Things I Realized After A 48 Hour Digital Detox

Wearing H&M beanie, Forever 21 knitted black top, and American Eagle denim shorts

I turned 29 a few days ago and decided to go offline for 48 hours. You got that right, I was on digital detox on my birthday! :)))

The initial reaction I got from my friends are surprising. For somebody like me who breathe and live the online world (I work as a digital marketing exec), 10mins of not browsing my Instagram feels like forever.

But no, I actually connected to the world and realized that real conversation happens offline. Screw Whatsapp messages, FB posts which are always misinterpreted, and so on. Those who really care would pick up the phone and dial your number to say 'hey, you've been offline for a few hours now. everything ok with you?' or 'coffee tonight, we need to catch up' or even 'hey, happy birthday'. It's a very very simple gesture but honestly, these are the things that I treasure the most. In a city where everybody seems to be very busy, finding time and giving extra effort to communicate with people by personally meeting them only means that they really want to be included in your life.

There are many other things I was able to do when I was offline, to be honest. My laundry, fixing my things, creating more artworks, getting fit (by this I mean I get to walk in the neighbourhood), play with dogs in the park, take photographs, cook dishes I'm pretty good at, and reflect on how my year went. It's like I've been discovering myself again!

It's in the real world where you get to meet people and really talk to them. For the past months, here are some of the amazing people I met:

A photo posted by Joy© (@iamjhoysi) on Nov 19, 2015 at 10:09am PST

I met Doc Gelo, went to his book launch where he presented his second travel coffee table book called People, Places, Memories. See, the good thing about the Filipino community here in Dubai is that bloggers really support each other. The illustrations on his book was made by Ken and the layout by Yna. More photos can be seen on his post right here.

A photo posted by Joy© (@iamjhoysi) on Nov 3, 2015 at 9:12am PST

Was also able to meet The Travel Camel in a Tweet Meet at Al Ghurair Rayhaan where he shared a lot of things about social media. If you don't know anything about this person, you can check him out on Twitter. :)

A photo posted by Joy© (@iamjhoysi) on Oct 31, 2015 at 10:36am PDT

And of course, Ayang Cempaka! This lovely Indonesian Illustrator who still doesn't know how great all of her artworks are. She inspired me to pursue art.

There are many other people I've met who inspired me to do things and yes, I will be doing more meetups this year and start featuring people  and what they do. In the meantime, please please stay with me as I have lots of things coming on this blog which are pretty exciting.

See yah around Dubai! :)

Plunch Friday Brunch - Estrella's Skyline Lounge

Ola! You might have seen this on my Instagram feed and yes, this is the crowd of Melia Hotel's Plunch Friday Brunch at Estrella's Skyline Lounge. Got an invitation last October 16 when they launched their Friday Brunch at the rooftop which was attended by cool people over great food and drinks!

Classic Swing

Hola! I hope everyone's having a blast this weekend. I'm taking a rest for a few weeks of going out, geez I feel like I'm all over the city everyday! I'm a little lost for words for the week that has been but I am hopeful that things will get better in the next few days. Last week was really fun with the Instagrammers, that's for sure.

Preppin' Up For Winter

A few more days and we will soon wrap ourselves again on knits and sweat shirts. I've been preparing for this for a few weeks now - gathering all my long sleeves and knitted tops I kept in my luggage because I easily get the chills even for the slightest wind. It's easy to find winter clothes here in Dubai but to be completely honest, it's hard to find an ensemble that fits my size, ha!

Dubai Instameet - #MyShoesMyCity

A long overdue post from an Instameet I attended last September 5. How I got into this event is through Instagram - how social media works here in Dubai is that, you just need to make use of the proper hashtags and viola, you'd be able to find the community you are looking for!

OOTD - White Spaces

H&M Dress and Hair Accessories | Forever 21 Necklace | River Island Wedges 

I'm trying to keep my promise so hello! I guess I already found "my studio" (inserts evil laugh here). My room mates and I discovered it last week when I was looking for a nice spot to take my outfit photos for a collaboration with a clothing brand. I'm excited for it as well!

Black and White and InstaMeets

Ola aloha! As much as I hate posting OOTDs, I promised myself to regularly update this page with outfit posts as much as I can. The little miss was out yesterday for an InstaMeet event which was attended by several IG enthusiasts in Dubai, it was super fun!

Dune London - Autumn and Winter 2015 Preview

And little miss Joy C. is back to covering shoe collection previews! It's definitely not a secret that shoes are my guilty pleasures. Summer is almost coming to an end and when you are in Dubai, you'll notice that the season is changing with the sudden appearance of dundundundun ~ sandstorm.

Philippines Day 7 - Charlie

I'm almost done with my instalment post of the vacation I recently had and I'm pretty sure you will recognise Keij Ejercito on the photo above if you're a reader from the Philippines. One of her post about getting DELAYED in Law School went viral on social media a few weeks back, we are teasing her for being a social media queen. 

Philippines Day 3 - My Cousin's Wedding

You wouldn't believe me if I say I've been extremely busy since I came back from my vacation! Hello readers, I'm updating this page and this will be one of my instalment post of the recent vacation I had in the Philippines.

Philippines Day 2 - Friends at the Green Field District

Ohai! This is a continuation of my very short stay in the Philippines. As I have written in my previous post, the first day was spent with my family. I only spent a couple of days in my home country for my cousin's wedding which I have attended on the third day.

Philippines Day 1 - Home

Woohoo! I flew out of UAE for the second time which means I'm ticking off 2 out of 3 on my list #5 from my bucket list this year!

Lifestyle - Call It A Party

Ohai from Dubai!

You know the season in between winter and summer? We call it spring and this is my favorite time of the year in the UAE - the weather is so nice that all I want to do is go out and have some fun under the sun.

Black and White

I have often wondered if I should go pursue a fashion blog. I mean I'm in Dubai, the luxe and glam of fashion and bling bling is quite a thing. Plus, I got a lot of stash from the bargains I got from DSF. 

Hmmm. Still considering, maybe write something about spend or save and where to get fashion bargains? Maybe. 

About the outfit today, kinda casual but you can never go wrong if you have a black blazer on top. And on days in between winter and summer, it's perfectly fine to dress up with something comfy like a light dress paired with comfy shoes.

PS: Mobile blogging is fun, have just recently joined the cult of "iposers" (iphone users). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them. I just find technology boring sometimes. But who am I to disagree, these uberly expensive mobile phones allow me to get connected to my social networks. So yeah, thank you technology for enlightening me. Lol.

DXB Updates

Hi from Dubai!

Online life is back and I'm thankful for the spare time I have as I get to write a few words here. I'm not really that good in putting words together but the help I am getting from awesome people are more than enough to say that there is a possibility for me to become a better and competent writer someday. Who knows.

A Lawless Love - Illustration

Jing aka 'Keij Ejercito' is taking law at San Beda College. It amazes me how she comes up with cheesy posts about LOVE and LAW while completing her studies in a law school. Got this idea adopted from her post called "A Lawless Love: Para sa mga Law Students na Nagmahal, Nagmamahal at Magmamahal Pa Lang". Enjoy!