CASIE STEWART

THIS IS MY LIFE • BLOG EST. 2005

i went to my favorite store. apt 909

My favorite store in the city is Apt. 909. I love it. I go in, love it most when I’m the only one there. I drop all my stuff and take off my shoes. The music is great and the atmostphere is like stepping in to another world. I got new glasses and a pretty dress.

art attack valentine love bandit

I was out walking this morning, enjoying the sunshine. I passed this wheat paste art attack and felt filled with love. I share with you what I saw while you were still in bed. Enjoy. I like this stuff, I’m borderline artistic. My favorite’s are first and last, these are my photos.

LIFE

will you be my valentine ♥

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Related Posts

Twestival Party – You should have been there.

It was awesome. Jenie & I are in this video along with a bunch of other Tweeps & peeps who attended TwestivalTO.

Thank you to everyone who came out. I met HEAPS of totally cool people who were mobilized for the cause. We beat our goal and Twestival Toronto can build wells for communities without access to clean water. Great job!!

Friday the 13th! Me = NEW TATTOO!!

Thanks to Rob at Bobby Five. Woooooooooooooooooooot!

what if this was all you had? [charity:water]

a BILLION, yes, a BILLION

Did you know that over a billion, YES A BILLION, people all over the world go without access to clean and safe drinking water everyday? That is 1 in every 6 people.

Today you will find an article about Twestival on page 3 of the Toronto 24 Hours newspaper. Twestival has been on CNN, BBC and all kinds of other networks around the world. The Toronto response has been great, but we need more people out for the cause! Toronto is one of the MOST online cities and we can totally show the other 180 global cities participating, that Toronto is a strong community. I know we can show up Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal and Vancouver by having a bigger party and raising more for the cause! We are looking to sell another 200 tickets! If you can’t attend the event, purchase a ticket and show your support. Get them here!The Twestival is organized 100% by volunteers in cities around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects. Check out this vid featuring the woman behind Twestival TO, Sarah Prevette by Daily Challenge:

the people i know in a cloud

This image is a tag cloud of all my contacts on Twitter and what they do. The largest words are the ones that show up the most (in case you are unfamiliar with this kind of thing!). It is evident that the most predominate are 1. social 2. media 3. marketing. I find that the amount of new stuff I learn each day is greatly increased by following these people. The Twitsphere is an ongoing life stream of what is happening in the world around us online and offline. If you don’t use Twitter yet, get on it! You can follow me very easily and begin the learning and sharing for yourself. I find it to be the greatest social tool at my fingertips for getting smarter, staying connected and branding. Twestival is a party uniting Tweeps from around the world. It is on Thursday, February 12th. Get your tickets here.

he’s just not that into who?

I went to see the movie this evening and, well, I get it. Guys don’t mix their signals they just give you excuses for not being into you. For example, “You’re too perfect”, “Too successful/awesome”, “I just got out of a relationship”, “I’m not emotionally mature”, “I need work on myself”, blah, blah, bullshit. I guess its being considerate and saving a girls feelings, but maybe they are just too afraid to say it.
The movie was pretty good, not your average chick flick. Slight emotional roller coaster, yet realistic. Basically, if a guy doesn’t either call/text/email/facebook/myspace/twitter/PIN/voicemail you, he is not interested. In our world there are so many forms of communication, why waste your time waiting for someone to reach you? Lesson learned – if they want to talk to you, they will. It mentioned how all those magical love stories your friends tell you to make you feel better are all exceptions to the rule. Are you the rule or the exception?

Finally, the site for the movie is cute and entertaining. As for Jennifer Aniston and ScarJo, they both looked great.

give $20, raise $20, and tell 20 friends

Its a lovely day in the city of Toronto and I took the time to enjoy it. I went for a sun filled walk on the West side and stopped by some shops. I’m working on a few things for Twestival today and really looking forward to Thursday night at Circa. I hope you have your tickets! Molson is buying your first drink and there are heaps of prizes to be won.

The event is four days away and the TwestivalTO fundraising goal is $10,000. This contribution to charity:water will help fund 2 different water well projects. There are over 165 cities around the world participating. Can you imagine if you aren’t there? It’s going to be a rad party.

Toronto, lets kick it up a notch and roll with Twestival’s “20/20/20 vision“: give $20, raise $20, and tell 20 friends. Get your tickets today!

See you on the dance floor ♥

an interview to inspire: Jesse & MS

I recently found out that my friend, Jesse Lee from high school was diagnosed with MS. I don’t know alot about MS and saw an opportunity to learn about the disease and share it with others. Jesse is a really cool guy (and funny) so when I found out about him and MS, I was really interested to learn more. Below is my interview with Jesse. Please read it. I assure you it will touch your heart and inspire you. You can donate too MS and help Jesse raise money for the cause here or by following the links below.

Did you have symptoms, how did you know?

The first two symptoms I encountered were numbness in my fingers and face and blurry vision in one eye. It was in the summer of 2007 while playing baseball. I have always been a good athlete and all of a sudden I was missing fly balls because of my blurry vision and the numbness caused my coordination to be off. I contacted my Doctor who originally gave me eye drops. Once the eye drops didn’t work I was sent for an MRI.

When did you find out you had MS?

After my first MRI came back and showed some lesions on the brain, a neurologist that I was referred to said there was a possibility that I had MS and sent me for more tests and a second MRI. The results of those tests confirmed I did in fact have MS and I was officially diagnosed in March of 2008. This was a very frustrating time because as you can see it took almost a year to diagnose and so much uncertainty was surrounding while other symptoms started to arrive and get worse. These other symptoms included; loss of balance, poor short term memory and other cognitive problems, depression, extreme fatigue, itchiness, nerve pain, bowel and bladder problem in which I was hospitalized a few times.

