Travel | Treehouse Glamping in Ontario w/ Glamping Hub

My first trip of the year wasn’t to a sunny destination, it was up north to a tiny little solar-powered treehouse north of Toronto. Glamping Hub invited me to stay at a destination of my choice, so naturally I picked a cool one. Glamping Hub is home to some of the coolest non-traditional camping spots around the world. They’ve got luxury camping available in tree houses, yurts, tipis, camper vans, safari and fancy tents. I’m hoping to explore a few more of their destinations in South/Central Ontario. Here’s my first Glamping Hub experience!  [symple_divider style=”solid” margin_top=”5″ margin_bottom=”5″]

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Happy New Year! * Sweet Sixteen*

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!  [symple_divider style=”solid” margin_top=”5″ margin_bottom=”5″] 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…

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This Is My Life | Snow, Holidays, Glamping, Boots

Listening to Christmas music and planning to decorate the house today. I might have had too much coffee but that’s OK! Woke up to snow and now it’s REALLY the holidays.  Have a couple things to get done first but I’m dying to pull out the decorations and get started. Is it too early for egg nog? Booked a stay at a solar powered tree house in January via Glamping Hub. They reached out about a stay and I thought it would be nice to be nested in the forest in the middle of winter. Since the cottage is closed I need to keep my wilderness connection alive. It’s about an hour north of Toronto and you can bet I’ll be documenting my adventure. I’d like to try actual glamping this summer, in a tent. Remember how last summer I really wanted to get a tent set up? Next year I’ll do it at the start of summer instead of trying at the end. Yesterday I finally unboxed a paid of boots that arrived from Sorel Footwear via Klout Perks a couple months ago. Turns out, they’re super cute AF! I didn’t know Sorel had so many nice boots. These ones also come in a taller version or shorter in a bunch of colours.  This post isn’t sponsored by them but I would be happy if it was, I love these new cuties on my feet. *waves to Sorel across internet!  A photo posted by C A S I E S T E W A R T (@casiestewart) on Nov 24, 2015 at 5:19am PST I think yesterday was my last day getting away with just a leather jacket. Time to bring out the big guns coats! When it gets cold, remember, there’s no bad weather just bad outfits.      

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Tech | Another One Bites the Dust: RIP Rdio

The list of social sharing services I’ve seen disappear over the last five years keeps getting longer. A bit of sadness for Rdio this week as it’s been purchased by Pandora for $75M and filed for Chapter 11. I’ve been using Rdio since early 2012 when it came to Canada after I was introduced to it at SXSW. Around them I took part in a round table to discussion on the future of music streaming and music piracy with a bunch of music execs and media. Canada.com covered the session (here). After my free year of Rdio was up, I continued to pay $9.99 for the service the last few years, with my own money. Rdio was there for countless road trips, dance parties, summers on the dock, sing-alongs in the boat, and Christmas parties. I made heaps of playlists and Rdio has been part of all my fun the last few years. I mentioned it as one of my fav apps in interviews w/ ApexPR & Mad Hatter Tech. It’s crazy how attached you become to a service, how integrated it becomes in your life. I was really sad when 12seconds.tv was purchased by AOL and dissolved, felt heartbreak over Dailybooth, and another wave of sadness when Viddy shut down. Transfer Your Rdio Playlists to Apple Music Today I’ve been transferring my Rdio playlists to Apple Music. TBH I don’t mind Apple Music but I really loved Rdio. I decided to fork over the $4.99 to have movetoapplemusic.com do the work of moving my playlists over from Rdio. Luckily, I think Apple Music will be around for a while. I am really feeling this 90’s hip hop & R&B playlist from the commercial with Mary J. Blige. You’ll love it too, heaps of good jamz!  

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Spring in November, Isn’t it Lovely?

