#Travel: A Weekend in Boston w/ My Loves

On Friday afternoon Sean and I hopped on a little plane at Toronto Island and flew Porter across the pond to Boston. I absolutely LOVE flying Porter. We arrived at the (worlds shortest commercial) ferry at 2:10pm, landed on the island at 2:15pm, and at 2:40 we had checked in at the gate and through security. There was even time for a sandwich and a drink & snack. Pop, juice, water, coffee, tea, cookies, almonds are all free in the lounge. WIFI too! The flight was a breeze and in just under an hour and a half we landed at Boston Logan. It was my first time using the automated US Customs and it was a total breeze. We had a chuckle that I took a glamour shot. Like, check out that photo? All my selfie taking is really paying off. I can’t wait till I go for my next Passport photo. We stopped at The Bell in Hand as usual. I’ve been going there with Bob since my first Boston trip about five years ago. It’s the oldest pub in America and our friend Meri works there. Some Heineken babes were dishing out free beers which was a nice start to the weekend! Our next stop was Nico’s Restaurant in Boston’s North End, Little Italy. I absolutely LOVE Italian food and our dinner here was FANTASTIC. I packed up the leftovers and snacked on them later.  A bunch of celebs have dined there and I was most interested to see The Rock had been there since that photo of him from the 90’s has been flying around this week. I spent Saturday by the pool from morning till night. It was SUCH a beautiful day. And with a pool like this, hwo could I go wrong? A bunch of friends joined us later in the…

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My Massage at Urban Nirvana Thai in Yorkville

When I was in Thailand last year I got so many massages. Like 20 in 15 days, so many.  I tried a variety of different kinds and prefer a Swedish massage.  After being whipped around during a Thai massage by a little old Thai lady, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get one again. But I did… I was contacted by Urban Nirvana Thai Massage in Yorkville to come try out a Holistic Thai massage. I wasn’t about to say no to the offer and decided to give Thai massage another chance. Dudes, it was amazing. My massage was with Vania and she walked on my back, my feet, and stretched out my shoulders, and hips. I felt so great after. I was welcomed with water and taken into this room where they drew the drapes for my private massage. There was a little basket with a towel and clean set of Thai fisherman pants and a top. Getting a massage can be awkward when you’re not sure what to wear or what NOT to wear so this made me feel very comfortable. I arrived after a long day and when I finally stopped moving and rested on the matt and listened to the calming music by myself, I started to relax. I have a hard time with relaxing sometimes! The team at Urban Nirvana have given me a 20% discount to share with you. You can use it for Holistic Thai Massage (service I had) or group yoga classes in the studio. The location is 895 Yonge Street, just north of the old Masonic Temple where MTV used to be. You can use it to book online or over the phone.  Discount code: CasieS20 I’m hoping to try out the Swedish massage and some yoga soon. Have a wonderful day my friends. Pack a ‘brolly! Namaste…

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#SaveYourScreams #MMVA 2014: 2 Noms, 1 Commercial!

The 2014 MMVA show is next weekend and this year is an exciting one for me! Sean and 1188 Films are nominated for two awards in Post Production AND my sister is an MMVA commercial now playing on your TV. I’ve always loved the MMVAs and in 2010 I was the Social Media Manager for the show while I worked at MuchMTV. 1188’s nominations are for Hedley – Crazy for You and Sam Roberts – We’re All In This Together. He’ll be attending the show with his team and I’ll be prepping to hit the town after and *hopefully* celebrate them bringing home another award. Cross ya fingaz! Last year Sean & 1188 worked on Drake’s ‘Started from the Bottom’ which won video of the year. In 2012 they won an award for Down With Webster’s ‘Big Wheels’. Keep an eye out for my samurai-sword-swinging sister on your TV. Jenie Stewart is in an MMVA ‘Save Your Screams’ commercial. It’s pretty funny, they made the girls look pretty rough and fight against each other. Love it! Watch Jenie’s 2014 MMVA Commercial #SaveYourScreams It’s also pretty exciting Lorde will be at the show. GO TEAM NEW ZEALAND! She’s killing it! So proud of Jenie, Sean, and Lorde! As for me, I’m getting a Chevy Camaro convertible for that weekend from Klout so I’ll be feeling pretty great too. Happy Friday my friends! <3 CASIE

