This is My Life | Why Does Monday Suck Though?

‘Mondays are fine, you hate your job’ Years ago I worked as a tech recruiter in the financial district. We had a team meeting each morning at 8am. Thus meaning I would leave the house each day at 7:30am, dressed in a business type suit, with my briefcase style bag, Lenovo Thinkpad computer (it was 2008), and head down to Bay Street.  Around the 1-year mark on a Monday just before lunch, my boss pulled me into his office and said ‘Case, what’s wrong, you don’t seem your happy self?’ It was true. I wasn’t feeling it.  I didn’t want to do this job anymore.  I thought about quitting but I didn’t have much money and being lay off and getting two weeks would be much better. So, I toughed it out and kept going in for those early mornings. At this point, since my boss brought it up, I came out and said ‘I don’t wanna work here anymore’. He told me he knew and it was ok. we talked it out and I cleaned out my desk after lunch. They gave me 2 weeks pay and I never looked back. If you have going into work on Monday morning, BE THE CHANGE. Do something about it. There are heaps of new jobs in new industries being created each and every single day. or, if you’re not ready to leave your job, spend the weekend working on your hobby so you’ve got something exciting to think about. Work to make THAT your job. I work pretty much every single day, often less on weekends but sometimes more! Doing something I love means it doesn’t always feel like work. I mean sometimes I don’t feel like it but most the time I do. We only live once so don’t spent weeks, months, years doing…

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TIFF | Nikki Beach Instabrunch @ The Spoke Club

On Saturday Lauren, Roxy, and I joined bloggers, influencers, and cool peeps alike for Instabrunch at Nikki Beach inside the Spoke Club. It was fun. We really should brunch more. We laughed our heads off over mimosas before the fashion show. I was so distracted by the girls I didn’t snap a photo of the actual brunch. Here’s one from another bruncher. When we were done I went home to sleep off Friday night’s Producer’s Ball that I attended with Sean & Brock at The Royal Ontario Museum the night before. A photo posted by isabelle (@chew.this) on Sep 12, 2015 at 11:14am PDT Today I’m off to the races at Woodbine with Dawn. This evening Sean and I are heading to Mongrel House on Queen for the Beeba Boys after party. Never a dull moment! Follow my adventures on Twitter & Snapchat! Hope weekend is good. 🙂 CASIE

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Events | Woodbine Ricoh Mile Rock N’ Racing Festival

Sunday marks a big weekend at Woodbine Racetrack with the $1 million Ricoh Woodbine Mile. Along with the races, there’s also a whole slew of live music, food trucks, and fun. If you’re just tuning in, I’ve partnered with Woodbine for the entire race season and went to a few races earlier this year including The Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks. Over the past couple months I’ve learned how to bet, had some good times, and actually won a few $$. I’m yet to visit the horses up close though. To be honest, I’m kinda scared. I’ve never ridden a horse, only elephants! This is Obviously, I’m betting on him this weekend based on my research reading the Woodbine Entertainment site. #OfftotheRaces Contest Details Snap a selfie at the racetrack Post to Twitter using the hashtag #OffToTheRaces Cross your fingers! By posting your selfie at the track with the #OfftotheRaces hashtag you’ve got a chance to win a $1000 Woodbine Racetrack gift card at the end of the horse racing season. Please remember, your selfie MUST be taken in front of the racetrack!   Ricoh #WoMile Notes for Friday, September 11, 2015 – http://t.co/TfFD59oPSg #WinAndYoureIn #BC15 pic.twitter.com/6Ch5rYN58p — Woodbine Racetrack (@WoodbineRacing) September 11, 2015 I’ll be sharing my experience from the track on Twitter, IG, and Snapchat, hashtag #WoMile. If you’re looking for info about the Ricoh Woodbine event see here and if you’re looking for general racing info, see here. If you can’t make this event, hopefully you can join me in another racing event before the season is over in November. LMK if you’ll be there! ?????? CASIE    

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This is My Life | My Name is Casie, Not Cassie

I made this video ages ago and it’s based on a true story. The true story of my entire life explaining that, no, my name isn’t Cassie, it’s Casie. Like Casey Casem, Casey Neistat, Casey and Finnegan, Casey at the Bat, Casey Affleck. It’s just spelled with an ‘ie’. I often meet people who know me from the Internet but have never met me in real life, calls with clients, agencies, all kinds of people and it happens ALL THE TIME, they call me Cassie. When it does, it’s an awkward situation for us both. So, in attempt to save us BOTH the embarrassment, the video.  Lucky for me, if you Google my name anywhere in the world, you’ll find me. So, maybe I’m the worlds most famous Casey spelled Casie? I dunno…I hope you find it funny. I didn’t know how else to explain it. In other news, my friend sat Untitled&Co named a skirt after me! I’m stopping by their store to shoot some items next week. Woot woot! ? ? ? CASIE      

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TIFF | Moët & Chandon Gala Green Room at Roy Thomson Hall

