Tramping in New Zealand

OK, I know what you are thinking and I THOUGHT THE SAME THING. When I arrived in NZ we picked up the rental car at the airport. Next, we pulled into a parking lot at the airport to change into summer clothes. I took a few laps of the airport to get used to right-hand drive and being on the other side of the road. I was fine.  I drove us down to the Viaduct in Auckland to look at the boats. [Mum is really into sailing and has a boat, sailed from Ontario to the Bahamas and lived there for a year.] We went into a sailing shop and I saw this mug… We walked out of the store and very serious I came close to mum, and whispered in her ear “mum, what is tramping?“ I was so serious. Tramping? What is a tramping club? Mum, WTF IS TRAMPING? Because to me, ‘tramping’ would be something to do with tramps or going out to find a man. Something you might have done in college that involved a lot of shots. Nothing I would ever do, now. In New Zealand… TRAMPING IS HIKING! Tramping, known elsewhere as backpacking, rambling, hill walking or bushwalking, is a popular activity in New Zealand. Tramping is defined as a recreational activity involving walking over rough country. Wikipedia WELL, THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW. Here I am thinking something bad and it’s totally hiking.  So, I went tramping on Piha beach and it was AMAZING.

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I’ve Got No Roots, But My Home Was Never on the Ground

People often think short hair is low maintenance, it’s not. I  mean it’s quick in the morning on a daily basis but this short blonde hair is totally high maintenance. Through my partnership with Sassoon this year, I’ve had regular salon trips to trim my hairline and bleach + tone touchups every 6 weeks or so. The crazy thing is, I’m almost always just between having it cut or needing a cut. I wouldn’t change it though, this short blonde hair is something that makes me unique, stand out, feel good, I love it. I really love getting my hair done at Sassoon Toronto. Kimberly, who does my blonde is hilarious and I would love to have beers with her. She is also blonde, same age, has a beardy BF, and incredibly good at getting the perfect blonde. Last week 2 things happened that were super great but stressful. One, I learned never to change my blonde and two, was in a commercial shot by 1188 (Sean’s company!). At my Tuesday hair appointment, I told Kim that I wanted to go ash blonde. A little more ashy blonde, this on someone with long hair isn’t that big of a change. On short blonde, it is major. My hair is normally the ‘Baby Blonde’ you see below, ash is the light blonde in the bottom right. Big difference! SO, Kimberly did what I asked and gave me a beautiful ash blonde. When I sat up from having the colour washed, I was like WHOA. No. Omg no. I didn’t like it. To anyone else, it was a cool ash blonde but to me, I looked like someone with brown hair! I don’t know what I was thinking changing my look. I’m never doing it again, and the week of a shoot fml. The team at Sassoon, especially Kimberly were so cool about it and we gave it…

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New Zealand Here We Come!

OK, this post is kind of long, the TL;DR is I’M GOING TO NEW ZEALAND! I’d been saving up money & Aeroplan miles for months and in an amazing twist of events, Aeroplan is sending ME AND MUM and we’re going on a 21-day road trip next month. I’m so excited. I’ve wanted to go back and see my family for SO LONG and I’m thankful to Aeroplan for helping us get there, especially around the holidays! ???? It’s been hard to keep a secret until now but get ready for non-stop NZ for the next few months!Scroll to read a lovely story of how this came together! Last year around the holidays time I really missed my family, as I do every year except the one Christmas we had together when I was 12 (see above). I said to Sean, maybe next year I’ll get back to NZ for their summer. It was kind of a dream because it’s really far and expensive and you need to go for a while (few weeks). A few months into 2017 I started saving for a trip. I figured the only way I was going to actually get there is if I started focussing on it with active intentions and putting some money aside. In August I was in touch with Aeroplan about helping them promote a giveaway. A couple weeks later we started talking about a video project that you will see before the holidays. Another thing we talked about is how much I wanted to go back to New Zealand. I remember that call so well, it was a Friday morning, I was wearing a blue leather jacket, walking my bike and drinking a coffee after a manicure. We talked about the video project, going to NZ and they said…

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5 Things To Do In Prince Edward County

Last week my sister and I went on an adventure to Prince Edward County. PEC is southern Ontario with a coastline on Lake Ontario’s northeastern shore. It’s been about 20 years since either of us were in The County. I have fond memories of Jenie and I camping at Sandbanks Park with our parents, playing on massive sand hills, making things with clay. Our trip was courtesy of The Drake Hotel and their PEC property, The Drake Devonshire. We were there to experience Countylicious, similar to Winterlicious/Summerlicious where restaurants feature 3-course prix fixe menus for $40/pp (+ tax & tip). In 24 hours we did so much more than just eat great food.  The County has so much to offer so here are a few thing I recommend for your PEC road trip. 5 Things to Do in Prince Edward County Visit Wineries There’s 40+ wineries in PEC and a whole bunch of breweries. If you love great wine, you deff want to visit the princeedwardcountywine.ca and make a plan of places to visit. On our tour we stopped into Wapoos Winery, the very first one in the region. It’s absolutely beautiful and right on the water. Check out the Wapoos menu for Countylicious here. If you happen to drive a Tesla, they have a charging station. Eat Great Food There is no shortage of great places to eat in Prince Edward County. Starting today, Countylicious kicks off with a celebration of fine dining featuring prix fixe menus from local restaurants. Chefs have created unique, County-inspired menus with an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. I highly recommend checking out The Drake Devonshire, Courage Bar, and The Public House at Jackson Falls. Visit a Farm Have you ever smelled fresh carrots from a farm? Had arugula straight from the earth? I can tell you that the produce from Blue Wheelbarrow…

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Casie & Emily’s Review of Prodigy Game on iPad

On a rainy day last week I was almost late to pick Embot up from daycare so we decided to go for burgers and test out Prodigy Game. Em spent hours playing over the next few days. In that time she created an avatar for herself, explored Prodigy Game’s world, enhanced her math skills and even described it as ‘really fun.’ Prodigy is a free math game with over 20 million students, teachers, and parents using it worldwide.  It combines gaming and education for students in grades 1-8, alleviates math anxiety and teaches valuable math skills aligned with the student’s curriculum at school. Prodigy Game was also recently named by Canadian Business as one of the top 10 fastest-growing start-ups in Canada. Companies like this are educating our young people and also providing cool jobs for our tech sector! I wasn’t very good at math in high school and did summer school or night school every year until I graduated. Safe to say I’ve always been on the highly creative side. It’s important to work on these skills as a kid so you’re equipped with the tools you need to excel in the future. Last year, our provincial government implemented a $60-million math strategy, but math scores in Ontario are still low with half of Grade 6 students not meeting the provincial standard. Prodigy Game addresses that major issue in our education system and helps students tackle – and beat – their math anxieties. Emily doesn’t mind math but she reallllllly loves her iPad. Legit this kid could watch videos all day of people making slime or doing funny challenges on YouTube. I was so glad to see her using it to play an educational game, by choice. Parenting WIN. Em was on Level 3 when 2 kids about her age passed by and saw her playing. The younger one said…

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