Meet The 2016/2017 Team TELUS Advocates (waves hi!)

I first met with Telus PR in 2009, since we’ve done some amazing things together. Back then, ‘influencer marketing’ was something for celebrities (Paris, Britney, Beyonce) and I was still working at Much/MTV. Since then, Telus and I have done some really fun things together like mobile updates from around the world, scaling a building, building a garden, and donating to charities. Last year, TELUS created #TeamTelus Advocates, an official group of influencers across Canada to help them spread Telus vibes across the country through community involvement, sharing experiences, and talking about tech. I’m happy to share I’m on the 2016/17 team w/ a bunch of great Canadians! I’ve got a few stories planned over the next couple months including getting my dad set up his first android, travel packages (I’m away most of October!!) AND MY NEW iPHONE 7+! OMG, I can’t wait to get my new phone and take that camera on adventures. Check out some of the #TeamTELUS Advocates below, see full list here. In case you missed the videos we did this year, check out the Mother’s Day one below and scroll a little bit more to see my excited face after scaling down Toronto City Hall at the Rope for Hope for Make-A-Wish Foundation the year before. [youtube id=”7fShXKG4Udw”] Recently, I wrote about my love for the Telus mobile network when we’re up at the cottage, I seriously have the best service up there. Next week I’m joining the Toronto team for The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. October 1st 1pm, Beaches, Toronto. Details here if you want to join me! Thanks for following my adventures, and since a lot of updates come from my phone or via mobile wifi, we really Telus to thank for keeping us connected. I’m excited to share adventures and stories with you this year. Next trip announcement coming soooooooon, there will be…

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Telus + Mother’s Day: What’s The Best Mother’s Day Present Ever?

This post was original written last year and we did a giveaway. In honour of Mother’s Day this year I wanted to share it again because I love the video so much! Mother’s Day is always a super special day for both my mum and I because I was born on Mother’s Day! What a great gift! haha. No, in all seriousness, I’m mum’s first born and there was some complications during my birth where she nearly died. Thank heavens we both made it, she’s the biggest inspiration in my life and I am so thankful for her. ILU MUM. ?

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Events | WeDay 2015 w/ Team Telus Advocates

On Thursday last week Emily and I got up realllllly early and drove down to the ACC to see the red carpet for WeDay with the Team Telus Advocates. I’m pretty sure it was her first time attending a red carpet. She did however, do her first live hit on TV and was seen on Breakfast Television by people across Canada. I’m teaching her the ways of the media early! Don’t mind the pixelated photo and my windy hair.  The ACC was filled with about 40K people, mostly students, there to kick off 365 days of making the world a better place. It was a bit overwhelming but totally inspiring. Loved seeing all the performers and speakers including Hozier, Nick Jonas, and Shawn Mendes, Rookie Mag editor-in-chief Tavi Gevinson (LOVE HER) and social change activist Tonika Morgan. It was great spending the day with this group of ladies from the Team Telus Advocates. Having a blast with these #TeamTelus tweeps #WeDay pic.twitter.com/60UmG5MyZu — Julie Height (@SoberJulie) October 1, 2015 This is Em watching Nick Jonas perform ‘Levels’. I snuck her down to floor level to see him up close, it was for her I swear. ? After lunch, Telus took us back stage to the media area where we had a meet & greet with Francesco Yates. He was so nice. Very chill. Took heaps of photos with everyone. I chatted him about meeting Justin Bieber in NYC a couple years ago. Leading up to WeDay 2015 Telus asked people to answer the #CallForChange and be part of his latest music video. It premiered at WeDay for all 40,000 people to see. Take a peek below and see who you recognize, there might be a few people! YOU joined the movement + helped remix ‘Call’ by @FrancescoYates. See who else accepted the #CallForChange!https://t.co/kFeIv9jg88 — TELUS…

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TELUS Day of Giving + Make-A-Wish, Rope for Hope

I took part in a Telus Day of Giving Event with #TeamTelus crew for Make-A-Wish® Rope for Hope. We rappelled down Toronto City Hall!   I’ve done some rock climbing and adventure things like The Edgewalk, zipline, and sky diving but this was FULL ON. AND DOWNTOWN TORONTO! All money raised by Make-A-Wish® Rope for Hope rappellers goes to granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.   It was really fun. I’m not really one for team sports but I love adventure things like this! It was a litte scary going over the edge but once I started going down it was easy. It took about 10min to go down the entire building. To learn more about Telus Day of Giving and other charitable initiatives through the company, click here or on these cute little animals. HUZZAHHHHHHHHHHH! <3 CASIE  

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Protecting Canada’s Wildlife w/ Telus #ShopWildly

What do trees, burrowing & short eared owls, polar & grizzly bears, beluga whale, and the Monarch butterfly all have in common? Besides being endangered special in Canada, they’re some of the animals Telus is helping to save. They’re also the ones I donated to! Over the next 5 years Telus is giving $5 million to protect our wildlife. They sent me on a wild shopping spree with $1,000 and I spent it on a  few of my fav Canadian animals and trees. My purchases are going towards protecting our Canadian animals and their habitats, ensuring that wildlife in Canada can stay wild long into the future. Last year as a gift, Telus adopted a Giant Panda from the WWF in my name. I’ve been with Telus for as long as I can remember. My first ever cellphone was with them ages ago when they were Clearnet.   Show your love for Canadian wildlife at shopwildly.ca. Thank you Telus for all you do! 🙂 <3 CASIE