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Speaking | Mark Your iCal – CM1 May, 22nd, at CBC

Next month I’m speaking at CM1, Canada’s Community Manager Conference. I was a panelist at the last one and this round I’ll be speaking about ‘Influencing the Influencers’. I’ve travelled the world and worked with some of the worlds biggest brands and done heaps of work as an as ‘influencer’.  It’s been really neat watching the roles of ‘influencer’ and ‘Community Manager’ evolve over the last five years. When I started at MuchMusic/MTV as a ‘Social Media Coordinator’, the role ‘Community Manager’ was almost unheard of. Now, it’s a job you’ll find at almost every agency and client-side brand. I’ll be sharing my experience and tips for brands and bloggers when it comes to working together. I was recently on CBC in a segment about this very topic (scroll down to March 22, episode). Follow the conversation for tickets and speaker up dates on Twitter here and take a peek at the other speakers here. I’ll see if I can contest some tickets for you guys to come! .@casiestewart is among the first batch of speakers for #CM1TO http://t.co/oMuZuf1mKo — FITC (@FITC) April 3, 2014   * Photos of me by Adrian Fiebig

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Huge TBT | The Blog Years, March 2009 – 2013

Ok here’s a MASSIVE TBT on the month of March from 2009 – 2013. I love looking back on things I’ve done. It’s so easy to forget! The main reason I started this blog in 2005 was so I could remember more. It totally worked! On this day last year Sean sent me flowers to the office .What a darling. Love you! I also blogged about Andy Warhol on this day last year. Sean and I were getting ready to go on a trip to Boston too. See posts tagged March 2013 here. Two years ago on this day I was at The Gladstone for an event. Loved those boots so much. And RIP that leather jacket. Took part in a round table w/ Russ Martin from Marketing Magazine about Rdio & music streaming in Canada. It was MUCH nicer outside and I visited the Toronto Music Garden. Took this using 360 Panoramic app in iPhone from  hTO Park (Urban Beach) which is right beside the lake. Around this time two years ago I filmed ‘It’s All About Me’ documentary that last year won several film festival awards. I’m in another documentary that will be on the festival circuit soon. Pretty neat if you ask me! In March 2011 I was a Personal Branding expert with Levi’s. I love looking back on this stuff, I forget how many things I’ve done! Here are some tips on building your personal brand to help  establish yourself online: Set a goal: Make a plan for your brand. What are you passionate about? What do you want to be known for? Start a blog: Use WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger or Posterous to create a free home for your online activity. Find a mentor: Find someone who is doing what you want to do and introduce yourself, learn from them…

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#TBT Liberty Village | Inspired by Andy Warhol

A Throwback Thursday Story I was browsing tumblr last night and I came across this photo of Andy Warhol and was instantly reminded of this old photo of me by Kelly Kruschel from years ago. It was taken in Liberty Village before all the condos were built, before all the shops, and people took over the neighbourhood. I worked in Liberty Village from 2008-2009  inside the Carpet Factory lofts. I spent lots of time then building my blog, doing events around the city, and making friends. So much time that I used to get in trouble from my boss for blogging at work, and I even took date stamps off my posts so he didn’t know ‘exactly’ when I was posting. I was determined to get into a media job and applied for a gig via Workopolis w/ MUCH + MTV  and knew I was right for the job. I ended up beating HEAPS of people for the role of Social Media Coordinator and started at 299 Queen street in September 2009. It’s crazy to think about all the things I’ve done since then. Places I’ve travelled, brands I’ve worked with. At the time these photos were taken all those things  seemed only possible in my dreams. Just goes to show you really can do anything you put your mind to. <3 CASIE

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Work/Life: GelaSkins Update for Y’all!

