Well ladies & gents, 2016 is here and I am so glad.  16 is a favourite number of mine and to be honest 2015 was a hard year. Felt I was getting off track a bit and my health wasn’t 100%, so,  I’m facing 2016 with a clear head and excitement. The tattoo I have on my left arm is 16 dots, evenly spaced, in two shades of green like a beaded bracelet. It’s a perfect square, and 16 2x 8, my fav number of them all.  This is the sweet sixteen! 

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Today was a good day, went out for a drive around 9:30am, the streets were bare and the air was calm. After, I made a nice breakfast and spent some time cleaning up the house. I had this plan where I wanted to go out and take a great photo with my GoPro and a confetti cannon. After driving around with BF and child, we wound up getting lunch and coming home.

I went out to an alley near our place by myself, set up my camera, and popped the cannon. Much to my disappointment, it wasn’t recording video and the confetti made a beautiful display, then flew away in the wind.

That moment will forever be in my memory and NOT on Instagram. Whoops! It’s ok, everything doesn’t always go as planned! I took a deep breath, laughed it off to myself and went back home where it was warm.

This is my first selfie of 2016. I mean it’s my ACTUAL first selfie in the 20 I took to get a nice one (which we all know is what happens). I added some lighting to brighten it up a bit, but the first one is always the best. I continuously take a pile to get the perfect one and then, voila, the first one wins.

A photo posted by C A S I E S T E W A R T (@casiestewart) on Jan 1, 2016 at 9:53am PST

Sean did an EPIC display of fireworks last night. He also made a track to accompany the show which included Motörhead and AC/DC. This summer at the cottage we are going to do some next level displays!

Embot was excited about firewoks! This is our second year doing them on NYE and it’s so much fun. Not to discount all the great times I’ve had over the years celebrating with friends and 100 drinks, but this brings a different happiness. Waking up and being able to celebrate New Years Day gives me so much joy.  Those few moments I had driving around with a coffee this morning thinking about the future set good intentions for the entire year.

Monday I’m heading up north on a road trip with April to the treehouse in the woods. I’m excited to start the year with a few days to clear my head and determine my goals for the next 12 months. Over the past 10 years I’ve accomplished a few things I only ever dreamed of, this year, I’m going big.

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I absolutely love stories like this! Over the past few years I’ve had a few friends help me out and I don’t know if I’d be where I am without their generosity. Sometimes a little here is all you need to get on track or get closer to your goal.

It warms my heart to see generous people being surprised with a gift that helps make their dreams come true. I feel it’s important to give unconditionally, giving is it’s own gift! Seeing peoples faces light up when they open a gift or receive a surprise is so wonderful.

There’s a playlist of videos BMO created through this Help Given initiative. I love them all, get a tissue, I couldn’t help but have tears of joy.

Seeing how happy Arash is when they give him a day off here is so great.

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Kindness Brings Good Karma

A couple weeks ago I helped out a friend who was going through a tough time, I was able to help them but it involved using money I’d been saving for travel. Yesterday, out of the blue, I was invited on a trip to a sunny destination. The two things weren’t related but in the whole grand scheme of the universe, I feel I’m somehow being rewarded for my generosity. More details about that next week!

Sending my love for happy holidays, warm wishes for a great new year. To see more from BMO’s Help Given initiative, see here.

With love,  

* This blog post was sponsored by BMO but the opinions & stories are my own!

As winter starts to creep up on us I find myself looking back through old blog posts of my travels. I’m keen to book a trip for Sean and I for a little R&R under the sun early 2016. I’m thinking Dominican Republic, Cuba, or Costa Rica. I’m dying to feel sand on my skin and salt water in my hair! ??

Over the last few years I’ve been to Thailand, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and LA during the winter. I absolutely LOVE to travel but preparation is key if you want to have a good time for example, a travel shoe bag is a must for me and I don’t travel without them. Also, if you don’t manage your money right, it can be expensive. Up until a few years ago I didn’t even have a credit card because I was still paying off my student debt from school. This doesn’t mean to say that just because you’re at university, you can’t have a credit card; those studying away from their home country can still get a credit card for International Students. Having a card with travel rewards was really important to me now. I want to get something back from all the purchases I make on my trips. I’m also really interested in qantas credit cards which are another travel-based provider, as they offer rewards for frequent flyers which is certainly what I am!

I would rather take a great trip in the winter to boost my inspiration and pay it off my credit card, than not go at all and let the winter blues get me down.

You never know what’s going to happen, YOLO!

I’ve partnered with a Capital One Canada one to tell you about their new and improved line of Capital One Aspire Travel MasterCards. There are two to pick from that both offer great travel rewards and benefitsdepending on what you’re looking for. Here’s a quick summary and my fav features of each.

ASPIRE TRAVEL^TM WORLD ELITE MASTERCARD^®

With this card you can book the hotel, airline or rental car of your choice, then redeem your reward miles to cover these travel expense and even pay for the taxes using your reward miles. There are no blackout dates or hidden fees. You also get 2 reward miles for every $1 on all purchases and can earn a $400 bonus in travel rewards when you get a new card.

Once you spend $1,000 on purchases within the first 3 months, you earn a one-time bonus of 40,000 miles, that’s $400 in travel! There’s no limit to the mines you can earn either so start shopping! A couple other great Travel benefits include Travel Emergency Medical and Trip Cancellation insurance. I’ve stressed it before, never leave home without travel insurance!

ASPIRE CASH^TM PLATINUM MASTERCARD^®

With the Aspire Travel Platinum MasterCard, you get travel rewards on every purchase and there’s no limit to how the amount of miles you can earn. There’s a one-time bonus of 10,000 miles – equal to $100 in travel – once you spend $500 within the first 3 months. There’s also Platinum MasterCard benefits, including Travel Accident insurance, and Baggage Delay coverage.

This photo was from a day sailing trip to Tortuga Island while surfing in Costa Rica. I would love to go back there! It was one of my fav trips and went there all by myself. I flew into San Jose and took an all day bus, ferry, then another bus to my destination, meeting all kinds of people along the way. I love that feeling of adventure you only get from exploring a new destination.

I’m dying to get on a plane and explore something new! I’ll be sure to document my travels, wherever they may be.

If you’ve got any questions please visit this link to learn more or apply for a Capital One Travel Mastercard. Where will you travel to next?

With love,

* post sponsored by Capital One but the story and wanderlust is all mine!