Dec 6 (I LOVE WINTER.)

I'm laying on the couch, wearing fuzzy red and white socks. In my peripheral vision is a giant, lit up Christmas tree. This is my favorite time of year. Hands down.

I just got back to Nashville this morning after being in LA all week. Today I was out and about and in the studio all day, and when I drove home, I saw this strip of restaurants on Main Street in my hometown.. I've driven that road and seen those restaurants four billion times since we moved here almost six years ago. Somehow they've never looked as perfect and welcoming as they did tonight. It was Sunday night and there were cars jammed into every last parking spot available. I could see the smoke billowing out of fireplace chimneys into cold winter air. It's the holidays. People are coming together and going out for dinner and something about seeing that just stuck with me. I love everything about this time of year, but mostly the way that people find ways to be with the ones they love. And I love sweaters. Everyone is wearing sweaters right now.

I was talking to my producer, Nathan, today about everything that's happened this year. We were being nostalgic and going back to this time four years ago, three years ago, two years ago.. Now this year. We just.. can't believe it. Earlier this week, he had a last-minute-get-over-here-right-now-and-celebrate party at his house, because the news had just broken: We were nominated for 8 Grammy's. I remember calling him and hearing the screaming voices of the drummer and the bass player and the mixers and publishers who helped put this album together. He put me on speakerphone, and we all screamed together. I couldn't stop saying "I love you" to them, just like I can't stop saying "I love you" to you. Part of me can't fully wrap my mind around the idea that this sort of thing could happen to me. At the end of the phone call, I said to them "Please, never forget tonight. This night is a gift we never thought we'd get." and then, of course, "I love you so much!!!"

I'm about to be in New York City at Christmas time. I'm playing the Z100 Jingle Ball (never played it before. SO excited!!) and probably spending some time just wandering around looking up at the sparkly store displays and stuff. And counting down to my birthday. I'm only a teenager for another week! I'm starting to practice saying "Twenty" when people ask me how old I am. Weird. Cool? I guess it's inevitable, so.. Awesome!

Thank you again for everything you guys have done to make all of these magical things happen to me. Please drive safely when you're out shopping. I hope you have an awesome holiday season. Again, I love you!

lovelovelove

-T-

Sep 6 (HISTORY CHANNEL AND KITTENS.)

So I'm on the bus right now.

We just played Charlotte, North Carolina. I LOVE the Carolinas, both North and South. Good people here, there's just something about this place. But tonight I feel a little left out because two thirds of the artists on this tour are from North Carolina. Yep. Kellie Pickler: from North Carolina. Gloriana: From North Carolina. Me: Not from North Carolina. Man.. Now they're all out having fun and celebrating their North Carolina-ness together. And I'm on the bus, having just watched a very compelling and educational History Channel special on The Dark Ages. I think I'm about to download a new one that's about the Plague. So, as you can imagine, it's wayyy more of a party in here than anything Kellie and Gloriana are doing. Wayyyy more. I mean seriously. The Plague was history's most devastating biological disaster ever, and I'm about to watch it play out RIGHT before my eyes... Well.. the re-enactments, at least. And I'm stoked about it. This is going to be a fun-filled night, even if I wasn't invited to the "we're all 21 and from North Carolina" party. Pshhh.So lately there have been some very spirited and creative outfits out there in the crowd. Some of my favorites include: A full-on high school band uniform with giant glasses (prop: a piece of paper that says "I love you"). Straight up You Belong With Me video recreation. A great one was the complete medieval princess full length gown. (props: a masquerade mask, perfect hair up-do, and tiara). A lot of girls have been making their own "Junior Jewels" t-shirts, which is the t-shirt I wore in the You Belong With Me video. It was a shirt my fiddle player Caitlin let me borrow from her old days at band camp, fully adorned with puffy paint and campers' signatures. Caitlin gets so excited when she sees someone wearing a hand-made replica Junior Jewels shirt. Her little face lights up like it's Christmas and she just unwrapped something bird-themed. Caitlin loves birds. Major hippy with a serious bird fetish. But anyway, to continue on with all the costume discussion, my favorite one might possibly be the Thug Story costume, fully equipped with bling, bandana and DIAMONDS IN YO MOUF (a grill). I love looking out into the crowd. I see lots and lots and lots of dresses (which, I feel, make the world a better place) and lots of people that sing the words to my songs back to me, therefore making me feel like I'm not alone.See, when I write songs, I write them because I need to figure something out. I need for what I'm feeling to make more sense to me, so I make it into a song. Music has always made sense to me. My songs are always personal, and they always include details.. Because when I sit down to write, it's really just about telling the story the way it happened. And usually when life is happening to you, you feel like you're the only one going through it. When I finish a song, sometimes I think "I must be the only person who has ever felt this way, right?". Then you guys come into the picture. You stand there, singing those lyrics and writing them all over your car windows and your shirt and your away messages. And I want you to know that it makes me so happy, because it's reassurance that we're all connected somehow. And I really love knowing that.Liz, my back up singer, was sick this weekend. She had a stuffy nose and a sore throat, and those two things are my new NIGHTMARES. If I get either of those two things, (let's be dramatic right now) EVERYTHING would be, like, RUINED!! Haha. Well, not really. But you get the point. Getting sick when you play a two hour show every night is really inconvenient. So we basically quarantined Liz. I didn't see her much this weekend, except for on stage. It was so sad. Caitlin and I had to get ready at our three-person dressing table.. And there was one sad little empty chair. Tonight I wrote Liz an "I miss you" card. It had a picture of a kitten making a sad face on the front. I feel like kitten cards make everything better, pretty much. I was all "I'm so sorry you're infected, come back I miss you" and this whole long note. Then I put Craisins in the card. Not packaged, just loose Craisins in the card. If you don't know what Craisins are (How can you not know??!!), they're dried cranberry-raisins that are basically the most awesome thing ever. So hopefully the combination of cute kittens and Craisins will bring Liz back to perfect health.

