Protect the Tradition!

I'm proud to announce that the
Southlake Carroll Dragons
{my high school football team}
are headed BACK to the
State Championship!

You might think it's so lame to be this excited about high school football, but allow me to clarify a few things for you: 

1. We're in Texas. In Texas, High School Football is a BIG deal. 
2. Southlake Carroll won three back-to-back state titles in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and were considered the "National Champions" of High School football. 
3. In total, Southlake Carroll has won 7 state titles, which is a tie for the most state titles between Abilene, Brownwood, Celina, and Plano. If the Dragons win state this year, they will have the most state title wins in Texas High School Football. 

I am going to do everything in my power {aka: beg my boss to let me leave work a little early} to be able to cheer on my Dragons as they kick off at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington against Fort Bend Hightower on Saturday, December 17 at 4:04pm. 

We have a saying in Southlake when it comes to Dragon Football--- PROTECT THE TRADITION. The tradition of excellence, success, and WINNING. I hope the Dragons play their hearts out this weekend to bring the title back where it belongs-- Southlake, Texas! 

Here is this year's Playoff Intro Video that a current Carroll Senior made for the football team... {I think it's kind of amazing that my high school's intro video is better than that of some universities! Just sayin'!}

...And we cannot forget about the Belles of the ball: The Southlake Carroll Emerald Belles Dance Team! I was an Emerald Belle in High School, and if I am able to attend the state game I will be SO eager to see what kind of amazing performance the Belles WOW the crowd with this time! Here is a video from 2007, which is long after I graduated but the performances look exactly the same. {Still as impressive as ever-- gotta love those jump splits!} 

Here is a picture of me from my days as an Emerald Belle-- just for kicks! 

{I'm so punny.}

In conclusion--- Goooooooooooo Dragons!!! :)

XO, 

B.CANNON

B.Cannon Look Book

I'm so happy to report that the response to the first B.Cannon Look Book post was super positive! It was wonderful to hear so many comments via Facebook, Twitter, and of course, Blogger! :) More than anything, I'm glad that someone {anyone} found the style tips helpful, and wanted to read more! Well, have no fear!  Posting about fashion and style advice is way fun for me, and knowing that people enjoy reading about it is like the last, super shiny coat of varnish on a Louis Vuitton Melrose bag! {Cough... that's the bag I want next... Cough!}

Here is my casual Friday night look, which I wore to our neighbor's house for several rounds of Catch Phrase and some tasty beverages! {Please excuse my pathetic looking makeup... it was a loooooooooong day at work. I'm glad this photo is kind of blurry so you can't see my face too clearly. haha!}

Ann Taylor LOFT brown sweater

Ann Taylor LOFT cashmere scarf

Zara chocolate brown leggings

Gianni Bini tan, slouchy boots

Why it works:

As I mentioned in my last post, combining textures of the same color is a safe and easy way to create a chic look. Similarly, this look combines several shades of brown, with a multicolored scarf. The colors from the scarf gave the outfit a playfulness that was perfect for my casual evening, and also tied together all of the shades of brown. Additionally, boots, leggings and over-sized sweaters are featured everywhere in fashion right now-- just make sure your sweater covers all or most of your bottom, please. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of a bare bottom in leggings unless it's for athletic purposes-- which I also am not a fan of {haha}. Anyway, lastly, I would like to add that without the layering piece {aka: the scarf} the outfit is very two-dimensional. The scarf adds excitement and gives the outfit more depth, very similarly to the role of the fur vest in my previous look. Remember, a really good look should include at least three pieces-- and sometimes a really amazing necklace can count as a third piece. Shoes {usually} don't count, so without the scarf this look would have been boring incomplete. 

Style Challenge: 

Wear at least three pieces! Start with a top and bottoms, then add something fun, like a huge statement necklace, a pretty scarf, or a super fab fur vest! It's easy, and it makes all the difference!

XO, 

B.CANNON

B.Cannon's Look Book

As you may already be aware, I have a serious passion for fashion. Not many things make me as excited as clothes, accessories and super great looks {that's what I call an outfit-- a look}. So I couldn't help but be inspired by Christin's blog at classysouthernwife.com when she does her "Outfit of the Night" posts. She takes a quick snap of her outfit, and then gives the details. I love this idea, so I want to do something similar in my blog!

