One Month

I got made up

 

 We had our reveal

We danced spontaenously in the park for a crowd of people watching an orchestra!

We played with confetti in the park

 

We rode the tram

We kissed

We cried (the choir was so, so, so beautiful)

We were so happy! 

We 'American Danced' (think bump 'n' grind) until the break of dawn

We got wild!

It's been exactly one month since our wonderful wedding day and we were bombarded by emotions this weekend because we got the videos and photos from our unbelievably talented videographer, Damir Paić, and photographer, Ana Mihalić. Damir had been through so much with me and my crazy Polish-American customs and my hestitation towards Croatian traditions but his creativity and movie-making talent are really incomparable. His ideas look incredible put together in his videos and I invite you to check out this "trailer" of our wedding video that he put together. It's so fun!

You've seen her pictures before on my blog, but not like this! Ah-maz-ing!!! I am so excited about our photographer. Since I first met Ana and saw her photos, I was just in awe of how she and her camera and make such beautiful images. She is a true talent and you should remember her name because I have all the confidence in the world that she is gonna be huge. She's amazing and a great friend and I just couldn't be any happier, she did the most incredible job and we love her. Check out this video she made with some of our wedding photos. It's so cool to see Ana and Damir's different styles capturing the same wedding. We really couldn't be any happier, all of our vendors were just so great.

It's an incredible thing to be married, to have my partner for life. We've been through so much, so much distance, so much time spent apart, so much uncertainty about when we'd be together, and so much stress through the wedding planning process. But, we know each other so well, we love each other so much, and he really is my better half and that is absolutely everything to me. He is really the best (seriously, he is amazing) and I think that's why I knew we had to hold onto each other from the very beginning because there would never be anyone else like him!

When T-Slav and I first started dating, I fell for him fast. I knew straight away that I loved him but since he was only in the States for 5 months, I felt like our relationship had an expiration date. I still can't believe that today, 4 years later, we're together, and we're now married and I'm with him in Croatia. I've learned that if someone is worth it, you make it work. No matter how hard it can be sometimes, always wishing the other person was there when they're not and who knows the next time you'll see each other, no matter what. If you love someone, real love, you can make anything happen.

It's no secret that it was really hard for me to wedding plan without my family and friends. Wedding planning is so stressful, it really is. As much as you don't want it to be, it just is because there is just so much to consider and remember. My sister (and the absolute greatest maid of honor in the universe) kept trying to remind me to enjoy wedding planning because you only get to do it once) but it was just so stressful. Well, none of that mattered in the end. It all worked out! It did! (Dominika - you are the greatest, thank you for everything, especially for keeping me together all throughout wedding week, for all of your patience and love with me always, and for carrying my dress all over Zagreb, you did so much to help make our wedding day perfect, and there could be no better maid of honor than you! Having a great MOH and Best Man really helps you stay sane wedding week. Let's hear it for Lovro!)

Wedding weekend was absolute perfection. Everyone's flights and drives made it safely (albeit with a few delays) and we had the most fun and Euro-cuc time ever! I just wish everyone was still here or could come back so we could do it all over again because it was just that much fun! I think European anniversary parties might just have to become the norm because being able to see my nearest and dearest loved ones, having them all their, my family, my wonderful friends who really surprised me on making the long trip out here and making our day so much more special. All of Tomislav's family and so many Croatian people who met all of my friends and fam were absolutely shocked and amazed at how awesome everyone was, just because their only idea of American people is what they see and hear on TV. But I'm like, come on, what do you expect?! They're the people that I love the most, how did they think it would be? Our wedding weekend was just so fantastic because everyone was together, and you really couldn't tell who was from which country or speaking what language because everyone was talking, laughing, dancing, and partying together and I'm eternally thankful for everyone who came here, helped us with putting everything together, who celebrated our day with us, even from afar. I just love everyone so much and I'm so grateful we all got to be together. 

FACT: Bears Eat Beets. Bears. Beets.

Fact: I have made blueberry pancakes the last two days in a row. I ran out of baking powder after day one, so day two I used my sister's gluten free pancake mix and it was awesome! This was also the first time I ever made pancakes "from scratch" before which seems so ridiculous to me now. I've made crepes many times but pancakes, I always went for the Bisquick. I will never go back! So easy!

Mmm!

Fact: Being on vacation means having free time to watch adorable tutorials on cool braided hairdo's. I recently found this tutorial from Barefoot Blonde and tried the braided half-up do and it looked so cute. 2012 is so the year of the braid. I'm determined to figure out how to recreate my wedding hair updo that my very talented hairstylist did for me. Anyway, I'm happy my hair is 'long' enough to do fun braid styles. It's just so so so hot everyday so I think braids are just the perfect thing.

