Review: Roomba i7+ Robot Vacuum

Over the past 45 days, I’ve been testing the Roomba i7+ from iRobot. Overall, awesome vacuum, especially great for bungalows, love the self-cleaning feature.

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I’ve wanted a Roomba or years and talked about it on Twitter back in 2012. Hello, who wouldn’t’ want a little cleaning robot?!

We have quite a few stairs at home, so I decided Roomba would live at the 1188 office. Honestly, it’s been such a hit with everyone, they were all so excited when the big box arrived, it would be interesting to find out what is best robot vacuums to try out. It feels like we have an office pet again! This works for the floors, but for the rest of the Office Cleaning we do still hire a specialist cleaning team, as the Roomba can’t clean walls, fridges, technology, and other office items!

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Welcome to our lives little guy!

I would say the only downfall about the Roomba Robot Vacuum is that it can’t do stairs, yet! It does have Cliff Detect so it won’t fall down or take a tumble should you have some stairs around.

Once I got everything set up, it was really quick to download the app and connect the device. The Roomba i7+ is the smartest robot vacuum yet. It has a cleaning dock to empty itself plus an app that lets you control it and see where it’s cleaned.

You can see it was super quick to set up. I snapped these screenshots all in the same minute! My favourite part aside from clean office floors is the app (by the way, this is the perfect vacuum for wooden floors). I’m able to see if there’s an issue, what’s been cleaned, or set it to clean at any specific time.

Cleaning

Two features that make this an amazing machine are 1) Dirt Detect™ Technology and 2) The Edge-Sweeping Brush. Dirt Detect gets to know areas that need more cleaning like high traffic spots and prompts the robot to be more thorough when cleaning there. The magical Edge Sweeping brush gets into the edges and corners. I found this quite useful in the kitchen and around office chairs.

Self Cleaning

This is a handy feature. The robot cleaned 4h 57minutes before needing to be emptied. This feature means you don’t have to worry about emptying the little robot once it’s full saving you time and energy. It’s really easy and not messy to take out the full bag, toss, and put a new one in. The vacuum set comes with 2 bags and it was about a month before I needed to empty the bin. You can order new bags from the iRobot shop.


Smart Mapping

I love this feature. Some people mentioned it’s ‘kinda creepy‘ that it makes a map of your space but honestly, that doesn’t really concern me when I arrive at the office and the floor is tidy.

The Roomba i7+ robot uses Imprint™ Smart Mapping technology to learn the floor plan and it gets better over time. You can set it to just clean certain areas, pick specific times, or set to a schedule. Watch the video below to see how it works.

Another really cool thing is that the Roomba connects to Alexa enabled devices or Google Assistant. The joy of saying “Alexa, run the vacuum” makes me so excited for the robot future.

Great vacuum. Highly recommend.

casie stewart, roomba, toronto, review, tech, blogger

Also, this is my favourite comment from Sean about the new Roomba, haha.

“I dropped some chips so I woke up the Roomba”

casie stewart

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Disclaimer: iRobot sent this for me to review in exchange for my honest opinion and that's exactly what you've got here! 

Hello 2019!

Here’s a little update with what I’ve been up to so far this year, my latest Sunwing commercial, and some Netflix recos for the winter storm that’s coming this weekend. I’m prepping to stay inside for more hibernation!

First up, I’m doing quite a bit better with the collarbone and took some much needed time off over the holidays. I got new x-rays today and my bone is healing slowly with no complications. Thankful it’s winter and totally a-ok to stay home for days on end in lazy clothes.

Sean and I went to the cottage for almost a week during New Years and it was the perfect break from everything. We kept warm by the fire, watched movies on DVD, and went for walks on the frozen lake. Woke up New Years Day feeling fresh and ready for a new year.