I am seriously loving this weather! I went for a bike ride this morning to get a coffee. I’ve been a bit slack on blog posts this week as I’m seriously prepping for a TEDx talk this weekend.  I’ve been giving myself a little goals of doing some work and then rewarding myself with a coffee or with lunch. I’ve got a lot to get accomplished this week! Next week I’m shooting a holiday project with a major design company and I’m really excited about it. I set a goal to do more video so I’m pretty stoked about all the collabs I’ve got coming up. [vine id=”eLKeuduiF0T”]  In other news,  I recently discovered how great dictation is on my MacBook, I can literally talk and it types everything I’m saying. I’m doing this today because I’m feeling a bit frazzled! 😛 Prepping for a speaking gig involves lots of talking to yourself. Dictation and iPhone voice memos are my saviour this week. THANKS APPLE! Scion Canada hooked me up with a car for the week, which I am LOVING! I’ve never owned my own car and it’s so freeing to just jump in an hit the open road. Today I’m heading West with my sister to have dinner with mum. [vine id=”e33FP9rUlTm”] Yesterday I went to WEST (wearables) conference at the MaRS discovery District. On this panel is one of Sean’s business partners, J.Lee Williams,  talking the future of VR in film and television. I also stopped into a preview of ALDO Spring/Summer 2016. Take a little scroll through my fav items in this little Vine. You’ll find these at stores early next year. I’ve been making more short videos so pop over to https://vine.co/CASIESTEWART to see my recent creations.  [vine id=”e3L7BnJ10BM”] OK, time for me to get a move on. Forever being distracted by the internet!…

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Events | Woodbine Racing 2015 Season Comes to an End

This weekend, before heading to the cottage Garret, Sean and I stopped by Woodbine for the last big race of the season, the Breeders Cup. Over the past few months I’ve attended a bunch of great times there with friends. Almost everyone I took this season came home with $$. I’m still working on my luck! A photo posted by C A S I E S T E W A R T (@casiestewart) on Oct 18, 2015 at 11:31am PDT Saturday night @WoodbineRacing with this babe @casiestewart #Crown15 pic.twitter.com/SxF4dRsqsa — Garrett Tonge (@GTONGE1) October 24, 2015 One of my fav events of the summer is the Queen’s Plate. Carla had never been to the races so I took her as my date. It was a nice sunny afternoon and we started with the Hats & Horseshoes party. All season, Woodbine hosted a selfie contest with a $1,000 gift card prize. It was easy to enter, snap a selfie with the racetrack in the background, post to Twitter or Instagram with #OfftotheRaces and you were in. Aside from the Queen’s Plate there’s Woodbine Oaks, the Pattison International, and Breeders Crown. Before Dawn moved back to Scotland I took her for an afternoon at the races. Woodbine Oaks was a fun one for us as there were rock n’ roll bands playing for us to jam out to. My sister Carynn was the big winner of the summer with a near whopping $100 for the day. We went in the middle of October and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We dined at Futures where they offer a sit down lunch, private viewing area, and full buffet. They also make some pretty good cocktails here! 😉 I’d like to thank Woodbine for a fun summer. It was great sharing my #offtotheraces experiences and taking friends for the first time. My Grandad…

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4 Companies Offering Great Customer Service

One of the things I really love about Telus is their commitment to customer service. They feel great customer service starts from the ground up and they’ve made a commitment to telling Canadians they need to Expect More from their telcom providers. Today I’m sharing a couple other great customer experience stories from other companies putting customers first. Little Burgundy – Broken Boots Near the end of summer I purchased a killer pair of boots designed by Jeffrey Campbell from littleburgundyshoes.com. I’ve been wearing them regularly but recently the cool cut-out heels broke.   I didn’t want get stuck on the phone ringing customer service so I sent a tweet with some photos to @LittleBurgundy and they replied within about 30 minutes. It took about 5 min to fin d a new pair of booth in store and the return was easy. I really love when a company is socially connect and able to help their customers over Twitter.  Nice work guys! Now I will check out the sales and probably buy more. 🙂 @LittleBurgundy hi guys, @JCshoes I ordered <2 mo ago broke this week. Both of them! Can you help!? ?? pic.twitter.com/eiXtpAEHnK — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) October 21, 2015 Go Daddy – Server Upgrade I’ve been with GoDaddy for my website hosting since switching over to WordPress from Blogger.com years ago. I’ve had nothing but great customer service from their team. I’ve had them renew my domain (until 2022!) help with a hacking situation (on the 1st day of TIFF!) and more recently with a server upgrade. GoDaddy recently changed their hosting and the plan I was on no longer had analytics. As a blogger and online business owner, the stats are important to me. I had considered switching to another host when their help team offered to look into my situation. Instead…