Fact: Last night's dinner was a GREAT success and I'm so happy for it. My sauce wasn't exactly like the restaurant from the seaside but it was really good. I think their homemade pasta might also do the trick. My MIL wants me to teach her how to make a balsamic reduction and the bread was the big hit of the night. Yay! Also we all got a little wine/Polish beer happy and were making plans with my brother-in-law, Ivan, about coming (home) to America with us for Christmas! So excited already!

Fact: My brother-in-law rocks! You may remember our amazing engagement pictures that my wonderful friends at Genius Creators took for us in Philly (especially because it was both me and Tomislav's Facebook profile pics forever). The pics are so fun and city-like which I just love. Well, check out the wedding present we got from Tomislav's brother!

It's us! 

 Painting based off this photo - how cool is that?

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you like my new blog makeover! It's a known fact that Polish women love redecorating (it's true, if you're a Polish woman or you know one, ask her if she rearranges her furniture every couple of weeks/months!), so I finally decided it was time to redecorate Dream of Home Tonight. And that's my last fact of the day :)

8 Stores, 40 Kuna Asparagus, & 2 In-Laws

I'm cooking for my in-laws tonight and I'm nervous!!! I don't know why I get so nervous to cook for them, maybe because my father-in-law is sometimes a picky eater and maybe it's because the last time I cooked for them, Tomislav ran out for bread just as soon as we sat down because his father doesn't like to eat dinner without bread (and of course I thought since we were having a Thai Chicken Stir-Fry with Rice, he wouldn't need bread. I was wrong, I now know better!), but most likely it's because Tomislav's Mom is a chef. And everyone loves her cooking. And I like my cooking and I know Tomislav likes my cooking but I like different things than the traditional Croatian norm. So I've planned this meal out and I'm really excited about it. But I'm super nervous that things will go wrong. It's requiring a lot of steps from me to make this happen but I'm willing to spend all day on it because I want it to be great and delicious!

I went to the biggest market in Zagreb this morning, Dolac, to hunt for asparagus. I know that asparagus grows wild on the seaside and I also know it's crazy expensive here but I could not believe that at this huge market with so many vendors selling their home grown veggies, no one had any asparagus! I started my search in center city and stopped at 7 more places (plus Tomislav checked one store near his work!) until I finally found good looking asparagus...for 40 Kuna. Yikes. That's some expensive asparagus, like almost $8!

Anyway, whatever, I'm glad I got it because I'm so excited about this dish. Back in April, when there was one day of nice weather, Tomi and I went to the island Krk for the day. We got lunch at this delicious and authentic seaside restaurant that was recommended to us. Local, fresh, and so so tasty. Tomislav got this homemade pasta with shrimp and asparagus in a creamy tomato sauce. Oh my gosh. It was unbelievable how good this dish was! The flavors were so bold and fresh and totally unexpected. It blew my mind and I quickly asked the waiter to confirm the ingredients with me, tomatoes, garlic, white wine, cooking cream...but there's something so special there. There's something to it that gives it that extra delicious and flavorful taste and today I'm gonna try to figure out what it is! I hope Tomislav will be surprised because I haven't told him the menu and I really hope it tastes at least half as good as this place.

 So unassuming, but this pasta - oh, this pasta sure packs a punch. You will gobble this up so fast and afterward be like, "What is that, that makes it taste so amazing?!"

Last weekend, on our way back from Krk, we stopped by the same restaurant so we could have the dish again. It was even better than I remembered. I'm so motivated to recreate it today! Here's what I'm up to, right now I'm slow roasting cherry tomatoes a la Smitten Kitchen.  I can't believe how delicious these get after cooking low and slow in the oven. It's so low that it really doesn't heat up the apartment at all (thank God because it's been 100 degrees here everyday and we don't have AC!).

 

2 more hours and these babies will be perfect!

Anyway, I'm also roasting garlic and this is all for an idea I had to stuff ciabatta bread with garlic, sun dried tomatoes (which I can't find in Croatia, hence the slow roasting), and parsley in hopes that the bread will be a big hit with T-Slav's Dad! Then, I've got the pasta dish to make and finally I will put together some kind of a big, fresh salad to go with the rest of the meal. I have some veggies that my Mother-In-Law gave me from her garden so I think it'll go nicely with the rest of the meal.

