Today I went out to lunch with Christina and her son, Evan (I left Freya at home with Brian to take her nap). We went to a little “hole in the wall” joint in the middle of a strip mall here in town, between a UPS store and an Albertson’s. You’d think we would be in for some mediocre fare. BUT NO. This place served pho, or Vietnamese soup, among other Asian staples. But the pho was the star. I had never had it before. I ordered the small bowl, and an order of spring rolls.

The spring rolls were HUGE, and packed with ingredients. Served with a yummy brown sauce, I ate the whole thing. It was seriously eight inches long, almost a small burrito. Then the pho came, along with the condiments plate: a pile of bean sprouts, lime wedges, jalapeno pepper slices, and a large spring of fresh basil. OMG they aren’t fooling around, I thought. I dug into my broth, which was swimming with green onions, cilantro, shredded chicken breast, rice noodles, and white onion. It was heavenly! Also it was like six bucks, and four for the two large spring rolls. Our entire lunch for the both of us came to $18 + tip.

After that I had some precious time on my own (very rare) so I took myself out for a hot chocolate and picked up a chai for Brian. I headed home. Not much to do outside today as it’s bitterly cold right now. Soon after I got home one of my eBay auctions ended successfully, netting me several hundred dollars and clearing another purse from my closet. Happy times. I celebrated with a much needed shower, where I tried out a new shampoo from Joico. As I was drying my hair afterward, I realized that this new shampoo might actually be really good. My hair felt unusually soft and silky. I had been looking at a bunch of different brands, and after realizing that every single one listed sodium laurel sulfate as the second ingredient, I figured I would just go ahead and not worry about that since shampoo, after all, goes down the drain, it doesn’t sit on your face all day like a moisturizer. This particular shampoo got glowing reviews online. I remember I used to use Joico in high school or college… in the 90s, anyway.

Freya only napped for 35 minutes today because she woke up mid-nap and of course Brian was unable to nurse her back to sleep. I tried it when I got home but she didn’t snooze, so we cuddled in bed then got up to go play. So this means that hopefully she will go to sleep easily tonight. Fingers crossed. I do love to spoon that baby. Last night I was awake for whatever reason at 4am, curled around her, and she turned halfway over toward me and in a clear voice said, “uh ohhh” in her sleep. Cute cute cute.