SO FREAKING EXCITED!

Tomorrow is....

THE TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT WITH NEEDTOBREATHE AND RANDY MONTANA!!!!

I'm just a tad excited. Just a little. Not too much...Okay. I'm flipping ecstatic! First of all, I have been wanting to see Randy Montana for over a year now! I knew about him before he even came on the radio, and now I finally get to see him! It's even cooler that I get to see him at a HUGE venue like the Xcel Energy Center.


PROOF that I did skate at the
Xcel Energy Center!

The Xcel and I have a beautiful past together <3 I actually got to skate on the ice there when they needed figure skaters to be in a promotional news segment for the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Getting to skate at the Xcel was an experience I will never forget! I also spent the ENTIRE day at Xcel when I went to see the Men's Freeskate and Exhibition of Champions. It was there I met Evan Lysacek. The corner where I met him is my favorite spot in the entire building haha! I have also been to other figure skating events there (and got to go backstage for some of those as well!) and I have also been to many concerts there. Every time I passed the Xcel on the way to my internship downtown during my freshman year of college, I am reminded of all my favorite memories! To me, it's the best venue in the world! The location by the Mississippi River in St. Paul gives a beautiful view and parking at the RiverCentre is usually cheap and always works out quite nicely. The staff there are always super nice and patient, and of course, the crowds are always so enthusiastic (but that's just because Minnesotans are awesome!) I haven't been to a big stadium concert since fall of 2009 when I saw Rascal Flatts (I'm a poor college student--I can't afford these big concerts!) so I'm glad I get to make a return to the Xcel tomorrow night. I was at the Xcel for the Rascal Flatts ABC special taping, but there were only a couple hundred people there so I don't count it as my last stadium concert. (Interesting fact, I am in the "Won't Let Go" music video! There's a shot of me at 17 seconds into the video singing the lyrics "it feels like that." Pretty cool, huh?)

And I also get to see someone else for the first time tomorrow...a young lady by the name of TAYLOR SWIFT! Yes, it is my first time seeing her. I was never that big of a fan, but I fell in love with her "Speak Now" album. "Never Grow Up" is one of my favorite songs of all time and I couldn't stop crying when I first listened to it. I hope that someday I can get back into figure skating so I can do a routine to that song. Especially since I'm at the time in my life where I am needing my parents less and less and I'm trying to let go of my childhood, this song is close to my heart. I am so blessed to have had such an incredible childhood, but it was SO good that it makes me miss it more than I should! "Sparks Fly" is my other favorite song from the album. A couple of months ago, this song fit a situation I was in PERFECTLY. "My mind forgets to remind me you're a bad idea" pretty much sums up that whole situation I was in! And of course, "Mean" is a song that the music industry has been needing! Taylor is so honest when writing her lyrics and I think this song not only has the most honest lyrics, but it promotes confidence and the music is wonderful! It is the most country-sounding song on her album with the use of a banjo, which gets bonus points from me.

My favorite picture of THE
"Hey Stephen" and myself!

As I fell more in love with the album, I actually started to appreciate more of her music from her past albums. "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" were my two favorites of hers already, but I soon discovered that I liked less popular songs such as "Change," "The Outside," and "Invisible." And of course, the song "Hey Stephen" is a favorite of mine because well, it's written about my boy Stephen Barker Liles!!

Speaking of Stephen, his band Love and Theft is my favorite band and I actually have Taylor Swift to thank for that! If it weren't for Taylor bringing the guys out on tour with her in 2008, they might have never gotten the recognition they deserved. Now Taylor is bringing two of my newest favorite artists out on the road with her; Randy Montana and Hunter Hayes. I have to say, Taylor has impeccable taste in country artists!

But one question: Why the heck is she bringing Needtobreathe on tour with her?!?! I dig their music and everything, but they're not country. Well, I'm interested to see their set tomorrow! I'm trying to learn more of their songs right now as I type.

I also found out that she has a thing called a "Tea Party" after her concert. Taylor has "people" that walk around the concert to find people to join this "Tea Party" and they get to meet Taylor and everything! Umm...that sounds like a DREAM COME TRUE! I might make a poster or something... I really want to see if I'm taller than Taylor haha! I'd also like to let her know that people figure skate to her songs ALL the time. That might be an interesting tid-bit she doesn't know about! Well, I'm not going to expect anything like that tomorrow though... I do hope it works out to meet Randy Montana! :)
One more thing: HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA!!! Kayla is going with me tomorrow! My parents gave me these tickets as a birthday present (but my bday isn't until June 29th) so I decided to give the other ticket to Kayla as her bday present as well. This is her first big stadium concert, so I'm excited to see her reaction. I know she's going to have a BLAST. Now, what do I wear?!