Car Rides, Familymoon, & (almost) no Kissy Pics!

Hi!!!

Czesc from Dobre Miasto, Poland! It feels like it's been absolutely forever and I'm so glad to have Internet access for the first time in 2 weeks so I can finally let you all know that we're married!

 Yes, we're blocking a bus from crossing, and yes, there will be so many more pics to come! Thanks for this one Noemi!

It's been absolutely amazing, without a doubt the best day of our lives, and we've been embarking on a honeymoon familymoon (as we've been calling it!) with our nearest and dearest for the past 2 weeks, road trippin' throughout Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, our travels are coming to a close soon (even though we have a super long trip back to Croatia), but before it all commenced, Taylor over at The Daily Tay wrote this great blog post about all the jobs that she's had over the years which sparked some car ride conversations among my fam and friends about their favorite/whackiest jobs. Anyway, I'm so thrilled to finally welcome Taylor over here to Dream of Home Tonight! I love her blog and I think you all will too!

First off, I'd like to say a huge congrats to

Nikki and her husband on their wedding!

What an amazing time in life for both of them.

I'm really hoping she'll give us all a treat and post some pics...



Anyway,  my name is Taylor and I blog over at

The Daily Tay

I blog about anything and everything

regarding my daily adventures living in Chicago.

My posts are usually a bit sarcastic,

sometimes cynical (depending on whether or not I've had a coffee)

and almost always involve my dog, Harlow

and my boyfriend, Chris.



In honor of Nikki being a newlywed, I wanted to share a post

about having recently celebrated the 4.5 year mark with Chris.

(4.5 dating mark, to be clear)

Big moment, I know.

Although when I called him at work and said,

"don't you want to say something to me?"

he responded with,

"Oh yea, do we have quarters for laundry tonight?"

Wrong thing, Chris.

When I told him it's our 4.5 year anniversary, he laughed and said,

"That's today, huh?"

I knew he remembered.

One of our first nights hanging out.

(I went as Captain Blackout, he's Neil Armstrong,

a match made in heaven, I know.)

We've come along way since that Fiji frat party we met at

in the musty old basement of one of their party houses.

He said I was a little too sarcastic,

I told him I've never been accused of that before...

Which was obviously sarcastic.

But he gave me a chance anyway.

Our first date was at a weird little mexican restaurant-

because they didn't card and I couldn't handle the pressure of going on a first date without drinks.

(I'm just socially awkward like that)

And I was 20, so basically legal.

That was my first date I'd ever been on.

And will hopefully be my last because I'm awful at first dates.

I don't laugh at jokes if they're not funny (luckily Chris is funny)

and I actually judge someone pretty harshly if they tell un-funny jokes.

We bonded over movies like "Saving Silverman," 

"but it only counts as one nacho if they're all stuck together..."

and he introduced me to even dumber great movies like "Out Cold."

And just when I came home and told the roomys I thought I had finally found a guy who I didn't think was annoying and could probably be my first boyfriend

Chris dropped the ball on me he was leaving for Europe in 4 weeks.

Dick move, I know.

Then again...

What a great reason to visit.

And just for the record this is the only "kissy photo" I've ever taken.

And it will be the last.

I am  blushing right now as I post it just because this is so not me.

Look closely and you can see me smirking thinking,

oh my God this is so cliche I want to die but go with it...

And after five long months of being apart the sneaky little devil that Chris is,

came home without me knowing and surprised me on my 21st.

(at midnight.)

So I was little tipsy by then and you can imagine my shock.

I just kept repeating,

"So do you have to go back? Are you home for good?"

Drunk-me thought he just made a quick trip back for the night and was going back to Spain the next day, because I didn't actually think he was returning for another two weeks.

And I'm happy to report things only kept getting better living in the same country again.

We've always been good at keeping the fun in the relationship.

And I was able to keep the "cool girlfriend" facade going for at least three years...

But when you move in together shit starts getting real.

