Mother Monster Bellion.

A couple other awesome things have happened in the last month that I thought were deserving of their own post. Those awesome things were, of course, concerts.

The first one was last month - Jon Bellion at the Egyptian Room. Jenn and Kelly came to town for the event and, after an afternoon of eating and bar hopping on Mass Ave, we made our way to the Murat for the show.

I'm still not really sure how to define Jon Bellion's music. I guess I'd call it electronic hip hop, but the unique fusion of genres in his music explained the diversity of his opening acts. The show started with American Idol Season 14 runner-up Clark Beckham, who I actually got to meet a couple years ago. I'm a big fan of his voice and soulful, blues-y style, so it was the perfect way to kick off the show for me.

After Clark, two of Jon's collaborators came out to perform - Travis Mendes, a Brooklyn R&B singer, and Blaque Keyz, a rapper from Boston who gave the crowd his actual phone number if they wanted to talk to him. Whoa. The three of us had battled our way about halfway to the stage in a large standing-only room and I quickly realized I was easily one of the oldest people at the venue. Fortunately, I was able to dismiss that little detail once Jon came out and electrified the room.

My goodness. His stage presence was ridiculous - he danced like crazy, interacted with the crowd, beat-boxed, sang, and played the piano and electronic drum machine. Nearly everyone in the room sang the lyrics along with him and I truly can't remember the last time I saw a crowd that was so in tune with the artist performing. His set list consisted heavily of songs from his most recent album, The Human Condition, but he closed with an oldie that made the entire room explode.

He is the Same

Woodstock

All Time Low

Run Wild

Guillotine

80's Films

Human (with Jon's bus driver Sweet Pea on piano)

Woke the F*ck Up

Overwhelming

Maybe IDK

Luxury

iRobot

New York Soul, Pt. II

Hand of God

Jim Morrison

Last weekend, Wheat and I scratched an artist off my music bucket list when we bought tickets to see Lady Gaga at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Unfortunately, our tickets, which were in the stratosphere and rear stage seating, were pretty horrendous. From our vantage point, we couldn't see half of the stage and the sound was slightly muffled because the speakers were pointing away from us. But I have to say - despite all of that, Gaga absolutely slayed. Insert heart-eyed emoji.

You know an artist isn't messing around when they don't even bother with an opening act. Although she came onstage an hour and a half after the ticket time, she was nonstop energy from curtain up to curtain down. The show was a fast and furious two-hour blitz through her greatest hits:

Diamond Heart

A-Yo

Poker Face

Perfect Illusion

John Wayne

Scheiße

Alejandro

Just Dance

LoveGame

Telephone

Applause

Come to Mama

The Edge of Glory

Born This Way

Bloody Mary

Dancin' in Circles

Paparazzi

Angel Down

Joanne

Bad Romance

The Cure

Million Reasons

I can't even begin to guess how many costume changes there were, but every time she left the stage, I was anxious to see what she'd come out in next. As you'd expect, the show was a perfect balance of poppy dance music and heartfelt ballads that she performed on both the piano and guitar. A long bridge that descended from the ceiling connected the main stage with a circular secondary stage on the other side of the arena. She and her enthusiastic backup dancers somehow kept the entire crowd entertained.

Aside from her undeniable vocal talent (DUH!), I was really impressed by the love and appreciation she clearly has for her fans. She took time to honor a girl in the crowd who was suffering from cerebral palsy and dedicated "The Edge of Glory" to her. She also read aloud a fan letter that had been thrown onto the stage before jumping down to hug the girl who wrote it.

Though I already loved her, I came away from the concert with an even deeper appreciation for her as an artist and performer. All hail, Mother Monster.

What about you? Have you seen any good live shows lately?

The Ups(ide Down)

Oh, hello there.

Did you think I'd forgotten about my little corner of the Internet? Or that so much time had passed since our trip to Spain that I couldn't possibly remember the details? Or that I'd gotten stuck in the upside down with Eleven and the gang?

