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Valentine was a common name in Late Antiquity – there are 14 Roman Catholic Saint Valentines. Historians have narrowed down the tradition to one of two Saint Valentine martyrs who were preaching the good word in Rome in the third century. One of these two was martyred on February 14, 269, thus giving us the date for his eponymous day.

As a Doctor of Public Health and a Registered Dietitian weight loss is always a topic that is ever-changing. The simple diet and exercise to achieve weight loss seem too hard for most people due to their busy lifestyles.

I mentioned this event at the Latvian Center in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, but will bring it up again as the screening will occur this coming Saturday at 2 pm, and you still have time to RSVP if you are interested in attending. In my role as Consul for the Republic of Latvia in Southern California, I will be co-hosting this event together with the Latvian community in Los Angeles.

It is amazing how OCPS has changed in the past year! A year ago, I was the only physician working in the practice, but during this past year, we have added plastic surgeons Drs. John Compoginis and Deborah Ekstrom, and an extremely talented nutritionist, Dr. Staci Compoginis, to our fold. We were all very pleased with our Soirée Thursday evening. The audience especially enjoyed a presentation on weight control by Dr. Staci Compoginis, focusing on the HCG diet.

This past weekend was rainy; today, Martin Luther King Day, is rainy. What better way to spend a rainy day than to cuddle up in front of a fireplace and read, or watch some good movies. I had the opportunity to do both this weekend. I dug into an old book from the 60’s, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, who recounts her rather traumatic childhood in segregated America – an appropriate topic for us to revisit this Martin Luther King Day. I also saw the Latvian film, January, directed by Viesturs Kairišs, at the Scandinavian Baltic Film Festival at the Wilburn Theater in Beverly Hills.

We hope that all of you will join us for our 2023 Kick Off Soirée on Jan 19th. Our event begins at 5 pm and will take place in Suite A of our building at 4501 Birch Street in Newport Beach, in our Surgery Center lobby.

My favorite part about the Holiday Season is the giving, seeing faces light up at a well-chosen, well-thought out gift.

Weeks before Christmas, songs like “I’ll be home for Christmas” stir up nostalgic memories about our past, about Christmases past, about our childhood, about simpler times. And what better way to celebrate Christmas than to actually take that step back into the past and visit “home”!

A few weeks ago, we highlighted our Christmas staff party at Salisbury Plastic Surgery at our Massachusetts office. This past weekend it was our turn to celebrate our staff here at our OCPS practice.

We have been practicing plastic surgery for a long time, 85 years between the three of us (and that does not even count the time spent in college, medical school, internships, general surgery or plastic surgery residencies).