Hello my friends! I hope you’re having an awesome start to your week!

I know it’s been a HOT minute since I’ve popped in on my blog and like I’ve said before, I always go with the flow of my life when it comes to blogging. Sometimes other things take priority and I’ve learned to be OK with that over these 8 years.

Most of you know, but Corey & I go home to Pittsburgh from Rhode Island every winter & summer for 2 weeks to visit family.

This summer worked out perfectly timing wise for my mom & I to also go to our IDEA Fitness Conference in San Diego during this 2 weeks.

On top of the conference, I also was in one of my best friend’s weddings (love you Kait!)…

had family coming in to visit, visit Corey’s family, celebrate my 29th birthday (as well as many other family members birthdays!), celebrate our 2 year anniversary (love you hubs), & then finish with a Bachelorette weekend for my other bff, Sarah.

Unfortunately during these 2 weeks, my beautiful grandma’s health declined & about 2 days into our trip to San Diego, my mom & I returned home to thankfully get to say our goodbyes before she peacefully passed away that following weekend.

Life….is a crazy thing, right?

We learn this often.

My Grandma suffered from COPD and her lung health unfortunately got worse as this year went on.

My Grandma was full of LOVE & LOVED our family time. Corey and I made weekly phone calls to check-in with them & they started such an amazing family that I feel so lucky to call mine.

Although it’s never easy to lose someone you love, the timing of our family already being all in town during this time made the process a whole lot easier.

I’m also so thankful that my mom & I made it back in time to talk with her & tell her how much we all love her.

California & conferences will always be there next year — family comes first.

Thank you all for your sweet messages on my social media posts about my Grandma. We love celebrating her & her life and the love/prayers/thoughts meant to much to us during this time.

I especially wanted to say thank you to my Great Lakes Gelatin & Fit Approach team who were SO amazing handling my whole situation during BLOGfest.

Being that my mom and I had to leave the morning of day 1, the girls at Fit Approach were so understanding and all of my blog girls gave me that BEST hugs and well wishes before we left back for the East Coast.

my girls Tasha & Kat <3

@sweetblondesfitlife, @hiphealthychick, & @healthycarleeh

It’s pretty amazing how there can be SUCH a positive community of people from all over the US and I’m so lucky to be surrounded by people that truly LIFT me up.

With that being said, I do want to share a few things from the 2 weeks as it was still so great to see family, friends, & spend a few hours at BLOGfest.

A few days before the conference started, I got to see my girl Bailee that I used to work at Fitness Quest 10 with when I lived in San Diego. I just love her.

We got to spend a few hours at the beach & ate some delicious fresh food!

The next morning I met my girl Kat at Barry’s Bootcamp for a morning workout. I’ve been wanting to go to a Barry’s class forever so I’m so glad we got to go. The instructor was AMAZING & the class was killer. Lots of running followed by strength work — loved it!

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying where we were staying & got some local eats.

The next morning was an early alarm day where unfortunately we got the call that we needed to head back to Pittsburgh for my sweet grandma.

We got booked on an afternoon flight so I was able to go down to the conference and see my @fitapproach sisters & catch the first session of BLOGfest that morning before heading to the airport.

The first speaker was Petra Kolber who is AMAZING!

She talked all about the “Perfectionist Detox” which is an AWESOME reminder to us all that 1) life doesn’t always go perfect 2) we don’t have to be perfect & 3) comparison is truly the thief of joy.

Here are some of my favorite quotes that she shared.

While we listened, we got to snack on some yummy almonds from California Almonds and…

THIS KEY LIME LA CROIX WATER! Oh my gosh this was so good, I loved it!

I’m a huge sparkling water fan on the daily so when a new flavor comes out, I’m all over it.

And of course, always travel with my Great Lakes Gelatin collagen!

Although I didn’t get a chance to really dive into the sponsors for this year, they NEVER disappoint!

2018 Sponsors:

@californiaalmonds, @tp_therapy,@dairygood  @bell.institute, @beingbettermatters, @fitbodiesinc, @trainfrogfit, @lacroixwater, @jimmybars, @kettlegryp, @resyncsupplements, @greatlakesgelatin, @haikubags.

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The following week consisted of family & friends, which is just what we needed.

I celebrated my 29th birthday (and holding!), Corey & I’s 2 year Anniversary, time with our family & sweet nephew, & finished with a Bachelorette weekend for my girl @lesky27.

Oh, and during that bachelorette weekend, I decided to go for a run with the #RUNSQUAD which is basically my friends from Pittsburgh who are BEASTS and run marathons all of the time.

I’m just honored that I lasted 3 of their 5 miles running UP HILL, like, the whole time.

It was truly a great way to end the trip to Pittsburgh with some smiles & good laughs.

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With all of that being said…it just goes to show that you truly can’t plan everything out perfectly and life will happen…which refers back to Petra’s “perfectionist detox” talk from above.

There are so many things in life we can’t control, but we can control how we react to them.

My whole family finds peace that my Grandma was surrounded by all of us & ironically, we were all planning on being in town during this time.

We had each other to help get through the difficult 2 weeks & my grandma would want us moving forward positively knowing that she is now in Heaven, feeling amazing, & able to breath 100% and that’s all we’d ever want for her.

Thankful for your support as always.

This blog community is pretty dang amazing and I’m so thankful.

Love you nan and you are celebrated, always.

xo Kasey