The Boxed Water #ReTree Project & Brands That Give Back

wayhome, case stewart, muskoka, boxed water, cottage

It doesn’t seem that long ago I was at WayHome North of Barrie. It was a lot more Coachella-ish this year with the huge ferris wheel. Aside from going to the festival, I spent a bunch of time in the lake at the cottage because it was SO HOT. I kept hydrated with Boxed Water and paired that with my TOMS sunnies & shoes for comfort & style, all while doing a bit of good for the world. ? ?

I love when brands adopt a business model that gives back to an organization or cause. If you read my recent post on Skincare Stuff You’ll Find in My Summer Bag you’ll know that Boxed Water donates 2 trees for each mention of #ReTree on social.

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This summer alone, Boxed Water has planted 250,000 trees with the help of people like us. Their goal is to plant 1 million! 

How is Boxed Water helping the environment?

  • – 74% of packaging is made from trees, a renewable resource
  • – They ship boxes flat to their filler, lowering our carbon footprint
  • – They use a thin foil barrier for freshness and HDPE for the waterproof liner and cap
  • – The entire carton is recyclable and 100% BPA free
  • – Trees used in their boxes come from well-managed forests
  • – As a member of 1% For The Planet, Boxed Water commits at least one percent of their total sales annually to reforestation

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The Biz Model of Giving Back

I’ve gotten a few compliments on these shoes and glasses (above) and would you believe they’re TOMS? They’ve moved on from those canvas shoes we were all wearing a couple years ago to more fashion forward items that adopt their one-for-one model. It started with shoes and now the company provide glasses & sight surgery through eyewear, improved access to water, and more.

TOMS paved the way for the buy-one give one model, inspiring others along the way. Canadian company Mealshare provides one meal for each meal sold and to date has given 832,321 meals across Canada. Another great company I’ve written about a few times is Me To We and their beautiful artisan jewellery and products, see here. 

The Boxed Water motto is to ‘inspire a better tomorrow by rethinking packaged water today‘.  Join in the Re#Tree campaign in Canada, pick up some Boxed Water at Loblaws or Sobeys.

ALSO, if you’re looking for a CUTE DIY with the boxes, try repurposing one as a planter. ? ? ? I’ve got a little tiny tree in one of mine. ? Check out this great post by Kaylee on The Blondielocks.

kaylee, the blondielocks, planters, blogger, DIY, boxed water

Here’s to making the world a bit better 🙂 Stay hydrated out there!

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Being Your Own Boss Has Its Perks – Cottage Workation!

Being Your Own Boss Has Its Perks – Cottage Workation!

This week we are working form the cottage.☀️?✌?  I find I’m really productive up here. It’s a nice mix of working hard, writing, and taking breaks, snacks, and naps.

I usually spend the day writing and doing blog biz things then after 2pm, I go down to the dock, float in the lake, or read on my Kobo. I’m about to finish She’s Not There by Joy Fielding today. ?? ? This will be my 10th book since April, summer goals ✔️!!!

Today is Sean’s 40th birthday! I know, he looks so young, what a babe! I baked a layered red velvet cake yesterday for later and we opened presents this morning. We’ve got some friends joining us end of the week to celebrate together.

casiestewart, boyfriend, california, disneyland
Us at Disneyland in California a couple years ago ?

If you’re following my Snapchat you’ll have seen these photos and the MASSIVE WATERMELON I got the other day. It’s seriously the biggest one I’ve EVER SEEN. I might cut into it this afternoon. ???

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In other news, SEAN GOT ME A CLAWFOOT TUB. I’m in love with it. It’s SO BIG. It’s not set up yet but it will be eventually. I’ve dreamed of having one of these and I’m absolutely over the moon. I sat in it, inside the garage for about 20 minutes yesterday, with no water. It’s MASSIVE!

Andrea Claw-Foot Tub With Silver Medici Feet

Sending you sunshine from cottage country, here’s to a great week!

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Simple Summer Hosting Hacks for Outdoor Dining

Simple Summer Hosting Hacks for Outdoor Dining

Last weekend at the cottage Emily helped me put together lunch for the fam. It was so fun to do this together, she’s 8 now and a great little helper! She was also quite stoked to help with the blog. ?

Scroll down for a few ‘hacks’ we can up with using stuff you just might find around the house, the kitchen, or the garage.  It was all pretty simple and not too expensive, BUT when we put it together, it looked great! I guess that’s why they’re called HACKS.

