a coat post

Whoa, what is this? Some kind of fashion-related post in the middle of a travel blog? You betcha! I had no classes today, so that only meant one thing: shopping spree! I went to the Manchester Arndale again, and spent a few hours browsing through a bunch of stores. But ultimately, I bought clothes from, you guessed it: Primark. The very first time I went into Primark, I almost purchased a really nice black, floral top. But for some reason, I left the store without it. Today, however, I found it on sale for only 5 pounds (half price)! There were only a couple of sizes left, and thankfully I fit into one of them. It was meant to be. I also stopped by Boots, a pharmacy chain in the UK, and made some purchases on UK beauty products to try out. Damage was definitely done.

But I'm on the lookout for a really good coat (or two) to keep me warm this autumn/early winter. I'm so happy that I can finally wear coats! California weather rarely allows me to break one out of my closet. Sadly, I had no luck in finding a coat I liked in stores today, so I continued my search online. Here are some of my favorites that I've found so far:

1. Louche Baine Coat from Joy
2. Stone Brushed Funnel Coat from New Look
3. Lena Jacket from Monki
4. Slim Pocket Coat from Topshop

I really love the coat from Monki, and the one from New Look is a close second. Which one do you think I should get?

it's curry time!

Today was filled with shopping/mainly browsing and eating, and attending a rather boring (but important!) safety meeting in-between. Stacie and I headed to the Manchester Arndale in the afternoon to see what it was all about. But before we went in, we stopped by a neat little music store called Fopp. Manchester is well-known for its music scene, and I really want to attend a local concert while I'm here.

Back to the Manchester Arndale: It's another very large shopping center in the UK. Surprise, surprise. But it was nice to look at more UK shops and some familiar American ones as well. We couldn't resist buying three bars of fancy chocolate from a fancy chocolate store. TREAT YO SELF.

It was so hard to choose.

At night, Stacie and I met up with a few of our friends to eat at a place on Curry Mile. The safety meeting for our hall took longer than expected, so we were late to the original meet-up spot and couldn't find them. Luckily, they were sitting near the entrance at the most vibrant looking restaurant on Curry Mile called mylahore. And what is the Curry Mile, you ask? It's a street filled with South Asian restaurants and shops, and the whole area smells amazing due to the rich spices and ingredients used in their dishes. I absolutely love Indian food, and the chicken masala did not disappoint. Oh, and the garlic naan. You must have the naan! Their portions are also pretty big, so I'm glad I have leftovers for tomorrow's dinner in order to relive the experience. I really think we should start the "Curry Mile Club" and make this a weekly get together where we try a different curry house each time.

This is how it's done.