The Excitement of Apartment Life.

During our engagement, Bryant had moved to the Twin Cities from Cook, MN. It was a bittersweet time of transition because we were leaving all the friends we had made up there to start our life together in the city. A couple we were close with got married last weekend and it was so great to get back up North to celebrate with them. We even got to stop by my favorite ice cream place while we were there!

Even though the weekend on the lake was relaxing and fun, we returned to our apartment and beheld a very unfortunate sight:

Water damage!

The ceiling in our sunroom had been victimized by our upstairs neighbors. We were not very happy about getting home to this mess. It's one thing to have a ceiling looking like this and it's another thing to have it leak water all over your day bed. :(

Exhibit A:

This photo is of my very sad down comforter covered in nasty ceiling water. I really should have taken photos of everything before we disrobed the bed and removed the soaked lamp and clock, but I felt that unplugging the electrical cords was probably a good first move instead. Everything was pretty nasty, though, and Bryant and I were really bummed to have to deal with such a mess after a nice vacation.

Once we removed all our prized possessions from underneath the still-dripping ceiling corner we decided to go outside, look at the 3rd floor neighbors' apartment sunroom and see if there was any clue as to what was making my day bed a really ugly brown color. There was! We looked up there and saw this: 

If you can't tell what that is, I'll tell you. It's someone's idea of a window unit air conditioner installation. [And by that I mean: The neighbors don't know how air conditioners work and thought that placing one on the window ledge and turning it on before leaving for the weekend would be a super idea.] 

We knocked on their door several times with no answer. I had considered dropping a passive agressive note under their door laying out the basic physics of air condensation for their return but Bryant wouldn't let me.

Needless to say, we did manage to clean up the mess and pay $25 to get our comforter cleaned, which is only a slightly dingier white now. The maintenance man came about an hour after we called, turned off the air conditioner and installed it (correctly) for the neighbors. We've been told the painters will be by later to solve the ceiling problem, but until mold starts growing I'm not too concerned. :)

The whole situation was a test of patience, and I think we did alright except for the choice words I drafted in my brain in the first moments of displeasure. It was a reminder of the frustrations, and relief, that come with living in a rental apartment complex. Even though it was a headache and very inconvenient at the time, it isn't our bank account or re-plastering skills being put to work to fix the issue (phew)! 

On a happier note, here is a photo of the adorable couple we saw get married last weekend. It certainly was the highlight! :)