Well hello from my new office at GelaSkins! I’ve been here for a week and I thought it’s time to post a lil’ update.  I’ve joined the team as Social Media Director and over the next few months I’ll be building a team and helping strategize how to make waves for some exciting company news. I’m loving it so far and working with awesome people. What is GelaSkins?   We have a very cool office. This is only one little sneak peek! The space is super creative with art everywhere, hardwood floors, gaming, AppleTV, sweet couches, full kitchen, and a gym downstairs. There’s also a roof top patio and beer taps. It’s great the office is a 10 walk from our house too.  I get two songs in from door to door. 🙂 News about my new gig was published last week on Canada’s top Tech website TechVibes and this week in Marketing Magazine ‘On The Move‘ section. Woot! When I joined MuchMTV, Metro did a story about about blogging my way to MTV and last year when I joined Community, Marketing Mag wrote ‘The Perks of Being an Influencer‘ (with that great shot by Steve Carty!). Quotes from the News & GelaSkins Co-Founder TechVibes:  “This is an exciting time for GelaSkins as a company,” says Drew Downs, CEO of GelaSkins. “We’re growing steadily and in the coming months we’ll be making some giant leaps into what will be the future of our company.” “Adding someone like Casie is definitely going to help us accomplish our goals as we grow,” he added. “We’ve had our eye on Casie for a while because our products start conversations and there are few people better to help manage those conversations than her.” “Joining GelaSkins is the next big step in my career. I’m excited…

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Tech | Heart on for Social TV and Data Visualization

If you didn’t see this video on social TV from Twitter check it out. Pretty neat data visualization. I LOVE social TV. Something I’ve been really passionate about since working at a TV station a couple years ago. The magic of Twitter and TV fascinates me. I love real time communication, advertising, and interaction. I hope to work more in that space again one day. Last year at Banff World Media Festival, social TV was such a hot topic. Here’s my episode on Coral TV where I chat about upcoming trends, these are all relevant one year later! In other news, Vizify is a wicked way to visualize your social resume. Made this little ditty the other day. Cool eh! I made a movie of my twitter: vizify.com/casie-stewart/… What do you think?  #Vizify — CASIE STEWART (@casiestewart) June 13, 2013   Almost the weekend! HUZZAHHHHHHH! WEEEEE. CASIE

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Who could hang a name on you? When you change with every new day.

Hello, hope the day is treating you well. Huge haul at The Sweet Potato last night. I made a nice healthy dinner and he played records. I also made kale chips. Who am I?! If this is growing up, I really like it. Feels good to have quiet nights at home after being on the go for the last 5 years at every event in the city. I’m much pickier about the things I go to these days. The sky in Toronto was really beautiful last night. Had a drink and snack at The Drake hotel with a former colleague from MTV. My how times change! It’s always nice to catch up with old friends. If they’ve been reading my blog, we seem to always pick up right where we left off. Pretty stoked to go to Boston next weekend. Crazy thing, the people from CityPASS contacted me after I mentioned them in the CAA post last week about travelling to NY & LA. The power of THE INTERNET is truly amazing! Looking forward to touring around the city and showing Sean all my fav spots. We’ll start with Harvard, MIT, and the Boston Common. Hopefully we have spring weather by then! Remember, you’ll never be younger than you are today! <3 CASIE

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Into The Sun

My friend and babe Anna Cyzon just released a new music vid for her song ‘Into the Sun’. I missed the launch event last week and planned to tell you all about it. We’ve always bonded over our blondeness and that we both used to work at MTV. Anna Cyzon ‘Into the Sun’ launch, Spoke Club The first part of the video is a little dark for Monday morning but song is good! ‘Into the Sun’ reminds me of a poem I wrote in 2004 when I lived in Australia. It’s one of my favs. As the waves crashed on the shore, The wind washed them away. And as I walked along the sand, I felt I could not stray. For I was walking towards the sun, And it was a brand new day. – Untitled, Casie 2004 I hope the sun shines bright in your direction today. <3 CASIE  

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