Happy Birthday, Laura!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Today is my good friend Laura's birthday. I talk about her on the blog a lot because, well, we hang out a lot! We have been friends since high school...which means we met nearly 15 years ago. If you pair that with the fact that we both turn 29 this week, you'll realize we've known each other for half of our lives...crazy!!

My birthday is on Saturday, which means Laura is only 5 days older than me. We've been counting it down this way since high school. When we were apart for college, she sent me photos of herself holding up the number of fingers corresponding to the number of days left til my birthday so we could still count down together.

Laura and Katie are bestest friends. In fact, Laura will be Kate's Maid of Honor at our wedding! So as you may suspect, the 3 of us are pretty tight. We even take vacations together.

And although she too lives in Omaha, the guest room has always been deemed "Laura's Room" everywhere Katie & I have lived.

This weekend we celebrated Laura's birthday with a big group dinner followed by drinks. It was quite the night! Unfortunately, Katie was working, so she missed the celebration. Instead, we met up with Laura and her sister for dinner at the newly opened Blanc in Midtown Crossing. Katie, Laura, and I ate at the Kansas City location when we were there, so we were all quite excited when they opened one here!

One thing that is great about Blanc is their extensive beer menu. I was excited to try the Abita Strawberry Lager, since I've like Abita's in the past. Unfortunately, I did not care for this one. It tasted like Trix cereal to me!

However, I liked Laura's Celebrator and Kate's Green's Amber Ale, which was gluten free.

And, guess what...there's not one but TWO veggie burgers on the menu! Imagine my glee!

I ended up getting the lentil burger...

...and an order of onion rings a la "cart" to share.

Both were very good - and quite large! I think we were all pleased with our food and the variety that was offered.

Happy Happy Birthday, Laura!! Thanks for being such a good friend!!