Dear Laura,

Hey sis, how’s it going? It’s been such a crazy month of June – some highlights with memories I’ll cherish forever and some bad news as you already know.

Thanks again for having your family help out for my mom’s 60th birthday party. I love that you love the parties I throw and you know that I love helping you plan the biggest party of your life. I think I’ve been pretty good at being patient and waiting for details bit by bit. Yup, my current texting volume about your wedding is on restraint level. But I get it, take your time and enjoy your engagement. Take time to pick and choose everything quickly. I’m not one to rush you since I took two years myself to plan.

I thought I’d dedicate this letter to you since you were the most avid user of this photo backdrop at the party. I love going through the photos from time to time and seeing you pop up with your cheery smile, it’s instantly infectious and makes me happy.

I saw this yellow balloons and leaves centerpiece on Pinterest and saved it to my tropical party board. There were some internal debates as to whether I should make it the centerpiece to go along the buffet or a garland for photos. Eventually I decided on the garland and started working on it a few weeks before the party.

I would come home from half-day Fridays (yay summer hours), put on Netflix (I think I was watching Girlboss at the time), and cut out all these leaves. I eventually got a tiny blister on my thumb because Howard’s large scissors were not a good fit for my small crafty hands. But it looked fantastic all laid out on the dark floor, the leaves really popped.

You can tell I’m such a novice because I built the basic layout of it on the wall. I used some washi tape to secure a thread across my bedroom wall. Tied on the honeycomb pineapples from PartyCity at both ends. Then used a tiny push pin to puncture a hole at the end of each leaf. Pushed a tiny thread through said hole and tied it onto the main string.

You know what have been easier? Building this on the floor!!! For some reason, I thought I needed to see how things would drape and fall, I mean, I guess I did to an extent. But still, this was tough.

I then had all these tiny yellow and teal (robin blue?) balloons that I was tying thread to in order to attach it and cover the ends of the leaves. By this point, the washi tape had reach its’ limit. I had to apply so many more to keep the garland up (I did switch to regular tape for the party, didn’t want this crashing down on a guest).

I’m trying to think if the garland took me longer to make or the pineapple birthday cake. Probably the garland!! Especially if I’m counting the hours it took me to cut out those leaves.

Well, like they say: be a pineapple, stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside.

Hugs and kisses!

Sincerely,
Syl