I'm going to post "B.Cannon Look Book" entries periodically, and I'm also going to briefly explain why the look works, give style tips, and whatever fashion related goodness comes to mind at that moment. I hope this will be fun for others to read... but if nothing else, I'll love looking back on my different looks over time to see how my style evolves!

~

Without further adieu...

Here's today's look! 

BCBG Maxazria black, long sleeve under shirt 

Forever 21 antique gold, cap-sleeve tunic 

BCBG Maxazria black, rabbit fur vest

Nike black, thermal leggings (they're SO warm)

Nine West black, knee-high boots (as seen on The Zoe Report!)

Ann Taylor LOFT gold, chain necklace

Why it works: 

Black and gold (always more black than gold) is such a fabulous combination and it's hard to screw up. I put the long sleeve shirt under the tunic primarily because it's freezing cold outside, but it was a fashionably appropriate choice because the spandex-like texture and fit of the top matches the texture and fit of the leggings. Additionally, layering is a major part of creating a stylish look. The fur vest was the right addition because it adds texture and volume. Not to mention, fur is a big deal right now. Without the vest, everything is very flat, but the black fur creates excitement without adding too much contrast. {I love playing with different textures of the same color.} This theme is continued with the knee-high leather boots, which add to the various textures of black. Another key note in this look is the varying garment lengths-- the vest is short, as is the tunic, and the boots are tall. Proportion is very important in every look, and this has just the right balance. The necklace is the right finishing piece because it is a muted gold, similar to the color of the tunic, and it has black stone accents, which tie together the black and gold color palette. Additionally, the simplistic chain design helps to maintain this very chic yet understated look.

Style Challenge: 

Mix different textures of the same color and see what you come up with!

XO, 

B.CANNON

Louis Vuitton {Galleria Dallas} Holiday Dinner!

On Sunday night, the employees from our store gathered together for a Christmas Dinner to kick off the holiday season! I was in charge of arranging the dinner {which I was really excited about} so I wanted to make sure we got the most bang for our buck! I was really pleased with how everything turned out!

I chose to make reservations with the restaurant in the Le Meridien hotel. A representative from the hotel came to our store several months ago to tell us about the renovations that have been completed, and she urged me to consider Le Meridien for a future event or party. Well, her efforts paid off because when it came time to plan this party, they were the first place that came to mind. I was hoping that since they have undergone a renovation recently, and they were sending people out to drum up some business, they might be willing to give us a great deal on a pretty fancy menu for our dinner. I was right-- they were absolutely willing to work with my requests, and they created a fabulous menu for us that was exactly within our budget after tax and gratuity. Shall we say-- impressive!

Our meal consisted of: 

• A salad with candied pecans, dried cranberries and crostini, with a white balsamic vinaigrette dressing
• Butternut squash bisque (so yummy-- this was my favorite!!) 
• Steak fillet 
• Seared Atlantic salmon with a lobster and shrimp warm salad with a chardonnay butter-sauce
• Steamed winter vegetables 
• Pumpkin risotto
• Yule log for dessert 
• 2 glasses of wine per person   

Yum, yum and more yum!!

After our dinner concluded, we played Catch Phrase! If you haven't played that game, you need to go buy it right now! It's SO.MUCH.FUN. We laughed SO hard!! It was a wonderful time. In whole, our dinner was around 4 hours long!

Here are just a couple photos... the first one (of the hotel) I got from the Le Meridien website. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and the lighting was dim, so I didn't get many good photos. Although, one of our associates (Judy) brought her camera and took some group photos, so when I get those from her I will post them :)

Le Meridien Hotel

Some of my co workers :)

My favorite part of dinner-- the Butternut Squash Bisque 

Yule Log for dessert!

My favorite Vuittonite, Kyle!

What are you waiting for? Use the good china.

I have a new addiction-- it's called Pinterest and it's wonderful! I absolutely love seeing what everyone pins on their boards... It's like a picture version of an "About Me" book. You really can learn so much about your friends, in addition to learning great recipes, home decor ideas, fashion trends, etc. Practically anything you could ever want a picture of can be found on Pinterest... And if you can't find it, you can upload it yourself.

{Here's the link to my Pinterest boards: http://pinterest.com/briannacannon/}

While browsing through some pins, I saw the pin I have posted below, which reads, "I have an irrational fear of wasting a good outfit on an insignificant day". While I know this pin is just intended to give the viewer a good laugh, I think a large majority of ladies out there really can relate to this point of view. But not me... I feel differently about this.

