The Caterpillar

The Caterpillar

I know it’s been a minute. I swear I’ve started posts and just haven’t been able to finish them. I’m in a cocoon stage right now now. I am the caterpillar.  I’m working on myself. I’ve been going to the gym, eating healthy, getting good sleep. This past year I really suffered from burnout. I’ve spent more than the last decade updating the world and the internet with my life and tbh, I’m tired. I need to find myself again. 

From Cleo Wade‘s book Heart TalkOrder here

I’m excited about the winter incubation to stay home, work on myself, and emerge in the spring a strong, beautiful butterfly. Looking into 2020, I want to start the year feeling refreshed.

2020 is going to be the year of ME.

Thank you Indigo for these cute snaps from their holiday preview today. There were so many nice things I’ll be ordering a few online (with Rakuten of course!). A couple of people asked about my hat this morning and it was a total STEAL from Amazon, buy it here.

In other news, I have a great post coming with my fav books I’ve read this year (there are a lot!). AND another post with the new Roomba we got for the office, it CLEANS THE FLOOR.

Hope your week is off to a great start. Sending love across the internet to your screen, from mine.




It’s A Long Road, You Got This

Last weekend Cory and I went on a BFF adventure to take photos at some walls we’d had our eyes on. This might seem weird to you but if you live that ‘blog life’ sometimes you need to shoot stuff and create content.

Our main goal was to this up this rainbow wall on Orfus road so we packed a bunch of clothes and set out on a nice sunny day. When we arrived, much to our surprise, there was a HUGE pink wall painted with a massive red heard. Very on-brand for me! It was perfect. I highly recommend it for fun photos, kids, family, or capturing content.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4CoBglnkbJ/

As we were leaving, I noticed the wall was one side of the YM Inc. building and I was flooded with flashbacks. My first job after university was at YM Inc., I was Assistant to the Purchasing Director. One winter when my boss went to Florida for a month, I decided to start a blog. It was on blogger, I could write text using a WYSIWYG Editor, upload photos, and share links. I posted mostly CGI photos I drew on the computer, told stories, posted really short thoughts and ideas. The first few years hardly anyone read it. There was no Twitter, Instagram wasn’t invented, YouTube only just launched.

Some of my first posts:


At that time I had no idea where I was going with this blog thing but I liked it. It made me feel relaxed to write things down and document my life.

Almost 15 years later, I still feel this way about writing my blog.

I found something I loved and I did it every day. Eventually, it became the ‘thing’ that I did and it opened up career opportunities and so many more things I could only dream of at the time. Don’t give up.

If you’ve found something you love to do, stick at it. Go confidently in that direction. Do it every single day. With some consistency, confidence, and determination, you can make anything your reality.

My (Own) Space

My (Own) Space

I had such a nice weekend. I am always shocked at how happy I am to stay home. I had plans to be at a media brunch Saturday and it didn’t work out. Instead, I spent the morning cleaning and doing chores w/ Emily. We had a family thing in the afternoon for about an hour. The rest of the day I spent in the kitchen and it was magical. I made spaghetti w/ vegetable noodles, taco essentials, instant pot butternut squash soup, roast chicken & vegetables. I also used the cannabutter we made via sous vide at the cottage and made chocolate Rice Krispies. They turned out fantastic, not strong and super tasty. I’m sure mum will find it amusing that I modified her signature recipe.

Sunday I woke up, made coffee in my Keurig that’s right beside my desk. I started writing a couple of posts on the blog. It’s so wonderful to be home with all my things. Sean and I have our own rooms so when I’m in my space, it’s all my things, art, clothes, beauty products, colours, blankets, plants. It’s my sanctuary.

Over the winter I spend the most time here. Last winter while I was recovering from my broken collarbone, the Marie Kondo show came out and inspired me to clean the whole house. I’d wanted to make my space more ‘me’ for a while and I finally had the motivation. I went through all my clothes, the boxes under the bed, bags of old stuff, the ‘things to fix’ pile, jewelry, and anything else I had hiding.

The last year, living in a space that’s less cluttered has been so nice. I can’t even begin to explain the positive effect it’s had on my life, including my mental health. Knowing where things are when you need them. Knowing where your clothes are, that they fit, look good.

