Van Der Pop & Cooking w/ Cannabis

Last week I went to a cooking class hosted by Van Der Pop, a female-focused cannabis brand, and had my mind blown! I’ve been interested to try cooking with cannabis now that it’s legal but was kinda worried about stinking up the whole house, wasting the flower, or making a mess. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I learned you can sous vide your weed. SOUS WEED! We learned tips and tricks from Monica Lo and her sous chef, Big Bad Wolf, both from San Francisco. Monica’s Instagram hangle is @sousweeed, (so smart!), follow her! I left feeling inspired and thinking up all kinds of things I could make for the holidays, as gifts, and to enjoy at home. How to Make Cannabis Oil for Cooking Here’s a few recipes you can try. Sean and I are going to the cottage this weekend and I’ll be having a go at making my first sous vide weed. You can use any kind of oil ex. olive oil, vegetable oil, bacon fat, duck oil. I am quite interested in making my own hot chili oil. Woo hoo! Cannabis-Infused Butter Cannabis-Infused Roasted Tomato Soup Cannabis-Infused Tropical Smoothie Cannabis-Infused Simple Syrup Cannabis-Infused Vegan Green Goddess Dressing Cannabis-Infused Coconut Oil THANK YOU Van Der Pop for a fun time, look forward to your next event! Have an awesome day!

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WOM_N Tarot Deck Launch: You’re on the right path.

Yesterday I had my tarot cards read at an event hosted by my friend Nataleigh for the launch of the WOM_N Tarot Deck. It was such a great event! I didn’t think I would be able to get into psychic readings. But since experiencing it, it is a little easier now to see why people are interested in this. I’ve even begun doing research into sites like Psychic Sofa, in case I ever decide to get another tarot card reading or just want a bit of guidance in life. It’s pretty cool when you actually think about it! Of course if you can’t get to one of these places you can always try phone psychic readings to get a nudge in the right direction. Some people swear by it! Michelle and I got matching tattoos, Sean got a tattoo, the drinks readings were amazing, and the room was filled with wonderful women and people supporting them. I’m honored to be THE SUN card in this beautiful new deck. I had a reading using someone like this Psychic Reader at the start of the event and it confirmed some stuff for me. the last few months have been filled with lots of adventure and there are new things on the horizon. I’m doing things I’ve always wanted to do and excited for what’s in store. One of my projects this summer is to study the cards and learn about each one so I can do readings for my friends (and myself!). I may even get a psychic text reading to learn more about the different forms as I learn about tarot, too! About the WOM_N Deck: This is a deck of celebration. WOM_N: a celebratory and intuitive tarot deck, with a new-fashioned and transcendental take on tarot symbolism. A physical reminder…

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Wine Touring in Spain: Get to Know Rueda

In May I went on a press trip to Spain hosted by D.O. Rueda (Denomination of Origin Rueda) wine region and Glo Communications. We drank heaps of wine, explored Spanish cuisine, ate lots of tapas, met great people and explored a few historic sites. It was my first time visiting Spain and I was lucky to travel with a great group including Jen Kirsch, Jess Glover, wine expert Konrad Ejbich, and wine podcaster Matthew Cauz. I loved learning more about wine, touring vineyards, meeting winemakers, and learning how their wines are made. I’m not a wine expert but I definitely know more than when I left and sampled my fair share along the way! We went to 13 wineries and countless restaurants over the course of the week and I’m sure I’ll be sharing stories about the trip for a lifetime. In this post, you’ll find some of my favorite moments including beautiful wineries and unforgettable experiences. On the first night, we met for a great dinner at Lobo 8 in Madrid and tasted wines from the D.O. Rueda that paired with our meal. We stayed at Hotel Ibis Styles, a cute boutique hotel in the heart of Madrid that was walking distance from just about everything. Rueda, located in Castile and Léon, is about 2hr northwest of Madrid and comprised of 72 municipalities in the provinces of Valladolid, Segovia and Avila.  Rueda is the only region that specializes in white wine and is a leader in the commercialization of quality white wines. Segovia On our first full day, we ventured to Segovia, a historical town centered around a Roman aqueduct with 160 massive arches. I absolutely LOVED it there! Right beside the base of the aqueduct is a famous restaurant Meson de Candido where we were served a traditional meal from the area…

