DONT KILL YOURSELF

Don’t give up. Don’t quit over your job. Don’t die over money. Don’t bottle your feelings up. Don’t stay inside and hide. Don’t give up. Don’t hold it all in. Don’t put on a smile and act like everything is fine when it’s not. Don’t write your last letter. Don’t plan your exit. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Don’t be selfish. Don’t kill yourself.  PLS ASK FOR HELP. Yesterday I posted the suicide hotline after hearing about Kate Spade. I felt sad. Her death was a reminder that no matter how much money, fancy clothes, cars, businesses, health, family, no matter how much you have, you can still have dark thoughts. None of us are immune to feeling like we’re backed into a corner. We all go through love, loss, money, no money, jobs, no jobs, depression, anxiety. Life is hard. No matter how much it seems like someone has a perfect life, THEY DON’T.  They might have an even more fucked up life than you think you do, trust me! We all go through it. We all have days, weeks, months, years when we wonder why we are still doing it, or not making it, or are we just faking it? Life is hard. We’re constantly bombarded with challenges, tests, to see if we can make it to the next level. We all have the strength to deal, to fight, to call on each other, to make it through. You are never alone. There are lots of people around you even though you might not feel like it sometimes. It’s easy to isolate yourself, to put on a smile and act like everything is a-ok when you feel like dying inside. Reach out to someone around you. People care, people at work, home, on Facebook, and right on the other…

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Balance + Books + Blogs

Sean and I had a really romantic weekend, we cleaned house and went to the dump about 4 times. To be honest, chucking furniture into a huge bin is exhilarating. We managed to move a massive fridge then, on the way it fell off the trailer, it was so mashed up! Also kinda satisfying seeing it so mangled! haha ? We got it back on the truck with no fuss and Sean moved another fridge later in the day. This spring we’ve been up here quite a bit. It’s been nice. Though, unless you have a cottage or something like it, you won’t know how much work it is. We’ve been husting every weekend since we opened this place in March. This weekend I managed to carve out time to finish a book I picked up Friday. [Sister of Mine, it was good! Toronto based author, Ryerson Professor] Check this out, the author and I chatted on Twitter. Love reaching out after a read a good book to thank the author, even cooler when they reply! Over the last little while, I’ve been working on a thing that’s really exciting and I can’t wait to share with the world. I think it’s important to have something not everybody knows, a secret project, a magic motivation to focus on. If you tell everyone everything, you have no surprises! This week I’m also working on blogging more. I often chat with people who have blogs and they set really high goals and rules for themselves, then, beat themselves up when they don’t blog every day or publish as much as they imagined. Don’t do that! Write when you feel like writing, if it’s your own blog and you’re your own boss, be a good boss to yourself!  A blog is your creative expression, it’s always there for…

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Be happy where you are, this is once where you wanted to be.

I was sitting here feeling a bit of Monday blerghs and then I looked at my computer and around me and said: “WTF, stop it!”. Actually out loud to myself. I’m working from home and I’m drinking a coffee I made downstairs with the patio door open and my plants are in the sun while I look at my little space and suddenly think I will eventually need a sliding door repair for my patio as the latch is becoming stuck more often than not, but that’s a different days job. I spent most of yesterday updating my speaker’s agency profile information sitting in my room watching Netflix. THIS IS ONCE WHAT I DREAMED OF. Ok, it’s not all roses and rainbows but I wanted to be here. I worked hard for this. I put in hours and days and years of work to get here and I have nothing to be so damn salty about. Sometimes all you need to do is remind yourself this is right where you wanted to be and fully be IN that moment.The sun is out and I am feeling good. It’s easy to get down or distracted and feel like your neverending list of tasks is piling up but there is a lot you can be grateful for. I talked to a friend this morning and a reminded her to make a list of things she’d already done, then she wouldn’t feel bad about the other list she had been meaning to do. There is enough time in the day or week to do the things you need to do. Some of the things I want to get done are not necessarily what I need to get done. Ex. my hair is a shag and the house is a little messy but that’s…

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You remind me of a sunshine the way you light up a room.

I used to post a lot of collage photos of my faces, different faces, expressions. I mean, used to as in the ‘old days’ of social media, pre-Instagram, early Twitter. I love taking photos of myself and documenting them. I love myself and I want you to know that. You should love yourself too. What else can I say? You gotta love yourself first because the more love you have, the more love you can give to others. Love and kindness are infinite. I always thought it was fun to take a million (ok, a hundred?) photos of my facial expressions and post them. As a kid, I spent heaps of time making faces in the mirror, ask mum. Honestly, I take about 50+ sometimes before I get one I want to post. I’ve always had an expressive face. When I was a kid, I did a lot of dance competitions across Ontario, New York, Myrtle Beach. At one competition my adjudicator was Patsy Swayze, Patrick Swayze’s mum. She trained him for Dirty Dancing in 1987 when I was 5. It was circa 1990 when she recorded a tape about me.  Back then, judges used to record their comments on tape while you were dancing and give it to you after the awards. I still have the tape of her talking about me. She said, “it’s too bad we don’t have lighting from the audience to show this child’s facial expression because she really does deserve it”. To this day, that is one of my proudest moments. “it’s too bad we don’t have lighting from the audience to show this child’s facial expression because she really does deserve it” I will never stop showing who I am. I’m too damn old to try and pretend to be someone else, gah, imagine how much work that would be? I am who I…

