Face The Sun Like a Flower, Shine Girl!

Oh hello there! Woke up early and did some work, cleaning, went for a walk. It is finally a *tiny* bit warmer and it makes such a difference! I’m not even mad about how cold winter was, it made it easier to stay home, organize, tidy the house. Thankful to myself right now for all the Kon Mari, We have less clutter around the house and it makes me feel more relaxed, happy, and we’re enjoying the space. Next on my to-do list is the patio. Had a very chill weekend at home. Saturday I took Em out around the west end to a gallery for a music video launch. Yesterday I went to check for plant sales and came home with a bunch of beauties for the house. Today I opened the windows and my GOD does it ever make a difference. It’s insane how the few degrees and some sunshine makes everything seem better. We’re not at bare ankles and trench coat just yet but I’ll take it! Opened the windows. #dlws — CASIE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) March 11, 2019 Feeling pumped for this week. Have 2 shoots and a speaking gig plus a dinner I’m really looking to on Wednesday with Tokyo Smoke. This weekend we might open the cottage. Sending sunshine your way. Put a smile on your face and flash it around!

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Sometimes I Don’t Feel Like It #17

Next month my blog is 14 years old, can you believe that? I’ve been building my little piece of the internet and sharing stories longer than the time I’ve had this blog. Before WordPress, there was Blogger, MySpace, and MSN Spaces. I love sharing and being an ‘internet person’ but it can take a toll on you. I love it most the time, but sometimes, I don‘t feel like it. It’s Not Easy Being On The Internet It’s crazy the things people say on the internet when they’ve got a screen barrier to give them extra confidence. Often forgetting there’s a human on the other side, manning the comments. Like, a real human being with feelings. One little comment can stay in your head all day or a tweet can jump right through the screen and punch you in the heart. The other day I tweeted how ‘Having a sister is legit the best.” and a friend replied, “Yes it was”. I had to fight back tears. I know he lost his sister and maybe was having a hard day, I was too. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I called my sister crying. This comment made me think how ‘influencer culture’ has kinda made the internet worse. This was in response to a post I shared about #PinkShirtDay with Telus. I didn’t have to post about it, I wanted to. Telus has a great program and is invested in making a difference in communities across Canada. I love this about them. It seems like everything is sponsored these days. Is it bad? I don’t know! To each their own! We all have the ability to curate our feeds and if you think someone has too many sponsored posts, mute or unfollow them. Your feed, your life. I started…

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Sharing the Love on Valentines Day w/ NKPR

Hope you’re having a great day! Remember, the most important person to love on Valentines is yourself! The more love you have the more you have to give. Today I joined Cory Lee, Ish and a bunch of volunteers at NKPR for #NKPR26 where they are doing 26 Hours of Giving. We helped to pack sandwiches for #HashtagLunchbag, a global movement empowering everyday people in local communities to spread love, one lunch bag at a time. We packed over 700 lunches!   To learn more about Hashtag Lunchbag and find an event near you, visit hashtaglunchbag.org. Tonight Sean and I are having dinner with Emily. We celebrate each other & our love all year but later this month we’re heading up to a hotel in Muskoka and going snowmobiling. It will be my first time and Sean hasn’t gone out on one in years. Yes, mum, we’ll be safe! ? Sending you love and sunshine through the internet. Have a great day!

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Unpopular Opinion: I Like The New WordPress 5.0

I installed the new WP 5.0 that came out last week right away. I like to be the first to try things out. I’ve always been an early adopter. There are a few glitches but I believe this is the start of a new, modern, flexible WordPress. It gives you so much more customization in the way your work is displayed, photos, galleries, quotes. I ran into an issue when I first installed WP 5.0 where it reverted me back to the Classic Editor. I lost Gutenberg when I installed 5.0 then I installed the Classic Editor and couldn’t get Gutenberg back. I searched a whole bunch of WP developer forums and it was VERY CLEAR, people HATE Gutenberg and they HATE Blocks. To fix it I disabled the Classic Editor plugin, and deleted, reinstalled the Gutenberg editor. I also disabled Page Builder (Site Origin) and a couple other plugins that I wasn’t using and probably weren’t updated for WP 5.0. I blogged about my fav parts of the new Gutenberg Editor back in August when it was released here. One of my favourite things in the new editor is how you can display images wide across the page. I love the way galleries look stretched out instead of just within the pixel width of your blog text. So pretty. These photos are from Ashley Longshore gallery in New Orleans, LA. What are your thoughts on the new WordPress, do you love it or do you hate it? Comments open!

