I shot this in an alley with my tripod (aka Julia), notice how one photo doesn’t even have a doorknob or leaves. Wtf? I feel into the damn IG trap! I edited my photo for Instagram to take out imperfections but like why?
Can you spot all the differences???
It’s easy to get looped into thinking you need to edit to make things seem more perfect for the gram but it’s really not necessary. What is perfect anyways?Perfect is honest, authentic, being true to yourself.
I love posting Stories bc they’re real and raw. Sharing that side of my life and being real has been my MO for the past 15 years of my internet life and it’s worked out a-ok.
Don’t feel you need to put internet gloss over those human parts of your life, people want to see THE REAL YOU.
Today we’re going to the cottage for 5 days. I can’t wait to make a fire, read my book, make elaborate meals, and sous vide some weed to make cannabis oil. 😁✌🏼🍃 There’s also a full moon on Sunday! 💎🌚 See here for some rituals I like to do.
Feeling excited today! The sun is out, it’s layering weather, and I’m expecting mail. I’m really looking forward to the weekend, Sean and I are going to the cottage for five days, just the two of us. I’m planning to cook, read books, have a fire, relax, it’s going to be so great.,
The photo above is my outfit from the Booby Ball ‘Under The Sea’ event on Friday night. Thank you Ryan Emberley for the snap! I went as a mermaid queen and made a crown + shell phone to complete my look. I’m so happy with how it turned out., This winter will be all about DIY projects in my little boudoir studio at home.
I got a couple of shipping notices today for stuff I ordered recently and I can’t WAIT for them to arrive.
These Chloe glasses are on their way from SmartBuyGlasses.ca. I wanted these in the summer and when they reached out about doing a post on the blog, I was so happy to pick these out!
This weekend I finally ordered a hat from Lack Of Colour Australia. I’ve been creeping the website and Instagram for months and have wanted one of these for ages. I’ve also found a few great hats on Amazon lately like this black boater hat. See my store here!
Two weeks ago I went to a plant event with Native Shoes and was given a gift card. I finally decided on these super cute, warm, waterproof boots ‘Chamonix Junior‘. They fit a bit big so I went for the kid’s ones. They’re out on the truck for delivery today!
We have an exciting meeting today at 1188 and I really hope it all works out. Here’s to good vibes and great things happening!
Last week I went to a cooking class hosted by Van Der Pop, a female-focused cannabis brand, and had my mind blown! I’ve been interested to try cooking with cannabis now that it’s legal but was kinda worried about stinking up the whole house, wasting the flower, or making a mess. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I learned you can sous vide your weed. SOUS WEED!
We learned tips and tricks from Monica Lo and her sous chef, Big Bad Wolf, both from San Francisco. Monica’s Instagram hangle is @sousweeed, (so smart!), follow her! I left feeling inspired and thinking up all kinds of things I could make for the holidays, as gifts, and to enjoy at home.
I was very interested in what’s happening here! For the record, we used thyme & rosemary in the class and not cannabis.
How to Make Cannabis Oil for Cooking
Save this photo with the recipe!
Here’s a few recipes you can try. Sean and I are going to the cottage this weekend and I’ll be having a go at making my first sous vide weed. You can use any kind of oil ex. olive oil, vegetable oil, bacon fat, duck oil. I am quite interested in making my own hot chili oil. Woo hoo!
Some days I have it all together and others I am just a mess. This morning I woke up and started planning my outfit for Booby Ball on Friday in support of ReThink Breast Cancer. I left the house feeling positive and ready to attend a talk with the Rebel Mamas on talking to kids about cannabis put on by Drug-Free Kids Canada & Aphira.
Dropped my stuff off at the office grabbed my ‘Rebel Mama’ clutch and jotted down the street to be there for 11am and GUESS WHAT?! The restaurant said ‘CLOSED’, not like, just for the day, closed as not-yet-a-functioning-establishment-closed. Checked the email again, then the initial DM. Location changed. I could have easily gone to the right location but it was too late now. Or, had I not left the house, I could have casually worked from home until late afternoon. Urghhhhhh. And I stepped in a puddle, in Converse.
I’d planned to stop by Dollerama so I went there to get some supplies for Friday’s costume. Grabbed a sandwich. Set up my computer at the office. Stared at the screen. Felt garbadgey.
LIFE IS SO EMOTIONAL.
