Flower Pot Makeover

Hola! Nothing much to see here folks, but for the sake of consistency, I figured I'd do a super quick blog post anyways. Unfortunately, due to the super hot weather this year, my yard and flowers haven't been doing well. My grass is JUST now turning green again. Eventually I had to choose between pretty green grass and an outrageously high water bill :( So, you know which one I chose.

Anyways, I figured I'd talk about my pot makeover. If you follow the blog then you know that I am all about painting. I will grab some paint in a minute! It's hard enough to find something that you like. If you wait around to find something that calls your name AND in the right color, you just might be waiting forever.

So I found this vase that really liked for the porch. The height and the shape is what sold me. However, that color had nothing to do with my house...no worries!

 

***By the way, I realize that this color can be considered neutral, but I am a matching freak ;-)

 

I grabbed my handy dandy spray paint (good for harsh conditions), and wha-la! For about three bucks  I created the pot that I wanted *insert evil scientist laugh here*

 



 

Once the pot was dry I filled it with a banana palm and sweet potato vines (a beautiful combination if I say so myself). Here's what it looked like after a fresh watering.

The arrangement has grown lots now, but I don't have a current pic. If I can remember, I'll snap one to show the growth and post it here later. Well, that's is that. Transformation complete. What types of things have you transformed this summer? Until the next time guys, XO!

Happy Anniversary To Us

Hey Guys, I hope all is well. Nothing too new over at the Harris House, but my husband and I recently celebrated 7 years of marriage—7 whew whoo! To celebrate we thought it might be fun to do something totally out of the norm. My husband has been wanting to do a couple’s cooking class for the longest, and this past weekend we finally got around to doing it. I have to say that it was an amazing experience!

Sur La Table. Cute little spot :)

 

Sur La Table is definitely the place to be. Not only was our chef knowledgeable, but all of the staff helping out in the kitchen were very pleasant as well. The theme of the night was French Summer Flavors—yum! Unfortunately, because the dishes were truly French, I can’t pronounce anything that we made, LOL! Nevertheless, at least now I can cook them! *boom*
The dishes were surprisingly easy to make and they came out absolutely perfect! The true test will be when we try to recreate them at home, right? J

Here’s what was on the menu:

 

• Pate a Choux
• Thyme and Gruyere Gougeres
• Salad Verte
• Seared Salmon w/White Wine Pan Sauce
• Fig and Raspberry Galette
• Perfect Pie Dough

 

In laymen's terms, we had salmon, salad with homemade dressing, cheese biscuits, and a pie ;-) 

 

My apron and name tag awaiting my arrival

 

 Hubby and I in the kitchen, ready to throw down, lol
 

 The pie before...
 

 The pie after...OMG it was so warm and AMAZING!

 

The way it worked was there were four people to a group. Honestly, I would have enjoyed it more if I could have worked solely with my hubby, but it wasn’t bad. We all took turns trying the different techniques, and some things my husband and I even worked on independently. After everything was finished we took a quick break. When we returned I was surprised to see that they had transformed the space into a real sit down feast!

After thoroughly enjoying every last  bite, we were on to our next destination, Painting With A Twist.

 

I won't go into detail about how the Dream Cruise (a huge annual car show) and rain storm caused a short trip to be long *rolls eyes*...so moving right along.

 

At Painting With A Twist it was another date night event, and it turned out to be pretty cool. We painted the melancholy couple and our instructor was awesome. We had a wonderful two hours of painting, drinking, and reggae. My husband tried to stress out about his art (I wanted to slap him across the face with a paint brush...just paint), but it was a really relaxing experience...probably because we had drinks ;-)

 

There and ready to paint!

 

 I think he enjoyed himself...
 

 See that black girl magic? I wish my fro looked as bomb as this!
 

The finished product

 

I'm not sure where we'll hang our pics or if we'll put them anywhere at all, but one thing is for certain and that is we enjoyed our time.

*Thanks to my mom for keeping our brat! Such a relief to go out worry-free.

I have to say, my hubby is becoming better with the date planning, I'm looking forward to more cool things in the future.

 

And that's pretty much it. That's how we brought in 7 years of marriage. If you decide to try (or have already tried) Sur La Table or Painting With A Twist, I'd love to hear about it. Until the next time guys, XO!