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TELUS Friendly Future Foundation: Helping Youth & Communities Across Canada

Across Canada, 1.5 million children go hungry without access to nutritious food every single day, 30K Canadians are homeless (mostly young people), and 40% of low-income families don’t have internet access putting kids at risk for falling behind in school. We can all do something to help and this year Telus launched the Friendly Future Foundation putting $120 million into addressing the social and economic challenges facing Canadian youth.  I am proud to work with Telus and have been a #TeamTelus partner for the last 8 years.   The Foundation will give grants to grassroots charities in communities across Canada who really know their community and how to help. By partnering with smaller charities, they’re able to help out groups that might be missed by huge corporate donors and make a big impact in small communities. I think this is an amazing approach. I work with Brands For Canada, an organization that provides new clothing & basic needs supplies to people across Canada and this method of working with local charities has worked great for them.  The Friendly Future Foundation funding will help kids build up digital literacy skills, get basic healthcare and mental health support to the homeless, and open up other educational opportunities. Here’s an example of doing good in a community not too far from us, Telus donated $20K to the Women’s Shelter in Barrie. The $120 million TELUS has provided for the Friendly Future Foundation is the largest donation made by a publicly traded Canadian company in history and one of the largest ever in North America. Way to go team! Over the past two decades, TELUS, team members and retirees have contributed more than $1 billion of value to Canadians, through $530 million in financial support and 1.21 million days of volunteerism. Last year alone they (we!) volunteered 1 million hours.  I’m continuously impressed by how Telus gives…

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Money Mindfulness

Last week I went to a wellness workshop hosted by Capital One for Credit Education Week. This year’s theme is ‘Money Mindfulness’ and at the event, we meditated, did yoga, and learned that being mindful about our everyday expenses can help related stress and anxiety. Stress and anxiety are all too often experienced in this day and age so it’s no wonder people search for the best CBD oil in the UK and around the world to help them deal with it. The event was held on the top floor of the Broadview Hotel and included a joga class by Jana Webb. We enjoyed a Smoothie Station and were sent home with a Mindfulness package. It was very relaxing! The location was perfect for a gloomy day with huge skylights to brighten the space. It was nice to spend the morning with a bunch of the blog gang doing something other than being on our phones. I don’t know about you but money stresses me out on a regular basis, waiting for cheques, people not paying on time, bills, taxes, rent/mortgage. Life is expensive and if you don’t have a handle on your finances, your other problems seem much bigger. Even if you have money, mo money, mo problems! To get a better handle on your personal finances, you may want to start reading articles that cover topics like banking, credit cards, and loans, etc. to help you equip yourself with the knowledge to become a money master! You might find sites like this useful – https://myinforms.com. According to Capital One, 44% of Canadians say credit, debt, and finances negatively affect their mental health. Capital One Canada organized a session on mindfulness with the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, where we slowly ate a strawberry, thinking about how it felt to…

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Diary: Sometimes Working from Home

Ever be working from home and then wondering you have been talking to your self out loud or just in your head? I’m on hold with the OCS and it’s been over an hour. I’m watching the Y&R, making soup from scratch. I wonder if they can hear me I should have been on mute lol. I’m on mute now. Soup smells amazing,. I had a super day today. I feel like I can’t tell anyone but mum. It’s hard when you have exciting things that happen in your day and you want to just yell it out but you know it will seem a certain way so you keep quiet. The only person I usually tell is mum. Rung her 3x at work today and sent a text. I booked a speaking thing, an on-camera deal, a trip overseas, and a directing gig. We also had a great meeting for Occupied VR. This doesn’t happen every day but the great thing about working for yourself is celebrating when amazing things do happen. Today specifically, celebrating looks a lot like cooking in my jogging pants, putting away laundry, and catching up on the show.  Some days it’s wine in the afternoon! In between the great days, there are days I don’t want to do anything or I cry and can’t leave the house. Balance is key. I find yoga really helps. DYK Amazon Prime has yoga shows. I like Yoga For Everyone because it’s fast and they have level variations.  I am still on hold, it’s been so long now I feel like the music is part of my life soundtrack, I’m 10 years older. I hung up after 2.5 hours and sent a tweet. They are yet to respond. Apparently, they only have 5 people manning the phones. yes,…