He uncovered all the crazy in me I tried to keep under wraps for so long.

Like...

I prefer a clean house, all the time.

I will spend at least ten minutes picking out paper towels with a seasonally appealing design

(this is a sickness my mother most DEFINITELY gave me and I hate her for it.)

I don't like dirty mirrors in the bathroom,

or shit on the counter in the bathroom.

I don't think a toaster should be left out (we barely have any counter space, people.)

And I'm a terrible person to travel with because the TSA makes me incredibly irritable.

And I spend hours on Facebook creeping on people I shouldn't... Usually girls. 

It took Chris a while to get used to this one,

I don't have a rhyme or reason I just have certain people I like to stalk, and they're usually girls because most boys are boring on social media.

And that's a bit about how we've gotten to where we are.

I like being with Chris because he makes me better,

or at least he makes me want to be better...

But it's a process. 

It's all a learning process.

Hopefully the next 4.5 years will be just as great...

Thanks for hanging out, and I swear I'm not usually this sappy...

Now stop on by and say hello!

The Daily Tay

Tweet tweet!

Don't you just love her?! Thanks for letting me be a part of your Guest Posting Blitz, Taylor! Follow her blog because she's hilarious and fun (Captain Blackout, anyone?), and welcomes you right in to her life like any good girlfriend! 

My husband (ahem, ahem) and I will be road tripping back to Zagreb most likely on Monday so if you have any ideas for fun car games to play, please do let me know! 

Нови Сад, Novi Sad

Last summer marked my first ever trip to Serbia. Tomislav and I were about to embark on our 2 week Eastern European Road Trip which began in Zagreb and the goal was to get to Albania. We ended up visiting Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, then went back through Croatia (with a bit of Bosnia along the way!) It was an amazing trip! My first stop ever in Serbia was the second largest city, called Novi Sad.

 My first Serbian experience was at Tomislav's Aunt's house where she fed us so many delicious things!

 Behind us you can see the Petrovaradin Fortress overlooking the Danube River. Up there is where the world famous Exit Festival is held every summer!

Up at the Fortress with Tomislav's Aunt - Can you see what's wrong with that clock?



Loved seeing this reminder of the Jugo or "Yugo" car which EVERYONE used to drive back in the day ;)

 We went for a hike through the National Park Fruska Gora (which was beautiful!) but I had to take a picture of this smart summer refrigeration system the Serbs came up with for their picnic!

  The party scene in Novi Sad is FANTASTIC. Not only is it affordable to go out in Novi Sad, the people really know how to party! It's a great city to bar hop in because there are an incredible amount of cafes, bars, and clubs all within walking distance of one another. Even the most diverse group of friends will be able to find a place they like in Novi Sad!

  Tomislav's cousins Tea, David, me, and Tomislav at a British themed pub!

 Tomislav and I got really good at Cyrillic on this trip. In Serbia they write in both Cyrillic and Latin letters on their road signs so we thought we had really gotten a handle of it. Once we crossed the border into Macedonia and the Latin letters disappeared, we knew we were in for it!

 Close to the Serbian/Macedonian border - Tomislav's cousin told us about this unbelievable cevapi place. Here I am enjoying a "Niks" beer (ok, ok, it's actually Nikšićko)

It is literally the best Ćevapi (spicy, grilled minced meat sausages) with Kajmak (delicious creamy, cheesy dairy spread) I have ever had. The bread (lepinje) is so incredible, it really makes cevapi even better! I would LOVE to visit this unassuming roadside spot again. Oh yeah, and you HAVE TO eat onions with ćevapčići, it's practically a law.  



The Many Seasons on a Drive Throughout Croatia

On Tuesday morning, I awoke to a wonderful surprise. It was St. Nicholas Day, which in Europe is also the day that I celebrate my Name Day! When I went to sleep the night before, I had totally forgotten about it!

I was shocked to see St. Nicholas had remembered to visit our place!

