Friday Night with the Globetrotters!

April 7, 2018

It’s Friday night and the mood is light – the Globetrotter’s are in town!

When Big Brother Big Sisters e-mailed us Bigs saying that they had tickets available for us to take our Littles to see the game, I was so excited! I texted my Little, but was so surprised when she replied asking, “what are Globetrotters?” Say whaaaaat, please don’t tell me they became irrelevant!

After sending her some YouTube video highlighting their tricks and dunks, she agreed to go – thank goodness because otherwise I may have had to borrow another child to pass off as my Little just so I could go.

We had to get there an hour early because my Little (and 9 other Littles) was going to be joining the team on the court for the National Anthem so we had to check in with the courtside announcers – we felt pretty dang cool hanging out down there looking all VIP.

We had fun watching the local dance troops warm up the crowd, grown adults participating in dance contests on the court, the crowd passing giant beach balls into inflatable hoops, and all sorts of other things to get the crowd pumped up. The CenturyLink had no shortage of energy this night!

The lights dimmed and the opposing team entered the arena, the Washington Generals. They talked a lot of smack, some wore masks, and we all yelled “booooooo!” – so great.

Next up, the stars of the show arrived, the Globetrotters! Red, white, and blue flashing lights everywhere, each player doing a little something something to highlight their personality, and then finally they got lined up for the National Anthem – my Littles big moment! 

All the Littles lined up and walked onto the court and stood amongst the team…and all the Bigs obnoxiously took a thousand photos. They had a local church group sing the anthem and hot dang, they did so good – hearing this before a sporting event never gets old for me!

We found our seats and spent the next two hours cracking up at all the silliness happening on, and off, the court. They had players running into the crowd for a bite of someone’s nachos, grabbing a lady’s purse and running around, holding an infant up in the air Lion King style, and so much more!

They had a lot of fun during the “game” too – all sorts of slam dunks, jumping over each other to make a shot, sliding under the opposing team’s legs, playing in slow motion and reverse; the entertainment never stopped!. They kept the whole crowd engaged and laughing the whole night.

I was so glad to see that the overall schtick hadn’t changed since I last saw them (like 20 years ago), and more importantly, I was so glad that my Little had a blast and left there asking when will they be coming back. SUCCESS!! She had me worried leading up to the event, so that was a major relief!

Being involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters has been so much fun over this past year; they are always inviting us to partake in special events and offering us tickets for things all around town! This helps make planning our outings a breeze! If you’re interested in learning more check out their site:

http://www.bbbsomaha.org/

-Leah

 

801 Chophouse – Treat Yo’self!

April 4, 2018

I know, I know, the “Treat Yo’self” holiday isn’t until October, but we celebrated a little early this year – and let me tell ya, Monday nights have never tasted so good!

The 801 chophouse is a premier steakhouse located inside the Paxton hotel in downtown Omaha; the kind of place that actually led me to put some makeup on before leaving the apartment so you know it’s legit.

It was a quiet night, but I suppose that’s somewhat expected for a Monday, and it meant the wait staff had of plenty of attention to give us. No complaints here!

We pretended as if we hadn’t already studied the menu ahead of time and casually asked for a bottle of petite Syrah and the Carpaccio as a starter. Holy moly – the beef was so fresh and the touch of lemon, oil, and capers was perfection! As far as appetizers go, this one was on the lighter side, which was ideal since we were trying to pace ourselves for the long road ahead. 

Onto the main course – steak, duh. I ordered the 8oz filet and the manfriend ordered a ribeye, both cooked medium. That part was easy. The challenge came when we were trying to decide which sides we wanted with our meals.

How the heck were we supposed to choose between all these mouthwatering starch and vegetable options? Spoiler alert, we didn’t. The waiter mentioned half orders were available so we did half orders of too many things and added on a side of asparagus for good measure. Eat your veggies!

I’m not going to lie, when we had 6 plates of food arrive at our table for 2, it was mildly embarrassing. Not embarrassing enough to stop us from indulging in it all though. The steaks were flawless, the mac ‘n cheese was so cheesy, the truffle mushroom risotto was heavenly, the scalloped potatoes were rich and creamy…and the asparagus was asparagus. 

We realized pretty quickly that there was no way we could finish all of this so we had to prioritize. We decided it made more sense to focus on steak consumption and put the sides on the backburner. You don’t pay $40+ for a steak to take it home and reheat, that would be wrong!

