CASIE STEWART

THIS IS MY LIFE • BLOG EST. 2005

mail is great, especially when it has style

I love getting mail. Makes me happy. I mean real old fashioned snail mail. The kind mum sends in the summer when she’s sailing on her boat and abandons the internet. The kind with stamps.

The only people who really send me mail are mum and companies that want me to test out, chat about, review their stuff. I get all my packages delivered to my office because I love when they get dropped off at my desk and the girls go ‘oooooooh what did you get this time’ and it makes me feel even happier to get it. This year I have been given subscriptions to Wired (totally love the most) and Flare (props to Canada). Flare arrived this week. Getting mags for free and delivered is much more fun than buying them. I like this section on of stuff. I buy alot of vintage stuff and this is ‘stylespiration‘. Yes, that is a word, I just added it to the Urban Dictionary.

put on that ruskie baby

I’m love my ruskie hat, plus, it is warm as hell. It’s winter in Toronto and the wind is once again whipping at my windows. There’s something about Russian girls and theses hats that is super hot. I keep thinking to myself ‘each day is one closer to summer’ hoping it will keep my spirits up. I usually get the S.A.D.ness this time of year and I’m tryna fight it. Taking vitamin D and B50 complex helps alot.

2009 ArtVenture: The AGO (Ontario Art Gallery)

Last night I had the pleasure of going to the AGO, again. TGFFW (Thank God For Free Wednesdays). I love it there. So many inspiring ideas which arouse my wild & creative mind. I decided to make my own art and snuck a few shots in. Please don’t be mad my dear AGO or Mr. Gehry for it is so lovely I just could not help myself. This is my favorite. You know I love Andy.I really enjoy some of the modern stuff and photography. I was looking at some of the pictures and I saw this total stud, I don’t know what it is about him. I have a thing for nerdy dudes.I love the staircase. How is winds around and shows beautiful views of the city lights. It makes me happy to dance around the stairs as they twist and turn and travel higher.Its is super busy on Wednesday’s since it is free. The gallery opens at 6pm and closes at 8:30pm. This is not enough time to get around the whole place. There are many nooks and cranny’s of artistic expression. Coat check is $1 and you have to check your bags. You are allowed to sketch in pencil, but not in pen. I like to write.

the power of a post: social media with love

Want to see something amazing? I witnessed something happening tonight on Twitter. Right before my eyes. If you tune in, you can see for yourself!

I follow David Armano on Twitter. He has a friend in need and decided to reach out to his community on Twitter to help her family out.

Here is an excerpt from his blog post earlier this evening:

“I’ve been at this blog for nearly 3 years now and have never asked for something like this—I hope I’ve earned enough trust to be able to ask something back from you. Above is a picture of Daniela and her family. Brandon, age 6, Daniela, age 9 and little Evelyn age 4. Daniela recently divorced her husband after years of physical abuse. In recent years her mortgage went unpaid and she’s lost her house.As of this moment, Daniela’s family is staying at our house and we are trying to help her find a one bedroom apartment for her family to live in. With Evelyn, her youngest having Downs Syndrome and Daniela herself being a Romanian immigrant with very little family support she literally has no one to turn to. Except us (all of us).”[read more]

As I wrote this post there there were 211 MORE ReTweets in response to Armano on Twitter. His goal to help out Daniella was $5,000. There have been, at this moment 208 contributors and over $,7,000 dollars raised anonymously to help her give her children a home. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

If you didn’t believe in the power of a post or social online media, now you will.

UPDATE: Over $12,000 in 24 hours raised! Check it out!!

the tall tower is timeless, technology takes us higher

I look out my window and stare at the tower all the time. I was thinking how crappy their website for the unit was several months ago, they must have heard me say that because they updated it. Every night at the top of the hour there is a crazy laser light show that I absolutely love. I have been studying it (its right out my window OK!!) and it seems to be getting more complex and adding more colours & designs all the time.

Here are my favorite facts:

  • Millions of colours and infinite effects
Microprocessor controlled, each fixture can produce 16.7 million colours. Intelligent digital control makes the system programmable from a single computer console. Each fixture has a unique “address” that can be programmed individually to create an infinite variety of lighting effects

  • Directional lighting
Unlike conventional light sources, one of the unique benefits of LEDs is that they are directional; light output can be controlled and precisely directed. Therefore the resulting lighting will illuminate the Tower while ensuring light output does not “spill” or interfere with nearby hotels, office towers or residences.

  • Low maintenance
The LED technology installed at the CN Tower is designed to achieve excellent performance standards and with its intended use is expected to last in excess of 10 years, requiring minimal fixture replacement and maintenance. Unlike conventional lighting systems, the new system will not require frequent replacement and disposal of light bulbs.

Find out more information including how you can get the lights programmed for your event by visiting the site.