First up – laaaaaadies night! A few months after moving here back in 2015, I was lucky enough to be adopted into a group of wine loving girls in my apartment complex. Since then, we have taken turns hosting each other for Monday night viewings of The Bachelor(ette) complete with wine, snacks, and venting about life.

The group has evolved over the years, with the most recent change being the departure of one of the real OG’s, Katherine. It is always bittersweet when friends move, but I am so excited for her new adventure back home in Minnesota!

To wish her farewell, we got the gang together and ventured down to the Blackstone Neighborhood. It had been a few months since I had been down that way, and hot dang…new stuff just keeps popping up! 

We started out at Blackstone Social with a round of PalOmaha’s (get it? Like a Paloma, but Omaha…haaaa). This spot can get pretty packed, but with a quick Facebook message the day prior, we were able to lock in a reservation for a table in the back. Service was attentive and the drinks were strong – definitely a solid start to the night!

Next up we snuck out the back and wandered around to a basement door with a light burning outside. We stood around thinking maybe we were in the wrong spot, but then a gentleman slid open a peephole and asked how many people we had. Sounds creepy, eh?

We were escorted into a cedar waiting room and after a few minutes, we were ushered into one of Omaha’s newest speakeasies, Osteria Segreto. It is a cozy bar with seating for about 20 and has that prohibition era vibe to it. The cocktails are crafty and original, and priced just right! This would be the perfect place to grab a pre or post dinner drink – it is not really intended to be the bar you spend your whole night at, so we did not…

It was time to liven things up! We crossed the street and stopped into Reno’s, which had just opened for the first time ever hours before. It is a brand new karaoke bar, but not the typical one stage with a mix of good and questionable performers. Rather, this is more in line with what you would imagine to see in Korea – private karaoke rooms to rent with your friends.

Unfortunately, all rooms were booked, but they did give each of us a coupon to come back for a free one-hour room rental – yes please! We poked around and noticed that the rooms varied in size and theme. Looking for a fun date night? Reserve the small room perfect for 2 people! Want to have your birthday there and sing Spice Girls with all your friends? Rent the large room for 20 people! It’s $5/person per hour – not a bad deal!

So that was my Friday night and it was a good one!

Saturday night was date night and the manfriend and I wanted tacos. Shocking. Earlier in the week I had spotted an article on Omaha.com about a new taco joint and get this…margarita garden!! It’s called Taco Co. and just opened in Benson.

Side note – as I am writing this, I am realizing how many new places I visited in less than 48 hours. I’m pretty impressed with myself for being so hip 😉

Anyways, back to the tacos. We put our name in at the hostess stand and were told it would be a 40-minute wait, but that patio seating was first come first serve. We gave it a shot and got lucky because a couple was just finishing their last drinks and told us we could sneak right into their table when they left. Thank you, kind couple!

The patio/margarita garden had a fun atmosphere with string lights, corn hole, wooden seating, and some greenery. It was so cute! Although, the most exciting discovery was that they serve their drinks in giant pouches aka adult Capri Sun! How cool is that! So of course, we had to try those while enjoying our puffy tacos. Yep, puffy…just how we like them! We tried the chicken, beef, and carnitas and had no complaints!

Date night win fo’ sho!

As if I hadn’t eaten out enough already this weekend, I had Sunday lunch plans with my “little sister”. She and I have been on a quest to find Omaha’s best fried chicken and this outing took us to Surfside Club in North Omaha. 

This is such a quintessential summer spot – situated right on the Missouri river, live music, palm trees, bright colored picnic tables, and an all-around fun atmosphere. The menu is small (choice of fried chicken, catfish, or pork tenderloin meals), but it is SO good. I can only speak to the fried chicken, but this quickly became one of our favorites. Super juicy and tender chicken accompanied by french fries and corn fritters. Those count as a vegetable, right?

This was the perfect place to end my weekend of food and drink adventures!

