So Long, Freshman Year!

Hello, friend!

I just wrapped up my year of college and am getting ready to live in China in 19 days (if you wanna donate to my GoFundMe, here's the link). Also, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has donated already, I am eternally grateful. There are still a couple of odds and ends that I still need to get ready to go to China, but I feel mostly ready and very excited to travel again this summer. This blog will continue while I am in China, and I also plan on making some videos of some of my experiences.

Today was graduation at UW-Madison, and I can't believe that that will be me in three years. I feel like the rest of my college experience will go by SO quickly. Freshman year was a great year, and I learned a lot about myself and about college. For instance- I can't really handle three power lectures in a row. My lectures weren't extremely long power lectures, they were 1hr and 15 minutes long. However, putting three of them back-to-back on Tuesdays and Thursdays was a CRAZY idea. I didn't know how badly I would struggle to stay awake in those classes! 0/10, wouldn't recommend. I would find myself dozing off, even when I got a solid 8-9 hours of sleep!  Coffee saved me. But then again, I also learned that coffee makes me sort of jittery and then I can't focus. What a conundrum!

This year I also learned that you will meet a lot of people, and you don't really have to keep in touch with all of them(that will get exhausting). I just chose a few friends who I thought had great potential to become close friends with, and spent some quality time with them! ☺ I found some great gal pals in my classes and we still made time to hang out even though in the second semester we didn't have any of the same classes. Friendships go both ways, too, so if someone's not reciprocating as much, then it's totally fine to let the friendship drift away. I feel like in college, friendships are very come-and-go. There will be some friends who might stick with you even after you don't have classes with them, and others who were only there for that class only. However, as I continue along into more classes with Computer Science and Chinese, I expect that I'll be making more friends in my major who I'll see a lot of the time.

Thanks so much to everyone who made my first year so much fun!

Happy Saturday,
Joy :)

Saudade + Little Updates

Hello, friend!

I've been listening to one song on repeat for the past couple of days since I discovered it.

Saudade, by Us the Duo. 

Saudade is a Portuguese term that is hard to translate to English. However, I've done some research and this is what I've collected:

a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia

the love that remains

a deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent

Not only is this word amazing, but the song is also. If you like this kind of sappy stuff then give it a listen :). 

Here's a quick update on my life-- 

I have been trying to apply for scholarships for studying abroad this summer, which has kept me away from blogging. I'm planning on studying abroad in Tianjin, and it's so expensive! I have talked to multiple people who thoroughly enjoyed their study abroad experiences in other countries, though, so I am confident that it will be worth it.

Five days ago, I turned 19. Say whaaaat?! Even though I just turned 19, I'm like woahh that means that there is only one more year until I am 20(which sounds way older than 19?). I went out to eat with some of my friends at a dim sum restaurant, and felt so encouraged that entire day. So far, being 19 has been good, and I'm excited for the rest of this year.

That's really all I have for now! Hope you have a happy Tuesday. 

Joy :) 

My Favorite Stationery

Hello, friend!

My notes from stats class!

I love stationery.  Having cute notebooks and good pens makes studying so much better for some reason! When I was in China, I went to a store called Muji, which is a Japanese "lifestyle" store that sells everything you could ever want in a house, from clothes to lots of storage, utensils, and even toothbrush holders. Oh, and stationery. They don't sell food, though. The whole store is extremely minimalistic! I bought four 0.38 mm pens from Muji(a normal pen is size 0.7 or 1.0),  and used them in my first semester of college, and they instantly became my favorites.

First off, the pens are so small that they make my handwriting look 10000x nicer. Second, they're actual pens and don't have felt tips(those can break easily). And third, the packaging is sleek and not too heavy.
 When I was in New York, I had to go to another Muji store. They only have stores in New York, California, and Massachusetts, but you can easily buy things online.  I bought these notebooks.  They only have 30 pages in them, which is actually perfect for taking notes in college because your classes are only a semester long. Plus, if you have smaller handwriting, this allows you to finish a notebook instead of continuing to use old notebooks that are only halfway full by the end of the semester.