I got to play Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago, and all I can say is that it was one of the most memorable nights of my life. I'll never forget how loud that sound was when the crowd would roar. It was just unreal. Plus, Rihanna sent me flowers and I ran up and down the halls announcing it to perfect strangers. There's a lot going on that I'm very excited about. One of the things at the top of my favorite things list is that I have new music coming out! What's that you say? We just put out Fearless last year? I know! We're not putting out a whole new album. We're re-releasing Fearless with SIX new songs added. I'm so excited for you to hear this new music, see the new pictures, and watch the 50 million hours of bonus content. I love you a lot and I'll see you on the road!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have History Channel educational specials to watch. The Plague!!! PARTY!!!

lovelovelove

-T-

Aug 10 (BACK TO SCHOOL THEN, BACK TO TOUR NOW.)

Just a few years ago, mid-August meant back-to-school shopping and getting my class schedules. It meant wondering where my locker was, hoping it was an upper locker (not a lower locker. Because I'm a giant.) Hanging out with my best friend Abigail at her house, talking about guys, and how someday I wanted to be a singer and she wanted to get a college scholarship for swimming. Those day-before-school jitters, finishing up summer projects, and having nightmares about tripping and falling in front of everybody on the first day. Then you guys came into the picture.

Now mid-August means touring the country, singing songs about my life, and looking out at people singing the words back to me. Preparing for my performance on the VMA's and counting down to my first concert at Madison Square Garden. My band and I are gearing up for our next trip back to the UK. Abigail is still my best friend, and we still talk about guys, but now she's in college at Kansas with a scholarship for... you guessed it: Swimming. And last night, she and my friend Kellie Pickler came out onstage and surprised me with a sign that said "Congratulations, Taylor! You Won 2 Teen Choice Awards!" These days, I spend a lot of my time planning my next step, organizing my next project, coming up with my next move.. But what I think about even more than all of that is the fact that you guys DID come into the picture, and you made all of this happen.

