Day 329: Winter Wonderland of Snow

The air is so crisp! It’s about -10 today and the wind is fierce. After watching a few episodes of The Wilds on Prime, we ventured out on the lake. It’s 100% frozen thick with a few inches of snow. Quite the workout walking in such deep snow! There’s a couple of ice huts out for fishing and heaps of snowmobile tracks. My hair is a total mess and I’m wearing the same clothes as yesterday but I feel good, rested. Thankfully my warm winter coat was here because it’s freezing! I booked off a couple of days this week to recharge my batteries and I hope to spend a few hours sewing. I love the cottage so much. Sean and I managed to finish the entire first season of The Wilds in one day, what a commitment. Ha! I guess it was a good show…? I’d probably watch S2 if it was available. I find my standards of good tv have dropped during the pandemic, I’ll watch just about anything these days. Even better if there’s more than one season! What will I watch next? I know, I know, life isn’t that exciting right now, ok! ?

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Day 305: How It Started, How It’s Going

I really tried to be productive today. In my heart, I want to get things done but it’s hard to focus. Today the USA voted to impeach Trump for the second time. I wasn’t feeling great when I woke up and started the day by sleeping in and working on the computer from my bed. I closed out the day with a chat on Clubhouse then a Twitter chat while watching Mrs. & Mrs. Smith on my iPad. It’s nice to talk with people and a good distraction from everything going on. If you’re on Clubhouse, add me ‘casiestewart’. Tomorrow the Stay Home Order is in effect and we are only to leave the house for exercise or essential items. You are not allowed to have anyone over to your house and if outside, you must wear a mask and can’t have more than 5 people together. It’s hard to believe this is real, I know I’ve said that before but every once in a while I get distracted and forget the pandemic, then I see the news or a notification and reality sits in. Please stay safe. Call your friends and family. We’ll get through this!

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Day 294: What Does 2021 Have for Me?!

Feels great to be home! Who would have thought we’d spend most of 2020 up at the cottage. Being home has a different vibe and feels a bit more like normal life, despite the fact we can’t really go anywhere because of lockdown. I’ve been playing around with my iPad pro a bit more. I’ve dreamed of making fabric, more art, and creating. It’s such a great little tool! I mostly use Procreate App with the Apple Pencil. What does 2021 have in store for me? According to my 12 most used emojis (this is social science haha), it’s looking like 2021 will have: Happiness, praise (clapping), love (red heart + pink heart to me means friends & family), star (success), more cute hearts, a crown, laughter, high fives, art/creativity, brains/nerding out, silliness, home, kindness, and rock on (hopefully this means some partying with people!).

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Day 213: You OK?

Some days are harder than others. It’s important we check on each other, a simple, ‘you ok?’ might just be what your friend needs to hear. Reach out to me anytime. Yes, I’m your friend on the internet but also a real human typing these words. Today was the first day back after the long weekend and I had planned to do more work over the weekend than I did. So, I’m starting a short week a day late and behind. I really tried to catch up as much as I could today but I also felt overwhelmed and tired. When I get like this, it’s hard to concentrate. I find myself staring at my screen, knowing what needs to be done but I just can’t seem to connect my brain to the fingers and make it happen. I decided to start watching The Bachelorette at night as a way to distract me from everything going on in the world, then my iPad died. I went back to trusty Gossip Girl and made it into the second season. Tomorrow we are going back to the city and I’m borrowing a car from Mini Canada in the afternoon. I’m looking forward to having my own vehicle for a week, taking scenic drives, and maybe going to visit mum. I could really use a hug from her today. Sending love through the internet. We’ll get through this. It’s gonna be ok. We’re gonna be ok.

