Happy Birthday! The Drake Hotel Turns 10!

Last Thursday The Drake Hotel celebrated it’s 10th birthday. I started the night on the roof sipping cocktails and catching up with some of the girls I used to work with at Community. BTW the lobster poutine and popcorn shrimp are both SO GOOD. Before heading home I joined in the birthday celebration fun that filled the building. Here’s a sneak peek into the festivities! All photos by Becca Lemire for She Does the City. See the full set here. Me & Tanvi Fonzy rocked the stage w/ his new band   There was a huge cake piñata Love his makeup tho Can you believe I’ve been GOING to The Drake Hotel for almost ten years!? It’s always a place you can go for a good time to start your night or finish it off. I’ve certainly closed down the place a few times. It’s a spot I always run into a familiar face or make new friends. Happy Birthday Drake Hotel, you’ll always have a special place in my heart. <3 CASIE

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Movember: #MOGASM Party at The Drake Hotel on Friday

Ladies & gents! #MOgasmTO is back for the third hairy year. Some friends and I launched this at The Gladstone Hotel back in 2010. This year we’ve got a bunch of fun things planned including Mark Shannon’s Photo Booth, musical guests, Speedboats & Big Explosions AND the launch of the official MoSistasTO 2013 Calendar. Caldar was shot by Kevin Luc and styled by Alison from King & Fox. Last year I won a nailing contest (with hammer) and lost an arm wrestle. There are awards for best moustache, auctions, and drinks. Come out Friday to THE DRAKE HOTEL after 8pm, have a drink, get a calendar. It will be great to see you. Everybody and their MO will be there 🙂 Make a donation to me or my team HERE. The link to order a calendar will be live SOON. <3 CASIE

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TIFF Thursday @ The Drake Hotel: Overdrive Party

What are you doing Thursday night? Not on the VIP list and/or over whelmed by Facebook invites to all kinds of things you aren’t sure will be cool or not? Don’t worry. You are not alone. There is a zillion bajillion things happening on Thursday, September 6th. My friends at The Drake Hotel & RockIt Promo have an awesome party that brings together glam girls and the bad boys of cinema. Party starts at @9PM and is sponsored by Stella Artois + Sailor Jerry. Performances over the night include The Darcys, Still Life Still , and Dinosaur Bones. The Sailor Jerry mobile tattoo shop (so cool) will be out front doing free tattoos and hurrrrrcuts. My goal is to make it there, avoid the line, and a little more ink. My half sleeve arms is all traditional theme so this is PERFECT. The Drake will for sure have a line but it will be worth waiting based on my (parting) experience. There will be a slew of ‘Drake Overdrive’ Cocktails with some named after  Steve McQueen, James Dean, and Dennis Hopper. I named my Macbook James Dean. So Sexy. Once I took a great photo of Brock Mclaughlin where he looked JUST like Jakes Dean. Here we go… that was a fun night. Having a blog is a like your very own reference library! If you are looking for something else… My homies over at BestFan has partnered up with A&R Report for their first ever music Showcase at Hard Rock, Yonge-Dundas. It’s all Toronto artists and proceeds from the evening will be going towards Musicounts, Canada’s music education charity. Deets below or see the full list of performers here. Don’t forget Fashion’s Night Out too. Or the Glitz & Glamour TIFF Gala for Canadian Breast Cancer at Arcadian Court. I hope you make it out to something RAD. This is not the night you wanna be on the couch. Happy TIFF…

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This is My Life | Brunch, Preloved 20th Anniversary, Drake

Oh hello! Started the day with a preview of Toronto designer/store Preloved at the Drake Hotel with April. We hung out and had a long brunch in the cafe downstairs after.  It won’t be long till these warm days are gone so savouring every last moment possible. It’s quite warm today!  Have gotten a few compliments on this dress the last couple weeks, it’s from Forever 21! Crystal pendant (you can hardly see) was hand made by my friend Jodi (NeNeLu Handmade), I’ve been wearing it so much lately. Preloved used to have a shop across from Trinity Bellwoods park on Queen Street, this year they celebrate 20 years. Clothes are all upcycled with vintage material along with new fabric. They’ve also done collabs w/ Roots, Holt Renfrew, The Bay. There were lots of cozy items there today. I love wool sweaters, warm mits, super long socks. Shop the 20th Anniversary collection here. Have you heard this yet? In other news, say hi to my mum and dad! I went to my hometown yesterday for a funeral, but on a positive note, got to hang out with these two awesome people and more. We were about to go our seperate ways when I had to stop-drop-selfie. They’re getting pretty good at it after all these years. LOVE YOU MUM AND DAD. Hope you’ve having a great week. Get some of that sunshine on your face! CASIE ☀️??✌️

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New Drake Video: Started From The Bottom

I’m a fan of Drake and some friends of mine worked on this video. It’s good. It came out tonight during the Grammys after Drake won the Grammy for Best Rap Album. HOMETOWN TORONTO BABY! Come on JT the cheesy old film sepia effect, this is 2013 baby #startedfromthebottom vimeo.com/59303531 fb.me/2M72IcTCS — Harv Glazer (@harv666) February 11, 2013

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Day 291: Wild Woman, Onesie, Winter Wear

I’ve had this suit from The Drake General Store for ages and finally decided to wear it. ? A onesie makes great winter wear, cute, cozy, and warm. FYI The Drake has a great habanero hot sauce you can order online or with your takeout order. Highly recommend! I like to add it to pasta, stir-fry, or just about anything deep-fried. In other news, my latest round of scrunchies are white organza! The fabric is from a sheer curtain I ordered on Amazon ages ago but was the wrong size. This one turned out so good, she pretty! I can’t wait to gift a few of these to friends as a surprise by mail. I’m quite behind on sending out anything Christmas-related (as planned) but maybe Valentine’s Day is a better time to send love anyway. ? This was the moon last night over the cottage, the last full moon of 2020. I stared at its beauty, then closed my eyes, and took a few deep breaths. Before going inside, I made six wishes and gave a howl like the wild woman I am, as a way to say: ‘BYE 2020 I AM READY FOR NEW!’