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Hall of Fame – 3 Things I Told the Graduating Class

On Friday my closest family members gathered at mum’s house (same house I great up in) to join me at my old high school in Cambridge to speak to the graduating class. I was indicated to the Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of some of Preston High School‘s most esteemed graduates. So cool!  Two of my old classmates Scott Thorman (Atlanta Braves) and Nathan Brannen (3x Olympian) are also in the HOF and were in the same graduating class. It was so weird/cool bring back there. I think the last time I walked those halls it was my very own commencement. My sister reminded me that the kids graduating in 2018 were born the year I graduated. Omg wtf, where did the time go!  I remember being in high school and a teacher asking what I want to be when I grow up, I said “Casie Stewart” and they said ‘that’s not a job‘. Well, well there teacher dear, I am here to prove you wrong! I spoke for about 5 minutes and then we went home and had Chinese food takeout. It was perfect. Lots of laughs. I was so grateful to have my parents, sister, fairy godmother, and the rest of the gang there.  3 Things for the Graduating Class Don’t worry about what you want to be when you grow up.  You’re probably going to work in a job that doesn’t exist yet with technology that’s not invented yet.  Don’t stress.  Find what you love and GO FOR IT.  You have so many tools and talents at your fingertips, you can do anything.  Don’t wait, start today, do something every single day that brings you closer to your goal.  When I started my blog I would stay home and work on it every day, my friends made fun of…

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Turn Your Face to the Sun and Shadows Fall Behind You

Hello and good morning! I’m feeling good vibes today despite not feeling great the last couple days. Spent the last 24hrs inside the house with Sean doing next to nothing but watching Netflix and taking naps. I feel recharged! Watched a good movie called The Angel, a few more eps of Maniac, and a full season of how to Live Mortgage Free (which really got us thinking!).  The past 2 months have been kind of intense. I went on to Portugal and Mexico, had TIFF and Fashion Week, all on top of my regularly scheduled work. I still have heaps to write about. I know from the outside it all seems like fun and vacation but let me tell you, there is a LOT of behind the scenes things you don’t see. Being on all the time is exhausting. The start of a new month brings renewal and I am excited. We have 3 months left in the year and before we know it, it’ll be 2019! What’s your 2020 vision? This week I’m speaking at an event on Wednesday and a TV commercial I’m comes out in a few days. Sean and will be spending the weekend at the cottage and most likely repeating our tradition of Swiss Chalet on Saturday and then hibernating till Tuesday. I’m working out of the office all week and not doing many events so I can focus on getting into a routine. I’ve booked a few sessions with my trainer and evening yoga. Last week I made it to 2 yoga classes which is more than I’ve done in ages.  Today is a great day to make a change in your life. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Your life is your movie, you’re the director, it can be any kind of movie…

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Vancouver: The Telus Innovation Centre

Earlier this year I was in Vancouver for a city planning conference and stayed an extra day to pop by the Telus office and have lunch with a friend. I’ve been working with Telus since my days at Much/MTV Canada, about 8 years ago.  I’ve had the opportunity to do some really neat stuff like volunteering, videos, city adventures, and making friends. A couple years ago I helped them with some ideas to create their influencer program and it’s really grown into something awesome. Next month, they’re taking the ENTIRE GROUP of Canadian influencers (including me!) to their HQ in Vancouver. Telus Garden I was really stoked to visit this building. I remember when it started in 2012 and was opened in 2016. The Telus Garden building takes up an entire city block downtown Vancouver, totalling 1M sq ft. It has amazing energy saving features, a fantastic garden, and has won a bunch of awards for the design and sustainability. Unfortunately, I was there in winter so I didn’t get to see the outside areas, it snowed!   [symple_testimonial by=”” fade_in=”false”]“TELUS Garden is Canada’s most beautiful and ambitious LEED Platinum building, and one of the most environmentally-friendly developments in North America,” Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO[/symple_testimonial] Telus Innovation Centre I met up with Ana from Telus (check out her IG @msanadouglas) and she took us up to the Innovation Centre where. I was amazed to see a beautiful bright space filled with technology. One of the coolest features were the doors. Telus has created a set of doors that have screens instead of windows. Hello, why didn’t I think of that!? They’re the only 4 doors like this IN THE WORLD and they’re right here at Telus in Vancouver. A couple of them have cameras where you can host meetings and…

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Never-Ending Summer

I love this weather and the sunshine. It’s so nice to be out on the lake. Next week I’m going away for a few days and it feels like never-ending summer. ☀️?✌?