And because I know there are some eye rolls out there judging me for how much I dine out…relax! I got my 10k+ steps in each day and am on my way to meet with my personal trainer tonight! Hashtag balance.

-Leah

Remember that time I started a blog, posted somewhat frequently, and then dropped off for a month? Yeahhhh….me too. My bad!

Note to self, need to work on my follow through. I have been doing plenty of things around town, snapping all sorts of pictures, and constantly saying to myself “ooooh I’ll have to write about this on the blog!”. And then I don’t.

These past few weeks were so busy hosting out of town visitors, celebrating engagements and birthdays for friends, and finishing up some course work for my job. The latter of which was not my favorite, but gotta check that box!

Anyways, things have settled down and to regroup I took myself on a date night tonight. In “treat yo’self” fashion I went to an early movie and then to dinner at Herbe Sainte in Aksarben (gimme all dat cornbread). I love being social, but I also am a fan of going out to dinner alone on purpose every now and then.  

Ok, back to what you came here for. This might be overwhelming but bear with me – I warned you I have been busy! Highlights of happenings below:

Charred: spiked lemonades, creative sliders, and a relaxing patio. Need I say more?!

WWE Smackdown Live: My friend and I “won” tickets to this event and holy moly…it was hilariously awesome. It took place at Century Link, we were 7 rows from the ring, and surrounded by die hard fans. This was such a trip, people were so into it!

Thomas Lake 4^th of July: Visited a friend’s lake house out in Ashland, NE and enjoyed an adorable golf cart parade and spent the afternoon on my giant swan float with friends. #Basic

4^th of July Part 2: Attempted to spend the evening grilling and watching fireworks from my rooftop, but hotdogs were literally flying off the grill and wine was blowing out of cups. Storms, so rude. Sooooo…late night Pizza Hut and couch hangs it was 😊

Shakespeare on the Green: I didn’t really follow the Shakespearian dialogue, but did enjoy sitting outside in the park at this free event with my self-packed picnic and friends! Thanks to UNO for putting on a great rendition of “Much Ado About Nothing!”

Movie Party at Alamo Drafthouse: “So I Married an Ax Murderer” was the movie of the week and with no shame at all we put on our aprons, fake glasses, grabbed fake axes, and had ourselves a grand ole Monday night. Alamo has tons of movie parties featuring some solid cult classics!

Beaver Lake: Office picnic! This is the closest thing to a real lake I have experienced out here. It’s a good size and lots of people on speed boats, jet skis, and tubes. I took my “little sister” with me on this adventure and totally forgot to fill out the high-risk form. I’m such a great role model…

360 Restaurant (top floor of Harrah’s): Just when I think I have seen Omaha in every light, this fine dining establishment gave me a whole new perspective! This place is across the river from Omaha and has the best view of our city skyline! I won’t go into details on this one, but uhhhh my friend and I found ourselves enjoying a totally comp’d evening of the finest filets, wine, and a bit of gambling. Good times.

Loma Tavern: Because when your boyfriend wants a change of pace, you drive 1.5 hours out of the city, bike 12 miles in the blazing sun, and then cool off at the Loma Tavern. Famous for polka dancing and cheap drinks, this was such a gem! It felt like we were in someone’s 1970 living room in the best way. We ordered 2 waters, a coke, and 2 beers for $8…and they were all being kept chilled in igloo coolers and served by a woman named Mary who had to be 75+. AKA adorable.

Skyview Terrace: A new rooftop bar! On top of the Holland Center!

And a few more noteworthy shout outs: Sumtur Amphitheater rendition of “Hairspray”, Eagle Run golf course, Dandelion Pop-Up, Kaneko’s virtual reality exhibit and my sichuan flower experience. Too many good times!

Ok, that’s all I have energy for right now. But consider this my comeback! I am going try and be more consistent and keep you all in the loop on life in Omaha!

Sneak Peak: This weekend will be spent wishing farewell to a friend at Blackstone Social, perhaps attending the Balloon and Wine festival, and having some fun with live music and the best fried chicken at Surfside!

-Leah