This was the day I had been waiting for this whole trip! We finally made it to the Silos! I had the whole day planned out! We did sleep in a little bit but still made it out of the hotel by noon!

We door dashed breakfast from a local place in Waco called Butter my Biscuit. It was so good! They make everything from scratch and it’s all in a biscuit bowl! I got a biscuits and gravy bowl and Mr. RCGG got a southwestern omelet bowl.

Our first stop was to Little Shop on Bosque. This was the store where Joanna Gaines started Magnolia. It is now used as the shop where you can get scratch and dent, out of season and other clearance items. It was a cute store but really small. I can totally see why she closed it and wanted to expand.

Next we stopped at Harp Designs. I saw on Facebook that Clint Harp, the owner of Harp Designs and woodworking expert on Fixer Upper, was going to be at the shop at 2 pm. So I planned our time there around that! Haha! His shop is right next door to his old house. There was an episode of Fixer Upper that Chip and Joanna renovated a house for Clint and his family. He wanted a house that was close to the shop. Well the house they choose was literally right next door! The Harp family doesn’t live there anymore but they do rent it out as an Air B&B.

Anyway, not a lot of people knew he was going to be there because the line to meet him was so short. I think it tool maybe ten minutes to get to him. He was so nice and down to earth! I’m so glad I had bought something in the shop that he could sign!

I talked to him for a few minutes while he was signing the wood charger I bought and while we were getting the picture. He asked where we were from and I said Atlanta. He said he was raised in Dunwoody and graduated from Dunwoody High School in 1997. He has a show on Magnolia Network called Restoration Road. There was an episode in Creve de Cour Missouri. I told him that we would always go to the river at Grand Tower Illinois which is right across the river from Creve de Cour. He loved that I knew the history of the area.

I loved meeting someone that knew and worked with Joanna! It was like meeting her too in a roundabout way! Haha!

Our next stop was MAGNOLIA! I had finally made it! This was the moment I had been waiting for this whole trip!! Seeing the Silos towering up from the property for the first time was breathtaking! I had seen them on TV but there was something special about seeing them in person for the first time!

I met up with my friend Beth too. We had been in a virtual infertility bible study group together and she lives in Texas. So she made the trip down to Waco for the day. It was so much fun to finally meet her in person and spend the day with her. We had lunch at the Magnolia Table food truck on the Silos property and then did some shopping at the Magnolia Home store. She was so sweet and I can’t wait to get together with her again soon!

Chester has so much fun people watching at The Silos. He and Daddy sat outside Magnolia Market while Beth and I shopped! He would bark and everyone came up to pet him! He loves the attention he gets when we take him places because he’s just so darn cute!

The line at Silos Bakery was around the corner so we didn’t get any cupcakes but now that we live in Texas we will definitely be going to the bakery!

We also saw the Alico building that’s in the aerial views of Fixer Upper! It was just as exciting to see as the Silos were.

We also visited the Branch Davidian Memorial site. I’ll talk more about that in my next post but it was really weird and kind of creepy! This was where Koresh siege in 1993 happened.

Our next stop on our road trip was WACO! We spent Thursday night in Waco but didn’t go to the Silos until Saturday.

On Friday we went down to Kileen TX to see Fort Hood. My father-in-law was stationed there when he was in the military. I’m sure it has changed quite a bit since he was there, but it was a really nice town. I love towns with military bases because there’s always something going on. When we lived in Savannah Fort Stewart and Hunter Airfield were not that far away.

On our way back to Waco we stopped at Bucee’s. We had never been to one and I always thought it was just another truck stop type gas station. Mr. RCGG and I were both wrong. It is so cool! It’s definitely not a place that we would go to all the time but it’s a fun place to visit every now and then. Chester loved the beef jerky and the beaver nuggets puff corn we got. We gave him some beef jerky on the drive back to Waco and he barked for more.

We drove around Baylor University for a little bit. It is such a beautiful campus! It was freezing on Friday so we stopped by the university bookstore so I could get a hoodie. My light sweater was not cutting it! Haha! We went back to the hotel after that and relaxed for a bit.