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Look what Telus did for one of their longest standing customers…

When I watched this I couldn’t hold back the happy tears. I imagined what it was like for her, what it be like if that was me, or if it was my Dad who has been a Telus customer for almost 20 years too. If it gives you the feels, share with a friend 🙂 This act of kindness to show appreciation is the things dreams are made of. I think it’s incredibly awesome that Telus did this for one of their customers of 20 years. If your day has not been made yet, you will feel like making someone else’s after watching this. A month ago Em and I volunteered at the Harbourfront Community Centre in Toronto for the #givewhereweliveday. Thousands of company employees and friends from across Canada took part that day. This week the Telus Care-a-Van team is in Guelph, ON with a host of events and activities to specially thank TELUS local customers and the Guelph community. Telus truly cares about the communities they live, work and play. It makes me happy to have worked with them for the last five years. They’re a great bunch! Hope your day is great. Bring the sunshine if you don’t see it! <3 CASIE

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Telus Day of Giving 2014|Garden Paint Party!

Last weekend EmBot and I volunteered at the ninth annual TELUS Day of Giving w/ 15,000 TELUS team members,  who took part in 700 activities in local communities across Canada. We worked in the garden area painting signs for the community planters. at the Harbourfront Community Centre. It was really fun painting these, thinking about picking some up for the cottage and painting on the dock.   Some of the team with us that day cleaned up the garden area in the middle of the centre. It was lookin’ pretty shabby when we arrived and by the end of the day is was beautiful! We all had lunch in the courtyard to finish the day. 🙂 Until early July, Canadians who share their community giving photos and stories at givewherewelive.ca and on Twitter/Instagram using the hashtag #givewherewelive will have the opportunity to receive up to $50,000 toward the cause of their choice.  For more info visit on givewherewelive.ca.  Thanks Emma and the Telus TO team for inviting us! Been working with Telus since 2009 and my first mobile phone was on Clearnet back in 2000. How can you not love their ads? This little guy has great hair. <3 CASIE  

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Next Level Selfie Action | HTC One M8 from Telus

One thing I love about my blog job almost more than the clothes, makeup, jewellery, and trips around the world is GETTING NEW GADGETS! My friends at Telus emailed me on Tuesday to offer me the brand new HTC One M8. I was ecstatic! The device comes out from Telus on April 10th so I’m super stoked to have one before then. I used to have the old HTC One before I spilled water on it. RIP old buddy. I’ve done lots of work with HTC over the last few years and been featured in two HTC campaigns with SayMedia. Last year they had a big one to be the next HTC Influencer and the winner won consulting from me. The winner was Vanessa Grillone and we had a blast working together. Remember this?  OK SO THE IMPORTANT THING HERE IS… THE HTC One M8 HAS A DUAL CAMERA! A WHAT? A CAMERA THAT TAKES A SELFIE AND PHOTO AT THE SAME DAMN TIME.  YEAH BUDDY.  THIS IS SOME NEXT LEVEL *ISH I TELL YA.  You can even move the little selfie box around and change the size. I’m like, mind blown. There are a heap more cool features that I don’t even know about. Things I loved on the last edition of the HTC One were Kid Zone (Zoodles kid mode w/ games for EmBot) and Zoe (auto movie making assistant).  I’m really stoked to get up close and personal with this baby over the weekend. CLEAR MY CALENDAR, MAMA’S GOT A NEW PHONE! In other news, this was my fortune today in a package from essence! Will have those goodies later! Hope you are enjoying the day! ♥ CASIE

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INNOVATION & YOU @TELUS TORONTO

I’m sitting in the beautiful lunch room at the Telus tower downtown. Sun is beaming in the windows and the chefs behind me are whipping up a soup & crepe just for me. My first ever cell phone was with Telus back in 1996 when they were Clearnet. I love this company and am especially fond of their branding and advertisements. I will now pay attention & have my lunch. Doesn’t it look good! Yum! Have an awesome afternoon 🙂 CASIE

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rogers, bell, telus? iphone, blackberry?

this is like the hardest decision I’ve faced in ages… It would be MUCH easier if one of the companies would just CALL/TWEET/EMAIL/SMS/COMMENT/FB me and say: “Hi Casie, I’m “awesome person” from “company that loves social media, buzz & cool people talking about us online/offline all the time” and we’d like to give you a phone! I will say “ok, love you forever”. Easy pleasey. Mama needs a new phone. Gonna get one real soon anyways but I though I’d throw it out there. You don’t ask you don’t get as Mum says! I’m using a non-smart dumb phone at the moment cause I had to give my old BB back.  It makes me sad. Saddy, sad, sad. I wont even get into the Blackberry Intervention I had from 5 friends the other night. My fingaz are CROSSED. [closes eyes and makes a wish] That is all for now.