Only $3.50 for a pack of 5!

Finally, I have my planner, Staedtler pens, and my new washii tape that I love! I got the washii tape recently from the Line Friends store, and it has a cute bunny print on it. Staedtler is a German brand that has created wonderful felt-tip pens, which I love to use for color-coordinating reasons. However, I will mostly reach for my Muji 0.38 pens if I am taking notes. My planner is from Anthropologie, and it took me two other planners to finally find one that worked for me! I first had a planner from Barnes and Noble, but it was wonky with the layout. Then I bought a huge academic planner from Amazon that was super cute and had so much space, but since it stopped after June, I continued to search for another planner. I found this one on sale from Anthropologie, and it's perfect. It has a monthly layout, tabs, an attached string of the bookmark, and isn't weirdly formatted!

I think some people might think- why do you care so much about your stationery? My answer is- well if I am using it everyday, I want to have stationery that I really like!

It's the little things that can add up to make a big difference in your life! Do you enjoy stationery? Have any suggestions of brands to try? Leave a comment! 

Have a great weekend! 

Joy :) 

Welcome, 2018!

Hello, friends!

IT'S THE YEAR OF THE DOG!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful start to the new year. My family and I just got back from driving home from Florida, and I have had a lot of time to think about this blog post! 2017 was a great year overall. Here are some events in no particular order:

• I visited China and my orphanage
• I graduated high school
• began college at UW Madison
• baked my first ever pie!
• went to my first-ever campus conference as a campus student
• picked up classical guitar

Last year was great, but I'm still ready for a fresh start. 

I have more of a "focus" for this year instead of a goal. I'm going to focus on NOT forcing an identity onto myself that isn't me. I watched a Youtube video last year about a guy who was also Asian American, and I found that I could relate to a lot of struggles that he went through. It basically was not fitting in with certain groups because he wasn't "Asian enough," or, "American enough," but at the end, he discovered that he didn't have to force himself to fit in with any group. He just had to wait patiently for the right people to come along that became his own friend group(I could do a whole other blog post on being Asian American, will save it for later)!

Anyways, last year I found myself doing things that weren't necessarily making me happy. It ranged from listening to music that I didn't actually like, wearing clothes I didn't like, or hanging out with people who weren't helping me spreading JOY(wink wink) to others, and I decided that I want to be more real with myself this year. 

Certainly, it is good to push myself and to try new things. Some experiences in life take more perseverance and may take more time adjusting to them. I plan on taking full advantage of the diverse environment that I'm in at UW and trying different activities. I'm going to have a different mindset and will enjoy the people I'm surrounded with and enjoy the place that I'm in right now, not waiting for the future or tomorrow, but making the most of every day.

It's going to be fantastic. Do you have any goals?

Joy :) 

My First Week of College

Hello, friend!

School is back in full force and I've had half a week of classes and a lot of fun so far at UW-Madison. Luckily, I've made it early to all of my classes so I've gotten good seats and made some new friends. It's so easy to just meet the person next to you, and it's interesting seeing how everyone really is quite friendly the first year of college.

One of the things that I especially love about our campus is that we are right by two spectacular lakes. It's so amazing how you can just stop and set up a hammock right next to the water and enjoy the view. My friend Allie and I just did that a couple of days ago, and I just ordered a compact hammock to bring with me to campus as well. It's coming tomorrow(thx too Amazon student prime), and I hope to get a lot of use out of it before it gets too cold. Maybe I'll do homework in it. I've probably spent a good five or six hours doing homework so far, which isn't that bad, considering that I have four classes and one guitar class.

love Wisco

College is so strange because you really have a different schedule from all of your friends. So even if you do have free time, you might not have time to get with the people you want to get with because they might be in classes. Also, since I'm commuting every day to school, it's a tad bit more difficult to hang out with people later because I don't want to be on the bus super late. Shoutout to my parents, though, who help drive me places because paying for parking is expensive!! Speaking of modes of transportation, at UW-Madison's campus there are bikes everywhere that are put there by the brand, "BCycle." Funny story- I used a bike ONCE for like, an hour, and was charged $54 dollars for it because the system didn't register that I put the bike back, even though the light blinked three times and the box beeped three times. Luckily, I got my $$ back!! I learned that you should receive an email approximately 30 seconds after you put the bike back confirming that it's been returned.

