One last post before Spain overload.

Much to my dismay, we're back from Spain and mostly settled into our groove of work, chores, and Eastern Standard Time. I'll save the details for my upcoming Spain posts, but our trip was wonderful. Despite being reminded how rusty I've gotten with my Spanish (so much for that Bachelor's Degree), I had an incredible time challenging myself and exploring the country I've learned so much about with Wheat and my parents. More to come on that later...

For now, I'm going to share a couple awesome things we've done in Indianapolis in the last month or so. Have I mentioned that this blog is essentially a glorified photo album?

First up, concerts!

Shortly before our Iberian adventure, we spent an evening with John Mayer (and 20,000 other people) at Klipsch. Dawes opened the show nicely, but I was only there for the main event. As always, John didn't disappoint. For those of you who haven't seen him live, I highly recommend it. He seamlessly weaves between so many genres of music - blues, pop, rock, country - and he's truly one of the best living guitarists. He also has such an extensive discography that you never know what he might play at a particular show. We were treated to the following awesome setlist:

Full Band

Helpless (with Rolling Stones' "Miss You")

Moving On and Getting Over (with Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You")

Something Like Olivia

Who Says

Why Georgia/No Such Thing

Acoustic

In Your Atmosphere

Comfortable

Free Fallin' (Tom Petty cover)

John Mayer Trio with Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan

Cross Road Blues (Robert Johnson cover)

Vultures

Who Did You Think I Was

Full Band

Queen of California

Rosie

In the Blood

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (with Prince's "The Beautiful Ones")

Waiting on the Day

Waiting on the World to Change

Encore

Born and Raised

Gravity

Never on the Day You Leave 

We happened to be there on the closing night of the tour, so he threw in a couple bonus songs, said a few special (humorous) words, and rocked extra hard for us. He even played an entire guitar solo using drum sticks instead of his fingers. Ridiculous.

Our (probable) last outdoor concert of the year was this past weekend when we saw Counting Crows and Matchbox 20 at Klipsch. Wheat is a big fan of Rob Thomas and I'm absolutely blown away by the longevity of both bands' careers and the impressive number of hits they've churned out over the years.

Counting Crows

Round Here

Hard Candy

Dislocation

Colorblind

Good Time

Recovering the Satellites

Miami

Washington Square

Goodnight L.A.

A Long December

Mr. Jones

Hanginaround (with Rob Thomas!)

Palisades Park

Rain King

Matchbox 20

Real World

Girl Like That

She's So Mean

Bent

Downfall (with Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door")

If You're Gone

Hand Me Down

How Far We've Come

Disease

Mad Season

English Town

Hang

Unwell

Back 2 Good

Push

Don't You (Forget About Me) (Simple Minds cover)

3 A.M.

Long Day

Bright Lights

...and finally! Cabrewing on the Canal with Yelp! Indy.

I should have blogged about this before our trip because this is honestly one of the best memories I've made since living in Indianapolis. When Yelp first announced they were hosting a tubing event on the canal, I jumped on it with both feet...and it's a good thing I did because the event filled up in less than 24 hours!

Basically, for a $10 donation that went toward canal beautification, we were given tubes to float down the portion of the canal that's in our backyard. Oh, and they fed us along the way. It was an absolute dream for this Indy-loving heart of mine.

We signed up for the first of two sessions, got in line, and after an easy check-in process, received wristbands and tubes. The weather was perfect, music was blasting (from both DJs and a steel drum band), and the canal water was surprisingly refreshing. Any time that my feet would graze the bottom of the canal with its sludge and shrubbery, I would shriek and try to ignore what kind of trash has made its way down there (thankfully, shoes were required). We just leisurely floated along, admiring the views of the city and the canal while passing numerous food and drink vendors.

When all was said and done, we had yeast donuts from Jack's Donuts, miniature pizzas from Wise Apple, s'mores rice krispies from 240sweet, sugar cream pie from Wick's Pies, and freeze pops. There were plenty of drink options - sangria, margaritas, beer, wine, etc. - and a clown was making balloon animals for people. Somehow, I also nabbed a precious flamingo beverage boat, a frisbee, a pair of sunglasses, and a mini towel. Oh, and we were allowed to keep the tubes.

It was the absolute perfect way to spend a Sunday and I'm really hoping they decide to do the event again next year. As if I needed another reason to love Indy...