This weekend we had friends in town from Boston. Instead of facing St. Patty’s Day crowds on Friday we hosted them for dinner (Uber Eats!). Saturday was pretty relaxing except for the call I got at 10:30am saying Mum was in the hospital. She ended up having appendicitis and getting her appendix out. Just like that! She was back home just after dinner time. Canada is such an amazing country. At yoga on Sunday, Sandy read a few horoscopes and mine mentioned gifting myself a young cactus. The cool thing about that was I had a ticket for a terrarium workshop that afternoon. It was my my 3rd terrarium workshop of the year and want to make a really big one now that I understand how. It was at Untitled&Co and a couple friends joined me in the fun. This week I’ve got an event at Twitter HQ & am seeing another show at Mirvish. Since I’ve made yoga a priority and started focusing on doing things for ME that I really want to do, I’m so much happier. Today I’m doing 9am yoga with the team at 2Social in the Junction. Hope to get my bike tuned up later today. Here’s to a great week! Sending sunshine through the internet to you! Longer days are on the way! ☀️??  

I hate to blame daylight savings but this week I have been so tired. I had to fight myself every morning to get out of bed. I managed to do yoga and spin on Wednesday which was a big accomplishment. Last week I was so high on life and motivated. Writing heaps. Killing it everyday. This week, opposite. Almost everything I’ve had to get done work wise has been an up hill battle. End of the week, mum came to hang out and I took her around my neighbourhood and to some fab spots in the city. We picked Em up from circus camp, went to YouTube, got pizza, then saw Beauty & the Beast in 3D. It was go good to hang out. Mum has been my biggest supporter my whole life and it was really nice to treat her yesterday. Tonight we have some friends from Boston coming for dinner. I’ve got heaps on my to-do list but I’m determined to cross them all off today! I’ve got yoga at noon which will give me the energy I need to keep this momentum going. Em has a recital at this afternoon for March break Circus Camp. This week I mailed a few hand written letters with new stickers I had made in them and that made me feel really happy. This weekend I’m doing another terrarium workshop! (3rd of the year lol, I’m obsessed). My new pillows from Notion Manufacturing arrived this week which was also a small joy and good for a few LOLs. Sean loves it hahahahhahaha. Full of LULZ w/ my first @NotionMFG order. Who wants one?? ??? pic.twitter.com/G5tLJN2R3E — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) March 16, 2017 Remember it’s important to listen to your body and relax if you need to. Being ‘on’ all the time and…

A couple weeks ago I saw these posts popping up on Instagram with #santaclaritydiet from influencers in the US. All the posts had hashtags like #Fitspo#NewYearNewYou #Hello2017#ImGonnaKillIt and then I was like what the hell is this diet? And what’s with the blood? Well, we all know now that Santa Clarita Diet is a new show from Netflix and it starts TOMORROW. Drew Barrymore is the mum and something happens and then she is ‘undead’. Tune into Netflix tomorrow to see what’s next. Netflix consistently makes great shows so I always give them spin. Also, since I spend so much time binge watching, we can easily can kill a season in a weekend. Here’s the Santa Clarita Diet ‘Starter Kit’ they sent me: I really appreciate a good marketing package and Netflix consistently blows it out of the park. One year for Valentines they sent a House of Cards themed package to go along with the season launch. Another time then sent custom House of Cards Against Humanity. At Christmas once they sent a Bill Murray Christmas sweater and Netflix show themed wrapping paper. For award season one year they sent this package to play bingo and slippers for my guests. I’ll be watching Santa Clarita Diet this weekend. Make sure you are following me on Twitter bc I always live tweet what I’m watching! LMK what you think. Tweet to @casiestewart

