byMINISTRY Enlightened Dining Club

I recently attended a new kind of dinner with amazing food that was infused with cannabis (THC & CBD). The entire experience was highly curated to take us on a journey through incredible food and unique experience. The team at byMINISTRY aims to show how cannabis can be integrated into life through food & drink, culture, and wellness. They’re taking your plant-forward lifestyle to a higher place and I am here for it. The Experience Sean and I arrived to be greeted with a non-infused temperance cocktail as there was no alcohol on site. Before each course, the chef (Ted Corrado) walked us through what we were about to eat and if it contained CBD or THC. It was nice to learn about the food before eating it, including how the mushrooms were foraged or fish arrived at our plates.

View Post

My Fitness Journey (So Far)

Let me start this by staying I felt like complete shit for a lot of last year. Behind the many smiling selfies, I was in pain, depressed, and trying to ignore nerve damage in half of my face. I had been treating my body like garbage with alcohol, bad food, no sleep, and something had to change. I gained a bunch of weight and after being small my whole life, I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t live like that anymore. For a lot of 2009-2019 I went to multiple events a week, sometimes several per night. I was always on the go. I ate like crap and drank multiple times a week. When I hit my 30’s, my body changed, I gained weight, then I had a breast reduction, nearly broke my back w/ two cracked back ribs and closed out the decade with a fractured collarbone. A lot of good things happened in the last decade too but I’ve already shared that stuff. For years I dreamed of being a better me, one who ate healthier, felt good in a bathing suit, had longer hair, and genuine happiness that shined out of her face. That’s who I wanted to be so I started doing things differently. From September to January, I lost 20+Lbs and does it ever make a difference! I’m saving time by not stressing over my clothes not fitting. I feel mentally and physically stronger. I have more energy and I’m happier. Here’s the low down on how I got here and I feel confident that I will stick to it this time because I love feeling this way. Fasting In August 2019 I started intermittent fasting, 8hrs eating window (noon-8 pm) and fasting the rest of the day. I started to feel healthier, more energized, and leaner…

View Post

BIG MOON ENERGY: Full Moon Rituals ???

This weekend I had a lovely, relaxing time at the cottage w/ Sean. It was just the two of us and I made time for yoga, stretching, reading, naps, and drinking heaps of water.  Friday was a full moon and Friday the 13th, a special day for divine connection, with numerical significance (palindromic number date 9-13-19) and magical energy. The next Friday 13th + full moon isn’t until 2049. I don’t even want to think about how old I’ll be then!  I’m not super religious or spiritual but I definitely believe in the power of the universe. I made this video on Friday with some of my rituals. I haven’t been doing these each month but I was inspired by Friday’s date and decided to give it a go. I’ll take any suggestions to bring good vibes and light into my life! ?⭐️ View this post on Instagram A post shared by CASIE ☀️?✌? (@casiestewart) on Sep 13, 2019 at 2:15pm PDT Full Moon Rituals Put water out in the path of the moon to charge up Light candles (white, yellow, purple) Light a fire Write things you want to leave behind, burn them Manifest your dreams, write them down Write a letter to the universe, burn it Give thanks to the universe Make 6 wishes on the moon (mum says to make one for world peace! ☮️) Burn incense and/or sage Dance (naked!) in the moonlight Charge your crystals in the moonlight Eat good food Healing Energy of The Moon This past full moon signified BIG female energy it was the 13th moon and females typically have 13 cycles in a year. The full moon signifies the end of turmoil, renewal, new beginnings. It’s a time for growth expansion, a new cycle, a time for cleansing, where the truth is…

View Post

Toronto International Film Festival 2019!

I’m not sure what else to say right now other than, I’M SO EXCITED! Today is media day for TIFF, the day before the festival officially opens. This is my 10th year as a media (blogger) type person and each year I cover events, entertainment, lounges, and of course, film. So far this year I’ve seen pre-screeners of two Canadian films, Black Conflux, and White Lie. (I’ll share a movie reviews post early next week.) Last night I attended an event for Warner Bros ‘TheGoldfinch’ This is my attempts at painting a colourful ‘goldfinch’ at the event last night w/ The Crazy Plate Lady. Check out her amazing work here, she’s INCREDIBLE. Yesterday I started my day with a fresh manicure then picked up a sweet red Volvo S60 so I can drive around to everything which is INCREDIBLY CONVENIENT. Today tho, today is one of the most wonderful days of the YEAR. I’ve got a full day of visiting TIFF gifting suites to experience a range of products and services including a facial, botox, makeup, a blowout, and more. What is a Gifting Lounge? A gifting suite (or lounge) is a popup location, often during an award show of film festival, where companies give products to celebrities in exchange for the famous person takes a photo with the product, wears the gift on a red carpet, or while standing in front of a step & repreat wall displaying company logos. One quick google search for ‘celebrity gifting TIFF‘ will bring up a slew of articles about the business of TIFF gifting. As a media, I get to go behind the red carpet to see and experience some of the stuff celebrities do. Media receive heaps of things but I will tell you right now, the celebrity bags are jam-packed with high-end designer items and…