If you have any suggestions for how I can make tonight's dinner even better, please let me know! Trying not to be concerned with table cloths and things like that right now but I'm totally in housewife-mode! And I really don't have a table cloth for tonight. Yikessssss!

Gradska Kavana & the Best Wedding Ever!

Our wedding was amazing. Dream come true, seriously. We had the absolute greatest wedding venue and coordinator anyone could ever ask for, right on the main square in Zagreb. Our wedding coordinator became known as "Superman" because of all he was doing during the night! We had 80 guests arrive to Croatia from near (Zagreb, Slavonija, Austria) and far (Germany, Poland) and even farther (Philadelphia, NYC, San Francisco) and we feel so lucky to have had the absolute greatest photographer EVER! She is so amazing and made everything so comfortable for us.

The food, oh you know the food is important to me, oh it is so freaking amazing. The štrukli are to die for at Gradska Kavana (restaurant Republica) and if you're planning on visiting Zagreb, don't go anywhere else to get them! The music and DJ were so fab, and of course it was our guests that really made the atmosphere of our wedding! Anyway, just want to share this preview photo we got from our incredible photog, Ana! I loved our wedding venue so much for those stairs and that backdrop and I can't believe how perfectly she captured our big "reveal" moment!

As stressful and crazy wedding planning is, the day of the wedding, I finally felt relaxed and like myself again (and started to feel certain human behaviors coming back to me, like hunger and thirst!). Nothing could have ruined my day because I was literally on Cloud 9 and I couldn't believe it all came together. It was the most fun and wonderful day of my life and I will absolutely never forget it, right down to the bird poop on T-Slav right in the morning, to the spontaneous dancing at the gazebo in Zrinjevac while an orchestra was performing (and the audience thought it was a part of the show and didn't believe we were a real bride and groom!), to that moment in church when we heard the choir sing for the first time, T and I both lost it, it was so beautiful and moving, and the church itself made me want to cry because of it's beauty and the specialness of what was happening. I just kept looking up (even though I wanted to take peeks at the choir). Coming out of the church to all our loved ones and just being choked up and amazed at what just happened, that we were really married now! It was so lovely and perfect.

See what I mean? Ana captured every single moment! This picture! :)

And our reception? Oh, our reception was freaking AWESOME! As soon as the first dances ended, E  V E R Y O N E was on the dance floor and it stayed that way until the wee hours of the morning! Favorite moments have to include, T-Slav getting put on Zvone's shoulders and me getting hoisted up on a chair and dancing around mid-air, Dominika and Lovro's speeches - so perfect and so funny! Seeing our parents communicate and get along so well made us both so happy. You know what, seeing EVERYBODY talking, despite all of their different languages, our international wedding really brought everyone together and on wedding night, you couldn't tell who was Croatian or American or Hungarian or German or what! Everyone was dancing in "kolo" (circle dancing!) and taking shots of šlivovica and višnjevac like they had been doing it their whole lives and having so much fun while they were at it! It was like they had known each other for years! And one thing that really stuck out in both me and T's minds was dancing to Rihanna with all of our friends. It was just so much fun! Our cake was perfection, and I can't even start on how obsessed I am with our flowers. They were the most gorgeous flowers I've ever seen and I LOVE our florist for totally seeing and respecting my vision for the day! 

 This really happened! (Thanks for the pic Ivana!)

The reason I'm holding a hotel key was because I was on my way to find my amazing ketchup head Morgan who offered to go to our hotel room and get me a change of dress because my 7 layers of fabric and tulle were not gonna make it til 6 in the morning. As I was looking for her, I got pulled up into this! The most amazing part? Morg, as resourceful and smart as she is, had not only gotten the key somehow, but minutes later she walked in WITH my dress, as I was still looking for her! Mind reader/AMAZING FRIEND!

And oh yeah, we looooved all the love connections at our wedding! Woohoo! My Dad was commenting to me about people who were hooking up but we quickly remembered that my Mom and Dad actually met at a wedding so it's totally fitting that way :) The memories of our wedding weekend will stay with me forever and I couldn't be more thrilled with how everything turned out. Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone but especially my hubby! There were so many little things that he was taking care of on wedding day that he didn't bother to worry me with so I didn't have to think about anything but getting married all day long. And it was just perfect. I love everyone!

