Feeling Very Thankful. #ThankFALL

We had Thanksgiving up at the cottage this year and it was so great! We headed up north on Friday to spend time with Sean’s parents and family. I planned to do some work around the house on Monday but instead I slept in, relaxed, and watched Netflix. It was a holiday! Fall is a time of year we give thanks and think about what we’re grateful for. Target contacted a bunch of Canadian bloggers and asked us to share what we’re thankFALL for. Scroll down for a few of my favourite things and a chance to win a $250 gift card from Target Canada. FAMILY Sending love and hugs through the internet to my whole fam. So happy to be able to hug them or pick up the phone and give them a ring anytime. I recently went home to see my parents so I didn’t make the trek to KW this weekend but I’ll be back home to see them again soon. Much love to all my sisters and quite thankful for Facebook so I can see all my Kiwi cuzzies in New Zealand. Yay Internet! FRIENDS Lucky to have great friends around me! These are old photos of Lauren, Carly, Raymi, and Keri, our OG blog crew. We’ve had some rad times over the years! THE INTERNET I am extremely thankful for the Internet. It’s enhanced my life in SO many ways, I can’t imagine a world without it. We probably wouldn’t even know each other! I’m really happy that I’ve used the internet to document my life over the last 10 years. Hard to believe it’s been so freakin’ long!   MY LOVE Sean, this one’s for you baby! So thankful to have a wonderful boyfriend who is also my best friend. We love travelling, spending time at the cottage, or just sittin’ around watching Netflix. I…

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Let it Bloom: September

It’s been such a wonderful weekend. I woke up at the crack of dawn feeling excited about life and the week to come. Took some time to sit on the dock and think about good intentions for the month. September is always one of my favourites. For my New Zealand (Kiwi) family and friends in Australia it’s the start of spring and always inspiring to see their posts about things in bloom and seasons changing.  I like to keep that in mind when I think about September, there’s heaps of energy in the air with back to work and back to school. Remember, things are always in bloom! <3 CASIE   Words Illustration via Jasmine Dowling  

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An Afternoon w/ Susur Lee at Bent Restauraunt

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Bent Restaurant w/ world-renowned chef Susur Lee, learning about his cooking an sampling the upcoming Veggielicious menu. The five-course vegetarian menu runs September 9th-20th at Bent, which he owns with his sons. Yes, he is holding two fish in the photo but they’re for the raw sushi bar! In the garden w/ @susurlee just down the street from @BentRestaurant checking out fresh veggies they use in-house. pic.twitter.com/wVvmBv4Gc1 — CASIE STEWART (@casiestewart) August 25, 2014 First on the Veggielicious menu is ‘Dip Three Ways’, a mixture of hummus, baba ganoush, olives, and spicy mustard seed tomato stew.  These didn’t last long!     We started by making meringue desserts so they could bake while we explored the menu. I’m quite familiar w/ meringue as the Pavlova is a famous New Zealand dessert I’ve been making with mum as long as I can remember. We were given Susur Lee’s merengue recipe so I’m planning whip up a batch at the cottage this weekend and impress Sean’s parents. Look out! Below on the left is the meringue Chef made and mine is on the right. Added some almonds to fancy it up a bit. It was delicious. Scroll down to see the dessert presentation, it was a thing of beauty. Chickpea Tempura Tofu    Wild Mushroom Quinoa Risotto    French Merengie w/ Golden Licorice, feat. wild blueberry, peaches, passionfruit syrup, raspberry coulis! They have some stellar cocktails you can check out on Instagram at @bentcocktails. This is the Asian Caesar, the most popular cocktail at Bent. It’s got a whole bunch of ingredients including soy & Hoisin sauce. Yep, that’s an oyster on there too. Veggielicious at Bent runs from Spet. 9-20th so make a reso and take your fav veggie lover for a nice meal. There’s a raw sushi bar too. For more info visit bentrestaurant.com. Huge thank you to Chef Susur Lee and the…

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#SaveYourScreams #MMVA 2014: 2 Noms, 1 Commercial!

The 2014 MMVA show is next weekend and this year is an exciting one for me! Sean and 1188 Films are nominated for two awards in Post Production AND my sister is an MMVA commercial now playing on your TV. I’ve always loved the MMVAs and in 2010 I was the Social Media Manager for the show while I worked at MuchMTV. 1188’s nominations are for Hedley – Crazy for You and Sam Roberts – We’re All In This Together. He’ll be attending the show with his team and I’ll be prepping to hit the town after and *hopefully* celebrate them bringing home another award. Cross ya fingaz! Last year Sean & 1188 worked on Drake’s ‘Started from the Bottom’ which won video of the year. In 2012 they won an award for Down With Webster’s ‘Big Wheels’. Keep an eye out for my samurai-sword-swinging sister on your TV. Jenie Stewart is in an MMVA ‘Save Your Screams’ commercial. It’s pretty funny, they made the girls look pretty rough and fight against each other. Love it! Watch Jenie’s 2014 MMVA Commercial #SaveYourScreams It’s also pretty exciting Lorde will be at the show. GO TEAM NEW ZEALAND! She’s killing it! So proud of Jenie, Sean, and Lorde! As for me, I’m getting a Chevy Camaro convertible for that weekend from Klout so I’ll be feeling pretty great too. Happy Friday my friends! <3 CASIE

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Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?

One of the things I loved about DailyBooth (RIP) and love about selfies is they are a way to document your life as you grow and change. I wonder how many times I’ve taken a similar photo of my own face? This video is 4 years of my life on DailyBooth. I exported my archive before it shut down in 2012 and made this so I never forget this stuff.. So many memories here. Any you remember? Today is Anzac day in Australia/New Zealand. It’s like remembrance day in North America. My granddad was in the war. I remember him telling us stories of how he wasn’t old enough and snuck in then worked as a cook. He used to have a butcher shop in Palmerston North, NZ when Mum was growing up. I think he would be really glad to know I kept a blog diary because he was a writer too.  I can’t believe I’m still wearing a scarf and it’s almost May! Urgh! Longest fattest winter of my life.  Loving this new jacked I scored at the Rudsak sale this (deets here, it’s on till Sunday).   Saw this yesterday in my hood when I was walking home from school with EmBot. Here’s to an awesome weekend! <3 CASIE

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