5 years ago today, I was getting ready to get on a plane to travel to Las Vegas for some design work and lots of family time - both my cousin's wedding shower and my Mom's 70th birthday celebration.
I had a brilliant idea that I wanted Anthony to help me execute and I - in a fevered flash of inspiration - came up with it the night before I left. I ran to the dollar store and bought bags of red and pink balloons. I was going to make a big, colorful Valentine's Day installation (Anthony shudders when he hears that word come out of my mouth) to photograph and splash over all of our social media.
I immediately got to work. I blew up the balloons. I put two-sided tape on the giant barn roll-up doors in the shape of a huge heart. What I didn't account for were the below zero temps and how that would affect the stickiness of the tape. Or explain the lack of it.
Back to the drawing board.
Alright, I decided (with Anthony's help), I will tape all of the balloons to a giant cardboard heart and somehow affix THAT to the barn door. Didn't work. (shocking, yes)
Now I was MANY hours into this project and determined to not give up. Oh, and I was also just a few hours away from driving to the airport. What could I do with these balloons? Keep going, duh.
I know! Spell out "LOVE" in the snow. It would be perfect - not what I was originally envisioning, but I could pivot and it would still be adorable. The contrast of all of the balloons in the snow would be SO GREAT!
But the balloons wouldn't stay. They kept blowing away. What next? I know!!! Fill them with water! Make water balloons. Abandon all of the already blown up balloons and then fill up the rest with water and throw them in the snow. At the same time, be careful not to get any footprints in the snow that will show up in the picture.
So how did it turn out? Uhhh, not that great at all. Pretty meh. What else could I do? NOTHING. By then, my time had run out, my idea sucked and I had to go. So I hurriedly got dressed and ready to go and left all of the balloons in the snow, asking Anthony to clean it up for me after he dropped me at the airport.
And that's the inspiring story of my Valentine's Day fail and my sweet Valentine Anthony. The one who will put up with most of my ideas, listen when I explain the concept of my next "installation" AND the one who will clean it up for me without complaint.
Happy Valentine's Day friends. I hope your next big idea is supported by the ones you love.
