Apartment Improvements

Have I ever told you that my Dad is the best carpenter in the whole world? No? Well he is, but I might be a little biased. We moved into our apartment in August and since then I have felt like the list of things to do/buy/ look for/paint/ improve/ fix has been growing faster than we've been able to check things off. One thing that's been at the top of the list since then was to find something for the bathroom to store all of our stuff. For the last 3 months we've been using a wooden kitchen cart to store everything.
It looked awful, but I figured it would be temporary, until I realized that there was nothing this side of the universe that would fit into this space, hold all of our things, look pretty, match....etc, etc. I was at the end of my rope so I called my Dad and complained; "Nothing in our apartment is done!....blah blah blah more complaining. Luckily my Dad is the worlds greatest carpenter and also very good at telling me calm down. He said he would help us out so Charlie and I measured the space and drew some sketches. Over the weekend we went back to my hometown and Charlie and my Dad had some male bonding time in the basement using power tools and building a bathroom custom organizational system. They put it together while I worked on another project (post coming soon) and offered my highly educated opinions. Then my Dad took a nap and Charlie and my brother had target practice in the backyard while I applied 3 coats of white paint (only in New Hampshire, right?) On Sunday my Dad and I came back here and installed it, and by "we" I mean I help carry it up the stairs and cleaned up the mess.
Once it was installed I painted it another two times to make sure it looked nice and then it was ready to hold all of our junk ( 3 year supply of deodorant and 6 toiletry bags...guess I didn't need that one I just made, should have assessed my current toiletries bag situation prior to making one.) Either way I now have the space to hold all 6 toiletry bags and all of our other stuff. My favorite thing is that I can now display two of my most favorite things ever.
An elephant cup that my very good friend Zeke painted for me several years ago. Elephants are my favorite animal and I love this cup. The best part is on the inside it says "For Lauren love Zeke", whenever I drink from it I see that at the bottom and it reminds me of Zeke and our crazy 19 year friendship. The second thing is my favorite quote in a pretty little frame. It says; "Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall all get there someday. ~ Winnie the Pooh." I found this quote back in college when life was just beginning to feel stressful and since then I have held onto it to remind me to relax, and take each day one day at a time. I'll get there someday. I have always thought it fits well in the bathroom, where I get ready for the day and might need a reminder to slow down every now and again. It also seems to fit my current state of apartment incompleteness. I guess I just need to remember to take the improvements one step at a time and know that someday everything will look the way I want it to. But the good news is that now the bathroom is complete thanks to the best carpenter in the world! Thanks Daddy.

Goodnight.

Lauren