There are many little things here and there like that^, that you learn by just being on campus. For example, when you're wandering around a building that is unfamiliar to you and you ask a staff member if this door leads to a way out and he replies with, "Yes, but I don't know where it leads to," DON'T GO OUT THAT DOOR. You may find yourself trapped in a courtyard but then realize that there is a way out (the opposite way) after five minutes.

Another random tangent- I've discovered probably the coolest bathrooms at UW. They're located inside the Ecology building. You walk in and the dark blue ceiling is covered in twinkling lights like the stars in the sky and there are chirping noises and the bathroom stalls are decorated like phone booths from London. Say whaaaaat?? There are so many random fun and free things to do at UW too, like painting at the Terrace! It was the perfect weather for us to paint and relax the night before school started.

There was also an event called, "The W Project," where someone took a picture of us students on the field at Camp Randall making a "living W." It started to rain while we were standing in the bleachers, waiting to take the picture. About 15 minutes after the rain though, there was the most AMAZING double rainbow. It was worth standing in the rain for + the free t shirt.

Oh, and the fooootball games. They're reeeeally fun and reeeaally exhausting. You're standing for three hours straight and yelling and jumping around until your legs are stiff, but I definitely 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND getting football tickets freshman year if you're at a university with a good football team! These are pictures from the first game.

Bucky!!!

Learning all of the cheers and when to clap at the right times and yell, "rah rah," is all apart of the "freshman experience," and it's super cheesy but I think that it's best to accept it and just go with the flow.  I can literally already feel myself learning so much academic-wise, too, and I'm excited to see what the next four+ years bring.

Have a great week!
Joy :)

My Autumn Bucket List

Hello, friend!

It is ALMOST that time of year again, yup my favorite time of year! Happy September 1st!

Fall is just around the corner and I am OH SO READY. :) I have so many plans for this fall, and I can't wait to see how many things I can accomplish this season. Last year, I didn't make a bucket list but my friend Jessica did, and I decided that I want to make a bucket list this year for fun and then do a couple blog posts later about how I'm going about finishing them all.

Okay, let's get into it:

1. Go apple picking

2. Bake an apple pie from the apples that were picked

3. Go to a corn maze

4. Go hiking

5. Buy some pumpkins!! & carve them

6. Drink apple cider & eat apple cider donuts!

7. Make pumpkin bread with mom

8. Maybe go to a haunted house?

9. Watch Hocus Pocus

10. Go to the farmer's market in the Fall

11. Watch Harry Potter movies

12. Get cozy by the fire and read

13. Go to many football games!!

14. Take foggy early morning walks with Po

15. Watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Halloween special

16. Buy fall and apple scented things and candles, etc

17. Eat a caramel apple (heart eyes) + caramel apple lollipops

18. Go to a Halloween party!

And that's my list so far!

Hope you enjoyed and got a bit inspired and excited for Fall. Text me if you want to do any of these with me!! 

Happy Friday!

Joy :)

Hi, Me Again!

Hello, friend!

Whoops. It has been actually MORE than a month since my last blog post(there goes my goal of trying to post once every week)! I think that I have been lost on what to write about and that's why I haven't been writing anything at all. I've just been trying to live in the moment with everything that I've been doing this summer, whether its camp counseling, hanging out with my friends and family, or driving 13+ hours to Asheville, North Carolina for a campus conference(ICMC) with 1500 other campus disciples.

Here is a lil' recap of everything that I've been up to:

1. I saw the most beautiful sunrise through the trees while in Asheville, North Carolina. 

A pretty random group of us college students woke up at 5:50 in the morning to go hiking and see the sunrise over this lookout which was okaaaay, but not the WOW thing we were looking for. About 10 minutes after the sun had risen, we were walking back down the trail and saw the sun shining like the color of fire through the trees. It was breathtaking, and well worth the early wakeup!

