Global News at Noon: Money tips for Millennials

I was recently included in a press release with TD for a study they did about millennials and money. They found that kids like us are better off if we see a financial advisor. When they called me about the study I said I agree 100%. About 5 years ago I set out a payment plan with a financial advisor to pay back my $30K. My goal was to be debt free by the time I turned 30 and I DID IT. I blogged about it recently here. Philistine Toronto shirt, Tiffany & Co silver pearls, Joe Fresh boyfriend jeans, NastyGal shoes It’s almost hard to believe this actually happened because there was a long stretch there where I wondered how I was ever gonna pay back my school and credit cards (from school). I honestly and sincerely encourage you to talk to a financial advisor because there’s nothing like having control over your debt instead of it controlling you. From millennial home buyers to millennials in the workplace, there are many stereotypes that the previous generation have on people in this age group, which isn’t always true. Although times are hard for this generation, it won’t get an better unless you decide to take charge! Here’s me on Global news at noon today with Faisal Yousuf from TD Bank. Millennials and money the two don’t always mix so well. The generation is often accused of mismanaging funds and wasteful spending. So we’ve brought in TD Canada’s Faisal Yousef, and blogger Casie Stewart to offer some solutions to gen y’s money woes.

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Our Toronto on CBC | The Influencers w/ Dianne Buckner

This week I shot a segment for a show on CBC with the host of Dragons Den, Dianne Buckner. The show is CBC’s ‘Our Toronto’ and it airs nationally across Canada Saturday, Sunday, and Monday mornings. A segment from this very ‘Our Toronto’ episode also appeared on The National at 6pm & 11pm over the weekend. Watch It Here    

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START SOMETHING.

* Found this post in Drafts, it’s about setting goals and writing things down.  I wrote is January 2012, I said I wanted to go to England and that same year i went in December. Proof writing things down really works! Get a good sleep tonight and roll into the office tomorrow with a smile on your face. 🙂 xo CASIE Watching Helvetica right now. This movie is so good. I want to go to Germany. I love the accents and style. I want to go to England too. Tattoos and travelling are totally addictive. So is documenting. The space between wanting to do something and doing it starts with writing it down. I always write things down. Get a pen from your damn drawer and write it down. I’ve definitely accomplished more goals that were written down vs. not written down. That’s all for now. buy sildenafil online buy tadalafil online buy vardenafil online

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Canada’s Marketing and Innovation Conference – The Art of Marketing

I’ve attended The Art of Marketing for the past few years. Of all the conferences that go down in our great city, this is by far one of my favourites  They consistently get great speakers and I always leave feeling inspired and full of knowledge.  The lineup for 2013 is no exception! The Art of Marketing 2013 – Speakers Biz Stone – cofounder of Twitter and named one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine. Seth Godin – Bestselling author of LinchPin, Tribes and Purple Cow. Charles Duhigg – New York Times reporter and bestselling author of The Power of Habit

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The Perks of Being an Influencer

Today a special edition of Marketing Magazine came out and it’s all about social media! If you turn to page 28, you’ll see a one pager titled “The Perks of Being an Influencer” and it’s all about me. (Note yesterday’s post about the film!) It details some of the campaigns I’ve been a part of over the last few years and a bit about my new role at Community as Director of Social Media. Thank you Marketing Magazine for featuring me! Photo was shot by the wonderful Steve Carty. This was the line for my autograph… (OK IT WAS REALLY THE LUNCH LINE) Was happy to attend the Marketing Mag Social Media Conference on behalf of Community.  Caught an awesome talk by Lauren O about memes & webculture and heard Erin Bury speak about ‘what’s next’ for the web. Thanks Russ Martin for writing my feature and  to Grant LeRiche (TubeMogul) for my ticket (both below). Go pick up a copy if you are interested in the internet AT ALL. It’s full of great features about the web, bloggers, social media, and of course marketing! CASIE 🙂

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It’s All About Me: I am in a documentary.

