Army of Sass – Pinup Girls Picnic

Earlier this summer, a bunch of ladies from my dance crew gathered in Trinity Bellwoods for a pinup picnic. it was so much fun, we drank, danced, and soaked up the sunshine in our vintage swimsuits, big glasses, and red lipstick. I’d been dying to wear this dress somewhere. Reminds me of the old flower print dresses mum and her BFF Pat Hope (my Fairy Godmother!) used to wear.

View Post

The Estrella Damm Tapas Journey

Last week I had the opportunity to check out the Estralla Damm Tapas Journey at Kanpai in Toronto’s East End. Tapas and pintxos are staples of Spanish cuisine, small plate snacks meant to be enjoyed & shared with friends. It was my first visit to Kanpai and we were treated to amazing service that made a great date night. Estrella Damm launched Canada’s inaugural Tapas Journey in Toronto on August 14th and it goes until TOMORROW ONLY  it’s over now.. This was my first time trying Estrella Damm and it reminded me of Sapporo (my fav beer). It was lite, refreshing, and delicious. I would know because I sampled it MORE than a few times that night. Heh heh. ? Just sat down at @KanpaiSnackBar for our #TapasJourney! Holy ? @estrelladamm is… https://t.co/7DOzAPAOmJ pic.twitter.com/39fItEGr2R — CASIE STEWART (@casiestewart) August 15, 2015 Twenty of the city’s best restaurants were featuring three mouth-watering tapas served with a cold Estrella Damm for $20. Participating restaurants include: Barsa Taberna, Beast, Byblos, Carmen, Cava, East Thirty-Six, El Catrin, Kanpai Snack Bar, Los Colibrís, Mamakas Taverna, Marben, Mata Petisco Bar, Nota Bene, Patria, Raca Café & Bar, Salt Wine Bar, Taverna Mercatto, The Good Son, Valdez, Weslodge ALSO, pick up a passport at any of the 20 participating Tapas Journey restaurants and get it stamped. When you share a picture of your Tapas Journey stamp on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #TapasJourney you’ll be entered to win a trip for 2 to Miami to attend the Estrella Damm Gastronomy Congress and see Ferran Adrià, the world’s most awarded chef. If you check out somewhere great tonight/tomorrow or want to share your Tapas Journey, tweet me! [symple_button url=”http://twitter.com/casiestewart” color=”pink” size=”small” border_radius=”3px” target=”self” rel=”” icon_left=”” icon_right=””]Tweet Me![/symple_button] Hope you’re having a great weekend. I’m still in my hometown hanging out with mum.  ? CASIE     Photography credit Jeffrey Chan courtesy of Estrella Damm.Except for my tweet of course!

View Post

Hometown w/ Ma Homies

This weekend I’m heading home to hang out with my parents, sister, and go to an old friends wedding. I’m pretty excited to see everyone. There will be heaps of people I’ve not seen in a LOOOONG time. I know we’ll have lots of laughs and I can’t wait to cut up the dance floor like old times. Me: Seeing everyone and the whole wedding thing gives me a bit of anxiety. Knowing I’ll be there with my sister is comforting though! Sean is getting construction started on the cottage so I’m taking mum as my date. Next weekend we have another wedding! My blog babe BFF Carly is getting hitched! If you ever get that chest pain anxiety, I know how you feel! Found this the other day via Tanvi Swar and I’ve watched it about 1,000 times since. Make sure you’re following my SNAPCHAT – casiestewart. I’ll be amusing myself with Snaps all weekend and sharing my hometown! Sending you sunshine through the internet.☀️☀️☀️☀️ ? CASIE