I think about high school a lot, and how I'm so glad to have had two years of going to school and messing up my locker combination and going to football games and participating in gym class even though I have no coordination. I'll never forget walking past the guy I'd been crushing on for months, making eye contact with him, and then realizing my flip flop had fallen off right in front of him. Turn around, pick it back up, pretend like you're not mortified. I'll never forget the talent show my freshmen year, the one I was so nervous about.. I wanted to write a song specifically for the talent show, so I wrote one in about 20 minutes one day after school. It was about my then-boyfriend and it was called "Our Song". I'll never forget having my permit, and switching places with my mom in the car when we got to school in the mornings. I'll never forget getting asked to go to prom two days before, buying a $40 dress, and having the time of my life. You have your bad days when it feels like there's just so much drama, or not enough going on at all. But then you have the days you'll never forget, the ones that make you into who you're going to be. This is not my graduation speech, I swear.

This is just me saying to you.. Thank you for what you've done for me.

And to those of you going back to school, take it in.

And I hope you don't fall in front of everybody on the first day. ;)

lovelovelove

-T-

July 1 (JULY 4th, YO. SPARKLERS.)

Hey guys!

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, in a screaming and jumping up and down kind of way.. A driving-home-wondering-how-on-earth-you-got-so-lucky-and-semi-questioning-whether-you-just-hallucinated-the-whole-night kind of way for the night you gave me at the CMT Awards. Winning Video of the Year AND Female Video of the Year was just.. Wow, guys. I just hope you know that I take it personally when you do wonderful things like that for me. It's not just another award. The fact that YOU vote on it makes it personal for me. It makes it that much more of a treasure to me. My whole family got to see that in person, so thank you for voting for me. My brother was sitting next to me, texting in his vote for Video of the Year. haha! That night was very, very special and I just wanted to thank you for that. And I hate to be all "Hey thanks for voting for me for that award show, now here's another one to vote for!!! Spend ALL of your free time voting for me for stuff!!!!!".... but... You guys got me nominated for a bunch of Teen Choice Awards, and this is my last year as a teen (yes. I'm finally getting old!!), so.... Teenchoiceawards.com is where it is. Just click on my name. It won't be under my rap gangsta alter ego, T-Sweezy, unfortunately. It'll most likely be under the name T-A-Y-L-O-R S-W-I-F-T, because that's my birth name and stuffWhat else is new.. Recording a bunch of new songs. Lots of new things to write about..... Kate Walsh sent me a journal, and it was perfect timing because I was JUST about to run out of pages in my current one. I don't know how she knew that. She must have magical powers. Next week, I'm headed to Canada and I'm so excited to go back!! Glamour Magazine is way nice and put me on their cover :) As you know, dresses are my thing, and the Glamour spread is just me in jeans. It's a very rare sight to see, me in jeans. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not actually allergic to jeans and I don't burst into flame when I wear them. Ok I made that up. No one thinks that at all actually. But, anyway, I'm wearing jeans in the recent issue of Glamour magazine...is my point. My good friend Colbie Caillat just put out her new single on iTunes and it's my new jam right now, she's got the BEST summer songs!.

July 4th is coming up. I love Sparklers. They're sparkly. I love sparkly things. And glitter. Anyway, story time: When I was younger, I was always that little kid who would run around picking up used sparklers off the ground and I would inevitably pick up the SCALDING HOT BURNING end that was still smoldering. Then cue the screaming bloody murder in front of everyone and running into the house to ice your hand. All the adults are shaking their heads because they saw you do the same thing last year. Gotta love humiliating childhood memories. Wish me luck this year. I think I'm gonna wear gloves.

See you on the road, and thanks again!

lovelovelove
-T-

Jun 15 (CMA MUSIC FESTIVAL AND TEXTING.)

Hey.

I'm sitting here in my living room. My mom got new couches, so she's forcing us to use them as much as possible. I can't lie, they're some great couches. Giant. Like you're lying on a bed. But it's not a bed. It's a couch. So you're all confused, but comfortable at the same time? So yeah. I'm just hanging out, blogging. Basking in the new-couch-ness. Austin is hitting ping pong balls against the wall like a 5-year-old.

My cat is yelling at me. She has abandonment issues. Mostly because I abandon her a lot. That's probably why. So she's being loud again. There's no reasoning with her when she's like this. Soon she'll be all "forgive me, I didn't mean it" and I'll be all "How can I believe you?" and she'll be like "'I'm sorry" and I'll burst into song with "You're NOT sorry. No, no, no-ohhhh." Or not. Or I'll just go to bed and she'll stop her drama and jump up on the bed and curl up next to me and start snoring. That's what's actually going to happen.

Last night we played in Atlanta, one of my favorite places in the world. Right after I got offstage, we started driving back to Nashville. We got in at 3am, and I stumbled off the bus and somehow ended up at home in my bed. Then I woke up a few hours later, and went downtown to the convention center and signed autographs for 5.5 hours for the most courageous, relentless, tireless people I've ever seen. They slept out on the street. They waited for 18 hours to come and meet me, and I'll never forget that. Thank you so much, guys.

Then I went to the stadium and got ready to play the CMA Music Fest night concert at LP Field! It was a fun show, and everyone was loud and there were a LOT of them. So many people. Thanks to everyone who came out and held up giant signs and screamed and danced! Tomorrow I go in to rehearse for the CMT Music Awards. I'm so excited!! I love the CMTs because that's a fan-voted award show. You guys have made me so happy the last couple of years and won me some amazing awards. It's the coolest thing in the world to have you. It's the most wonderful honor to know you.

Thank you for voting on CMT.com, if you have already. What they're doing this year for Video of the Year is text voting. So please please please watch the show and text to vote for Love Story even if you've already voted online, and I'll be obnoxiously happy that you did. I'm gonna go to bed. I love you so much. Thanks for making all of this a possibility for me.

lovelovelove
-T-

May 29 (HI. I'M NOCTURNAL. HELP.)

So.. This is not smart. This. Being awake at 2:47 AM. You know why? Because my wake up call is at 5:00 AM. I'm playing on the Today show tomorrow/in a few hours, and I'm very excited about it. So excited, in fact, that I haven't really gotten around to sleeping. I've found my attention being drawn to so many different things that I can't possibly sleep. For example: My hotel room has motion censor lighting. So when I stand up or anything moves on the floor, these little lights come on at your feet to show you where you're going. No light switches needed. In my delirious state, I've been making jokes with myself. Every time something triggers the censor lighting, I say "Witchcraft!" or "EVIL!". Then I laugh hysterically. Then I sit there for a few seconds absorbing how lame I sound/look/am at this very moment in time. At 2:47 AM. Talking to the motion censor lighting.

My dad is along the ride for this trip, hanging out and talking to every person he comes in contact with. He's a social butterfly, and loves being on tour. He loves it so much, he thinks it's absolutely hilarious to mess with me and try to embarrass me as much as possible. For example: Liz and I are walking into the hotel lobby after returning from dinner. It's a quiet, serene, beautiful hotel lobby and we're walking in when..

Screaming voice from out of nowhere: HEY! THAT'S TAYLOR SWIFT!!

Me: Dad. Please stop doing that.

It's pretty priceless having my dad out here with me. Tonight I went shopping at Top Shop in New York with the band. I got purple shoes. I'm really excited about the purple shoes, and I just needed to tell someone. I got purple shoes. Ok. That's done. Tomorrow, after the performance on the Today show, I'll fly back to Nashville and record a lot of new songs I've written in the last few weeks. I'm really excited about that. I want to get back to the tour though. Bad. I miss it every time I'm gone for a day. I've never had more fun doing anything in my life than I have on the Fearless tour. Thank you so much to everyone who has come to see the show. I can't even tell you how unreal it is for me, being up there, looking at those crowds. I just never thought I'd luck out like this.

I'm really excited because Dateline NBC has been following me around for the last three months, video taping me planning this tour. They've put together a one-hour special about my tour, and it's airing some time within the next two weeks. I'll keep you posted on the exact date. I'd love for you to see the months of work leading up to me getting to put on this show. Also, I learned how to make a smoothie. It's very ground-breaking footage, I'm telling you. Keep checking back here, and on twitter. By the way, again, I'm taylorswift13 on twitter. There are a bunch of fake twitters that are apparently mine, and while they are amusing and creative, they're not real. :)

Well, I have some more important nonsense to get to. I'm going to go play with the light switches or the air conditioning control panel in my hotel room. Then I'm going to play the Today Show!

I love you, thanks to everyone who's been voting for the CMT awards at CMT.com!

Stay excellent. I adore you.

lovelovelove

-T-

May 7 (THE MOST OBNOXIOUS SOUND...)