Earlier this year I was filmed for a documentary called ‘It’s All About Me‘ directed by Antoine Gaber (LA/Toronto). The first trailer is now online and HERE IT IS. The film is all about GenY and technology. I always get nervous when something I’m in comes out. Gah! It’s getting submitted to festivals around the world later this month. My scenes were filmed at Darren Kwik Studio and Bicyclette Boutique on Queen in March 2012. I can’t wait to see the whole thing next year. MY FACE ON THE BIG SCREEN GUISEEEEE! Show your love Like for the film on Facebook/itsallaboutmemovie.

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Speaking | Panels, Parties & People #SMW

Social Media Week kicks off around the world today. Here’s my picks on what you wanna check out including parties and panels. I’m speaking on two that fall on Thursday & Friday. There’s a TON of things going on so check the schedule & see what peaks your interest. Image is from Say Media’s blog, LEGGOOOO, VROOOOOOOOOM! Monday: 7pm: SMW Tweetgasm & Official Launch Party (Both at Gladstone Hotel) Tuesday: 8am-6pm SMW Coffee House @ ING Direct 2-3:30 Keynote: Jon Sinden on Brands & Fans 3:30-4:30 Conversation in Social Metrics @ Entrinsic Wednesday: 10am-12pm: Content may be king, but without Context – no one will pay attention 4:30-5:30: Not Another Open Bar Event: Is Your Brand Seeing a Return On Influence? 9pm: Social Media Week Toronto Official After-Party: After Hours Conversation Thursday: there’s LOTS of great stuff! 9am-1pm: Entrinsic Presents: CaseCamp (No it’s not Camp about ME!) 1-2:30: Social Media Friends, Anxiety & You: 5:30-6:30: Community Management beyond Twitter & FB 5:30-7pm: Getting Serious About Travel Blogging 5:30-9pm: SXSW Pre-Party @ Spice Route Friday:  8:45-10:30pm: Driving the Social Media Conversation w/ GM 12:30-3:30 Post it, Pin It Party (lunch/drinks) 3-4pm: Social Storytelling: Creating and Curating Content Strategies That Work Friday 6-8pm: Building Valuable Social Features into your Web and Mobile Applications Information about my panels:  Thursday, 1-2:30: Social Media Friends, Anxiety & You: Hosted by Maria Lianos-Carbone, publisher & editor of amotherworld.com, this panel will be talking about the anxiety that can come along with being so open in social media and sharing more of your life than ever. I’m looking forward to this cause I deal with anxiety ALL THE TIME. Other panelists include Stéphanie Montreuil Principal, The Lotus Pad Consulting, and Chris Eh Young. Location is The Office Pub, 117 John Street, 2nd Floor at Adelaide. There will be networking after so come say HI. Friday 6-8pm: Building Valuable Social Features into your Web and…

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#GENYTO: Mardi Gras style at @LouDawgs, Feb 21!

We are way over due for this meeting meetup. Let’s celebrate ‘carnival season’ on Fat Tuesday with some good ol’ southern BBQ, live music and a whole bunch of awesome people. Get a ticket HERE through Guestlist. If you have never been to #GenYTO, come! If you HAVE been before, you should especially come and see your friends. WE MISS YOU. Check out some posts from previous events here. What is GenYTO? In January 2009  Erin Bury, Renee Warren, Daniel Patricio, Dave Coleman and I started GenYTO.  A group for the wired, creative and ambitious young people in the in the Toronto startup, marketing, PR and tech community. We’ve done some pretty fun things since 2009 and helped out a whole bunch of local, national & international charities.  For more info visit the GenYTO tumblr. February 2012 Charity: Breakaway Addiction Services Located in Parkdale, Breakaway Addiction Services has a mission to provide seamless, comprehensive and effective harm reduction services and a full range of addictions treatment services. Their services are offered through community-based facilities with a focus on street and community outreach. Come join us for good times 🙂  

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PHONE STACK.

The last time I did a phone stack at a meeting/dinner was GENYTO meeting meeting at The Pilot May 27, 2009 (having a blog is a great!). Was reading a post on the Kempt blog about getting together with friends. He said that when he meets with friends/colleagues they all put their phones int he middle and as htey all vibrate and make noise, you must rist the temptation to reach for your phone and if you do you have to pay. I posted this pic in 2009 and now I know it’s called a “phonestack”. Duhhhhh! Think I’m gonna make it a game with my friends this week. Knowing me, I’ll be the first loser to reach for the phone and burn myself at my own game. LMK if you give it a try and if you win. I don’t recommend trying it with parents.

