oopsies, it's been a while!

I haven't blogged in a very long time! It's Week 2, and things are definitely starting to get busy around here. So many things have been happening (including some bad things like my chipped tooth and burned face :( so unfortunate) but it feels good to be back in school again.

Significant things that have happened in the last couple weeks:

1) I've managed to not spend $400 on books this quarter--Praise God!! So thankful for my professors and their decisions, and my loving friends for lending me books at no cost!
2) I have been eating healthier and I've been working out more and staying active! During Week 0, I didn't eat out at all (minus food provided at aacf events! which was all homemade!) but it felt really good to keep myself away from junky and oily foods for a week! Also, I've been eating a lot more cleanly, and I don't allow myself to go out to each more than twice a week now!
3) I've been more active in getting more involved with the church I'm hoping to attend for the remaining years I have in Irvine! It's been great being more involved with Berean!

look at me, all settled down!

Herrro friends!

After a few crazy days, I decided to settle down and clean my desk and decorate my desk and wall! I really enjoy decorating and making my space feel really home-y, and I'm so excited that this is my desk area now! It's unbelievable that school is starting in two days, but the time has come, and I have to be ready to let God take control of school, fellowship, leading a small group, trying to find a job, etc. and let him guide me as the weeks go by. It's going to be crazy, but it's going to be good, and I am ready to see what God will teach me this Fall quarter! Hellooooo, Fall 2013!

|| joyce ||

all moved in!

HELLOOOOO FROM IRVINE! today was our first full day of living here at the apartment! life is so extremely chill and laid back right now, it's weird. but I know that school is starting soon and things will get super busy really soon! but still incredibly blessed because my apartment is full of women of God. still strange to think that I'm a second year now! and that things will be different this year! i'm anxious yet excited, and ready to see how God will work!

|| joyce ||

Irvine Round Two, here I come!

Oopsies! Haven't blogged in almost a week, but thing have been getting busy around here. Lots of last minute hangouts with my wonderful friends and family, and of course, packing!! I'm officially moving into my apartment with my roommates tomorrow and I'm so excited!! It's strange that I'm leaving for my second year at UCI, but I'm really looking forward to the new adventures and experiences to be had this year. well, here it goes! Year two, come at meeeeeeeeee! I am ready!

|| joyce ||

summertime fun: Adventures in the heart of LA ♡

Yesterday I had the chance to hangout with some of my high school buddies and visit LACMA on the most perfect of SoCal summer days. Good company, perfect weather, and free admission to see art exhibits= day well spent!


Urban Lights: one of the LACMA's most famous features outside on Wilshire Blvd.





















JTam drove all of us and was our dad for the day! haha it was quite nice being driven in the mom van. We started the day by grubbin' on some food truck foods for lunch! Eva and I decided to try something different, and went with the Arroy Thai Fusion truck! I had the pork belly slider and Eva had the beef brisket slider! Price wasn't too bad, but the sliders were fresh and of good size as well, and the crispiness and flavor was perfect.

Arroy food truck's Pork Belly slider and Beef Brisket 
slider! Taste was perfect, and it was nice and fresh! 





















After lunch, we headed to the museum! It was my first time visiting the indoor exhibits at the LACMA, so I was really excited to see what kind of art they had to offer! Here are a few of my favorite exhibits and pieces!

Levitated Mass

Giant Comb!! It was taller than me!

And of course, oodles of noodles!!
















We spent a grand total of three hours at LACMA, which was quite productive and worth it! Before we took off to go home, I, being a huge foodie and being obsessed with dessert (mainly ice cream), knew had to make a stop at MILK! As an Los Angelean, I've always wanted to try MILK, so I knew we couldn't leave before trying it since it was five minutes from LACMA! So to end the day, we grabbed the infamous ice cream macaron sandwiches as a nice dessert on the beautiful SoCal day :)

MILK's Thai Tea ice cream macaron sandwich! 






















Yesterday was one of the best of summer! and I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with old friends as well as enjoying beautiful art work! ♡

|| joyce ||

my own food for thought: teaching; career option, or not?

For the last nineteen years of my life thus far, my mom has been an elementary school  teacher. I've spend countless hours at school with her, from the time I was young, and even until now, as a college student. And the thing is, one thing hasn't changed--I love being in the classroom. When I was in elementary school, mainly kinder to second grade, I went to school with her and enjoyed the time I spent with her students because I was her age. But even now, as a nineteen year old, I enjoy it all the same because I love working with kids. The more I think about it, the more I realize how being in the classroom and watching my mom teach her students these last so many years has allowed me to see that I really do desire to pursue teaching. I've known that if there was any job I wanted in the world, it would to be a teacher. I love kids and I enjoy the classroom setting, and I've always wanted to chase after this teaching career. But today, teaching isn't what it used to be. I see that teaching has become a lot of babysitting leading to less opportunities to actually teach the kids. I see that our world doesn't value teachers for their hard work and effort in investing in the lives of their students (or at least for teachers that do work hard and care for the well-being of their students.) I see that teaching is no longer a stable career, but rather one that comes with the risk of being pink slipped due to lack of tenure. My mom says that I'd make a great teacher, but she has told me that there's so much that you have to invest in order to be a teacher today. She tells me that it's no longer what it used to be, and that teaching has changed, and that it is sometimes no longer worth it.

I'm entering my second year at Irvine, and I'm currently studying Business Econ, but I always have the thoughts of education in the back of my head. I know I have these wild dreams of one day doing marketing, advertising, or PR for a media company or something like that, but then I think simple again and revisit the thought of perhaps pursuing teaching in the future. Not sure where my degree will lead me right now, but I hope that I'll find a job that I enjoy and love, and that it will be a place where I can invest in the lives of others. Definitely not clear with where God is leading me post-college, but as it always is, where He leads I will follow.

|| joyce ||

Bethel: An Experience To Be Had

In all honesty, worshiping with Bethel was a different experience. It was my first time seeing Bethel
live and I didn't know what to expect. Actually, I was hoping to have a very new and spontaneous experience. I had been to a conference where Steffany Frizzel lead worship, and I had been very moved and intrigued by her ability to lead worship by simply being in God's presence and worshiping with no distractions and no agenda--worshiping to only give God glory and praise. Maybe I was semi-critical of the night, or there were quite a few distractions throughout the night, but strangely, I didn't feel as moved as I had hoped I would feel. The new songs from their new Tides album were new and had very good messages behind each and everyone of them and I am constantly amazed at the talent God has given these worship leaders to write these songs of praise and adoration so naturally, but it was a weird feeling not feeling moved. Maybe it was because it was the first night of the tour. Maybe it was because I hadn't come into the night with a heart of pure worship. Maybe it was the distractions of those in the crowd. Maybe it was just so many factors added together. Regardless of all these things, I find that my Bethel experience was one to be had. Coming from FCBC, people tend to think that because I come from a conservative Chinese Southern Baptist church, charisma and spontaneity in worship is strange and weird and not okay. And the fact is, I love charismatic and spontaneous worship just as much as I love contemporary, more conservative worship because I believe that in both, the Holy Spirit works and is alive and moving in us as we worship the Lord. My heart in worship is reflected in my connection with God while I'm worshiping, not the way others around me perceive my actions in worship. And so in that setting of worship that night, I was able to think about my personal worship despite expectations of being moved that night.

I am in love with worship and am completely passionate about worshiping the King. Why? Because God calls us to a life a worship--a life of worship in our actions, our words, our prayers, and everything else in our lives.

"God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." John 4:24


|| joyce ||