Life is just complicated.... SMILE!!!

It is isn't it???? You can't help it, even if you try to minimize and stay as simple as possible.. Life is just complicated and those complications will find you sooner or later. You can't hide from them... You don't ask for them.... They just come when it's inconvenient.... I've recently learned that even though you can pour your heart and soul into something, someone, anything.... There is never a guarantee that it will be everything you hoped it would be... No matter the amount of effort you put in. Sometimes there are just circumstances beyond your control that alter the course that you thought you were clearly on. It's sad and disheartening, but going through the process, I guess the bigger lesson is that you have to continue on, make those hard decisions, press on with life, and persevere. Smile, and be yourself, don't lose yourself trying to achieve something or please someone.....someone will appreciate you for you.. all faults included.... This past weekend, I decided to let go of something like that and move on. I can't help the way circumstances have played out... It's obviously beyond my control.


Enough of that... Lets try to catch up on pics now...... Lots to share.... Enjoy.

We finally got our family pics back, and they are awesome!!! The whole experience with the awesome photographers, the viewing session and their quick print time was a favorable one. I'll definitely go back to them and would recommend anyone I know to go there.... Here are the 2008 Castro-Corona-De Mers-May family pics :)

Late in September, we went to the beach with my friend Edy and her hubby and kiddos. It turned out to be a bad beach day... Really overcast and cold...But we didn't let that ruin our fun. The boys enjoyed the sand and water... Yes, Noah did too.... Here's a few pics....

Earlier this month we did an ankle repair on one of Dr. G's kite boarding friends.... He is one of those "Jackass" kinda guys... so he wanted pics of his surgery.... But since Dr. G is so dang good...his surgery was nearly bloodless and less than 45 minutes long.... We fixed this guys ankle through 2 holes... AMAZING!!!! I tell you, it is such a pleasure to work with this doctor!!! Here are the pics we took for him. The clamp Dr. G is holding is lovingly nicknamed the KING KONG CLAMP... It's huge!!!

A little over two weeks ago, another one of our docs was having an open house of his new office.... So Christi and I headed over there to check it out... His office is amazing... So sophisticated and beautiful!!!! Our Dr. Rho, we love him, but he's known for his foul mouth... I've personally heard him tell patients that they can F*** off..... So I had to go to his office just to see him wear a tie!!! There he is in all his glory!!!! Wait... is that a burger in his hand??? I thought he was a vegetaarian??? Hahahaha.... just another classic Dr. Rho moment...

Two weeks ago was my brother in law and sister in laws Halloween party. Everyone was dressed up which was really cool!!!! Vero, Daniel and Christi came with us too which was really awesome of them... They are just like family to me and Mark..... Love them mucho mucho!!!!

Friday night was the Harvest Festival at Noahs school. So we got him dressed up as the Joker and headed over for some games, food and quality fam time.... Even my older sis Terri and Little B came too.... Noah played games, we ate some "carnival" food, and even decorated cupcakes!!!! It was a fun night.. Noah looked pretty cool for me doing his makeup in about 10 minutes....We were in a hurry!!! It'll look way better this Friday!!!

At work on Saturday I worked with one of the most difficult docs at the hospital, which is always so nerve wracking because no matter what I do, I am a girl and will never be good enough for him. Did you guess it, Ortho doc... Yup.... They are stereotypically the most male chauvinist of all the specialties... Well he had a big hip case... One of the ones I only get to do every once in a long while at the hospital... When I walked in I dreaded it.... When I scrubbed in I got nervous.... When the doc came in, I went into "Phelps" mode... and made myself proud. I got this sudden burst of awesomeness and completely rocked this case!!!! I was throwing instruments in this docs hands like I knew what I was doing!!! Hahahaha.... I impressed myself to the point of impressing him too and I even got a handshake and a thank you out of him!!!!! Nothing could ruin my day.... I felt like I was on top of the world.... Grinning from ear to ear... I'm on my way up....

In the evening, me and my chicas were going to celebrate another friends birthday with a girls night out dinner and dancing..... After I got home from work, I got ready, and headed over to Veros house to meet up with her and Christi so we could carpool to dinner... We hung out for a while, had some wine...(mmmm Stella Rosa) and then headed out to dinner... We went to a place in Redlands called China Bistro. It's a cute modern restaurant that has a DJ and dancing at night. they even had a hookah lounge. So in our usual "lets try something new" attitude...we tried it.. The flavor we picked was strawberry... and I have to admit, if I was a smoker, I'd buy a hookah.. It was pretty cool..... Happy Birthday Vanessa!!!! Dirty thirty baby!!!!

