CASIE STEWART
THIS IS MY LIFE • BLOG EST. 2005
Contests

You’re a winner! (thought it was spam too but it’s not)

You’re a winner! (thought it was spam too but it’s not)

I really AM one of the top blogs in Canada! First of all, no, I’m not going to be on Canada’s Next Top Blogger OR The Canadian Bachelor. I rocked up third next to a mom and a gay in the Canadian Blog Awards category of Best Life Weblog (weblog is original name of blog). Next year, I’ll be a lesbian with a child and TAKE FRST PLACE.  Seriously though, I have lots planned for 2012 in content and design and I’m gunning for first. The Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards saw 461 nominations across 37 categories. Their 46 volunteer jurors used  ten criteria in content & design to judge each of the 461 weblogs in the first round and approximately 175 in the second round to arrive at the winners. Best Life Weblog/Mode de vie First: No Ordinary Rollercoaster Second: The Kitchen Magpie Third: Casie Stewart: This Is My Life To celebrate here’s the Charlie Sheen ‘winning’ commercial I was in for the Comedy Network last year. I HAVE ONLY ONE GEAR, GO.

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Travel

INSPIRATION: TRAVEL

INSPIRATION: TRAVEL

It’s contagious. I peeled myself out of bed today after a super deep sleep. Was greeted by a delicious smooth in the fridge, thanks Barbie. The sun is shining and sparkling like glitter on the lake. Turned off the news for the aquarium channel, the fish tell less depressing stories. I want to travel. I know I just got back and I know I’m going places but I just can not seem to sit still. I caught a travel bug and it’s never going away. Had dinner with a friend last night who is off to England then Copenhagen and will be there for fashion week. (One day I will too.) She told me that she will be staying in a hotel called the Holiday Inn hotel in Kensington and it sounds amazing. She can’t wait to visit England and she’s equally excited about exploring Copenhagen too. I’m so jealous! We talked about how determined I am/we are to break out of Canada and move to a bigger ‘pond’. Canada is a wonderful country but I really want to do more international travel writing, working, and exploring. These photos are from a shoot I did with fashion photog & friend Lynsie Roberts when I signed the deal to go to New Zealand for Fashion Week in 2010. I was incredibly excited for my first international blogging adventure. I was radiant. Three places I REALLY want to go in 2012 year are: Cape Town, South Africa London, England Toyko, Japan If you have any thoughts, ideas or connections to make this dream a reality. LET ME KNOW. Send a note to [email protected] or leave a comment. I’m determined to take on the world! Life moves pretty fast sometimes, if you don’t look around, you’ll miss it” This commercial is great. Enjoy!…

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Travel

Things to do before you ___.

Things to do before you ___.

I can kinda speak French, but I’m much better after some wine. I took French from grade four until I graduated from high school. It’s a share they spent so much time on conjugating verbs when we could have been talking about how to get around France or hold a conversation. Would really come in handy now!  I’m planning a trip with jaunt.ca in the next few weeks where I’ll be spending a few days in old Quebec where it is predominantly French speaking. I downloaded some courses from iTunesU and a French language app to get more familiar. I’ve always been inspired by my friend Aga who could speak about seven languages. I witnessed her at dinner parties and events carrying on conversations in a variety of languages, at once. It was amazing! I want that ability! I’m determined to work on my Spanish & French this year. Next time I go surfing in Costa Rica I wanna be able to hold my own. There’s only one way to get there… Source: Uploaded by user via Julie on Pinterest

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LIFE

I WORK OUT

I WORK OUT

Carla said we’d be sore after yesterday’s workout and she was right. She pushed me harder than ever before this time. “I wanna see more resistance from you”, that means next day burning. My muscles feel good right now, as in, I can really feel them. I love Jukari because it comes from Cirque du Soleil and combines resistance training with a dance like acrobatics. King West Fitness is a beautiful gym and I wish I went more often. I need a new bike. Going to the gym is not (really) part of my routein but I’m attempting to make it one. This time last year I was going to The Motion Room once a week. I got so in shape. I turn 30 in May and I want to be the most fit of my life, ever. Hot tub soak post workout yesterday was lovely. I’m going to hot yoga later today w/ Barbie.. I’m up for trying out any workout right now. I’m quite keen to do a martial arts workout. Y’know, a few rounds on the heavy bag. I have my green belt in Olympic style (WTF) Tae Kwon Do, did you know that? Mum is second dan black belt! I wonder what other workouts would be fun? Aerial silks were pretty rad. Next month I start ballet on Wednesday’s at The National. I can’t wait to be back in ballet! I’m catching up on season two of United States of Tara right now. We got US Netflix on my XBOX by changing the IP. Came across this 101 Photography tips just now, check it out, 101 of them from Improve Photography. HAVE A WONDERFUL SUNDAY 🙂