Well, the truth is somewhere in the middle - I haven't forgotten about my blog, though I have lost a lot of details about our Spanish adventure, and yeah, I can't get enough Stranger Things.

A lot has happened in the past couple months and not all of it is good. Fortunately, I have editorial control over this here blog and today, I choose to focus on the awesome things. Things like:

---Being married to Wheat for two years. Our second anniversary came and went without much fanfare, but I have to say - being married to him is the easiest thing I've ever done. You know how people always talk about how difficult it is to have a happy, healthy marriage/relationship? Not for us. Not yet, anyway. Maybe we're still in the "honeymoon phase" and maybe things will be harder once we have kids running around, but man - loving and being loved by him just comes so naturally.

Wheat had a game on our actual anniversary, so we went to dinner at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse downtown, the day before. You can't go wrong with dressing up to eat unlimited meat, right?

---Winning a contest for haunted house tickets. Do317, my favorite Indianapolis event website, ran an Instagram contest asking users to write a scary story in 10 words or less. The winner of the contest won four tickets to two different haunted houses downtown - Nightmare on Edgewood and House of Trepidation. Guess who won. My story: "I woke up to someone knocking...on the closet door."

Although Wheat hates all things scary and haunted, he agreed to accompany me to the haunted trails. **see item above about how easy it is to love him** We had an absolute blast. House of Trepidation was a lot tamer than Nightmare on Edgewood (where the actors could actually touch and grab you), but we thoroughly enjoyed both. We attended Nightmare on Edgewood on "Lights Out" weekend, so we made our way through the trails with only a glow stick to light the way...and they definitely grabbed us. The highlight for me was the Midnight Double Feature section, where the props and sets were designed to look like memorable scary movie scenes and the actors were dressed as iconic villains (Michael Myers, Jason, Freddy Krueger, Jigsaw, Pennywise, the guy from Jeepers Creepers).

---All the Halloween things. Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween? Over the course of the last month, we have indulged in all things related to my favorite holiday. We picked a pumpkin and did a corn maze at Russell Farms. We sat on hay bales and listened to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Irvington (a neighborhood named after Washington Irving himself) before being visited by the Headless Horseman. We took a chilly haunted tour of downtown Indianapolis where the guide regaled us with stories of supernatural occurrences at the Soldiers and Sailors' Monument, Slippery Noodle Inn, Union Station, and more. Of course, I wouldn't let Halloween pass without making Wheat dress up in a couples costume. This year, we went with Tommy Pickles and Chuckie Finster from Rugrats.

We wore our costumes to Irvington's annual Halloween festival, which completely blew my mind with its cuteness. The main street was filled with vendors and food trucks. Every storefront had its windows painted with Halloween- and autumn-themed images. Bands played while a costume parade (that included toy soldiers, Beetlejuice, the Sanderson sisters, Hillary Clinton, and more) ambled by. For a small donation, we spun a prize wheel and walked away with an issue of The Walking Dead comic book. It was basically my very own Halloween dream world.

---A trip to Baltimore for my cousin's wedding. Over a month ago, Wheat and I traveled to Baltimore to watch my cousin Cody marry Alyssa in a gorgeous wedding at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. The views of the Inner Harbor were spectacular, little touches of Baltimore charm were everywhere (from the National Bohemian cake to the Orange Crush signature drink), and oh yeah - THE ORIOLES BIRD SHOWED UP! We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing with family and exploring Fells Point and Federal Hill. Did I mention ridiculous views?

---All the other happy odds and ends. Birthday celebrations at a cabin deep in the woods with friends, a fire pit, and lots of food. Warm chili with crackers and sour cream. Exploring new places in our city. Brilliant red, yellow, and orange leaves. A house in Greenwood that the owner decorated with mannequins and props to look like the set of The Walking Dead. Apple fritters and cinnamon cider donuts. Long-overdue lunch dates with a couple of my best friends. Oktoberfest celebrations in my Ohio hometown. Kisses and giggles from my niece. Cuddling on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket. And, of course, Stranger Things bingefests.

So yeah, it hasn't been all bad.