2018 started pretty rough. I was in New Zealand with mum and on New Year’s Eve, I accidentally put diesel in the gas car the on New Year’s Eve. I was stressed out and upset when I got gas. I’d never done that before and hopefully won’t do it again! However, the car was toast! ? We had to have a flatbed truck come to our cabin in the park to bring a new car and take the old one. I was hungover, embarrassed, and frustrated. It also set us back a few hours on our trip to see Nana. The first 2 weeks of the year were pretty stressful as we spent time with family and Nana before she passed away. It was a hard time to go through but it also brought us closer.

After all 2018’s ups and downs, I was ready to start 2019 with nothing but positive vibes.


I’ve watched heaps of great shows over the last few weeks. Highly recommend YOU, Sex Education, Instant Hotel, Bird Box and Marie Kondo on Netflix. The book YOU is one of the best books I’ve ever read and I’m glad to see the second book from Carolyn Kepnes ‘Hidden Bodies’ will be Season 2. Gillian Anderson is really great in Sex Education. I’m not usually one for reality shows but Instant Hotel is an Australian show where people rate each others Airbnb’s. One of the pairs is from Bondi Beach, Sydney when I used to live so I was loving it. The show is full of drama and has heaps of tips if you’re looking to have your own Airbnb.

When we got home from the cottage I went hardcore on the Marie Kondo‘s Kon Mari. I started with the pantry, went through all the and went through our cupboards, the whole kitchen, out closets, and all the clothes I own. Emily even got into it and went through all her stuff. It was a family affair!

I tweeted about my experience and one of them ended up in a CBC article. Ha!


I finally saw the lastest Sunwing commercial I’m in when I was watching the Golden Globes. I had people messaging me from everywhere! It’s national and playing on a few channels (CP24, Global, CTV). I was quite pleased to see it during Y&R and Jeopardy.

Click the ‘Play’ button below to watch in the tweet.


I’m still recovering from the shoulder injury so taking it easy but I’ll be ready to come out of hibernation in a few weeks. I’ve been doing more work at the 1188 office lately and we have a few reallllly cool things coming up. I’ve signed on for another great year of the Telus partner program and will have more to share about that soon. I’m still working with Sassoon and have really let my hair grow the last couple weeks. The future is looking longer and blonder!

Overall, I’m starting to feel like my old self again.

Here’s to a great year of adventures, storytelling, sharing advice, and growth.

With love,

casiestewart, blog, blogger, toronto, canada, travel, tech

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Head High

 I went out on Friday this past weekend for a hot minute but it was a very special and amazing short time. I popped out to Super Wonder Gallery to see ECHLO. Chloe Charles aka ECHLO was having an album release party & art show and I didn’t want to miss seeing her live. We met in the summer at an event hosted by ZANE and totally hit it off.  Ended up having a great time that warm summer night with patio drinks and our best friends. 


After 5 weeks on the CBC’s top songs chart, last week she made it to #1 with the song below (that I love) called Head High. I have no doubt you will love it too. Aside from music she is a super talented artist check out her website at echlomusic.com and follow her dope IG @ECHLOMUSIC.

“I tried to be normal, love like the rest, and my demon takes over, and straddles my chest, I can’t breathe”

Hey girl congrats! You were amazing!

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P.S. Discovered this GEM she did for CBC last year while I was on the Google and WHOA. So good. Love the acoustic at the start!

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Sometimes I Don’t Feel Like It #16

I’ve been laying low the last month, posting less, staying in. I just haven’t felt like it. The other day I wrote down something I overheard Sean said on the phone when someone asked how things were, he said “a mix of awesome and shitty“. It stuck with me, that’s how I’ve been feeling the last month.

On November 21st I was given a prestigious award from the President of Conestoga College, Alumni of Distinction. It was a proud moment when I sat at the back of the crowd with my mum and my ‘Fairy Godmother‘ (mum’s best friend) who watched me walk up and make a speech in front of the group. It felt amazing to be recognized for my career, not something that was voted on by social media but actually recognized by people older than me who didn’t really know me personally.  This part of the night was awesome. 