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Instagram vs. Your 360º Life

Ahhh. Hellooooo February! I felt good to write all that down yesterday. Remember Instagram is only one angle on a 360º life. There’s a lot you can’t see through a screen!  I had to send photos to a producer of our house today and omg I was like ‘ahhhh our house is a mess‘ and she said everyone says that. When you see that person post their oh-so-perfect living room, kitchen, office, remember it there’s a chance (a good chance!) doesn’t always look like that and there just might be a pile of stuff on the other side of the room. On the other hand, they also might find immense joy in perfecting their Instagram post because that’s the life they want to live. You never who’s is dealing with a death in the family, a cheating spouse, sick kid, putting food on the table, or just making their rent. Instagram allows us to build the reality we want to live in. If you’re lucky, you’ll follow some people who like to keep it real like Lauren (This Renegade Love) or Gracie (Edit 7 Mag). I try to keep it real but day after day, IG is less of a platform I love, ex… wo wo wo Instagram wtf just saw a 6-day old post like no. no thank you. — CASIE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) February 1, 2018 There is no sense in comparing yourself to someone you see on the internet. Like, if Beyonce got a new car or house, you wouldn’t compare or feel bad you didn’t have it too. So, don’t do it! Live your best life. Work hard and be nice to people.  In other news, Instagram launched new fonts today. Just go to the screen where you add text and tap the top of the screen to get…

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Being Human on The Internet #TEDx

This my TEDx Talk from late 2015 where I speak about innovation and social media. The theme of TEDx Western was The Human Condition. I start out sharing some things I’ve had the opportunity to do because of the internet and then move into how the internet has changed, how fast they change, faking it, followers, narcissism, influencers, and where all this social media stuff is going. The original blog post from the day I spoke at Western University in London, ON is here. “If you’re in school there’s a good chance you’ll be working in a job that doesn’t exist yet.” – Casie Stewart Posting this gives me anxiety because I don’t think it’s my best work but I can’t take it back now! Feel free to watch if you have 15 minutes. I would love your comments, good OR bad. I know I kept turning around to face the screen and don’t do that anymore, the monitor up front wasn’t showing my slides. I was also a bit heaver here than I want to be omg the internet gives me anxiety.  “If you have a vision, keep that in mind. Follow that. there might be people who may not understand but that’s because your vision is so far ahead they can’t see it yet”.  – Casie Stewart TEDxWesternU 2015: The Human Condition; a concept that is intimately intertwined with every single one of our lives. All of us subscribe to the human condition and the diversity of what that means makes humanity the enigma that it is. Together we will try to navigate its definition from the perspectives of a variety of professionals. From implications on healthcare to business to human rights, TEDxWesternU 2015 will explore what it means to be human.

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Need New Headshots? No Problemo!

Last weekend on my way home from New Orleans I popped into the Iris Photobooth at the MSY Airport. I’d seen these booths on the internet and really wanted to give it a try. I thought the company was owned by LinkedIn but I have since learned it is not. The pop-up headshot station is marketed to LinkedIn users for new profile photos. Amazing idea if you ask me. However, you may want to use the services of a photographer who specializes in headshot photography instead. Photos are $20 for 6 photos including retouching and you get 1 hi-res download. I unlocked the remaining 5 for $5. I also did 2 sessions because I love having my photo taken! ? I think the photos turned out really good despite the fact that my hair wasn’t done, I did my makeup in the car, and had rushed to the airport. The lighting is super bright, almost better than a human headshot setup. (Sorry photographers, the robots are coming!) You can edit the photos right in the booth before saving in a FaceTune kinda way (smoothing, remove blemishes, whiten teeth etc). If you’re looking to get some new photos done in Toronto there’s a booth at Ryerson near YD Square or you can catch them at airports around the USA. See locations here. I would love to be able to book it for a day at our office. I think I’ll pop into the Ryerson one next time I’m on the area. I had been meaning to get a couple photos for ages and this was SO EASY. OK THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY OFF TO GET MY HAIR DONE BYE!

