Much like her latest character, Abby Vargas on The L.A. Complex, Cassie is cute and brassy, the ultimate girl next door, with a rough, punky edge. Charming and oft-recognized as Manny Santos from her 10 seasons on cult Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation, Cassie makes her return to Canadian television. The Toronto actress, singer, songwriter, is now staring in the hot series The L.A. Complex broadcast on MuchMusic, and The CW in the spring. Big things are in store for this stylish starlet.

A: Congrats on your new series The L.A. Complex! I’ve seen the first season and it is AWESOME! Your character Abby is a struggling Canadian actor in L.A. can you tell me about your real-life experience as an actor? Was it anything as dramatic?

C: My personal experience was actually quite similar, and although our situations were different they were just as dramatic. Or I’m very dramatic.

C: Right now I’m working on my third album and I’m so excited to finish and have everyone hear it! I really love writing music, but my formula is a bit different from the usual “let’s collaborate!” sessions. I write the lyrics and melody with an idea of what the end product should sound like, and then I call up my good old friend Isaac Hasson to bring it to life. I usually have writers block, because I literally can only write about personal experiences… if I release a song about murder, stay away.

A: What are your Top 10 songs on your iPod?

C: Gosh, I’m really not sure… my screen is broken so I kind of just hope I land on something great. I really like this Seattle based band The Head and the Heart, also The Vaccines and The Horrors… I’m a big fan of English boys. And their music.

A: Really LOVE your unique and edge-y sense of style! What are your favourite places to shop?

C: My girlfriend has an amazing store Queen W. called “Jacflash“. She’s got a great eye and usually doesn’t order more than a couple to a size, so nearly no one else will have it!!! I love vintage shops like “Chosen” and “I miss you”, also anything online. I love online shopping.

Thanks Cassie!
And you can catch her on the L.A. Complex currently airing on MuchMusic every Tuesday at 9pm or online here.

My experience at MoSheTa was one filled with ups and downs. Ups – Aimee,  the lovely, friendly and upbeat hairstylist. Downs – she was pretty much the only one working and had to rush between customers. However, I give her big kudos for being attentive in her attempts to make the additional waiting experiences  more relaxing with mugs of green tea and a variety of magazines. YAY!

All-in-all, I’m satisfied with the medium brown color I selected. However, in the natural light, the pigment looks lighter at my roots than it does at the base. Or maybe it’s just me being picky. But even with the discounted price next time I think I am going to pick up a box of Feria and do it myself. I guess old habits dye-hard.

I had the grand pleasure of attending a SeCe Apparel gifting lounge at Andrew Richard Designs, featuring a spring/summer collection of apparel that could floor anybody. An abundance of gorgeous items on display with fresh merchandising and even fresher duds and racks and racks of goods…had me in near tears with how much I was able to explore and snap photos of.

Some key items that caught my eye – soft leather bustier dress, bright printed structured dress, and wildly beautiful leather embedded hardware rings that were large and in charge (oversized). Things I would yearn to wear come warmer weather.

Some absolutely incredible items were on display. Shockingly posh UGG Australia shoes were up to bat (ostrich pumps), colourful Seven for All Mankind jeans, ultra soft windbreaker / anoraks, and soft wispy shirts. I had fun just getting lost in the colours and textures of Spring 2012.

I picked up an Eileen Fisher beaded tank top (nice and heavy), 7 for all Mankind skinny jeans, and a House of Harlow transparent tribal dress. Stunning and so wearable.

Thanks to friends at Lotus Leaf Style for the invitation – you make my life more fashionable.

The name Crywolf came about in a very random way. We were basically thinking of a new name for our company and tossed around different ideas. We both by chance agreed upon and liked the ring of Crywolf (which comes from Aesop’s fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf). It fit well because there is a lot of animal imagery in our designs and we were able to envision a logo almost instantly. We really wanted to focus on creating a solid brand so all of the pieces just seemed to fit and we went with it.

