Celebrating Canada 150 w/ Great Canadian Cheese

What a nice surprise it was to receive this package, cheese! ??? To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Canada, Dairy Farmers of Canada is highlighting three distinct Canadian cheese from local cheesemakers.  This weekend I’ll be hosting a friend from NYC at the cottage and treating her to wine and great Canadian cheese. TODAY IS A GREAT DAY…. ??? #CanadianCheese pic.twitter.com/noMdZbbViU — CASiE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) June 27, 2017 Canada has a tradition of producing high-quality, great tasting cheese. A couple years ago I was in Montreal and visited Fromagerie Au Gré des Champs, one of the top cheese makers in the province. It was so cool to see how and where cheese is made. Tasting fresh cheese really gave me an appreciation for it. Safe to say my suitcase was loaded up with cheese for my trip home! Growing up I didn’t eat a lot of cheese but *luckily* I grew out of that lactose allergy in my teens. I had hardly tried anything other than cheddar and mozzarella before Sean and I  started dating 7 years ago. Since then,  he’s shown me a whole new world of great cheese! There’s so many great varieties, and ways to eat it; sharp ones, super soft ones, melted cheese in general, cheese with garlic, on crackers, with potatoes, pizza, fruit, or my personal fav, with vegemite on toast. A Bit of History Cheese making in Canada goes back to our French and English heritage, “French settlers brought over methods for making soft, ripened cheeses, while United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, introduced the distinctly British characteristics of cheddar“. In my research, I learned cheese making in Canada can be traced back to the early 1600s but it wasn’t until 1864 when the first cheese factory was set up. Cheese making in Canada is older…

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If you wanted to be a filmmaker, you’d be one.

I started watching a show on Amazon Video last night called I love D*ck starring  Kevin Bacon (as Dick) and Kathryn Hahn (Transparent, Bad Moms). She looks like an old friend of mine and it’s shot really well. It’s smart and beautiful. Creative. Sexy. Title is a quote from the show. A few of the songs are written and performed by Lhasa de Sela and I knew right away was her voice. I love her music, my two favourite songs are La Frontera and J’arrive a La Ville. She won a Juno in Canada in 1997. I feel like maybe I should stop this show and watch it with Sean but I’ve already got GLOW, Master of None, and OITNB on hold. FYI searching the hashtag might bring you up some interesting results.  “A married couple’s relationship is put to the test when both the husband and wife fall for the same male professor.” imdb

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At Home w/ My Biggest Fan: Dyson Pure Cool Link

When this was delivered Sean said ‘look, it’s your biggest fan!‘ ?  I don’t do product reviews often but when a piece of really cool tech comes along I’m happy to test it out and share my thoughts. A few people asked about the fan when it arrived early spring so scroll down for my fav features. tl;dr: This fancy fan is the best one I’ve ever owned. It’s quiet and you can monitor your home air quality from the iPhone app. Also, at high speed, you can be just like Beyonce! Since I was a kid I’ve been prone to seasonal allergies. They usually kick in around the worst times like March Break or Back to School. A member of the PR team from Dyson saw my tweets about allergies and offered I try the Dyson Pure Cool Link Tower. This fan has no blades and is easy to clean, plus it removes 99.97% of allergens and pollutants as small as 0.3 microns. Allergies can actually be made worse by indoor dust and pollens. I received the fan in the spring and used it in the living room for the last couple months. It’s great for cleaning the air of smells (when cooking), making the house feel fresh, and cleaning toxins out of the air. You don’t even want to know how much dirt is in the air or carpets. I can’t 100% say it was just the fan but I hardly had any reactions this spring. I found the fan really helped with the air quality in our house. It’ll be nice to see how the app tracks and monitors our air quality. COOL THINGS ABOUT THIS FAN: It has wifi! I downloaded the app and have been monitoring the air quality in my workspace. I also have smart lights up in here, helloooo future! Set it, forget…

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Watch Jillea’s #MissAmericaRemix Video (Directed by Me!)

OK SO…Seeing ‘Directed by Casie Stewart & Don Allan” on this video is pretty cool! Thanks to Sean & Don (Revolver Films) for the opportunity. Was a cool experience to work my way through doing something new! All the hand lettering in the video was done by Jeff Woo. WATCH THE VIDEO BEHIND THE SCENES Sean tasked me with the job of directing this and at first, I was like SURE! Then a bit of panic set in that I didn’t ‘really’ know what I was doing. Finally, his advice was just to sit down and do the work. None of us ‘really’ know what we’re doing half the time! I’ve spent enough time on set, at video shoots, and behind the scenes, plus, all the creativity I need is right in my head. I spent a few hours one Friday night working away on iPad Pro, airdropping things to my MacBook and adding them to Premiere. This step is ‘writing the directors treatment‘. Next, we met with Slate Music (label) and Jillea (artist) at Revolver Films to share the idea. They loved it! I Was really keen to use millennial pink and am so happy with how it turned out so good. What do you think? I look forward to more work like this, I love expanding my skills and learning as I go. I’m still working away at my iPad Letting course and am excited to put that new knowledge to work. 

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The Big Clean of 2017 vs The MMVAs ?

