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Casie January 28, 2020 Travel HOTEL X TORONTO

Beat Winter SAD: Book a Staycation

We are almost through January and the countdown to spring is ON! OK, it’s 50 days, and yes I’m counting. I’m really working on finding ways to make this winter not seem as long, cold, or depressing as 2019. Last week, I shared a post about beating winter Seasonal Affective Disorder by taking a vacation. This week, I’m sharing an AWESOME recommendation for a staycation. Sean and I spent a relaxing ~24-hours at Hotel X Toronto in downtown Toronto and it was a really nice mini-getaway. If you’d like to see more of my stay in video, check out my Staycation highlight on Instagram. I magically picked the BEST day for a staycation because we had a major snowstorm that morning. I arrived at noon for a hot yoga class and to see the amenities before checking in at 3pm. From the moment you walk in the hotel, it feels luxurious. It makes for a great staycation because there are lots of plants, several restaurants, a great gym, and amenities, meaning you don’t have to leave the hotel. There’s also a kid’s play center if you have little ones. I have added the Guerlain Spa to my ‘must visit‘ list for next time. Hotel X Toronto definitely has a resort-type feel. There’s a pool on the roof that I imagine is absolutely stunning in the summer. Yes, I did test it out in the winter. Scroll down!

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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 my 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 man does it ever make a difference. I’m saving time every day 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 get here and I feel confident that I will stick to it this time because I love the way I feel. ? Fasting August 2019 I started intermittent fasting, 8hrs eating window (noon-8pm) and fasting the rest of the day. I started to feel healthier,…

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Review: iRobot Braava jet m6 Robot Mop

I don’t have an actual pet but when our little robot is cleaning the office floor and docking near my desk, I feel some kinda love. For the last few weeks, I’ve been testing out the new Braava jet m6 Robot Mop. This latest innovation from iRobot is a smart mop that cleans your floors, charges itself, maps your space, and keeps you updated on what it’s doing through the iRobot HOME app. Cleaning The Braava jet m6 Robot Mop definitely does a good job of cleaning floors. The last few weeks have had a lot of messy shoes, drink spills, and holiday snacks so we gave it a good test. It’s easy to use and able to get in close quarters like around desks & close to walls. One of my fav features is that it’s small enough to get under the edge of the kitchen cabinets where it can get pretty messy. Wifi + iRobot HOME App The app is pretty great and sends push notifications when a job is completed or the device needs your attention. iRobot uses Imprint Smart Mapping technology, mapping your space, creating a digital document in the app of where it’s been or it needs to clean. You can also pause and resume the cleaning job at any time. If you have a Roomba sweeping device, you can sync both so that once the Roomba is done cleaning dust & dirt, it can signal the Braava jet to start mopping the floor. You can also set the cleaning time within the app so it gets to work while you’re out for the day, sleeping, or at work. We have ours set to clean at 10am, 3 nights a week when the office is free of humans. Other things to Note It’s pretty quiet,…

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It’s A Long Road, You Got This

Last weekend Cory and I went on a BFF adventure to take photos at some walls we’d had our eyes on. This might seem weird to you but if you live that ‘blog life’ sometimes you need to shoot stuff and create content. Our main goal was to this up this rainbow wall on Orfus road so we packed a bunch of clothes and set out on a nice sunny day. When we arrived, much to our surprise, there was a HUGE pink wall painted with a massive red heard. Very on-brand for me! It was perfect. I highly recommend it for fun photos, kids, family, or capturing content. As we were leaving, I noticed the wall was one side of the YM Inc. building and I was flooded with flashbacks. My first job after university was at YM Inc., I was Assistant to the Purchasing Director. One winter when my boss went to Florida for a month, I decided to start a blog. It was on blogger, I could write text using a WYSIWYG Editor, upload photos, and share links. I posted mostly CGI photos I drew on the computer, told stories, posted really short thoughts and ideas. The first few years hardly anyone read it. There was no Twitter, Instagram wasn’t invented, YouTube only just launched. Some of my first posts: Chasing the Subway Apparently I’m been interested in not eating meat for quite some time She’s Gonna Write A Book About You First motorcycle ride At that time I had no idea where I was going with this blog thing but I liked it. It made me feel relaxed to write things down and document my life. Almost 15 years later, I still feel this way about writing my blog. I found something I loved and I…