View Post

Review: Sonos x IKEA Speaker Collab

This week I went to the 2020 Ikea Catalogue media preview where they announced their partnership with Sonos. I love IKEA and smart home accessories so was keen to learn more. Through this partnership, IKEA is focussed on enhancing your home with sound and lighting. This post is not sponsored by Ikea but I would love if it was! I was given the new SYMFONISK speaker and set it up as soon as I got home. Wanted to share my thoughts right away because I’m super impressed. It’s my first Sonos and by far the nicest speaker I’ve ever personally owned. Symfonisk Setup In a few minutes, I set it up on my home wifi, connected it to Apple Music, and my Amazon Echo to work with Alexa. The SYMFONISK I received is a bookshelf speaker which is quite the coincidence because I have been looking for the best bookshelf speakers recently so this was perfect timing! It can go vertical or horizontal and be mounted as a shelf that can hold up to 7lbs. Multiple speakers can be paired for surround sound, paired over wifi, or to your TV. You control the speaker with the Sonos app and can set up voice controls. Mine is connected to Alexa and works perfectly! Symfonisk Design x Quality Both speakers in the series come in black or white and are designed to blend in with your home decor. The bookshelf speaker is $149 and table lamp speaker is $249. Pretty good price for the sound quality and Sonos brand. For the one with the light, you can add in smart bulbs like Phillips Hue or Ikea’s own smart bulbs to make the light change colour. At the media preview, they had a bunch of the speakers paired together for ‘party mode’ which…

View Post

Sometimes I Don’t Feel Like It #17

Next month my blog is 14 years old, can you believe that? I’ve been building my little piece of the internet and sharing stories longer than the time I’ve had this blog. Before WordPress, there was Blogger, MySpace, and MSN Spaces. I love sharing and being an ‘internet person’ but it can take a toll on you. I love it most the time, but sometimes, I don‘t feel like it. It’s Not Easy Being On The Internet It’s crazy the things people say on the internet when they’ve got a screen barrier to give them extra confidence. Often forgetting there’s a human on the other side, manning the comments. Like, a real human being with feelings. One little comment can stay in your head all day or a tweet can jump right through the screen and punch you in the heart. The other day I tweeted how ‘Having a sister is legit the best.” and a friend replied, “Yes it was”. I had to fight back tears. I know he lost his sister and maybe was having a hard day, I was too. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I called my sister crying. This comment made me think how ‘influencer culture’ has kinda made the internet worse. This was in response to a post I shared about #PinkShirtDay with Telus. I didn’t have to post about it, I wanted to. Telus has a great program and is invested in making a difference in communities across Canada. I love this about them. It seems like everything is sponsored these days. Is it bad? I don’t know! To each their own! We all have the ability to curate our feeds and if you think someone has too many sponsored posts, mute or unfollow them. Your feed, your life. I started…

View Post

Influencers + Cannabis: What Are The Rules?

Last week I was a speaker at an exciting event hosted by Jones Media at 1 Bloor. We are T-16 days away from legalization and the world of cannabis marketing is something people have a lot of questions about. The worlds of cannabis and business like an online dispensary canada are really, truly beginning to collide. They are rapidly growing in popularity which is why the need for cannabis businesses is increasing! Anybody that is running or looking to run a cannabis business may want to think about hiring somebody like a cannabis consultant for their company to run smoothly and efficiently. Specifically, this talk was about cannabis + influencers and what is allowed within the rules of the new cannabis act. The panel featured Chris Nyberg, a lawyer who specializes in this area, Lorilynn McCorrister from Weed Box, and Jen Newton who does the High Tea podcast and comes from an agency/brand background. We talked about everything from how do you market in a space that’s so highly regulated, how to partner with a licenced producer, how to align with an influencer, and examples of creative marketing we’ve seen. On Going to the USA One of the topics we talked right off the bat was can you still go to the USA if you work in, invest in, or post about cannabis on your social accounts? Sorry to say, you can 100% get a lifetime ban if you do any of those things. Safe bet is to scrub your social accounts and make sure you don’t mention your connection to the wonderful world of flower if you don’t have to. On my last trip I remove Weed VR social accounts & email from my phone and didn’t take any business cards. I have cards Director cards from Occupied VR…