Yesterday was the busiest day I’ve had in a while! I attended two TIFF gifting lounges, had lunch in the Moët green room, put in a couple hours at the office, and spoke at the We Are Wearables event.  [symple_divider style=”solid” margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”10″] Today is the first day of TIFF and the city is alive with celebrities, streets are closed, and there’s pop-up parties all over the place. For the remainder of the festival, attending stars and special guests will relax and enjoy champagne in the Gala Green Room before they walk the red carpet to introduce a film. I got a sneak peek of the lounge and imagined myself walking red carpets. Stars you can expect to see here are Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, and my old BF Jake Gyllenhaal (I kid, I kid, we only met twice ?).  “As somebody who loves to celebrate Canadian talent I’m really excited that there are three major Canadian premieres at Roy Thomson Hall this year, from three major Canadian filmmakers: Deepa Mehta, who had a film in the original festival in 1976, she’s returning with Beeba Boys. And then there’s Atom Egoyan’s film Remember, and Paul Gross’ Hyena Road,” says Selby. “It’s always great to see Canadian films stand up to the rest of the world in terms of quality and entertainment.”  Mark Selby, venue liaison The lounge is pretty chill. Food & drinks. Champagne flowing. I can only imagine who’ll be sitting in the seat right where I was over the next 10 days. Found @natalie_deane in the green room at @roythomsonhall w/ @moetcanada! #TIFF15 #bts pic.twitter.com/4OzX6MWF7I — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) September 9, 2015   If you’re looking to do some star spotting during TIFF, the four block radius around the TIFF Bell Light Box on King Street is the place to do it. I’ll be…

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Fashion | Love My Hood + Bench Canada AW15

I was invited into Bench Canada this week to check out the latest collection for fall winter. Was pleasantly surprised to see more fashion vs. athletic wear and less things with a big logo. I’ve been doing things with them since  2011 so this was fun.  The girls in the store know me by now and I have a blast picking out clothes There is in fact a bench there. I think it’s new. And a selfie mirror. HIIIIII! I got all these things. Pants, shirt, sweater. I think they’ll be versatile pieces to mix with dressier items, layers, etc. Glasses are Polette.Phone case is Ted Baker. Necklace is by Shop for Jayu, remember I was in their look book a couple months ago? Oh heyyy, looks like somebody had a make out. Netflix? Chill? Right now if you spend over $150 or more you get 1 of 3 bags. Bench hooked me up with a nice gift card so when I got my total I didn’t feel too shabby shilling out. Gift for BF ✔️ A few years ago I hosted a room in the BHD Gifting Suites on MMVA weekend. It was fun. I hung out all day while celebs & media rolled through receiving gifts and hanging out. This post from 2011 has heaps of people you will recognize – Liz from Much/eTalk, Tyrone, Jesse Giddings, Jay Strut, Lissa Monet, Brock, Carly, Kardinal. Last September I had a shoot with Bench Canada + my fav fall items. Remember this? Maybe we’ll do that again. Wore my new pants yesterday and today was perfect weather to rock my new hoodie on the bike ride. To check out the latest from Bench, pop into your local store or visit bench.ca.  Thanks MacIntyre Communications for inviting me in! I’ll snap some more outfit photos this weekend 🙂 Beautiful morning for a cruise! #ComeTogether…

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Fashion | RUDSAK x Emily Haines + AW15

Last night I went to the opening of Rudsak’s new store in the Eaton Centre. The special guest was Emily Haines of Metric who is collaborating with them on a new collection. I was fan-girling inside when Emily Haines walked in because my sister and I to listened to her Live It Out album about 100,000,000 times. Bag Rudsak, Shirt dress Joe fresh Last year Rudsak (est. 1994) did a capsule collection for their 20th anniversary inspired but rock musicians in history. This is the first time collaborating with a musician. The partnership came together though Rise Branded Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Canada. “I’ve always been fascinated by the close relationship between fashion and music. Suppose it’s because personal style is such a powerful form of self-expression, it’s very much an art form in itself,” – Emily Haines Her twist on the classic cropped moto will be showcased at four Rudsak stores this month: Calgary’s Market Mall, the Toronto Eaton Centre, Carrefour Laval in Laval, Que., and on Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal. We were all given a little envelope with a key in it. ONE lucky person’s key would open a bird cage and inside was a customized Rudsak jacket. The jackets are amazing. I have 2 moto styles from the last few years I live in them as soon as the temp cools. Spent some time reading the new lookbook on the way home and there’s heaps of nice items. I’m quite keen to get one of these leather iPhone cases ASAP. In other news, THE APPLE ANNOUNCEMENT IS TODAY.  Starts at 10am PDT. Will update you with the look book after this week. Have TIFF things all day and am feeling pretty excited because I’ve got 3 events before 2pm and the Apple announcement in the middle. Must know all things about new gadgets.  ALSO, I’m speaking…

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TIFF | Film To Watch: Northern Soul