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Make Time For Yourself

You only live each day once, tomorrow is a new day. How are you spending your time? A few months ago I was feeling really burnt out and over everything. I had no energy to go out, write, do anything creative. May was a really stressful month and by the time June/July rolled around I was stressed TF out. All I wanted to do was stay home, watch Netflix, my room was a mess, I’d piled up boxes and paper that needed to be processed. I didn’t have the energy to do it. So I rested. I took time to chill. I’m grateful for the privilege to mostly work from home, to work on myself, and to breathe. I started spending a bit less time on asocial, taking breaks. I began to really love seeing the + beside my name on IG Stories, showing I hadn’t posted anything in 24 hours. That felt like a win with me. I’ve been updating the internet for 15+ years about my life and what I’m doing, burnout is real and it’s ok to take a break. I thought about what I wanted (even though I’m constantly trying to figure out exactly what that looks like!) and I focussed on it. Made some other changes too. I got serious about drinking less and explored being sober curious. I even spoke at an event where I shared some stuff I’ve never talked about. I was hesitant at first but I figure, if I can make this change in my life, it might be helpful to someone else going through the same things. It was the first TIFF in 10 years where I didn’t get drunk, I didn’t even drink at parties. And y’ know what? IT WAS AWESOME AND I STILL HAD FUN. I started intermittent…

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ROLLERCOASTER DAY

Some days I have it all together and others I am just a mess. This morning I woke up and started planning my outfit for Booby Ball on Friday in support of ReThink Breast Cancer. I left the house feeling positive and ready to attend a talk with the Rebel Mamas on talking to kids about cannabis put on by Drug-Free Kids Canada & Aphira. Dropped my stuff off at the office grabbed my ‘Rebel Mama’ clutch and jotted down the street to be there for 11am and GUESS WHAT?! The restaurant said ‘CLOSED’, not like, just for the day, closed as not-yet-a-functioning-establishment-closed. Checked the email again, then the initial DM. Location changed. I could have easily gone to the right location but it was too late now. Or, had I not left the house, I could have casually worked from home until late afternoon. Urghhhhhh. And I stepped in a puddle, in Converse. I’d planned to stop by Dollerama so I went there to get some supplies for Friday’s costume. Grabbed a sandwich. Set up my computer at the office. Stared at the screen. Felt garbadgey. LIFE IS SO EMOTIONAL. I considered going home again but I’ve got hair & makeup for the Fashion heals for Sick Kids show at 5. I stay at the office downtown. Felt distracted. I decided to look into flights to New Orleans for the group trip I’ve been doing for years. Forgot about my Aeroplan miles, booked the trip, only had to pay tax. Put this song on and wow, I feel so much better. I love how a song can change your mood. Sometimes it’s your boyfriend bringing you a cookie from his morning meeting. Sometimes it’s finding an old gift card or remembering travel rewards. I wore a yellow shirt today…

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PHOTO DIARY: Cannes Film Festival 2019

I can hardly believe it’s almost TIFF! It feels like we were just in France for Cannes! After our trip to France, I was so incredibly tired, I’d spent most of May traveling or at conferences. I posted a few photos in this Telus post about our Cannes adventure but I wanted to share more about the experience so I don’t forget anything. It was a really cool experience! From the moment I saw the red carpet and Cannes main building I was in awe. I’ve been watching celebrities grace that carpet my whole adult life! When I picked up my badge, I had this moment of “omg, we’re really doing this!”. I was there in charge of content for The Holy City, a film co-produced by Sean’s company, Occupied VR. I loved walking the streets and people watching. Cannes is full of character with old cobble streets, beautiful beaches, a merry go round on the main strip, huge yachts lining the harbor, and bustling patios lining the sidewalks. I was happy to learn there are multiple Zara stores in case you have a wardrobe emergency and a tuxedo rental place if you need one a hurry. A couple of my fav moments were walking out to paparazzi behind Elton John, walking past Chloë Sevigny, and seeing Tilda Swinton sauntering down the street in a gorgeous muumuu. She was stunning! Each day we walked or took an Uber down to the festival building. In order to get inside, we had to pass security including bag search and badge check. We spent most our time on the first floor of the building in the XR Hub, on the film sales floor, or at the international pavilions. The Holy City premiere was on the 2nd day of our trip so the rest…

