I am so excited to work with American Express again as a blogger ambassador for their Blue Cash Everyday campaign! We'll be creating a series of posts over the next few months to make every day even more epic with their awesome cash back benefits on everyday purchases, like groceries (3% back) and gas (2% back), plus access to amazing events and experiences. This campaign is designed to bring to life the benefits Card Members enjoy each and every day — all with no annual fee. We're kicking it all off with our end-of-summer soirée in our brand spanking new patio!

Last week I showed you a before and after of our patio space and I mentioned we weren't completely finished with it yet. It's been a wet month so we had to delay the painting. When we finally got a small window of sunshine, I called Delta Blues Painting and they busted out the rollers and furiously went to town on it. It's what my heartmate and I had envisioned. Actually, he was the one who was adamant on staining it black.

We used Sherwin Williams WoodScapes exterior flat solid stain. They mixed up the blackest stain they had and it came out perfect. Since the heartmate got his black walls, I pushed for the concrete slab painted white and the fenced a walnut finish (also by Sherwin Williams) which gives it more contrast. It's way more modern and dramatic now. And it definitely brings the indoors out.

Here are some before photos.

The before patio in all its earthy glory. It was really pretty but I think it was too neutral. I was joking to Ryan about how it was too Tommy Bahamas vibes, which was fine, but it lacked major oomph.

And bam! Doesn't it look like some resort in Bali? All we need is a pool. Maybe that'll be our next project! Hah! We were so excited about our new patio so we threw an epic end-of-summer soriee the day after it was done. And as a Blue Cash Everyday card member, I got 3% cash back on groceries to feed all my squirrel friends. We had such a fabulous time!

It wouldn't be a summer soirée without some rosé!*

We busted out our grill and fired up some garlic shrimp skewers and bbq chicken sliders (Kansas City style cause that's where the heartmate's from). We are so excited about our patio and can't wait to throw more get togethers in the fall and winter.