World-renowned photographer Elaine Constantine makes her feature directorial debut with this invigorating coming-of-age film about a working-class teen in 1974 Lancashire who finds liberation in the area’s burgeoning soul-music scene. [TIFF |IMDb] Last week I went to the premiere of Northern Soul a British Film directed by Elaine Constantine regular photographic contributor to Vogue, W, and The Face. She’s  also directed music videos and commercials, this is her first feature. It was good. I loved the music. Made me wanna get up and dance. I Shazammed a few songs during the movie tbh. It plays in Toronto at TIFF on Friday, September 18th and Saturday, September 19th. For tickets and info see here. The film offers an extensive look into the underground soul music scene in the UK during the 1970s, a scene that Constantine is personally familiar with. As a much-needed escape from the realities of working class teenage life, John (Elliot James Langridge) and Matt (Josh Whitehouse) fall in love with soul music with the intentions of travelling Stateside in search of rare vintage vinyl in the pursuit of becoming DJs. See all things TIFF related and my BEHIND THE SCENES look at gifting lounges and events by clicking TIFF in the sidebar ➡️ or click here. Starting tomorrow there’s heaps happening! IT’S ALL SO EXCITING! CASIE

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This is My Life | Aaaaand We’re Back! That’s a Wrap on Summer

Yes, I know ‘summer’ isn’t officially over but if you’ve been away from school or work, it’s pretty much over. The feeling is gone. Back to the routine. New notebooks, new clothes.  ✏️  Maybe a new attitude?!   This time of year is exciting, I love when seasons change. If at any point you feel meh, remember that Halloween and Christmas aren’t far away. The season of Netflix & Chill is right around the corner and it’s a great time to clean up your house, diet, friends, thoughts.  I was thinking I was on my game this morning but am an hour EARLY for something, so I really screwed up. Got Emily ready for school but didn’t get to go w/ Sean to drop her off.  Mixed up timing on something this AM. COOL START TO THE DAY! pic.twitter.com/CEoHaUTKo5 — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) September 8, 2015 The drive back from cottage country was bittersweet yesterday. We took the long way to avoid being stuck in traffic. The sun was beating down and the air was warm. Picked up some fruits and veg from a stand along the way.  Saw this sweet ride.  Spent some quality time on the new deck reading the September issue (Vogue of course!) and soaking up the sun. ☀️ We’ll be back a few times before the seasons actually change, the leaves are so beautiful up there.    If you’ve got the blues today, save this on your desktop or phone and daydream of cottage life….    Sending you good vibes for a great week. I know today can be a challenging one after a long beautiful summer. I’ve got a few giveaways coming up including a MASSIVE TIFF package w/ NKPR.  Share a smile with someone today, they just might need it. ? CASIE     …

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This is My Life | You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.

Helloooo! It’s Friday and the long weekend is almost here. I’m sitting in my fav office, the cottage side deck. Keri is here and we’re working away. The skies are blue, the air is warm, and it’s not tooo hot yet. Will jump in the lake when that time arrives!  Saw this quote today. I love Dr. Seuss quotes + poems. Another fav is Shel Silverstein and this week I picked up A Light In the Attic and and was pleasantly reminded of his work. Back when I was a teenager I wrote & published a book of poetry. I’ve written about it a few times over the years.  ? “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss   Yesterday I checked out a TIFF press screening and went on a massive bike ride. It was so hot but I loved it. My new Schwinn bike is incredibly conformable. It’s still avail at Canadian Tire if you’re in the market for a cruiser. I put a basket and flowers on the back and I smile every single time I look at it. Sending you sunshine from cottage country, CASIE ☀️☀️☀️

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Travel | 48 Hours in Calgary – Public Art Around Every Corner!

Had a chuckle watching this video shared by Tourism Calgary today. We were really busy and did heaps of things in 48 hours, there’s so many moments little moments I kinda forget. Good thing we had a camera crew following us around to capture them. See the full 2 min video here and check out all the fun things to do in Calgary at visitcalgary.com/calgary48/bloggers. [youtube id=”IXcGPddYkx0″]   Get your camera ready—there’s public art around every corner. @casiestewarthttps://t.co/Gm2hnsCjUk — Tourism Calgary (@TourismCalgary) September 2, 2015

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Diamonds

On the difficult days, when the world’s on your shoulders, remember that diamonds are made under the weight of mountains. – Beau Taplin // D i a m o n d s

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This is My Life | Hello, September

It’s September. Season’s change. Great time of year to make a fresh start. Clean the house. Clean your closet. Finally drop of your dry cleaning. Get rid of clothes and paper. Organize your mind. Clear your thoughts.     Last night I did a massive clean around the house and everything in it. It felt great waking up to a less cluttered space, less clothes, more room. Did a massive closet purge and nothing will stop me from dropping it off to a second hand today. I went for a power bike this morning before it gets too hot, y’know crank it up to the hardest gear and ride like a StairMaster. I’m sitting at Cafe Neon neat my house near the window, starting the day with a blog and workout is my fav way to stay motivated. Early August I set out to accomplish a few goals, a new blog layout and generally laying low. I spent most of the month in Muskoka at the cottage and gave my blog a total face lift. It had been years since this baby had a makeover and we all need to reinvent ourselves now and then. Sending you good vibes for a great month. Use it as motivation to check something off your list. I like to play a lil’ rewards-based game with myself so that I get things done and feel accomplished with the smallest tasks. Workout before coffee? Great start!  CASIE☀️

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