How Angelica Robles-Trinh of Fresno State’s EOP Spends Her Sundays

Life as an academic counselor for a large university can be quite hectic. But for Angelica Robles-Trinh, it’s no big deal because every single day she experiences the fulfillment of helping a student reach their goals. That is the part of her job which she loves the most.

When she’s not counseling students or organizing a group meeting, she is relaxing at home with husband, Michael, and their pets. Robles-Trinh cherishes her weekends, especially Sundays.

COFFEE AND THE DOGS Robles-Trinh is a weekend early riser. Her version of sleeping in is waking up at 7 am, but it mostly depends on her dogs. She has three of them. She doesn’t set an alarm clock on the weekends because they are the ones that wake her up anyway. But on Sundays she’s up by six to start the day…thanks to her dogs. “I start with a cup of coffee and then sit on the couch with my dogs or as I like to call, my children.”

**The pets of the Robles-Trinh family: Jackson (left), Patch (middle), and Rose (right)**

MORNING WORSHIP Robles-Trinh is a devout Catholic and her faith is extremely important to her. After relaxing with her children (doggies), she sets out to St. Anthony of Padua Church for an 8 am Mass. Robles-Trinh starts her day with faith and family. Two of her most coveted things. “Sometimes I go alone, but when I can convince my family to meet me there. It makes my day all the better. I’m thankful that I still live close to my family, so being able to go to Mass together means a lot to me.”

BRUNCH WITH THE FAMILY “After Mass, I typically do brunch with my parents and a few siblings. Sometimes we cook at home or sometimes we go out. But I usually don’t like to cook on Sundays so I prefer to let my parents or sister do the cooking. If no one feels like cooking we usually go to the eatery at Vallarta.” Vallarta is a Hispanic supermarket that features a mini restaurant inside. “We go there for the freshly made menudo soup, do some shopping and just catch up on the latest with each other.”

**The Robles family. Angelica pictured in her cap & gown alongside her parents and siblings**

SUNDAY DUTIES Most folks do not typically like to do any chores or errands on Sundays. But Robles-Trinh still makes time to check items off her to-do list. Whether it is grocery shopping or cleaning the house, she makes sure to do something productive for the day. “Not all of my Sundays are the same. Depending on what I did the day before, Sunday may be my shopping day or my cleaning day. But never both, I don’t have that kind of energy anymore,” she joked. Costco is the main shopping hub for Robles-Trinh. She added “I go just for the free samples.”

TIME WITH THE DOGS Robles-Trinh loves her pets. So much so that she refers to them as “my little children.” Once her errands are done with, she makes sure they are fed, and then it’s nap time for everyone. “Sundays are always good for naps,” she says. Her three dogs are always up for a walk in the park or a round of playing fetch. “Depending on the weather, I like to take them on walk with my husband through Woodward Park. If we stay at home then we will play ball with them in the yard.”

RELAXATION AT HOME “After play time with the dogs, depending on how long it was, it may be time for another nap. Why not? This is generally our most calm and relaxing part of the day. Everyone is a little tired at this point, including the dogs so we don’t do much, we just lounge around and watch Netflix. We snack on a few things here and there and just kick back.”

DINNER TIME “Usually my husband does most of the cooking. I’ll do most of the prep work and then I let him handle the rest. I’m not too picky so I like most of the things he makes. As long as it doesn’t have meat in it, I’m good.” she said laughing. Robles-Trinh is a pescatarian, meaning she does not eat any meat other than fish. But her husband Michael is not. He says “There is no issue in enjoying meals together with Angelica. We both love salads, so that’s a big part of our diets. “Some nights we may order in our dinner. We don’t usually go out because by this point, both of us are in our pajamas already.”

COZY EVENINGS “I start to get my things ready for the upcoming week around this time. It’s difficult to not check my emails during the weekend, but I can’t resist. Then I’ll review my planner just to remind myself of any important info I have ahead of me for the week. This goes on as my husband searches for something for us to watch. He’s in control of the remote most of the time; I like whatever he decides to put on. I’m not picky with movies either,” she says. “Although, my guilty pleasure right now though is The Walking Dead, I can’t get enough of it. The Robles-Trinh duo is big coffee fanatics. Both can indulge in a cup at any time of the day. Match that with a warm blanket, your favorite program, and your dogs cuddled up next to you and you have yourself a cozy evening.

LIGHTS OUT The Robles-Trinh unwind has come and gone. The dogs have been let out. The kitchen has been picked up and the blankets folded and put away. “If I can get to bed on time, it’s somewhere between 10-11 pm. I have to be up at 5:45 am. the next day, so lights are out pretty early for us. But other than watching some T.V. and reading a book, I don’t do anything especially interesting before bed. I have an alarm clock set for the weekdays, so I don’t rely on the dogs to wake me up.

My journalistic writing career has been brief, but I expect it to get better as I study at Fresno State University. My previous educational institute where I first began writing was at Hartnell College in Salinas, California.