Some of the group that went hiking. 

2. I discovered one of my favorite songs while at ICMC.

At one of the main sessions at the conference, there was a worship song called, "Hills and Valleys." It's about how God is with us through the highs and lows of life(our mountains and valleys), and how no matter what we look to God when we're in either situation. It has a great message and Tauren Wells is so passionate in this song that you'll want to jam out to it. You can listen to it here-

3. I've fallen more in love with Wisconsin!

My mom and I just visited the sunflowers in Verona(a little bit next to Madison) and it was BEAUTIFUL-I LOVE SUNFLOWERS. They're so bright and colorful and you just can't be sad around them.

We both look kind of blind because of the sun. Welp.

Then on Monday, my family and I went to Devil's Lake which is like a 45 minute drive from Madison, and it was also really pretty there. It was at first a little chilly, but after hiking for an hour or so we warmed up and the sun came out which was a total blessing! It was so great being surrounded by nature. Ah, summer. We brought Po with us too, and he had a good time. He napped for a very long time after our hike.

Po, or Simba.

I feel like this summer has been a summer with fantastic weather, lots of time getting to know Madison better and the people in it, and some great memories. School starts September 6th for me, and I'm looking forward to it but also getting a little nervous about being at such a big campus and the transition from high school to college! I'll keep the blog more updated now(hopefully) as the summer wraps up.

Thanks for reading!!

Joy :)

Seven Tips to Conquer Finals!

Hello, friend!

I know that finals season is going to be upon many of us very soon, so I decided that I'd share with you guys some of the things that I do to study for high school finals. Okay, let's get staaaaarted!

1. Make a study schedule.
This has been one of THE most valuable things that I have ever done in my high school career. I find my bullet journal(which I can make a more in-depth blog post about later if you want), and then write  down the dates of all of my finals. Then I figure I should start studying for my more difficult finals in a week in advance, so that I don't feel stressed the weekend of. You can go more thorough with your schedule and plan out what exactly you're going to study on which days, or not, if you feel pretty confident at your pace. Reviewing over a longer period of time is way more useful than cramming! Your brain has a longer time to process and remember the information, and you will have a higher chance at succeeding! You will probably be surprised at how much time you actually have to study when you sort it all out. My finals schedule normally looks something like this:

2.  Review with groups AFTER you have studied by yourself.
The emphasis on AFTER can not be stressed enough! When I hear people talk about concepts that I haven't reviewed in a while, I get overwhelmed with all that I don't know, and this can be avoided! Studying at your own pace beforehand and then going over some practice problems, vocab words, etc with other people will be much more beneficial for you and your friend's time.

3. Study in a nice place that's not your room.
I definitely recommend going into a room that is quite boring and doesn't have a lot of things that can distract you(your phone lol 10/10 throw it away that week). OR, if you can, go out of the house and to  a library or Barnes and Noble and treat yourself to a coffee study date by yourself! Those atmospheres can be really perfect because you are stuck with nothing to do BUT study.

4. Put on classical music.
This is so weird, but it is actually so calming and you will just feel more intellectual listening to it. When I was studying for AP U.S. History, I would listen to classical music along with this "rainy mood," website playing in the background(it's basically the sound of rain, link here), and it helped me to block out all of the other noises in my house and focus more on what I was studying. Even if it doesn't work, it's great to be more well-rounded in your music taste!

5. Try to get a good night's sleep the week leading up to finals too!
I know that many people suggest getting a good nights sleep the night before your finals, but even while you're studying, if you get a good night of sleep you will be able to focus way better and take in information easier than if you are staying up every night to cram all the information in your head. The study schedule should help you to manage your time wisely if you follow it, so that you WON'T have to stay up all night cramming.