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Create Better Days

I’ve been going through old hard drives up at the cottage and wow, I’ve taken a lot of photos. There are multiple drives with hundreds of folders and nothing is organized properly. Many people would be stressed TF out by this but I’m really trying to take inspiration from my chaos. I’m finding so many things, texting old photos to friends, making notes, and making a new list of old ideas. Each morning here, I get up, make coffee, some type of snack, and sit down at my computer in the kitchen overlooking the lake. I’m often wearing big noise-canceling headphones with nothing playing, I like silence or muffled sound when I’m trying to concentrate. Searching my drives is an endless adventure of, what could this be?! Folder names go from date_nameofclient to ‘iPhone2014 dump’ or ‘new folder4’, it’ a mess! I love having all my memories in photos and videos, it’s so easy to forget the daily details of life. One of the things I’ve really noticed is just how many selfies I take in relation to how many get posted. There are a lot of deleted selfies. Yesterday, after putting the boat in the water I came back and was feeling cute. Grabbed my tripod and set it up outside, snapped a bunch of photos with my remote and voila, the ones you see here. To be honest, I looked at so many of them, hitting delete and not feeling happy with how I looked. Yes, it was early morning no makeup, but how I felt before the photos (cute) vs how I felt after the photos (not cute) didn’t match up. This happens all the time but I’m trying to not be so hard on myself. Today, looking back, of course, there were some bad ones, it…

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Thoughts on Graduating: Find Something You Love

Last week I spoke at the graduation for Conestoga College. There were 15 programs graduating and hundreds of students. I got to wear a gold cape as a ‘special guest’. I checked the colour of the cape before the event and came prepared with gold shoes. It was pretty cool! The top photo above is me with Conestoga College president John Tibbits at the presentation of my Alumni Award last year. I was in shock when I found out I’d been nominated for the Premiere’s Award then Conestoga surprised me with an Alumni Award. [The highest award from a college delivered by the president!] This isn’t the kind of award you can apply for, and I am so honored to be recognized. I took my mum, and her BFF (aka my second mum & Fairy Godmother!) to the ceremony. We had a great time! Looking Back… I’ve spent the last decade working in social media as the industry grew and developed. I’ve had my blog for 14 years. When I went to Conestoga College for Marketing, social media was not invented. Blogs were not invented, there was no Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. I was into marketing as soon as I knew what it was. I chose to study it in college because I had a *feeling* the internet would be something big. SMART THINKIN’ EH! Honestly, in college, I used to skip class and I hardly ever bought textbooks. I didn’t have much money in college or university, but I always did the work. I worked well in groups when I was the leader, I liked writing, I was really into presentations. I didn’t really know what I wanted to be when I left Conestoga College, so I went to university, in Australia. I liked business but I had no…

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CBD: What Works For Me

I’ve been asked about CBD a bunch over the past few months so I’ve finally put down some thoughts. This post is IN NO WAY medical, I am not a professional, this my personal experience. You should 100% consult some kind of professional before trying something for medical purposes. You can’t go wrong with someone who can tell you the difference between cbg and cbd, and their different medical uses. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with the cannabis plant or have been self-medicating for some period of time, you’ll enjoy this! The photo above is from Sugar High Love Stoned and I bought the sweater while I was writing this post. ? I’ve tried a bunch of products and these are my favorites. There are HEAPS of products out there, my recommendation is to get any cannabis product from somewhere credible or recommended by a trusted friend. If you are using CBD for a specific reason such as your an athlete, then I suggest you go to aethics for specialist products. A lot of beauty, health, food products are coming out claiming to have cannabis or CBD, where it could be low-grade CBD or hemp seed oil. You can also get help derived CBD products, which can be confusing. My friend Ama Scriver wrote a great piece on cannabis and the beauty industry for healthline.com here. CBD To Calm Down + Focus + Sleep Aurora CBD Liquid Gels Product: Small gel capsules, each with 8.5mg of CDB and 0.3mg of THC. You can find them at Nova Cannabis on Queen, OCS, or through your accredited Licenced Producer. They look like mini Advil. Thoughts: These are great. The THC content is pretty low (0.3mg) so they don’t make me high, just relaxed. I find they’re good when…

