As a result of joining a relatively small lab, we all have to be friends or we wouldn't survive.  But believe it or not, we're all friends by choice and spend a fair amount of time outside of lab together.  Matt works in our lab and when I met his wife Lori, we instantly connected.  Probably because we both were brought up in small towns where everyone knows your name, your parents, and the year you graduated! 

We grab dinner together every now and then and we promised that we would try to make the most out of this short summer despite Lori's work schedule and my feelings that I should be working on research with every spare minute.  One night we met at Spaghetti Warehouse in the Strip District.  Paul got some fancy deal on gift cards (as always) and we decided to see what they had to feast on.

Matt and Lori!

Well, it was a feast to say the least!!  We each got the family platter with three different kinds of pasta, sausage, and bread.  It was a lot of food for an extremely reasonable price.  It was comical how much food each of us ended up with.  After dinner we took a walk around the strip and sat around to catch up on the latest news from our lives - mostly consumed by work.  It was a blast.  

Paul and I by our Warehouse Feast!

Two other memorable events included the weekend of the Toby Keith Concert followed up the next day by a rafting trip out in Johnstown.  It was a random, but awesome combination.  The Toby Keith concert was amazing.  I know all of his music but never had the opportunity to see him live.  Lori was right, he is amazing live!!  He totally gets the crowd going - it's one big party!!  After nursing our wounds from the concert and swearing off my cheap cowboy boots, we got up the next morning and I cooked a nice college breakfast full of eggs, dipping bread and venison breakfast sausage from a cast iron pan.  Really hit the spot, that's for sure.  

We also had a chance to go to Pirmanti's after work one day!

From there, we loaded up and went out to Johnstown with my plus one - obviously Ilinca! It was hilarious to try to get down this extremely low river.  We were dragging and walking the whole way.  But interestingly, we did see a few deer along the side of the trail and were able to sneak in a few rays of sunlight before calling it a day.  We also saw some snorkelers who were desperately trying to find a  wedding ring amongst the muck. They did not look like they were enjoying themselves.

Tubing down a very shallow river with slippy rocks!

Speaking of sun - I also was able to join Lori for one day by the pool - but we didn't get that much sun, it was quickly chilled by doing the ice bucket challenge and then challenging the life guard to do the same.  Needless to say, many adventures were had with these two this summer and I look forward to the new adventures to come!