Studio Fitness Santa Rosa

Bang Bang Niner Gang. Studio Fitness Team Spirit!

MERRY FITNESS!

This week I hosted our Studio Fitness Trainer Holiday Party, and my heart is still so full. Our team is truly something special—full of tons of fun and laughter, love, dedication, and the kind of camaraderie that makes Studio Fitness feel like family. I am beyond grateful for this incredible group of trainers. Truly the best team we’ve ever had.

And of course… I fed them well!
I made a big Crockpot of my super clean, Paleo Minestrone Soup, and the trainers enjoyed it—so I wanted to share the recipe with YOU, our amazing Studio Fitness community. Consider it a little holiday gift from my kitchen to yours. Love, Shelly

Paleo Minestrone Soup
Cook Time: 6 hours in slow cooker

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 – 2 lbs of ground beef (I use 90/10 beef)
• 1 – 1.5 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 4 carrots, thinly sliced
• 2 cups peeled and diced celeriac root
• 8 cups chicken stock or low-sodium beef broth (I use “Better Than Bouillon” chicken or beef).
• 1 (18 ounce) jar diced tomatoes
• 1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 2-4 yellow squash, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced into half-moons
• ½ cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Brown the ground meat in a large skillet over medium-high heat, until cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the meat to a slow cooker insert, leaving the fat in the pan.
2. Add onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and celeriac to the pan and sauté over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until vegetables are slightly tender. Add the vegetables to the slow cooker.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, except squash and basil. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 8 hours.
4. Add squash and basil during the last 30 minutes if cooking on high or 1 hour if cooking on low.
5. Adjust seasoning if necessary, and serve with garnish of fresh basil. I also top it with fresh grated parmesan cheese

Sharing photos from the party below. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of the Studio Fitness family. We love you all and wish you the warmest, healthiest holiday season.

2025 Halloween Fun @ Studio Fitness

2025 Halloween Shenanigans.

The time is NOW.
Don’t wait for the “perfect moment” to start taking care of yourself—today is the perfect moment.

Show up for your health, your strength, and your future. Let’s do this together.

Proud to call him my client and friend — #1 in the world at 73 after 10+ years of hard work personal training at Studio Fitness. It Is an absolute honor watching him get stronger every single week in the gym and out on the discus ring!

UPDATE FROM SHELLY DATED JUNE 13th, 2025:

“Real talk” update from where I stand in this moment and reflections on making it through the first 24 hours post-op of another brain surgery:

First, thank you for all the love and support you’ve sent my way. I’ve felt it. I’ve held onto it. And I don’t take a single bit of it for granted. The fact that I’m still here is a miracle, and I know many of you have been rooting hard for me. I feel the celebration and relief from those who care about me. And that matters more than I can say.

But I also need to be honest about where I actually am right now.

The truth is: I’m struggling. This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to move through, and I’m still deep in it.

Medically, the surgery went well — and I’m beyond grateful to be alive and to have had a world-class surgeon and team at UCSF with magic hands. But the recovery thus far has been rough and the limitations I now face are hard.

If you know me, you know I’m a straight shooter — no sugarcoating. Thank you for accepting me as I am, in both my strengths and my messiness.

Having major brain surgery is not just a physical event — it’s a total system reset. My body, my brain, my nervous system, my emotions… everything is trying to find its footing again, and it’s intense.

Right now, I’m about 95% immobile. I know that this immediate post-op situation is temporary, and I keep reminding myself to be patient, but it’s still hard. I’ve got a catheter, painful IVs in both arm/hands that make me not be able to use my arms and the surgical site took nearly eight hours to stop bleeding. I’m in the Neuro ICU, running on almost no sleep. My throat, mouth, and lips are raw from intubation. My head hurts from blood rerouting through new vessels in my brain. Chris has been incredible — doing everything — and is juggling being here and being with the kids.

Physically and mentally, I feel banged up. And while there is so much gratitude — real, grounded gratitude — for being alive, I’m also grieving. I’m grieving the “before” version of myself, the plans and the pace I used to know. It all feels deeply disrupted right now, tangled up in new limitations and meds and unknowns.

So I’m holding two things at once:
Gratitude for being alive.
Grief for everything this has cost me.

This experience is changing me. I don’t yet know all the ways. But I do know this: I’m not feeling okay right now in this moment. And I want to tell you that plainly — not to worry you, not for sympathy, but because honesty matters to me. I’ve never been one to fake it. The truth is, I feel isolated. I feel altered. And in many moments, I feel alone inside this healing.

So I’m writing this to let you in — not for solutions or silver linings, but so I don’t have to carry the weight of pretending. If you’re wondering how to show up for me, it’s not with answers. It’s with presence. Patience. Space for me to just be where I am.

I’m letting it suck right now — because it does. And I’ve realized that letting it suck isn’t the opposite of healing… it is part of healing.

That said, I’m also doing my best to stay focused on what I can do — even if it’s small, even if it’s slow. I don’t know exactly what the road ahead looks like, I’m trying to let myself feel everything without getting swallowed by it. I’m trying to trust that this pain, this grief, this heaviness… is temporary. I want to find ways to heal, to rebuild, and to feel into my wholeness again — I commit to start thinking strategically about the shifts I am going to make. I keep holding onto hope, grit, and and resilience. I keep reminding myself I will come out of this wiser, stronger, and more grounded. But for now, I’m just committed to getting through this immediate difficult post-op pain. One thing is for sure: tomorrow is a brand new day with new possibilities  if we are blessed enough to wake up in the morning.

Thank you for believing in me — especially now.

As my friend Jen reminded me: “Even the strongest warriors need time to recalibrate and learn how to rise again after a battle knocks them down. You are still a warrior. You are still Light. That doesn’t change just because your physical body is healing.”

I’ll be back in warrior badass mode when I can be. I promise. I’m just not there yet.

Here’s to the strength we all carry within us even when it feels far away. Sometimes, just getting through the rawest part is its own kind of bravery.

May the Universe and all of you know how deeply grateful I am for all of the gifts of unexpected abundance I have received. You know who you all are.🙏🏼

I love you.
me

Aneurysm Update From
Shelly:

A recent second opinion and exploratory procedure at UCSF confirmed that the aneurysm in my brain has grown and changed. Despite my efforts to avoid it at all costs, the recommended treatment is a four-hour cerebral stent/flow diversion procedure. This will reroute blood flow away from the aneurysm.

The surgery is scheduled for June 12th at UCSF.

Thank you for your love and support.
I love you.