Happy Quarter-of-a-Century-Birthday to ME!!

I turned 25 on Tuesday, November 16th... but I celebrate my birthday for pretty much the whole month of November, haha!

On the day before my birthday, Eric suggested that we have dinner at Mi Cocina (my favorite Mexican restaurant) for an early birthday dinner... little did I know, he organized a group of my friends that were all there to surprise me for a birthday celebration!! I had absolutely no idea-- it was SO much fun!!

On my actual birthday, I went to work and received some nice cards and sweet gifts from co-workers and employees. Then my little brother came and met me for lunch-- armed with a GIANT birthday balloon and cupcakes!! It was a fantastic birthday and I am so thankful for all of my family and friends who helped in making it so memorable :)

Not to mention... it was my first birthday as MRS. ERIC CANNON! I look forward to MANY more birthdays in the company of my amazing husband!

The Colors of Fall...

I absolutely love fall...

The trees are stunning. This fall is even more beautiful than usual in Texas because it has rained so much that all of the trees still have plenty of leaves!

This is a picture I took on my way to work... I had to pull over and snap a shot because it was just too beautiful to bypass!

Hey Good Lookin'...

Whatchya got cookin'?

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I'm blessed with a wonderful husband who is also a phenomenal COOK!! We love cooking together... I like the fact that we get to spend time together, and I LOVE eating his wonderful creations. I'm sure he likes spending time together, too, but mainly, he likes saving money by cooking at home. Either way, it's always a YUMMY treat!

This is one of our latest meals cooked together...

Apple wood smoked Pork Tenderloin
with mashed potatoes & a {little} whiskey diet :)

Wine and Dine!

Eric and I are good friends with a couple that lives in Dallas-- Jim and Rebecca. I wrote about Rebecca in my previous post (she was the one who attended the Holiday Hostess Soiree with me) and she is super fab! Her boyfriend is Jim, and he was Eric's partner in crime at TCU. They were in the same fraternity and they have stayed very close friends since their graduation.

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Because of the distance between us (Dallas is about an hour from Fort Worth) we can't see each other as frequently as we would all like, so we try to plan dinners together every other month or so. During our last dinner date, we went to a restaurant in Fort Worth off Bryant Irvin called Bonnell's (Fine Texas Cuisine) and it was

SUCH a great time!

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This time we went to a new restaurant in the West 7th district of Fort Worth called Tillman's Roadhouse. This place was INCREDIBLE. I loved everything about it, well... almost everything. It was a bit pricey, but other than the bill, I loved the decor, the food, the overall ambiance... everything else!

I'd say it was worth the price of the meal.

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For an appetizer, we all split the Trio Fries: a super tasty combination of Parmesan black pepper fries, chili dusted purple Peruvian fries, and salted sweet potato fries with various dipping sauces.

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For an entree, I ordered Venison Chile Frito Pie and Eric ordered the Wood Grilled Pork Tenderloin. Both were equally amazing.

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For dessert, we all split the Table Side S'mores... AKA: THE COOLEST THING EVER. They bring giant home-made marshmallows to the table with pieces of chocolate, gram crackers, roasting sticks, and a little fire pit! You literally roast your marshmallows at the table. It was SO much fun.

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I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone...

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and it's especially wonderful

when you're in the company of

{fabulous friends}.

Absolutely stunning decor...
I LOVE the combination of elegant and rustic.
{very fort worth}

Appetizer... Trio Fries!

Dessert... Table Side S'mores!
INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Roasting our mallows.

VERY yummy S'more!

Eric approves of the S'mores!

Awesome decor on the patio!

Eat, Drink & be Merry*

Well, it's that time again...

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The Holidays are upon us!

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One of my many favorite things about this time of year is the holiday parties! Whether I'm hosting or attending, holiday parties are the best way to reunite with friends, exchange gifts, share stories, spread cheer... and so much more! There's no better way to get into the holiday spirit!