We did Magnolia on Saturday! I’ll share that day on its own post because Magnolia deserves its own post! It was so much fun!

Day three of our road trip took us to Corsicana Texas. This stop was a total surprise to me. I planned on just driving through without stopping but Mr. RCGG told me that we were stopping for the night. You are probably wondering why we made a point to stop in some random town in Texas.

Well my grandmother on my dad’s side was from Corsicana. On Thursday we stopped at a local grocery store to get flowers for my great grandparents and great uncle’s graves. We spent three and a half hours looking for their graves. My dad’s directions were not that great but it had been quite a long time since he had been there. My great grandmother passed away in the mid to late 70’s.

My great grandfather owned a cotton warehouse in town and we found the address of where their house would have been. After he passed away my great grandmother tried to keep the cotton warehouse going but it ended up going out of business. So my family had to sell the company and the house.

This is where my great grandparents’ house was. We weren’t able to find where the cotton warehouse was.

We stopped at Collins Street Bakery too. This was a cute little bakery that sold cookies, breads, brownies and so many other baked goods. It has been in Corsicana for over 100 years so it was really cool to be somewhere that my grandma may have gone to when she was a little girl!

Downtown Corsicana was so nice. There were murals on a lot of the buildings and the streets were lined with trees and squares. It really was a cute little town!

After Corsicana we started on our way to WACO!!!

After Laurel MS we drove to Vicksburg MS for the night. Mr. RCGG loves civil war history, so this stop on the trip was for him. We got into Vicksburg around 8 or 9 PM so there wasn’t too much open. It had already been a long day, so we were just happy with relaxing in our hotel and ordering dinner.

Wednesday morning, we drove through the Vicksburg National Battlefield. The landscape of the battlefield was absolutely beautiful even on a chilly and gloomy day. We stopped at the monuments and learned more about the battle of Vicksburg. Some roads were closed so we didn’t get to see all of the monuments though.

After we left Vicksburg, we headed towards West Monroe LA. This is where the Robertson Family from Duck Commander lives. We went to the store at the Duck Commander warehouse and saw the church where the oldest son Alan is pastor.

We spent a couple of hours in West Monroe and then headed towards Corsicana TX.

Recently Mr. RCGG and I went on a road trip. We drove from Georgia to Waco Texas! After this trip, I am officially more obsessed with anything Magnolia than I was before! Haha! Over the next few weeks, I will be recapping our trip to Spring at the Silos.

We started our journey on Tuesday, March 8th. We got the car loaded up as much as we could on Monday night. We only needed the snack bag, the drink bag, and to load up Chester and Cami into the car. We left Atlanta around 11 AM Eastern time. Driving through Alabama we switched to Central time and we got to Laurel MS around 3:30 PM.

Laurel MS is such a cute little town. It is where Ben and Erin Napier from the HGTV show Home Town live and film. We stopped at The Laurel Mercantile first. Mr. RCGG stayed in the car with Chester and Cami while I went in. I shopped in the store for about 10-15 minutes. Everyone was so sweet and extremely helpful! I went in specifically wanting to get a headband like Erin wears on the show. I asked an employee which one would be the best choice. She told me that all the fabric designs they have are all picked out by Erin and she has worn most of them throughout the seasons of the show. I took pictures of the Laurel Mercantile sign on the side of the building and the Visit Laurel sign. I was so excited to see Jolene the airstream camper Ben and Erin got from Chris Stapleton. They renovated it in one of their shows. Of course I had to take a picture of her!

Next we decided that we needed some lunch and a bathroom break so we went to Burger King. Mr. RCGG went in to first to get his food and I stayed in the car with Chester and Cami. I walked Chester and then I went in to get my food when Mr. RCGG came back out. We ate before we went back into the historic district of town. Our next stop was Ben’s woodshop. I loved it! It is set up like an old hardware store where old men would come to hang out and talk all day. In fact one of them said I had just missed Ben in the woodshop. He left at 4 and we had gotten there 10 minutes later. Mr. RCGG stayed with Chester and Cami again. When I walked into the store it smelled like sawdust, smoke, leather, and bourbon. Ben’s woodshop is connected to the store and there’s a big window that you can watch through. Like I said before Ben had just left right before we got there but I think I saw his friends that are always on the show and his brother Jesse.

