Next Steps:

Ideally in the next iterations;

• the initial state would feature swirl of rainbows instead of white light

• both halves of the couple would have a lamp in their separate spaces

• could acknowledge that an email was received through  different balloon color

• alert one another via SMS instead of email

Reflection:

The most difficult part of the project was coming to terms with scoping the project within my own capabilities. I have no coding experience or experience with building circuits and so had to iterate the actual execution before realizing it just wasn't possible within the time constraints and my own abilities. I believe that the end execution was charming and natural than forcing the idea on an object that may not needed to have more "smarts".

References and Acknowledgments:

Thanks TA Robert and Professor Daragh for sorting through the spaghetti noodle mess which was my breadboard circuits, my jumble of code, and explaining key concepts of the for loop.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/the-magic-of-neopixels

https://diotlabs.daraghbyrne.me/docs/working-with-sensors/fsrs/

https://ifttt.com/my_applets