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Writing

THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN’T DO

THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN’T DO

I want a balloon tree. I always have. The Balloon Tree by Phoebie Gilman was one of my favourite books as a child. We used to read heaps of books. Each summer Jenie and I would join the Summer Reading Club at the Preston library. I spent so much of my childhood at that place. I was either there, the dance studio, or gymnastics. I’m pretty sure I had my first reading by Robert Munsch at the Preston library.  I remember meeting Phoebie Gilman and having my photo taken with her. Authors were my celebrities back then.  When I wrote ‘Jeans: an anthology of poetry & prose‘ in 1996 we had our book launch there. We sold over 80 books that night and one dollar from the sale of each went to the Women’s Crisis Shelter.  It was a magical night. I’l never forget how good it feels sitting there signing your own book for a lineup of people. I’ve been (slowly) working on another  book. Write more, read more, that’s what I keep telling myself. I’m a big believer in the power of positive thought and a few things I’ve been thinking about lately are libraries and speaking. Not necessarily together but in general. The crazy thing is, I got an email from Marketing Magazine asking me to speak at an event next month and guess where it is? A LIBRARY. My favourite library in the city, Toronto Reference. We’re talking youth culture and the founder of VICE Magazine will also be there talking about The Creators Project between Vice & Intel. I’ve been a Vice fan for about ten years and have a diploma in marketing so this is all quite exciting. THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN’T DO. The Creators Project is really cool and well, CREATIVE. “I have…

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Fashion

LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE

LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE

Here’s a little sneak peek into the dresse we’ll be wearing at Love a Heart on February 9th. The event is a date auction so if you have ever wanted to go on a date with me (or any of the other boys & girls) this is your chance! All proceeds go to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Last year’s event was a HUGE success! Rent Frock Repeat is a Canadian owned and operated business, based in Toronto. The concept is fairly simple – rent a designer dress, wear it, send it back. Erin Bury has talked about it before so I was super keen to give it a go. The babes behind RfR, Lisa & Kristy set up a pop up shop for us with dressing tents complete with wine, treats & cupcakes.   I picked a gorgeous red silk number by Adam. So fitting for Valentines Day <3 There were so many really beautiful dresses to pick from. I love the concept of renting a dress, it’ll be so handy come Film Fest! Raymbo & I have the devil angel thing happening here mooohahah. Who is which?                 Love this dress for another time. Love the back and how it shows tattoo. Raymi is going to be a beautiful blonde baby Björk. For more info on Love a Heart see FB. Thanks Shannon for setting this up and the lovely ladies at Rent Frock Repeat for offering  a 10% discount on rentals with code LOVEAHEART. Go rent a dress for your Valentines date or something special and 10% will go to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Love ya xo CASIE

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LIFE

LET GO

LET GO

This drawing is by Valfre. I’ve never met her but I know her through her blog/twitter. She’s one of my favourites. One of my really good mates in New Zealand is blowing up the charts there and in Australia. This is new track. Who Gives A Damn ….. by imagine this

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Advertising

(I’VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE

(I’VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE

Last night at the SAY Media party for DX3 I had the time of my life playing with a parachute. It was so fun/cool/awesome, seriously. The band man is Rich Aucoin and here are his deets so you can follow him. Canadian and good looking too.   I was shaking the parachute with about a hundred other people. A bunch were in the middle and running from side to side as the parachute went up and down dancing the air. Charlotte from SAY emailed this photo to me after the show and I’m sure there are heaps more in cameras around. Right when photo was taken I was in this totally awesome childlike state where I swear I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much fun. It was absolute bliss. I’ve said it before and will again, the SAY Media team really know how to throw a party. In conversations last night I learned that lots of people were learning about the company for the first time. This is pretty rad for me because I’ve been working with them for almost a year now. I’m their Canadian ‘poster child’ for social & one of their passionate people building culture. I’ve mentioned them a few times on blog before. I think lots of old friends were surprised to see my face on their signage. “Hey look, that’s you“ I fell in love with how SAY Media really ‘get it’ the first time I received an email and checked out their site. They work with Passionate Voices connecting us with brands and stuff we like. Last year when I was an Android user, I did a national campaign with HTC. SAY is the first ever real advertising I hooked up with too. Those fancy video ads in my sidebar, that’s them. I’m heading to DX3 for day two today and will probably…

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LIFE

Walking wireless hotspot. It’s go time

Walking wireless hotspot. It’s go time
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You can’t fly with the eagles if you’re with the seagulls.

You can’t fly with the eagles if you’re with the seagulls.

Title is advice from Mum. She said that to me a few years ago when I was trying to sort out where I wanted to go with my life. I always thought I wanted to work in fashion, then I did. After that, I thought wearing a suit, working long hours and being part of the downtown financial district was my dream. I stayed in that job as an IT recruiter having meetings at 8am (yeah omg, it was hell) and 2pm every single day. I hated it so much (job not the people!). One day my boss said “Casie, it doesn’t seem like you are having fun?” I replied “No, I’m not having fun at all. I badly want to quit but I need two weeks pay”. I left at the end of that very day, cheque on the way and started a job at Toronto’s most famous Kiwi restaurant shortly after. I knew the owner (HI MARTIN) and that because of my Kiwi citizenship I had a bloody good chance of getting hired. Working in the bar gave me the freedom (and same money TBH) to do what I wanted with my time. It was stress free and I loved chatting to the regulars and new customers. I worked at Hemingways for a few months and met some really rad people, it was like a family there. One of my recruiter friends sent me on an interview and moved into a job in IT. I worked for an online casino (it was cool, we had catered lunches) for two years and despite almost getting fired for doing it, worked on my blog A LOT. If my old boss reads this he will totally be shaking his head. Thanks Mike! When they caught on to all my blog activity, I decided…

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LIFE

Good things come to those who…

GO OUT AND GET THEM.