It was really cold that night we were happy to get home and cheers over a glass of wine. We were all filled with such excitement. We weren’t up late but I went outside for a minute before bed. This part of the night was shitty. I slipped on some ice on the concrete stairs outside mum’s house. I fell on the concrete steps resulting in a black eye and later found out I fractured my collarbone. I went to the doctor the next day, swollen and bruised. I got acupuncture. I felt like garbage, how could this happen? I barely remember falling, mum holding frozen peas on my head, the drive back home the following day.

I tried to hide it, act like nothing was wrong. I covered up my face, wore glasses, stayed home from events. As for my shoulder, it was 1 week and a trip to New Orleans before I thought, ‘ I really should get an x-ray‘. I knew something was wrong and I was right. I don’t need a cast or surgery but it hurts and I’m taking it easy. Tomorrow I’m heading to the fracture clinic at the hospital for more x-rays.

New x-ray, definitely broken.

It’s crazy that this would happen right at the same time two really great things happened.

“a mix of awesome and shitty”

Aside from the Alumni Award at Conestoga College, I was nominated for the Premier’s Awards. A provincewide award recognizing alumni in Ontario from all 24 colleges. I was nominated in the Creative Arts and Design category amongst some pretty well known Canadians whom I admire. Although I was smiling and had fun with mum at the awards. I was wearing my glasses and trying to not let my eyes water to reveal the makeup covering the dark bruise around my eye. I left for New Orleans the next day and spent most of the week wearing sunglasses.

I’m doing a-ok and will be back to normal in a couple weeks. The holidays are a great time to sit back, rela, take inventory of the year and set intentions.

Life has a way of making you slow day, teaching you lessons, and making you think about your life in different ways.

This injury has really made me slow down. I’ve missed a bunch of holiday events but then again, am I really missing anything? I’m taking the next 2 weeks off to Marie Kondo our house, exlore my creativity, and get ready for 2019. Can you believe we’re only 1 year away for 2020?

Unpopular Opinion: I Like The New WordPress 5.0

Ashley Longshore, NOLA, Louisiana, painter, magazine street, travel, pink, bright colours, artist, casie stewart, blogger, travel blogger

I installed the new WP 5.0 that came out last week right away. I like to be the first to try things out. I’ve always been an early adopter. There are a few glitches but I believe this is the start of a new, modern, flexible WordPress. It gives you so much more customization in the way your work is displayed, photos, galleries, quotes.


I ran into an issue when I first installed WP 5.0 where it reverted me back to the Classic Editor. I lost Gutenberg when I installed 5.0 then I installed the Classic Editor and couldn’t get Gutenberg back. I searched a whole bunch of WP developer forums and it was VERY CLEAR, people HATE Gutenberg and they HATE Blocks. To fix it I disabled the Classic Editor plugin, and deleted, reinstalled the Gutenberg editor. I also disabled Page Builder (Site Origin) and a couple other plugins that I wasn’t using and probably weren’t updated for WP 5.0.

I blogged about my fav parts of the new Gutenberg Editor back in August when it was released here.


One of my favourite things in the new editor is how you can display images wide across the page. I love the way galleries look stretched out instead of just within the pixel width of your blog text. So pretty. These photos are from Ashley Longshore gallery in New Orleans, LA.

What are your thoughts on the new WordPress, do you love it or do you hate it?

Comments open!



Say Yes to You

Say Yes to You

Over the past 2 years, I’ve been on a mission to be healthier, both mentally & physically. Ever since I took that solo trip to LA I’ve been paying more attention to my body and taking more time for myself. My next quest is to learn about gut health

Did you know that your overall well-being, including your weight and immunity, may be tied to your gastrointestinal health?

In the summer I went to a workshop hosted by  Koena, an over-the-counter probiotic supplement to promote gastrointestinal health. This was my first introduction to gut health and got me thinking about my family.  Last month I went to another workshop focussing on food sensitivity, leaky gut, and overall gut health. I’m learning but there’s so much to know. 

A key takeaway is you really are what you eat and your gut is connected to your brain which is connected to everything else. 

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are  “friendly” bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal track and help maintain and protect gastrointestinal health. 