After the woodshop, we drove around the town to see if we could spot anything from the show. I found Shug’s Sweet Shop where Ben and Erin sometimes meet with their clients. We thought

several houses looked familiar but couldn’t really place if they had been on the show.

After our quick drive through tour of Laurel we headed towards Vicksburg MS for the night. Next up in our recap is our day at the Vicksburg Civil War Battlefield and West Monroe LA where the Robertson family from Duck Dynasty and Duck Commander live.

Time for a few life and school updates! I am so behind on my blogging that it isn’t even funny! A couple of things have taken a first priority in my life.

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this on the blog yet. I have gone back to school at Southern New Hampshire University getting my bachelor’s degree in creative writing and English Literature. I eventually want to get my substitute teaching certificate. I think it is going to be a very long process but I’m loving it so far!

There is so much going on besides school though! I am so excited to start our adoption process! I have been making ornaments to sell on Etsy to help with raising funds. The shop is still being stocked with inventory but as soon as I have enough items built up I will take it off vacation mode. I’m aiming for the beginning of February to open.

You remember that I’m a Color Street stylist? I have two nail bars going right now that are fundraisers. One is for our adoption and the other is for my sweet friend KayMarie. She is going through a very hard time right now with a very aggressive cancer. She will need chemo treatments and multiple surgeries in the next year to try to get rid of it. I will be donating my commission to her and also gifting the rewards from this nail bar to her. Every little bit helps as she and her family go through this hard time. KayMarie is the strongest and sweetest woman I know and she would give someone the shirt off her back to help them!
KayMarie Kicks Cancer Nail Bar

Mr. RCGG and I have been working to get our photography started back up! It’s so hard with the state our world is in right now and with how many established photographers there are in the Atlanta Metro area. There’s even one person that goes as far as saying they are the best in the area and anyone that does not use them is stupid! That right there is a major confidence killer! So it has been a bit of a process but we will bring it back!

So that’s what’s been going on in the RCGG world. As you can see it has been pretty busy and I’m sure that it will get even busier throughout the year! I’m continuing to FLOURISH!

If you have been an RCGG follower for a while then you know that I pick a word for the new year. This word usually reflects on how I want to model the new year. My 2022 word is FLOURISH!

2022 is full of new things for the RCGG household! I started back to school on January 3rd. We are starting our adoption home studies. I want to flourish in life. I want to make 2022 the year of growth. I didn’t want to just use growth as my word though.

I want to flourish in the new year to be bold, beautiful, and creative. There’s so much in life that is beautiful! I want to actually reflect on the things that bring us beauty instead of just saying oh that’s pretty and then going on with other things!

I want to step out of my comfort zone and do something that I wouldn’t have even thought to do in years past! I already have an idea for what this will be and it has nothing to do with school or our adoption.

I want to flourish in creativity! I finally opened my Etsy shop! It is called Building Our Fairy Tale to help fund our adoption. All proceeds from sales will go to our adoption.

There is so much in life that is beautiful! We just need to take the time to actually look for it!

Merry Blogmas! What in the world are you talking about RCGG? What is Blogmas? Blogmas is a fun blogging challenge created by a couple of my blog besties Pam from Hodge Podge Moments and Nora from Nora Spaulding.com Every day in the month of December they challenge other bloggers to post about Christmas type things. This can be anything from traditions, decorations, recipes, etc.

I’m going to start my Blogmas off with a fun recipe for you! I made the best peppermint brownies last week! These are 100% adult brownies because there is vodka in the recipe! I know the alcohol bakes out but I poked a few holes in them after they were baked and poured about a 1/3 cup of vodka on the top! So yeah, these are not for kids! I have been having problems getting pictures to upload again so I am so sorry that there are no step by step pictures.