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Podcast: Altavie + The Business of Cannabis

I was recently on a panel at House of VR hosted by AltaVie, a recreational cannabis brand by MedReleaf. It was broadcast live on The 4:19, a daily show by Jay Rosenthal & The Business of Cannabis. We had a great chat about how we use cannabis in our lives and how is changing the world and becoming accessible to those who need it, for example, from somewhere like this shop weed online. That was not all though. Cannabis is being transformed into other forms like oils which can be used for people with health problems and not to smoke, you can visit Yours Nutrition to get your hands on some CBD oil. I actually know quite a few people who use cannabis for both medicinal and recreational purposes so I was fascinated by this opportunity to explore cannabis in more detail. For example, a friend of mine has recently started to use the purple space cookies strain to manage her stress levels. I will definitely be telling her to check out this talk. Scroll down to listen and watch a few snippets on video. Listen to ‘Cannabis Everyday on the 4:19 The panel starts around the 3-minute mark and is just over half an hour. Hit play below to listen and check out more episodes of the 4:19 here. Joining me on the panel were Shannon O’Hearn, Manager, Clinic Affairs, MedReleaf, Ming Bérubé-Sam, Yoga instructor, cannabis patient. The panel looked at a series of meanings of “Cannabis Everyday” – from medical applications to incorporation into wellness regimes to adult-use recreational use. Thank you AltaVie & MedReleaf for providing the space for us to have these conversations. I’m looking forward to more like this in the future as Canada becomes a world leader in legal cannabis. You can already see…

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Sassoon Toronto Celebrates 50 Years in Yorkville

Last week Sassoon celebrated its 50th year in Toronto. Imagine how much the city has changed in that time!? Yorkville transformed from a small eclectic bohemian village to a leading luxury destination. In celebration of Sassoon Toronto, I had a chat with Ian Wookey, son of Richard Wookey, the developer behind Yorkville who was friends with Vidal Sassoon and ultimately brought his salon to our city.  An Interview w/ Sassoon Toronto’s Ian Wookey Richard Wookey is known as the grandfather of Yorkville and in the 1950’s bought a lot of property in the area. Hazelton Lanes wasn’t always the luxurious residences you see today, those buildings were rooming houses for hippies and motorcycle gangs, surrounded by coffee houses playing live music with the likes of Joni Mitchell. Ian Wookey tol me there were eclectic fashion shops, strip clubs, and paraphernalia stores.  His father spent a lot of time in London, UK in the 60’s Beatles era where he met Vidal Sassoon. They partied together, took summer trips to the Mediterranean, and Wookey mentioned he was doing a big development in Toronto. This was around the same time Vidal Sassoon gave Mia Farrow the iconic pixie haircut. (Not far from mine today!) Wookey said ‘I can build you a salon in Toronto‘ and that was Vidal Sassoon’s first salon outside London, UK. Vidal Sassoon arrived to Canada in 1968, opening his first and what would be the only (at the time) salon in the heart of Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood. The 3 level salon was way ahead of its time and they hosted a huge opening party with all the local notables and coverage in the news. The rest Wookey said, is history. Vidal Sassoon went on to be a huge trend-setting name internationally and was a 50% partner in Sassoon Toronto.   The model for the salon has changed a little bit over the years…

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Be happy where you are, this is once where you wanted to be.