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Day 421: That Magic Hour

We went to a garden center today and got some things to grow herbs. We have a tradition of going to one every Mother’s Day weekend to get a nice big plant for Sean’s Mum. We were only out in the world for about an hour but were both so tired when we got home. Why is everything exhausting these days? Sean had a nap and I went for a walk then watched my show. Listened to one of the Peloton walking workouts and took a bag with me to pick up some trash. Our area is pretty clean but after winter, there’s always a few bits on the road. I’m working with Telus again this month for their May ‘Friendly Futures‘ contest where they’re giving away $100K in charitable donations. For my contribution, I made a donation to Tree Canada and committed to doing a community cleanup. This is some friends and I and in Vancouver (2018) with some of the Telus team for their Telus Days of Giving when we made care packs for local schools. Read more about Telus Friendly Future days here. In other news, I looked outside as the sun was setting and couldn’t believe it was 8pm! Love it. Morning is my fav time to get things done but right before sundown is so beautiful, that magic hour. The sun goes down across the lake, shining her colourful light, nice and bright, right into the cottage. Hope you had a nice weekend. ?

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Day 311: Amber is the Color of Your Energy

Today was a good day. Left the house late afternoon to meet Natalie and her dog Chloe for a walk before the sun went down. We sat outside in the park by the Telus Centre near the Royal Conservatory of music, then went around the park. Walked through some of the University of Toronto buildings and I recognized a bunch of from Tiny Pretty Things on Netflix. There are heaps of recognizable locations if you’re watching the show, see some of them here on BlogTO. Good show, I’ll finish it tonight. Before heading home I had a little meetup outside with Nelson & Talia. We went to Eatily and got groceries. It felt like being out on the town! It’s been so long since I went to a place with anyone other than Sean. We were all wearing masks and only inside a grocery store, but it was invigorating! Earlier in the day, after my run, I tried a TikTok hair trend to do natural, heatless waves with a belt from a robe. I wasn’t sure how it worked at first but as the day went on, the curls relaxed and my hair looked great. I can’t wait to try it again and get really good at this. I’ve dreamed of having long hair for years and without the pandemic, I would have probably cut it. The title of this post on Day 311 is Amber by the band 311. My sister and I used to love this one so much. It will make you smile. ?

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Day 105: A Fear of Impending Doom

I took a selfie and didn’t realize how dark the sky had gotten. Sean is inside Canadian Tire while I wait in the car. We’re meeting someone at McDonald’s in 20 min to buy some lights for the cottage.  I’ve felt anxious for days. I’m tired. Yesterday I napped for almost four hours, today I napped for one. I hardly ever take naps, I guess my body is exhausted? It’s Pride today and it’s gone online like everything these days. Last year we were in the parade with Telus. A couple of years ago we were on the Netflix float with the cast of Orange is The New Black. I’m finding it hard to locate happiness, I have to actually put down my phone and look for it outside in the world. The phone is full of things that stress me out. I watched CP24 today and there is a lot of gun violence, riots, fighting, sickness, and death. It’s hard to handle. I’m grateful I saw my family on Friday. It makes me smile just thinking about hugging and laughing together in the sun.  Jen Kirsch published an article in The Star that pretty much summed up how I’m feeling. Been thinking about how she mentioned the anxiety we feel with this pandemic, the risk, the guilt, sadness, regret. Going out, seeing people, did we say/do the right thing? I feel some guilt that after about 80 days of blogging, I’m behind on 10 days. But then again, that’s pretty amazing I blogged that much at all! Can’t feel guilty, gotta let it go, it’s ok.  The sky cleared up a bit and the sun is out. Sean is walking to the car and we have 7 min to meet the guy.  Everything is gonna be ok.

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Beat Winter SAD: Take A Vacation

Last winter was really hard, we had one of the coldest seasons in ages, there was ice everywhere, and my arm was messed up. I spent most of the winter inside our house going Marie Kondo through every cupboard and drawer. This winter, I’m determined to find joy in simple things and actively make an effort to warm myself up and beat winter SAD. I wrote a few posts with ways I’m trying to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder with the hope it will help make our days a bit brighter. Some take a little more money/planning but others you can do at home right now. I’ll update this post with a link to each so you can scroll once they’re live. Vacation The easiest way to boost your mood in winter? Take a vacation. I know this isn’t an option for everyone with work/family/finances but if you can do it, it’s so nice. This year, I took a 7-day all-inclusive trip to Cuba with a friend. We have been talking about doing a low-key beach getaway at the start of January for 2+ years and finally did it! Cuba was a good option because we were not going for luxury, our conditions for the trip were affordable, beach, sun. The beach was beautiful and the sun was hot. The food wasn’t luxe but we managed to eat simple, the main things I ate were bread, rice, fruit, pasta, and eggs. I read an entire book, took heaps of photos, and finished the week well-rested and refreshed. We went to bed early (and sober) most nights. I stuck to Amy’s 1K a day challenge and did some type of activity each day (long walk, dance, NTC). It was just what I needed and a perfect reset to start the year. I…

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