Travel | CO/NNECTED: Tech Travel Must Haves

I wrote about a few of my fav things, read it on The Co. here. I’ve got a few items I don’t leave the house without, this stuff is in my bag for work and long trips.  Gadgets & tech for a worldly adventure or a weekend getaway. The Co’s travel and tech expert Casie Stewart shares the ultimate globe trotter’s guide to staying connected while abroad. [Read more] PureGear braided Apple  Belkin BOOST↑UP™ adapter This is Ground Cord Taco, Fitzy Cord Keeper Happy Plugs, Telus Rudsak Clutch Other things I never leave home without? Burt’s Bees original, a Sharpie, and a great pair of sunnies. Happy to share any other fag gadgets or travel apps. If you’ve got a question or something to share, leave a comment or tweet me @casiestewart. Wishing you safe & happy travels!  

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Interview | The Noteworthys – BTS with a Blogger Extraordinaire

I was recently interviewed for thenoteworthys.co, a Canadian site you’ll find a carefully curated collection of unique, high-quality, often hand-made items by emerging designers. They love to take you behind the scenes (BTS) to learn about inspiration and workmanship behind designers they feature. They also like to feature people like ME. Being ‘Noteworthy’ means following your passion in creating a life you love living. Now THAT is something I am totally down with! I can agree, being Noteworthy “ means taking a leap to of faith to follow your dreams.“ They asked, what does Noteworthy mean to me? Read the full interview here and see my top 5 picks from the store below. Top 5 Noteworthy Must-Haves  1)  Crystal Crop Top. Looking good Misty Fox! 2)  Leather Envelope Clutch (Large). Perfect for a digital girl on the go! 3)  Robin Waxed Tan Jacket. Love this + matching shirt = A+ 4)  Polka Dot French Bowtie. I need this!  5)  Karoo Oxford Dress. Adorable!  

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Speaking | Get School’d Workshop on Saturday – Sign Up!

On Saturday this weekend I’m hosting a lil’ workshop on building a brand online using social media. They’ve got a great series called Get School’d and last year I hosted one about Blogging. The Gladstone Hotel has made all the workshops free! Most of my talks are at conferences with tickets that are $$$ so this is a chance to come out and learn some stuff, ask questions without breaking the bank.

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Holiday Mode

This time is year is so hectic, ahhhhh! Lots of running around from now till Friday! Today mum is coming down to help me with some office elfing, aka getting presents ready and delivering to clients. This weekend at home was so nice, a great start to holiday mode. With Christmas on a Friday this year, I think it’ll be easier to really take some time to relax. I’m totally in in love with these little sweaters Telus sent over to help get into official #HolidayMode. The entire campaign is great. [vine id=”imeeM6z0dHx”] Do you know a tablet Dad? [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/R37Cx8QwDtg”] I probably spend the most time on my gadgets around my family but this holiday season, my goal is to spend less time staring at my phone and more face-time with the ones I love. I like putting on the (digital) fireplace, reading a book, or simply relaxing on the couch and staring at it. If  you don’t have one via cable already, pop over to the Telus YouTube and put this one on your tv. [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/WSpXLtbhRaU?list=PLZzZFlOdIAXahCRBhRx-t44BlBcRFPdEL” autoplay=”yes”] I love the Internet and technology and how it keeps me connected to the world, but, taking a break from it is totally awesome too. Your batteries need a recharge. Thanks Telus for helping me get into holiday mode. Can’t wait to cook Christmas dinner later this week! OK, off to do my efling! Enjoy the day!          

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Holiday | Commuter Commerce & TTC Laughs w/ PayPal

This weekend I assembled a small elf’s office in our spare room for getting all my christmas things organized.  We’re getting a tree this week and it’s time to transforms the house! I love the holidays! The other day I hung out on the PayPal streetcar to learn about commuter commerce and be reminded there’s a whole mall in your phone and you don’t need to leave the house to shop for the holidays. Commuter commerce is a trend on the rise, people shopping from their phones when they are in transit – ttc, GoTrain, bus, passenger, taxi, airplane. I have shopped while doing all these things. Mobile shopping is so easy and getting packages delivered is one of my fav things. If you don’t want to leave the house or deal with holiday madness, I’m here to remind you about PayPal. Heaps of stores here. If you tweet @PayPalCa using #PayPalWish with something on YOUR wish list, they might just gift it to you (Until Dec. 6th). Give Santa’s elves a break & help yourself too: check gifts off your list by shopping on the #PayPal streetcar. pic.twitter.com/BkHlH6RWgP — PayPal Canada (@PayPalCA) November 26, 2015  

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This Is My Life | Cyberbullying

Putting yourself out there on the internet or *IRL takes a lot of courage. Having a blog opens you up for all kinds of criticism, haterade, or anonymous comments. My world, the one I’ve created online, is pretty positive, but I’ve had my share of cyberbullying. It’s important to fight back against trolls, for example you could use an instagram story viewer app to save any abusive posts so that you can use them as evidence against them. It’s also important to learn how you can avoid being exposed to this kind of harassment and Telus has an award winning Canadian program about how to protect you and your family online. They offer online info and offline info like in-person training sessions for business customers and their fams. Thanks for this @TELUS! #TelusWise pic.twitter.com/uIpjxQArfZ — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) August 20, 2015 Telus is one of my longest standing relationships and this program is one of the reasons I love them. Not to mention the owl for this campaign. I like owls. I’ve had more than one stalker over the years and had to contact the police several times about something internet related. I don’t share this stuff often because it’s hard to talk about. There’s also SO MUCH sad/bad news out there I want this to be a happy place for you when you’re having a bad day or want a cheer up. The things about bullying is it can stay with you forever. It’s hard to forget the way they made you feel. A couple of years ago a ‘friend’ had been commenting mean things under an alias for months. It was really hurtful, the things she said were spiteful, stuff only someone who knew me would say to be mean. I did some investigating and finally tracked the…