I was sitting here feeling a bit of Monday blerghs and then I looked at my computer and around me and said: “WTF, stop it!”. Actually out loud to myself. I’m working from home and I’m drinking a coffee I made downstairs with the patio door open and my plants are in the sun while I look at my little space and suddenly think I will eventually need a sliding door repair for my patio as the latch is becoming stuck more often than not, but that’s a different days job. I spent most of yesterday updating my speaker’s agency profile information sitting in my room watching Netflix. THIS IS ONCE WHAT I DREAMED OF. Ok, it’s not all roses and rainbows but I wanted to be here. I worked hard for this. I put in hours and days and years of work to get here and I have nothing to be so damn salty about. Sometimes all you need to do is remind yourself this is right where you wanted to be and fully be IN that moment.The sun is out and I am feeling good. It’s easy to get down or distracted and feel like your neverending list of tasks is piling up but there is a lot you can be grateful for. I talked to a friend this morning and a reminded her to make a list of things she’d already done, then she wouldn’t feel bad about the other list she had been meaning to do. There is enough time in the day or week to do the things you need to do. Some of the things I want to get done are not necessarily what I need to get done. Ex. my hair is a shag and the house is a little messy but that’s…

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Opening the Cottage 2018

Ok it wasn’t summer but it was realllllly warm in the sun. I sat out on the deck reading my book for a while and came in with a little tan line. We were walking out on the lake and have been hearing it crack all weekend. It’s very thick, we weren’t even able to cut through it with the chainsaw. The sound is like a quiet *boom* and you can feel it in your stomach or chest. We heard a loud one while we were walking so that’s a wrap on that! Lol. It’s absolutely stunning tho. Lots of neighbours were out on the lake today. Families, baby strollers, dogs. I love being up here and slowing down. There’s lots of instruments and time to do creative projects or take naps. I’ve read a lot this weekend. Sean cut down a couple trees and I kept a few pieces for a friend and making stuff. The wooden cutting/cheese boards we made last year were a real hit. I love spraying things with rose gold Krylon. Feeling great and ready for a good week. I’m directing a shoot on Tuesday. Thursday, Sarah and I are flying out for a girls getaway. Sunday is Easter and we’ll be back up here for a couple days. Can’t wait to see what state the lake is in by then. 12 degrees on Wednesday!

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IF YOU GOT IT HAUNT IT!? Haunted Houses + Halloween Things ?

I had a very Halloween weekend and it was so much FUN! ????⚰️ On Friday I went to Screemers at Exhibition Place with my sister. We put on zombie makeup, all black, and had a few spooky cocktails. There wasn’t really anyone else in costume so everyone thought we worked there. ? We took heaps of photos with randoms and spent a good part of the night scaring people. Seriously so fun. It was hilarious. We almost laughed our heads right off. Screemers has 7 haunted houses and most are inside. They’re super scary. We didn’t do them all bc were too scared tbh. You can have drinks at the Vampire Lounge, there’s food onsite, and you can smoke outside.  I highly recommend paying the extra $12 for front of the line access. Screemers hooked up with passes and it made the night more fun because we didn’t have to wait! Screemers is $32.95 and +$12 for front of the line access. There is metered parking onsite. ?? On Saturday Lauren and I went to Canada’s Wonderland for Halloween Haunt. The entire park is lit up for Halloween with hundreds of staff in costume creeping around corners and popping out all scary. I was super nervous going because the park is huge and the so are the haunted houses. There’s a lot of ground to cover.  A bunch of the rides are open so aside from scary people everywhere, the’s roaring rollercoasters soaring past your head. If you are not into being scared you can get a No Boo necklace and workers and creepy people won’t try to give you a fright. There was haunted house experience called Blackout where it is literally pitch black and you have to walk through not knowing if someone is going to jump out at any minute or where you are going.…

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Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come