View Post

August, The Month of The Quiet Hustle

Well hello there. Feeling refreshed today after a HUGE sleep. I put my head down during Wheel of Fortune last night (7pm-ish) and woke up at 2am. Slept until 10 am this morning too, I was exhausted from the weekend. Had a meeting this morning about some exciting news coming your way for TIFF. We met at Old School on Dundas a cute little spot that used to be Hudson Kitchen. This afternoon and tomorrow I’m back at Sirius XM for The Todd Shapiro Show. I’m talking entertainment news, etc. I’m confirmed to be speaking at the next WeAreWearables event in Toronto on September 9th. I’ll be wearing a camera the whole time! More details about how you can attend coming later this week. In other news, this week I booked a speaking gig at a big conference next year and might be changing my hair colour for Spring 2016. Lots of stuff in the works over! August is the month of quiet hustle, building things for the next few months. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. – Steve Jobs      This weekend I’m heading to my hometown for a friends wedding. I can’t wait to see all my old friends and share heaps of laughs together. Nothing like that feeling! Will be spending some time with Mum, haven’t seen her all summer. Off to another meeting before hitting the radio airwaves. Tune in to Sirius XM Canada Laughs, channel 168 at 4pm. Don’t let the rain get you down today, BE YOUR OWN SUNSHINE! ? CASIE

View Post

Planning for Life’s Unexpected Moments w/ TD Canada 

When I was growing up I didn’t really think about kids, marriage, wedding etc, but I knew I wanted to be in business. I like setting goals but after spending years what felt like forever paying off my school debt, I didn’t really have a nest egg. I mean, I never prepared for unexpected life events, buying a house, retirement. One of the things I’ve learned from working with TD Canada the last year is that it’s never too early to build a financial plan and set goals for your future. If you work for a business and you already have retirement on the mind, then make sure your employer has Employee Benefits so this process can be made easier for when the time comes and that you get what you deserve. Y’Know What I Mean? For many Canadians (especially us millennials) things don’t always go planned the way they did for our parents ex. finish school, get married, buy a house, have kids, get a boat, retire early, move to the Bahamas for a year. (OK the last part is actually what my mum did, except ‘retire early’) So if you’re soon to be retired, make sure you look around and make sure you’re planning enough to ensure you’re retirement ready. A recent TD Canada Trust survey found: – Nearly 6/10 Canadians have completed or are on track to complete their life’s milestones in a different order than they originally expected – Gen X Canadians are more likely to complete or be on track to complete them in a different order 64% than Millennials 52% – Only 4/10 Canadians say they’ve properly budgeted or are properly budgeting for having their first child (39%) and for retirement (41%) – Only 24% of Millennials and 33% of Gen X Canadians say…

View Post

Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood! ☀️

Last couple days have been really relaxing. I have to remind myself what day it is. Yesterday I slept heaps. Feeling fresh today! Didn’t get anywhere on my glamping goals (it rained) but maybe today. On our way to rent a jet ski rn. Woot! Don’t worry mum, will be careful! With love from the cottage. ❤️✌?️? CASIE

View Post

O Weeknd, Where Art Thou?

Oh hi, it’s me and my smiling face. Started the week out pretty carefree, rode my bike a bunch, spent some time in the sun.   Now, I’m ready for the weekend. Been working on a big client campaign the last two days and have been in the office non-stop, and late.  It’s really nice out today. I love this weather. When I’m not working from home (or the cottage!) I take a few mins every hour to pop outside, ring mum, or soak up some vitamin D.    Put some Kevin Murphy Colour Bug in my hair today. I miss having coloured hair. My roots are coming in so I mostly put it there. It’s faded out to a nice cotton candy.   Wearing new kicks sent from Reebok Canada + WayHome Festival. I used to have a pair like this back in grade 7 or 8, the Reebok Classics. We’re heading up to the cottage this and going to WayHome. Sean is really looking forward to Neil Young tomorrow night. I’m stoked to see Vange Joy and Future Islands.  The weekend can’t come soon enough!  ❤️☀️😎 CASIE   