On the Menu

We made mini sushi-style BLT wraps, a hot dog bar,  and mini bacon grilled cheese using products from Butterball Canada we picked up at Loblaws.

Simple Summer Hosting Hacks for Outdoor Dining

 

  1. Make an outdoor table using an old door. butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks8
  2. Use wrapping paper to decorate the table. Makes for easy cleanup! butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks7
  3. Organize your napkins or cutlery with Washi Tape. There are HEAPS of colours/prints!butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks9
  4. Freeze lemons to use in cocktails. ??? No need to water down those drinks with ice! butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks2
  5. Use a muffin baking tray for condiments.  butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks6
  6. Raid the dollar store for plastic plates and stack them. These same items were more $$$ at houseware stores. enlight1-6.jpg
  7. Baking cups inside little mason jars for sauces. Heaps of colours in these making mason jars even cuter. butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks5
  8. Put skewers in watermelon for easy snacking. I put them in the freezer so they were MAD CHILL. ☃️butterball turkey blog casie stewart hosting hacks1

If you loved this post LMK! Was fun putting it together. It was my first time trying turkey bacon which is 50% less fat than using bacon from pork. Found that it cooked a bit faster and made our meal a *little* healthier. The following day we used some leftovers to make cracked pepper maple bacon  that I’ll share in another post soon!

casie stewart, autograph, famous, blogger, canada, toronto

  * post sponsored by Butterball Canada but Emily and I totally did this all ourselves!

Fam Ting @ Cabana Pool Bar + Au Revoir Automobile! 

Fam Ting @ Cabana Pool Bar + Au Revoir Automobile! 

Hung out w/ some of the coolest cats around yesterday at Cabana. Untitled & Co. hosted the fam and brought their own DJ.  IT WAS HOT. ???


View out there is so nice. ☀️⛵️? If you’ve never been, Cabana used to be The Docks nightclub, it’s now transformed into a daytime club environment. ?? I prefer the weekday crowd, it gets realllllly crowded on the weekend. 


My Chevrole Cruze Platinum was picked up shortly after this. I really liked driving it. Was great on gas, had a sunroof, and the tan leather interior gave it a luxurious feel.  

When I drove home this week for a meeting I cruised the highway singing the top of my lungs to XM radio and iTunes. I love having a car! I’m yet to own my very own vehicle but I really do enjoy the freedom it gives. 

Here’s to a GREAT weekend. 10 days at the cottage STARTING NOW. ☀️✌?️?

Christmas in July is Fun

Christmas in July is Fun

I love the holidays and yes I know they are months away BUT that doesn’t mean we can’t think about decorating or throw fake snow in a 360 camera rig. ???? I went to holiday events for Hudson Bay, Sears, and Canadian Tire recently and they were all quite lovely.

The Sears preview at Story’s Building smelled like Christmas when you walked in and had live music from Kat’s band Lady be Good. They had a holiday house setup with different rooms filled with all the housewares from Debby Travis, new clothes in the Jessica line, and a kids room filled with toys and clothes. I took at seat at the art station for kids and left a pretty pink holiday drawing. There was a lot of nice stuff especially the housewares, its been a loooong time since I checked out a Sears and this was a nice nostalgia

The HBC preview was at Arcadian Court and little less interactive but there was heaps of stuff I’ve added to my wishlist. HBC has some great stuff coming for the holidays and late September they’ll have toys in store. There’s a whole collection of new items added to the traditions HBC stripes including puffer jackets and jammies. I was really feeling the Wrap Me paper you can have customized at HBC on Queen Street with your own images.

As soon as I walked into Canadian Tire’s Christmas in July I could smell all the trees and it was lit. As in there were heaps of lights, y’know. We always get a real tree so it was kinda cool to compare real and fake trees. Some of the artificial ones smell real, crazy. They had a 360 camera rig (The Big Freeze) setup and since it was not my first time in this thing I knew exactly what to do. Grabbed some snow and threw it into the air as the circle of cameras snapped and VOILA!

christmas 360

CT 360 christmas

The setup here was pretty neat, also different room setups, the living room was bright and casual and the tablescape for dinner was filled with rose gold. So into this trend for the holidays! My one true love here was the tree dress, it wold be heavy but amazing AF to wear! ??

All this really has me thinking I’d love to have a Christmas in July part at the cottage next year.  

In other news, Michaels AND Dollerama have Halloween stuff.

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