I wore tights today for the first time this year. And a hat. I’m glad that berets are back in style because I have a few and love wearing them. It must be that French feeling you get when you wear one. Fall fashion is my favourite in that you can wear something cute with a light jacket and never be too cold. I don’t even mind the winter, light layers are the key. ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing’ – source is unclear on this one Over the past couple months I’ve been beefing up my wardrobe with essentials for fall and a few arrived today! In exchange for sharing my favs, Romwe and I have a deal where they send me clothes. Honestly, what a dream! My three latest picks arrived today and I’m wearing the pink rose jacket in these photos. I picked this wild all-over print shirt because it will look great over a bathing suit in summer and under a sweater in the winter. The olive green sweater was on my wishlist and it matches my eyes so, it’s perfect. The cropped rose jacket is light enough to wear under a warmer jacket in winter. Other items on my winter Romwe wishlist are this yellow mustard jacket and all the stuff below. The prices are good and there’s no extra shipping costs. I’m kinda of obsessed with embroidered things, light pink, and dark green right now. Wishlist JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.  

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Make friends. Make moments. Make memories.

Had a great weekend after my super relaxing day on Friday. Saturday morning I went to yoga at 8:45 am, then came home and went to the Yoga & Wellness show w/ Sarah. It was pretty small so we walked around the whole show and went for lunch. I bought a beautiful rose quartz/gold/sandalwood bracelet. We walked to Terroni and got a gorgeous little table by the window upstairs. I ate the Saturday Special lasagna (my fav) and washed it down with a nice glass of wine. It was perfect. The last year or so I’ve been trying to make more time for my friends not to just hang out but to hang out in pairs/small groups, to talk, listen, and make memories. For so long I spent heaps of time going to events and not really listening or opening up. I feel so grateful to have smart & talented people around and I wanna cherish that. I may not see some of my good friends all the time but when we do hang out, it’s magical. Last week I went over to visit my friend Sasha who just had a baby and the other week I sat down with an old friend for a tarot reading. So energizing! If you’re ever having a bad day, or want to make your good day better, write down 3 friends you haven’t seen in a while, call them. If one doesn’t answer, call the next! You’ll feel a smile on their face when you say hello and you’ll both feel an electric charge.     

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After All My Tweeting About Amazon…

As you know, I have been tweeting about/obsessed with Amazon (see all tweets) since a year ago when I forgot to cancel my Amazon Prime trial. Not cancelling Prime was one of the best things to happen and my life has honestly been better with Amazon. So…they took notice! I’ve been invited to join the Amazon.ca Associate Partner Program! What does that mean? When I find something cool on Amazon and post it like I’ve been doing for a decade. Posts with products from Amazon will have an Affiliate link, meaning if you buy it from my link, I make a few cents. I don’t ask for much around here, so y’know, think of it as a tip! I’ve stayed away from Affiliate programs in the past, but I seriously love Amazon and am mostly sharing things I’ve already purchased. The 2-day shipping is so convenient, I get everything sent to the office. I’ve ordered a few things each month for the past year.  I also can’t WAIT for Amazon Whole Foods to launch in Canada. Think of all the possibilities?! And Snacks! Just thinking about ordering stuff from Whole Foods via Amazon Prime ? pic.twitter.com/Ia7XhB0EHL — CASiE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) June 16, 2017 Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days! A Few of My Favourite Amazon Purchases This is one of my fav wearable accessories. I love my FitBit but I felt like the band on my AltaHR wasn’t stylish enough. I ordered this band from Amazon for $24.99, get it here. When I was in LA in January I was hanging out in Venice Beach and this bkr water bottle was so popular. I came home and ordered it right away. It’s glass with a removable BPA-Free Silicone Sleeve and loop handle. I have been taking it with me to yoga and the office since I got it.…

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We Made Cement Planters! ?