How has MS affected you physically?

In addition to the symptoms described above, my physical problems such as the loss of balance and blurry vision have forced me to quit playing baseball and hockey because it has become dangerous for me to participate in these sports. I have also always had physical jobs and am currently unable to work due to these reasons. I temporarily went back to school to work in an office setting, but my lack of short term memory and other cognitive problems made it extremely difficult to follow simple instructions. MS is also a very unpredictable disease in which symptoms come and go and therefore an individual living with MS may be able to work at some times and not at others. I also used to help my Grandmother with many physical tasks around her house and I am now very limited in the help I can give her.

How has MS affected you emotionally?

This disease has affected me emotionally in many ways. Initially, I became very angry and depressed. The fact that there is still no cure for MS made it difficult to have any hope for the future. I also felt cheated. I am still very young and was angry that so much had been taken away from me.

How has MS affected your relationship with others?

MS has affected my relationship with others in both positive and negative ways. The relationships with the people closest to me such as my family and my girlfriend have grown much stronger as we have learned to value the important things in life. On the other hand, MS has made me feel very isolated as I have lost contact with many friends who I no longer see as I don’t participate in the sports and other activities I once did. They also seem to be afraid to address the subject and therefore choose to avoid it and me.What do you want people to know about MS?
I want people to know that 1 in 2 Canadians knows someone with MS, which means that this is significant problem. I want them to read my story and be able to put a face with the disease. I also want them to know that so much research is currently going on that is dramatically improving the lives of individuals with MS. Much progress has occurred in even the last 10 years, so you really are making a difference when you donate.

How has your life changed since your diagnosis?

I can no longer work. I have lost some friends. I now have to take a disease modifying drug which consists of a daily injection along with a bunch of other medications and vitamins. I have had to move in with my grandparents as disability does not provide enough money to financially support myself any longer.

What do you want other people to know about your life?

I want people to know that this is a very tiring disease and every day is a struggle. I want people to know that this terrible disease can ambush you in the prime of your life and dramatically change your current life and your future plans in a very short period of time. Despite that, I have learned that this situation has made me a stronger person.

Who can get MS/what causes MS?

MS does not discriminate; pretty much anyone can get MS. MS is believed to be an autoimmune disease where the body’s own immune system attacks itself. There is still no definitive answer as to what causes MS but there are demographics that more commonly get MS. MS is more commonly diagnosed in individuals living in parts of the world where there are less hours of sunlight (Canada has one of the highest rates in the world), individuals between the age of 18 and 40 (although, children and teens are now being diagnosed in much higher rates), and individuals with a northern European background. But people outside these demographics still get MS. Some theories on what causes MS include a vitamin D deficiency (the vitamin in sunlight) and a virus contracted in childhood. Neither of these theories have been confirmed or rejected which is why donating to research is so important.

How can people support your cause?

You can support my cause by visiting my fundraising page and pledging me in the 2009 MS Walk, donating to the MS Society of Canada once the walk is over, or signing up for the MS Walk in your city and raising more money and awareness to find a cure.

How do you inspire others?

Instead of being angry and depressed I have decided to focus my energy on positive activities such as participating in the MS Walk. I actively pursue pledges so that I can make a difference for the future of those affected by MS. I also try to show those people who have stuck around how much I appreciate them and try not to take anything for granted.

a story of beauty featuring me by darren

I walked into the salon tucked away in a lovely loft in the heart of Queen West. I was greeted by charming eyes and warm beats that made me forget it was even winter. The shelves were stocked with the hottest Redken and he politely took my jacket. I felt as if I had already escaped the winter blues and I had only just arrived.
Alas, the night begins…I was ready to relax, add some new blonde over my old ugly and chop a few strands off.

I was totally having a lovely time being the focus of his attention as I patiently awaited the results.VOILA!! My hair is looking bangin’ with bright blonde and partial mahogany pieces to spice it up. The pix just don’t do it justice. It’s lovely. New camera comes next week.

Thank you Darren for making me feel so pretty. If you would like Darren to run his fingers through your locks call him, he’s a babe. Find him @ www.darrenkwik.com

gettin’ ma hair did

Tonight I am heading over to the Darren Kwik Studio, Queen West to get my hair done. It has been ages and I’m quite excited about it. Darren has been doing hair for ages and I’m looking forward to seeing him again. It’s been years! I’ve read a bunch of reviews of his salon and it has an excellent reputation. Darren was a hairstylist for the 2008 Much Music Video Awards and also took part in Redken’s Annual ONE X ONE Cut-A-Thon which raised awareness and funds in support of child poverty in Canada and around the world. Stay tuned for how beautiful my hair looks tomorrow!!

so what i’m crazy, that gives me freedom

“People will laugh at you because you’re different.
You will laugh at them because they’re all the same.”

This quote came in Twitter post by an experienced blogger I follow on Twitter named John Chow. People have always said “You’re crazy” or as I dance by myself in the middle of the dance floor with my arms over my head “That’s Casie, she’s crazy“. For a while I thought, “Oh no, they think I’m crazy” but that was followed by thinking, “no, you are just different and they are all the same.” (Yes, I have had this conversation with myself more than once.) I would rather be seen as crazy, than ordinary any day.
As soon as someone says that you are crazy, they really give you the power and freedom of expression to do whatever you want. You can transcend all boundaries of what people consider normal, because they already know you’re ‘out there’. This motivates me and gives me encouragement.

Stay tuned there is always more here, it comes from somewhere in the universe..