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Don’t Let Opposition from Mediocre Minds Hold You Back

I’ve always loved this quote and on my first draft of this post, the title was ‘That idea is stupid’ because those words were the motivation to write this story down. Also, I know there’s a lot of ‘fake’ Einstein quotes so I hope he actually said this! Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. – Albert Einstein A long, long time ago I got a job at a Canadian media station. Most the girls there were not particularly nice to me. From what I gathered I was the weird internet girl and they didn’t like me. That’s ok, I’ve always been a little different and danced to the beat of my own drum. The boss I was hired by believed in me and my weird internetness. I was doing something unique and it was 2009, the start of mainstream social media. I was excited to learn from him and work together making cool internet as a team. Then he left for another job. My new boss had been there for a lonnnnnng time. Like before the internet long time. He was NOT into my ideas and along with the girls, thought I was weird. One meeting I suggested they put hashtags on tv screens while a show was on and he said “that idea is stupid“. Well, we all know how that turned out, don’t we… A couple years later I worked a full-time job as a Director at an agency. We were planning a big event for the launch of a new vodka flavour. I knew about this cool social media printer setup that would print any Instagram post with a pre-determined hashtag to a little paper that was also a sticker. I’d followed this company since it’s Kickstarter and knew it was finally available for hire. In…

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A Time and Place Story

Maybe I’m stupid for writing this down but last night I came home frustrated after paying to go to a sound meditation that was the opposite of relaxing. I was really hoping it would be like the sound bath I went to in LA earlier this year. That amazing experience changed me for the better and I’ve been a little bit different ever since. Last night was NOT what I was hoping for. Given one detail, it would have been great but something happened…. I was really looking forward to last night after a particularly emotional day, hoping to calm my thoughts and body. BUT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO RELAX. There was a medium size dog walking around the room the whole time dinging a bell (tags) and going up to everyone’s face while they were laying on the floor. This is not the dog’s fault! It’s not about the dog! Dogs are dogs and that’s what dogs do! It’s not like a dog could get its own ticket and come by himself. It would have been FINE if they SAID there was going be a dog or it was dog meditation or goats yoga or whatever! Or if everyone knew the dog already! Consent is important. Just try to imagine it was a person walking around making noise and putting their face in your face while you are laying on the floor trying to meditate in a new space with your eyes closed. (Some people might be into that but you would know what you’re getting into!) I could not for the life of me concentrate or relax because I was listening to the dog walk in circles, worried he was going to come up to my face. I was nervous from the moment I walked in but totally…

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HO-HO-HO! Need a Holiday Jumper? I Got You!

I’ve been growing my collection of holiday sweaters for years. In honour of the holidays approaching and the ease of Amazon Prime, I’ve selected a few great holiday sweaters that you can order just in time to rock that holiday party.  Called on Sean to model some of the sweaters I ordered. Photos were taken using portrait mode on the new iPhone 8 Plus and my new millennial pink seamless background. Ho-Ho-Holiday Sweater Fun All three of Sean’s sweaters are from Amazon, the Cash Business Wreath, Braaaaap, and Go Jesus. I also ordered the Stripper Silhouette which is on its way lol. If you’re looking for something a little more feminine, I’ve included a few crazy print holiday dresses you’ll be sure to dazzle a crowd in. ?? Oh man, I can’t wait to bust all these out. [amazon_link asins=’B017W6N2DG,B01JOY84NM,B01JOY984Q,B0149YVTKM,B011MLDLB0,B0761S7JTY,B00QVM7ZJA,B0752H8RL4,B01JOY5KQG’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’casiestewartc-20′ marketplace=’CA’ link_id=’91a8a9c0-c6a6-11e7-b035-d11afef75969′] I love digging out my hidden stash of holiday sweaters that’s been tucked away. One of my all time favs that you can’t buy was a gift from Target Canada years ago (RIP Target Canada). It’s called the ‘Together Sweater” and fits two people. Sean and I only wore it once to a party and did not last in it all night. It’s wool and super hot but totally fun. I love this stuff so much. Bring on the holiday cheer!  

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“Dreaming is Free. You can’t be stingy with your dream you have to go big. “

The other day I watched Franca on Netflix. It’s a documentary about Franca Sozzani, former Editor in Chief of Italian Vogue, who died at 66. She was cutting edge and groundbreaking. I won’t spoil it with too much detail but it’s an inspiring film. I wrote this quite down as I watched it and it stuck with me. When I was in high school I printed out a Shakespeare quote, attached it to a magnet and stuck it on the fridge. I still have that magnet on our fridge today: “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure This quote stuck with me because it’s easy to give up on your dreams, it’s easy to do something everyone has done before, easy to get a regular job, or not step out of your comfort zone. HOWEVER, when you do that, that’s WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS. By fearing to attempt, you lose the good you might win by trying. By not trying, you give up on yourself before you even start.  I’ve always done things my own way. A lot of the time it made it harder, took a bit longer, but it’s given me so much joy. I didn’t go right into a ‘regular’ 9-5 job, get married, have kids, like so many of my old friends but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted a life less ordinary.  Yesterday was a hard day for me reading the ‘me too’ posts from almost every single female friend in my timeline. I was overwhelmed with anger and sadness, I took a 2hr nap in the afternoon. BUT THAT WILL NOT STOP ME. We are resilient and we can do this. I found my inspiration today and I’m…

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Interview w/ Sassoon Toronto’s Kimberly Wallace + #SassoonStyle Giveaway!