6. Use online resources.
There are so many great websites out there to help you do well at finals! One cool website that I've used multiple times before is quizlet, and online flash card website. You can make your own flashcrd sets, search for others' sets, and put the app on your phone so you can study on the go! Also, there are study bloggers (studyblrs for short) on tumblr.com and websites like that that will get you inspired to study and make cute notes and be organized. Here is one studyblr that I get a lot of great ideas from: Hermione 2.0,  Just make sure not to spend too much time on their blogs! ;)

7. Don't forget to reward yourself/Take breaks!1
Very important! Even if you call a friend up for an hour in between your studying, I find that it's super helpful and refreshing to do that instead of spending time on my phone for breaks. After I take AP tests even, I will most likely go out to eat with my friends and celebrate that the long haul of studying is finally over! Rejoice that you're done testing, and don't talk too much about the final with your friends. This can stress you out more than you know, and you can't go back and change the past. No regrets!! :)

Remember, finals aren't the end of the world as well. There's more to life after your final and school, even! You will do an amazing job.

Best of luck!
Joy :)

Moving: A Reflection

Hello, friend!

For this week's blog post, I'm just gonna talk about moving and why it's crazy and fun but overall a good thing.

(picture from @drawings_for_my_grandchildren in insta)

At my new school, I meet lots of new people every week who ask me the same questions about moving:

What's different about your new town from your old one?

Do you like Ann Arbor or Madison better?

How does your new school compare to your old one?

 My answers to these questions are, "Well, Madison is 2x the size of Ann Arbor, I like them both(and I can't really compare four years in Ann Arbor to 9 months in Madison), and my new high school is smaller in building size but bigger in population by adding 200 more students than my last school." These answers are short and sweet, and if I am feeling more comfortable with the person or we have enough time, I can go more in depth about what moving is really like. For my readers who have never moved, I will explain what my experiences with moving have been like, and if you have moved, maybe you will be able to compare them to mine and see if we have any similarities. :)

Moving is strange because you are simply stopping your life in one place that you have become familiar with, and beginning it in another. You have to start over with friends, school, street names, landmarks.. even the culture of the new place. For example: I had never heard of cheese curds before moving to Madison. They sound absolutely revolting, but are actually really delicious fried curdled milk. If you have a party in Wisco and didn't have cheese curds, was it really a party?.

There are also some lingering internal questions up in the air, about moving, like, "Who will I ACTUALLY keep in touch with when I move," and, "Is the new city that I'm moving to as great as the place I'm in now?". Moving is just as frightening as it is exciting, because you're going on an adventure outside of your comfort zone(in my opinion, the best stories come from these adventures).

Once you get to your new home, it just takes time to become familiar with it. All your furniture in your old house is in the new one and it seems awkward at first until you make memories in your house like celebrating Christmas, and Halloween. It also takes time to get to know the streets and you celebrate each new place that you can get to without using your GPS. You go to school and realize that there are so many people in the hallways that you see that you will never meet, because you'll only be at this school for a year before college. Navigating the new school can be difficult at first, because you were just in a school that you had known and could have navigated with your eyes closed and now are in a whole new school building where everything is foreign and you don't know how it flows.

Moving can be lonely at times because it is one thing to move away for college as a freshman when everyone else is moving with you, but it is another thing when you are the only one doing it. Even if you have you whole family by your side moving with you, YOU are the only one who can feel YOUR experiences.

It's exciting when you meet new people who resemble other friends you had in your old town, or completely new people who you are grateful for the opportunity to have met them. The biggest benefit of moving are the people. You will have a more diverse knowledge of human beings from different places and backgrounds, and then make some best lifelong friends who you wouldn't have ever met had you not moved. Your familiarity levels just drop a whole lot when you move and can't recognize people everywhere you go, though. Sometimes, it's surprising when you randomly think of people from your old town who you weren't even close friends with, and you wonder how they are doing and what ever happened to so-and-so.