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Tech | Another One Bites the Dust: RIP Rdio

The list of social sharing services I’ve seen disappear over the last five years keeps getting longer. A bit of sadness for Rdio this week as it’s been purchased by Pandora for $75M and filed for Chapter 11. I’ve been using Rdio since early 2012 when it came to Canada after I was introduced to it at SXSW. Around them I took part in a round table to discussion on the future of music streaming and music piracy with a bunch of music execs and media. Canada.com covered the session (here). After my free year of Rdio was up, I continued to pay $9.99 for the service the last few years, with my own money. Rdio was there for countless road trips, dance parties, summers on the dock, sing-alongs in the boat, and Christmas parties. I made heaps of playlists and Rdio has been part of all my fun the last few years. I mentioned it as one of my fav apps in interviews w/ ApexPR & Mad Hatter Tech. It’s crazy how attached you become to a service, how integrated it becomes in your life. I was really sad when 12seconds.tv was purchased by AOL and dissolved, felt heartbreak over Dailybooth, and another wave of sadness when Viddy shut down. Transfer Your Rdio Playlists to Apple Music Today I’ve been transferring my Rdio playlists to Apple Music. TBH I don’t mind Apple Music but I really loved Rdio. I decided to fork over the $4.99 to have movetoapplemusic.com do the work of moving my playlists over from Rdio. Luckily, I think Apple Music will be around for a while. I am really feeling this 90’s hip hop & R&B playlist from the commercial with Mary J. Blige. You’ll love it too, heaps of good jamz!  

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Speaking | TEDxWesternU Livestream

Hello & good morning. It’s early on Saturday morning and by the time you read this my talk will probably be over. See below for the TEDx Western University livestream. I’m the opening keynote at 9:20 and speaking about Social Media & The Human Condition. If you miss it the video will be online eventually. Here’s hoping all goes well! There’s some great speakers today. Check out the full schedule at uwo.ca/tedx [iframe id=”http://cdn.livestream.com/embed/westernu?layout=4&color=0xe7e7e7&autoPlay=true&mute=true&iconColorOver=0x888888&iconColor=0x777777&allowchat=true&height=385&width=640″]  

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This Is My Life | I’m doing a thing.

I’m doing my first TEDx talk this weekend at Western University and I’m pretty excited about it. The theme is The Human Condition and I’m talking about the internet and myself.  I think you will find intersting. PLUS it’s only about 15 minutes!  I’m not sure what time I’m on stage yet but I would really love you to watch me. I don’t ask for much and I seriously  think it will be entertaining and maybe you’ll even have some feelings. Last night my sister and I went to visit mum for dinner and had an EPIC sing along to Adele on the way. I will edit the video this weekend but you might pee your pants. This is a small indication of the passion we had performing. We all went out to buy lotto tickets together and this is my mum on the phone. Is she not the cutest ever. LOVE YOU. I should check mine, imagine I won? Made me happy to see this on the table at mum’s house. I asked her for dinner to make shepherds pie and self-saucing chocolate pudding like she used to when we were kids. Nothing quite like family time and laughs around the dinner table. Since Scion Canada gave me a car this week I’m trying to make the most of every moment. I’ll make sure to tell you when my talk is on Saturday as soon as I find out. When I don’t think about it I’m kinda nervous but when I practise and start rehearsing or talking to myself in the mirror. I feel excited! Hope you’re having a great day 🙂   

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Spring in November, Isn’t it Lovely?

I am seriously loving this weather! I went for a bike ride this morning to get a coffee. I’ve been a bit slack on blog posts this week as I’m seriously prepping for a TEDx talk this weekend.  I’ve been giving myself a little goals of doing some work and then rewarding myself with a coffee or with lunch. I’ve got a lot to get accomplished this week! Next week I’m shooting a holiday project with a major design company and I’m really excited about it. I set a goal to do more video so I’m pretty stoked about all the collabs I’ve got coming up. [vine id=”eLKeuduiF0T”]  In other news,  I recently discovered how great dictation is on my MacBook, I can literally talk and it types everything I’m saying. I’m doing this today because I’m feeling a bit frazzled! 😛 Prepping for a speaking gig involves lots of talking to yourself. Dictation and iPhone voice memos are my saviour this week. THANKS APPLE! Scion Canada hooked me up with a car for the week, which I am LOVING! I’ve never owned my own car and it’s so freeing to just jump in an hit the open road. Today I’m heading West with my sister to have dinner with mum. [vine id=”e33FP9rUlTm”] Yesterday I went to WEST (wearables) conference at the MaRS discovery District. On this panel is one of Sean’s business partners, J.Lee Williams,  talking the future of VR in film and television. I also stopped into a preview of ALDO Spring/Summer 2016. Take a little scroll through my fav items in this little Vine. You’ll find these at stores early next year. I’ve been making more short videos so pop over to https://vine.co/CASIESTEWART to see my recent creations.  [vine id=”e3L7BnJ10BM”] OK, time for me to get a move on. Forever being distracted by the internet!…

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