I’m sitting at Sassoon interviewing Kimberly Wallace while she does my hair. I’ve been coming to Sassoon since the start of 2017 and she’s my favourite colourist here. I’ve been following her on Instagram so we instantly start talking about the event I was at last night, her changing hair colours, and all the time I’ve spent at the cottage this summer. Safe to say there are lots of laughs and good chats every single time we’re together. I asked Kimberly a few questions about trends and tips to keep your hair healthy and happy. Interview w/ Sassoon Colorist: Kimberly Wallace What type of shampoo/conditioner do you recommend for my type of hair and why? Colour safe shampoo ex Kerastase Chroma Riche, because it’s for colour treated or highlighted hair. Great for blondes! What are trends you see for hair and beauty this summer? I’m finding that lived-in colour, balayage, ombre, are very popular.  Looks that are low maintenance. That way, you can feel like your hair is sunkissed but you don’t have to come into the salon every 4-6 weeks. What is one hair tip that I can share with the world? Be realistic with your hair goals. For example, if you have thick dark hair like Kim Kardashian and you want to go blonde in an afternoon, it’s not going to happen in one session. Or asking for pink hair but have brown colour, that’s not going to happen in one session either. Another thing to note is pastel colours are great but they only last two weeks. Instagram filters and editing can be deceiving, what you see isn’t always what’s real! (We chatted about how the Instagram is sometimes a web of lies, don’t believe everything you see on IG!) Being blonde is a full time job! A post shared…

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ALL I THINK ABOUT IS KARMA.

First, been listening to the new Taylor on repeat and I like it. I feel like she’s grown up the last for years and is probably sick of everyone’s bullshit. I can totally relate to that because I am 35 now and in my ‘I don’t give a f*ck’ stage where I will do what I want and not let anyone else’s expectations dictate how I feel. Second, this summer I’ve really taken time to relax and chill out. I’ve still blogged and updated the internet but it’s been less than years prior and it kinda feels good. I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon but I’ve learned it’s really important to give back to yourself. I’ve had a few meltdowns over the years after being totally exhausted and overwhelmed by trying to do too much. On that note, I’m realllllllly looking forward to TIFF this year. This week I was at the annual NKPR ‘Festival Countdown’ and it was so great to see everyone. I’ll put together a post about that exclusively. I’ve got my list of gifting lounges to check out in the first week and there will without a doubt be a bunch of parties. Yesterday I signed Sean and I up at the new LA Fitness near our house. I paid for it with my own money and I have been going for about a week now. I have never joined a gym before and I really like it! After doing yoga religiously this year, I feel ready to take it up a level. I refuse to spend this winter sitting on the couch again! Years ago Sean said I would be really fit if I only worked out as much as I watch Young & The Restless so that’s now what I try to do. Kinda silly…

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You Are Alive, You Are Burning

I feel so alive today. I just got home from a great class at yoga. It was only me and one other person! We made coffee before and opened the doors to have class on the terrace. It was so nice. That’s for sure where all the energy comes from. I started a new notebook last night. You know that feeling? If you don’t. Get one today, open that first page, I always start on the 2nd blank page) Write something down! If feels so good. Feeling, what you ate, exercises, ideas, doodles, anything. Just write something.  Being back in the city is so nice. I took simple pleasures yesterday in walking 2 minutes to the corner store to buy lactose-free milk. Also drinking tap water. These are the little things I swear that make a truly happy person. Taking joy in everyday things will light your heart on fire and fill your soul with love. Wow, am I yoga drunk right now? I think so. Did two classes yesterday, aerial (at Whole Life Balance) and sweat (at YOGA YOGA). Silks yoga is so cool, check me out upside down. You do stretches and inversions and it is a good workout but you could for sure do it.   Upside down! Aerial silks class w/ @Futurpreneur. So fun. Want one of these at home. #MediaMatters #yoga pic.twitter.com/VkEhGLztc2 — CASiE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) August 15, 2017 Anyone recognize the title song lyric? I listened to Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, Tails album this morning. So many memories with it. I must have listened to the tape 8,000,000 times during junior high in my bedroom. Last night I lit this really nice candle and instead of a wax wick, it has a wood wick (say that 20 times!).  I wondered if it was Sandalwood…

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