Did you have a nice time over the holidays? I did! I took a break from blogging and IG to recharge my batteries and I feel so alive! It might help that yesterday I went for a b12 shot and IV of vitamins at REVIV. In 2017 I am excited to focus on doing great work, telling stories about tech, and helping others. As I was driving yesterday the sun was going down and it was so bright and beautiful I stopped to catch it lighting up my face. Over the holidays I did a couple volunteer shifts for different charities including cooking & serving lunch at Evangel Hall on New Years Eve w/ the #GivingBackVibes crew. [We did this last month too, see here.] I fulfilled my dream of wrapping presents at the mall before christmas w/ Nneka Elliot at TD centre in support of StepStones For Youth. The day before I volunteered to help sort clothes with the NuScreen Digital team at Brands for Canada. I feel so good that I was able to give some of my time to help others. You’re going to see more of this in 2017. Volunteering w/ @nuscreeninc at @BrandsForCanada! ?✌?? pic.twitter.com/b3C10jtwHK — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) December 21, 2016 I went home between Christmas and New Years to spend some quality time with my parents. Set both mum and dad up with new tech gadgets and had lots of laughs over great food. They’re only an hour away so this year I want to spend more time hanging out. Today was a really fun day. ❤ pic.twitter.com/P10zek09Nv — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) December 30, 2016 On New Years Eve, Sean and I went to Ikea to get some organizing stuff and things for Em’s room.  We watched the Minimalism doc on Netflix a couple…

Christmas is just over a week away and there’s a good chance you still have few people on your nice list (including yourself!). ?? Telus has a ton of amazing gifts you can buy online or from one of their interactive stores across Canada. You’ve gotta check out the Eaton Centre store in Toronto if you haven’t yet, theres heaps of things for your home, travel, audio, AND toys, aside from phone stuff. Last year I got a Nest thermostat, amazing JBL speaker, great USB cables, and a MIP robot for the child. Here’s a few of MY FAVS from the 2016 Telus Gift Guide. These are all things I’ve gifted or been given in the last year – Fitbit, Instax camera, BB8, and the PureGear Metallic Cable. BB8 Sphero Robot – $189.99 Last weekend I surprised Embot with a tiny little BB8 Droit. She loves Star Wars and robots. BB8 comes with a stand for charging and connects to Force Band through the app on your phone via Bluetooth. Once connected, you use THE FORCE to push, pull, and control BB-8 like Em is doing here. She’s been having so much fun using to guide him around the house. He can easily go over carpet, rug, tile and wood floors too. Instax Mini 8 Camera – $99 This camera is great. A total hit at holiday parties and with the parents. I took photos of everyone at mums one Christmas and this year I’ve packaged up some stuff to send back to New Zealand filled with Instax prints from the last few months. You can order one of these online or pick up at a Telus store. They’ve got the Instax Mini 8 cam available in Rose Gold, Blue, Black, and white. See this post for an #InstaxHolidays giveaway + Twitter party details for tonight!  Fitbit 2 Charge  –…

This week my computer had a non-fatal heart attack. Luckily I’ve got a backup of all my files. During my 3.5hr stopover at the Apple Genius Bar yesterday we wiped my Macbook Pro clean and started fresh with the operating system. It was so full before that it could not even. It’s so much faster now, I’m never letting that happen again! I’ve been looking through thousands of photos on my backup drive and came across these ones of my mum and sister. We hung out in the beaches one afternoon a while back and for christmas I edited and framed a few of them for my parents. One year I had a bunch of stickers made with Social Print Studio and stuck them on everyones cards. Once you download the SPS app you connect Instagram, and easily print your photos in frames, on wood, cards, stickers, life size prints. This year I’m working on 2 projects one for holiday cards and another photo thing for my fam. I’m a little behind but going through these photos is good motivation. Can’t wait to spend some quality time with these ladies over the holidays!