Good things come to those who… <P> GO OUT AND GET THEM.

Watched State of The Union last night (sounds like a movie, no?). Obama is a great speaker. I find him really charming. I used to blog about him heaps before he was President. Love this photo essay from his college years in Time Magazine. Click image to see it all again. When I was growing up I used to go to dance competitions in New York and Myrtle Beach fairly often. I was in love/obsessed with the American flag.  I had jackets, shorts, shirts, hats GALORE. Jenie and I had matching full sequin flag hats. Snapped this photo at the Boston airport the other day. I love Instagram. In other American news my young Canadian friend from the west coast, Alex Kazemi recently interviewed LANA DEL REY. I love her. Check out his interview here. I’ve been on a bit of an optimism kick this week. I’m working on some exciting projects with awesome people that I will tell you about in DUE TIME. Reminded myself of Optimism Girl last night. Did you know she’s over 16 now? Crazy. This will perk you up no matter what kind of day you’re having. This morning I have a car service taking Sammy & I to Pearson Airport for a luncheon with HP & Air Canada. No, not leaving the country yet though! Will be at the DX3 conference later in the afternoon. Getting really stoked for Austin & SXSW in March. Started prep with my panel mates and loving our ‘Narcism Notes’. Chuckle to myself there haha 😉 Couple goodies from friends for the day:  Album download of Toronto band The Slakadeliqs feat. babe Justin Nozuka (free!) Win a ticket to the CONDO SHOW OR a trip to BAHAMAS from condooutlet.com (on FB) Did you know MIT is starting to offer FREE classes? Oh…

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Writing

What time is it?

What time is it?

Time to get up. Time to get off the couch. Time to pick up the phone and make that call. Time to start living. Time to start loving. Time to make that list of things you want to accomplish and not let anything get in the way. Time to let go. Time to take abreak. Time to make a move. Time to sit back and relax. Time to do something. Time to break free. You’ve  got the whole world in your hands.

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LIFE

Stewart. Brand.

Stewart. Brand.

I’ve very quickly developed an addiction to Pinterest. I got lost in there last night pinning all kinds of things I love, style, travel and places I’ve been. It’s amazingly easy to browse and stumble through all kinds of pretty, smart, inspiring and wonderful things. Mine looks like this so far: I came across this panting and it automatically caught my eye because it’s by Stewart Brand. Do you know Stewart Brand? How about a ‘Stewart’ brand like Martha, Rod, Jon, Kristen, or French? A few of my fav are Lloyd, Judy, Jenie, Donald, Matthew, and Lisa (hi family!). Source: butdoesitfloat.com via Alex on Pinterest First thing after finding the painting was google ‘stewart brand’ and it turns out he is QUITE the FUTURIST who ” has been a critical thinker and innovator who helped lay the foundations of our internetworked world” according to TED. I stayed up way to late listening him talk.  TED really sucks you in! My brain must have been hungry. I watched him talk then somehow got into Stewart history and patterns and learned about the different Stewart tartans. I always knew the red one but they’re all quite pretty. I love the internet because I learn and consume so many things in a day. Think back to when you had to go to a library or an expert for answers?! Some of you might not even remember. We are the digital generation. WHAT DID/WILL YOU LEARN TODAY? Now, I’m going to dress up in some type of amazing outfit like this and do work all day that relates to my blog and life. HAVE AN AWESOMER DAY.

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Writing

If not now, when?

If not now, when?

Ask yourself this every single day.  I’m sitting in the Boston Logan Airport lounge listening to music and soaking up as much free wifi as a girl can. I got to thinking about life and goals and what I dreamed of doing and where I’m going. Not like, back to Toronto but where am I really going? I think January is a time everyone does that introspective look into their life and wonders, what am I doing? It’s probably also why people get sad and maybe have breakdowns! Last year in January I considered giving up blogging and getting a 9-5 job. I’m really glad I didn’t.  The last two years have been filled with all kinds of things I only ever dreamed would happen. How did I get to do them? How did I make them a reality? I feel inspired to tell you today. When I was in Australia at Uni (2004 & pre-blog) I often felt homesick. I missed my sister terribly and everyone from home seemed light years away. One fine day I went to a bookstore in search of  ‘something’ that would give me guidance or direction or make me feel better.  I picked up The Power of Kabbalah by Yehuda Berg, a book that claimed to be ‘technology for the soul’. I went home and read it cover to cover in one sitting, staying up all night, moving from couch to bed to floor until it was finished.  I was not raised religious and this book wasn’t about that at all. It was about the power of the universe and creating the life you wanted.  It was spiritual wisdom. It helped me realize that I could have everything I ever wanted. It helped me understand that I already did. As I embarked on this journey of self-discovery (I…

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