A Clean Home is a Happy Home!

In a field of poppies in Poland

That's what my sister always says when she's cleaning, in a high pitched, sing-songy voice and for me, it couldn't be more true! This weekend we finally had the chance to really settle in to our new place (and unpack!) and I think we made a really good decision to stay in Zagreb. Since the weather was pretty crummy and cold we were able to get the apartment straightened up and we're a happy home. So happy in fact, that for some reason, I've been waking up early (without any need to be up!) with tons of energy. T-Slav says he likes it better when I was sleeping instead of bouncing off the walls while he's getting ready for work, but hey what can I do! I even went running yesterday, which I haven't done in forever. But when you're up that early, you can run along the beautiful streets of Zagreb, through pretty parks, and up and down some stairs without fear of too many Zagrebians looking at you like you're crazy for exercising on the street. I'm guessing this cooled down weather is the cause for my sudden burst in work-out motivation, definitely not complaining though! We'll be at the warm seaside soon enough :)

So, I've been getting to know our new neighborhood, the cafes around the corner, and the bars down the street and for the first time in my life, I feel like I have finally understood why people are coffee snobs. I've never been a coffee snob (or water snob or anything like that), I don't have a preferred brand or anything. Even so called "bad" coffee can be made good by putting some milk in it for me. Anyway, this cafe next to our apartment has quickly opened my eyes up to really good coffee. It's really espresso with milk (as all coffees are here in Croatia!) but man, I cannot get over how awesome this place is. It's called Cafe Pjer and it was the place closest to us that I could find with free wi-fi. It's obviously a neighborhood favorite of a lot of people, judging by the number of people I here all the time. The service is fantastic. Any place that has an owner who's willing to guide me to the closest outlet so I could plug in my laptop (instead of giving me the evil eye like most places would!), well you know it has to be awesome! So I'm blogging live from Cafe Pjer right now. And it's making not having Internet at home yet slightly better :)

My view right now at Cafe Pjer in Tresnjavka

So happy Monday everyone!

And the thing you should know about me, is that I really mean it. I love counting down to random occasions. Anyone remember back in the day, freshman year of college, going to J&H on Sunday night for 4th Meal (which should have been called Munchies Meal, it was just nachos and pizza and burgers and I can't even remember what else. I mean, you didn't go to 4th Meal unless you were under the influence). So this one time, a whole big crew of us went for 4th meal and we were causing a bit of a ruckus. 4th Meal only went from 8pm-12am and we'd always try to come in at 11:45pm and try to get them to keep the good stuff out still. So, as I was saying, I love celebrations and decided we should count down until midnight like you do on New Year's. Only thing was, the next day was Monday. So we counted down and all yelled, "Happy Monday!" at midnight. Shenanigans. Amazing. That's what makes paying student loans back worth it. Remembering really fun and crazy college moments. T for Temple U baby!

I'm pretty sure this is from that night - flashback!

We're Moving!

Sorry to our green-House Hunters International apartment but we're moving on up and out! We love our apartment but we were so ready to get out of that neighborhood and closer to the city and honestly, right now we're like, why did we wait so long?! We were only supposed to stay in that apartment for 3 months (last summer, before I knew I was moving here) and we ended up staying more than a year! 

So, that's been taking up a lot of our time. We've been obsessively looking at apartments online and calling agencies and looking at places post (T-Slav's) work every day! And we've found the one! We've had a hard time narrowing it down though. Do we choose a place that has everything on our wishlist, including AC and a dishwasher and is so clean and nice and new (and we can move right away)? Or do we choose the one that's half a block from the most beautiful and our most favorite park in Zagreb (but is kinda stinky and gross, and only covers 1/3 of our wishlist and isn't available for another month, but the location is so unbelievable that we just have to move there)? Well, we went for the first place, with the dishwasher (!!! You know that means even more cooking!) and the location is still good, it's just not as freaking amazing as the one 1 1/2 blocks from the Main Square! 

It's funny because Tomislav and I are pretty sure we've been Freaky Friday'd. Usually, he's into super modern apartments and for him, parking is an absolute non-negotiable, must-have on an apartment hunt and I'm into cozy, comfy places and as long as the location is great, I'm down to move and scrub down. Well, our roles have reversed and we really don't get how this is happening! T-Slav and I are both shocked at ourselves and how much more similar we are getting to each other. He's been the sleepy one lately and I've been staying up late. Freak-y! 

Your first peek at our new place! We haven't hung up any of our paintings yet, but we have brought our wine glasses over ;)