He even found my boot! I got a nice big chocolate and also a gold stick which represented that I had not been all nice this year. 

Tomislav had a business trip he had to take to Porec, Croatia on the seaside which I tagged along on. The drive to the seaside from Zagreb is incredible. First, we left the fog of Zagreb for the snowy mountainous region.

The picture does not do it justice. It looked gorgeous!

The snow brought our Christmas tunes to life!

When we arrived in Porec, T-Slav went to work while I got to relax near the sea.

It was warm and beautiful, once the sun set though, we had to move on.

Since T had to work in Rijeka on Wednesday, we drove down Tuesday night and were so happy to see such a beautiful, Christmas-y city!

The pedestrian zone in Rijeka is so long, I think even longer than in Belgrade and it really put us in the holiday spirit.

The best part of our time in Rijeka for me? Probably the hotel, for we had the best view we have ever had before here!

From the balcony, you could just see water all around, it was so beautiful.

I loved it!

Yay!

It was so peaceful

Thanks to the Best Western: Hotel Jadran for giving us the best view in the entire hotel!

Go to your happy place...

Tomislav and I did a lot of things this summer that we never thought we'd get to do. The best part of everything was probably that we got to do it together. After spending the last 3 years going back and forth between Philly and Croatia, I'm really glad that I've gotten to spend so much time in Cro Cro. ;) We got to travel so much and one of our favorite places to go is Dubrovnik, Croatia. It's about 600 km from Zagreb, but the drive is really not that bad. Especially driving like this:

 Yep, it was me :) It was only on the highway though!

So, if you've ever been to Zagreb, you know that Croatians take their coffee very seriously. The coffee culture in Zagreb is awesome. Instead of meeting with their friends for happy hour, a beer, or a cocktail like we tend to do in the States, Croatians like to meet up with friends for a coffee. There are tons of cafes to go to and I think it's really nice that they like to sit down and really enjoy that cup of coffee. So imagine my shock and surprise when I realized that it's almost impossible to find coffee to go anywhere! You know, like Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks or somewhere where you can get a to go cup of coffee! We finally got one at a gas station rest stop.

That was this big.


Anyway, the drive down to Dubrovnik is actually really beautiful.

This was the view from a reststop. I'm holding a piece of fresh lavender in my hand because lavender grows wild there! It smells amazing!

Also, because of the way the road is built, you have to cross the border into Bosnia at one point and drive for about 20 minutes through Neum, Bosnia. Luckily, the views of the sea are fantastic from there!

Dubrovnik is amazingly beautiful. The sea is a gorgeous, clear blue. The one thing that really stands out about Dubrovnik is the fantastic service you see everywhere. Because there are so many tourists that visit the city, the service in bars and restaurants is excellent and they really make you feel at home.

Lapad Beach

I really highly recommend you plan a visit to Dubrovnik next summer (you can start daydreaming about it already). June is a great month to go in since there aren't that many tourists yet. You can get the freshest seafood there, especially at the restaurant Orhan:

and Sesame:

 This is the most delicious salad of fresh figs, prosciutto, and shaved parmesan. Seriously fresh and fantastic!

 This is the view inside the city and city walls (I'm eating delicious lemon ice cream, my absolute favorite)

 

You can see a bit of the city walls here and the orange trees behind us!

Our favorite beach in Dubrovnik is a short ferry ride away from the Old City to the island behind me called, Lokrum. The ferry takes about 20 minutes and the view of the City Walls and sea is great. The beach is unlike any other, since it is on a cliff and you lay on giant boulders relaxing in the sun.

Don't forget the sunblock ;)

By night, the city is very romantic. The mix of music, ancient culture, and gorgeous architecture puts you in great spirits. It's no surprise at all that they're filming the next season of Game of Thrones here and that so many celebrities come to vacation here too.

All in all, by the time you leave Dubrovnik, you'll be sad to go but you'll be feeling like this: