The Charleston Photo Blog
August 22, 2011
Here are two things you may already/might not know about me. One is that I make lists. Lists of music I love, lists of life goals (I’ve done that since I was eight years old), lists of things I need to get done this week, and… Lists of places I’ve always dreamed of going. Thanks to you all and your wonderful niceness, I’ve gotten to see most of the places on my list on tour. We’ve been on the Speak Now Tour since February, and it occurred to me a few weeks ago that it would be so incredible to take a mini-vacation! I found a three day window in August and invited all the girls you see onstage (one fiddle player, one backup singer, two dancers, three aerialists) to go with me to one of the places on my list (this particular place was underlined, with stars drawn next to it, indicating that I reeeeally wanted to go there): Charleston, South Carolina. Which brings me to the second thing you might not know about me: I’m a girl of many phases. Sometimes I work out, sometimes I don’t, sometimes I listen to music constantly, sometimes I become obsessed with a piece of advice I’m given, sometimes I want to do nothing but watch Friends marathons, sometimes I write in my journal every night, then I’ll skip a month.. And sometimes I take lots of pictures of what’s going on in my life. For these three days, that’s what I did. And because your niceness is why I get to take vacations, I thought I’d share them with you.
Day one, we hit the beach. The day I learned that beaches make anyone of any age frolic like a little kid.
Charity and me and a big sky and a big ocean.
Dancers do dancy stuff everywhere they go.
Liz and I … contemplating going swimming.
Sometimes you’re so happy you just jump. Up. and Down.
We ate at this marina restaurant and watched pelicans fly around being pelicans but we were all excited because we never see pelicans or marina restaurants.
There’s one in every crowd (liz).
Liz and I talking about life and how cool boardwalks are.
We got to the beach and people had left messages for us in the sand on the beach in front of our house. It was really sweet.
Shannon found a puppy and they were very happy to see each other.
Claire.
Marlyn is one of the girls you see up in the air doing flips and spinning on ropes.
On our last day, we went on a BOAT!!!
Another boat that looked like a pirate ship.
It had a basement.
Caitlin.
Driving the boat!
People started falling asleep.
Meredith and me on the dock.
Saying goodbye to the coolest three days ever.
http://connect.taylorswift.com/forum/thread/46453/The_Charleston_Photo_Blog
"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."
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2009)A Midsummer Night’s Blog
June 30, 2011
I’m writing you on a summer afternoon in Nashville. All the idealistic markers of a perfect day are presenting themselves right now in this moment. I mean, we’re talking chirping birds, blinding sunshine, a just-the-right-amount breeze.. There’s the distant sound of power washing from someone else’s deck and my feet are up on the patio table. I just ate a really awesome sandwich. Such a simple, good day. And so I just wanted to say hi.
I go back on the road tonight and this weekend we’ll play in Greensboro, Knoxville, and Louisville. And I guess I should just tell you up front that playing shows on this tour is the best time I’ve ever had onstage. The crowds we’ve been playing for have been so unbelievable.. The kind of crowds that jump up and down the entire show, making our view from the stage look like a giant ocean of dancing, jumping people. These are the kinds of crowds that sing the words louder and more passionately than I ever could’ve imagined. And to have a show that includes ballerinas and fireworks and entire scenery changes.. it’s thrilling for me. My band and I have already come away with memories to last a lifetime, and it’s not even halfway done yet! The other night, we were playing our first of two shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. I’m all the way at the end of the stadium, playing “Fearless”, and I swear as soon as I sang the words “With you I’d dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless”… I felt a drop of rain hit me. Then there was another one, then there was another. And then it turned into an absolute downpour. Everyone is soaking wet. And at this point in the show, about halfway through our set, this fear came over me that everyone was going to leave the concert. I tried to push it way back into the back of my mind and just kept playing, and to my surprise, the strangest thing happened. No one left. Instead, this ocean of people in front of us just started dancing even more, screaming even louder… And that night I actually got to dance in a storm with them. In my best dress. I’ll never forget it.
