This weekend I went to the Canadian Film Festival premiere of Ben’s At Home, directed by my friend Mars  Horodyski and Dan Abramovici. It’s a romantic comedy where Ben decides to stay home and not leave his house. In doing this there’s some drama, laughs, and romance. HUGE congrats to Mars and Dan for winning BEST FEATURE  at the festival. They’ve been picked up for distribution AND have a web series on the way. So neat to see someone you know really killing it. I’m looking forward to the web series as Ben blogs about staying home for an entire year. I couldn’t even imagine doing that! BEN’S AT HOME TORONTO PREMIERE Running Time: 74mins Genre: Romantic Comedy Producers:   Dan Abramovici, Mars Horodyski, Anneli Ekborn Director: Mars Horodyski Writers: Dan Abramovici, Mars Horodyski Editor: Mike Reisacher Cast: Dan Abramovici, Jess Embro, Jim Annan, Inessa Frantowski, Craig Brown, David Reale, Rob Baker, Kimberly-Sue Murray, Emma Fleury, Ruth Goodwin, Sarah Booth Another cool thing about the premiere was the short film before that starred Donnie form Orphan Black (Kristian Bruun). Soon as he came on screen I was like ‘omg, it’s Donnie, I love him!’. Little did I know he was sitting right in front of me.Facepalmlm.  That’s him beside the guy holding the mic below. Check out the trailer for Ben’s at Home the web series below. All views help them in a chance to win funding to produce it, so give it a watch! We're making Ben's at Home into a web series! Please watch and share our teaser: https://t.co/jJn8pPXmphDan… http://t.co/B0qhcoeXRJ — Mars Horodyski (@cine_mars) March 2, 2015 These are roses Sean got me after my Army of Sass performance last week. They’ve bloomed so beautifully. Being in love is the best. Hope you had a great weekend! <3 CASIE

Last week I told you an awesome story about how Telus went out of their way to do something awesome for one of their longest standing customers, Ramona. See that story here. This week, they are sponsoring a story on my blog for me to highlight someone in my community. I’ll be donating the money earned from this post to the story I’m about to share. I’ve picked a friend who has contributed to the Toronto tech & social community for years, graced the stage with her burlesque skills, and recently displayed the utmost strength as she was recently diagnosed with Cancer. I’d like you to meet Carolyn Van. Carolyn is a 28 year old young woman, born & raised downtown Toronto.  She loves spending time in dance studios, tweeting & talking about technology and sharingher love for design. She’s an educator, entrepreneur, innovator and all around amazing human. In mid-March 2014, Carolyn was diagnosed with Lymphoma Cancer. I can only imagine what it would be like for a woman who is so busy working, teaching, speaking, and making the world a better place, to have Cancer disrupt her mojo. I’m impressed with Carolyn’s ability to remain positive and share her story. She’s been documenting her ups and downs on her blog “Cancer Chose The Wrong Woman to F%$! With“. I’ve known Carolyn for a few years and two years ago we were part of the Army of Sass with the fine ladies below (and my sister!). Run by Carla Catherwood, the Army of Sass is a burlesque troupe empowering women to put on their high heels, share their high hopes, and bust a move on stage. We had so much fun! We performed in December 2012 at the Mod Club for 2 nights to a totally sold venue each night. It was a an amazing bonding experience for…