Peppermint Vodka Brownies
31/2 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1stick) butter
1/4 peppermint vodka (I used Smirnoff)
2 large eggs
1 cup flour

Melt butter and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 25 second intervals stirring in between each cycle. Melt until you have a smooth mixture.

Add sugar and whisk well.

Add the vodka and mix. Let mixture cool before adding the eggs. The eggs can partially cook if the mixture is too hot and you don’t want that! I let mine cool for about 10-15 minutes.

After the mixture has cooled down add the eggs. Whick them into the mixture and add the flour in two batches. 1/2 cup at a time mixing in between additions. Mix well to make a uniformed batter.

Transfer the batter into a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out ALMOST clean.

This is where I poked the holes in the brownies and poured the vodka over it. Let in soak in while it cools.

Transfer to a wire rack and cut into bars.

To make a kid friendly version use a 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract instead of the vodka. Don’t poke the holes in the brownie either. Peppermint extract is really strong.

These are so good! The peppermint and chocolate really compliment each other and don’t over power each other.

What are some of your favorite holiday recipes?

November 5th was my baby brother’s first birthday! Mommy says she’s REALLY SORRY that his birthday post is over a month late! She’s been way behind on this blog thing recently! Anyway, He’s a handful but he’s always going to be there for me. As much as I say I want Mommy and Daddy to take him back to where he came from, I really don’t want him to go anywhere! He’s my little brother and brothers are always there for each other!

Cami has been fun to have around! He runs around the house meowing loudly and sounds like he’s talking! He says Mama, No, Hello, What, Yeah, Wow, and few other words.

He seemed to have a good birthday. Mommy gave him some tuna and I got him a new toy! He seems to like to lay with my unstuffed toys. So I got him one that looks like a mouse.

He loves laying on the back of the couch and watch the leaves fall off the tree in our front yard. He even tries to chase them as they fall!

Cami had a great birthday! He says he thinks he will have another one next year! We have been getting ready for Christmas around here! We put the tree up and Cami kept taking ornaments off of it until Mommy put a piece of foil in the branches at the bottom. He hates foil. He runs upstairs to hide whenever he sees Mommy or Daddy with it. He hasn’t tried to undecorate the tree since then.

We are excited for Santa Paws to come see us. Cami was so little last year that he doesn’t really remember him coming to see us. I told him all about Santa Paws though! I told him that we leave treats out for him and he leaves us toys and all sorts of treats in our stockings! My favorite part of Christmas morning is the sausage balls that Mommy makes for breakfast! YUMMY!!! Cami doesn’t eat people food so that means more for me! Haha!

Mommy is getting back to blogging very soon! It’s just been a very busy time right now! Did you know she’s going back to school after the new year? She’s taking online classes at Southern New Hampshire University! She’s majoring in creative writing and English Literature. This is something she’s wanted to do for years and she’s finally doing it! All three of us love her so much and are very proud of her!

I think I’m going to go take a nap now! All this blogging stuff is exhausting and I can see why Mommy takes breaks from it! It wears a Chester out!

I love watching kid friendly Halloween movies! I’m not a fan of horror movies or gory movies! Maybe the Friday the 13th movies! Those are just so 80’s that they are just stupid! Haha! I thought I’d share my five favorite Halloween movies with y’all today!

There are so many great kid friendly Halloween movies that I had a hard time choosing which ones to include in my list! After much thought I finally came up with my list!

Twist the bones and bend the back
Itch it a cop it a mel ica mystic
Trim him of his baby fat
Itch it a cop it a mel ica mystica
Give him fur black as black
Just like thisssssss

Hocus Pocus is my all time favorite Halloween movie!

Casper has always been a favorite too!

Another all time favorite has always been It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

I always feel so bad for Linus! He waits all night for the Great Pumpkin and misses all the Halloween fun!

Addams Family is always so much fun!

I love how Wednesday and Pugsley go back and forth with each other as siblings do but in the end they love each other!

Ghostbusters is such a classic! How can you not love it?

Have you seen any of these? What are your favorite Halloween movies?