I touched Marcus Mumford.

Here's the deal with my Charleston posts - I don't have the pictures on my ridiculously slow laptop yet. They're on Wheat's computer, but he's currently gallivanting around the country with the Pacers, so those posts will have to wait. Instead, you get a post about some of the fun things I've done lately because, as I mentioned in my last post, this blog is a mostly narcissistic venture.

On St. Patrick's Day weekend, Jenn came to visit and we spent most of our time talking, laughing, eating, and seeing My Favorite Murder live for the second time. The show, which was held at the Murat, was even better than the last one we attended, partly because I was already vaguely familiar with one of the stories. They discussed the Richmond Hill explosion (which happened shortly after I moved to Indianapolis in 2012) and the 1977 murder of eccentric millionaire Marjorie Jackson. Though our seats were in the stratosphere this time, we loved spending a couple hours with Karen, Georgia, and a couple thousand of our fellow murderinos.

After I complained about not having plans last weekend (crybaby much?), Wheat made a spontaneous decision to buy us tickets to see my queen, Kelly Clarkson, on Friday. Brynn Cartelli, the season 14 winner of The Voice who was on Kelly's team, opened followed by Kelsea Ballerini. I don't know many of her songs, but she was an enjoyable opener before the main event.

As always, Kelly was stunning. Her voice is unbelievable and she's had such a long, successful career that her concerts are just a journey through her biggest hits. She's also very funny and relatable, so I can't wait to check out her talk show that's coming out this fall. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but I even found myself crying during her performance of "Piece by Piece." Here was her awesome setlist:

A Moment Like This
Meaning of Life
Walk Away
Love So Soft
Whole Lotta Woman
Behind These Hazel Eyes
Breakaway
Piece by Piece
A Minute and a Glass of Wine
Rise Up - Andra Day cover
Run Run Run (with D.R. King, another season 14 member of Team Kelly on The Voice)
My Life Would Suck Without You
Heat
Heartbeat Song
Miss Independent (with Brynn Cartelli and Kelsea Ballerini, who was wearing a Kelly Clarkson t-shirt!)

It's Quiet Uptown - Lin-Manuel Miranda cover (from Hamilton)
Never Enough - Loren Allred cover (from The Greatest Showman)
Stronger
Since U Been Gone

Already completely reeling in concert heaven, Wheat and I also had tickets to see Mumford and Sons, one of our absolute favorite bands, on Monday. Guys, words are not sufficient to describe the show. For me, Mumford is almost a spiritual experience, one where I get completely caught up in the music and lose track of time and place. We splurged for good seats this time around and it was honestly the best decision we've made in a while. Cat Power opened the show nicely, but nothing could have properly prepared us for Mumford's phenomenal set. The stage was placed in the center of the arena, which allowed the band members to move around and give us different vantage points. Just like last time, Marcus Mumford's voice melted me into a puddle on the floor and I was amazed by his ability to seamlessly switch between guitar and drums throughout the show.

Earlier that day, Mumford played a small, private event at a record store in Broad Ripple and though I tried desperately to win tickets, it wasn't meant to be. However, during "Ditmas" at our show, Marcus jumped into the crowd and ran up the aisle in the section next to us. He continued up the stairs to the concourse and actually chose to GO BACK DOWN OUR AISLE. Side note: Luck would have it that we had the aisle seats. Not only did he decide to use our aisle on the way back down to the stage, but he actually stopped RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME to sing for a bit. I'm still not entirely sure if I survived the event. This could be my ghost writing now. Like a total creep, I reached out and touched his back and then promptly blacked out for the next two songs. Oops.