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Day 183: You Don’t have to Monetize Every Hobby

I’ve loved sewing my whole life. I also have a new sewing machine that I’ve hardly used for about 8 years. I want to sew, but never had the time or made the time to do it. As a kid, I spent heaps of time sewing with mum. I even started my first business in grade 3 sewing gym bags for classmates. Early into quarantine, I took the time to make things for the pure enjoyment of making them. I did heaps of tie-dye, turmeric dye, made friendship bracelets, and practised line drawing on iPad. The art of creating gives me so much joy. It inspires creativity in other areas of my life. I loved sharing the things I made on social media and mailing some to friends. I was reminded you don’t have to monetize every hobby, it’s incredibly freeing to create for the sake of creating. This weekend, I started sewing again. I took a few items of clothing that were ripped or on their way to donations and made a few scrunchies. The big pink ones are a soft rayon fabric and flop when you doa top know. they used to be part of Joe Fresh shirt from years ago that had a mark on it. It was so fun to make them and patch together my old clothes to make new patterns. I spent most the day sewing, listening to music, watching Netflix, and letting my creative juices flow. After posting my creations, I had a few people saying they want to buy or ask where to order. I’m not there yet, I might never be! For now, the Quarantine 2.0 version of me is Casie Sew-Art. I’m back at my machine baby, who knows what I’ll create next!

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Day 127: Girls Night!

Today we had our first summer guest since the start of quarantine, the one and only Jen Kirsch! Jen and I have been friends for years, we’ve travelled to Spain, New Orleans and been to hundreds of events together. She’s been isolated with her dad in Richmond Hill and we thought it was a-ok to finally have her up. We played games in the living room, danced, and went to our Monday night regular hangout, ‘Vinyl Night’ at Communist Daughter via Zoom. It was so much fun! I’ve really loved her new podcast Lockdown Love with eOne Entertainment, download it here and follow her on IG here.

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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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Day 65: Look Around, There’s Beauty Everywhere

I spent most of the day working on that documentary submission w/ Sean then picked up some packages from the office. It’s been months since I went there. Went for an evening walk in the neighbourhood and it’s so beautiful. After being in the woods for months I’m really noticing all the colour, street art, greenery. I love this area so much. I love the cottage but it feels good to be home.

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Day 35: Stages of Isolation

I’m at the stage of isolation where I have now cut and dyed my hair. It’s just temporary but I feel like a change, so why not?! Nothing holding me back from making things and doing stuff at this point. Inspired by Briony (amazing Toronto artist) and Martina Martian (fav artist in Australia), I’ve been drawing on iPad Pro more. Made this line drawing yesterday. Took ages but it’s nice to just sit and create. Click to see the video animation from image to art! View this post on Instagram A post shared by CASIE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) on Apr 19, 2020 at 5:33am PDT I used to love drawing on iPad and when I got my first one a decade ago, my old blog Borderline Artistic was thriving. I was drawing almost daily and posting art I made. Around that time I created the ‘Unnecessary Wheels Collection‘, might start that up again. It’s nice to get back to creating just for fun. Not sure I can stop now! I also bleach dyed a pair of denim and they turned out AMAZING. WHAT WILL I MAKE NEXT?!

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How To Avoid a Video Chat Faux Pas

Since we’re all faced with this new reality of connecting from home through technology, my friend Jen Kirsch FaceTimed me to chat about how to avoid mishaps on your video chat. The article is in the Toronto Star today, click below to read. Read on the Toronto Star Over the past few weeks, I’ve been more social than normal. FaceTime, Houseparty, Zoom, Google Hangouts, it can be exhausting! During the first two weeks o(f isolation), I was video chatting with several people a day! Tips for Video Chat Success: If using a phone, get a tripod or stabilize the phone (simple iPhone tripod, or tripod with a ring light) Check your wifi settings, faceTime needs wifi, if you’re in a limited wifi area, data might be your best option Wear something presentable for your meeting ex. casual attire for work, a shirt when chatting on Houseparty, maybe something spicy for a date or friends hang. Pants optional and not required. Log in to the video chat early to check your lighting Brush your hair or wear a hat If in a big group, someone should be leading the chat ex. boss, host, or person having a birthday I personally like lip gloss and mascara for daytime If using Zoom, change your background with something fun or download one of these nice design ones to give your home a makeover (or hide the mess!) Find more tips in the Toronto Star article! Have a great day!

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