Kristen Sublette

It was a cloudy afternoon in Canyon Lake, the humidity smacked me like a screen door as I exited my vehicle. Nervous energy pulsed through my body as I checked in to the retreat. I was handed my giant goodie bag and given my house number for the next three days. I drove up to the tiny house, gravel crunching under my tires, squealing and laughing women everywhere, we must have had half of the tiny home village reserved for the retreat. I climbed the stairs and opened the door, greeted by the salvation of air conditioning.

My roommates for the weekend were already there, unpacking and getting ready for the evenings festivities. Roommate number one was Dalina, she had the most beautiful long black hair, she was a total hottie and had a huge instagram following from her western inspired fashion photos and cowboy hat shaping abilities. The next Jazmine, another total fashionista and a larger than life personality, she was hilarious and cracked jokes often. Jazmine and Dalina were long-time friends but had not seen each other in years, they could speak Spanish so fast it made my head spin. My final roommate was Kirby, that girl was so perfectly polished and put together I thought I was meeting the real life Barbie. Kirby actually owned a western fashion boutique and was previously a cosmetologist, which explained the hair and makeup done to perfection.

We settled into our new living space and tried to figure out how four girls were going to manage to use one *tiny* bathroom for the next few days. Kirby couldn’t get her ginormous suitcase up the rickety ladder and we all agreed it would be safest to leave it in the living room than trying to get it up there. We went to dinner as a group where we listened to Kelly Tracy (owner of Lil Bees Bohemian) welcome us and go over the weekend plans.

The retreat kicked off with a dream board activity, girls were talking and laughing, drinking, and passing around magazines. I went through magazine after magazine, trying to picture what I would put on my dream board. I thought about my dream house, a cowboy husband, horses more children but none of the pictures I saw fit the dream. After sifting through several magazines, I found what felt right. I quickly snipped out a big picture of Texas and glued it on my board.

That evening Lainey Wilson played a private concert for our group. This was right as she her career was really starting to take off. “Things A Man Oughta Know” was all over the radio, I had been listening to her for about a year at that point so I was excited to see her perform.

Boy did she deliver, Lainey was incredible live. Her personality was so bright and joyful, she told us stories about her life and made us laugh. We all danced and whooped it up. There is something so magical about coming together with a group of like-minded women. The energy was palpable as we all sang along.

The next day started with a Kimes Ranch party, the good people at Kimes Ranch supplied us with jeans, shirts, and plenty of supplies to personalize them. Bleach was sprayed, holes were cut, and plenty of fringe was made. It was so cool of Kimes Ranch to supply their clothing for this activity. I was blown away at the high quality items given to us to essentially destroy and recreate!

Following the Kimes Ranch party we moved into the speakers. The girls from the Breaking Western Podcast (Angela Meyer and Abby Peeters), I was a faithful listener of the podcast at this point and was excited to see their dynamic interviews in person. Uncle Bekah of Inappropriate Trucker Hats, Breanne Beasley the one and only Saddle Tramp, and Kelly Tracy of Lil’ Bees all spoke. They were hysterical. I have a giant fan girl crush on Breanne so hearing her speak about her journey from leaving her comfy corporate job to striking out on her own with her leatherwork business was amazing. She even let it slip she was pregnant and I believe you could hear the group squeals of excitement from across the camp.

After lunch Kirby suggested we head into Gruene, a historic district not far from the tiny home village. Dalina, Jazmine and I agreed and cruised into town. I was super excited to go to Gruene Hall, a legendary Texas Honky Tonk. We walked through the tourist packed streets, going into the antique shops, pausing to try on every cowboy hat, and of course stopping to take pictures at Gruene Hall. The sun was scolding and we all decided to sit for a drink at a little winery.

It was scolding hot but we were enjoying each other’s company. Kirby and Dalina capitalized on every opportunity they could to gather content for social media. I was just falling deeper in love with all that Texas had to offer.

The next day we were scheduled to float the Guadalupe. Unfortunately, we awoke to light rain and it was only supposed to get progressively worsen throughout the day. We had a waffle breakfast where I met a new friend, Priscilla, she was making plans to go shopping in Gruene instead of going on the float trip. I’m not a big water person and with the cold and rain I had no desire to jump in a bikini and an innertube for the day.

I hopped in Priscilla’s car and we made our way to Gruene. We went to even more shops chalked full of adorable wears. We stopped for lunch at this delicious Mexican food restaurant. Priscilla and I really started getting to know each other at this point, she was from Nashville, married, with two darling girls. I didn’t have a lot of friends with kids, being in college made that difficult, my son is the same age as her older daughter, so we were in a similar place in our Mom journeys. We were bonding over music, kids, and the good Lord above.

We walked into a little hat shop on the main strip called Gruene Hat Company, Priscilla was wanting a new hat and they had a large selection. There were two guys working in the shop, they looked like wanna-be Midland band members. A guy named Kyler helped us, showing Priscilla all the Charlie 1 Horse hats and helping her find the one that fit right. Priscilla had been wanting to get a hat custom burned as a momento to her late sister. Apparently we had come to the right place because Kyler was pretty good at customizing hats. He recreated Priscilla’s vision and made her a stunning hat. She cried, I teared up, it was a really sweet moment to witness.

Kyler asked if we had plans that evening and invited us to go see some live music, to which we happily replied yes! We were totally excited to see what New Braunfels had to offer. We hit the town and headed to the Pour House. The venue is an outdoor bar, situated between two buildings, there’s a stage for music, fire pits, even swings hanging from the outdoor bar. It was so cool, the venue was packed and the music was good. I was totally enthralled, we just WALKED into a venue without paying a cover, the music was AWESOME, and the bar was western AF. Three things, I don’t think you’ll ever see in Denver.

We hopped around to a few different bars as the night went on. The second bar again had live music playing. The third bar didn’t have live music but was still a cowboy bar, it reminded me of a little bar I’d gone into in Cody, Wyoming. The group we were with was rowdy and Priscilla and I were just along for the ride.

The next morning, Sunday, was the conclusion of the Lil Bees Retreat. I woke up (with a pounding head) and headed to breakfast. I was swapping phone numbers and Instagram handles, hugging new friends goodbye. I went to Priscilla’s cabin to talk and hug and promise I would keep in touch. Dalina, Jazmine and I had one final adventure before we hit the road. They had to take me to Buckey’s.

If you’ve never been to a Buckey’s it is a Texas legacy. The gas station is Texas sized and I mean, it is huge. Think Cracker Barrel, the size of a Walmart with the cleanest bathrooms you’ve ever been in plus you can get fuel. We pulled in to one of the 50 gas pumps and headed inside. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning, this gas station had everything. We stocked up on road trip snacks (I bought more pickled food than anyone should be allowed), we went through the home goods section, the clothing, the kids area, they had to show me the massive bathrooms. I’m sure my eyes were bugging out of my head the entire time. But alas, it was time for us all to go our separate ways. I was headed north to pick up Morgan and hit the final leg of our trip.

I still talk to Jazmine, Dalina, and Priscilla. It is amazing the kind of connections you can form from just getting out of your comfort zone. It is totally scary and anxiety provoking to do things alone but I have some of my biggest growth moments when I do.