Travel | Montreal Moments

Yesterday I had brunch w/ Montreal Tourism at The Richmond. They were in town promoting all the wonderful events that happen in their great city over the next few months. I was treated to Montreal’s mouthwatering cuisine, charming joie de vivre, and a look into fall and winter adventures. Tourism partners and chefs included Guillaume Cantin from Les 400 Coups, Sophie Ouellet from EVO and Christian Faure from Maison Christian Faure along with Via Rail, Igloofest, Montréal en Lumière, Quartier des Spectacles, Phi Centre, The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, McCord Museum and Grévin Montréal. Earlier this month I was in Montreal to get a look at MTL à TABLE, their food festival starting October 30th. Three Ontario blogs were matched with three Montreal blogs then paired with a Chef to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into making their MTL à TABLE menu. A photo posted by CASIE STEWART (@casiestewart) on Oct 10, 2014 at 3:42pm PDT A photo posted by CASIE STEWART (@casiestewart) on Oct 10, 2014 at 6:12am PDT The group included tour included myself, Amanda Cosco (Girl About Toronto), Taylor Stinson and Natalie Sehgal (Girls on Bloor) from Ontario and Jason Lee (Shut Up and Eat), Adnan Albakri (514 eats), and Na’eem Adam (Mechant Mangeur) from Montreal. Check out this vid Amanda, Girl About Toronto, made of her experience. Read about my trip to a farm and fromagerie w/ Chef Jason Nelson here. For more info about what’s happening in and around Montreal visit their blog at tourisme-montreal.org. To learn about MTL à TABLE  and participating restaurants tourisme-montreal.org/mtlatable. BON WEEKEND! <3 CASIE

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Travel | New York State of Mind – See you Tuesday!

On Tuesday Brock and I are going to New York City. Yeaowwwwwww! We’ve been besties for like 5 years so this is pretty rad. Our friends at Cat Footwear are opening a new store and we’re going to celebrate with them. These are Brock’s fav boots. And these mine. See photo for link to blog posts! HAPPY FRIDAY! Heading to the cottage tonight for Thanksgiving weekend! <3 CASIE  

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Travel |My Stay at Trump Toronto w/ HotelTonight

On Friday night I stayed at the Trump Hotel and booked my room using Hotel Tonight. I’ve known about the app for a while but was yet to use it. I was contacted to take part in an exclusive influencer event where a group of notable Torontonians met up for cocktails with HotelTonight co-founder Jared Simon. We were asked to pack a bag and come to the event where we’d leave to stay in a hotel later that night. Exciting!  We were each given a unique code that allowed us a stay that night at one of Toronto’s best hotels. I was gunning for the Trump Hotel as I’ve never stayed there before and it’s oh so fancy. Others in the group stayed at The Gladstone, The Beverly, and the Thompson Hotel. Earlier in the day I chatted HotelTonight co-counder & COO Jared Simon about the app and what’s next. HT is the world’s leading last minute hotel app with a rotating selection of rooms made available each day with bookings open until 2am. After working in the travel/hospitality industry they were inspired to create HotelTonight, knowing that most hotels operate at a 60% occupancy. I personally think it’s an awesome idea and recommend the app when someone visits my city or when friends are looking to do something special with their partner.  It was very easy to book my room using the app; pick a hotel, add credit card, book, arrive at hotel, checkin, stay, checkout. I asked Jared what’s next for HotelTonight and he told me expanding to even more than the current 500 cities, growing consumers (like us!), and innovating the app experience. I love adventure so next time I travel somewhere I’m gonna wing it and book a random night w/ HotelTonight. Jared dared me! Not a bad place to…

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#Travel: A Weekend in Boston w/ My Loves

On Friday afternoon Sean and I hopped on a little plane at Toronto Island and flew Porter across the pond to Boston. I absolutely LOVE flying Porter. We arrived at the (worlds shortest commercial) ferry at 2:10pm, landed on the island at 2:15pm, and at 2:40 we had checked in at the gate and through security. There was even time for a sandwich and a drink & snack. Pop, juice, water, coffee, tea, cookies, almonds are all free in the lounge. WIFI too! The flight was a breeze and in just under an hour and a half we landed at Boston Logan. It was my first time using the automated US Customs and it was a total breeze. We had a chuckle that I took a glamour shot. Like, check out that photo? All my selfie taking is really paying off. I can’t wait till I go for my next Passport photo. We stopped at The Bell in Hand as usual. I’ve been going there with Bob since my first Boston trip about five years ago. It’s the oldest pub in America and our friend Meri works there. Some Heineken babes were dishing out free beers which was a nice start to the weekend! Our next stop was Nico’s Restaurant in Boston’s North End, Little Italy. I absolutely LOVE Italian food and our dinner here was FANTASTIC. I packed up the leftovers and snacked on them later.  A bunch of celebs have dined there and I was most interested to see The Rock had been there since that photo of him from the 90’s has been flying around this week. I spent Saturday by the pool from morning till night. It was SUCH a beautiful day. And with a pool like this, hwo could I go wrong? A bunch of friends joined us later in the…

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Travel | Postcard from Montreal

A couple years ago Sean and I drove to Montreal in a Fiesta for a weekend sponsored by Ford Canada. It was really fun and the weather was warm. We stayed at the W Montreal which I totally love, ate good food, and spent afternoons in the sunshine. This is the video Sean edited of our weekend ‘Postcard from Montreal’. Summer, please come back soon. I’m dying to get back up the the cottage ♥ CASIE

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Take Me Back, Back to Cali

Sean and I went to California for a week this summer, and it was SO FUN. I love the sunshine, the shops, the lifestyle by the beach. We rented a convertible and drove the Pacific Coast Highway, ate good food, worked on our tans, and spent much time at Disneyland. This cold weather does not seem to be letting up for all of us in Canada so instead of being wah wah CRYING about it, I’ll relive our summer love in LaLa Land. We stayed at the Disneyland Resort, and thanks to Disneyland and their Canadian team for the invite. It was amazing to live like a kid and experience all the fun of the most magical place on earth. Hopefully these pix brighten your day! Room service prezzie from Mickey Mouse! Surf’s up in Malibu Oh what I would give to have my feet in the sand right now Now this is love! His face vs my face lol ♥ Hollywood Saw a concert at the Hollywood Bowl Sunset in Laguna Take me back back to Cali. <3 CASIE

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