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Toronto Rebels Unite.

Lozzie and I are on stage callin’ numbers for bad kids Rebel Bingo with James Flames tonight….kinda like this: You should probably get a ticket. If you miss it, well, you’re probably not that cool anyways. Check Lauren’s bloggy for more secret details. Tickets here. In other sexy, rebel news, the Youtube takeover went live today for the Durex Savvy Lover campaign AND the documentary features Raymi! Nice work to all the peeps behind the campaign! I worked with Brand Momentum as a copywriter for Durex earlier this year and some of my topics included ‘Turning your walk of shame into a stride of pride” and ‘manscaping’. Super fun stuff to write about! Get some freaky Friday tips from four of Durex’s ‘sexperts’ on the Durex FB here. The FB app uses Pinpoint Social, Daniel’s company, fancy huh?! And finally, the most beauty marriage ad I’ve seen that, yes, brought tears to my eyes. (MUM, BOB, don’t get any ideas about ME! Just watch it!) It really IS time. Thanks to Andrew Stewart, my digital brother for sharing. Can’t wait till his wedding one day. ♥ Off to the postie to pick up a package then to mee Lau in Kensington, then to rehearsal. I hope it’s shoes or the camera I’ve been waiting for! You will be older tomorrow so BE YOUNG TODAY!

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My City Lives LOVES!

Yesterday I downloaded the new iPhone app from my friends at My City Lives. It’s an awesome & forever growing collection of people, places, things & thoughts from around out great city of Toronto. If you check out my first THIS IS MY LIFE blog on blogspot you will learn that “people, places, things & thoughts” was how I defined my blog in ‘an attempt to keep more memories’. Check out this awesome vid MCL published today followed by some screen shots from their new app. Download it free from app store here & get sharing 🙂

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Canada’s Android Conference

Stopped by AndroidTO today at 99 Sudbury and was happily greeted by a little green Android, a familiar face. Met some new people, saw old friends. Had a preview of the new My City Lives app and heard from the bNotions guys that MY APP is almost ready. This excites me 🙂 Just finished filming a promo for a friends client with Jason Howlet who is a total babe. Our roles were BF & GF. We make a cute couple, eh?

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Make Time to Give Back & You’ll Have More Time

We are all busy people and it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine. I like to be busy, are you kidding? I’d be bored otherwise! Only boring people get bored. I live by my calendar and find the better I get at scheduling, the more I can fit into a day, week, year. Last week I helped launch microvolunteering in Canada with Koodonation. We had a blast playing on all the bouncy things and the winning team from Durham College was awarded $15,000 to a charity of their choice. It’s really easy to volunteer your time ONLINE with Koodonation. Once you sign up it goes a little something like this… It’s simple and you will feel great helping people. Volunteering has been a huge part of my life growing up and allowed me to connect with people I can learn from and also teach others. If you have any questions about getting involved as a charity or a volunteer visit the site here or ask me in the comments. Have an awesome day 🙂

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Tweetgasm Gossip Girl Edition @ GladstoneHotel

Bring your gasm to the Tweet. I don’t even know what that means but who CARES! Tonight Brock & I are throwin’ it down and turnin’ this Monday into madness at Gladstone Hotel. Drinks, drama, prizes, ponies and more. Join us in the melody Bar starting at 7pm. Here’s some pix from past Tweetgasm’s…

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Redefinition: A re-definition can change the world.

