2024 ADDICTION MEETUP: THAT’S A WRAP!

You guys… we did it again! You know, when we start planning, we always think, “It’ll be really hard to top last year’s.” And then in the weeks leading up, we always think, “There is no way we are going to get all this done and pulled off.” And then, by the grace of God and some good old-fashioned hard work, we do. This year, Mother Nature didn’t do us any favors, and yet, we’d venture to say we had just as good a time as any other year, if not better!

Video recap of the week:

DAY ONE: WEDNESDAY, RODEO QUEENS

Ok, so Wednesday was Day One of our scheduled activities, but we gotta give a nod to some of you gals who showed up on MONDAY! We were laughing to ourselves that half our Wolf Pack made it to Yoakum before we were able to. But Wednesday – the first official day of the meetup – was just the welcome home we needed! It always amuses us and thrills us that come Wednesday morning, we’ve got a handful (if not a line) of gals ready to shop as soon as we open the door, and y’all did not disappoint in your Pecos pretties. We got to play dress-up with our early arrivers, we sipped margaritas, we chatted and vented about our unexpectedly extended vacay.

It was an all-around excellent day at the Mothership, a great start to the festivities, and then we strolled a few blocks over to a new venue, the Yoakum General Store, for some Ventura’s tamales and live music from our beloved Ulmers and 2Country4Nashville. We have to stop for a second and pat ourselves (well, really our team) on the back for what a fabulous job they did transforming that space each night, starting with Wednesday and the stunning tablescapes made from the signature serape from Pecos, accented with vibrant sunflowers for an extra nice touch. And there’s something so special and extra enjoyable about a private concert put on by some of your dear friends, it just makes the songs sound sweeter and the food taste better, ya know?

DAY TWO: THURSDAY, LUCKY IN LOVE

Thursday the crowd really started to trickle in, showing up strong in their beautiful looks from Ranch Romance! Once again, we had some stylish sisters ready to raid the racks the minute we unlocked the door – you gals do NOT let a sale slip by you and we love ya for it! We finally had our whole family back in town (Cheryl and Bryson didn’t make it back until late Wednesday) so it finally felt like the festivities were fully underway, and had the best time styling everyone and playing dress-up in the Chisholm Trail collection, and especially enjoyed the ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ moment we had with all the gals falling in love with the Blue Northern Pants that we don’t even technically sell yet! We truly had one single pair, the sample, and about half a dozen girls tried them on and ended up pre-ordering them. (So make yourself a note to get you a pair, they’re universally flattering and fabulous!)

Thursday night’s entertainment was back at the General Store and the table settings were channeling Ranch Romance with giant renditions of beautiful blue branded bandanas and chic navy-trimmed white tin plates. We powered through some delicious pizzas from Vero’s Wood Fire Pizza (and Vicki’s three giant bowls of salad) and some yummy gelato for dessert, while we got our gamin’ on – a few rounds of bingo and some surprisingly challenging trivia. Have y’all ever heard Hedy call bingo? It’s something that everyone should experience in their lifetime, and she really got our attention when the rubber band broke on the ball roller and sent bingo balls flinging across the dance floor. Never a dull moment with that one!

DAY THREE: FRIDAY, BEST DRESSED COWGIRL

Friday is always arguably our favorite day of Meetup week, and this year was no different. Not only did we have a full house of fashionistas, but because the theme was a little undefined, everyone was really showed up and showed out expressing themselves in their outfits. And for whatever reason, it felt like Friday, you gals really got an eye for Mummy’s Bundle jewelry case, which was fun for us to watch y’all embrace our newest venture! We also started to get some sneak peeks of the really cool footage and videos that @ta_visuals was putting together and it was a whole new perspective – literally – of all that goes on during this magical week. It’s impossible to put this experience into words, so it’s awe-inspiring to see it in video.

And then, of course, the headliner of the week – Friday night’s dinner and dance. For anyone who sat this year out thinking it’d be just like the previous years… we hate to rub it in, but boy did you miss out! The team truly outdid themselves making the place feel next-level glamorous from the turquoise carpet to the DDR logo photo wall, and the beautiful table settings featuring silver chargers, chic white napkins in turquoise cluster napkin rings, and printed menus for our decadent four-course meal from none other than Cheryl’s first-born and Chopped alumni, Jack Matusek. Y’ALL. Every single bite was delectable. Goat cheese honey wafers, a fresh greens and goat cheese salad, a mouth-watering beef tenderloin and truffle cauliflower puree, and for dessert, a cheesecake with a light, fluffy texture unlike anything you’ve ever had! We’ll be dreaming about this meal for a while.

Now, we’d be remiss not to address the the big ol’ sweaty elephant in the room – y’all it was HOT in there. We did our best to cool it and crank up those giant fans in the corner, but we will admit we could’ve used about three or four more. We’ll definitely have a better system figured out for next year! But did that slow us down a bit? Absolutely not. The dueling pianos from Piano Punch were endlessly entertaining, covering just about any song we could think of, and engaging the audience from start to finish, including a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for our darling Nana turning 84. We dined well, we drank a little, and we danced a lot. Naturally, the Sisters-plus-Mitchell got up to give their sweet speeches thanking everyone for coming and praising the team, and then, they collectively “pulled a Cheryl” and spilled some beans… WE’RE GOING TO ROUND TOP, Y’ALL! More details to come soon, but DDR will soon be among the shops in one of Texas’ most beloved shopping destinations.

There were also awards handed out for: Rookie of the Year went to Alanna Kaivalya, who just discovered DDR a few months ago; Biggest Cheerleader was Heather Burch, who’s still going strong on her 365 days of DDR; Best Accessories (and unofficially, the biggest ray of sunshine) naturally went to Ms. Alice Fisher; Farthest Traveled went to Kiki Schumway, all the way from Washington; and finally, Oldest Piece of DDR was awarded to the always lovely Lisa Rainwater who was donning a dress with a touching, sweet story about her mama buying it on the sly decades ago and surprising her with it. Let’s just say, there weren’t many dry eyes, least of all ours.

FINAL DAY: SATURDAY, VALLEY GIRLS

First of all, this was Nana’s actual birthday, which is always such a treat to spend surrounded by the beautiful community you’ve all created. She’s the matriarch of this whole shebang and she deserves to be celebrated in the biggest way. We all sang her a happy birthday before we raised our (very cool) custom DDR champagne flutes for a remarkably moving toast from Mitchell (yes, he wrote it himself!) about being “more than” – more than a brand, more than just customers, more than you even feel capable at times. Chills. And Mother Nature be darned, we did make it outside to get that giant group picture!

It's impossible to sum up the experience in words (not even 1400+ of them), but we are so overwhelmingly humbled by it every single time. Come Saturday, as we are saying sweet goodbyes, our hearts are so, so full and we are reminded why we do this year after year. And then we sit down, put our throbbing feet up, and we are reminded why we only do it once a year.

BRB, we’re gonna go take a two-day nap.