Sunday was a day of relaxation!!! I woke up and made Mark the pancakes he had been craving for a few days... They were extra yum, and I think that's because we had been waiting and thinking about them for a few days... After breakfast he went to go pick up GH On Tour.... The GH version of Rock Band... Since we already have the mic and drums for Rock Band, we decided just to get the guitar pack for it... It's pretty much the same (there's even a lot of the same songs on it as Rock Band) except the singing is more difficult... I got a bit frustrated with it, but am going to keep practicing it.... I'm determined..... In the evening, Mark had this awesome dinner idea... We went to the Melting Pot for our anniversary dinner and enjoyed the dinner fondue so much!! Mark got together some veggies, pork and shrimp and we had family fondue night... Mark Noah and myself!!! It was such a blast!!! I think what made it better for us was how much Noah was enjoying it.... He was so excited he had 5 forks cooking at once!!!

So today when I walked into work, to my surprise, everyone noticed that I was in a much better mood than I had been the week before. They said I looked so happy and well rested. Even a rep-in-training that I just met today for the first time EVER said how nice it was to come to a new place to learn and have the person they have to work with be all smiles and friendly. It warmed my heart and made me feel renewed!!! It was such an awesome feeling... The rest of our day at work went really fast.... We got work done and that was that...

Tonight I tried a new recipe for dinner.... Coconut batter shrimp over some coconut cashew rice.... Coconut overkill??? Yeah, a little, but still yummy... I even had some batter left over and made Mark some onion rings he had been craving for a while.... Dinner was great!!!! And since I had some some spare time, I decided to hop on here and blog about all this that I have just not been caught up on..... If I have some energy left I think I will dye my hair tonight.... And if I can scrounge up some more energy I will try and get up early and take Obi for a run in the morning before work....

I've even given up my daily RockStar... I was feeling too addicted, they were becoming a neccessity, so I decided to say goodbye. I don't want anything to have a hold on me like that. Since each one of those drinks equals nearly 8 cups of coffee, I've cut down to one cup of coffee and maybe a diet soda.... It's been a little tough, but I am definitely sleeping better.... I'll survive the withdrawal.... It's pretty lame when people know you are at work by the open RockStar can on the lounge table..... Only gonna party like a RockStar when the real need arises.....

Can you feel the change?

I hardly ever have a chance to blog anymore!!!! I don't remember the last time I actually sat down at my computer.... I just can't find the time to do it all lately and I'm actually OK with that.... I'm learning that I don't have time to do it all and I can only get done what I get done... Goooozzzzfraba!!! (Anger Management reference) So my blogging suffers even though I have so many thoughts and pictures to share... Now that I have a chance to blog, it's going to be really random as I really only have a limited amount of time to get out everything I've stored in my head!!!!



I am absolutely loving this cooler weather we have been having the last few days... It makes me feel like things are changing, and change, even though for the most part is hard, is a good thing... My favorite days are the cool ones, where the evenings are nice and cool... Running has been so awesome lately because it's not blazing hot... Obi wants to run more and that motivates me to run faster and further!!!! Gotta get back on the wagon.... Cutting calories and running more aggressively is my plan.....



Last weekend we had a few friends over for dinner / drinks and movie night, and it was awesome!!!! I came home from work and made 3 pizzas... Pepperoni, Meat Lovers (for Matt hahah...) and a BBQ chicken one.... Wow, I am now addicted to my BBQ chicken pizza... It was a big hit!!!!! We had a variety of beers to choose from since lately I have been into sampling foreign beers... We had Hoegarden, Stella, Fat Tire, Newcastle, and Lindemans Framboise... If u haven't had Framboise... go to your nearest BevMo and grab a bottle.... It's raspberry beer and is awesome!!! After dinner, I made monkey bread for dessert with some fresh whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.... We were all so full!!! But we still threw a movie in and watched Iron Man..... All 6 of us snuggled up on the couch, turned on the fireplace, and I think only 2 made it through the movie... The rest of us dozed off!!!! It was a great night!!!! Something has to be said for just being able to chill at home and hang out with some really awesome people..... Love that!!!



This past week at work has been semi-rough... There are a lot of changes going on at our surgery center and as it happens from time to time... group moral goes down a bit and tensions get high.... So we are all trying to work through these days the best we can and not kill each other in the process..... I love most of my coworkers, and luckily the ones I love are some of my closest friends!!!! So if we have issues we can get together outside of work and talk about it and work through our issues... We stand united!!!!!



Halloween is right around the corner... We've got tons of plans for this year..... So Mark and I have gotten our costumes already and are excited to go out!!! He is going to be Lt. Dangle from Reno 911, in all his glory!!! Tight shorty shorts and all!!! That's so awesome!!!! I am going to be a beer garden girl (oktoberfest kinda thing) in my shorty skirt and thigh high stockings... Still contemplating getting a blonde wig... Just not sure about that detail yet.... It's gonna be fun... Noah has decided to be the Joker from The Dark Knight which is awesome!!! I loved that character in the movie...