2. How does your previous venture p0isson affect how you put together your crywolf collection?

We learned a lot from p0isson. We were both in school and working part-time jobs when we started p0isson so it was more a side-project. It taught us a lot about the business side of things. Since neither of us had any business education (aside from high school accounting), p0isson was our teacher. We took from our successes and our failures and figured a lot of stuff out the hard way but p0isson was the stepping stone in making Crywolf into what it is today. Sometimes you just have to jump into things and hope for the best. The key is not getting discouraged when things don’t turn out the way you had planned, just pick up and keep on keeping on.

3. You detail slinging 1″ buttons at people on the street – what’s the best and worst reaction you’ve received?

Haha, looking back, I can’t believe we did that. Some people get REALLY freaked out when you approach them trying to sell something, even something as innocent as a 1″ button. We did sell some but most people just look at you like you have a third eyeball and quickly walk away. On the other side of the spectrum, we did get some people who were really excited about them, and that is why we continued to do it and kept on going.

4. I love the Maneki Neko tank (the waving cat tank top – you know, the cat that greets you at every Chinese restaurant entrance). What drew you to this idea?

We both have an interest in Chinese imagery and culture and it’s one of the many things that sneaks its way into our designs. We have a little porcelain maneki neko that sits on our counter at our booth at the Canadian National Exhibition to bring us some luck. Of course I dropped it one day and part of its paw smashed off. I felt horrible but glued maneki back together. After that I did a drawing of him and we made a button out of the design. Then this year decided to bring back the design as a shirt and voila!

5. Sharky boy, narwhal, mr eggplant – where do you get your creativity? Where do you find the best ideas hit you?

As mentioned above, we pull our ideas from a huge ocean of things that inspire us. I think our best ideas hit us when we are doing shows, especially long ones because we’re together for long periods of time and sometimes delirious from being tired. It can spawn some ridiculous ideas and also some great ones. I think some of our best designs were concocted during a show. Doing shows also gives us a good idea of which designs people get drawn to, and sometimes that inspires us to make something along those lines, but different and new. But really, you never know what designs are going to fly. Mr. Eggplant, he’s just this eggplant that is ridiculously happy and has crazy arms. We weren’t sure if people would actually be into it but it made us both laugh so we figured it would have the same effect on others. Luckily, it did!

6. You’ve expanded into quite a few accessories too – buttons, pins, zipper pulls, necklaces. Any key favourites?

I think both of our favourite new product at the moment is our vinyl toy Bü. For the launch in June we had 18 artists whose work we love and admire customize their own Bü and had a launch party/showcase to show people the realm of possibility of what you can do with Bü! We didn’t give any of the artists direction and each of them specialized in different mediums so there was such a wide range of customization that came out of it. We were blown away. Anyone can buy their own Bü off of our website and we’re hoping to have them available in stores in the new year and we’ll also be holding a contest for submissions from the public of their custom Bü;s. Can’t wait to see what people come up with!

link: www.whatsyourbu.com

7. Where’s crywolf running to next?

We will be at the One of a Kind show from November 24th – December 4th! It’s our first time doing the full length of the Christmas show, so we’re really excited. In the meantime we’re going to be scheming up some cool stuff for 2012 – sorry, no spoilers!

I always saw something special about Nina Dobrev – from her beginnings on Degrassi (woo, Toronto!) to her shot to fame through Vampire Diaries, the girl has a certain charisma that translates beautifully to your TV screen.

Recently she paired up with Free the Children (We Day) and Me to We Style. Her “Hunger Bites” graphic tee is to help support Free The Children’s short and long term efforts in East Africa. $10 from each shirt will go to support this cause – $10 can feed an East African child for a month. One shirt = meals for one month.

“Having been to Kenya myself, I’ve seen the effects of hunger firsthand. It’s a serious issue both domestically and internationally that I’m very passionate about,” said Nina Dobrev. “No one should go hungry, and that’s why I’ve teamed up with Me to We Style to design the Hunger Bites T-shirt to give everyone the chance to help fight hunger and wear their support in style.”

Keep living and keep giving. Love it – thanks to Me to We Style for the information! Cheers.