The Brightest Light in My Life – Mum

On the weekend I spent a lovely day with Mum. She has just returned from New Zealand and brought back some treats. I feel quite lucky because she managed to find and bring back some of her old clothes for us. I got a great dress she made (yes, made) when she was about 15 as well as a gorgeous leather belt. She brought my sister back a pair of her old boots that are totally rad. Mum found some old photos of herself, she is so cool and has always been a stylish young lady!One of the things I really miss about NZ are the treats. There are so many wonderful things to enjoy! Mum packed up a goodie bag for us each! Yum yum!We stopped into Lahore Tikka House for lunch. The food was fantastic as usual. However, they are using Styrofoam plates and cups which I find to be wasteful and horrible for the environment. Maybe they will change this behavior? I did see the following things that I found to be amusing:Note the handwritten sign stating that you can have a “piece of history” by purchasing an Obama t-shirt. Nice. This needs no explanation except for “ha ha”. Have a great day!

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fashionable by choice

Last night I went to the Escada fashion show at the Spoke Club. It was fun. The clothes were nice. Nothing stood out to make me REALLY excited. The models were skinny as usual. It was really nice to be at the Spoke again after such a long winter. It made me excited for summer! I saw familiar faces including Tony Charr, Julian & Derek. We had a really nice time. Our bartender was making these lovely cocktails with fresh crushed raspberries. It was delicious. Escada Toronto Fashion Week 2009 from Casie Stewart on Vimeo. I made a mistake on this video and the audio is longer than necessary. Forgive, for I am only a human!

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canadian family you say, ma?

I just had a long chat with Mum who just returned from New Zealand. I miss it. I want to go back there so bad. She told me a story about the very tip of the North Island called Cape Reinga. It is so very beautiful. She said that New Zelander’s (The Kiwi’s!) are very creative and they place much of attention & value on the arts and artsy things. That makes me feel awesome.

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the worlds largest untapped resource

Yesterday was International Women’s Day. “It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.” I had a soak in the hot tub and thought about women who have inspired me to be strong & confident. Women that have helped me define myself by what I have learned from them and their experiences. I am truly blessed to have had some wonderful women around me since a very young age. The most inspiring, strong, unique women of them all is my Mum. She is visiting my awesome family in New Zealand. Lots of love to the family ♥. I think of New Zealand as an untapped resource too, the Maoris hanging out at Rotorua geothermal, the long drive out to Grandad’s Batch.

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what is your blog about anyways?

People always ask me “what’s your blog about?” or”well, whats your topic?“. As this happens I say to myself in my own little head “I dunno, whatever I feel like, whatever I like, whatever is me-ist“. I learned something cool from Chrissy at a company called Espresso. It is called Wordle. I made this Wordle of my blog’s first page to get an idea of what my blog might be really about. This is the realest and truest thing. This shows you what matters most to me. I started writing my blog because I love writing, I love life and I love to remember the things I do that keep me being awesome. This is what my blog is about.

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will you be my valentine ♥

love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love totally love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love totally love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love it. love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love love it love love love love love love love it love love love it.

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he’s just not that into who?

I went to see the movie this evening and, well, I get it. Guys don’t mix their signals they just give you excuses for not being into you. For example, “You’re too perfect”, “Too successful/awesome”, “I just got out of a relationship”, “I’m not emotionally mature”, “I need work on myself”, blah, blah, bullshit. I guess its being considerate and saving a girls feelings, but maybe they are just too afraid to say it. The movie was pretty good, not your average chick flick. Slight emotional roller coaster, yet realistic. Basically, if a guy doesn’t either call/text/email/facebook/myspace/twitter/PIN/voicemail you, he is not interested. In our world there are so many forms of communication, why waste your time waiting for someone to reach you? Lesson learned – if they want to talk to you, they will. It mentioned how all those magical love stories your friends tell you to make you feel better are all exceptions to the rule. Are you the rule or the exception? Finally, the site for the movie is cute and entertaining. As for Jennifer Aniston and ScarJo, they both looked great.

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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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where would you like to wake up tomorrow?

I just watched this video on Fifty People One Question. I like the site concept. They have asked two questions and received nine hundred and sixty-four responses from five hundred and thirty-one cities. It was quite lovely watching this video. Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Crush + Lovely on Vimeo. My answer: I’d like to wake up at Bondi Beach on Hall Street with my sister and a few of my best friends. It is beautiful there. It’s summer, it’s over 25 degrees Celsius and the forecast says sunny all week.

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acting like a macro, tasks in sequence

Do you ever feel like the day is just passing by, slowly? You are going through the motions yet not really taking anything in? You smile, think, laugh even, yet you feel little to no emotion. You are not excited. You are floating and acting like a macro doing the same tasks in sequence as if you are programmed that way. Your output is routine, open your email & browse, plan the day, check Facebook, Twitter a bit, read a news article, send email, make phone call, check voicemail, get some entertainment news, walk to the kitchen, get a drink, send email, work on document, eat something; it all seems a blur.I watched this video and felt a bit lost, peaceful and weightless. It is beautiful and creative. It inspired this post.

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secret postsecret favorite mine

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this ones for my sister

Jenie met Benie in April 2006 at the MOD Club. This video is from a live set at the Hollywood Bowl.  She can play this on the guitar and does it so very beautiful. I’m thinking about you sister, love you. ♥

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Give the Gift of Giving

My friend Andrew is doing amazing things this year! Daniel is 20 years old and really making a difference in our world. Check out his inspiring interview on Daytime. The most touching part I found in the interview is that he sent out messages to about 15 people and went off to school and work and later that day over 1,000 people had been invited to attend the Networking for a Cause event. As I have shown with my actions and will continue to, it only takes one voice to start a movement. Another reason to watch, Daniel has an adorable accent!! To RSVP to Networking for a Cause to benefit families in need and the Hospice of Peel go here. You will have the opportunity to speed network with other business people, entrepreneurs and professionals and support a great cause. Included in the $20 minimum donation is a drink ticket, hors d’oeuvres and the opportunity to network with other conscious and compassionate business people. All the proceeds will go towards the inaugural Give the Gift of Giving program which will use the donations to help families affected by terminal illness enjoy a Christmas dinner or buy gifts for the children of the family. Read the stories of hope for the families we are reaching out to! For more information visit the Give the Gift of Giving site ♥

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World AIDS Day ♥

Today, December 1st is World Aids Day. The World AIDS Day website has a ton of ways that you can help educate yourself, others and get involved in the cure for AIDS. I have participated in the AIDS Walk and have supported several charities over the years. What have you done lately? Here are some ideas from the World AIDS Day website: Get a red ribbon collection box for your workplace, school, community centre or event to raise money and awareness of HIV. Organise a red-themed fundraising event in support of the NAT. Here are some ideas of how to turn your event red for World AIDS Day: Have a red non-uniform day at your school or workplace and make a donation for the privilege of wearing red Do a sponsored run, bike ride or whatever takes your fancy dressed completely in red Organise a red-themed party or red-themed dinner for friends and ask everyone to make a donation Or come up with your own red-themed idea!

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