This year’s TedX theme was Redefinition “A changing definition can be the most powerful force on Earth. A re-definition can change the world.”. Great job by the entire team. I left Friday feeling inspired, that we are the future and we are changing the world around us. Took some street style to see what the smart kids were wearing Friday at TedXToronto. Lots of babes in the house. When I say house I mean Royal Conservatory of Music, Telus Centre. Awesome work by the organizing team  (below). See the guy on the far right? Co-Chair Ryan Merkley and I served as founding members of the Youth Advisory Committee Council in Cambridge 10+ years ago. I was Director of Public Relations, he was Chair. We governed youth issues that affected Cambridge youth with the City Council. That was my first real experience with PR! Dr. Draw was amazing on the violin. Dancers were great too. Sep 23, 2011 | Source: Keek.com This performance was controlled by words used combined with the #tedxtoronto hashtag. VIP Loved this kid, Nicholas, 17 year old math whiz who’s invented a new way to micro search the web. Fascinating. Great talk by David Miller. Afterparty was at Steamwhistle! Lovely to hang out with my kiwi girl Kristen. O’Nizz and I love photobooth.

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Speaking | Connecting Digital Women & Brands

Thursday & Friday this week Toronto hosts the She’s Connected Social Media Conference which brings together hundreds of women from across Canada who have a passion for digital, social and all things online. Friday at 1pm I am speaking on a panel called “Social Media Rock stars: Veteran, New and rising stars” with a whole bunch of successful Canadian women in media. Panel includes: Carrie Burrows , Proud member of the Walt Disney World Mom’s Panel Casie Stewart , Lifestyle Blogger, Personality & Co-founder GenYTO Christine Cushing , TV Personality, Chef & Entrepreneur Tracy Moore , Host, CityLine, City TV Lianne Phillipson-Webb ,Founder, Sprout Right Shannon Mischuk , Blogger, Shasher’s Life Moderator Tom Gierasimczuk , Editor in Cheif, Marketing Magazine Unfortunately, the event is not open to the public but I do have a public event coming up October 6th at Workplace One that you can attend. I’ll get details about that out to you today or tomorrow. Hope you are having an awesome day 🙂

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stella block party was a stellar block party, blog party.

Welcome to the party. Please drink responsibly. The lights were  my love of the night. More of this please. So pretty. These shots are so tumblrey or hipster bride. If you are reading this and getting married (I know there’s a few!) and don’t know Hipster Bride yet, well, be thankful you are reading this now. It’s full of inspiration. This one is cool. Beautiful clear sky & bright moon tonight. I love this city. Reminded me a bit of the supermoon, that night was special. Bit of a stalk party, cameras everywhere. I bet they make a wicked video from the night. Saw a couple videographers capturing moments in time. Look at that sky & view, so nice. Loved people walking by wondering what the heck this ‘pop up party’ was. Lights and music were in everyones eyes & ears. You couldn’t miss it. There was a lineup the entire night. You‘re alright but I’m here, darling, to enjoy the party. Now THIS is cool. Never seen one of these before… Say, wha? What’s a beer pumper? Oh yes, this is a beer pumper my friends. Trexxx on the TAPS! OMG YES! (Ok, wasn’t actually working but still cool.) Want that truck to put out MY fire ifyaknowhatimean. Had a bunch of peeps I’ve never met IRL who read my blog come say HI. HI GUYS, nice meeting you! Truly great meeting people who read/love this blog and no it’s not creepy/weird when you say “Hi, my name is ____ and I read your blog/follow you Twitter/FB.” (Google+ would be kinda creepy though to be honest. Ha. Seriously.) Always say HI, I love it. There were a ton of babes on the block. Seriously, babes everywhere. Nice one Keri for winning the contest & getting to host the party downtown.…

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Beerfest 2011, The Sheepdogs, Sunshine & Rain