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2 Month Review: AfterShokz Treks Air Wireless Headphones

Over the past two months, you’ve read my reviews of AfterShokz wireless headphones and how they’re great for walking, working out, and so lightweight you’ll forget you’re wearing them. This is part 3 of my 4-post series and today I’m going deeper into the tech specs and my thoughts after 2-months of use. Headphones are a really personal thing. They’re part of your style but also serve a different purpose for each person wearing them. For example, Lauren O’Nizzle is one of my friends who’s almost always wearing headphones, whereas me, not nearly as often. However, this year I’m growing into new habits and working out more. I mentioned earlier that one of the reasons I really like Trekz Air headphones is you can hear the world around you. I tried over the ear noise cancelling any they’re not for me. I need to be able to hear my environment to stay calm. I do a lot of walking outside and will soon (come on Spring!) be doing outdoor workouts so it’s important to hear what’s around me. As for comfort, the Trekz Air headphones wrap around the back of your neck and hang over your ears. I can’t speak for long hair but they’re totally fine for my short hair. You forget they’re there and the fit is fine with a hat and/or glasses. They’re a really great workout fitness headphone if you want something that will stay put, not get in your way, but keep you aware of your environment. The new AfterShokz Treks Air have improved bass from previous versions which improves dynamic sound range. When you turn up the volume you can feel a tiny vibration in your cheekbone. It’s pretty cool and not distracting, Ilike it. As a tech lover, one of my favourite things…

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Motivation | Your Life Is Your Movie

Your life is your movie. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You decide who plays a starring role, what kind of movie it is, and what path you take. Make a path leave a trail. Take up space. Take up as much space as you need. Be proud of who you are. You are unique, there is only one you. Your stories matter. Share if you like or hold onto them for safekeeping. Do what makes you feel good. The seasons are changing and you can change anytime you want to. You don’t need a day, a new moon, a new year, you just need to shift. Move in the direction you want to go. Make little steps each day or take strides. You got this. Have faith in yourself and the universe will listen. You have to believe in yourself 100% in order for the universe to respond. Let go of self-doubt, don’t carry it with you anymore, it’s heavy and doesn’t serve you. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Open doors for yourself. Your life is your movie and you are the star. ?☀️

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Stop Bullying Yourself!

We’ve been watching S3 of Queer Eye the last few days and I feel like this season is really personal. It’s the first time they’ve done makeovers on women, sisters, a wedding. It gave me all the feels, it’s hard not to cry. Since watching, I’ve found myself internalizing a lot of what they were saying. Themes that really stuck out to me were about celebrating yourself believing in yourself, not talking negatively about yourself, to yourself. We all do it and I’ve been pretty hard on myself lately. We all have things to be grateful for. We should be celebrating each day we wake up, our challenges as opportunities. Celebrating the bodies that carry us, the brain that all allows us to do things, the smile that greets strangers. We’re capable of so many things, so why do we stand in our own way? In one episode a father mentions he wants to cook better food for his kids and that one of them is a little rounder. Right away, Antoni said, “who’s feeding her?” RIGHT? Like hello, an eye-opener. So simple but this stuck with me. Do I want to lose weight and be more fit? Yes. I am in charge of feeding myself and doing exercise? Yes. Ok well, do it then!! The other day I called up a friend and we shared all the good things that happened to us lately. Who don’t we do this more? You should surround yourself with people who want to hear that stuff, who will embrace and encourage you. If you can’t share with the people around you, you’re around the wrong people. This week I started work on a film with 1188 and have been asked to give the Alumni Address at Conestoga College School of Business Convocation in…

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Tips to Get Your Car Ready For Spring from OK Tire

It’s almost spring! This post has some handy tips to get your car ready for warmer weather. Read my interview with OK Tire.

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