The most obnoxious sound... ... Is the hotel phone RINGINGGGGGG RINGGGINGGG RINGGGGINGGGGGGGGGGGGGFKWEJFKLCWEVNSTET at 5:30am, and it's all the way across the bedside table, so you can't reach it with your sleepy, fumbling attempts at picking it up and slamming it back down. Your roommate/back-up singer is leaving London this morning, and so her wake up call is at 5:30am. You don't have to be up until 9:30, but Liz is in the shower and there's no one here to make the screeching of the phone stop. And you're half asleep, so it sounds even louder than it is. Slow motion, high-pitched, echoing, blasting, ringing. Never ending. The phone wake up people want to make COMPLETELY sure you're awake. So it rings 400 million times, which is very thorough of them.. But it is the last thing you want to experience when you're half asleep, groggy, cranky, and trying to keep your eyes closed so you don't wake up completely and feel inclined to then blog about your trying, unfortunate situation. I think you can guess how it, inevitably, all worked out in the end. Good morning. I'm awake. Completely awake. And very inclined to blog about my trying situation.

Now that I've shared how my morning has been so far, let's talk about today. I just read my daily horoscope, which said "Although you'll be only in contact with adults today, expect a lot of childishness." I'm doing press interviews all day. I'll let you know how it goes. I've been taking video of everything in London, and I'm going to start editing on the plane. I should have something up in the next few days. London has been AMAZING this week. It's beautiful weather and I'vgotten to actually experience the city a little bit. Last time I was here, it was interviews and press from the time I woke up until the night. It's good to do that, because I'm not here a lot.. But it's much more fun when you're playing shows and actually getting to be around fans and see the city. I've had such an amazing time. I'm obsessed with the show The Tudors, and having watched it makes me love being here even more. It makes everything more fascinating when you feel like you know a little history behind it. Seeing the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral was just incredible. The shows have been so much fun, and I can't wait to come back later this summer!

I'd love to stay a few more days, but I'm going back the day after tomorrow and going straight to Amos's wedding. Yep! My bass player, one of my favorite people in the world, is getting married to the love of his life this week. I couldn't be more happy that this will be the first wedding I've ever been to. (I've played at one wedding before, but that was different.) I can't wait to bawl my eyes out and feel like love really means something and be all hopeful. Congratulations to Amos and Kara, who I love more than I can say.

At one of my shows this week, I got a really wonderful surprise. I rarely get star struck anymore, but.. Actually, that's not true. I get star struck all the time. I ask for autographs at award shows like a super fan. But this was different. You all know that my FAVORITE movie is Love Actually. Abigail and I watch it every single Christmas. It's become a Christmas tradition for us, actually. Well I've always thought that Richard Curtis, who wrote and directed Love Actually, is completely brilliant. I've been a fan of everything he's done. I think he's one of the only people who is possibly as obsessed with the concept of love as I am. Well, at one of my shows this week, his lovely wife Emma, his daughter Scarlett, and his son Jake all came backstage. I was so excited to see them! His kids were telling me about how they played small parts in the movie when they were younger, like the Spiderman king and the second lobster in the nativity play. If you haven't seen the movie, it's worth it. You'll see what I'm talking about. The next day, I was sent a box of gifts to the hotel from Richard! One was the screenplay to Love Actually, signed, and he also sent DVDs of his other movies! There was a wonderful letter, and I'll always keep it. It's just so wonderful when you're a fan of someone, you picture them as a sincere, genuine person, and they prove you right. I love it when that happens.

I want to say thanks for all the nice things you've said to me about my new videos! Thanks so much for making "You Belong With Me" the #1 video on iTunes! And what's really awesome is that you made "The Best Day" #2!! Then "Love Story" is still at #10. You are so good to me. I never thought I'd see things like that. While we're on the topic of videos, thank you to everyone who's been voting on CMT.com for Love Story for the CMT Awards!! The voting is still open, so please go rock the vote for me. :)

I'm going to try and ignore the sound of a hairdryer in the bathroom and get a little more sleep this morning. I love you guys so much!

lovelovelove

-T-

April 12 (Excitement And The Agency)

Hey!!