Now that I've moved twice, and visited Ann Arbor after being in Madison for nine months, I can genuinely say that moving to Ann Arbor was a great thing. It was extremely hard at first, but during that trip back, I spent some time thinking about how much I'd learned and how many people I'd met while moving. The friendships that I made in only four years there have changed my life, and they help me to I realize that moving is a literal blessing and  that it is a huge chunk of my story that I am proud of. I definitely believe that it will be the same here in Madison, especially as I transition into college here over the next several months!

Being able to go back to Ann Arbor last month was amazing, and here are some pictures from when I hung out with my friends:

 

Maybe this blog post was long overdue, but I'm just glad that I could put this into words!
Thanks for reading!
Joy :)

Keep on Keepin' on

Hello friend!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently, ever since my last blog post I was like overwhelmed by how many people read it and loved it and I suddenly ran out of ideas of what to write about! I have been thinking a lot recently though. and now I have a lot more in store!! I still have a good week and two days until Spring break, and now begins the long wait as I check social media and become saddened by the fact that I'm not in Florida or some tropical paradise.

Encouragement from Michelle Tanner

Before spring break, I want to do a couple things here and there so that when break comes, I'll be able to just relax and spend some quality time with my family and friends! I'm planning on dyeing my hair, getting balayage done on it or highlights or lowlights or something- it should look something like this:

And then I also would like to begin "spring break cleaning" my room. I also want to study for the AP Physics test before spring break so that I won't have to cram later. I found that there are a lot of helpful websites for specific AP tests online, and The Physics Classroom for physics is great! For AP Calculus though, I'm just planning on redoing a ton of math problems to prepare. Sigh*. 

Speaking of more school(YAY..) I have decided that I am officially going to UW-Madison, it just seems weird saying that and thinking that I'll be in college this August. Before August, however, I still have a lot of very exciting summer plans!   I have begun making plans for vacations, camp counseling, visiting friends, and conferences and such!

But for now my schedule is just going to school, learning, coming home, doing all my evening to do list odds and ends, hanging out with the family or working, and then sleep.

I just have to keep on keepin' on! 

Joy :)

18 Things I've Learned

Hello, friend!

I thought I'd do a quick blog post about 18 things I've learned in my life since I turned 18 last week. It's so bittersweet! I feel like I'm leaving my childhood behind as I step into adulthood. Here goes!

1. God is real.
2. Music is impossible to live without. 
3. There is a difference between a need and a want.
4. I am actually quite small, but can make a big difference in the world if I just try to be my best self.
5. Try your hardest at academics, but not to the point that it takes over your life. 
6. Trying to fit in is a trap. Don’t do it unless you genuinely like whatever you’re doing. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
7. Passion is contagious.
8. Love your parents... and your siblings because family really is forever!
9. If you have the chance to do something new or even move, do it. 
10. When you make mistakes, admit to them asap. It will save you a lot of hassle. 
11. Friendshifts!!! My mom has told this to me ever since I was a little girl. Basically, it means that your friendships that you have now might not all exist later- they will shift. There is nothing wrong with that, but learning how to move on is also a good skill to learn! 
12. IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR PRIORITIES. Life goes by fast, as I said before, and you will make time for what you want to do if you really want to.
13. Judging a person how you judge a book of a cover, or from their Facebook, Instagram, etc, are bad ways of learning about them and who they really are.
14. If you are overwhelmed about something, pray about it. God will make more time for you, give you more love, and meet you more than halfway.
15. Working out is SO good for you!!! I find that when I am exercising consistently, I am all around more happy.
16. Having a dog actually is the best thing.
17. In the end, you have the power to change YOURSELF.
18. Life is short. Don't wait to do things and then have regrets later!

Thanks for listening to my list of 18 things! If you want me to elaborate on any of them, feel free to comment on which ones and I can make new posts in the future about some of these topics.

Have a great weekend! Xx

Joy :)

January Faves

Hello, friend!

January is now far behind us, and I thought it might be fun to share with you guys some of the things that I loved last month, like food, entertainment, etc! These blog posts are fun because then you get a lot of ideas about what to do differently or add to your routine in the next month.

