Dear Friends,
Hope to see you if you're around during the holidays!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be our festive holiday dance class at 9:30am for Sandy Aley! Her family and friends are coming to support her and we are dressing up! The theme is Christmas Elves, so go as ridiculous as possible (HA!), but feel free to wear any other festive holiday colors!
Class will be around 65 minutes long, and if you are free to stay longer, we will be doing a whole class recording of our newest song, "Bells, Bows, Gifts, Trees" from Todrick Hall with our holiday clothing! Everyone is welcome to stay!
Tuesday, December 19th, 9:30am @UUMarin
9:30am 65 Minute Stop Drop and Dance Class
10:45am 10 Minute Dance Recording
Happy Birthday Sandy Aley!
THEME: Christmas Elves, Hanukkah, or any Holiday Spirit colors!
Wednesday, December 20th @UUMarin
9:30am 60 Minute Cardio Strength (bring dumbbells and mat)
10:45am 60 Minute All Levels Yoga (Bring a mat)
Thursday, December 21st 9:30am @UUMarin
9:30am 60 Minute Stop Drop and Dance
10:30am 10-15 Minute Core/Abs/Stretch
CLASSES CANCELLED
Saturday, December 23rd - Wednesday, December 27th
I will be joining our family sleepover at my parents house with my sister's family!
Classes will resume on Thursday, December 28th all the way through the New Year!
Happy Birthday Daniela Kratz!
When I first moved to Marin in 2013, Linda Morello from Bay Club Marin hired me to be a Group Fitness Instructor and the one slot open at the time in the mornings was 9:15am on Wednesdays. I excitedly taught my favorite but challenging HIIT Cardio Strength class for the next 7 years until the pandemic hit.
Daniela was one of my dedicated students that showed up consistently each week and put in the hard work, alongside a room full of 40-50 other students!
I am so grateful to Daniela, who continues to come on Wednesdays (now at 9:30am) even though I started teaching on my own and class sizes are a fraction of what they used to be.
This past week was Daniela's birthday and she not only showed up to work out for her birthday, but also she brought her friend, Vania (who used to come to my Bay Club classes too), to join us! In addition, she brought a gift for my daughter who LOVES Daniela's Farmhouse Lab "Yup! Please" veggie dressing (so perfectly named). So thoughtful and sweet!
Try Daniela's Farmhouse Lab dressings here!
Happy Birthday Nicole Bailey!
Nicole is relatively new to our Stop Drop and Dance classes because she joined as a member only this past year in 2023! She has been dancing regularly both on Zoom and in-person since the Spring, and we are so happy she said YES to having a dedicated birthday class for her last Thursday!
Even more special was that Nicole brought her 15-year-old daughter, Amara, to join us for the first time, as a 75 minute break from studying for her finals! They picked a playlist made up of all black artists and/or uplifting songs by women!
In this short finale clip during class (above), Nicole and Amara were joined by Jennifer Lee, who is also a new member from 2023, and it was all of their first times dancing up front!!! They finally got to see what it’s like on “the other side” of Zoom and they did AMAZING leading “Confident” by Demi Lovato!
Nicole and Jennifer are part of the 24 beautiful women traveling on our Belize retreat in January!!! Can’t wait for another bonding opportunity with truly kind, positive and inspirational people!
Girl Scouts Holiday Party!
Thank you to Amy Poirier and Hillary Barber for hosting an amazing private Stop Drop and Dance class for a joint K-2 Daisy and Brownie Girl Scout Holiday Party! The outfit theme was white and gold or silver, and they had holiday decorations, crafts, snacks, book donations, gift wrapping and DANCING as part of the festivities!
We warmed up with a few of our regular favorite dances, and then we broke down the choreography to our newest holiday dance, “Bells, Bows, Gifts, Trees” by Todrick Hall, which was inspired because of this special event!
Finally at the end of class, everyone took turns dancing on stage: first just the girls, then just the mamas, and last but not least, everyone dancing altogether! Great job to all the moms and Girl Scouts!
If you have an idea for a special dance, fitness or yoga event, please reach out!
Email Grace with a collaboration idea!
Happy Birthday Karen Shen (aka Jahpoo)!
This is my bestest friend since we first met at a family party when we were both one year olds on July 4th, 1980!
Karen is basically my second sister and therefore is adopted into our family with the nickname, “Jahpoo” (which you will hear me call out during class)!
Ever since we were young, Karen would be subjected to all my choreography and crazy ideas. We did the talent show together in pink unitards, made up dance routines at recess and had friends perform as part of our birthday parties. She knows me VERY well and apparently I’m pretty similar to how I was when we were kids! Lots of energy and lots of ideas!
For her birthday wish, Karen asked her husband and two sons to wake up “early” to take our Stop Drop and Dance zoom class at 9:30am last Saturday!
Thank you to her husband Dave, and sons, Connor and Corey, for dancing with us!!! My girls also came up front just for Karen and her family.
Later that night I was able to drive an hour and a half away to see her in-person and celebrate her birthday again! Happy Birthday Jahpoo!
Wonka
This past Halloween, my older daughter and her friends dressed up as Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompas. The new "Wonka" movie came out in theaters last Friday, and of course we went to watch it, in costume!
It was quite hilarious as the girls showed up at the theater and received numerous compliments from other movie-goers (even almost causing two car accidents in the parking lot because of rubber-necking...)!
Without giving too much away, it was such a perfect family holiday movie, and afterwards, we decided to buy tickets for my parents and sister's family to see it again next weekend as one of our Christmas activities! Highly recommend if you enjoy feel-good holiday movies!
"Every good thing in this world started with a dream. So you hold on to yours."
- Wonka (2023)
Love,
Grace