 

Backyard Beauty

 

It's another week with no new updates from Harris House :-( *booooooooooo!*. We're currently in the middle of a backyard beautification project and it's been a very slow go. We've experienced a lot of starting and stopping, however, we're moving steadily along.

 

It can be a bit annoying not being able to do what you really want to do. If money were no object, I could have created a secluded escape within the matter of days. Add in the fact that up until this week we've experienced a terrible drought, and we're also battling a serious case of crab grass and ivy, and it's enough to make me want to throw in the towel. But rather than focus on our sad situation, I took to the net to find some truly remarkable backyard designs. So here goes:

 

 

I've always had a thing for mossy trees and lights!

You don't need to have tons of space for your little hideout, this is amazing

This is so Gorg! Eventually, I want to do something like this out back. We already have a similar wall :-)

What a grand space for entertaining!

Outdoor kitchen/dinning room

 Nice and cozy

 



This is really appealing to me for some reason

 Life like a fairytale

 



 Romantic indeed

Young urban vibes

 

 I'd love to sit here for awhile

 





 

Hopefully, by the time next summer rolls around, I will have a nice little chill spot all of my own. We shall see...until the next time guys, XO!

Rooms With A View

Hey Guys, how's it going? Not much has been going on at Harris House this week, at least nothing that is finished. Since I didn't have any projects to share I figured we'd revisit an old staple: rooms with a view! I can never get enough of these awesome spaces. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do ;-)

So calming and peaceful...

I'm not a city girl, but this might make me reconsider

 This is the perfect backdrop for a performance from Belle ;-)

 



I would always be ready to have fun here, nothing like island vibes

 

Swoon!

What a way to wake up. Breakfast in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Relax and Reboot!

Dinner conversation and the perfect view!

 

I would probably do more looking than eating in this room.

Nice and  cozy

Not sure how practical this is, but that is definitely a view!

Sunlight, sunlight everywhere!!!!

 

Grand!

Waking up here would be like a dream!!

I'm not sure what this room is supposed to be (closet?), but I'll take it!

More Paris views....

And that's that...another look at some amazing rooms. Which one do you like the best? Until the next time guys, xo!

Harris House Getaway!

Hey Guys! I hope all is well. If you've been following the blog long enough then you know how much I love my great state of Michigan. This past weekend, I got a chance to head out to one of my absolute favorite spots with some of the best folks in the world.

Traverse City is a true gem. It's one of the only places I'm aware of that will give you the feel of the city, an island, the country, the beach, and the desert all at the same time. It's so gorgeous, in fact, that a couple years ago it was voted the most beautiful place in America. But I didn't need a contest to tell me that ;-)

We actually picked the perfect day to go. Back home it was pouring rain, but just 3 1/2 hours away it was all sunshine. Funny how that works aye? The hubby and I had decided that this would be the first of two local trips we wanted to do this year with our son. Since he just recently started to enjoy the sand, it was the perfect spot. OMG, he had an absolute ball.

Our climb on the dunes. This is the perfect father/son pic. I love candid's. I couldn't have set this up better if I tried.

 

Mommy  and Monkey, xo!!

 

Climbing

 

Crawling :-)

Super Steep Climb

 

:)

 

I took almost this same pic a couple of years back.

 

My mom was straight chilling. I was trying to get sand off my lip-gloss that "somebody" wanted to throw, and showing off my super cute peacock mirror my mom bought me last Christmas lol!

 

Still chilling...

 

On top of the world

 

Nice view

My favorite girl. The older I get the more I realize how much I look like my mom.

 

 

 

More Dunes. This was along the scenic drive

 

XO!

 

Coolin'

 Sandcastles!

 

Both my babies were tuckered out. And how sweet, the bff's went to sleep holding hands. *swoon*

pics don't even...

At all...#NoJustice

 

For some reason there were more people there than usual, but whatever. I'm not the owner of the dunes, although I really wish that I was :-P Overall we had an amazing time and created some even more amazing memories.

 

Here's a couple of pics I grabbed off the internet, since mine just couldn't compare:

 

 

 



Gorg!

Gorg!

And More Gorg!

 

If you're in the area, or even if you're not, set some time aside to visit good ol' TC. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Until the next time guys, XO!