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When Marcus Mumford makes your life and gives you a heart attack. Yes, I touched him. 😍

A post shared by Brittany Hotchkiss (@blettany) on Mar 25, 2019 at 6:45pm PDT

The show had everything you'd ever want - pyrotechnics, an over-zealous upright bass player, foot-stomping anthems, and confetti rain during the final song. Our poor child probably has whiplash from all the bouncing around I did. Here was the setlist:

Guiding Light
Little Lion Man
Holland Road
The Cave
Beloved
Tompkins Square Park
Ditmas
Lover of the Light
Believe
Picture You
Darkness Visible
The Wolf

Timshel (performed around a single microphone in the club level)
Forever (performed around a single microphone in the club level)
Hurt - Nine Inch Nails cover
If I Say
Slip Away
Awake My Soul
I Will Wait
Delta

Just ridiculous and I'm still recovering. The last couple weeks have also involved me battling a cold, Jordan Peele's Us, a losing trip to the local casino, an overdue pedicure, and lots of sleep. Lots of exciting things coming up, so I'm just trying to hold on for dear life.

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.

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...

One day, I'll be a good blogger.

Oy vey.

Life has officially caught up with me, folks...and if I'm being honest, it hasn't all been good. I'll spare you the unfortunate details - because some of it isn't mine to share - but I've had a rough go of it lately. One thing I will share is that we lost my amazing Nana on July 11th, less than seven months after my Grandmom passed away. Understandably, going from having three grandparents to one in such a short period of time has been pretty awful. Both sides of my family are still reeling from the loss(es) and it's been a struggle to grieve so far away from them.

But true to form, I've been doing my absolute best to distract myself from the sadness and stress that have recently been threatening to overtake my psyche. I have filled Wheat's "off-season" calendar to the brim with plans and activities, trips and concerts, and basically anything outside of our apartment. We recently returned from a long weekend in Washington D.C., which I'll recap in another post, and have a big trip to Spain coming up next month.

Rather than write detailed posts about our recent fun, I'll let Instagram do the heavy lifting. I'm too tired to do it all myself.

//We spent an awesome weekend in Oxford as a reunion with my best friends from college. We hung out by the pool, ate at some of our favorite college haunts, and danced at Brick Street like it was 2010. I'll take any opportunity I can to drool over that gorgeous campus.

//We celebrated the 4th of July twice - once in Ohio with family, friends, and fireworks and again in Indianapolis. It was the best of both worlds because we watched fireworks explode over our adopted city skyline and the canal, but also got to hang out with my favorite little human.

//So many concerts. If there is one thing I've brought to Wheat's life, it is undoubtedly the gift of live music. In the last couple months, we've seen Third Eye Blind with Silversun Pickups (with Jenn and Paul), New Kids on the Block with Boyz II Men and Paula Abdul, Goo Goo Dolls with Phillip Phillips, The Chainsmokers with Pretty Lights and DNCE at 400 Fest, and Dashboard Confessional with The All-American Rejects. Oh yeah, and we met Ludacris at Indiana Grand Casino.

//We went to our first NASCAR race, the Brickyard 400. After an extended rain delay, we decided to leave early, so we didn't actually see Kasey Kahne cross the bricks first. Pro tip from a complete amateur: Bring earplugs to your next NASCAR event.

//Wheat celebrated his 29th birthday at The Oceanaire Seafood Room, where my personal highlight was a flaming Baked Alaska. I also took him to the Beach Waterpark for the first time because although he absolutely hates roller coasters, this boy can get down with some water slides. We even lucked into a couple free tickets for the zipline that goes over the massive wave pool.

//We spent a weekend in Memphis to visit with Wheat's parents and grandparents. As always, it was wonderful to see them and frankly, I'm on board with Memphis barbecue whenever possible.

That's not an exhaustive list, of course. We've explored both the Marion County and Indiana State fairs, where we ate ALL the fried foods (including a deep-fried PB&J), watched pig races and dog frisbee shows, and rode a 35-foot-high ski lift across the length of the fairgrounds. We've gone hiking at Fort Harrison State Park, screamed at Game of Thrones, and rolled our eyes when Rachel chose Bryan on The Bachelorette. We went to a minor league baseball game, loved Dunkirk and Baby Driver, ate at a heavy metal-themed burger joint, and played trivia. Best of all, Elizabeth asked me to be a bridesmaid in her (and my brother's) wedding.

So yeah, I'm exhausted. Mentally and physically. The good news? Tomorrow is Friday.