Watch/Listen:

1. RKCB
RKCB is a small group that does indie/EDM type music, and I have been loving the songs, "Open Arms," "Daydreaming," and "Restless". They just do a great job at making music that is relaxing and nostalgic sounding, but at the same time extremely modern and catchy.

2. La La Land
Okay, this is a given because of my last blog post, but I have been loving the soundtrack. Enough said.

3. John Lusk- Increase Our Faith
This video series on Dtoday.tv is great! John Lusk made a series of 8 videos that contain great scriptures from the bible and fantastic stories about how God has strengthened his faith and thousands of others. He also gives you practicals that you can really think about for a while and discover more about yourself and your own faith as you watch the videos. 10/10 recommend!

Apps:

1. Glitche
This is one of the coolest photo effect apps that I've ever seen! It doesn't really have filters, it just has a different range of effects that can make your pictures look like there's been a glitch in them.
Here are some photos that I've taken and edited on Glitche:

2. SleepCycle
I honestly have loved this app for like 5 years(I've had it since it was free), and I do believe that it has helped me to get more sleep, especially in this past month! This app is basically a smart alarm clock that has a sound and vibration sensor to monitor your sleep. It can tell you when you were in the most deep sleep and the closest to awake, and wakes you up in a time gap between 10-90 minutes before the time that you set your alarm to. I normally have my alarm on 10 minutes gap during school days and 30 minutes(recommended) gap during the weekends. This is because if you are in a deep sleep, and you enter your "time gap," (the amount of optional time you set before your alarm), it will wait a little later until you are out of your deep sleep cycle and then set the alarm off. It records it all into a graph and then tell you how long you were in bed for, your sleep quality, average time sleeping for the month or week, etc. This app helps me to see my trends in my sleep, and the alarm sounds are also extremely calming to wake up to, versus a typical clock alarm.

Food:

1. Fresh berries
This might sound SOO boring and you might be thinking,"Joy what the heck everyone has fruit," but there's something special about having them in the winter that makes them so much more enjoyable(probably because it reminds me of summer). I normally take a bag of blueberries and bring them to my first hour class and eat them, and then after school snack on some blackberries!

2. Basil Pesto, Black Olive and Feta
YAY pesto!! It can literally go on anything. I have recently been making my own paninis at home with pesto, lettuce, cheese, ham, etc and then putting it into the toaster oven at home. It's DELISH! Also, I'll put just pesto and then some parmesan cheese and wallah-- super easy tasty lunch!

Fashion:

1. WithWaikei
I discovered her at the beginning of the month, and she is now my style inspiration. She has her own blog and makes every outfit look so effortless and put-together!! If you want to check her out, this is her blog. 

2. Olivia Jade
Aunt Becky from Full House's daughter inreallife. She's gorgeous(just like Aunt Becky/Lori Loughlin) and her minimalistic attitude about makeup and fashion is right up my alley!! She has a Youtube channel that is growing so quickly, she just has a really down to earth, non bragging personality which I think can be rare in the Youtube fashion community.

3. Morphe
This month I purchased a morphe eyeshadow palette, it's called Fall into Frost. IT'S AMAZING. It has 35 different colors, with one row being matte colors, and the rest cute glittery colors. It's only $22 which is QUITE cheap for 35 extremely pigmented eyeshadows. I feel like since I'm just experimenting with makeup, it's a great palette for a beginning like me! :) However, some beauty gurus like Jaclyn Hill and Zoella rave about this palette as well, and they're certainly not beginners. You can buy it at morphebrushes.com and if you go to Jaclyn Hill's Youtube channel I think she has a discount for the palettes as well.

As I end this blog post, I am going to end it with an idea that I want to focus on in February. I know that I've (more than once), felt incredibly uncomfortable around a person who has hardcore judged another person and assumed their whole life story after meeting them just one time. They say things that are downright rude and unneccessary, but most of all WRONG about the other person and based on zero facts. Recently I had one of these experiences, and I just wanted to focus on the fact that it's not right to judge other people and assume that you know everything about them after just one or even several interactions with them. "Judging a book by it's cover," can also be applied to a person. Obviously, it is very difficult to judge other people; we judge EVERYTHING every time that we're on social media, and this judge mental mindset leaks into our interactions with another. It's important to talk about some more serious topics like these, and I challenge you this month to be less judgmental of others and remember to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Happy February! xx
Joy :)

To Dream or not to Dream

Hello, friend!