I firmly believe in looking nice every day just because it makes me feel good. I love to wear cute outfits even if my day consists of nothing more than grocery shopping. There have even been days when I have worn a cute outfit and literally never left my house. Why? Because I like to wear cute clothes, regardless of who sees me wearing them. I don't feel the need to "save them" for a more important day. After all, our days are numbered... Right? So why wait? I have the same opinions about china, crystal and jewelry... What are you waiting for? You don't think it's ok to have a glass of wine after work poured into a crystal glass? I do. In fact, I use crystal stemware quite often. And why not wear pearls or diamonds with a t-shirt? If you have it and it's pretty-- wear it!

Am I afraid of ruining something nice? Naahh. There's not much that can't be replaced. (Granted, if I had something that was absolutely irreplaceable, that might be different.) For the most part, however, I'd say not using the nice things you own instead of taking on the small chance that something might get damaged with more frequent use is just a sad situation.

My advice: Dress up! I think it's fun and it always makes me feel good. Break our your fine jewelry just for the heck of it, and use the nice dishes more than once in a blue moon-- you're worth it :)

Turkey Day at the Cannon Casa!

First of all, HOW was your Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear about it! Especially if you have pictures of tablescapes! I want to see them!

This year was the very first Thanksgiving that Eric and I were the hosts! It was so much fun! We had Eric's mom, grandparents, and our friend Jim over for the day, and then my mom and her friend came by later in the evening for dessert. At first I was nervous about preparing everything and having enough time... but everything turned out beautifully!

First, I set out all of the serving dishes with labels designating which food goes to that dish. That was super helpful because---

A.) It helped me to make sure I had enough serving platters for everything,
B.) My presentation was pre-set and dummy proof,
and C.) As Eric and I worked on things individually, there would be no mis-communication about what goes where. 

Another thing that was super helpful was the little assembly line Eric and I had going in the kitchen. I cleaned while he cooked, and when I got caught up with the cleaning, I would help cook... but when the dishes got piled up again, I would stop cooking and go back to cleaning. At one point, the dishes were coming too fast, so Eric stopped cooking to help me clean, and then started back cooking once we were caught up. Having a messy kitchen is unbelievably stressful to me... so I loved that we were able to manage the whole thing without a bit of messiness!

The night before Thanksgiving we had the dinner table set, the serving platters put in their place with labels, the green bean casserole pre-made and ready to cook, turkey ready to be put in the oven, stuffing pre-made and ready to cook, and my little Pinterest-inspired cookies already made and ready for display! That way, on Thanksgiving morning, we weren't stressed at all!

On Thanksgiving day, we woke up just as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was starting, poured ourselves a mimosa, and picked up right where we left off in the kitchen. At noon, Jim and Eric's family arrived with more food to add to our presentation-- and they knew just where to put everything thanks to my handy-dandy labels! :)

We planned to eat around 2:00pm, and wouldn't you know it... right at 1:59pm everyone had a full plate of food, making their way to the formal dining room! We were right on schedule-- pretty impressive for Turkey Day hosting rookies!!

Everything turned out so yummy, and we had quite the menu...

For starters, we had: Chips & queso (a must in my book for any occasion), spinach and ham baked snacks, a vegetable platter, homemade banana bread and blueberry bread, and sharp cheddar cheese and port wine cheese balls served with water crackers.

For the main course, we had: Turkey (of course) with cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, and green bean casserole.

For dessert, we had: Pumpkin pie (no Thanksgiving is complete without it), cherry pie, and (can't forget about) my Pintrest-inspired pilgrim hat cookies! YUM!

I was also really proud of our tablescape, which consisted of Lennox linens and china, with decorative chargers in gold and chocolate brown crocodile print. The contrast looked perfect with the decor in the formal dining room. Additionally, the super fun napkin rings that I found at Pier 1 imports were the icing on the cake, as they were gold with a spray of gold beads and chocolate brown crystals! Our centerpiece was made of real gourds that I carved into candle holders! I got the idea from a photo I saw on Pinterest, and I tweaked it just a bit. I think it turned out really cute and festive! We were excited to use our Waterford crystal wine glasses (from Ed Albrecht and John Bittrick) and the Wusthof seak knife set that our fab friend, Sean Morgan, gave us for our wedding! I also enjoyed using all of my Arthur Court serving platters... I have used them before, but never all at one time. They were so pretty! I have acquired a good amount of the "Grapevine" Arthur Court collection so far... and I plan to keep adding on for as long as possible!