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A DNA Test and One for Gut Health

Last year I explored taking probiotics and started earning about gut health. It really opened me up to know more about my body, what foods are best and expanded my knowledge of microbiomes. A couple of weeks ago I got an email to try out a gut health test from Atlas Biomed. Obvs I was 100% down. They also sent a DNA Test which I had Sean do because I did one a few years ago.

Side note, since I did my DNA test, we’ve been very interested to find out Sean’s DNA results and what percentage of neanderthal DNA he has. This is because when I did my test, we found I had a larger percentage of neanderthal DNA than the average human. He’s been bugging me about and calling me ‘Cave Casie’ since lol.

Atlas Biomed launched in Canada this past summer and offers DNA & Gut Health testing in order to help people in heath & wellness. They’re the first company to offer both test directly to the public. Read more about their launch here.

“Our mission is to deliver knowledge directly to consumers to help them live longer, healthier lives and we’re excited to be able to bring our products to health-conscious Canadians.”

Atlas Biomed CEO Sergey Musienko

The Gut Health Test

  • Learn how microbes protect you from disease
  • Understand how diet affects gut bacteria
  • Optimize microbe’s vitamin synthesis
  • Dietary fiber breakdown and butyrate synthesis
  • Personalized food recommendations
  • Probiotics and beneficial bacteria report

The DNA Test

  • Disease risks influenced by genes and lifestyle
  • Carrier status, child risk for hereditary diseases
  • Impact on vitamins, nutrients and food intolerances
  • Athletic predisposition to performance and injury
  • DNA ancestry, origins, and Neanderthal genes
  • Unique personal traits determined by genes

It takes a couple of weeks to get the results so I will be anxiously awaiting the results to get our health & nutrition recommendations etc.

Thank you, Atlas Biomed for sending!

If you want to order your own gut health of DNA test, visit atlasbiomed.com. The tests are £149 each.

Atlasbiomed sent me the test for free but this is not a paid review. 

The 2019 Breast Cancer Campaign w/ Estee Lauder

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, a woman is diagnosed EVERY 15 SECONDS. Multiple women will be diagnosed by the time you read this post.

I was asked to be part of Estee Lauder’s 2019 Breast Cancer Campaign with a goal to raise $9M for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. By joining the campaign, I’m here to raise awareness and money to help fund more research so we can *hopefully* beat breast cancer. It breaks my heart hearing stories about how many people die from it and also talking with friends & family about our own personal connections to breast cancer. It can affect anyone.

This year, an estimated 268,600 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and 62,930 women will be diagnosed with in situ breast cancer. An estimated 2,670 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

cancer.net

25 years ago, Evelyn H. Lauder created the Cancer Campaign and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (#BCRF) and since have raised millions to find research, education, and services. All Estee Lauder companies participate in donating the BCRF and you can shop their pink ribbon products here.

It really is something that can never be done by any one person; it has to be done by a group.

Evelyn H. Lauder

For every in-feed IG post shared in October and tagged both #TimeToEndBreastCancer & #ELDonates@esteelaudercompanies will donate $25 to @bcrf up to $250K, which will fund an ENTIRE YEAR OF RESEARCH.

Casie Stewart, Estee Lauder, model, Breast Cancer, BCRF

Hair @sassoontoronto 
MUA @beyondbeautifulbybritt
Lashes @true_glue_beauty 
Photo @aplus_creative

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SPEAKING: Women on Influence

SPEAKING: Women on Influence

On Wednesday night next week, I’m speaking at an event hosted by The Big Idea Agency. It is a discussion on big brand authenticity and transparency and I would love to invite you. I’ve also asked Telus to donate a giveaway so you’ll have the opportunity to win something awesome. I’m excited, I feel these conversations are extremely important for all of us in the space to learn and grow.

About The Event | Women On Influence: Maintaining Authenticity & Working With Big Brands

If you’re an entrepreneurial brand partner on social media and wondering how to maximize your impact working with big brands, join us to sip on Prosecco and listen in to a valuable conversation with long-time blogger and influential communicator Casie Stewart. Casie will be sharing her experiences working with corporate marketing teams, staying true to your own brand and having an impact on the outcome. This event is perfect for women growing their social media following and looking for insights into how to be in the business of influence.

TO ATTEND: Please RSVP to [email protected]