About the above photo from Lori & Danny’s party, César says: “you guys look like the Mexican OC. El Oh-Sí (ta güeno).”

January 11: The family prayed the Rosary on Sunday morning to “despertar al niño Jesús.” (It’s either despertar or levantar, I can’t remember which one my mom said). As we all prayed, VR milled around. My dad pulled up his bed so he could pray too. Sometimes he’s a good dog.

January 12: My favorite comic in the paper is Get Fuzzy.

January 13: Week 2 on campus and things are already busy. I stopped by Kerckhoff to meet with the undergraduate student body president. There’s a lot of worry on campus right now about the dire budget situation and how it can affect students. Every time I hear information from one of the budget analysts that work with my committee, I feel like I’m meeting with the grim reaper.

January 14: I spotted this note on the steps to the bus stop at UCLA. Usually when students scrawl messages with chalk around campus it’s to alert students about a rally or march. I’ve never seen a personal note. I found it cute and wondered if Emily really did have a good day.

January 15: DB is a huge Detroit Red Wings fan. You should have seen him last year during the Stanley Cup finals. DB took me to my first game at the Staples Center. We cheered on the Red Wings as they shut out the Kings 4-0. I had fun.

January 16: Eating better these days. That includes a lot more fruit and vegetables.

January 17: Lori and Danny celebrated their 25th and 30th birthdays together. I had a blast alternating between dancing and supervising the kids to make sure they didn’t break the Wii. Lori (with Lucas above) said it was her best birthday party ever. I can’t disagree.

January 18: Ozo dressed up for the party. I think Danny had fun at his party too.

January 19: I forgot my camera at the parent’s house after the party. Photobooth had to do. I’ve been getting quite noticeable canas (greys) since I was 23ish. By 24 they started bugging me enough to dye my hair for the first time. I’ve been dying since, but I’ve never been good about touch-ups. This time around, I’m letting the canas show. I want to see if I can get a streak of white like Rogue from X-Men.

If I would’ve had my camera, I would’ve snapped some photos while sharing beers with friends at Venice Beach.

January 20: It was a nice day. Woke up early to see Obama get sworn in and then headed out to work. I didn’t watch anymore inauguration coverage until the evening. In between watching coverage of the inauguaral balls, I prepared some food for the next few days. Although coctel de camarón is a summer dish, it’s fine in January. I like sunny 75 degree days.

January 21-25: no photos. I missed my camera.

January 26: I made my second trip to Phillipe’s the Original for a Latino blogger meet-up. I loved the colors at the candy counter.

January 27: Ubiquitous notebooks.

January 28: I went to campus just so I could listen to UC Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes’ lecture on Atrazine’s (pesticide ) effect on frogs. While the news is bad and quite scary (EPA, do something!), Prof. Hayes is awesome. He summarized his engaging lecture by rhyming. All he needed was a backing beat and a good hook to make it into a catchy song.

January 29: Look, mom! I’m one of UCLA’s finest. I was included in a story on student leaders for In Focus a campus magazine.

January 30: I spent my Friday evening doing laundry and preparing for a busy weekend.

January 31: Family gathered to celebrate Papá Chepe and Mamá Toni’s 66th anniversary. The photo above is the 2009 version of other photos from other anniversary parties (25th, 1968, 40th, 1983). Sadly, my tía Eva is missing (she lives in Virginia).