View Post

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

A lot of my experience comes from making mistakes, wrong decisions, with the wrong people. I’ve learned a lot of street smarts this way. A lot of my business smarts comes from school.  I was really into business as a youngster when I made gym bags and sold them to students in grade school. I went to college and university and have no doubt that those experiences gave me the skills I need to do great work. I’m not saying everyone has to go to post-secondary but there you learn a foundation to build on when you’re out in the field. When I  was a teenager, I started a publishing company with a friend, published a book, and was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the city. I’ve done a lot of things since then but what I learned from my business teachers in high school, college, and university is with me every day. When I won that award my high school got a donation to go towards computer equipment which was pretty cool given the internet was just getting started.  Yesterday I got an exciting email. I’ve been chosen as the Preston High School Hall of Fame inductee for 2018. Me! An old friend from dance, who’s a teacher there now, sent me the nicest email about my career and life since PHS. I’m kinda in shock! The PHS Hall of Fame recognizes and celebrates Preston graduates who have made a successful impact in our world and exemplify the spirit and ideals of the school. Well, lady, you have certainly grown yourself, your business, your brand, and your spirit into something really worth celebrating!  I’ve been asked to say a few words at the commencement ceremony next month. I’m excited to be recognized and am looking forward to sharing some words of wisdom with the graduating class. If…

View Post

Portugal: Europe’s Hottest Destination for 2018

I’ve always dreamed of summer in Europe and although I’ve travelled to heaps of countries, I’ve never done a Euro trip. I KNOW! Well, ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. As part of my ongoing partnership with Aeroplan, tomorrow I’m heading to PORTUGAL. We leave mid-month and we’re back on the 30th.  Have I said I’m excited, yet? I was originally heading to Paris with Sean but that trip is a little delayed and I’m so glad this worked out. It’s a great feeling to text your friend and say ‘hey want to come to Europe this summer?’. Ahhhhh pinch me, it’s times like this I’m like omg, this is my life! I am so excited. Portugal is the hottest spot to go this summer, just check your Facebook feed or of your fav online celebs and they’re all checking in to Lisboa, Porto, Sintra, and beautiful coastal beaches. Yesterday I was reading this article on W Magazine and it’s one of many about how Portugal is THE SPOT to be. We’ve planned out most of the adventure but I’ve left a few days up in the air to figure out as we go. I love not having a plan and the freedom to make things up as we learn more about secret beaches, hidden hideaways, and locals only spots. If you have any food & drink recommendations, family, friends, hotels, Airbnb, vacation properties, restaurant owner friends, anything, PLEASE COMMENT. We have a Google doc and Slack set up to manage everything (yes, we are nerds) so I will add all of your suggestions. So far we’re arriving in Lisbon, going to Sintra, then to Porto, we’ve got a few days with no plan, then back to Lisbon before coming home. We’re gone for almost 2 weeks. It is going to be so hot and…

View Post

Exciting Times Ahead: Biome Grow & Cannabis Marketing

Last week some exciting family news hit the Global Newswire! About a year ago, the team at Occupied VR came up with an idea for a virtual reality weed dispensary. Well FF? to last week, we announced that Weed VR has been acquired by licenced cannabis producer Biome Grow. Check out the news release here. If you’re reading this and are thinking ‘what is Weed VR, I want to try it“. Email me [email protected] or send me a DM on any social platform and we’ll hook you up. Comments are open on this post if you have questions. Essentially, it’s a virtual retail dispensary and soon to be the largest library of 3D cannabis strains for educational purposes. A virtual dispensary is a truly revolutionary way to market and ultimately sell cannabis products. It is a modern alternative to a traditional dispensary that typically features store fixtures and merchandise displays and instead offers an entirely new way to shop. I cannot wait to see how everything plays out. If you’d like stay up to date with all cannabis news specifically relating to the CBD, have access to educational articles, reviews, medical research news and more then you may want to visit TheCBDInsider.com. It’s a really exciting time to be in this business. I’ve seen some really creative marketing, events, and promotional products. The striped metal grinder card and papers in the top photo are from Van Der Pop, a female-focused Cannabis brand. They send a cool package a couple months ago. Next week I’m going glamping with UP Cannabis near Blue Mountain with a bunch of media peeps. (UP is the cannabis company partially owned by the Tragically Hip!) This stage of the industry kinda reminds me of early days of social media. Back when my friends would make fun…

View Post