View Post

Vintage Ink Wine Celebrates 100 Years of Tattoo Culture 

Last weekend I was at 99 Sudbury for a gallery show called GENERATIONS by Vintage Ink wine celebrating 100 years of tattoo culture. It featured line drawings by several tattoo artists and photographs by Matt Barnes.  It was a great mix of drinks, food, music, art, and friends! I arrived early and spend a good amount of time admiring the photos and catching up with Tyler Kenny. He was on the scene representing the Freshly Educated Men blog.  We had heaps of laughs! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER THE CONTEST You might remember a couple weeks ago I shared a few stories of MY tattoos and where/when I got them. Vintage Ink wine is holding a contest, in order to enter, upload a photo of your tattoo to Instagram or Twitter, adding the hashtag #MyVintageInk. Photos are displayed on via vintageink.ca. The winners will have their tattoo art displayed on 500 limited edition bottles of their wine along with a framed copy of their framed artwork. This photo by Matt Barnes was my fav of the night. I love the juxtaposition of this beautiful tattooed mama and this lil boy eating a hamburger. I wonder if it’s his mum? They’ve both got such a cute face. Chloe came by to enjoy the fun and have some wines. Vintage Ink wine is now available at the LCBO. Will share this video one it’s out, I think we’ve got a few cameos in there. Over the course of the night they filled up this wine bottle tree. Such a neat idea! I wonder if dad could make me one of these. It would be a great patio decoration or something to have at the holidays. Please let me know if you’ve entered the contest so I can share my love and vote for your tattoo. There will…

View Post

The Perfect Summer Road Trip #SummerCovered

Summer is the perfect time to hit the road with your BFFs and ditch the concrete jungle. You may already be in the process of looking at a Christchurch motorhome hire company to plan your trip to New Zealand, or maybe a road trip to California is something that you’d all agreed on. Either way, planning your trip is essential. I love packing up the car and heading up north, to Montreal, or across the border. Next time, I might plan on investing in an RV instead of driving. It’s just so I can have a different experience and I’d be with my best friends, so it’d be hard not to have fun! If you are like me and are considering going on a road trip in this fashion, seeing as I was recommended to check out sites such as good sam ESP here, I’m now offering my knowledge to you guys too! I’ve had some pretty epic road trips over the years! However, I’ve never been on a road trip in an RV, which is something that has been reccommended to me on many occasions. I know that Texas has outstanding rv routes, so this would probably be my desired road trip of choice. Once a couple friends and I drove to Austin, Texas for SXSW and another time we drove and sang our way to Chicago. Another one of my favs was a road trip to Montreal, so great in the summer! There’s always a few things I make sure to stock up on before hitting the road and you can find them all at Shoppers Drug Mart. This is my second post in partnership with Shoppers, your one-stop spot before you hit the open road for a summer road trip. Did someone say snacks? SUMMER ROAD TRIP…

View Post

The Perfect Cottage Weekend #SummerCovered

If you’re new here or you’ve been around the blog for a while, you’ll be well aware just how much I love to cottage. I like spending weekends in Muskoka, on the dock, on the boat, tanning, floating, or cooking up a big feast for our guests. I’ve partnered with Shoppers Drug Mart to share a few of my cottage weekend essentials. One of the neat things about this post, my next post about The Perfect Summer Road Trip and working with Shoppers Drug Mart is, I’m truly an expert in their products. I used to work at Shoppers in my hometown! I spent the better part of evenings and weekends behind the cosmetics counter during college. Ok, now onto a few items to make.. THE PERFECT COTTAGE WEEKEND: President’s Choice S’mores Bites: No cottage weekend is complete without S’mores. Neutrogena Ultra-Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen Lotion SPF 45 – This is a great sunscreen. Dove Revive Dry Spray Antiperspirant: Quick spray after SPF/bug spray and you’re ready to roll. Off! Deep Woods Dry Insect Repellant – Cottage ESSENTIAL. Life Brand Allergy Caplets – Being in the woods can be a wonderful thing, unless you get allergies. St. Ives Naturally Soothing Oatmeal & Shea Butter Body Lotion:  Swim and sun can dry out our skin. A long day in the sun can be really draining, it’s hard work being cottage fabulous! It’s really important to make sure you stay hydrated, drink lots of water, and ALWAYS wear sunscreen. Even if it’s not sunny! I like this Neutrogena product because it’s dry and not greasy. I keep this Dove antiperspirant in the shared bathroom because aside from smelling nice, the spray means any of our guests can have a little spritz should they need it. Wink, wink. I recommend wearing this bug spray with deet in the daytime, not just at night.…

View Post