I considered going home again but I’ve got hair & makeup for the Fashion heals for Sick Kids show at 5. I stay at the office downtown. Felt distracted. I decided to look into flights to New Orleans for the group trip I’ve been doing for years. Forgot about my Aeroplan miles, booked the trip, only had to pay tax. Put this song on and wow, I feel so much better.
I love how a song can change your mood. Sometimes it’s your boyfriend bringing you a cookie from his morning meeting. Sometimes it’s finding an old gift card or remembering travel rewards. I wore a yellow shirt today and matched it with a pink-yellow camo, that usually helps too.
If you’re having one of those days, these days, know you’re not alone. We all go through them. Don’t get fooled scrolling shiny, smiling photos on the internet, its human to have emotions and no life is as perfect as it appears. You might see me smiling most the time but I swear Sean would tell you a different story! I remember years ago he said ‘you share all your sunshine with the internet and have nothing left when you get home‘ I think about this all the time. Today’s just one of those rollercoaster days. 🙃
Tonight I’m walking in the Fashion Heals show in support of Sick Kids and I am going to strut that runway so hard (not this hard lol).
Last week Em & I went to #WeDayToronto and had a great time with @Telus and 20,000 other kids! Huge thank you to the Telus team for making this magical day happen. Scroll down for a giveaway I’m hosting in partnership with Telus on Instagram!
I think it’s really important for kids to see other young people who are making a difference in the world. As a kid I was very involved in my community volunteering, governing youth issues alongside city council, and being a leader as Miss Teen Cambridge. I wanted to take Emily to be inspired by young leaders making a difference in their schools, communities, and the world.
She’s almost 12 and I see her making new friends, being online, texting, growing up. I want her to feel empowered to make positive change, to stand up for herself and others.
I’m proud to be part of the Telus team and all they’re doing to help communities across Canada including their efforts to End Bullying. Since 2007, TELUS & team have provided more than $26 million in support of the @wemovement, including #WEDay, #WESchools, and engaging youth to #EndBullying. 💚💜💚
Telus We Day Crew!
ENTER THE TELUS GIVEAWAY FOR A GOOGLE NEST HUB
Share in a comment on how you can #EndBullying, or tips you have for me to share w/ Emily.
𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗭𝗘: Google Nest Hub (value $169 CAD) 𝗥𝗨𝗟𝗘𝗦: You must be following @casiestewart & @telus on Instagram to win. Contest closes Friday, Sept. 27th 12pm. Not affiliated w Instagram. Canada only, sorry!🇨🇦
This weekend I had a lovely, relaxing time at the cottage w/ Sean. It was just the two of us and I made time for yoga, stretching, reading, naps, and drinking heaps of water.
Friday was a full moon and Friday the 13th, a special day for divine connection, with numerical significance (palindromic number date 9-13-19) and magical energy. The next Friday 13th + full moon isn’t until 2049. I don’t even want to think about how old I’ll be then!
I’m not super religious or spiritual but I definitely believe in the power of the universe. I made this video on Friday with some of my rituals. I haven’t been doing these each month but I was inspired by Friday’s date and decided to give it a go. I’ll take any suggestions to bring good vibes and light into my life! 🌚⭐️
Put water out in the path of the moon to charge up
Light candles (white, yellow, purple)
Light a fire
Write things you want to leave behind, burn them
Manifest your dreams, write them down
Write a letter to the universe, burn it
Give thanks to the universe
Make 6 wishes on the moon (mum says to make one for world peace! ☮️)
Burn incense and/or sage
Dance (naked!) in the moonlight
Charge your crystals in the moonlight
Eat good food
Healing Energy of The Moon
This past full moon signified BIG female energy it was the 13th moon and females typically have 13 cycles in a year. The full moon signifies the end of turmoil, renewal, new beginnings. It’s a time for growth expansion, a new cycle, a time for cleansing, where the truth is revealed, signifying positive change.
On Saturday morning I woke up early, feeling refreshed, drank some moon water, and read my book in the hot tub. It was magical! Who knows 100% if moon rituals work, but for me, going through the motions brings clarity & joy. I also heard that Victoria Beckham is really into moon water so it can’t hurt!
This week I’m feeling energized and ready for the changing seasons!
That’s a wrap on #TIFF19 for me! This week I’m working on a Vitamix commercial w/ 1188 doing props & set styling. I love it!
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been all about JOMO vs FOMO (see this post). The joy of missing out is something I’ve come to love, I think it comes with age and experience. This is the first TIFF, I didn’t go partying, stay out late, or drink alcohol. I put my happiness and health first, yay adulting!