Recently, I just watched La La Land and I was so intrigued by it, I thought I'd do a little ol' blog post about it. If you haven't watched it, I am going to let you know that there will be !!spoiler alerts!!  a little bit later on so don't continue to read if you're going to watch it soon or want to watch it.

The movie starts out with a classic scenario, Sebastian(Ryan Gosling) and Mia(Emma Stone), destined to be together even though it certainly was not love at first sight. They both have big dreams; Mia wants to be an actress and has been auditioning for seven years, while Sebastian wants to bring jazz back into the spotlight again.

They end up singing a song that has lyrics like, "what a (waste) of a lovely night," and then BAM they're together, both doing what they love and supporting each other through the ups and downs of life and then it kind of spirals downwards from there(their relationship)...

It seemed cruel that they had to choose between doing what they loved, and being with who they loved. The cinematography itself was beautiful, yet the storyline was tragic(for me). Mia eventually ends up marrying someone else and having a baby girl, but then RIGHT before the end there's this crazy montage of scenes that let you visualize what COULD have happened if Mia and Sebastian ended up together. That relates back to the movie's title, La La Land(also Los Angeles), as Mia and Sebastian could have ended up in this dream fantasy land, but didn't. I would argue that they did both have happy endings, as they achieved their dreams, and were accepting of the fact that they didn't end up together, but it wasn't what the audience really wanted. Mia and Sebastian smile before they go their separate ways, which ends the movie peacefully, at least.

This movie is realistic, in the fact that

you can't always get where you want to be with everyone you want by your side.

and I enjoyed that. It's simply about two people who have passion finding each other, and watching passionate people really inspires me to go after doing more of what I love.  The soundtrack is fantastic as well! It's obviously very different than all of the EDM, pop music I hear everyday. The instrumental music fits the scenes perfectly and captures your attention instantly.

Even though it is a "realistic" (but not really) movie, which can take on a negative connotation, it still has hope. That's what fuels Mia's and Sebastian's passions, and hope fuels us everyday as well. It inspires us to get out in the world and do things. There's this one song Mia sings for an audition towards the end of the movie and it's dedicated to the dreamers and the mess that they make. I realized that without dreams, or vision, nothing great would ever happen or change. IT'S SO CHEESY BUT IT'S TRUE.

Anyways, as you go throughout your busy life, don't forget that taking time to dream is important too.

xx
Joy :)

Hazy Days

Hello, friend!!

It's that time in January where the hype from all of the holidays and real life sinks back in. I have been busy studying for finals this week, and to be honest, I think that this has been least motivated I have been to study for finals all throughout my high school career. It's just hard to get myself to be motivated for my SECOND TO LAST finals of high school. Yes, second to last EVER finals, or technically the last winter finals that I'll ever have of boring high school. 

While I've been trying to study, it hasn't helped that it's been cold and gray outside. I just want to hop into bed and take a nap!(so much for my new year's resolutions). 

I would just like to say that whoever thought that it would be a good idea to release, "Moana," during the winter was probably already living in a tropical climate(thank u very little). Okay also, that soundtrack is my favorite thing at the moment.  I have been playing guitar a lot more recently and getting more and more excited about Spring. I've found that for myself, the little things that I do(like playing guitar for 20 minutes, reading a bit before I go to bed, etc) can make these hazy days seem a lot better and go by a lot quicker!! If you find yourself in a fog, my advice is to pay attention to the little things you're doing in your life and change them just a little bit to make things more interesting.

This is just a super short blog update on what I have and haven't been doing recently, and I'll be getting back into more weekly blogging after finals! :) 

xx

Joy :)