We called it quits after our last bite of steak and asked the waiter to box up the sides.

April fools! We totally ordered dessert too – espresso crème brulee with fresh whipped cream, yep. Then we for real called it quits and asked for the check, and then handed it back to the waiter, and then he came back and told us we forgot to put the card in there. DOH.

If you’re also looking for a Treat Yo’self dinner, this is your place!

https://801chophouse.com/

-Leah

 

 

Saturday at Skate Daze

April 2, 2018

  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the fact that my friend had to help me out of my office chair this morning because my tailbone hurts so badly suggests otherwise. Today is my birthday and I am suddenly feeling every bit of my 31 years.

You know what, though? Our afternoon at Skate Daze was totally worth all of the bruises, rug burns, and sprains that we acquired.

It was such a nostalgia trip visiting this place. While it was my first Skate Daze experience, it reminded me so much of this place back home, Roller Kingdom, that was popular for birthday parties and school outings growing up. It had all things I loved most about my Roller Kingdom days: the bright lights, neon print rugs, cheap pizza, and the DJ playing old school pop songs…and then when the music stopped having to rush and claim a spot in a numbered corner and hoping they didn’t call your number forcing you to exit the rink. Ahhh, memories… 

We grabbed our rental skates and snagged a rink side table to set up shop. We laced ourselves in and uncoordinatedly made our way onto the skate floor. I was feeling confident on my first few loops and thought to myself “this is like riding a bike – it’s coming back to me!” Lies, all lies. As soon as one child cut in front of me causing me to quickly dodge him, I lost all control, skated right into the carpeted edge and face planted. Ouch.

Ain’t nothing but a thing – onto round 2! I had a good second run; I was feeling the beat of the 90’s pop songs, skating alongside my friends while managing to pose for action shots, and waving to our other friend who was in charge of the video footage. Good times. Until they had all skaters change direction on the rink.

Clearly, I am much more skilled at skating clockwise because as soon as we had to reverse directions my feet flew out from under me and my butt hit the ground…hard. Like so hard the referee came over to check on me. Ugh. This wasn’t a “that will hurt later” fall either, it was an “oh no, I think I broke my butt” type fall. I played it cool and did another loop before hanging up the skates for the day.

Injury aside, this was such a fun day! Maybe next time we will go on a Tuesday when it’s Adult Retro night – less chances of small children causing me to wipe out 😉

skatedaze.com/

-Leah

 

 

 

 

Bottomless Brunchin’ at Mantra!

April 2, 2018

Cheers to another Omaha weekend full of good food and fun! I was so busy making memories all around town that I totally forgot to capture my Friday night adventure (Hotel Deco suite, dinner at Twisted Fork, board games at The Tavern…), so we will skip right to Saturday!

My birthday is next week, but we decided to celebrate a little early this year and kicked things off at my favorite brunch spot, Mantra! We had an 11:30 reservation and got seated right away – we even had our favorite waitress, Sydney. We love when we get her because it feels like seeing an old friend; an old friend who makes sure your mimosa glass never runs dry.  

Mantra offers endless mimosas on the weekends, which is something I’m surprised more Omaha eateries don’t do – hopefully the trend catches on soon! So of course, we started off with a round of the blood orange mimosas and some appetizers – blue cheese dip with chips and spinach artichoke dip; both drool worthy!

We looked like a hot mess trying to find space for everything with our tie dye light up balloons and tray of cookies on the table, but Sydney came to the rescue and offered to keep the treats out back for us until we were ready for them – she’s da best!

I ordered the special omelet which came with sugared bacon, avocado, Havarti, and some A+ carbs in the form of an English muffin and breakfast potatoes. I am ashamed to admit that even I couldn’t finish all the food they gave me – that was a first! Other people at the table ordered the burger, eggs benedict, and…. something else that I am forgetting. No complaints from our table, everyone loved their meals!

One of my favorite things about brunching here though is the unplanned adventures that always seem to follow. It seems like every time we go here we end up having one of the best days – some of our past hijinks included going to the drive-thru zoo in Ashland, a few rounds of laser tag at the Family Fun Center, hanging out on my apartments roof deck, and so many others! 

Today was no exception because after we were done singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the match we stuck in a cookie, someone tossed out the idea of roller skating. SIGN ME UP! I was so excited, this is exactly the type of activity I was hoping for this weekend. It was so much fun that I am giving it its own blog post, so stay tuned for that one!