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Cottage Life | Video + Wood, Boats, Dock, A Fall Beard

[youtube id=”uEihYSAjbKA”] This weekend we did a few big jobs involved with closing up the cottage. On thanksgiving morning we took the big boat out of the water (which involved me driving the truck with big trailer attached). Add that to my skills! Once the boat was away we stacked HEAPS of wood. Skills include driving truck w/ massive trailer. pic.twitter.com/WauYIFPu1j — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) October 12, 2015 Was pretty exhausted after so Sean and I took a break and I did a festive thanksgiving take on the ‘flower beard’ we did in Calgary this summer. So cute. We stacked HEAPS of wood. It’s was big job but the weather was nice, worked up quite a sweat. Last task of the day was taking out the other small boat and the dock. We put on wetsuits and went for it. I think we were both surprised we did it by ourselves (and my strength!). Sean is strong, my muscles are not as good for heavy lifting. Over the winter I’m planning to work on my editing skills so I can make more + better videos. I would love if you subscribe! Kowing you’re subscribed motivates me to work harder and produce more entertaining things for you. I’ve also signed up for Skillshare, if you use this link you can sign up for a free month. I figure this year I should learn some new skills/perfect old ones instead of just sitting on the couch or Netflix & chilling. 😛

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Fashion | Converse Holiday Preview 2015

Last week I went to the media preview for Converse 2015 Holiday. I’ve been wearing these kicks my entire life. Mum reminded me the other day that I had them as a wee little kiddo. I’ve gone through heaps of pairs over the years and love how they change slightly, yet remain the same. This year Converse released the Converse Chuck Taylor Chuck II. The new Chuck II is nearly identical to its predecessor, with advances in construction and technology, including Nike’s Lunarlon cushioning. They’re more comfortable! This neon colour is limited edition FYI. A photo posted by StephenThomasM (@stephenthomasm) on Sep 29, 2015 at 6:27pm PDT “[The Chuck II] continues to reflect the spirit of the Chuck Taylor and what it’s meant all these years. It still has all of the most recognizable exterior attributes of the Chuck — that’s important to the consumer. We’re just addressing the new needs of the consumer while staying true to this iconic sneaker,” said David Allen, GM and VP of Converse North America. There’s two new styles from the Holiday 2015 Collection I’m majorly crushing on. First, these rubber Chuck Taylor high tops. I can see myself wearing these all winter, summer, spring, and fall. They’re waterproof and have a sleek zipper down the back. Get on my feet you guys!  ???? Second is not released in Canada yet but they will be soon.  I’m not supposed to say anything about the collab just yet but I found this tweet on Twitter and won’t go into detail and just leave it here… You can see why I love them! Give your feet the warmth they deserve this Winter with the exclusive #Converse Woolrich pic.twitter.com/0psx3J2mSU — Foot Locker EU (@FootLockerEU) October 2, 2015 MAJOR SWOON BABY! ✌️??? CASIE

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This is My Life | There’s Harmony in Autumn, and A Luster in it’s Sky

That’s a wrap on summer! Had a nice relaxing weekend at the cottage. Still a few weeks before we close the place up. The leaves have just started changing. It’s beautiful. Yesterday Sean and I heard this crazy loud noise when we were out for  drive. It was Ontario Watercross Racing – snowmobile racing on water.  I didn’t know this was a thing! They have to keep going at pretty fast speed to stay on top of the water. Saw  few go down and get pulled up from the bottom of the lake. The course includes going around a couple buoys then sliding back to the sand. It’s super fast. We watched a few runs and victory laps on the grass before heading home. They’re REALLLLLLY loud. (Sorry this is showing up so small!) Picked up a few of these little guys . I love this time of year! I know I say that about every season but they each have their charm, they really do. Been thinking a fair bit about halloween and what costumes I want to go with this year. Had a nice sunset cruise in the boat last night. Perfect way to close out summer at the cottage. Have a pretty crazy adventure planned for next weekend at the cottage. A brand is sending two private planes to take some friends and I  and flying around Muskoka and to Port Carling. I’m excited. Will share more about that later. There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been! Percy Bysshe Shelley Here’s to a great week! ?✌️ CASIE

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