By the time we finished our meal, it was time for the Dallas Cowboys football game, so we all headed up to the media room-- fully furnished with seven recliners, each with individual tray tables and cup holders-- for an afternoon of relaxation! (Or, in my case, an afternoon nap!)

It was a really nice day off from work (excellent preparation for the craziness of Black Friday that followed) and we had a wonderful time seeing Eric's family. They are always such a joy :)

Here are some pictures taken from my iPhone (you're probably noticing that I've been using my iPhone a lot for pictures lately, huh? It's just so much easier!)... I hope you enjoy!!

BIRTH-DAY-PAR-TAY!

Wow... I have several things to blog about since my last birthday post!

This time of year always gets so crazy busy! It all starts with my birthday, then a week later it's Thanksgiving, Black Friday (the Holidays in retail are NUTS for those of you who have never had the pleasure of experiencing it first hand), decorating for Christmas, Holiday parties, Christmas, New Years... WHEW!! It's exhausting to just write about!

First things first--- Let's recap my super fun Birthday Party!!

{Really quick-- I'd like to take a moment to say that I LOVE BIRTHDAYS; my birthday, Eric's birthday, your birthday, my parent's birthday, my grandparent's birthday... I love them ALL. I don't understand why some people make birthdays out to be a small occasion that are not worthy of celebrating-- that's just silly. First of all, who needs a more legitimate excuse to celebrate your life or the life of someone else, and secondly, having a birthday to celebrate is much happier than the alternative-- haha!}

With that being said, this year I wanted to celebrate my birthday by having a dinner party with several of my amazing friends! I decided to have the dinner at Javier's in Dallas. {For those of you who are not familiar with Javier's, it's basically a little gem of a Mexican food place right in the middle of Dallas near Highland Park. It's practically famous with Dallas locals and it's been around for over 30 years.} The restaurant offers some really fabulous private dining areas, so I was hoping for a good amount of RSVP's that would allow us to reserve one of the private rooms without struggling to meet the food and beverage minimum of $800.

I made a guest list and Eric sent out email invitations to everyone from Paperless Post... {if you have not used Paperless Post, you need to start. It's amazing. And it has an iPhone ap.} The next step was just waiting for people to RSVP. I think my guest list consisted of around 35 people, with the assumption that probably half or a little less than half would be available to attend. Well, to my very excited surprise, almost EVERYONE was able to attend-- a total of 24 people!! Needless to say, we had no problem filling the private room! Haha!

We had SUCH a great time, and I absolutely LOVED seeing some of my friends that I don't get to see all the time. I'm so thankful for all of the super wonderful people that I have in my life, and I want to thank each person who attended my dinner for helping make my birthday a memorable one!!

Here it goes... Thank you to:
Athena (she told me she wasn't able to come because she lives in Abilene now... And then she came and surprised me!! Best friend ever!!),
Athena's sister Courtney,
Devin and Stan,
Corbin, Jared, Ashley, and Ryan (who all made the hour drive to Dallas from Fort Worth),
Leslie and Keith,
Carly and Ryan,
Kyle, Kellie, and Adam,
Jim, Sean, Bobby, Chelsea, and Ross,
And last but certainly not least,
my wonderful brother, Trevor,
and my amazing husband, Eric!

Speaking of amazing husband, when the dinner was concluding, all of the sudden the lights in the room dimmed and in came the most amazing birthday cake! Eric had the lady who made our wedding cakes (Donna Nino from Opulent Cakes) design a cake that looked like a Louis Vuitton hat box! It was amazing and such a fun and incredibly thoughtful surprise! ...and not to mention, SO YUMMY! It was white chocolate cake with 3 layers of raspberry filling!

After dinner, we went to Corner Bar (walking distance from Javier's) and continued the fun! It was a great night! I'd also like to give a very special THANK YOU to my little brother for being our designated driver! It definitely wouldn't have been as much fun if Eric had to refrain from drinking so he could drive us home.

I'd say my 26th birthday celebration was quite a hit-- I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of the party invitation from Paperless Post, the private room at Javier's, my fabulous cake, and all of my wonderful friends who attended!