Catching Up: A Party

Hey, Bloggy Friends!

I hope you're having a great Tuesday. It's sunny and beautiful in Philadelphia. I love it. Spring can't get here soon enough!

Since I've been a little lax about posting lately, I thought I'd use a few days this week to catch you up on some fun things we've been up to lately. I didn't even bother posting anything the weekend before last, but that doesn't mean we didn't have fun. I can't remember what most of it consisted of actually, but on Sunday we did attend a party hosted by one of Alan's bosses at GSK. We were there to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but since the group is so diverse, the broad theme was aptly "multi-cultural." The hostess asked everyone to contribute something edible from their perspective cultures. This of course created a delicious, multifarious food spread that was that was quite impressive.

There were sweet and savory delights from India, several parts of Asia and of course from right here in the good ol' USA. There was even a bowl of nuts that prompted guests to "grab a handful in celebration of the Jewish New Year of the Trees." I'm still not sure what that's all about, but I grabbed a handful anyway! Alan and I thought about what we could bring to represent the South. We thought about bringing ingredients for mint juleps, a bucket of KFC or even a colorful ambrosia salad, but we just didn't have time to get that creative. We lamely settled on a bottle of wine, which wasn't even Boone's Creek or Sutter Home. His boss, Marty, is from the hills of North Carolina, so she represented with a nice, warm bowl of cheese grits - yum! I never actually ate grits growing up, though. Did any of my other southern brothers and sisters?

We had a great time. The party was located way out in the suburbs, but it was nice to get out of the city for a change. The weather was so lovely, we each wore short sleeves. We don't spend a lot of time with his co-workers, but they are all very kind. It's different from his lab in San Francisco, because most of the people he works with now are married with kids, or even grandchildren. Most of them live in the suburbs too, which isn't conducive to a lot of time downtown. It's always nice when we can get together, though. I totally enjoy their company.

HERE is a link to a few pictures taken by his lab mate Guanglei, a name I learned does not mean "happy new year" in Chinese.

I hope you all have a great day. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh