cloudy with a chance of curry

We drove home to Midway tonight in a cloudy rain drizzle.
I made red coconut curry and rice.
We ate red coconut curry and rice with glasses of cold milk and an episode of Psych.



I listened to a fantastic Spotify playlist and kitchen danced.
I love my nights at home with Mr. Z.




{on my playlist}

• Origins, by Tennis
• Blood, by The Middle East
• Mountain Sound, by Of Monsters and Men
• The A Team, by Ed Sheeran

oversight

As detailed in my previous post, I love being in this stage of life. Sometimes, though, after grocery shopping and filling up the car with gas again, I let myself feel worried. I feel hungrier, more tired, and overall less happy.

Today, after filling up the car, I was busy worrying and neglected to replace the gas cap. After making the drive from Macey's to the law building with the door to the gas cap open and the cap sitting on the bumper, I finally noticed my oversight. By nothing short of a miracle, the cap was still perched on the bumper, unmoved. Miraculous.

This miracle was a direct communication to me from the Spirit, telling me to stop worrying. My Heavenly Father has got me covered. My family's needs will never be neglected and chalked up to oversight. If He can save me from losing my gas cap, he can certainly keep me and my husband fed, sheltered, and cared for.

new version of student life

I always hoped to have a year or two as a poor, married student, and this year is it. I love it.

I love carpooling down to campus in the morning and listening to a podcast (and sometimes sleeping or applying my makeup). 

I love driving and sharing our inherited Oldsmobile Bravada that is a unique shade of kelly green. We call him The Hulk.

I love managing our minimalistic budget with collected receipts and shared accounts. 

I love talking to Johnny over our occasional study break games of pool. 

I love capitalizing on the free food offered on campus. I donated blood today chiefly for the good of blood-needing patients, but also because the Red Cross snacks are excellent. (We certainly can't afford real brand Fudge Shoppe cookies.)

I love eating all of our leftovers.

I love dreaming of the cheese I'll be able to use in my mac n' cheese someday. For now it's housebrand. Speaking of which, Target brand "Chickadees" are a disappointing substitute for Goldfish.

I love making our wedding giftcards stretch to cover as many living expenses possible.

I love packing our lunches every night for the next full day on campus. 

I love meeting Johnny in the law building at the end of the day and helping him on his way out of study mode. 

I love making goals for the future when we have a salary, knowing that the habits we're developing now will help us get there. 

We lack for nothing. We eat steak at Sunday dinner each week, enjoy dinner out when my parents are in town, and splurge on Redbox movies. Frankly, we're spoiled. 

I've never been happier. 

life lessons: brought to you by my first month of marriage

Lesson 1:
South Carolina is still my favorite vacation spot.

Lesson 2:
If you leave a Scentsy and accompanying scented wax in your car during July afternoons, you will essentially turn your car into a giant Scentsy. (In case you're wondering, the melted wax pulls off of leather seats pretty easily.) 

Lesson 3:
Often, really great things in life (i.e. marrying the most wonderful and handsome man you know) are accompanied by a lot of not so great things.  Here's a taste of what our new family has experienced:

• four cases of car troubles including side mirror breakage, complete engine failure, tire slashing, and fuel pump failure
• a car break-in and accompanying wallet theft
• all-body-consuming stress itching
• death of a grandparent (Johnny's Grandpa Kelly)
• moving 1.5 times

We certainly haven't been bored. We've been blessed by chances to communicate with each other and become more of a unit. 

Lesson 4:

Being an aunt is great! We have been able to spend a lot of time with our nieces and nephew this summer and are so excited to welcome Babe Wilson to the crew next month!

Lesson 5:

Don't use the restrooms at gas stations in Ogden, UT.

Lesson 6:

 Weekends are best spent at the lake trying new things and enjoying things you've been doing since childhood.

New trier

Since childhood

         Sub-lesson A:

         Check your swim trunks for iPhones before jumping into a lake.

one week

I will be married one week from now. We met exactly one year before our wedding, and here's how:

Johnny Zarbock: Avid skier, adventurer, Disneyworld vacationer

Emily Wood: Pie baker, vintage clothes wearer, staycationer

How did these two single and attractive, yet different individuals come together? It happened when Johnny selected Denver on a whim for his accounting firm recruiting city of choice. Johnny had no interest in working in public accounting, but nevertheless flew from Utah to Denver on June 16, 2011 for a two-day recruiting event.

After pinning on his nametag and making professional small talk with firm employees and fellow recruits, Johnny looked up to see a girl wearing a handmade skirt and one of her Grandma’s cardigans come into the room. “Hey, there’s actually a cute girl here,” thought Johnny. “Wait, I’ve seen her before. Yes, she’s the one cute girl in the accounting program at BYU. What an excellent chance to talk to her!”

Emily drove from her family’s home in Denver the morning of the 16^th, nervous about meeting a potential employer and co-workers, not thinking much about her co-recruits. When she walked into the conference room and saw the hot guy from accounting with amazing eyes and sexy dimples, she realized that she might be networking for more than just an internship.

Emily Wood and Johnny Zarbock spent the rest of the recruiting weekend interviewing, teambuilding, and professionally flirting with each other. Before leaving the last event, Emily made sure to say goodbye to Johnny, but in a totally casual way. The result was a quick goodbye to Johnny and the other BYU recruit in the form of “goodbye fellow BYU constituents.”

Emily’s parting words and their small conversations over the course of the conference stayed with Emily and Johnny for the next two months until Fall semester started and they made it back to campus. In the hopes of seeing Emily again, Johnny continued signing up for Denver recruiting events, and in the hopes of seeing Johnny, Emily continued to attend.

As the semester started, Emily and Johnny enjoyed more encounters and conversations that finally led up to Johnny asking her out. That date led to many others and a wonderful semester of progressively serious dating and the eventual decision that married is how they wanted to be.