OUR OLD HOME-AHA, OMAHA!

You know, when most people think of Omaha, they think of this.....

  That's right, the Interstate. Interstate 80, to be exact. Because that's all most ever see of the city, just passing through. When we moved to Omaha, back in 2001, I had NO idea what Omaha was all about....my vision was lots of pigs, corn, cows and maybe some cowboys. And tumbleweeds. Boy, was I in for a huge awakening! Because Omaha, and so much of the Midwest, is so much more beautiful, and friendlier, than most people can imagine. So, my goal here today is to show you the people and places of Omaha that I know and love......come ride along with me, my dear bloggie friends`, in my super un-Leslie , brand new and HUGE Jeep Cherokee (the only rental car left at 1 a..m.!) for a grand tour of my ol' hood.....

Okay, but before I start I just have to vent a little bit, because again, this is my blog and I can whine if I want to. Flying during the early summer months can be iffy, at best, and my flights into the midwest were just one big hot mess.....first my flight to Chicago was cancelled (weather), then my flight to Detroit was cancelled (weather), and THEN I was told there were no more flights into Omaha available, until the next day (totally unacceptable, because I needed to go to this girl's graduation):

So do you wanna know what I, Lucy Ricardo, did?  Well, I teared up at the unsuspecting ticket agent, told him my DAUGHTER was graduating and I just had to be there (does that beautiful girl look like she could be my daughter? Okay, so I fibbed a little....), and the nice man behind the counter felt sorry for me and squeezed me onto a flight to LaGuardia (SO the wrong direction!), and then on the very last flight to Nebraska. Here's a photo I took from the plane, as we were flying over NYC.....(What, is that against the FAA rules or something?)....pretty, no?............

At the end of my 15 hour travel day, I made it to Omaha, picked up my strange rental TANK, made it to my hotel, and made it in time for Nyapuot's graduation from high school. I worked with Nyapuot, who is from the Sudan, in this woman's 5th grade classroom, teaching her (Nyapuot, that is) math and spelling.......sorry the photo's so dark. This is my Huckelberry friend Diane Shymanski., who is, just so you know, the world's biggest Andy Williams FREAK!!.....

First up, here are some photos of my old neighborhood, called Elmwood Park. Super leafy and green, just filled with lovely old homes......

See this last home, below? This is Gazillionaire Warren Buffet's house, swear to Gosh, about 2 blocks from my old house. I took this photo super quickly, from my car....he has security guards!.....

And in case you're wondering, I did NOT take any photos of our old home, a charming 1922 Craftsman style home, for a reason : the woman who bought the house from us utterly DESTROYED it, in my opinion, and I just don't have the heart to place a photo in my blog. I mean, scary GARGOYLES, really??? Chopping down all the healthy 80 year old oak trees that lined and shaded our corner lot, just because you are too darned lazy to pick up leaves, really? Taking down a gorgeous white privacy fence and replacing it with an ugly iron one, really? Ahem. I'm moving on now.....

So I took a lot of photos while driving around , something I don't recommend (I will be in SO much trouble when Big Daddy sees this!). Here's our lovely old park where I used to walk with my friend Lynn:

SPEAKING of my friend Lynn, here she is, and here is her amazing home........

Lynn lived (and still does!) a few doors down, and her son Sam and my daughter go to college in California, not 10 miles from each other! Lynn and I used to work together AND walk together, every single day.....she is a dear, dear friend to me, and also one of the most tasteful decorators I have ever known. Check out her home!....

 
She loves toile and blue and white.....

Lovely built-ins....

Her sunroom, overlooking her gorgeous garden......

Family dog, Eddie.....

We used to sit here all the time, watching Oprah (sob!), and sipping wine....

Thank you, Lynn, for the fun meals and latte and home tour! On this trip, I was also lucky enough to have coffee AND dinner with these two fun girls, Mona and Martina! We were all PTA chairs together, back in the day......

                       LOVE THESE WOMEN!!!

Here's another silly one of us, after a big Italian dinner.....

Oh, how I miss these girls...we always have so much fun together, and laugh ourselves silly! The next morning, Mona invited me over into her cozy kitchen for coffee and muffins...I could have sat in this breakfast nook all stinkin' DAY!.....

Mona and her husband Jim have been working so hard on their backyard garden, and it shows! Loving her rock walls.......

Cheerful poppies in bloom....

I COVET the peachy pinky yellowy color of her roses!.....

Mona is so talented, she can even make an alleyway look amazing...check out her iris.....

And just when I feel smug about my super-organized homemaking abilities, along comes Mona's from-scratch bread baking and her recipe binders, organized by subject, just to put me to shame.....

Mona swears this Gnocchi with white bean recipe is DA BOMB---hopefully, you can read it.  I'm cooking it for dinner, soon!......

Right before I flew out on Saturday morning, I went over to my old neighbors house--Aaron and Meg Filipi.......this is their welcomming front porch......

Meg and Aaron have 4 darling children, and they were wonderful friends and neighbors to us....aren't they cute?......

Sadly, it was time, all too soon, to go home. I hope you've enjoyed this little photo tour of my darling friends, their homes, and beautiful, beautiful Omaha, Nebraska! Which brings me to..........

WHAT I'M MOST GRATEFUL FOR TODAY!

*My wonderful and gracious Omaha friends! Words cannot express how at home you all made me feel, and I just loved seeing all of your beautiful children, 7 years older. Not that I'm 7 years older or anything.......

* My freakishly supportive husband, who takes such joy in making me happy. I love you MORE, Big Daddy!

* My daughter, for vacuuming for me while I was away. This is HUGE!