Sometimes I get scared that there’s got to be some balance to the way things work in the universe— like you pay for good days by then having bad days, you pay for joy with pain.. Like if you have the most perfect week ever, watch out! It’s about to get really awful! Some sort of minor or major tragedy is bound to strike! I hope that’s not the way it all goes down. I really hope not. Because this has been a really beautiful summer so far. Lately, I’ve been writing a LOT. Like, all of a sudden, everything I’ve wanted to say, express, or just let out for the past several months has just recently become a song. I’m really excited about that. It’s a freeing feeling when all of a sudden one day, you’re able to verbalize exactly how you feel in a verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus pattern.
Hey so… thank you so much for the Teen Choice Award nominations!! Six whole nominations! Thank you. I’ll be there this year and it will be my first time attending the TCA’s!!! Thank you!
I want to thank you for the happiness I’ve felt so far this summer. I’ve learned to never take happiness for granted. It’s the most precious, rare feeling. This summer, for me, it comes from you.. driving to the shows with “Speak Now” painted on your car windows or simply singing along when “Story of Us” comes on the radio. It comes from you, standing up in the last rows or the front ones, having taken the time to know every word I’ll sing that night… Oh, and it also comes from an entire stadium that not only stuck with me through the rain, but celebrated it. Mostly it’s from all the times you’ve made me feel like we’re in this together. I hope you have a wonderful July 4th weekend and I hope you have a bunch of simply wonderful days this summer.
Taylor
http://connect.taylorswift.com/forum/thread/40956/A_Midsummer_Nights_Blog/1
“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.”
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2009)
“I got to pose with Kellie for some People shots after the awards. We posed like we were beating each other up in a huge catfight. Haha. (She was pulling my hair and I was tugging at her dress and trying to push her off me while we both made grimacing faces) It was pretty awesome. I hope they run those shots. hahah.”
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2008)
"Once upon a time there was a girl. She was born in 1989 and was bald until she was like two. Then she got a blonde afro."
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2008)
“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.”
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2009)
"I saw a black squirrel outside my bus, climbing up a tree. It was a BLACK squirrel. I mean, who knew that squirrels were ever anything but gray? I walked around telling everybody about it, and nobody believed me. It was great. Then I was talking to one of the crew guys up here and told him about it.. His response was “Oh yeah.. we spray painted it.” Hahaha. I was laughing about that for a while."
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2007)
“My red carpet dress weighed about 400 pounds. Actually, about 30. But it was still heavy. It was like dragging around two small children, dangling from my ankles. And it made a lovely jangling noise whenever I walked. It was made out of huge jewels, platinum chips, and other metal-ish things that would fall off at random intervals throughout the night.. and my dad would reach down and pick each one up and say “Ebay.” Whenever people would ask me what it was made of, I’d just say I broke a mirror, dipped myself in glue, and rolled around in it.”
- Taylor Swift (CMA’s) | Myspace Blog (2008)
"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."
-Taylor Swift | Myspace Blog (2009)Vlog: Asia! (my February video blog)
Feb 22, 2011
Toured Asia + had my camera with me = I made a video blog. :)
Vlog: Demonstrating my fine athletic skills. And more.
Apr 26, 2010
In this video, my prodigious athletic skills are showcased. Also, there is a Vegas wedding, baking a cake, Easter egg hunting, and one of my favorite parts of our 2-show stay at Staples Center. Song: She Band: Parachute
Vlog: Watching the CMA Announcements!
Sep 9, 2009
This was taken at 8:30 AM, watching the CMA nominations announcements on TV. And wow… It was an excellent morning.
Vlog: Your world is my world.
Aug 18, 2009
This is a glimpse of what it looked like backstage when we pranked Keith Urban, surprising our crew members on tour, why Demi shouldn’t drive jetskis, and some very fashionable hats modeled by my mom and me. I’m leaving for the UK in the morning, so there’s a shout out to you guys that I’ll be seeing in London and at V-Fest! And it’s all set to “One Time” by Justin Bieber. It’s very much on repeat at the moment.