Welcome to the Social Media Lounge. Turned out great cause we had food & beer service inside our lounge with a roof over head. Considering how hard it rained here & there, appreciated it heaps. You get one glass like this to fill up with different beers. I had heaps of beer tokens and was the Suga Mama for my peeps. I surprisingly didn’t get drunk and was sober when I came home. Thankful for that. I’m growing up, clearly. I also love being Suga Mama. My Converse at the start of the day. Crisp, white, cute. My Converse now. Dirty, muddy, ruined. Sheepdogs chilled in our lounge for a bit. ET Canada was there doing stories. I love guys who look like Jesus. I’m not religious but that look has me hooked like Sunday morning. Nice meeting you babes. You’re gonna be huge. These pix are for you Mum!! Told them about you 🙂 Fan girls. (fatal attraction to cuteness) Top of the Budweiser Big Rig! Spent lots of time on that thing last year at BudCamp. Saw a bunch of my BudCamp babes around too. Not confirmed if I’ll be there again this year. Here comes the rain. We got drenched. It was AWESOME. Everyone was swayin’ in the crowd singing along to the Sheepdoggies. It was very rock-festivally. Dear God, yes please. With a side of bass. Party on Wayne. Sheepdoggy Style. Front row. Shan, check that beardo brother in the background! haha Sick stache buddy. Whatever happened to the Beardo Brothers anyways? I loved those guys. (I checked, they’re like, old now.) This is only a selection of photos I took of these guys. They are for my, uh, personal collection. Hey B-ROCKlyn. Olympus PEN cam, ILU! Thanks to TorStar for the brolly. Comics FTW! Wearing KINI…

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Move. Eat. Learn.

Sammy & Ross showed me these videos yesterday. Totally cool: 3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and about a terabyte of footage. I would LOVE to be part of a project like this. Inspiring. I love travel. Vids were commissioned by STA Australia. Enjoy! This will make you want to do things. This will make you hungry. This will inspire you. Crushing on that guy now. How great of a BF would he be? He’s done so many cool things! Hope these make you smile they way they did me. I love it!

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THE STATE OF THE INTERNET

Good morning! Another scorcher out there today. Drink lots of water!  I’ve got a meeting at Spoke and later this afternoon the Doc Martens Fall Preview. I’m stoked for that. Mama wants a new pair o’ shoes! This monster is so cute. For the last year I’ve worked on my own and had the opportunity to do some pretty awesome things. I’ve been really thinking about joining a team, having a full time job.  I wanna share the things I’ve learned with a cool company. I miss contributing to a group and sharing ideas with people. You now I’m social! If you have an idea, shoot me an email. I’m not exactly sure what I want to do but I like the idea of working with a startup or a cool product. Have you seen this wicked infographic Mashable posted about the state of the internet? It’ds rad. First time embedding HTML5 on my blog too. Nerd love. (I think you have to click to make it work. It’s interactive!) OnlineSchools.org /onlineschools.org   This is also interesting. Are we in a tech boom or a tech bubble? I love infographics. I also  found this fun site yesterday with the most comprehensive list on Internet Slang ever. Ok, gotta run! Have a stellar day. Remember you are younger today than you will be tomorrow, do something fun.

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A Panel Discussion On Panel Discussions? You got it.

Have you been to a panel discussion before and thought…Who are these people? Who picked them? Did they prepare? What are they even talking about? I know I’ve attended conference sessions and thought a bunch of those things. A panel is best when it is informative and you have experts sharing information of VALUE. On July 18th, I am speaking on a panel with some of Toronto’s most rad people: Alex, Erin, Joseph, and Nicolemoderated by Sonya. We ‘re taking a playful look at the panel discussion and how to get the most from them. Some of the topics that will be discussed will include: How to pick a panel How to prep for a panel What makes a panel work How to drive people to an event Examining different panel archetypes Panel Etiquette Good and bad introductions Speaking in soundbytes 101 – Speaking 140 chars at a time Panel Pet Peeves Moderating 101 Hope you  make it out to MaRS at College & University to hear us. This team has heaps of experience and I’m honored they chose me to be part of it. Tickets are FREE too.

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Now, don’t get me wrong because there IS a difference.