Finding Balance: The Telus Happiness Workshop
This summer I spent a week in Vancouver for the Telus Creator Summit with the #Telus_Partner team from across Canada. It was 4 action-packed days of volunteering, adventure, food, drinks, and learning about the many sides of Telus business. I had heaps of fun and made new friends but by the last day, I was totally exhausted.
Telus anticipated this and used it as an opportunity to bring us together for a Happiness Workshop. We put down our phones, learned about disconnecting, and finished with yoga, meditation, and lunch. Not something you would expect from a telecom giant but that just goes to show how Telus is different.
During the workshop, something amazing happened…
The whole group of bloggers, YouTubers, and content creators started talking about how much social media stresses them out. The pressure to create, stay positive, be healthy, have a clean house, great photos, have good engagement, make money, collect the money, have good relationships, be a good parent, be a good partner, AND remain sane while living this crazy internet life.
IT WAS SO REFRESHING. It felt like a weight was lifted knowing we all have similar feelings about social media anxiety, it connected us.
The Telus Happiness Workshop was developed with input from expert psychologists to tackle online issues facing youth including excessive digital use and comparing themselves to others. As a group, we talked about spending too much time on your phone, social media anxiety, and the importance of taking breaks.
Over the holidays this past year, I took a 5-day Instagram break and let me tell ya, it was great. It’s not until you take a break that you realize how often you pick up your phone, scroll, and have feelings of self-doubt looking at other peoples highlight reel. I try not to do it, but we all do.
Telus gave a bunch of teens a 24-hour challenge to not look at their phone and it’s amazing to see their reactions.
The Happiness Workshop is available online or face to face, in both official languages, and hosted by a TELUS Wise Ambassador. The online workshop can be done alone or in a group, ex. in a classroom. I highly recommend taking the Happiness Workshop with your kids, it’s geared towards teens but I reckon everyone on the internet could benefit from it.
Aside from going over digital safety, the workshop talks about digital breaks, limiting the social comparisons, and practicing the Joy of Missing Out (JOMO) as opposed to the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). For more information visit telus.com/en/wise.
If you want to see something crazy about internet usage, check out internetlivestats.com. We learned this in the workshop and it will BLOW your mind!
Follow:
I have a partnership with Telus and love working with them.
Check out some of the great stuff we've done together here.
Yesterday was the ‘official’ start of #TIFF19 and I got a first look at #TwitterHouse! 🎥🌟🎞 Hosted by Twitter & Elevation Pictures, it’s the first time Twitter has reallllly had a big festival/event presence in Canada.
I was the first person to sit in the director’s chairs! ✌🏼😝
I am SO looking forward to this weekend bc I’m attending @Twitter’s #SheInspiresMe panel w Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu and the cast of #Hustlers. Huzzahhhhhhhh! I love Twitter so much. It’s my fav social media platform. I’ve been by there Twitter Canada office a couple of times, check it here.
I love this time of year SO MUCH and am trying to enjoy every single moment! I’m grateful and thankful for every opportunity that comes my way. Please lmk if there is anything you REALLY want to see or if you have a question for @JLO? I doubt I’ll get to talk to her but hey, it’s #TIFF, anything can happen!!!!!
If you aren’t following me on Twitter, do you even tweet?
I’m not sure what else to say right now other than, I’M SO EXCITED!
Today is media day for TIFF, the day before the festival officially opens. This is my 10th year as a media (blogger) type person and each year I cover events, entertainment, lounges, and of course, film.
So far this year I’ve seen pre-screeners of two Canadian films, Black Conflux, and White Lie. (I’ll share a movie reviews post early next week.)
Last night I attended an event for Warner Bros ‘TheGoldfinch’ This is my attempts at painting a colourful ‘goldfinch’ at the event last night w/ The Crazy Plate Lady. Check out her amazing work here, she’s INCREDIBLE.
Yesterday I started my day with a fresh manicure then picked up a sweet red Volvo S60 so I can drive around to everything which is INCREDIBLY CONVENIENT.
Fresh mani & ready to roll!
Volvo S60 from Volvo Canada
Today tho, today is one of the most wonderful days of the YEAR. I’ve got a full day of visiting TIFF gifting suites to experience a range of products and services including a facial, botox, makeup, a blowout, and more.
What is a Gifting Lounge?
A gifting suite (or lounge) is a popup location, often during an award show of film festival, where companies give products to celebrities in exchange for the famous person takes a photo with the product, wears the gift on a red carpet, or while standing in front of a step & repreat wall displaying company logos.
