the more we get together, the happier we’ll be

“For your friends are my fiends and my friends are your friends” and #genyTO meetup’s are a great way to get together! Yes, Raffi. It was really awesome to see many familiar and new faces. I met some tres cool people and have lots of pix that I will add to the #genyto group on FB later this weekend.This month’s meetup was at Andy Pool Hall. Must say I’m sorry that some of my stickers got ‘stuck’ on the pool hall and not just on peoples clothes etc. I won’t be going back there with this a haircut. I recieved a nasty email today from Andy’s that went something like “your f***in stickers, what the f**k “. Sheesh, sorry guise. Don’t have to be so mean about it. I had a blast dancing, it’s abviously a really classy place. I wasn’t quite having as much fun as barefoot lady. She went all out! For real. I’m really excited to be part of this growing group of wired, creative, motivated young people. Seeing the growth from the first #genyto in February to last night’s April meetup has been really cool. I’ve met some of the most inspiring & fun people ever. Hope to see heaps of you out at #pibTO today 1pm, Second Cup @ 307 Queen Street and John Street! 100% of the proceeds go to SickKids so bring your travel mug and get in line!

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a BILLION, yes, a BILLION

Did you know that over a billion, YES A BILLION, people all over the world go without access to clean and safe drinking water everyday? That is 1 in every 6 people. Today you will find an article about Twestival on page 3 of the Toronto 24 Hours newspaper. Twestival has been on CNN, BBC and all kinds of other networks around the world. The Toronto response has been great, but we need more people out for the cause! Toronto is one of the MOST online cities and we can totally show the other 180 global cities participating, that Toronto is a strong community. I know we can show up Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal and Vancouver by having a bigger party and raising more for the cause! We are looking to sell another 200 tickets! If you can’t attend the event, purchase a ticket and show your support. Get them here!The Twestival is organized 100% by volunteers in cities around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects. Check out this vid featuring the woman behind Twestival TO, Sarah Prevette by Daily Challenge:

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an interview to inspire: Jesse & MS

I recently found out that my friend, Jesse Lee from high school was diagnosed with MS. I don’t know alot about MS and saw an opportunity to learn about the disease and share it with others. Jesse is a really cool guy (and funny) so when I found out about him and MS, I was really interested to learn more. Below is my interview with Jesse. Please read it. I assure you it will touch your heart and inspire you. You can donate too MS and help Jesse raise money for the cause here or by following the links below. Did you have symptoms, how did you know? The first two symptoms I encountered were numbness in my fingers and face and blurry vision in one eye. It was in the summer of 2007 while playing baseball. I have always been a good athlete and all of a sudden I was missing fly balls because of my blurry vision and the numbness caused my coordination to be off. I contacted my Doctor who originally gave me eye drops. Once the eye drops didn’t work I was sent for an MRI. When did you find out you had MS? After my first MRI came back and showed some lesions on the brain, a neurologist that I was referred to said there was a possibility that I had MS and sent me for more tests and a second MRI. The results of those tests confirmed I did in fact have MS and I was officially diagnosed in March of 2008. This was a very frustrating time because as you can see it took almost a year to diagnose and so much uncertainty was surrounding while other symptoms started to arrive and get worse. These other symptoms included; loss of balance, poor short…

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the power of a post: social media with love

Want to see something amazing? I witnessed something happening tonight on Twitter. Right before my eyes. If you tune in, you can see for yourself! I follow David Armano on Twitter. He has a friend in need and decided to reach out to his community on Twitter to help her family out. Here is an excerpt from his blog post earlier this evening: “I’ve been at this blog for nearly 3 years now and have never asked for something like this—I hope I’ve earned enough trust to be able to ask something back from you. Above is a picture of Daniela and her family. Brandon, age 6, Daniela, age 9 and little Evelyn age 4. Daniela recently divorced her husband after years of physical abuse. In recent years her mortgage went unpaid and she’s lost her house.As of this moment, Daniela’s family is staying at our house and we are trying to help her find a one bedroom apartment for her family to live in. With Evelyn, her youngest having Downs Syndrome and Daniela herself being a Romanian immigrant with very little family support she literally has no one to turn to. Except us (all of us).”[read more] As I wrote this post there there were 211 MORE ReTweets in response to Armano on Twitter. His goal to help out Daniella was $5,000. There have been, at this moment 208 contributors and over $,7,000 dollars raised anonymously to help her give her children a home. I suggest you check it out for yourself.If you didn’t believe in the power of a post or social online media, now you will. UPDATE: Over $12,000 in 24 hours raised! Check it out!!

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oh god, giving feels so good!!

I was more than glad to help out a friend when he told me about Networking for a Cause in December 2008. Daniel and friends raised over $3,000 in only 30 days to help families in need buy Christmas presents for their family through the Hospice of Peel Charity organization. This event was the first of a tradition that he is starting and I look forward to helping out again next year. Daniel is a very inspiring individual involved in social media & networking. Daniel is sure to shine in 2009!!

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clean up. let it go. breathe. exhale. refresh.live life.

The new year is upon us in a few short hours. I’ve been puttering around all day tidying up the place, doing laundry, setting dishwasher (t.g.f.dishwasher!), I’ve even invested in glass coffee tables with storage so that I can really declutter, and wiping old ugly thoughts and developing new ideas for 2009. I’m quite looking forward to this year ahead. I have heaps of really cool stuff planned for this blog and a bunch of amazing people helping my dreams come true. I don’t lie when I say ” Move over Martha, there is a new Stewart in town”. My name is Casie Stewart, I am proud of the unique person I am and I want to encourage others to create, share thoughts and ideas and inspire others to be individuals. One thing I hold close to my heart is knowing that thoughts become things, you are a product of your thoughts. You are who you think you are. If you think you are awesome, adorable and funny, then live that way, be that person and be your true self. After my year in Australia away from friends and family I learned who I am as a person and how to embrace that, foster it, and make something of it. I learned how to be myself. I encourage you to inspire and embrace those around you. This year, give thanks for being able to breath clean air, see the sunrise and sunset, to share a laugh with a trusted friend and ball your eyes out with your BFF. Be thankful for each day. My wish and challenge for you in 2009 Next time someone asks you ‘what’s new?” don’t say “nothing, same as usual”, say “everything is new, today is a new day”. Think to yourself, think about yourself, each…

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