Croatian Style

Slowly getting back into the swing of things Croatian style. First of all, I can't believe I've been here over a year already. That is just crazy to me! I really can't believe that. I didn't know at this point last year that I'd be staying this long but that's life and I've certainly gotten used to certain aspects of Croatian life. Since we were traveling with our family and friends, some Croatian habits were made so much more noticeable to me around other people. Tomislav (and I have to admit I'm also guilty of this) drinks his coffee "Croatian style" which means leisurely and at a very relaxed pace so that one espresso lasts an entire hour long break. I've gotten so used to the coffee here (which I used to complain about!) but I love that I don't have to drink a huge ass mug to get my caffeine fix, just one, bitter but delicious espresso does the trick! Since we came back to hot hot heated up Zagreb last week, we decided to settle back in the Croatian way, which obviously means a weekend trip to the seaside!

The beautiful island of Krk - the perfect place for romantic strolls

Yesterday I was driving to the supermarket and listening to the radio. Well, really I was half listening because I usually don't concentrate enough to try to understand what the radio DJs are saying in Croatian, but I got interested upon hearing "zaručnik" and "vjenčanje" obvi (which mean fiance and wedding) and realized that they were talking about the movie "The 5 Year Engagement." I wanted to see the movie so I started really trying to concentrate and I realized it was some kind of a movie ticket giveaway so I heard you had to send a text to nula-šest-dva-dva-pet and I can't match the actual numbers to the words right away in my head so I kept repeating nula-šest-dva-dva-pet, nula-šest-dva-dva-pet to myself until I got to the supermarket. I texted the number and I won the free tickets! We saw it last night and it was so funny! It made T-Slav and I realize that maybe we should play some more of those kinds of SMS games/giveaways. He won a year's supply of Fisherman's Friend candy a year or two ago because of one of those contests. Oh yeah Cro Cro, what up small population = bigger chances of winning!

Finally, check out my kulinarskoj mudrosti (culinary wisdom) over here on Mrkva.hr's blog! I wrote about the recipe you thought you knew, but you didn't a while back after Tomislav urged me to share the way I make hard boiled eggs. Something so simple, but many people don't know the simple and perfect way to make eggs every single time. Translated into Croatian! So neat! I will have to show my mother-in-law that one :)

Polish Roulette

One more drinking game to tell you about before the weekend. I'm sure my friends who didn't grow up in the States are rolling their eyes at me majorly, but T-Slav came up with this one and it's really a great one! So, of course there is Russian roulette, but man that's sooooo not Polish peoples' style. So while at Babcia and Dziadek's last week, Tomislav had a brilliant idea and came up with the Polish counterpart.

Let's say 6 people are playing Polish Roulette, you have to fill up 3 (or 4 or 5, as you wish) shot glasses with vodka and 3 shot glasses with water. Then, everyone takes a shot and upon drinking it, everyone must try and keep a straight face. No sour vodka faces, just stone cold poker faces! I think the Polish version of Roulette is much better :)

Na zdrowie! Živjeli! Cheers everyone! 

How awesome is this Croatia/Poland supporter? He's such a cutie. I'm pretending last night's Germany vs. Italy game never happened and pretty much ignoring the rest of the Eurocup. Terrified of hearing seaside-7 Nation Army-singing by the Italians. Not talking about it anymore. Anyway! Have a fab weekend and hope you get to spend it outside in beautiful weather!

House Hunters International Drinking Game!

Since our episode of House Hunters International first aired, we realized there were several phrases that were often repeated throughout the show and Pistol Pete was the first to realize that our episode would make a great drinking game! So it has become one! We invite you to play the "Falling in Love on a Budget in Zagreb Drinking Game."

Here's how it goes:
You can watch our episode here (if you're in the USA):

If you're anywhere outside the States, consider getting UnoTelly. It allows you to watch all the normally blocked websites that are available only in the USA all over the world. Easy to install, very low monthly cost, and I have 3 more coupons to give away to my readers! If you're interested (and you should be! You can watch everything then! Hulu, Netflix, NBC, Food Network, ABC, I mean just so much American TV that is normally unavailable), at checkout, use this coupon code: [ dreamofhometonight ] to get an additional 25% off! That means only $3.25/month for a premium package and $6/month for Gold. Woohoo!

Anyway, the drinking game! So, as you watch, you'll see T-Slav and I, and our families, and our home! Listen closely, and every time you hear the word "budget", take a swig! For you thirsty folk, you can also drink every time you hear us say, "We're planning our wedding" or every time you hear Tomislav say, "preferably." The budget game will get you tipsy enough but if you really want to put it over the edge, take a shot at our totally cheesy, but totally honest and unplanned decision scene in the park :)

We're still on that vodka kick post-Poland ;)

So enjoy our episode and play Pistol's drinking game! Let us know what you think :) It'll also air on HGTV on July 5th, 2012 at 7:00PM EST so you can check it out then too!