One quick google search for ‘celebrity gifting TIFF‘ will bring up a slew of articles about the business of TIFF gifting. As a media, I get to go behind the red carpet to see and experience some of the stuff celebrities do. Media receive heaps of things but I will tell you right now, the celebrity bags are jam-packed with high-end designer items and top tier experiences you can only imagine. Remember my Biologique Recherche facial from Visage Medical two weeks ago? It costs about $400. On that note, my skin STILL feels good from it, soft, clarified, it feels cleaner, not clogged if that makes sense.
TIFF ’19 Lounges I’ll be Visiting:
Essentials Lounge by EGPR – a one day lounge for media only and in its 10th year!
Bask-It Style by GLO Communications – Celebrating its 11th year, this lounge is hosted at Thompson Hotel where celebrity guests can ‘bask’ in great products.
Ann Kaplan’s 2nd Annual Pre-TIFF Glamfest – Hosted in her home ‘Mulywood‘ on the Bridle Path, former Housewives of Toronto star has a lounge in partnership with her husband’s medical clinic offering a range of beauty and cosmetic services.
NKPR IT Lounge – Hosted by NKPR in partnership with the Property Brothers, this lounge has gifting, a Rolling Stone portrait studio, and also presents the TIFF Producer’s Ball.
Skean peek of the invite for Anne Kaplan’s Glamfest!
I’m working on a TIFF giveaway for will hopefully have details confirmed today.
The next few days are going to be full of adventure and exciting experiences. I have a loose idea of where I’ll be and when but it’s TIFF and anything can happen!
Good luck to all my media and film industry friends! If you’re reading this, my up-to-the-minute action will be on IG Stories or IG profile at instagram.com/casiestewart.
On September 12th, I’m speaking at a talk hosted by Irisa inside the Stackt Market. It’s a bit different in most talks I’ve done as it’s not about social media or marketing, we’re talking about alcohol, cannabis, sobriety, and sober curious.
It’s no secret that over the last couple years I’ve stopped going to so many events and drinking as often. I made a lifestyle change to drink less in an effort to be healthier mentally and physically. There was a long period when I moved to Toronto and started going to media events where it was common to drink most weeknights and weekends. After work drinks, tweetups, long lunches, brunches, everything had booze and it was common to be at an open bar. I didn’t want to have that life anymore.
Learning about the Sober Curious movement inspired me. I don’t want to completely cut alcohol out of my life but having a positive relationship with it puts me in control. I’m now more comfortable going to events sober and not using alcohol to deal with social anxiety. I drink here and there but mostly with close friends or at home. As I’ve gotten older, it’s WAY harder to recover from a big night out and not nearly as cute to be totally wasted.
The Pretty Elevated pop-up is presented by Irisa Cannabis and on until mid-September. They’ve got a whole bunch of workshops and talks happening, check out prettyelevated.ca for tickets and event times.
If you weren’t able to get a ticket to our talk (it sold out in 24 hours!), please come anyway! Tickets are free and we expect there will be a few who don’t show up. The panel is hosted the lovely April Wozny, a close friend, and advocate for mental health & addiction. She’s been sober since 2015 and will be sharing stories about sober life including sex, dating, and relationships.
I’m really looking forward to this event and being part of the conversation around living a sober-ish life! On that note, still a big fan of cannabis. 😁
A couple of months ago, the guys at Occupied VR and I got really into AR filters on Instagram. The first one approved in the app was for The Holy City VR at Cannes Film Fest. The Spark AR program is now out of Beta and now anyone can submit filters to Instagram to be approved.
Monday I submitted my first filter to the app! IT IS NOW LIVE!!!
I had been wanting to make one for ages but hit a couple of roadblocks as developing a filter involves learning Spark AR, a program from Facebook. About a week ago I decided to send Sean some text I’d made on iPad to see if it would work for a filter. It totally does! He made the background pink and they added the same hearts you see on this very blog. I was so excited to try it for the first time! Big thanks to Sean & Daeve for helping me. Check out Daeve’s other filters here!
Earlier this month, I started a blog post called ‘make the thing’. For the past few months, I’ve been very tired, uninspired. I needed to take a break to get my mojo back. I spent heaps of time at the cottage this summer and also declining events to stay home. It feels good.
September feels like a new start. There’s 4 months till Christmas and 2020. What’s your 2020 plan?