This week I’m starting with Koena Probiotic Supplement for adults.  Their products have no GMOs, are vegan, gluten free, preservative free, with no dyes or artificial flavours. The adult formula has a blend of probiotics and a prebiotic (fibers).

Koena’s also offers certain blends for women and children’s individual needs. Their products are crafted from natural medicinal ingredients to promote healthy gut flora.

 Our intestines are populated by a large number of various bacterial strains: a well-balanced and rich intestinal flora, also called the microbiota, is able to protect us from many disorders. Its activity helps with everything from digesting food, to fighting infections and protecting the body from toxins.



If you have any tips for gut health (or remembering to take your vitamins) I’m all ears!  I’ll be sharing an update in a few weeks on how I’m feeling and my recommendations on probiotics.

I started drinking kombucha this summer, I wonder how long till I start making it myself?!


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Great Reasons to Visit Stratford, Ontario

A couple weeks ago I went on an autumn adventure to Stratford, Ontario.  Home of Justin Bieber and the Stratford Festival, the city has lots to offer and is just a 2hr drive from downtown Toronto. We have so many great plces to visit within a 2hr drive of Toronto and it was so nice to visit Stratford again. I hadn’t been since I was a kid! I spent the day with Stratford Tourism and learned it’s quite the quaint destination for culture, food, shopping, and of course theatre. I was happy to find a few cute boutiques with vintage finds, local brands, unique jewellery, and beautiful housewares. Luckily I drove so I had room to fit my purchases in the boot! 

What to Do: Stratford Ontario

Here’s a few of the things I really loved about Stratford aside from catching a show. If theatre is your jam it’s definitely worth seeing one of the many nightly shows, we saw To Kill A Mockingbird which was great. (I did not know this story which is like whoaaa btw).

Image result for stratford festival logo

The Stratford Festival is world renowned and for $29 you can get a bus to and from the theatre from Downtown Toronto. Upcoming shows include Billy Elliot, Othello, The Neverending Story and more. See the full list here.


Shopping

  • La Osa Vintage – This store is amazing. It’s on a side street from Market Square and FULL of vintage and new items from Canadian designers. They also carry heaps of unique jewellery. I could have really lit some $$$ on ??? in there!
  • Wills & Prior – This spot in the heart of Market Square has heaps of beautiful items for your home. The owner used to live in TO and work in PR and she’s left the city for small-town life. I was kinda jealous hearing about her journey and the store is so beautiful you’ll want to move right in! 
  • Distill Gallery   – The spot for well-crafted Canadian design, this shop has over a hundred different artisans and they have heaps of great accessories and gifts, plus a great selection of creative cards. I picked up a pair of gorgeous silk socks by Strathcona.  

Food

  • Revival House – This spot is an old church that’s been renovated and is run by a local couple. It’s a beautiful space for weddings and the huge windows let the light in to create a bright dining space. Upstairs is a bar called Belfry Lounge that offers incredible cocktails made with local ingredients. On Thursdays, they have a record night where people can bring their own records and the owner DJs. It caters to the 35+ crowd and honestly sounds like a total blast. Great spot.
  • Revel Coffee – This shop is a hub for fairtrade coffee and homemade pastry & sweets made in their open kitchen. It had a steady flow of locals and lots of tables if you want some creative time. We all sat at a large main table with recycled wood from the shop the used to occupy the space. They have a great patio for warm temperatures and are located right in Market Square. 

Stratford For the Holidays

  • Christmas Trail -This is a shopping tour of 25 shops downtown Stratford.  You’ll get six gifts along the tour for just $30(+HST). You’ll even be able to see lookout for seven swans a swimming! ? It runs until Dec. 20th, details here. 
Related image
  • Outdoor Christmas Market – Their Very Victorian Christmas is at Market Square and has all kinds of cute things that will surely get you in the spirit and boost up your holidays IG content. ?? Ex. carousel rides, mini markets and Santa, of course.

