I love the holidays and yes I know they are months away BUT that doesn’t mean we can’t think about decorating or throw fake snow in a 360 camera rig. ???? I went to holiday events for Hudson Bay, Sears, and Canadian Tire recently and they were all quite lovely. The Sears preview at Story’s Building smelled like Christmas when you walked in and had live music from Kat’s band Lady be Good. They had a holiday house setup with different rooms filled with all the housewares from Debby Travis, new clothes in the Jessica line, and a kids room filled with toys and clothes. I took at seat at the art station for kids and left a pretty pink holiday drawing. There was a lot of nice stuff especially the housewares, its been a loooong time since I checked out a Sears and this was a nice nostalgia Time to party! @casiestewart is in the #searsfalliday house making holiday #art, scouting out cool #fashions and #homefurnishings, and bringing good cheer! #cocktails #toronto A photo posted by Deborah Weinstein (@deborahweinstein) on Jul 19, 2016 at 2:58pm PDT Having holiday fun at the @Searsholiday house! Made a lil'card in the kids room ?? #SearsFalliday pic.twitter.com/M2EnC0xYLn — CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) July 19, 2016 The HBC preview was at Arcadian Court and little less interactive but there was heaps of stuff I’ve added to my wishlist. HBC has some great stuff coming for the holidays and late September they’ll have toys in store. There’s a whole collection of new items added to the traditions HBC stripes including puffer jackets and jammies. I was really feeling the Wrap Me paper you can have customized at HBC on Queen Street with your own images. As soon as I walked into Canadian Tire’s Christmas in July I could smell…

Wine Wednesday? Perfect time for this story! A couple weeks ago I attended a media dinner with one of the winemakers from Montes Wine. After hosting a tasting and doing a giveaway of the wine earlier this year, it was really neat to hear personal stories about the family business. (I’d tasted a *few* glasses and read so much before the dinner!) I joined a few bloggers for dinner in a private room at Red’s in the Financial District. We sipped wines from their vast selection while the winemaker told stories about his father and the partners getting started in 1987. A few things stood out about the history of Montes and how they came to be the pioneer producer of premium quality Chilean wine. One thing I loved is that he was really into skydiving and his father was a pilot. They would fly around the area looking for good soil, the son would jump out of the plane, check the soil, and they’d go from there. Some of their wines are now produced in soil they found together. He also said they used to have men and women sort the grapes but the men would always get distracted by sports, start talking, and stop working. The women who sort the grapes (by hand) are able to chat and work at the same time with no disruptions. Ha! The four founders grew Montes from nothing to now being sold in more than 100 countries. They helped put Chile wine on the map. I would loooooove to visit Chile. The winery looks beautiful and I want to see all the things they’ve done to be sustainable. They use grazing animals (llama and sheep), have responsible waste management, a biodiversity program, and heaps more. ??? I’m secretly hoping they invite me to visit!  Theres a few different types of Montes Wine avail at the LCBO. BTW…