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Lucky for me, The Texas Wedding Guide invited me and a guest to the 2nd annual Holiday Hostess Soirée, hosted by Design Guide Publications! The party was held in the Dallas Design District at a really amazing place called The Kitchen Source. (It's basically a super upscale retailer and design group for high-end kitchens, bathrooms, closets, etc. If you can dream it, they can do it. They have model kitchens, closets and bathrooms throughout the venue, and they are absolutely jaw dropping. I'm talking incredible-- like, $6,000 stove-top-ranges and $1,800 heated-drawers-in-your-closet-that-warm-your-towels kind of incredible.) Maybe one day I can call up The Kitchen Source and have a custom kitchen designed for me... but definitely not in the next couple years, haha!

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The Holiday Hostess Soirée has a couple different purposes:

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The most obvious purpose is to give ideas and inspiration to attendees to prepare them for their fabulous holiday parties and help them become the ultimate hostess.

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The less obvious purpose is to collect proceeds to benefit the

Dale Clark Scholarship Fund.

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I invited my beautiful friend, Rebecca Mason, to attend with me...

and we had a BLAST.

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There were free beverages, snacks, desserts... and so much more. We attended three "classes" during the course of the evening; the first was a "mixology" class to teach us how to make the ultimate beverages for our guests, the second was a cooking class hosted by the chef of the Magnolia in Dallas, and the third was a party planning class hosted by Ed Barrett of Signature Productions.

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We had such a wonderful time :)

Desserts were provided by

Donna at Opulent Cakes

(she did our wedding cakes!)

Happy Holidays :)

Happy Halloween!!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy and safe Halloween!

I have always loved dressing up for Halloween. I think my favorite costume growing up was a "pretty witch" costume that I wore around age 10. It had several layers of orange and black tulle for a skirt, a black corset-like top that laced up the front with orange satin ribbon, poofy sleeves, lace gloves, and a black lace witch hat. I wore fishnet tights and Mary Janes with a small heel to complete the look. I will have to dig around and see if I can find a picture... it would be worth the effort! It was pretty darn cute!!

From what I can remember, I have been the following things for Halloween... (I have links to pictures of the most recent ones):

1. Pumpkin
2. Clown
3. Princess
4. Cat
5. Bunny
6. Pretty Witch
7. Cow (complete with cow bell and utters)
8. Hippie (flower child)
9. Witch (again)
10. Daisy Duke
11. Girl Scout
12. Police Woman
13. LaDainian Tomlinson (former TCU football player turned NFL all-star)
....and NOW...
14. Ladybug!

Granted, I had to work today... so my costume had to be toned down a little... but I was a very fashionable Ladybug! :)

{{enjoy}}

My wonderful Sales Lead, Danae, dressed up also!

The Pretty Kitty and the Lovely Ladybug!

xo

Date Night!

What a wonderful Friday! It was my day off from work, so I went to Lake Worth and ate lunch with Eric, then came home and worked on my thank you notes for several hours, then cleaned the house a little until Eric got home! I also drove around some neighborhoods looking for any houses that are for sale since Eric and I are always keeping an eye out, but the only ones I saw that I liked were listed for $859,999 and $1,549,999... so.... I kept driving. haha!!

When Eric came home around 5:30pm, we talked about what our evening plans would consist of. We wanted to call some friends to go bowling, but many of our friends went to Las Vegas for the TCU v. UNLV football game that takes place tonight. So we decided to have a date night! I literally don't remember the last time that we had a true date night, because even if we go to dinner together, we usually end up meeting our friends or doing something with a group.

Our date night started with an attempt to go to a brand new restaurant in the posh and trendy West 7th District of Fort Worth called BLUE Sushi & Sake. The original BLUE is located downtown in Omaha, Nebraska, and we actually ate there when we went to watch TCU in the College World Series. They were giving 50% off to all TCU fans to get the word out about their restraunt because they would be opening a 2nd BLUE in Fort Worth only a few months later.

This was Eric and I when we ate at BLUE in Nebraska!
Notice the "TCU 50% OFF"... YES!

However, we ended up not eating at BLUE because there was a 45 minute wait... and we were TOO hungry for that! So we drove only about 3 minutes down West 7th to Montgomery Plaza where we decided to eat at Gloria's Mexican Restaurant.

This is Gloria's in Montgomery Plaza

This is my very tasty Sangria!