For more info on Stratford check out visitstratford.ca. Huge thank you to the team at Stratford Tourism for taking us on an adventure. Great to explore part of Ontario I hadn’t seen in a while!

Stratford Tourism invited me and covered my expenses but the experience is all mine! 



TELUS Friendly Future Foundation: Helping Youth & Communities Across Canada

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Across Canada, 1.5 million children go hungry without access to nutritious food every single day, 30K Canadians are homeless (mostly young people), and 40% of low-income families don’t have internet access putting kids at risk for falling behind in school. We can all do something to help and this year Telus launched the Friendly Future Foundation putting $120 million into addressing the social and economic challenges facing Canadian youth.  I am proud to work with Telus and have been a #TeamTelus partner for the last 8 years.  


The Foundation will give grants to grassroots charities in communities across Canada who really know their community and how to help. By partnering with smaller charities, they’re able to help out groups that might be missed by huge corporate donors and make a big impact in small communities. I think this is an amazing approach. I work with Brands For Canada, an organization that provides new clothing & basic needs supplies to people across Canada and this method of working with local charities has worked great for them. 

The Friendly Future Foundation funding will help kids build up digital literacy skills, get basic healthcare and mental health support to the homeless, and open up other educational opportunities. Here’s an example of doing good in a community not too far from us, Telus donated $20K to the Women’s Shelter in Barrie.


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The $120 million TELUS has provided for the Friendly Future Foundation is the largest donation made by a publicly traded Canadian company in history and one of the largest ever in North America. Way to go team!

Over the past two decades, TELUS, team members and retirees have contributed more than $1 billion of value to Canadians, through $530 million in financial support and 1.21 million days of volunteerism. Last year alone they (we!) volunteered 1 million hours. 

I’m continuously impressed by how Telus gives in communities where they live. I’ve had the opportunity to do some giving back of my own through volunteer programs and they have made over $21,000 in charity donations on my behalf. This year my donation went to Cambridge Montessori (where I went!) and last year my donation went to SKETCH, an art based program for kids in the GTA.  I’m hoping to do more with Telus and local programs for 2019.


Have a project that could use some help? You can APPLY for funding here. The deadline for Toronto applications is January with different deadlines across Canada. So, if you want to make a difference, learn more about community grants here and get on it.

casie stewart, telus, give where we live, toronto, charity, donations

For more information about the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation visit friendlyfuture.com/en/foundation. And for some inspirational stories about people Telus has already helped, check these out.


This post is part of my long-term partnership with Telus sharing great stuff the brand is doing, my favourite things about being a customer, and tech gadgets I love (or want!).

Instant camera photos of children faces in heart-shaped pile

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Review: Dyson Cyclone V10 Cordless Vacuum

The vacuum is incredible. Best I’ve ever had. I love it. The end. 

casiestewart, dyson, airblade, V10, blogger, influencer, toronto, sponsored
VROOOOOOM, this baby has some POWER.

Ok jk jk.  I received an email about a month to review the new Dyson Cyclone V10 and was 100% down. In exchange for my review, I get to keep the unit and my house had never been cleaner! This thing has some SERIOUS power. It’s also easy to use right out the box (once charged!) and if you have kids around, a great motivator to clean.

I love that it’s cord-free. You can just grab it and go for quick clean ups around the house, the couch, kitchen, stairs, baseboards. I’ve been using it almost daily as a small dust buster style like the photo above. This weekend we had my sister and her step-daughter over for movie night and DIY pizzas complete with chips and popcorn. I usually can be kinda crazy about not making a mess but I didn’t freak out, Dyson to the rescue!  The V10 is a godsend for the area around the couch and kitchen. How do they always get so messy?! We have dark hardwood floors in the living room and I find the area around the kitchen stools needs to be cleaned daily, the V10 is especially great for this.

The dusting wand is amazing for corners by baseboards and other hard to reach areas like the ceiling vents. In other news, Emily has cleaned her room every weekend since we got it.