Ok, time to go ice my tailbone…no joke. While you wait for the full story, check out Mantra at the link below:

http://mantraomaha.com/

 

-Leah

 

 

 

Werner Park – Go Sports!

March 30, 2018

“Hi Leah! I wanted to reach out to you to invite you out here to Werner Park for a Happy Hour event that we are hosting in our VIP Club. There is no cost and there will be food and drink available.”

They even said I could bring a guest – sign us up!

Werner Park is a well-kept baseball park just outside of Omaha that is home to the Storm Chasers, a minor league baseball team here in Nebraska with affiliations to the Kansas City Royals.

Storm Chaser representatives greeted us at the Team Store and escorted us to the VIP Club along the first baseline.  They walked us right up to the bar where we grabbed our complimentary drink and then they invited us to help ourselves to appetizers. Tater tots smothered in brisket and cheese, beef wellington “egg rolls”, and homemade chips with garlic aioli filled our plates – twice.

Our assigned rep chatted with us about the VIP club, group ticket sales, and the various suites they offered at the ballpark. It all sounded fancy, but we wanted to check it out for ourselves. We topped off our beers and headed out for an exclusive tour.

First stop was one of the climate-controlled suites, which holds up to 18 guests and comes with a private balcony, a personal suite attendant, and some of the best views in the park! We had ourselves a goodtime in there even though there was no game, so I can only imagine the fun to be had when the season starts!

Next up was the press box – how cool! We checked out all the fancy equipment and posed for pictures while we pretended to make announcements. We were cracking ourselves up, but looking back, I’m pretty sure we weren’t that funny and it was the free beer taking effect. Oops.

We went on to see some of the party decks, the dugout suite, the party patio, and so many other areas they offer for group events. Although, to be honest, our favorite memory from the tour was the awesome music coming from the loudspeakers and the smell of fresh cut grass – swoon!

The tour ended back at the VIP Club with us eagerly asking our rep to send us more information on group tickets. Dang; they knew exactly what they were doing when they sent me that invite, eh? Worked like a charm because we are now in coordination to host an office outing and a farewell party at the park – cheers to that!

While we focused mostly on group ticket sales, the cost of individual tickets is super affordable and they have a ton of fun promotions at nearly every game. Swing by and check it out!

OmahaStormChasers.com 

-Leah

 

 

 

 

The Backline – Improv Comedy

March 29, 2018

Because when a friend loses a Fantasy Football bet and has to perform a stand-up comedy act, you go. Even if it is past your bedtime on a Tuesday night. Seriously, I go to bed at 10pm most nights and this event did not even start until 9pm – wild and crazy kids I tell ya!

We rolled in to The Backline Improv around 8:45 with a group of about 15 people and gave false hope to the girl running ticket sales. She was so excited to see such a great turnout for people wanting to throw their name in the hat for open mic night! We had to burst that bubble when we told her we actually only had one performer; the rest of us were there to heckle…I mean support…our friend.

While the 8pm show wrapped up, we hung out in the front lounge area, grabbed some perfectly priced beers from the refrigerator, and pep talked our friend. The doors opened right at 9pm and we grabbed seats in the front row – prime seating for streaming this on Facebook Live!

The host warmed up the standing room only crowd with his hilarious, yet dry, sense of humor and explained how the show would work. Everyone who wanted to, or lost a bet and was forced to, perform scribbled their name down on a piece of paper and tossed it into the hat. The order would be at random and comedians were allotted 4 minutes for their act.

Some were better than others were, but I got a laugh out of each performer. It wasn’t until halfway through that our friend got called up and totally crushed it! For someone who has never done stand-up comedy, I was so impressed! As our other friend put it, he had “punch” – his energy and confidence were high and his salsa moves were smooth!

This was such a fun way to shake up the week and spend a Tuesday. The Backline has lots of other comedy shows such as “Fast n Fresh” or “Interrogated” and I have enjoyed them all – you should check it out!

https://www-backlinecomedy-com.seatengine.com/

-Leah

Drag Queen Bingo

March 29, 2018

Sunday Funday, Drag Queen Bingo style! While most everyone else in town was down at the Century Link attending the NCAA March Madness Tournament, we were having ourselves a grand ‘ole time at Flixx for their monthly event!

