The perfect Pinterest mom! That is what they call me. They really do, and all I can do is laugh, because I know how far from perfect or Pinteresty I really am. I love being creative and throwing parties, but this last party threw me (for a loop that is).

First was the ice storm that hijacked our original date at the last minute, and honestly, that messed everything up. Although, weather related issues are not the most irritating thing to me because I know they are out of my control. There are other things that I could say “if only I was more organized” Or “If only I had more money”, but Martha Stewart and Oprah combined can’t change the weather, and so I can rest assured that it is in God’s hands and I just need to go with it.

Then there was SJ’s hair, which is another thing that only God can control. Normally I don’t fuss with it AT ALL, but this was her big day and I thought rag curls would be cute.

We did a practice run the day before and they were soft, delicate, curls that smoothly hung around her youthful skin like a porcelain doll.

 Then the day of the party they were a little different, but not necessarily bad.

 By the end of the day she looked more like when Claire went crazy on Lost.

It’s all good though, she is still a cutie pie.

The hair and the weather weren’t the only things that didn’t go as planned. I forgot to add mint leaves to the punch and the matching table cloth that I bought was left at home. The slideshow of SJ that I planned to have on loop ended up showing my computer screen saver most of the time. None of that really mattered, but when the balloon that I purchased on the internet and decorated by hand flew into the galaxy (which was Z’s description) that is when I thought I was going to loose my cool.

It looked so cute and easy on Pinterest.

The directions were simple. Buy some donut shaped latex balloons from your local party store, paint them, and decorate with paper sprinkles. Easier said than done, let me tell ya. In all fairness I did a practice run and it turned out fine, but it was without helium, which apparently makes a big difference.

The first problem I encountered was that I could not find these balloons at my “local party store”. I couldn’t even find them at a far away party store in Kentucky. I tried. So by the time I realized that I needed to special order them I had to choose expedited shipping. The day of the party when I had them inflated, one of the balloons looked more like a defective heart than a donut. It’s okay. Don’t be a party Nazi I told myself. I thanked the employee and took my 4 balloons out to the car. When I got in the apartment I only counted three balloons and one of them was the wonky one. I guess I lost one somewhere along the way. Oh well, keep moving forward. The fourth problem was that when I painted the balloon it sank. It sank and landed flat on the painted side! Everything I envisioned for the party decorations was turning into a real flop! Not to be detoured I did a light coat of paint on the final balloon and used a small portion of the MANY sprinkles I had tediously cut out (and end up throwing away). It was decent. I could handle the idea of one lonely donut balloon floating next to the birthday girl as she blew out candles on her donut cake. It was all going to be okay.

That was until, I got in the car to leave and low and behold the balloon that could barely hold it’s own weight in my apartment had suddenly found it’s true calling and turned into the lightest, free flowing balloon in the world. It was out the door and up, up, and away before anyone had a chance to do anything about it. I am the grown up here and my six year old was  consoling me saying “It’s okay mom. It’s just a balloon.” and I was like “wahhhhhhh!” J asked me if I at least had a picture knowing that I always take pictures on my phone of every. little. thing. But not this time. I was in too much of a hurry.

However, this wasn’t my party so I couldn’t cry if I wanted to. This was SJ’s party and what a  party it was. I will reveal all the glorious details of it later, but when you see it you will know that it didn’t happen without any hiccups. Every time I throw one of these parties I learn something. I learned that sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and when your balloon idea isn’t working you may just have to let go.