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. 

Wedding Dress Workouts

It's absolutely fitting that I write about my latest ventures in exercising the day after the taco post ;) There is an important reason for it though:

I need to fit into my wedding dress! 

So, one of my sisters' best friends, Dana started a blog recently and I've been really inspired by her to step up my game when it comes to fitness. Our wedding is in about 4 weeks (!!!!)  and since New Year's we've been saying how we want to be in the best shape of our lives. T has always been better about working out than me because he likes to play sports whereas I am so uncoordinated, they only way I can catch a frisbee or ball or something is by it hitting me in the face. Seriously. Not good!

Anyway, so while Tomislav is out playing squash or ultimate frisbee, my main exercise came from walking the mile up and down hill to work and sporadically doing a yoga video at home or pilates. Since I had a week off after Easter, it was a great time for me to really get healthy inside and out. I started running, pretty regularly. Tomislav and I have gone together for a run on the riverbanks on a nice day before but usually I couldn't muster the motivation to go running on my own. It always felt boring to me and I felt self conscious thinking that neighbors or people around would think, "What is she doing? She doesn't know what she's doing." I did absolutely horrible at track and field in high school and never found an event I was good at because I was terrible at them all!

But I want to be active and healthy so, I began doing a 2 minute run/1 minute walk on the riverbank, I jogged to the market (then walked back with the groceries), and shockingly enough, after I dropped the groceries off I wanted to go back out there and keep going! This never happened before. I'm usually really not the type but so far I've really enjoyed my newfound exercise strength. Now, it's just about finding the time to go out. I would really love to go for a run in the morning before work but that would mean getting up even earlier (like 6am early, yikes) and no matter how many times I've set the alarm, I can't get up that early. I've been tutoring after school almost everyday and that combined with meeting up with a friend for a coffee, the endless wedding meetings we have and everything else going on, I can't find the time until like 9pm, and I really don't have the energy to go out in the dark then. So I'm considering going at least for a short run during my lunch break. I don't want to get all gross and sweaty though so not the best idea.

There you have it, this is how I look after a work out! 
All red and sweaty...who cares what the neighbors/girls at our neighborhood bakery think?

If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it! I just want to be healthy and I also need to fit in my wedding dress...oh how I dread that measuring tape! Since my dress is still in the States, my Mom sent me the measurements. I'm not trying to do anything drastic, I just have a couple of centimeters to go so I can zip up my dress. Really hope it'll fit by the time my sister brings it here! I don't belong to a gym here in Zagreb (they are very expensive here!) so I need to use my surroundings (as Dana says, the world is your gym!) and any online resources that are available internationally! So, if you have any tips for a relative newbie in the exercising arena, please let me know. Hiking on Sljeme, the mountain in Zagreb, would be really fun to do and I think a nice form of exercise but that's more of a weekend work out.

Do you exercise regularly? What do you do to switch up your routine?