I really wanted to make some of these after seeing they looked pretty easy on Pinterest. AND WELL THEY WERE! Embot and I gave it a go this weekend so she could give one to Grandma for her 70th birthday this week. I followed this video by TO’s own Sorry Girls but I have a few tips to add because they made it look more graceful. ? I used the smallest bag of sand concrete you can get at Canadian Tire. You mix it with water 4/1. We used old juice containers (ie. tetra pack bottoms) and put empty water bottles cut in half with a weight inside to hold the form. The bottle will rise up without a weight. Next time I’ll round up some juice containers before we do it. The concrete can also be messy make sure you put something down on your work space and I high reco doing in the garage our outside. One of the planters was made from a 2L pop bottle and it looks kinda neat because of the bottoms.The concrete takes 24 hours to dry. The water bottles inside the form were kinda hard to get out so we’ll switch to paper cups next (they use Tim’s cups in the video). This was a last minute idea I was kinda just wingin’ it with what we had around the cottage. They still turned out fine! I’ve been dying to get some copper (rose gold!) Krylon paint. I follow/girl crush on Tiffany Pratt and she’s been using it to paint things a lot lately. I put tape on the design I wanted and put on a couple thin coats of Krylon spray paint. Let it dry. Apply a thin layer of wet look concrete sealer to protect the concrete from staining and…

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Make The Most Of Each Day!

What a difference a week and some sunshine can make! MY GOD. Also, thank you to all who read and commented on my post about anxiety. We all go through hard days and I want you to know I feel it too. I’m a human just like you! Loving the weather this week. Have spent a good chunk of time at the house writing and getting things done. I’ve also been biking everyday and done some yoga. Feels so good!   On Tuesday Keri (@keriblog) and I gave our home patio a HUGE makeover. I loaded up on plants at the Walmart sale and picked up a few cushions, lights, etc. They’re so nice! I’m in love with the new look and feel. Thank the sun gods for LESS RAIN, FINALLY.  This ‘Double Rose‘ shirt is my new fav I picked up last weekend at the Skinny Sweats pop up (Toronto designer!). I love it so much. I’m inspired to make similar ones with my face on the tatas and some emojis, haha. Yesterday Lauren (@laurenonizzle) and I went to the afternoon Blue Jays game and rode around on our bikes after. We both have Schwinn cruisers from Canadian Tire so we are SCHWINN TWINS. SCHWINNING. SKWADGOALZ A post shared by Lauren O’Neil (@laurenonizzle) on May 31, 2017 at 1:47pm PDT Have some really fun and exciting work coming up the next couple months and I’m excited to share with you. It feels so incredibly cool to be doing work I love. Tonight dad is coming over to shoot a project for Father’s Day. Sending sunshine your way!  

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Valentines Day Skating + Love ❤️ The #CityPlaceRink is OPEN!

We started our Valentines Day a little early this year! On Friday night Sean and I went to the CityPlace rink for winter festivities at Canoe Landing Park. Snow falling in the winter can be so magical and romantic. I love the crisp winter air! CityPlace is a little nostalgic and romantic for us since it’s where Sean and I met.  ❤️ We lived in different condo towers on Brunel Court and Fort York Blvd. when we first started seeing each other 6 years ago.  Crazy how time flies! The area has changed so much since we lived there. We were in the first buildings built close to Spadina and there are so many more buildings now with almost 20,000 residents. This CityPlace Social was a chance for the developer (Concord Adex) to bring the community  together. Everyone who came to the social was hooked up with free hot chocolate, roses, and photo ops while skating under the moonlight.  There was a great performance by Canadian National Team figure skater Michelle Long too. The CityPlace Residents Association website details news and events in the area. They’ve got a ‘Learn to Skate’ event on Saturday February 20th, more info on that here. They’ve also got summer events like movies in the park and a farmers market. The CityPlace Fort York BIA launched recently to help grow the community as more businesses make it their home, see what they’ve got going on via Facebook. After the rink (and lots of photos) we had a lovely diner at Hunters Landing. Great place, good food, and we had a great server named Matt. They’ve got a special Skate & Date menu for Valentines but we just got a couple apps & pizza. It was such a nice way to spend some quality time together doing something different in our old neighbourhood. Perfect Valentines Day! Valentines Giveaway I’m…

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