Last week Gracie and I had the opportunity to attend TD’s Your Story Your Future Speakers Series with Cheryl Strayed at the AGO. Name sound familiar? Cheryl Strayed is the author of WILD, which was made into an Oscar nominated film starring Reese Witherspoon. The story documents Strayed’s solo hike up the Pacific Crest Trail. I’d watched the movie before attending the talk but hearing her stories in real life was really inspiring. Something that stood out was Strayed’s advice from her mum that reminded me of something my mum would say ‘this is character building’ in regards to getting through hard times. TD’s “Your Story Your Future” program combines workshops and inspirational speaker events to help women feel confident about setting and achieving their financial goals. I’ve written about a few of my financial accomplishments over the last few years (read those here). I feel it’s really important for us as women to grab the reigns of our finances and set goals so we can prepare for our future. I remember when my parents got divorced, I was a teenager, and my mum was going back into the workforce after 16+ years. She stressed the importance of having my own money, not getting into a position where I had to rely on someone else when it came to my finances. Only 3 out of 10 women have a financial plan for their future and TD’s Women Investor Program wants to change that. The program was created for the growing number of women who influence a growing share of wealth in Canada and might be looking for a more personalized investment experience from men. According to a representative from TD Bank: “One of the key differences between men and women investors is a desire for a more holistic financial advisory relationship – one that is…

This weekend I’m taking a little drive to Cambridge to visit my parents for a few hours and I’m so stoked.  It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over! I love September, it feels like a little reset, opportunity to move forward, ditch old habits, and set new goals. I talk to mum almost everyday but haven’t seen her since before my birthday in May. She spends most of the summer on her boat and I’m at the cottage most weekends. It’s also been ages since I’ve seen Dad! Neither of my parents have seen me since my BR surgery in June, so I’m quite keen to visit. I’ve arranged a car that can fit both parents and their partners so I can take the whole gang out for brekky! It’s not THAT far away but since I don’t own a car it’s a bit of a hassle to get there and back, especially for a short visit. I’ve booked a carshare for Saturday morning and it’s pretty affordable & managed in an app. I’m totally guilty of being ‘busy‘ all the time and the rest of the time I feel like I’m tired. Sometimes I just need to sit on the couch and do nothing or tweet alongside something like The Bachelor to give my brain a break. On that note, I’m making more time to exercise, I’m looking to try just about ANY workout class that gets me off the couch right now. Since my surgery I feel A LOT better in workout clothes, I was REALLY self conscious before. Was gifted a 30 day membership to justtryit.ca so my plan is to try 10 classes at 10 gyms. I’ve gone to a few more aerial yoga and reformer pilates classes since my class last week. My two week pass is up on Tuesday. I really like…

Growing up I spent heaps of time at the library with mum. Each summer we joined the Summer Reading Club and went back and forth to the Preston Branch carrying books in the wagon, the stroller, or homemade bookbags. Mrs. Macdonald, the librarian, was a familiar part of our lives and helped us learn to love books and reading. Since joining the internet, I’ve read less books, well, I’d say less books overall since college/uni. This year I set a goal to read more books, scroll less websites. So far I’ve not done too bad! Last week I started a 7-day reading challenge with Kobo to discover the joy of e-reading. The new Kobo Glo HD is the latest eReader, it’s 6″ screen is super clear and reads just like paper. There’s 4GB of storage which is a LOT of books. Up to 3K! This is my first time with an e-reader and I really like it. I find it much easier to read on this device than phone or iPad due to the screen (Carta E Ink). You can also customize the light, font, and margins to personalize your experience. Next week I’ve got a GIVEAWAY for a Kobo Glo HD so we can be twins. If you’re keen to get reading before I then, DL the Kobo app on any device (with this link) and get a $5 credit towards your first purchase. [symple_spacing size=”10″] Things I like most about my new Kobo: – It’s SUPER light, nothing like carrying around a few novels ? – Fits in a small purse or the pocket of my trench coat – Battery lasts ages – You can read in the sun, no glare! ☀️ – The Kobo app has so many books and recommendations, all you need is wifi ? This weekend I started YOU by Carolyn Kepnes,…