I’m currently shopping on Dealuxe.ca to pick out an outfit for my talk on Thursday during Mashable Socal Media Day. Sign up here to come for the fun, there’s 250+ people coming already. Gonna be fun to see everyone. This skirt is cute too eh. Mum loves it. I’m also browsing EGOCLOSET to pick out something to review & while testing out their new online store. Thinking this uber cute Diamond Pocket Dress, Maxi Jumper or this Chifon tail dress. Loving those long flowy skirts & dresses. They were really popular in NZ last year & they are ALWAYS ahead in style down there. I love getting stuff in the mail, everyone loves mail.  The other day Keri & I came home feeling kinda blahhhh and my friends at Bud Light sent me a 12 pack just because they knew it was going to be a nice weekend. Thanks guys, it did make the weekend better and I appreciate it. Sometimes I wonder why I’m even talking about this…. should I keep quiet? Here’s the thing about blogging I don’t love: C.C Chapman wrote about it six months ago. The Mommy bloggers have been talking about it way before I brought it up,  good article on MomBlogMagazine about it here. PR email comes in about an ‘exciting’ new campaign that brand XX is launching. It is either a one day event or it spans several weeks but it is ‘perfect for my audience’. This is a what is called ‘Blogger Outreach’. The company knows from idea conception that they want to connect with bloggers although they bugdet nothing for the bloggers who are going to do a bunch of work. They know exactly who they are going to target because we are all on the same list.

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The blog days are over.

I went to bed fuming last night. Blood was boiling. I never tell you when I get angry, I think I’m going to start. To be honest though, it doesn’t happen too often. I had a few conversations with agencies & clients over the last few days that made me wonder what the hell I’m doing. Also made me wonder what the hell they are doing? I have heaps of PR friends in the city and I’m starting to wonder about those relationships. They’re in meetings coming up with all these expensive & fun campaigns for big name clients with the intent to do blogger outreach & connect with ‘top influencers’ but not putting any budget in the plan for that. Gimme a break.  Do you work for free? Why should we? This morning I logged into WordPress (blog publishing platform), like I have done every day for years and had a different feeling about it. Last night after talking with Mum and friends, I didn’t know if I’d be back to publish today.  I didn’t feel like it. Clearly, I am addicted to publishing and love writing so I’m back but I’m different. Every morning I read Mashable on Flipboard via my ipad and this morning they published an article that touches on exactly what had my blood boiling yesterday. How Social Media Is Changing Paid, Earned & Owned Media Those in the marketing and agency world are privy to the buzzwords “paid,” “earned” and owned.” Traditionally, they stand for the different types of media and can be easily broken down like this: Paid: Buying a 30-second Super Bowl spot Earned: Coverage on Mashable Owned: Your company’s website You should read it, especially if you work in PR, media or are one of my wonderful friends at an agency who regularly ask…

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Epic Meal Time w/ The Biz Media

Photo booth 1 is here. Photo booth 2 is here. The Biz Media is a totally awesome company full of really great people. I’m happy to call them friends. Check them our here. Meeeeeeeeaaaaaaatttt O’Nizzle. Sauce boss of The Biz Media, Guy Gal.

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&baconstrips &baconstrips &baconstrips &baconstrips

Omg Seriously. The Biz Media Epic Meal Time last night was epicly awesome. Say hello to the Bacon Volcano. Bacon strips & cheese & bacon strips & bacon strips. Chocolate bacon cake. Big thanks to the lovely miss who brought the Tums. I’m thankful for you. Was a beautiful night for a patio party. Biz Media consistently throws the best parties. Wicked crowd there last night. Heaps of people I knew & lots I didn’t. Makes for a fun time, I love meeting new people. The man who delivers me a dozen bacon roses. ILU. These were so tasty. Heaps of props for the photobooth. The photos are gonna be so funny. Bacon in the tree too. Bacon everywhere actually. I missed this one but wow, probs was delish. Epic Meal Time guys are rad. This one is so huge, like giant. I want one of those &baconstrips shirts guys. Fo realz. Thank you to the Biz Media team & Guy Gal. You know mama loves you. Heaps of friends in this crowd. I’ve never seen/ate so much bacon at one time. We really got into it too. Two girls, one bacon.

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VIDEO: #PEPSITHROWBACK, MAY 31 @ REVIVAL, TORONTO

CH-CH-CHECK IT OUT. Video was made & posted by Rannie aka @photojunkie.

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thanks for last night

Friends, ILU. So many photos to share. Have a lunch event today & will get to blogging in the arvo. Thank you to Pepsi Canada for an awesome time last night. It was my pleasure to host so many friends at a venue I have had many (MANY) good times at. Enjoy the day!

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