It'll be gorg!" and then I get there and it's exactly Florida weather - gross as fuck. Haha! But the insanely hot weather didn't deter us one bit. We sat on our poofs, drinking some seriously fresh lemonade, and just took in the scenery. There were people to the left eating at picnic tables, and families in for of us throwing footballs and frisbees to one another, and to the right people were taking photos of the Silos themselves. It was such a picturesque scene and what a perfectly family friendly piece of land they have created. And of course it's got their little touches everywhere from the wooden swings to the metal lettering on the Silos. Now is it just me or did you think the Silos themselves would have something going on? As far as we could tell they are just the backdrop of photos. No one was able to go inside because I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything actually inside. It's amazing the fanbase this family has. We met a guy who was playing with wooden blocks with his two young children next to us on the lawn who said he and his wife were in Texas visiting from San Francisco and that this was top of their list. We ended up getting pretty hungry so we gave them our poofs and moved on to the food truck area. We decided on grilled cheese and it was the fanciest but also pretty tasty. We sat on the end of one of the picnic tables while a couple sat across from us.

(Side rant: It drives me insane when couples sit next to one another when eating a meal. Don't you want to be able to look at the other person without craning your neck? If Dustin and I are eating alone we always sit across from each other. I don't know I just find it odd and it kind of messed up Erin and I's seating arrangement while be scarfed grilled cheese but no big deal.)

After we ate we found an empty wood porch swing except it wasn't on a porch. We sat there and just swayed back and forth for awhile until the sun came out and started to beat us down. Before heading back to Frisco we both needed to pee. My only complaint about Magnolia Market is the lack of facilities. The only restrooms we found were inside the shop and there were only two bathrooms - each only fitting one person at a time. This meant that there was a line about 10 people long for both restrooms. People scoffed at the line and yeah I wasn't crazy about it either but if you have to pee you wait. That's your only choice. Not only did we wait in the line but I also took Snaps and photos while inside. So much beautiful subway tile!'

Lastly, we took a photo under the #milestomagnolia sign where one of the staff so nicely took several shots of us.

 

 

 

 

We ran into a bit of traffic in Dallas on the way back. Again, it was like being home in good ol' Orlando. We got back to her place and she put out her fancy new marble/wood coasters which I was more than happy to use. She also arranged her cotton and I helped her get it straight on the wall. It fits so perfectly in her already perfectly decorated apartment. The boys were happy to see us of course and I gave them all of the love. Charlie was little too excited and would not stop humping his little brother Tucker. Dogs will be dogs I suppose. 

Erin had been telling me about Kenny's Burger Joint for months. She knows what I like and I trusted her with each restaurant we went to while I was in town.  It was right around the corner from her place which was nice as we had been in the car a good chunk of the day. There was a wait though so we just sat on a bench outside and talked until they called us in. I got the Jucy Lucy which had a big ball of white american cheese stuffed into the center. When it was brought out to me several staff members warned me to be extra careful not to burn myself. After the 3rd warning I was like maybe I should just cut this sucker in half so I'm not sent to the hospital with 3rd degree burns. That burger was the shit though. I ate every last bite and didn't burn myself so really a win-win all around. We also shared a side of sweet potato fries which were delicious. Erin was hitting it out of the park!

I showed Erin photos of Pioneer Plaza in Dallas and thought it was cool that they had all these Longhorn sculptures. She was like "we have something like that right here in Frisco" so that's where she took me. She said she had only ever driven past it so she really wasn't sure about it but I'm so glad we stopped. It was the cutest little park with Longhorn sculptures that kids (and then us) were climbing on and lots of quotes about how settlers managed back during the cattle drives. There was a little man-made streams and paths to walk. It was super cute and we had a blast taking ridiculous photos. 

We ended the evening with a little shopping at Five Below and Old Navy. I was on a mission to find something for Aubrie for her birthday and finally I did. See here. On our way back home she drove me by the Dallas Cowboys training facility which is fucking really nice. Like nicer than half of actual stadiums. I'm a Steeler of course but I sent Snaps to my cousin Jo because I knew if anyone would appreciate this it would be her. We also picked up some Cowboys goodies for her. 

What a ding dong dang exhausting but equally satisfying day. That day made me forget about the extra money I had spent on a plane ticket because friendship is priceless and memories with one of your best friend can't be measured by an amount of money. Our long talks in the car, our giggle attacks, the selfies, complaining about the amount of sweat coming off of our bodies, the good food - the feeling can't be put into words.