What a great weekend! We had heaps of rain but I *actually* sat down and got a lot done. Sean and I also did The Big Clean of 2017! This week my friend Misty and her daughter + sister are coming up to the cottage with Emily and myself. It’s going to be super fun. relaxing, visiting and GIRLY. I’m really looking forward to it! Misty is from Australia (but lies here) and her sis visiting from the motherland. Shrimp on the barbie! Haha. IN OTHER NEWS… Sean won TWO MMVAs last night at the show! We were deep into the big clean when I checked Twitter to see they won the first one and seconds later saw a second tweet. A Little MMVA history… Over the last 10 years, my relationship with the MMVAs has gone through some major changes. Back in 2007-2008, going to an MMVA party was the coolest thing and being on a list or getting a wristband was the ultimate. FF to 2009 when I worked at MUCH. I was the Social Media Manager for the 2010 show  (imdb) and worked tirelessly for months, then ran social behind the scenes during show night. In 2012, Sean was nominated for Down With Webster video and I came out to celebrate his win after the show. It was in the early stages of our relationship and I remember thinking he was SO COOL. (Still is!) In 2015, he was nominated again for Zed’s Dead and did the red carpet before the show. I really wanted to go but he didn’t have plus 1. He went with his partner on the project (Grandson & Son) and he sent me this photo! We’d stopped at Yorkdale on the way home from the cottage. He got into his clothes as fast as…

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COTTAGE AF ??‍?✌?

Felt like we were driving through the jungle in Muskoka today. Hot, lush, green, damp. #dlws pic.twitter.com/Ricfn7givu — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) June 17, 2017 Happy Father’s Day to Sean and all the dads out there! You are loved.  

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What You Getting Dad? Read My Post on the Kijiji Blog for Some Ideas!

Father’s Day is less than a week away! Do you have something for your dad, husband, grandpa, or other fav rad dad in your life? This year both Sean I got gifts for our dads on Kijiji. Read about our gifts and my love for the second-handeconomy on the Kijiji blog. I wrote a post about finding a unique and affordable gift for dad on the the Kijiji blog. Click here or below to read it!

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Boats, BBQ, Babes! Perfect Cottage Weekend

The weather was perfect this weekend. Spent most of it at our friends cottage. Came up Saturday after a friends wedding. Last night we had the most epic meal of steak, shrimp, potatoes, salads, garlic bread. It was so good. Had some leftovers for breakfast! Feels great to spend time w/ good friends and family. ❤️ Unfortunately on Saturday night I got killed by mosquitoes and deer flies. My legs look like I’ve been on Survivor. I counted 80 bikes last night but I feel like more and more are swelling up. I’m so itchy! ?   We’re staying up an extra day so my Monday will be spend working in between breaks on the water and in the sun. We went out for a nice rip on these guys today. Very fast! This weather is amazing. Last week was kind of intense so really enjoying every bit of our time here to recharge the batteries.  Remember: you will never be younger than you are today so make the most of it!  Hope you had a great weekend!

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LEARNING NEW THINGS IS GREAT!

For Christmas Sean got me an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil and my first reaction wasn’t what he was expecting. I kept saying ‘It’s so big!” and thought about returning it the first couple days. BUT now, I can’t imagine my life without it! Last week I signed up for a creative hand lettering course so I could learn how to use Procreate and it is SO COOL.  The course ($45) is by Caroline Kelso Zook who has a website called Made Vibrant for creatives. I’ve subscribed to her for a few months and ? her work. I’ve been staying up late drawing, then dreaming about drawing. I’m only just getting started and on part 2 of 4 in the course. I’m learning new things every day so you’ll start to see colourful creations pop up more and more. Using AirDrop to share seamlessly between iPhone, iPad, Macbook is so incredibly awesome. YAY technology and internet and art. I started my drawing blog ‘Borderline Artistic‘ back in 2008 when I got my 1st gen iPad. I loved that little thing. Remember Andy? Now with iPad Pro, I’m creating more than ever and I’m planning to update things around here with more art.   Went to Wake Up at Yoga Yoga this morning and had a coffee/croissant at Hale. Both places give me so much joy!   Tonight is the media opening of Drake Commissary and I’m taking my yoga teacher, Sandy! Today is going to be sunny to put a smile on your face and flash it around. Sending you some sunshine through the internet, across the sky, right to your screen.  

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The Hardest Part is Through

This past week was a hard one for me. Actually, this entire month has been a challenge, I’ve been on the verge of a meltdown since May 2017 started with birthday anxiety. I had a trip to Jamaica that started with an allergic reaction in my eyes, where I couldn’t see that well, it rained heaps, I missed my bf, and I got my period. When I got home I was overwhelmed with anxiety about work I needed to get done, and it was a short week. I went to the 1188 office every day to get the music video I directed wrapped up, and didn’t really have time to work (at home like usual) on blog things. The week finished week with a full day on set. I was so tired. Finally, on Saturday, it happened. I legit had a meltdown. Our car had a problem with the tire so I rented a car for the afternoon with my car sharing app and left around 11:15 to make it to Scarborough by 12:15. Well, no, that wasn’t happening. It took me 45 min to get to the DVP (highway downtown for non-TO peeps) and by then I was feeling super stressed after leaving the house in a huff w/ Sean. Then mum called and it opened the floodgates to me balling my eyes out, stuck in traffic. It seemed like everything around me was collapsing. Then, it started raining and the event I was about to drive an hour to was canceled. BUT, I was already on the DVP and still in traffic. I took a few deep breaths and decided to get off the highway. Didn’t really know where I was heading but the end goal was home. I decided to put on the Lumineers album and for…

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