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New Zealand: Aeroplan + Moments Worth Millions

What would you do with a Million Miles? Where would you go? I visited New Zealand and Portugal #withAeroplan this year and if I had a million miles I’d be off to India, South Africa, and Japan. I’m so inspired by adventure! Travelling is the best way to enrich your soul, feed your curiosity, and expand your mind. Portugal #withAeroplan  Aeroplan is back this summer with their incredibly cool contest, Moments Worth Millions. They’re giving away 5 Million Miles over the course of 5 weeks where 5 winners will each win 1 million miles. Think of the possibilities? 5 weeks. 5 winners. 5 million miles. Do you know how many trips you can take with a million miles? You can take 20 friends to Hawaii in economy or a handful of besties in business. You can take 40 trips from Toronto to LA or take someone you love on a first class trip around the world.  To enter the contest, follow @Aeroplan and share your favourite travel memory and tag #withAeroplan. Last summer I wrote about the Million Miles contest and how I was planning to use my miles to visit family in New Zealand. Little did I know I’d be heading there so soon with mum over the holidays. That trip created so many memories and was really special for mum and I.  Road trip sing-alongs in the car while driving the other side of the road, exploring the North Island, Eketahuna, Taupo, Dessert Road, visiting family, friends, and spending our last moments with Nana. It was an experience that enriched my life in so many ways my heart swells with love thinking about it.  If you win the contest and need a great travel buddy. I’m always here haha. Love you!  buy Cialis Soft

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How I Keep My Summer Tan!☀️

I love summer, vacation, being outside, boating, the cottage, and heaps of sunshine.  I do not however like the idea of getting old leathery skin from sitting outside under UV and you could not pay me to use a tanning bed. (I did that heaps when I was a teenager, wtf was I thinking?) I wear sunblock on my face all year, my favs are Clinique and Laura Mercier but also love having a nice tan.  A couple years ago I went to Hammam Spa and got a body scrub + spray tan and I loved it but was pretty expensive and not something I can do all the time. A bit after that I went to a TIFF event where they had St. Tropez and I got a personalized tan sprayed on by their expert and totally kick-ass babe, Sophie Evans. She is super rad & has tanned heaps of celebs including Lady Gaga, Britney, and Kim K. At the start of summer 2018, I had the opportunity to be tanned my Sophie again!  I love the way St. Tropez looks, not orangey, streaky, or sticky, and you can do it at home by yourself. I’ve been using it religiously the last couple years before trips, after trips, winter, spring, all damn year. It’s THE BEST self-tan I’ve ever used.  St. Tropez Tan – My Picks The original foam is my favourite but the new Ultra Dark is great if you already have tanned skin. The Bronzing Water face spray is nice to use daily to maintain and give yourself a light glow. The Everyday Tinted Moisturizer + Primer is great for events if you want to give your face/legs/arms/body/decolletage a nice glow. Some great tips in this video from Sophie & St. Tropez about applying on yourself at home. …

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It Takes Practice.

This weekend was super relaxing. Bed early on Friday, Saturday nap, made dinner & dessert, Sunday boating, blogging, reading. I love the weekend to slow down, talk less, sleep more, and take a break from email. I didn’t use to be so good at it, I had to work at relaxing, I couldn’t sit still. Last year I went to regular yoga at a studio. One of my fav parts about yogayoga was the practice, making time for it, laying on my mat, moving through the poses, sweating, meditating. Something I learned from my teacher, Sandy was ‘not reacting takes practice‘. And although she said it in the context of trying to stay still in savasana, I carried it with me right out the door and into my life. Not reacting takes practice. It took me a while to be able to lay there, still on the floor with my thoughts and not move when a bead of sweat dripped across my face. I’ve been doing yoga on our rooftop patio and it’s good but not that same as a quiet room and music lead by someones calming, familiar voice. [Studio is back open in January!] When I think back to Sandy saying ‘not reacting takes practice’ it’s so true if you apply that to stressful situations. Especially those where you could react with rage or anger, not reacting there is a real test of your patience and just how much practice you’ve had. My mum has a couple of good sayings like ‘water off a duck’s back‘ or ‘build a bridge and get over it‘. She always knows the right thing to say. If you’re feeling stressed or holding something inside, let it go. Write it on a piece of paper and throw it in the fire. There is…

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