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Day 267: Take a Long Walk in The Sun

After a day of rest, I was ready to go out into the world. I woke up early, got dressed, and ventured out for a coffee. I chatted with a friend for an hour before picking up a few groceries. It was so nice and sunny out! Love a good long walk in the sun. When I got back home I put on (yes, another!) Christmas movie and made falafels, an Israeli-inspired salad, and some delicious orzo in the Instant Pot. I made plans to go on a photo walk with April and walked down to Queen & Lansdowne. We hung out in the sun, taking photos in the alleys. It was so lovely! We walked west to the Bellwoods from Parkdale, I picked a bouquet of eucalyptus from Crown Flora and a vegan cookie from The Drake. We sat in the park for a little bit, taking in the sun, before heading back home. It’s so nice to be back in the city, walking the streets, and having distance hangs with friends. Gotta appreciate all the little things!

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Day 244: Friday the 13th, The Sequel 2020

The last Friday the 13th was in March this year, it was the last time I was out in the world pre-pandemic. Woke up early and went to the gym, not knowing it would be my last time there, ever. For lunch, I met some friends at the Drake Commissary we dined inside. On my way home, I picked up a few beers from Henderson Brewery, mask free. The term ‘social distancing’ was all over the news the following day and Canadians were told to stay home. Sean and I watched Contagion and had no idea we’d still be in this global pandemic, 200+ days later. That week, I’d done a talk at my old high school to the graduating students, had a hair appointment, photoshoot, and wrote about going to the gym. On Monday, we made a decision to come to the cottage and packed up everything to stay up in the woods for a ‘little while’. It’s crazy to think back to the start of this pandemic and where we are today. Cases are on the rise and the modeling shows we might see 5,000+ cases a day come December. We could go into full lockdown mode again. I’m glad to have kept this diary, even for my own memory. I’d have no idea how I passed the days if I hadn’t documented what I’ve been doing or how I’m feeling. Who knows how long we’ll be in pandemic times but one day I’ll look back at this and how it changed the world. Maybe I’ll make it into a book! Sending love form the woods, hang in there, we’ll get through this. Here’s my first pandemic diary post back in March 2020:

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Follow the Pot of Gold ?⚱️?

Good morning and happy Monday! Spent the weekend at the cottage wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, cooking, reading, and relaxing. The cool Autumn air is a nice change from hot summer. We made a fire at night but it was still warm enough in the day to take Sean out wakeboarding. The thing I love about Monday is not knowing what the week will bring aside from the things already in my calendar. I’m looking forward to being back to the office after a whirlwind month with Toronto Fashion Week, TIFF, and a trip to Mexico. Scroll down for details about a panel I’m moderating Wednesday on influencers + cannabis, an interview I did for Lift & Co. Magazine, and a great feature on Biome Grow, the company that acquired Weed VR. High Profile w/ Lift & Co. A couple weeks ago I sat down at a cafe near our place for a chat with Kate Robinson for Lift & Co. Magazine. We were discussing coming out the ‘cannabis closet’ and my story. Read my story on Lift & Co here or click on the image below! Cannabis in An Influencer Age This week I’m moderating a panel for influencers and agency people about working together in the new cannabis industry. The panel will feature a few experts and you’ll learn creative ways to partner with brands, produce content, and work within the regulations. Before you shop marijuana seeds online in the hope that you can start your own marijuana operation, it may be worth finding out more about the regulations involved with the ever-growing industry. Once you’ve done that, then it’s probably smart to start researching different strains that you might want to grow, such as this gdp strain from Royalseedbank. For some people, there is no fun in…

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Crawl into your creative cave and come out a butterfly.

I was so looking forward to being in the city this weekend. We’ve been away for almost every weekend since March! I got a few things done around the house and took some good time to fully relax. It feels great! We all need days like this. After watching The Wedding on Saturday at Windsor Arms, I came home, changed into sweatpants, sat on my bed, opened my computer, and set up my iPad. It was the perfect day to chill. Tbh, I love sitting at home, quietly, on the couch or in my bed. I’ve got a great little setup using a small table I made last year. I originally found it on Etsy but was crazy expensive on Etsy so I made it myself! It’s great it for sitting or working in bed, and as a footrest at the desk. For my mouse, I use a book or a marble board I got at The Drake General Store. Another thing I use in my ‘bed office’ is this iPad holder from Umbra. I shared it in a gift guide video a couple years back (video). It’s $20 at Umbra but sold out and $35 on Amazon. ? The rest of the weekend I watched  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Video (good show!) and caught up on the Y&R. Drove to the beach with Sean. Hung out with some friends in Trinity Bellwoods. Did some fireworks, played with sparklers. It was the perfect city weekend! This week I’m in Vancouver with #TeamTelus.  I can’t wait! We’ve got 2 days of activities with the Canada-wide Telus influencer gang. Most of us are staying at the beautiful Westin Bayshore, the view looks amazing. My flight is super early so I arrive with plenty of time to explore before we all meet up for dinner. As usual, I’m leaving packing to…

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