New blog from Taylor!

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 and 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 you had a great holiday!

lovelovelove
-T-