Eric ordered a Steak covered in green peppers,
mushrooms, cheese and red sauce... it was SO good.

(ps- Eric has a bug bite that he keeps picking at,
so we wrapped his wrist so he will
leave it alone and let it heal! and his
raccoon suntan lines are from
when he went Hunting last weekend. haha.)

I ordered the sampler platter...
It has one tamale, one pupusa, one yucca, plantains,
black beans, black rice, and sour cream. It was amazing!!

After our dinner, we went to Blockbuster (which I hear has filed for bankruptcy?!) and we rented the movie Stomp the Yard II. I know that sounds funny... but we wanted to see it because the original Stomp the Yard was the very first movie we saw together in theatres on one of our first real dates ever. It was actually a really good movie and we ended up buying it on DVD because the dancing is awesome and the story line is really good. The sequel didn't prove to be as entertaining, but it was SO nice to spend quality time together never the less!!

It was a very wonderful evening!

What I'm Loving... 10/27/10

1. I love TCU home football games. Saturday was the TCU homecoming game against Air Force. My Dad and his family, my brother and his girlfriend, and Eric's dad all came to this game! It was so much fun! Not to mention, it was one of the only night home games we have had all season! I MUCH prefer night games because the weather is much nicer!!

This is the TCU Stadium
(main entrance on the student side)
at night... Breathtaking!

This is my brother, Trevor,
and his girlfriend, Lizzie,
near the end of the
Homecoming game.

Scoreboard!

2. I am loving the Thank You notes that I designed and ordered online from Wedding Paper Divas! They look incredible... too bad it's not as easy to WRITE the thank you notes as it is to order them! haha! I have completed about 25 notes... only about 80 more to go! haha...

Thank You Notes!
Aren't they so cute?!
The envelopes are printed
with our return address

in the same block font.

3. I love when Eric does super sweet things out of no where. Recently, he went to the backyard and noticed a beautiful rose on one of our rosebushes... so he picked it and gave it to me :) Then yesterday morning he went to my favorite donut place to get the jalapeno pigs in a blanket that I love to eat for breakfast! He is always doing sweet little things to show that he cares... such a thoughtful person. I love him!

Beautiful rose from our

backyard rosebush!

Life... Lately

How can I put this eloquently?

I LOVE FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Texas celebrates football like none other. We tailgate hard, yell loud for our team, and party like there is no tomorrow when we WIN!! Texas football is almost like a religion... and if you trash talk our team, you better run!!

Here are some photos from the most recent tailgate that took place for the TCU vs BYU game at TCU...

Every time TCU scores a touchdown,

these guys run across the end zone with

the TCU flags! By now, I am a professional tailgater.

I was back at the tailgate during half time

to watch some of the

Texas Rangers baseball game

that started at the

same time as our football game!

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Oh LORD... this is something new that our friends have started doing. It's called being "Iced". Out of no where, someone will pull out a Smirnoff Ice and hand it to you... then you have to take a knee and chug the whole thing!! It's so gross because Smirnoff is sweeter than candy... but it provides a GOOD laugh! The rules say that if you do not comply when you are Iced, then you can not Ice anyone else... and that's just lame.

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Here are some of us getting iced...

Sean was quite a trooper... Athena came back from getting gas at the gas station, and she tossed a HUGE Smirnoff Ice at me as I sat in the back seat of her car... needless to say, I did NOT chug this whole thing. But I did try for about 10 seconds when I got home... haha.

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In preparation for the TCU Homecoming game this Saturday, Athena and Rebecca have decided to make mums and wear them to the game like everyone did in High School!! hahaha!! This idea came about because Rebecca's Birthday is on the same day as the Homecoming Game, and we were trying to think of something she could wear that would make her stand out. Then they joked about making her a birthday mum... and the idea was born!!

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This is Athena making her mum...

Masterpiece in progress...

Rebecca's mum 99% complete... I actually made it because she claims to be uncreative and not crafty. I was THRILLED to help because I LOVE stuff like this! The only thing missing are the miniature bottles of liquor she is going to buy and tie to some of the ribbons... greatness!!

Note the partying birthday bear

with martini in hand... hysterical!! hahaha.