I know that I use the word "excited" in my blogs more than any other word in the English language, but I have to say... I'm really excited right now. It's really hitting me that I get to go on my first headlining tour. With a big stage. And I'm not opening up for people anymore. And I get to pick what we eat in catering! (I recommended an all cupcake menu, but apparently that doesn't meet everyone's dietary needs for survival. The idea was vetoed. You can't win them all I guess). I get to pick out how the backstage area is decorated. And I love decorations. And backstage areas. There are so many different decisions to be made regarding video content and lighting and changes. So basically....I'm excited.

There are a bunch of new people you're going to see with us this year on that stage. First of all, we have six new dancers who can point their toes and twirl and stuff with the best of them. On the band side, we've added another backup singer and her name is Liz. And she's precious and amazing. You might have seen her perform with us on Leno. That was her first TV gig with us. Another change I wanted to give you guys the heads up on: Unfortunately, you won't see Ben playing banjo with us anymore. :( We're gonna miss him so much, but he's got dreams and wanted to pursue them. We're all so close to him, we'll never stop seeing him around. All the best. :) But there's good news... We've got the insanely talented Mike Meadows playing banjo/mandolin/guitar/keys/cello now (told you he was ridiculous. Count that list of instruments. For those of you who would rather not do unnecessary math on a weekend, that's five instruments.) Mike is hilarious and fits right in with us. He and Liz are part of the family now andand I can't wait for you to see what they can do. They've joined "The Agency" (my band has referred to themselves as The Agency since they got to dress up in suits and sunglasses and ransack a house in the Picture to Burn video. The scene of them walking across the yard in slow motion only encouraged this.) So now it's Grant, Paul, Amos, Al, Caitlin, Liz, and Mike. I love it.

Ok...... The ACM's were last week. WOW. What a night! I can't believe I got to accept 2 awards, and winning Album of the Year absolutely blew me away. I won two awards because I was the artist and the co-producer on Fearless. I write songs in my bedroom, and have so much fun doing this, it doesn't really feel like work. The fact that you can win Album of the Year for that was just unbelievable to me. And after I performed, Reba surprised me by giving me the Crystal Milestone award for selling more records than anyone else this year. I can't thank you guys enough for making the album the success story that it has been this year. That's all you. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU.

We may or may not be shooting the video for "You Belong With Me" this week, and I may or may not be really excited about it. There's that word again. I need to get a thesaurus. I'm... thrilled and ecstatic about shooting this video. Can't wait for you to see it!

Hmmm... other updates..I've worn a dress every day for the past three weeks, and I'm definitely sure now that I'm just better off in dresses. I'll be rehearsing tomorrow and every day until we play our first show. I hope youhad a great holiday!

lovelovelove

-T-

March 20.(Houston Rodeo And Giant Stage)

Hey!

I'm wiped out. I've been in the studio all day ( I know, I know.. We JUST put out a new album. I think I have a problem, I cannot stop writing songs.) It's so much fun knowing that you can take your time, because you have like a year and a half to make something you're really proud of. I love recording a few songs, waiting a few months, recording a few more.. Instead of devoting a few weeks to "record the album" and then it's just done. I like dragging it out, that way you can be meticulous about every detail. Daydream about different ways to put the songs together, and then take them apart. I'm pretty obsessed with the whole process. So needless to say, it was good to be back in the studio with my redheaded producer who I missed terribly.

Tomorrow I play the Houston Rodeo for the first time in my life. I've heard about it since I was born because my mom's from Houston. They're telling me really crazy things about the ticket sales so far, and I'm kind of in shock about how many of your beautiful faces I'm going to be seeing tomorrow. :) I'm really excited about it, and I'd love to see you there!

When we get back from Texas, I go straight into tour rehearsals for the Fearless tour. (!!!!) I can't believe this is actually.. really... happening. They've set my stage up in this giant, massive warehouse and apparently it's really something. Considering that the stage was originally inspired from a drawing I made a few years ago, I'll be the most excited person in the room when we go over and see it for the first time. Then we start the hard part: Putting the show together

Again, I know I say thank you every 4 seconds, but.. guys.. Thanks for all of this.

Wish me luck. See you in Houston :)

lovelovelove

-T-

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