On the fourth Sunday of every month a line starts to form outside the cabaret bar on South 10th street, which can only mean it is drag queen bingo day. The doors open at 1pm, but if you want any chance at grabbing a seat you best be in line by 12:30. The event draws a mixed, but always enthusiastic, crowd – bachelorette parties, Sunday Funday goers, fellow drag queens, girls trying to find ways to entertain their boyfriends out of town mom…the usual 😉

So I say the event starts at 1pm, but really the game playing doesn’t kick in until about an hour later. Time flies by while people grab drinks, listen to the sassy Queens go over the rules, and get their bingo cards from the Speedo sporting Jeffrey. The event is free to attend and includes one bingo card for every round – what a deal! You can purchase extra cards for $1 each if you’re feeling aggressive…which we were.

It is never your typical bingo game – none of this cover all or make a line of 5 type stuff. If you want any chance at winning the hot dog bun toaster you better hope the numbers called form the shape of a martini glass (or other unmentionables) on your card.

When/if you do win you get the honor of picking out what the next prize will be off the table and showcasing it via a victory lap around the bar. Or, if you are unfortunate enough to call a false Bingo, you will be shamed and booed and also forced to make a lap around the bar. Both are equally entertaining for spectators!

I was skeptical about sharing this post because I wanted to keep this event my little secret, but it is just too much fun and the people need to know!

Hope to see you there next month!

-Leah

Dario’s in Dundee

March 29, 2018

Darios

I think I am still in a food coma from last night’s feast. My boyfriend’s mom is in town visiting and loves checking out different neighborhoods and restaurants each time she comes. She is a big fan of the Old Market and Benson areas, but had yet to explore the cute little neighborhood known as Dundee.

There are so many options over there it was hard to choose! Do we take her to Mark’s for their famous mac ‘n cheese? Or maybe Pitch for a coal fired pizza? How about Dario’s for their mouth watering short ribs and gouda croquettes?

Yep, croquettes for the win. We made 7pm reservations, but when I arrived early at 6:40 they had the table ready so I took a seat and did some people watching. It definitely has a date night or special occasion vibe, but hey…parents visiting is a special occasion so we fit right in!

The waiter promptly came over and asked if I wanted a drink while I waited for the rest of my party – ok, twist my arm. I asked for a pinot noir, but he counter offered that with a similar style of wine (blogger fail because I only remember it started with a “B” – I’ll get back to you on this one!). Anyways, it hit the spot and made me feel fancy while I waited.

By the time the others arrived I was half deep in the complimentary bread basket and ready to feast! We started off with 2 orders of the gouda croquettes (no shame in our food game) and some charcuterie. The charcuterie didn’t come with cheese, which I thought was odd, but what it did come with made up for that. It had an assortment of meats and vegetables – the fennel and spiral beets were popular!

Next up was a cauliflower bisque and fennel salad. I personally didn’t try these, but both got rave reviews from our table! I sipped on the bottle of “B” wine while they enjoyed their second course.

On to the main event – brasserie burger, short ribs, and steak & frites. The burger was da bomb dot com. Hanger and short rib patty cooked to a perfect medium, gouda, candied bacon, and mushrooms with a side of pomme frites (fancy name for fries) — yes please!! This was seriously so good – I almost ordered 5 to go. Just kidding…but really.

Just about everyone joined the clean plate club, so safe to say Dario’s is killing it on all their entrees!

And just when you thought we were done…dessert! We ordered the Nutella crepe and the dark chocolate mousse with no regrets. This post is getting long, so all I will say is that I would most def order both of these again!

Since I was too busy indulging, I totally spaced on taking photos of all this. I’ll be better about this for future posts – pinky promise!

dariosbrasserie.com/

-Leah

I started a blog!

March 29, 2018

Hi, I’m Leah! Since moving from Massachusetts to Nebraska 2+ years ago, I have been busy soaking up everything Omaha has to offer – and there’s a lot! From Broadway shows to top notch restaurants to live duck races, I am always keeping myself busy!

Friends and family from back home thought I was crazy for wanting to move to the Midwest, but after telling them all about my adventures, they can’t wait to visit and join in on the fun!

I love bringing people together and showing them how to get out of their comfort zone and have some fun while we try new things. I think I’m pretty good at it because in these last 2 years I have made more friends than I know what to do with (best problem ever!) and I am always finding new things for us to do!

My intent with this blog is to start posting about all the fun I (we) are having around town and to inspire both locals and visitors to get out and see what this little city is all about!

-Leah

PS – I have no idea how to manage a blog so bear with me while I sort through this process! I’m on a steep learning curve 🙂