Going to the movies

I have always loved going to the movies. Back when I was younger our town only had a number of two screen cinemas (back before multiplexes existed). Eventually we got a dollar theater that had 4 screens and brought in indie movies the other theaters wouldn't play. I developed a love for film from an early age. With the multiplexes came more screens, but also less variety. How could there be so many more screens, but less movies showing at any time?

As time went on and as I've aged, I've really loved visiting arthouse theaters or just other theaters in bigger cities. The Magnolia Theater in Dallas. The Alamo Drafthouse cinemas and the Violet Crown Cinema in Austin. Enjoying the shared experience of going to a movie is on of life's greatest joys and I relish every second I'm in a theater getting to slip away to somewhere else for a few hours.

Let me show you around

I live in a town that until a few years ago was only a place people stopped off to grab some food while traveling on I-35 between Dallas and Austin. Over the past few years, due to Baylor and the TV show Fixer Upper, Waco has grown into quite the tourist destination. I'm here to show you around, so that you don't have to come!


First up, McLane Stadium:

Next you might want some coffee: 

                                   This is Dichotomy (the best coffee in town) and also 

                                    Sergio's (the best taco truck in town)

While downtown, check out the lone part of our skyline, the Alico building:

This was built in 1910 for the Amicable Life Insurance Company and was one of the few buildings to fully survive the 1953 tornado that destroyed most of downtown. 

You may think you want to visit Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Market and Silos

and I'll tell you that it's really just overpriced homewares you could find in any local small town store or Anthropologie:

The only thing to truly go to the Silos for is the food trucks!

Next we have Common Grounds, the second best coffee in town and a place I've been going since I was in high school:

Growing up, I hated Waco and couldn't wait to leave. We did leave for a few years, but we're back and have actually grown to love our little city. 

*all photos by me

A vacation can be anything you need it to be

I used to think vacation meant something where you saved up a bunch of money, got on a plane and went on an at least week long trip. For a lot of years, that's what it was in my mind. However, after years of financial hardship without the means to go on a "traditional" vacation, I had to learn to change what vacation meant to me.

Growing up my family was never well off, but got by. Somehow my parents scraped together money for trips to places like Disney World numerous times and New York City. It was exciting. It was an adventure. It was VACATION.  Even well into college, vacation was still a grand design. A road trip to New Orleans with my friends; a trip to Disney World with friends and my boyfriend; a week at the beach with my now fiance's family.

And then reality set in.

I graduated. Work was hard to come by. Student Loans needed to be paid. Bills were a reality and with no more student loan money, vacations weren't an option. It even took a number of years of no trips (besides out honeymoon) before we were able to reach a place where we were even thinking about spending the money a vacation would cost. For the first time as a real adult, married and with only our own money, the thought of spending that much of what little we had on a big trip somewhere was disheartening. So, the new version of vacation started.

Small weekend trips to some of the great places here in Texas we could easily drive. San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin. We discovered airbnb and never looked back.

Vacation didn't have to means tons of money and flight. It could mean just getting away for a few days and exploring a different city. Living in Central Texas, we have easy car access to so many places we've yet to explore. I'm looking forward to expanding our vacations and really learning to love the state I've spent my whole life in and yet seen so little of.