Image result for dyson v10
All the parts that come with the Dyson V10 

Size wise, is a bit bigger and heavier than the V6 which is likely due to the larger bin and additional battery power. Also, I kind of wish it had an on-off switch, you currently have to hold your finger on the trigger to use it but I do like that  I’m always in control. The battery lasts up to an hour which is really handy. You can vacuum up almost anything other than dirt like, cereal, sugar, popcorn, paper scraps from crafting (as long as it’s dry). ? The V10 can hold more dust and debris with it’s 40% larger bin and has hygienic bin emptying making it super easy to empty without making a mess. I love this feature because that last thing you want is get stuff all over the floor AFTER after you just vacuumed. 

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Learn more about this great little machine at dysoncanada.ca or order your very own on Amazon.


I previously had the Dyson V6 which was an incredible vacuum and after getting the V10 I gave it to a friend. I am a huge fan of Dyson products and also have the Dyson Pure Link Fan and use it daily (read that review here). 


Dyson gave me the V10 vacuum but all the cleaning was done by me and this is my honest review! 

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Money Mindfulness

Last week I went to a wellness workshop hosted by Capital One for Credit Education Week. This year’s theme is ‘Money Mindfulness’ and at the event, we meditated, did yoga, and learned that being mindful about our everyday expenses can help related stress and anxiety. Stress and anxiety are all too often experienced in this day and age so it’s no wonder people search for the best CBD oil in the UK and around the world to help them deal with it.

The event was held on the top floor of the Broadview Hotel and included a joga class by Jana Webb. We enjoyed a Smoothie Station and were sent home with a Mindfulness package. It was very relaxing!

The location was perfect for a gloomy day with huge skylights to brighten the space. It was nice to spend the morning with a bunch of the blog gang doing something other than being on our phones.


I don’t know about you but money stresses me out on a regular basis, waiting for cheques, people not paying on time, bills, taxes, rent/mortgage. Life is expensive and if you don’t have a handle on your finances, your other problems seem much bigger. Even if you have money, mo money, mo problems! To get a better handle on your personal finances, you may want to start reading articles that cover topics like banking, credit cards, and loans, etc. to help you equip yourself with the knowledge to become a money master! You might find sites like this useful – https://myinforms.com.

According to Capital One, 44% of Canadians say credit, debt, and finances negatively affect their mental health.

Capital One Canada organized a session on mindfulness with the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, where we slowly ate a strawberry, thinking about how it felt to the touch, tasted, and smelled. It was a different way to eat then the usually scarf-it-down-and-head-out-the-door mode. The session was hosted by The Centre for Mindfulness Studies and they offer classes & workshops on slowing down and living a more mindful life.

My favourite part second to yoga was meditation. I’ve been using meditation apps to help me sleep for about a year and I’m starting to use more in my daily life. I find taking a few minutes to clear my head really helps with focus and anxiety. We got to test out a Braincap experience used brain sensors to track our ability to focus by blocking out distraction.


I’ve spoken about dealing with my finances a few times over the years. In my 20s I worked really hard to pay back over $30K in post-secondary school debt and am always trying to build up my nest egg to save for an emergency. Paying back debt is hard and not being able to do certain things because you owe money is very frustrating. There are people available to help, such as HelloResolve, if you’re struggling with money management and repaying debts. I used to hide away from dealing with things that stressed me out (like money) but I’ve found that the best way to conquer the stress they give you is to deal with them head-on.

“Money is an emotional topic and is one of the biggest sources of stress in people’s lives, but it is rarely talked about. During Credit Education Week, we are aiming to help Canadians begin conversations around money, their relationship with it and how actively prioritizing and managing finances can alleviate stress,”

Patrick Ens, VP of Strategy and Brand, Capital One.

Credit Education Week runs November 13-16th across Canada. To learn, more about bringing mindfulness into your life and how it can help with money management, visit cewc.ca. You can check out the Money Mindfulness Oasis at Woodbine Mall in Etobicoke each day from 10am to 9pm. See all event details here!


This post is in partnership with Capital One Canada for Credit Education Week but all the thoughts an opinions are mine, all mine!

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