Happy second day of 2014! It’s cold and gray here in Charlotte but I’m combating that by eating lots of comfort food like oatmeal and grilled cheese and tomato soup and I have a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup going on the stove for tonight’s dinner. And as usual I’m drinking hot tea while sitting in front of a space heater in my office. 🙂

My New Year’s Day was fairly low-key. I slept in until 8:30 a.m. and then decided at the very last minute to go to a 9:15 a.m. hot vinyasa class at Y2. I love kicking off the new year with a yoga practice and I’m so glad that I got myself to my mat because it helped wake me up and get me going for the day.

I had an awesome practice despite having quite a bit to sweat out from the previous night’s celebrations.

I grabbed lunch at Panera after class. They have this new Mediterranean Shrimp and Couscous Salad that is really good. I always go for the “You Pick Two.” I had veggie soup with pesto and a whole grain baguette on the side. You’ve seen an uptick in Panera lunches lately because they just opened a location directly in front of the yoga studio so it’s an easy stop after class when you’re starving.

I spent the afternoon editing photos from New Year’s Eve, blogging, cleaning the house and tackling tons of laundry. I also ran to the mall to make some exchanges and checked out a sale at Ann Taylor Loft – 60% off of all sale items.

I ended up with two tops that were regularly priced at over $100 for just $40. Working left to right…I scored the blue lacy top at Banana last week during their after Christmas markdowns for $14. The sweater in the middle is from Loft. It’s a little shiny but that’s not reading in the photo. You can view it online here. And the black top is features a drape neck that’s pretty. It’s online and on sale here.

It was 8 p.m. when I finally thought about dinner and nothing I had at home was really speaking to me. I was in the mood for something healthy but different so I decided to go to the Vietnamese restaurant near my house for pho. Started with these summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce. I love how light and fresh they are.

And vegetarian pho with tofu and vegetables. It was loaded with rice noodles, veggies and tofu. As I ate the soup I slowly started peeling off layers and my nose started running from all the chili sauce I added. It was a perfect dinner for a cold January night.

I needed something to cool me down after the pho so I decided to try bubble tea for the first time. The waiter said the mango was his favorite so that’s what I went with.

Cold and refreshing! It had a definite tea flavor with milk and mango. I loved the bubbles and it was a little surprise every time you got one through the straw. I would definitely order bubble tea again.

Are you a pho fan? Have you tried bubble tea?